by Iris Abbott
“Plenty,” Mitch said with a secret smile. “But the right woman’s worth all the trouble in the world.” He got a goofy grin on his face that belied the killer nature of his beast.
Drew coughed to cover up a wayward laugh. It was hilarious to see his badass alpha cousin turned to putty after one thought of his human mate, Scarlet. His other cousin was just as bad with his wife, Rose. Drew shook his head. He’d dated plenty, and he had yet to meet a woman capable of taking over his world. He just didn’t see it happening.
****
A loud knock startled Zoe. She glanced at the bedside clock. It was too early to be Kara, and she wasn’t expecting Tara until sometime late tomorrow. She walked to the door and glanced out of the peephole. She gasped at the first glimpse of the gorgeous male standing outside her room.
She immediately thought that her visitor was too good-looking to be a mere mortal. Zoe instinctively grabbed her throat and took a hasty step away from the door. She didn’t think he was a vampire. Her fine-tuned sixth sense wasn’t screaming a warning at her, but a vampire hunter in unfamiliar surroundings could never be too careful.
He knocked again. “Ms. Zoe Myers, my name is Drew Gannon. I’m here to deliver three invitations to the Russo Halloween party.”
The deep sound of his voice vibrated through her body, and her stomach clenched. She was still reluctant to let him inside. “Just slide them under the door.” Her voice came out in an undignified croak. She quickly cleared her throat.
“Sorry, can’t do that. They have to be hand delivered. And I need to retrieve Brianna Sheldon’s invitation while I’m here. It’s a security issue,” he insisted.
“For a Halloween party?” Zoe muttered under her breath.
The man must have excellent hearing because he answered. “It’s the social event of the year around these parts. Invitations are highly coveted,” he said with a grin.
Zoe took a deep breath and concentrated on the man who lingered behind the door. His dark hair was thick and glossy. His chiseled features were almost too harsh to be considered handsome, but she thought he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.
She didn’t sense evil, and he had all the right details including Brianna’s name. For some reason, Zoe trusted the older woman, even felt a connection with her. She unlocked the deadbolt and hesitantly pulled open the door, making sure to keep the thick slab of wood between her body and his. She lightly touched the outline of the hilt of the combat knife strapped to her thigh. It was there if she needed it.
The stranger stepped into the room immediately making it feel ten times smaller. He was probably close to six two and towered over her. His shoulders were broad enough to block the sun. Zoe instinctively took a step closer to him. She had to fight the urge to press her body against his and run her fingers through his windblown hair.
Zoe fought to get control of her runaway urges. She flexed her hands and dug her nails into the wood of the door to keep from reaching out to touch him. She’d seen plenty of good-looking men before. She couldn’t understand why the one standing in front of her was having such an overwhelming effect on her.
He gave her a lopsided grin that sent a flare of heat from Zoe’s core to the rest of her body. She squeezed her thighs together and returned the smile. The sizzling attraction between them was a significant distraction, one Zoe didn’t need. In her line of work, distractions could equal death.
She held out her hand to accept the invitations. “I wasn’t expecting a special delivery, thank you.”
He took the offered hand in his, raised it to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. “Coming here was definitely no hardship,” he said with a wicked grin.
The flesh on her hand tingled where his lips touched it. Zoe had never fainted in her life, but she felt her body sway. A strong arm wrapped around her waist to steady her and keep her upright. She straightened her spine and stepped out of his embrace. Zoe was no weakling, and she didn’t want anyone thinking she was.
“I’ll get Brianna’s invitation for you.” She walked further into the room. Usually, she would not turn her back on a stranger, but Zoe needed the space and time to collect herself. She grabbed the gilded envelope from her purse and walked it over to Drew.
He lounged against the door, and his gaze followed her every move. She swallowed hard. He was getting under her skin without trying. She needed to get rid of him fast so she could regain her equilibrium.
“Here you go,” Zoe said, holding out the envelope. They exchanged invitations. In the process, their fingers accidentally brushed, and she felt the zap of awareness all the way to her toes. She snatched back her hand as fast as she could. Zoe didn’t care how obvious the jerky movement was.
Drew gave her a knowing smile and tucked the wayward invitation in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He bowed at the waist. “Take care, and I’ll be seeing you soon.” He winked, backed out the door, and sauntered down the hallway.
She resisted the urge to slam the door. Instead, she gently closed and locked it. She leaned her back against the door and slid to the floor. It would be a shame to never lay eyes on the gorgeous Drew Gannon again, but Zoe thought it might be prudent for her to avoid the tall, dark, and sexy stranger while she was on a hunt.
****
Mine! His wolf howled and fought to get loose. Drew clenched his fists, fought off the shift, and willed himself to walk back to his SUV even though his wolf begged him to go back and take her. As far as the beast was concerned Zoe Myers was his. The word mate wound its way through his brain and lodged itself there.
Of course, his wolf wouldn’t settle for a fiery witch like Brianna or a sweet human like Scarlet. Oh no, his wolf had to get a hard-on for a vampire hunter. Well, it could be worse. He could be a vampire. He snickered at the irony.
Drew called his cousin as soon as he slid into the vehicle. He didn’t even bother with a greeting after Mitch answered the phone. “She’s my mate,” he said with a growl.
“Shit! Are you sure?” Mitch asked.
“As sure as you were when you met Scarlet.” That said it all if the immediate silence on the other end of the line was any indication.
“You going to claim her?”
“Hell yes! As soon as I can. You got a problem with that?”
Mitch laughed hard. “Not at all. I’m looking forward to the show. I’m sure my brother will want a ringside seat too.”
Drew frowned even though he knew his cousin couldn’t see it. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re gonna have your hands full with that one. According to Lucian, she’s a kickass hellcat. The council has been following her family for about a decade.”
“She might not be thrilled to meet my wolf. It’s a good thing I thrive on challenges.”
“Zoe Myers will definitely be that. She and her sisters usually work together, but they recently split up to chase down the Puppet Master. They’ve taken out five rogue vampires in the past decade, and ten of the Puppet Master’s zombies in the last six months.”
His wolf snarled at the images those words evoked. The council and their allies had better find and end the Puppet Master soon. The thought of his mate in a fight to the death with a vampire or zombie consumed with bloodlust made his wolf whine and the blood freeze in his veins. Yep, nothing about this was going to be easy, but then again, usually nothing worth having ever was.
FOUR
Another persistent knock on the door had Zoe gnashing her teeth together. She’d been trying to study the layout of the town in preparation for the upcoming hunt, but she wasn’t getting anything done. The image of Drew Gannon was burned in her memory, and she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
She stalked to the door, glanced through the peephole, and managed to shed most of her frustration when she saw Kara standing on the other side. Zoe flung open the door and immediately pulled her sister into a full body hug. “So glad you’re here, I missed you!”
It had only been weeks since the sist
ers connected, but it felt like months. The length of the current hunt was testing their resolve and taxing their strength, but the Myers sisters would persevere as always. They had to. Who else would protect unsuspecting humans from creatures that went bump in the night?
“Right back at you, sis.” Kara returned the hug. She dropped the large duffle bag that contained her weapons and clothes on the floor. “Any leads?”
“No. I visited a few shops near the inn, and by all appearances, this is a quaint New England town, but something’s off. I can feel it in my gut.”
“Yeah, me too. I felt a zap of energy as soon as I entered the town. We can’t just sit around and wait for whatever’s going to happen to happen. Plans?”
Zoe was the oldest and most experienced of the three, and the twins naturally looked to her to lead them. “The first thing we need to do is get the lay of the land. Fighting on an unfamiliar battlefield puts us at a disadvantage. While we’re doing that we need to keep our eyes peeled for any signs of vampires.”
Kara rubbed her hands together. “All righty then, we’ve got ourselves a plan.” She smothered a big yawn. “Wish I could get started now, but I’m about to crash after all the driving I’ve done in the last twenty-four hours and the destruction of a vampire I almost got to participate in.”
Zoe’s eyes narrowed at the reminder of her sister’s careless act. She might have reprimanded her again, but she was more interested in hearing about the man who’d taken out the vampire. “Tell me all about your mysterious stranger.”
Kara snorted. “He’s hardly mine. And after he killed a vampire with his bare hands, I didn’t bother sticking around to find out anything about him. She buffed her nails across the front of her leather vest and then blew on them. “I’m brash, not stupid.”
“I know you’re not stupid. But I worry about both of you…”
“And I don’t always make it easy, I know. It’s just that our lives are so serious. I feel like I’m going to suffocate from the weight of the world if I don’t occasionally bust out of my self-imposed confines.”
“Point taken.” Yeah, Zoe knew exactly what Kara meant. She could worry until all her hair turned gray and it wouldn’t do anybody any good. “Speaking of mysterious strangers, I’ve got one of my own, and I bet mine is sexier than yours.”
“Not possible,” Kara let slip. She slapped a hand over her mouth almost immediately. “Crap, forget I said that!”
“Nuh-uh, spill it, Kara. I need all the details of the encounter anyway. We’ve got to figure out who or what he is.”
Kara trudged over to the sofa. “Fine, but we’re sitting down for this conversation because it’s been a long day.”
Zoe grabbed a couple of bottles of water she purchased earlier, offered one to her sister, and joined her on the couch. “You first.”
“Fine!” Kara blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. “I stumbled across a report on the internet about a cluster of strange disappearances in Boston, so I drove there to check it out. Instincts sent me to a back alley in a busy part of the city. I spotted the pale-skinned bloodsucker lurching into the alley.”
She dropped her head back on the sofa and groaned. “Believe it or not, I assessed the danger before I charged in. The next thing I know tall, dark, and handsome materialized from out of nowhere. He punched the vampire in the face a couple of times to slow him down. I was debating on jumping into the fray when Mr. Mysterious rammed his fist through the vampire’s chest.”
“You mean he hit him in the chest?”
“No, that’s the weird thing. His fist went through skin, muscle, and bone. And when he withdrew his hand, it was clutching the still beating heart of the vampire. I didn’t stick around to see anything else after that. I hightailed it out of there as fast as I could.”
“That’s good.” Zoe noticed she was unconsciously bouncing her legs up and down, something she did when she was really nervous. She willed herself to be still and took a deep breath. “A human, not even a vampire hunter, could do that.”
“Nope, not even me and my two-inch-long dagger-like nails are capable of cutting into someone’s chest and ripping out the heart.” She shrugged. “The alley was dark, maybe he had some kind of weapon, but it was too small for me to see.”
“Maybe?” Zoe wasn’t convinced, and from the look of her sister, neither was Kara. “Are you sure he wasn’t another vampire?”
“At this point, I’m not sure of anything, but he didn’t look or act like any of the vampires we’ve killed. And nothing about him screamed evil, dangerous, yes, but evil, uh-uh.”
“Would you know him if you saw him again?”
“Absolutely, he’s unforgettable.” Kara snapped her mouth shut and clenched her jaws together.
“He’s not the only one,” Zoe mumbled under her breath.
“Your turn, sis. Spill it.”
“We’re going to a costume party a week from tonight,” she offered.
“Ooh, that sounds intriguing and fun. What’s it got to do with your mystery man?”
“He delivered the invitations.” Zoe frowned. She still wasn’t sure why he’d shown up at her door instead of Brianna. “When checking out the town, I went into one of the local shops and met the owner, a very nice older lady. Anyhow, her granddaughter dropped by with an invitation to the party while I was there, and the shop owner offered it to me. I mentioned I had two sisters coming to town, and tall, dark, and sexy dropped by with extra invitations a few hours ago.”
Kara smirked. “You light up when you talk about this guy. Wow, he must have made some kind of impression.”
“He was hot, panty-melting kind of hot.” She let out a long sigh. “My first thought was that he couldn’t possibly be human because he’s the best-looking man I’ve ever seen.”
“Maybe he’s just the one for you.” Kara poked her in the ribs with a sharp elbow. “Or maybe you just need to get laid. How long has it been anyway?”
“Augh, long enough that I’ve lost count,” she said in exasperation. Maybe that was it, but somehow Zoe didn’t think so. She’d run across many good-looking men in her travels, but none of them heated her body the way Drew Gannon did.
When Kara spoke again, her voice was so soft Zoe had to lean in to hear her. “Both of us have a run-in with a sexy and incredible man on the same day, more than a coincidence?”
“I don’t know.” But it was enough to make her wonder. There weren’t too many coincidences in their line of work. “We’ll talk to Tara when she arrives. If she comes bearing tales of a sexy stranger, then we’ll worry.”
****
The next day Zoe was more than a little relieved to have both her sisters by her side once again. As soon as Tara arrived, the three of them went out to dinner to celebrate being together. Zoe was happy for someone else to focus on besides Drew. He’d been on her mind since he showed up at her hotel door. She’d even dreamed about him the night before.
“Any problems down south?” she asked her sister as soon as they sat down at a table in the back of the busy café.
“I killed one of those weird, lurching, zombie-like vampires we’ve been encountering over the past several months,” Tara admitted with a guilty look.
“What! Why didn’t you tell me?” Zoe demanded. She stared at her sister in open-mouthed astonishment. She turned to Kara. “Did you know about this?”
“Nope.” Kara sounded just as shocked. The twins were really close, and they shared everything.
Tara shrugged. “I didn’t want either of you to worry about me. I made the kill without any problems. I stayed in the city, looking for more signs of a vampire. I was getting ready to call Zoe to see if she had any new leads or needed help when she called and told me to meet both of you here.”
“We’re going to talk about this later,” Kara firmly stated.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Tara replied with a shrug. “I know I’m the weak link, and I needed to prove to myself if nobody else that I can hunt on
my own. Let’s face it. We killed what, five vampires in a decade? And now all of a sudden we’ve killed twice as many of those strangely mutated vampires in less than a year.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Something’s happening. Whatever it is, we need to be ready for it. And we means all three of us,” she said in the most forceful tone of voice her sister had ever heard Tara use.
As much as she wanted to argue with Tara, Zoe knew her sister was right. “Congrats on a successful hunt, but we need to keep each other informed of our whereabouts and goings on now more than ever.”
“Agreed,” Tara said with a big smile. She looked like she’d won a major victory, and maybe she had. “So, tell me more about Enigma and why we’re here.”
“Rumors and reports of several strange disappearances in New England brought me to the area. I couldn’t pinpoint any vampire activity, so I kept driving around the region looking for something. As soon as I entered the town limits, I knew this is where we needed to be. There’s something different about this town. I thought it was worth exploring, and my gut tells me we’re going to find what we’re looking for here.”
“One of us might anyway,” Kara said with a giggle. “Tell her about Mr. Sexy and the Halloween party.”
Zoe glared at her sister for butting into the conversation. The waitress stopped at their table to take their orders before Zoe could reply. As soon as the woman left, Tara focused on her twin’s comment.
“Mr. Sexy, huh? Bet he’s not as hot as the man I danced with in New Orleans.” A secret smile adorned her lips and lit up her face.
Zoe tensed, and she saw Kara do the same. They exchanged worried looks with each other that didn’t go unnoticed by Tara.
“What? Did I shock the two of you into silence?” She teased. “Kara shouldn’t have all the fun. And what better place to break loose than New Orleans?”
“Wait! Who are you, and what did you do with my twin?” Kara wanted to know.
Tara shrugged. “I thought I was being followed, so I slipped into a busy club to get lost. Once inside, the music, crowd, and jubilant mood made me want to stay awhile.”
