Blood Knot
Authors: Tracy Cooper-Posey
Winter, a professional thief who can manipulate others’ biologies by touch, accidentally “healed” her former partner—and former vampire—Sebastian, whom she secretly loves. Her healing created a symbiotic pairing between them that neither of them wants.
Nathanial, a sexy thousand-year-old vampire and Sebastian’s ex-lover, talks Sebastian and Winter into stealing evidence that will expose all vampires to the world. But Nathanial is a puppet-master who doesn’t believe in falling in love with humans, leaving Winter unsure of his real feelings for her once he seduces her, or how he feels about Sebastian, the former vampire-now-human whose life he has turned upside down once more.
But the evidence they steal is hot property. The future of all vampires is on the line and others will stop at nothing to get it, leaving Sebastian, Winter and Nathanial with no allies but each other. They must trust each other to survive. Only…can they?
Eyes of a Stranger
Chronicles of the Lost Years
Case of the Reluctant Agent
Dare to Return
Diana by the Moon
Forbidden (writing as Anastasia Black)
Red Leopard
Solstice Surrender
Heart of Vengeance
Dangerous Beauty (writing as Anastasia Black)
Silent Knight
Lucifer’s Lover
Black Heart
Thief in the Night
Masquerade’s Mate
Cameo Role
Ningaloo Nights
Betting With Lucifer
Dead Double
Dead Again
Blue Knight
Beth’s Acceptance
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
Eva’s Last Dance
Carson’s Night
Kiss Across Time
Beauty’s Beasts
Destiny’s Trinity
Kiss Across Swords
See
Tracy's site
for details on each title.
by
Tracy Cooper-Posey
STORIES RULE PUBLICATIONS
STORIES RULE PUBLICATIONS
A sole proprietorship owned and operated by Tracy Cooper-Posey
This is an original publication of Tracy Cooper-Posey
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2011 by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Text design by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Cover design by Dar Albert,
Wicked Smart Designs
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
FIRST EDITION: March 2011
Cooper-Posey, Tracy
Blood Knot/Tracy Cooper-Posey – 1st Ed.
Vampires—Fiction 2. New York—Fiction
HE GOT THE drop on her, but he was a vampire so he had the advantage of speed and stealth. Too, he was only the second vampire Winter had ever met. Just like Sebastian, this one posed as human, but Singapore had made Winter smarter in one foul night.
He came up behind her as she was stuffing the last of the foil food packages into her backpack. Winter was working on the bench in her shed, thinking about trails and weather and the weight of her pack. She had let her guard down, which was a mistake. Just because Helena, Montana, wasn’t New York, New York and she was technically retired didn’t mean a thing to others in the thievery business.
The floor of the shed was sand, with liberal splashes of old machine oil that gave the shed a musty aroma that always made Winter think of men swearing as they worked on their vehicles, stripped to the waist and kicking the tires for good measure. She liked working in the shed. It made her feel industrious.
The oil and dirt also made the vampire’s approach silent. Instead, a change in the quality of the early morning light filtering through the open double doors, glinting off the side of her black Ford Explorer sitting silently to her right had tipped her off. In her peripheral vision something had flickered—
She whirled, snatching the lug wrench up from the bench and kept turning.
The wrench slammed into the man’s forearm. He’d been reaching for her. She saw startling blue eyes. Short black unruly hair. That was all she had time to register. He cried out in surprise and his arm was forced upwards by the impact of the wrench.
Winter ducked under his arm and took off, heading for the open doors of the shed. It meant moving past his left hand, but she had surprised him. He might not react fast enough.
His hand snapped out, curling around her arm and bringing her to a halt with enough strength that she was yanked almost completely off her feet. Her breath pushed out of her.
Fear sizzled through her as he slammed her up against the Explorer. The
strength
in him! And she couldn’t help the comparison, even though she hated herself for even thinking of it: Sebastian had never shown such strength. Had never hinted of such power, before.
Bitterness circled through her as she looked at the man’s—the vampire’s—face. Sebastian had been careful never to reveal his full power, she realized.
“
You’re a vampire,” she concluded.
“
Very good,” he said, stepping away from her. He had an accent, a strange one. She thought it might be Eastern European, but it had eroded so badly from either years or other cultures she would have to hear him speak further to know for sure.
He held out his hand. “If you don’t mind? I did not come here to fight.”
Winter shook her head. “I’ll keep the wrench for now.”
He smiled in a way that made it look like he was trying not to laugh. “As you wish.” He shrugged. The shrug seemed to say,
Keep your toy. Don’t keep it. It is irrelevant to me
.
Winter looked down at the wrench. She had hit him with enough force to break a normal man’s arm and he had merely brushed her aside. With a grimace, she tossed the wrench onto the bench. She was going to have to rely on his word that he wasn’t here to fight.
“
Thank you,” he said. He took another step back, putting a good two feet of space between them.
“
I didn’t put the wrench down for you.” Winter wasn’t fooled by the space. Once—just once—she had seen how fast Sebastian could react when he needed to. This man could close the space at a speed Winter would be hard put to follow with her naked eyes. This
vampire
.
He spread his hands in an amiable gesture. “You did not put the wrench down for me, but I thank you anyway.” He dropped his hands to his sides once more. It was an easy, comfortable stance. Sebastian would have shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans by now. This one wasn’t wearing jeans, though. He had on what looked like a pair of dark grey or black suede trousers and a black leather jacket. That was all the detail she could make out in the low light of the shed.
“
I did not mean to startle you,” he continued. “You were concentrating on your task. I called your name, but you didn’t respond.”
“
You lie,” she said flatly. “The dog would have warned me if your approach had been so open.”
“
The dog?” He smiled. “I see that Sebastian was not entirely forthcoming about our nature.” He turned his head to look toward the open shed door.
After a few seconds, her big German Shepherd, Prince, trotted inside and over to the man. He sat in front of him and looked up with his tongue hanging out.
The man patted Prince’s head.
Winter stared at the massive dog, who had an uneven temper and had snapped at her once or twice. Now Prince licked the vampire’s hand and gave little whines.
“
His name is Steffen, by the way, not Prince.”
Winter gave a short laugh. “Says who?”
“
He does.” The man shrugged again. “These are pack creatures. You need to be a master to him, not a mother. That is why he gets confused at times and snaps.” He glanced at the door. “Go now,” he told the dog.
Prince—Steffen—turned and trotted out of the shed again, his bushy tail wagging.
“
Who are you?” she demanded. “And what do you want?”
He straightened, brushing dog hairs from his hand. “Perhaps we should discuss this inside.”
“
Too dirty for you here?” she asked sweetly. She shook her head. “You’re not stepping foot inside my house.” She let her smile widen. “We can sit outside if you like. I have a table and chairs on the front deck.”
He glanced out at the steadily brightening day. “No, thank you.” He brought his gaze back to her. His eyes seemed luminous and she wondered if it was just a trick of the light. “But you already knew I would refuse, didn’t you? A fact that Sebastian has chosen to impart, then.”
“
Nope.” She crossed her arms. “But I’ve done a lot of thinking lately, digging through past events. Sebastian avoided direct sunlight when he could. He could walk around in sunlight and didn’t explode or go up in flame, but he wasn’t happy about it.” Annoyance touched her. Why was she spilling her guts to this person, anyway? “You know Sebastian. You know him well enough to know his…” She hesitated. She could barely find an appropriate word for the precise relationship between them. “You know Sebastian well enough to know Sebastian might have revealed his true nature to me. I can think of very few people in Sebastian’s life he might give that information to. And only one of them is a vampire.”
The man stood watching her, his expression unmoving. He wasn’t going to help her by offering any confirmation, or speaking the uncomfortable truth for her.
Winter gripped her elbows with her fingers, squeezing tightly. Her heart was racing. Too much adrenaline was pumping through her system. She reached inside, and counteracted the adrenaline with endorphins. She massaged her heart and brought her blood pressure back down to more normal levels. If this vampire was who she now suspected him to be, she was going to need every advantage, both physical and mental, she could muster to deal with him. Calm returned.
“
If you are who I think you are,” Winter told him, “then I do not understand why you are here.”
“
Who am I?” he asked, sounding curious.
