Tempting Whispers: The Kategan Alphas 6

WARNING
: The content in this
book contains explicit sexual content. This book is intended for mature
audiences only. It contains sexually explicit scenes that may be offensive.
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This book is a work
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of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, though reference to
actual events or locations may be real.

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Cover image by: Dphotographer/www.istockphoto.com

Text design by: T. A.
Grey

Tempting Whispers:
The Kategan Alphas 6 © July 2012 by T. A. Grey

www.tagrey.com

All Rights Reserved

Also available by T. A. Grey

THE KATEGAN ALPHAS

Breeding
Cycle

Dark
Awakening

Wicked
Surrender

Eternal
Temptation

Dark
Seduction

Tempting
Whispers

THE BELLUM SISTERS TRILOGY

Chains
of Frost

Bonds of
Fire

Ties
That Bind

STANDALONE WORKS

Capturing
Jeron

Midnight
Sex Shop

 Evernight
Romance Anthology –

‘The
Vampire’s Mate’

One Last
Chance (free)

Ecstasy
Overload (free)

Dedication

To my fans for wanting
more Kategans and for taking a chance on a newbie writer. And to everyone who
helps me to finish my books: my editor, my beta readers, and my fiancé, who
always listens (or pretends to very well) when I need an ear. Thank you!

Chapter 1

Brayden slid the finished paperwork
across the desk. “Is that it?”

The clerk looked over the papers with a
nod. “Everything looks good here. You’ll be due back to work in three weeks.”
The young vampire picked up a large stamp and pressed the approved seal against
the bottom of his verification forms. “So, what do you plan on doing for your
vacation? Traveling?”

Brayden took his copy of the paperwork
and folded it neatly before putting it in his jacket pocket. “Not quite. I’m
doing someone a favor.” He left it at that. With a final nod, he turned and
left the HR department.

The Justicars headquarters were swarmed
with an assortment of vampires and lykaens all looking very human in their
business suits, with their briefcases, and talking on their cellphones. Brayden
didn’t like the idea of taking a vacation. He liked to work, enjoyed his job,
and was damn good at it. But in the two years since he’d promised Alpha Vane
Kategan that he’d find out what happened to his mate’s dead mother, he’d come
up with nearly nothing. More and more caseloads of peace treaties, rogue
lykaens and vampires, and trials had kept him occupied. Finally, at Sarina’s
beseeching phone call last night, he promised to take time off and see the
matter through once and for all.

In two years, he’d gone through all the
paperwork there was on the matter. Had even spoken twice to the Justicar that
led the investigation—for what there was of one. The investigation as it was
had merely consisted of taking King Brunes’ witness report of the night, since
no others were around, and doing an autopsy that showed, indeed, Queen Clara
Brunes had drowned that night almost fifteen years ago while out on their
yacht.

Talk about opening a cold case.

The only piece of evidence he had, the
only reason he hadn’t canceled his investigation sooner was that something with
the case didn’t settle right in his gut. All the paperwork was cut neat; every
‘T’
crossed and
‘i’
dotted. He couldn’t quite lay his finger on what
bothered him about it. Perhaps it was the lack of witnesses that night out on
their yacht, or maybe the fact that the Justicar on the case accepted King
Brunes’ version of events as fact without drilling him further. Either way,
Brunes wouldn’t be the first high-profile person to get away with murder, and
if he had, then Brayden knew he’d catch him. Everyone paid for their crimes.

“Get your hands off of me!” The feminine
scream brought a frown to his face. The Justicars headquarters was a quiet,
serious place, not a place to throw a fit. Brayden’s shoulders stiffened and he
made his way quickly down the hall toward the sound of rising voices.

“Security, get her out of here!”

Brayden took a left into the lobby and
stopped hard. Two security guards had their hands locked around a struggling
woman’s arms, trying desperately to drag her out the front door. She looked
small, yet when she dug her feet into the tiled floor, it stopped the guards
momentum. A quick glance showed that people were already stopping to watch the
show.

“I need that order. You have to give it
to me!” the woman pleaded in a desperate voice.

The guards dug their feet in and by
brute strength started dragging the woman toward the revolving doors. “Come on
now, you’re making a scene,” one of the guard’s said between clenched teeth.

The woman kicked one of the guard’s
knees and he cursed, his hands flying off her. She turned and started
struggling with the other. Brayden shook his head and strode forward.

“Enough! What is this?”

The guard’s eyes widened as he saw him.
He straightened quickly, the hands holding the woman forgotten. “Sir, I
apologize for this...problem. We’re taking care of it.”

“That not what it looks like.” He
leveled his gaze on the back of the woman’s head. “What’s the problem here?”

The woman’s back stiffened and then she
turned around slowly, her face raising to meet his. Brayden felt like he got
hit in the gut with a sledgehammer. All the air whooshed out of his lungs. The
slightly taller than average female form, the dark brown eyes and hair, the
slender form. She looked almost exactly the same. Almost being the key word.
She’d grown. Her body had filled out in ways that made his blood warm—something
he didn’t even want to think about. And her eyes were tense, hard.

“Vanessa Kategan?” He couldn’t keep
himself from asking, even though he knew it was her. From her flowery, feminine
scent, to the Kategan coloring in her eyes and hair.

Her eyes flared in shock. “Brayden? What
are you doing here?”

That sent a brow flying upward. “I work
here. What are you doing here?” The last he’d heard, her father had reached an agreement
with Vane and had collected her from Vane’s lands.

Her gaze skittered to the clerk behind
the lobby desk to glare. “I came for help, but obviously I’m in the wrong place,
since no one wants to help me.”

If she didn’t have his attention before,
she sure did now. “What are you talking about? Help with what?”

Her lips flattened and she sent a
disgusted glare to the guards that had been trying to escort her out. She
turned back to him, gave him an assessing glance then shook her head. “Nothing,
apparently. No one can help me. Goodbye, Brayden.” Turning away, she pushed
between the two guards mumbling “assholes” under her breath, then went through
the revolving doors.

Brayden was after her before he thought
twice about it.

Chapter 2

The sky overhead darkened with oncoming
storm clouds of black and gray. If it started to pour right now, it’d fit her
mood.

“Fucking assholes,” Vanessa said, just
because it made her feel a little better.

Tucking her chin down, she made her way
down the path with one haunting thought in her mind—what was she supposed to do
now?

“Vanessa, wait!” The deeply familiar
voice brought her feet to a stop. She turned and knew the pounding of her heart
had nothing to do with how angry she was and everything to do with the strong,
gorgeous man striding toward her.

“Brayden.” He looked even better than
she remembered which was some feat, considering she’d pictured him often and in
various degrees of undress as time had passed. Though tall, he didn’t appear as
tall as she remembered. She had grown a few inches since she last saw him,
topping out at a whopping 5’6”. But he had to be a few over six, which meant
she had to pull her head back to look up at him. His gray eyes looked the same—piercing,
beautiful, and bright. They shone out from his tanned skin in a way that caught
a woman’s eye. She swallowed over the lump in her throat. Just looking at him
made her skin feel stretched, too tight, her every cell sensitized and on
alert. He had the look of a man who could take a woman to bed and show her the
kind of pleasure she only dreamed of.

And the sport’s jacket he wore over his
suit shirt and black slacks did nothing to diminish the strength of his body.
He was built like a warrior, sturdy and strong. He kept his light-brown curling
hair clipped close to his head with just enough length to make her wonder what
it’d feel like to thread her fingers between. He looked like a knight in an
accountant’s clothing.

“What are you doing here?” He sounded
angry. Now that wasn’t a surprise. It seemed everything she ever did pissed him
off.

She let out a deep breath. “Unless you
can help me, that’s none of your business. Do you think you can help me?” Her
stomach muscles tightened as she held her breath. God, she needed help. She’d thought
that by coming here, they’d give her all the answers she would need. She’d sign
a few papers and be done with it and then she could move on with her life. If
only it was that simple.

“It depends.” He looked around at the
crowd of faces walking past them. “Where’s your family?”

She smiled and knew it was sad. “Not
here. This doesn’t involve them.” At least, not in the way he probably thought.

His eyes stopped sweeping the faces
around them and locked on hers. It felt like he could discover every hidden
thought she had with those striking eyes. For a moment, panic flared that he
could, but she relaxed her mind. He was just a vampire, and being one didn’t
give him a special psychic power. Just a thing for blood and living long.

“All right, then, tell me what’s wrong?
And why you’re in Chicago.”

The words almost tumbled from her lips.
She wanted to. Maybe it was because he’d saved her in the past. Just being near
him made her feel safe, like everything was going to be fine. It was a lie. She
had to remember that. If she told him and he didn’t help her, he could ruin the
little bit of freedom she’d fought so hard to achieve.

She smiled at him. “Sorry, I can’t do
that.” Her phone beeped at her and she pulled it out of her back pocket. “Time
for me to get to work.” She gave him one last look. Not for the first time, her
mind flashed to what it would have been like to be mated to him instead. She
doubted, even with his ostensibility, that she’d be here right now getting
thrown out of Justicar’s headquarters. He wasn’t like Joseph, not at all. “Take
care, Brayden.”

She turned to leave, but his hand caught
her arm. His hand touched the bare skin of her arm making her breath catch as
warmth rushed through her body. “What do you mean you have a job here? You live
here now? Where do you work?”