by L. J. Red
Enemy Mate
Bloodline Warriors
By L.J. Red
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 1 of Warrior Mate
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Also by L.J. Red
Copyright © 2019 by L.J. Red
First Electronic Publication: June 2019
L.J. Red
www.ljred.com
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission by the author, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not the be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organization is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Chapter 1
Eden tugged the hem of her short, sequined dress down a few inches. She hated wearing these things, but Riker insisted. She pushed her way through the crush of dancing bodies, judiciously using her elbows and stamping on toes until she broke free and reached the bar.
It was a busy Saturday night and Bloodchase was packed with the usual crowd: dangerous men in sharp suits with flashy rings, chains around their necks and hard flat eyes, most of them sporting the same curling fang tattoos, or the words “Vampire Ravagers” peeking from under their shirts. All around them, in skimpy clothes and thick makeup, were the usual mix of girlfriends and hangers-on. She recognized them because, until recently, she had been one of those women. Only none of it had been her choice. In fact, two months ago she’d finally worked up the nerve to tell Riker to his face that she’d had enough. She wasn’t going to put up with his behavior anymore. She wanted out. Of course, that had all backfired when his eyes had flashed with rage, fangs appeared in his mouth, and he had lunged for her. Eden shivered, raising her hand to her neck before realizing what she was doing and forcing it back down. She didn’t want to remember that night.
Eden reached the bar and tried to wave for the barkeep’s attention. The man next to her traced his eyes over her short dress lecherously, his eyes dropping down to the low neckline. Shit, she really hated the skimpy little things. They made her feel like a piece of meat on offer.
“Whoa,” he said, “check you out.”
Eden glared at him. It was probably just the amount of skin she was showing that made him say that. She knew compared to all the other glittering things in the club she was nothing special. Riker had always told her she was lucky to have him as a boyfriend. No one else would ever want a girl like her. Too tall, uncoordinated, all elbows and knees, with a fierceness in her eyes that Riker said no man wanted. Sweet and biddable, that’s what she was supposed to be. She sighed. Yeah, good luck with that. She glared at the man and deliberately turned her back on him.
She’d never had the time for clubs like this, even before she fell in with Riker and his crew. She’d been too busy balancing her work, her nursing studies, and caring for her little sister, Hope, her only family ever since her mom died. Going from a single-parent household to a no-parent household had been tough, then came Riker with his promises of money and security, and like a fool she’d been taken in. Wrapped up in his lies, she didn’t find out what kind of man he was, what kind of world he moved in, until it was too late. Then, two months ago, he’d… She drew her hand up to her waist, tracing a faint line over her side, wincing in remembered pain. He’d finally gone too far. She’d been so close to leaving. Had her bags packed and was ready to go. Then Riker had come home early, full of energy, different, somehow changed. She’d thought he’d struck a new deal, made some money, but no, it wasn’t until she’s seen fangs appear in his mouth that she realized the truth.
He hadn’t taken the news of her leaving well. Not well at all. Two days later, she woke up with fangs of her own and a sudden inability to bear the daylight without excruciating sickness and pain.
Yeah. He turned her into a damn vampire.
As if that wasn’t enough, he’d threatened to do the same to Hope. Now when Riker called, she came. She had no choice. He had the perfect threat to hold over her. Hope’s life. It was bad enough he’d turned Eden’s life into a living hell. There was no way she was letting him get his fangs into her sister too.
Eden was jostled by the crowd, knocked out of her thoughts and into the lecherous man beside her. She pushed quickly away, but he grabbed at her, his sweaty hand landing on her shoulder and gripping her tightly.
“Hey, babe…”
A flash of revulsion powered through her and she spun around faster than a human could move.
The man’s eyes widened in shock, but before he had time to even say anything Eden grabbed his hand off her shoulder and twisted it until she felt the tendons of his wrist straining under her grip. He whimpered in pain, his eyes going even wider and his jaw tensing.
“Did I say you could touch me?” she growled. He whimpered. She pressed a little harder on his wrist. “I said, did I say you could touch me?”
“N-no,” he stuttered.
“Then keep your grabby hands to yourself,” she bit out, finally releasing him and shoving him back so hard he knocked into all his other friends. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of one of the bouncers looking their way and frowning at her. Riker didn’t like it when women fought back, and his attitude trickled down into the way he managed his club. She spread her hands wide and stepped away from the guy, taming down the part of her that wanted to continue the fight and take out all her anger and frustration on him. But that wasn’t fair. He was just a sleaze; he wasn’t responsible for all the things that had gone wrong in Eden’s life, and as satisfying as it would feel to take it out on him, she knew it wouldn’t change anything.
She looked out at the club using her new vampire senses to pick out the other vampires in the room. Bloodchase was the base of Riker’s operations, all the Vampire Ravagers congregated here every night. The only criminal gang in the city made up entirely of vampires. Eden shivered as she picked out the vampires, separating out the unsettlingly silent hearts of the other vamps from the thrum of human heartbeats.
There were a handful of new recruits in the far corner, flashing their money around, thrilled to be here at Bloodchase. She wondered if they realized exactly what it meant to join this gang out of all the others. That becoming a vampire was something that could never be taken back. H
er gaze filled with pity as she looked over their heads. Surrounding them were those unfortunates who just wanted to give up their blood, the ones who enjoyed being bitten by vampires: blood donors, vampire groupies. The unmistakable glaze of their eyes gave them away. All they cared about was the pleasure of the bite. Eden didn’t understand them; how could they willingly want to spend time with vampires? The bite had only meant more pain for her. She’d heard it could be turned to pleasure, but Riker had certainly never wasted his energy on that. She wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her elbows tightly. She wasn’t thinking about it. She refused to dig up those dark, painful memories of her last moments as a human. To distract herself, she looked further over the dance floor, picking out the humans, the innocents, the foolish young women out for a night of fun who had stumbled into the wrong part of town and hadn’t realized it yet. Eden felt a sort of hunger when she looked at them; she wished she could be so naive. Her innocence had been destroyed a long time ago.
She wouldn’t admit it, but she was jealous of the carefree abandon with which they gave themselves over to the dancing, to the music. Eden had never done that. Before she was turned, before she met Riker, she’d always been too awkward, too serious. Even as a kid, she’d never been the girl a boy would choose to take to the dance. Then she’d grown up, her mom had died, and suddenly she’d had way too many things to worry about. Finding the time to cut loose went way down her list. Caring for Hope was much more important.
Eden’s gaze drifted over the dancers as her thoughts strayed, until her eyes caught on a familiar looking dancer. Wait a minute. Eden straightened, staring harder at one of those groups. Didn’t she recognize a couple of those girls? Weren’t they Hope’s friends from college? She pushed away from the bar, her muscles tightening in shock. They were, Eden was sure of it. Worse than that, standing there in the middle of them was Hope herself, her dark hair, so similar to Eden’s, piled high on her head, showing the bare line of her neck, her skin, just a shade darker than Eden’s, catching the strobing lights. What the hell was she doing here? And baring her neck in a vampire club? Was she insane?
Eden pushed through the crowd toward her.
“Hope,” she shouted over the music, finally reaching her and grabbing her sister’s arm. Hope’s expression shifted into guilt as she recognized Eden.
“Oh, hey, Eden,” she said, trying to cover her nerves. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Eden glared and started tugging her off the dance floor. “I thought you said you were staying home tonight working on an assignment for college?” Hope dug in her heels, trying to pull back against Eden’s grip, and Eden, wary of her vampire strength, let up, not wanting to hurt her little sister.
“I did… I mean I was working,” Hope said, “but we finished our assignments early and so we thought we’d have a little fun.” She glanced back at her friends, who were already turning back to each other, swaying and writhing to the music. Wow, some friends, Eden thought scornfully.
“You were going to have a little fun?” Eden turned back to Hope, she ran her eyes down Hope’s outfit. She was wearing an even tinier dress than the costume Riker had forced Eden into. “And what are you wearing?” she exclaimed.
Hope’s brows furrowed and she tugged her hand sharply out of Eden’s grip. Eden let her go, not expecting the amount of anger on Hope’s face. “What do you mean, what am I wearing?” Hope said. “What are you wearing?” She raised an eyebrow, looking Eden up and down.
Eden felt a flash of embarrassment, her hands straying to tug down the hem of her dress again. “You know I hate wearing these things,” she said, “but Riker insisted on it.”
“Oh.” Hope’s eyes lit up, “Is he here tonight?” She glanced around and missed the flash of anger in Eden’s eyes. She swallowed her angry retort. She only had herself to blame for Hope’s reaction. She was the one who had protected Hope from the truth of Riker’s behavior. Eden had always been careful to wear long sleeves and thick makeup after he lost his temper with her. Hope had never seen the side of him that Eden had become all too familiar with over the years.
“No,” Eden said. At least she hoped he wasn’t here yet., she thought, glancing around quickly. She needed to get Hope out of here before that happened. Lately she’d caught Riker’s eyes on her little sister more than once. Ever since Hope had turned nineteen, he’d started making comments about what a hot woman she was turning into. It made Eden’s skin crawl. She hated the thought of Riker or any of the Ravagers getting their claws into her sister. This wasn’t the life she wanted for Hope. She wanted Hope to get out of it, to go to college and escape the life that Eden was resigned to. At least her sister could make it out, even if Eden couldn’t. She refocused on Hope, but there’d be no chance of that if her sister paraded herself around this damn club.
Hope’s eyes widened and she danced quickly out of Eden’s reach. “What’s the big deal?” she asked. “I know you’re obsessed with keeping me away from your boyfriend”—she rolled her eyes—“but if Riker’s not here…”
“That’s not what I meant,” Eden said, hurt. She wasn’t keeping Hope away from Riker, she was keeping Riker away from Hope. But her sister wasn’t listening. She’d already turned away, and Eden’s words were lost under the sound of the music.
She watched her sister walk away from her, frustrated by indecision. Where had she gone wrong? Her and Hope had been so close. Them against the world. But now all Hope seemed to want to do was throw herself headlong into danger. She thought the Vampire Ravagers were exciting. She thought it was all one thrilling game.
Eden watched the dancers all moving around her laughing, smiling, having fun touching each other in a haze of music and light. She felt unmoved by it all, cold and isolated inside. It was like she was a statue and everyone else was living and moving around her. The pulse of life passed her by, untouched. She could blame it on being turned into a vampire, but that would be a lie. She had felt like this even before she had been turned. Over the years Eden had been stretched thinner and thinner—looking after Hope, working two jobs so she could afford night school for her nurse training. Then she’d met Riker, and slowly all her dreams were destroyed as he showed his true nature. There was an emptiness inside her. An ache, a hollow space that should be filled by… by what, love? Bitter laughter caught in her throat. As if real love even existed.
She had her arms wrapped around herself again, and she realized she was getting strange looks, standing still and hunched on the dance floor. She forced herself to straighten, trying to shake off the dark thoughts. If she couldn’t save herself, she could at least save her little sister, but what she saw when she looked up at Hope made her spitting mad. A group of the new recruits, young criminals and wannabe vampires, had clustered around Hope and her friends, their eyes predatory and mean. One of them gripped Hope’s hips and jerked her toward him roughly. Eden saw a sudden expression of unease on Hope’s face and rage washed over her, burning away the cold. She stormed forward, not even noticing the people she knocked out of her way in her bid to get to her sister’s side. She shoved the man away from Hope, knocking him back so hard he almost lost his feet.
“Get your hands off my sister,” she snapped.
He glared at her. “Back off, you bitch.”
His arm tensed as he reached back for a punch, but his human muscles were no match for her vampire speed. She snapped her arm out again, grabbing his fist before his punch could land, and spun him around into an arm lock. She tightened her grip on his arm until he had to go up on tiptoe to stop her from breaking it. Being tall did have its advantages after all.
“Oh yeah,” she growled in his ear. “Who’s the bitch now?” She could smell the blood close to her face, pumping under his neck, and she was overcome by her vampire hunger. Her fangs appeared in her mouth and her eyes flashed with an inner glow. All the men around her stepped back as they caught sight of her fangs.
“Ravagers are turning chicks now?” one asked, c
onfused.
“Yeah, so you better back off,” Eden snarled, struggling against her desire to bite down on the man’s neck. She didn’t want this. She hated having to drink blood from people. She hated the violence this life brought with it. She couldn’t deal with these changes running through her and a wave of self-disgust washed over her. She shoved the man away from her. “Get lost.” She glared until he scuttled away with his friends. Then she turned to Hope. “Are you okay?”
But Hope was staring at her in undisguised anger, her hands on her hips. “What the hell was that?” she asked. “I was dancing with him.”
“You weren’t dancing,” Eden said, stepping back from the force of Hope’s anger. “I saw you. You didn’t want him touching you.”
“That’s not true.” Hope shook her head, flushing. “I don’t need you constantly watching over me,” she said more strongly.
“You’re my little sister, Hope. That’s my job.”
“No, that was Mom’s job,” Hope said. “She’s dead and you can’t be her.” To Eden’s horror, she saw the glaze of unshed tears in Hope’s eyes.
“Hope,” she said, “I’m not trying to take Mom’s place.”
“No, you’re just trying to control me by stopping me from doing anything fun. How come you get to hang out with Riker and his friends, and you get to go to the clubs, and you get to become a vampire”—she threw her hand out at Eden’s fangs—“but I don’t get to do any of these things.”
“Hope, you don’t want these things—”
“No, you don’t want them,” Hope interrupted her, tears escaping her eyes and straying down her cheeks. “You’re the one who doesn’t realize how good you’ve got it. You don’t understand at all. That’s why it’s so unfair. I wish I—” She broke off with a sob.
Eden didn’t understand what Hope was talking about. How could she want to be a vampire? How could she want to be around Riker or any of the Ravagers? They were all violent, evil men, and Eden hated the constant threat of danger they brought with them. But of course, Hope didn’t see it that way. Eden’s eyes widened. She’d always protected Hope from the real threats. Hope had no idea.