Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (129 page)

She watched him chat with friends at the bar, other vampires getting drinks for their dates. He laughed and smiled. He had an easy charisma that reminded her of Ethan, that kind of charm with a broad smile, handsome teeth, eyes that carried a lot of life and intelligence.

And this could well be their last date.

The man had his reasons. She’d give him that. He swore that keeping their dating life limited kept her physically safe. Even if on an essential level she disagreed with him, she couldn’t fault him for being capricious. Just unyielding.

He worked hard, in a dangerous line of work and had lost a good friend, Alec, a year ago to an enemy attack shortly after the friend had reached mastyr status. That Alec’s woman had died with him had affected Yolen deeply.

Yolen contended that Alec’s death had been premeditated, that the Invictus had targeted him because he’d gained a new level of power and had become an even greater threat. So the Invictus had singled him out because the fiendish element in the Nine Realms made up exclusively of bonded wraith-pairs, had become more organized in recent years. Brianna had no difficulty at all believing that Alec’s death had been part of a plot.

Yet despite Yolen’s reasons, every ounce of her being cried out for a greater connection to him.

Her throat grew unbearably tight at the thought of never seeing him again, so she got busy removing her shawl and draping it over the back of her chair.

The Long Tooth bar was their usual spot, full of warrior-types and the fae women who went for them. She waved at a few friends, smiled, and looked for some excuse not to break-up with her man.

The door behind her opened and a sudden cool rush of air flowed into the bar. She turned, as most everyone did, to check out the latest arrivals.

Two vampires walked in, one of them a mastyr with a swagger in his step, Mastyr Keynes. He didn’t belong to the Bergisson Guard, but he could have, he was that big and had that much power.

Without understanding exactly why, her gaze flipped to Keynes and for some reason got stuck. Was it her imagination or did he have a new and very intriguing aura going on? Even her heart started beating harder just looking at him.

She knew who Keynes was, of course. Everyone in Cameron did, though she’d never met him. He was a man of considerable wealth, who had a number of business interests in the city.

The funny thing was, she’d always thought him a bit arrogant for her tastes, very full of himself. But tonight somehow he seemed different. She’d never noticed before how much his mastyr status appealed to her.

Some said that if Yolen ever finally tapped into his mastyr calling he’d be equal to Ethan who ruled all of Bergisson Realm because of the level of his power. She knew that when a vampire accepted his mastyr calling and embraced the new mantle, the Sidhe Council measured his ability in order to determine if he should become the new ruler of his realm.

Nine Realms law was simple: the most powerful vampire ruled.

Brianna didn’t need Yolen to embrace his power, not if he didn’t want to, but she did need more from him. Although she supposed it was possible that the two concepts were somehow connected, though she truly hadn’t considered the idea before. Did Yolen’s unwillingness to become a mastyr vampire have something to do with how much he held back in his relationship with her?

Keynes met her gaze and narrowed his sharp, hawkish gray eyes as he watched her. She couldn’t look away. She didn’t even want to.

He whispered something to his wingman, who nodded, glanced at Brianna with a knowing smile, then headed toward the bar.

Keynes drew close. “You’re the artist, Brianna, right?” He had a resonant voice, though not as deep as Yolen’s.

“I am. And you’re Mastyr Keynes.”

He nodded. “You go out with that tall detective who works one of the eastern districts, if I’m not mistaken.”

She still couldn’t drag her gaze away from Keynes as she gestured with a toss of her hand the opposite direction. “Yolen’s at the bar.”

Keynes smiled. “That’s it. Detective Yolen. But why would he leave you alone for even a second? He seems to be taking some pretty serious risks with you.”

She turned toward him a little more, still surprised by his sudden appeal. “He’s getting us a couple of beers. Would you care to join us?” Okay, this was way off the grid, inviting another man to join in her date with Yolen. Somewhere deep inside her brain warning bells started going off.

His gaze drifted down the front of her shirt, dwelling for a long moment on her cleavage. She’d worn the deep-cut blouse for Yolen, yet right now, she didn’t mind Keynes looking. Sure enough, another warning bell sounded. What the hell was going on with her? Maybe she was more intent on ending things with Yolen than she’d realized.

His gaze drifted up her throat and his nostrils flared. “By all the elf lords,” he murmured on what sounded like a pained whisper, “you smell incredible.”

He breathed in again, closing his eyes this time, then leaning close. When he opened them once more, the hunger she saw there aroused her something fierce. Sweet Goddess, what the hell was happening?

But what she said next, startled her, as though she’d completely lost her moral compass. “See anything you want?” Then she slowly slid her hair away from her throat. Was this her? Why was she doing this? She didn’t understand. But a sudden need to feed the vampire rolled through her in a steady, hot wave.

“You smell like ancient seas rich with life, with a kind of sweet flower underneath. I don’t think I’ve ever known anything like it.”

Slowly, he settled a hand on her shoulder, moving in tight to sniff all along her cheek.

His touch ignited a fire that stunned Brianna and she almost asked him to take her out of there, to take her home, even to take her to bed.

But she couldn’t do that to Yolen. She tried to draw back, but his hand was clamped on her shoulder and a terrible part of her didn’t want him to let go. And she really didn’t understand why her heart pounded so heavily in her chest, crying out to satisfy what she could sense was the vampire’s terrible craving for her blood.

***

Yolen tucked his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans and was about to pick up the two pints he’d just bought, when an odd vibration in the air started pummeling him.

Leaving the beers where they were, he turned slowly in Brianna’s direction. Both biceps flexed all over again, but for a different reason. This time, he smelled Brianna’s desire on the air, his woman’s unique scent, a faint whiff of jasmine combined with sea air, a scent he’d come to love and to savor.

A scent meant only for him.

But a man leaned over her, way too close.

Mastyr Keynes.

He appeared to be nuzzling Brianna’s neck, his hand caressing her shoulder.

Worse, Brianna was into him.

Yolen had only been gone a couple of minutes and not only had another man put the moves on his woman, but Brianna liked what he was doing.

He heard a strange rushing sound in his ears, blood through his veins. Power rose in a terrifying geyser, a familiar surge attached to his mastyr calling, and he roared.

He launched himself in levitated flight across the room, well above the crowd. He nicked some of the hanging lights at the same time, which sent people ducking and screaming.

Keynes, in slow motion, pivoted in his direction, and smiled, his eyes darkening. Then he launched at Yolen.

At the same moment, he saw Brianna’s eyes widen. She grabbed her shawl and her satchel and moved to the far wall.

Good. She was safe.

Then it was game on as he caught the bastard midair and brought him hard to the floor, banging into chairs. Things crashed around him as he pounded Keynes’s face, that smug look of mastyr self-importance.

Something struck at his own chin and cheek a couple of times, but he wasn’t feeling anything except the need to connect his fist with any part of Keynes’s body.

But Keynes was damn strong and jumped his feet. Yolen followed and got in a hard hit. Keynes’s head jerked back, just enough for Yolen to watch as Brianna slung her shawl over her shoulders and, with her satchel tucked beneath her arm, left the bar.

His woman was leaving. He didn’t want her to leave. He couldn’t let her leave.

When she opened the door, he even felt a cool breeze blow through the space or maybe it was the wind caused by Keynes’s fist as he hit Yolen square on his unguarded jaw.

Stars followed, as well as an odd view of the bar’s ceiling and swinging overhead lights.

Yolen drifted to the floor, then everything went dark.

Detective Yolen of the Nine Realms police force strives to keep his dissatisfied girlfriend safe from a mastyr vampire intent on possessing her at all costs.

He won’t become a mastyr vampire just to please his woman…

Yolen keeps his love life and his work life separate with one goal in mind – to protect Brianna. After seeing his best friend slaughtered by the enemy, he will do whatever it takes to ensure Brianna’s safety even if it means holding her at a distance. But the woman doesn’t seem to understand and demands more of him. At the same time, his mastyr calling surges whenever he’s around her, causing him to crave her more than ever. Because he believes in what he’s doing, however, he digs in his heels and sticks to seeing her only on Friday nights. But does he risk losing the woman he loves by keeping her at arm’s length?

She needs so much more from the man she loves…

Brianna longs for a deeper connection with Yolen, the man she loves, but he’s sworn to limit their relationship to a date once-a-week. At the same time, her heart labors with an overproduction of what her vampire boyfriend needs the most, yet he’s not around to relieve the strain on her heart. When another vampire courts her, one who has already embraced his mastyr calling, Brianna is drawn to him in a way she doesn’t understand. She can’t seem to help herself as she agrees to go out with him. Yet, how can she turn away from Yolen when she loves him body and soul? Will Yolen finally relent and give her what she needs?

USA Today Bestselling Author, Caris Roane, has authored fifteen paranormal vampire romances for her Blood Rose, Guardians of Ascension, and Men in Chains series. Writing previously as Valerie King, she won the prestigious career achievement award in Regency Romance from Romantic Times. Caris lives in Arizona.

To learn more about all her paranormal worlds, be sure to visit her website:
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Embrace the Dark

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Darkness Falls

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