Embrace the Night

by Caris Roane

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dear Reader

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Thank you

  About the Author

  EMBRACE THE NIGHT

  THE BLOOD ROSE NOVELLA SERIES #5

  BY

  CARIS ROANE

  EMBRACE THE NIGHT

  By Caris Roane

  Copyright © 2014 by Caris Roane

  All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Formatting and cover by Bella Media Management.

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the fifth installment of the Blood Rose Series, EMBRACE THE NIGHT. In this book, Mastyr Jude hungers for the Port Townsend bar owner, Hannah. But how can he make a move on a woman that he gave piggy-back rides to when she was a little girl? That Hannah seems willing, doesn’t help things at all!

  He’s ignored his deepest needs for a hundred years…

  Mastyr Vampire Jude has kept his distance from all women because he lost his wife and daughter to an enemy attack a hundred years ago. He won’t go through that kind of loss again. And he won’t jeopardize another woman’s life while the deadly Invictus wraith-pairs still pose a threat in the Nine Realms. But when Hannah saves his life by creating unexpected fire from the palms of her hands, he knows that something ‘very realm’ is going on with her and he can no longer ignore his long-suppressed desire for the beautiful owner of the Gold Rush bar. When his cravings for her blood and her body drive him to take her to bed and tap into her vein, his world shifts forever. But can Hannah make the adjustment to a life lived on the frontlines of an ongoing war? And if anything should happen to her, how could he ever live with himself?

  Enjoy!

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  http://www.carisroane.com/contact-2/

  Coming Soon: Book #6, Malik and Willow’s story: EMBRACE THE WILD!!!

  Be sure to check out the Blood Rose Tales – TRAPPED, HUNGER, and SEDUCED -- shorter works for a quick, sexy, satisfying read. For more information: http://www.carisroane.com/blood-rose-tales-box-set/

  Chapter One

  Hannah Osborne had become a stupid cliché: Hot man, cold shower.

  She refused to turn away from the communications monitor, even though Mastyr Jude had just arrived and now stood behind her in the doorway. All his gorgeousness had become a lot to manage in recent weeks and she was working hard to restrain her waywardness where the powerful Mastyr of Kellcasse was concerned.

  She’d asked Jude to set up the new communication center inside her bar, the Gold Rush, since so many of his kind spent hours at her establishment.

  Jude had always come to the Gold Rush, but his visits had increased by a lot over the past few months. She wanted to tell him not to come around so much because she currently lusted after the man. Amazingly, the words would never leave her throat.

  “So, what’s the latest on the loop?” His deep voice sent shivers down her spine.

  Hannah belonged to a small, select email loop that included only women. All the women who worked the U.S. access city centers were on the loop as well as the four women currently bonded to mastyrs of the Nine Realms. Hannah had learned so much about the blood rose phenomenon that was sweeping through each realm that she often wondered when Jude’s blood rose would show up.

  But each time she had that thought, for some reason her fingers would curl until she made tight little fists with both hands and her jaw clenched. She wanted the best for Jude, of course, but another woman climbing all over him made her skin grow hot in the worst way.

  Even now, she had to take a moment to calm herself. So, yeah, in the past few months, she’d kind of gotten out of control where the Kellcasse mastyr was concerned.

  “Hannah, are you ignoring me?”

  “No … that is, what was your question?”

  “What’s the word on the loop?”

  Oh, that. “Everyone’s talking about what happened in Kellcasse, on North Island.”

  “You mean the massacre.”

  “Yes.” Hannah hadn’t wanted to use that word because it made it horribly real. Two families of trolls had been slaughtered by the Invictus, which in itself wasn’t unusual, unfortunately. But what remained a mystery was that it appeared not one member of either family tried to hide, run away, or even fight back. All realm-folk fought when the terrifying wraith-pairs attacked. “Has your forensics team come up with anything yet?”

  He shook his head. “We still don’t have a clear answer about what happened out there. Invictus got to them, of course, but no one knows why there were no signs of defensive wounds. And trolls always have places to hide.”

  The lack of an answer made Hannah’s skin crawl, though she didn’t know why. Her palms started tingling as well, something that had been happening a lot lately. She rubbed them together, trying to get rid of the sensation. Probably just nerves. “I really hope one day you’ll be able to bring the ancient fae down and end the Invictus threat once and for all.”

  “With everything I hold sacred, I do, too.”

  She almost turned to look at Jude because he’d spoken his heart. But she forced herself to remain fixed on her Internet tabs, moving between her email account and her favorite realm-based email loop, then back. She kept typing a response to the Tennessee communications center, fearing if she turned to face Jude she’d get lost all over again.

  Jude only had to show up at her bar and her whole body heated up like she had a fever. And for reasons she believed had mostly to do with the sheer breadth of his massive shoulders, her overall rise in body temperature wouldn’t dissipate until the damn man left her sight.

  She’d even resorted to using the bunkroom shower and a lot of cold water to cool down. And that water was cold! Again, so cliché.

  She’d installed the large bunkroom a few years ago to house overnight, sun-sensitive realm-folk. Sometimes, members of Jude’s Vampire Guard would come in for a pint at the end of a long night battling and stay for a few more rounds. As soon as the sun showed the first rays of its blistering heat, they headed to the bunkroom and at certain times of the year this far north that hour came early.

  But Hannah was happy to offer shelter to any of them, especially the Guardsmen, because they laid down their lives every night for their fellow realm-folk.

  “Are you ever going to turn around and talk to me? Or are you just going to keep typing?”

  The smart thing would be to keep typing. “Hold on. I’m almost done.”

  “I think you’re avoiding me.”

  Duh.

  And more heat because that voice of his, dipping into the lowest timbres, slid all the way down her chest and abdomen, making her feel things she really shouldn’t. Perspiration popped on her forehead.

  She’d known Jude since she was a child, so it seemed strange to have feelings for someone who had given her piggy-back rides.

  She paused in her typing to massage her hands once more. Th
ey were tingling again, which also happened anytime Jude showed up. Tingling hands, flushed skin, sweating. Even her heart felt laden when he was near.

  She had it bad.

  If every once in a while she suspected something more realm-ish might be at work with her fairly recent interest in the Mastyr of Kellcasse, she ignored the thought. She was one-hundred-percent human and had no interest in hooking-up with a vampire.

  So, she kept typing.

  Despite her love of realm-folk generally, and that the Gold Rush had been a gathering place for their kind for three decades, she’d never seen herself as having any kind of future away from Port Townsend. She loved her bar, her cliff-side home, her Puget Sound lifestyle. She’d never even dated a realm man, just humans, which was another reason that her sudden profound lust for Jude had come as such a surprise.

  The whole thing had started about four months ago. She’d been re-stocking cleaning supplies when he’d come into the small space. She’d intended to greet him, maybe even give him a hug which she offered to all the Guardsmen for the hard work they performed every night of their lives.

  But as she turned and met his smoky gray eyes, some kind of switch got thrown deep inside her feminine soul. He’d been almost family to her and just like that, she wanted to see his broad shoulders without his shirt on. Even her nipples had puckered with sudden profound interest, something he’d noticed because she’d been wearing a t-shirt. Hard to disguise aroused nipples through a silk bra and a thin layer of cotton.

  He hadn’t said anything for a long moment, just stared at her breasts. He’d blinked a couple of times, and the closet, barely big enough for both of them, soon filled with a very peppery-spicy, masculine scent that clipped her at the back of her knees.

  She tottered and would have fallen, but he caught her arm and held her up. “You okay, Hannah?”

  He’d searched her eyes, and she nodded but very slowly like she was moving underwater.

  She’d made up some excuse about not having eaten all day, but ever since that closet incident, she’d been lit up like a Neon sign, despite the fact that she ignored him as much as she could.

  Of course it was hard to pretend Jude didn’t exist in a room about twelve-feet square since Jude was built like a tank. Muscles on muscles.

  His deep voice, resonating with a number of delicious layers, rolled over her. “So how are you, Hannah?”

  Just keep typing.

  Her breathing faltered. “I’m fine. Heard you came in earlier with a couple of your Guardsmen just to wrap up the night.”

  “I did, but I sent them off a bit ago. Wanted to have a word with you before I left. I’ve got about twenty minutes to get my ass back to my house in central Kellcasse.”

  “You can always stay in the bunkroom.” She kept her fingers moving, but her cheeks flamed. Would he misinterpret the suggestion as a come-on?

  “I know, but I’m a fast flyer. I’ll make it.”

  Jude was a fast everything, the most powerful vampire in his realm.

  “What’s up?” Just trying to keep things friendly and even.

  “I haven’t seen you in a few days. Everything okay in here?”

  “The center is humming, as usual. Your techs did a brilliant job setting everything up. But you know that.” Clack, clack, clack.

  The communications room was a recent addition to the back of her bar, part of a Nine Realms plan to keep messages flowing outside the realms. The enemy, known as Margetta the ancient fae, had ways of blocking realm-to-realm communications. Centers in access point cities, like Port Townsend, kept information moving swift and sure among all nine mastyr vampires.

  This time, Jude drew close and once more she struggled to breathe, his peppery scent hitting her hard. He smelled like something you’d rub on meat and cook for a long time. Allspice maybe.

  She took a slow drag through both nostrils, and her body heated up a little more.

  He leaned close, ostensibly to look at the monitor, but she knew he struggled as she did, feeling things he didn’t want to feel either. She often caught him staring at her with a hungry look, or checking her out when she moved through a room.

  She’d been no different.

  “So you’ve been emailing back and forth with Lebanon.”

  “Yes, they wanted to know about North Island, and of course I’ve had little info. But I just updated them with what you told me.”

  “I’m liking all the back and forth.”

  “Me, too. I mean, it makes total sense.” Why did he have to smell so good?

  “You are ignoring me.”

  At that, Hannah clicked ‘send’, then swiveled in her chair to face him. He was so close though, that she had to push her chair sideways or they would have collided. “No, I haven’t. Really. Why would you say that?”

  Those eyes.

  His gray eyes, surrounded as they were with thick lashes, always hit her stomach like a hard punch these days. He had thick, straight brows that made him look ferocious when he frowned. His nose had a slight hawkish appearance and his cheekbones looked sculpted. But it was his thick, curly, black hair that made him look wild, dangerous and unbelievably handsome. How many times had she thought about removing his Guardsman clasp so that she could spend a half hour or so getting her fingers all tangled up.

  He was a man’s man at a muscular six-five. Built on massive lines, he was eye-candy of the most savory. Several of her girlfriends had ordered her to call them the moment he showed up at the Gold Rush. They’d arrive ten minutes later, a flock of seagulls descending on a seashore feast.

  Did he want two kids? Three? Maybe a dozen?

  He flashed a set of brilliant white teeth and her stomach squeezed up. One smile and he could bring down an entire room full of women.

  His voice once more filled the room. “Why do I think you were ignoring me? Because you kept typing when you knew I was standing in the doorway. Or do I just annoy you like a cranky forest gremlin these days? Or maybe I bore you.”

  She couldn’t help but chuckle. She’d never seen a forest gremlin, but she’d heard plenty of stories so she could imagine what he meant. “You could never bore me. Your life is too interesting and way too dangerous to be boring. So what would you like to know? Although, I’m sure your Kellcasse center has kept you informed?”

  He smiled. “Yes, and you were right to recommend Longeness for the job. He’s detail-oriented and keeps everything moving. So, thank you for that.”

  “Well, you’re welcome. I just had a feeling he’d work out for you.” Jude had built a communication center in Kellcasse about the same time he’d set up this center in her bar. She’d known Longeness and his wife, both fae, for years since they’d made her bar a second home on their date-nights.

  Jude glanced around. The room didn’t have windows, one of the requirements for the access point centers, that way a vampire or a fae would never have to worry about light-and-sun issues. “I wanted to give you a heads up as well. We had a rough encounter about an hour ago. Really strange, though, because we chased a wraith-pair out over the Sound, if you can believe that.”

  “You’re kidding.” Hannah was surprised. The deadly wraith-pairs rarely if ever crossed the access point lines. “What were they doing out here?”

  Jude shrugged. “Hell if I know.” But something in his expression concerned Hannah.

  He eased back against the long, steel-reinforced counter, crossing his arms over his chest. At least he’d left his way-too-sexy Guardsman coat in the bar area of the building, but still looked amazing in his loose woven, maroon shirt, snug battle leathers, and hip boots that had several small intricate silver medallions running up and down the side seams. Lately she’d felt an impulse to touch the medallions, one more sign she was out-of-control when it came to the man.

  Jude shifted his gaze away from her and frowned. He dragged air through his nostrils and his jaw ground a couple of times. She knew something was troubling him; he’d been uneasy since he’d helped Mastyr S
eth battle the ancient fae a few months ago.

  She admired the hell out of Jude. He cared about his men and took his duties as mastyr of his realm seriously. No one loved the beautiful, forested island realm of Kellcasse more than Jude. And he saved lives every night of his life by battling wraith-pairs.

  She reached out and clasped him on the shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  He met her gaze and grimaced, but nodded.

  His smile reappeared as he turned to look at her. “You want me to spill my guts?”

  She tilted her head. She wouldn’t stand for bullshit, not from him or anyone. “Yes, I want to know why, for a moment there, you looked like the world was about to crash down on your head.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Jude stared into eyes the color of a beautiful sunset, the kind when the sky goes all violet just before it drifts to gray. No one had eyes like Hannah Osborne, not even some of the more exotic fae in his Realm. She ran the Port Townsend Realm Communication Center that connected every earth access point city with all the other cities. Hannah basically managed this center and kept it working like a well-oiled machine with several employees rotating shifts during the day and night. Some were Realm, others were humans who enjoyed the company of realm-folk, the latter quality one of Hannah’s prerequisites for the job when she did the interviewing.

  So, yeah, the center hummed.

  She was tall, almost six feet, and he liked that about her. Though she was very fair and almost delicate in her features, she had a strength about her that pleased him and which was the main reason he’d agreed to let her be in charge of the center.

  She wore her light brown hair loose about her shoulders. It had a slight curl and golden highlights. With arched brows, thick lashes and full lips, she was a damn beautiful woman.

  He’d known her for years and could even remember a time when as a kid she sat on the bar, throwing darts at the dart board clear across the room. This misuse of the darts had brought her father in from the backroom, his face red with rage.

  ‘You could hurt someone, girl.’ He always called his daughter ‘girl’ when she was in trouble. Hannah had gotten in big trouble and because Jude had encouraged her to misbehave, he’d gone after her.