Jarrett, AJ - Miles's Awakening [Warriors of the Light 1] (Siren Publishing Allure ManLove)

MILES’S AWAKENING

Warriors of the Light 1

AJ JARRETT

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Miles looked over his shoulder as he quickly walked down the sidewalk. He could swear someone was following him. It didn’t help that it was midnight, black as pitch, and no one else was out walking the streets in the little college town of Columbia, Missouri this late at night. He was all alone on Hilltop Street. Miles never thought his little town a scary place to live, but over the last few days, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

“Thank god.” Miles breathed a sigh of relief when his apartment complex came into view. He got his key out on the ready, so he could get in the outer door as fast as he possibly could.

More than likely he was just overreacting and freaking himself out, but it was late and bad things always seemed to happen at night on deserted streets. He had heard all the horror stories of how unsuspecting people were taken by surprise, raped and murdered, and never to be heard from again.

A shudder ran through Miles’s body. He really had to stop watching scary movies if this was going to happen every time he got a little spooked.

He was a block away when he felt someone walk up beside him. It took everything he had not wet himself right on the spot. Maybe he should have paid better attention to those movies because then his dumb ass wouldn’t have been out here all alone in the middle of the night. Miles finally understood the meaning of frozen in fear, because he couldn’t do anything but focus on his steps. Why didn’t he take that ride from Garrett?

“Just keep walking, kid. I’m not going to hurt you, but we need to get to your apartment like five minutes ago.”

The man placed his arm around Miles’s shoulders, and oddly enough, what fear he felt faded away. The sound and touch of this stranger seemed to calm his frazzled nerves. But why?

Miles tried to shake the weird feeling away and focus on the matter at hand. The man wanted to come back to his place, as if Miles had a steady stream of unknown visitors to his home all the time. He turned to look at the other man and tensed at the jolt of lust that ran through his body. The calm feeling now mixed with an uncontrollable attraction he couldn’t explain. The man was absolutely gorgeous, and as crazy as it may sound, Miles felt drawn to him as if by an invisible string tying him to the man. The same string must have been tied to his dick, as well, since it started to lengthen and reach toward the handsome stranger. The man stood at least a foot taller than him, bulky with what Miles assumed was muscle under his leather jacket and tight black jeans. His hair was a deep caramel blond with sun-kissed highlights layered in, causing his tan skin to glow. With all elements combined, it rounded out the package to make for one sexy-as-hell man. What struck Miles the most was the pair of piercing blue eyes the man had. They made him think of ice on a frozen lake. There was a coldness there that made him want to wrap a blanket around himself as to not be bitten by the bitter cold that swirled in the blue depths.

Miles gave a sharp shake of his head, trying to clear his thoughts of the sexy man herding him like a sheep to his apartment. “Excuse me. I hate to be rude, but what makes you think I will let you into my apartment?” It was a halfhearted attempt at anger because right now, his dick was standing at full salute, and he wouldn’t mind getting a little dirty with the man if he could find out for sure he didn’t just escape from a mental hospital.

“I think you will because you want to live, and I’m the one who is going to be able to protect you.”

Wait a minute, did he just say, “Protect me?” Protect me from what? Did I want to live?
Fuck yes I wanted to live
. His hard-on died a quick death. “Dude, you’re freaking me out here. What do you mean ‘want to live’ and ‘protect’ me? Is all this a trick to get into my apartment?” Miles’s eyes traveled the length of the man’s body then he met the guy’s eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re a really hot guy, but, dude, I don’t even know you.”

“Listen, I will answer all your questions once we’re in your apartment, but right now, sweet face, we need to get to your place before they attack.” That was all Miles needed to hear. He walked faster with his new friend to his front door, praying this guy wasn’t some serial killer preying on young male college students. He so didn’t want to die and have this guy chop him into little pieces and eat him. Well, he wanted the guy to eat him, but not in that way.

Once at the outer door, Miles tried to make his shaking hands work to get the key in the hole. He was so scared about this whole crazy situation. While he worked the key in the hole, the other man had his back to Miles, facing the street like he expected an attack of some sort, which for all Miles knew, he did.

“Kid, get that damn door open now!”

Just then the key turned, freeing the lock, and the door swung open. The other man pushed Miles through the entryway and slammed the door shut behind them. He ushered Miles up the stairs as if he knew exactly where he was going. That gave Miles pause. Did this guy know where he lived? Had he been stalking him?
Oh shit
,
did I just let the enemy into my home?

“Kid, you’re thinking too hard. I’m not going to kill you. I promise.” The man made the cross sign over his chest and put his hand in the air like he was making an oath to god.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“It’s written all over your face.” The man chuckled softly. “I’m not going to do anything to you.” The man gave Miles an assessing once-over from head to toe. Miles could feel the man’s gaze on his body as if it were his fingers trailing a sizzling line all over his skin. “That you wouldn’t want me to.”

Miles gulped so loudly the sound was deafening in his ears. The man stood there giving him a sexy grin. Faced with impending danger, the guy wanted to flirt? Not that Miles wasn’t flattered, but he had to get some things straight first, like who would want to hurt him? He was a lonely college student with a part-time job as a waiter. He was about as boring as a person could possibly be.

When they reached Miles’s apartment, he unlocked the door and let the man inside. Miles walked in and turned on the lamp sitting on the end table by the couch. The apartment was silent, so that meant his roommate, Trevor, wasn’t home yet. Which, for right now, might be the safest thing until Miles figured out what this guy wanted.

“I hate to sound rude, but who the hell are you, and why do I need a protector?” Miles watched as the man walked over to the front bay windows and pulled the blinds apart to look outside. He answered without even looking at him.

“My name is Ben, and I’m here to keep you from becoming vampire food, or worse, mated for an eternity to a Warrior of the Dark.”

Miles’s jaw dropped to the floor. Did he just fall into an episode of
Buffy
? He didn’t know where to begin with the questions. “So what you’re saying is there are vampires and that they want me?” He brought his hands up to his temples and began to massage the skin, hoping to wake up from this crazy dream. “You know you sound insane, right?”

“Of course I do. You lived your whole life ignorant to the fact that vampires and shifters do exist and that they lurk in the shadows.” Ben motioned with his hand for Miles to come closer. “Come here and take a look.”

As he got to the window, he couldn’t believe what he saw. A group of five men stood outside his apartment building. Across the street stood a man all by himself. It sounded crazy, but the man looked like he was staring right at him. Miles’s fear kicked back in to full-blown panic and his hands began to shake.

“What the hell is going on? I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m a freaking college student who works a part-time job. I barely have a social life, and now you’re telling me those guys”—Miles pointed down toward the street—“want to eat me? And by eat me you’re not meaning in the good, orgasmic kind of way?”

Ben nodded. He kept his attention focused out the window. Miles started to pace the floor. What else could he possibly do right now? He’d just gotten a shock of the worst kind. Supposedly mythical creatures did exist. This was just too much for him to comprehend.

“Look, it’s okay, Miles. I’m here now, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Ben stepped forward and put his large hands on Miles’s shoulders and gave a comfortable squeeze. Miles felt a little better, but it still didn’t answer who exactly Ben was and how exactly he knew the other men were vampires.

“How do you know they’re vampires?”

“Because I hunt and kill them,” Ben said through gritted teeth. His knuckles popped from squeezing his fist so tight.

It seemed all scripted from a TV show. Vampires preying on innocent people and vampire hunters protecting them? Sounded completely crazy in the life he lived. However, if what Ben was saying was true about creatures of the night and shifters, what did that make Ben?

He turned his eyes up to meet Ben’s. “So, Ben, are you a vampire, too?” Miles asked, doing his best to swallow past the lump forming in his throat.

Ben took a deep breath before he spoke. “I’m what we call a Warrior of the Light.”

Miles shook his head. He wanted a straight answer. “You didn’t answer my question, and what do you mean when you say
we
?”

“‘We’ as in my team of warriors. I’m a member of the Council of Paranormal Beings that helps protect unsuspecting humans from scum like that.” Ben nodded toward the window. “We also work to keep our existence hidden. But to answer your question if I’m a vampire, yes.”

Miles jumped back in terror. He did just let in the enemy. His father was right. He was an idiot. When Ben moved to come closer, he threw up his hands to stop him.

“Miles, I’m not that kind of vampire. Yes, I need to drink blood to survive, but I’m not like them.” He pointed down toward the men standing in the street. The man had the nerve to sound offended by his reaction.

“You just admitted to being a vampire. How would you like me to react? Ten minutes ago, I thought all that shit only existed in movies, not real life, or at least not my life,” he snapped at Ben.

Ben ran a hand through is hair. The look on the man’s face was one of annoyance and defeat. Miles wasn’t going to feel bad about his reaction to all this vampire nonsense and taking out his frustration on Ben.

How come when a sexy-as-sin man finally approaches me, he turns out to be a lunatic or worse, a creature of the night?
He just wanted a nice and normal life, but if what Ben was saying was true, normal left the building a long time ago.

“I know this is all new to you, but I promise I’m not here to hurt you. My only mission is to protect you from them.”

Okay, there he goes talking about protecting me again
. Shouldn’t he be protecting all mankind from the vampires? He had better ask the obvious because Ben wasn’t too forthcoming with the information.

“Why do I need to be protected from those dudes out there?” He said the words real slow, wanting to make sure Ben understood the question.

“Well, it’s like this.” Ben walked across the room to sit on Miles’s little couch. His large frame took up the majority of the available seating area. When he didn’t move to sit down, Ben patted the cushion beside him. Miles hated how his heartbeat sped up at the thought of sitting so close to the man.

Miles felt awkward trying to arrange himself on the couch to where he didn’t touch Ben. With a heavy sigh, Ben grabbed him around the waist and sat him right next to him. He then dropped his arm to rest on Miles’s shoulders. Miles hated how he instantly curled into Ben’s side, seeking the warmth and comfort he had to offer.

“Let me start from the beginning.” Miles nodded. “Over a thousand years ago during the medieval times, in a time long since passed, there were these two feuding villages. The leaders of the villages never seemed to agree on anything, which caused endless fighting, be it over water or crops. You name it, they fought over it.”