The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5

by Davies, Brenda K.

  His eyebrows rose at the numerous plates spread out before her and the already empty salad bowl. “Are you expecting company?”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “I’m looking forward to eating all of this, but maybe you should pick at something so I don’t look like a complete pig.”

  “Oh no, I’m going to enjoy watching you devour it. In fact, I’ve got twenty that says you can’t make it through everything.”

  “You’re on,” she said.

  He placed an order for a strawberry milkshake with the waitress when she reappeared. “Are you still ok with what happened last night?” he asked as she pushed aside her empty cheeseburger and fries plate.

  She glanced up at him with a chicken finger in hand. An uneasy feeling churned in her stomach, but before she could speak the waitress returned with his shake. Paige waited for her to leave before she spoke again, “Yes, are you?”

  He grinned at her as he pulled on the straw in his shake. “I’m so ok with it that I can’t wait to do it again as soon as we get back to the room.”

  “You may have to wait.” He frowned at her comment. “I imagine it’s much like swimming, wait an hour after eating.”

  A burst of laughter escaped him; his eyes twinkled as he lifted his shake and sat back in his seat. “I thought it was a half an hour?”

  “This is a lot of food.”

  “It is. All right, I’ll give you an hour.”

  “And then?”

  “And then I’m going to help you burn off all of those calories.”

  “It’s a deal,” she told him. “Do you think my father is still around?”

  “He’s not within ten miles of us as far as I can tell,” Ian replied. “But no, I think when I managed to kill three of his cohorts, he decided to get as far from here as he possibly could. Do I think he’s probably trying to recoup his losses before coming at us again? Yes, but I plan to kill him before that happens.”

  It took all she had to force down a part of her chicken tender. He could be so loving and joyful one minute, and the next he was completely merciless. She was glad she’d never be on the receiving end of his wrath. She doubted many would be capable of surviving it.

  She popped the last of her chicken tenders into her mouth. Hoping to bring his smile back, she held her hand out to him, “You owe me twenty dollars.”

  The saucy smile she gave him was impossible to resist. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty. His hand lingered in hers when she took the twenty from him. “I’m going to give you so much more than that.”

  “I’m betting on it,” she told him with a wink.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The loud rap on the door caused Ian to crack an eye open the next morning. He glanced at the clock by the bed, nine thirty. He was normally up much earlier, but he and Paige had only fallen asleep a few hours ago, and he’d planned to spend most of the day in bed, only leaving it to get her something to eat. His family had had other plans, judging by some of the smells on the other side of the door. He’d known they’d planned on coming today, but he’d been hoping it wouldn’t be until later, much later.

  Another loud knock on the door caused Paige to stir beside him. Her brow furrowed; her eyes fluttered open and landed on him. A smile curved her lips, but the next loud knock caused her smile to vanish, and she bolted upright in bed. “He’s here!”

  Ian sat up beside her when he realized the conclusion her mind had jumped to. “No.” He rested his hands on her shoulders, drawing her eyes to him. “It’s my family, it’s not your father.”

  Her mouth parted, she inhaled sharply. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’ve lived with them long enough to be able to recognize their aromas, believe me, some of them stink.” He nudged her chin playfully and felt the tension easing out of her body as she tugged the sheets up against her chest. She glanced nervously down at the sheets pressed against her and then at him. “I’ll get rid of them. Stay here.”

  “Ian!” Ethan barked from the other side and knocked urgently on the door again.

  “I heard you!” he shouted back. Grabbing a pair of his jeans from the floor, he tugged them on as he crossed the room to the door. Ethan’s troubled emerald eyes met his when he cracked the door open. “Some people like to sleep.” Ethan refrained from a wise ass retort as his eyes darted past him. Ian lifted his arm and used his body to block the interior of the room. “Give me an hour.”

  Ethan stepped closer to him. “Brian is with us; he’s brought a friend.”

  Ian’s gaze shot past Ethan, but he didn’t see anyone else out there. “Who?”

  “His name is Ronan.” Something about Ethan’s tone brought Ian’s attention back to him. Defensiveness rippled over his skin; his fangs prickled. “He’s like us Ian, but he’s older, much older.”

  “Like us how?” he demanded.

  “A born vampire.”

  Ian’s nostrils flared. “Do I have to be concerned about her safety around him?”

  “I don’t think so. I only wanted to prepare you for him. He’s powerful.”

  “I’ll be ready for him. Meet me back here in an hour?”

  Ethan nodded and turned away. Emma stepped out from the shadows of the room next door to join Ethan on the walkway. Ian caught a glimpse of David by the motel lobby talking with someone he couldn’t see, before he closed the door. The color had faded from Paige’s face when he turned to face her.

  “Is everything going to be ok?” she asked.

  “Yes, it will.”

  “Your brother sounded worried.”

  He forced a smile as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Ethan has always been that way. He’s not as bad as Issy, but they take their roles as older siblings far too seriously sometimes.” Walking over, he sat on the bed beside her and took hold of her hand. “It will be fine. No one is ever going to hurt you again.”

  “What of you?”

  He laughed and leaned over to kiss her cheek. The notion of pushing her back on the bed crossed his mind. They had an hour, it would help to calm her, and he certainly couldn’t get enough of her, but he would require much more than an hour if they got started again now. Reluctantly, he sat back. “Nothing will happen to me. Now, you’d better get dressed before I have to tell my brother to come back tomorrow.”

  The small chuckle she released warmed him. She leaned into him and kissed his cheek before climbing from the bed and heading into the bathroom.

  * * *

  The already cramped room became much smaller with all of the large men crammed into it. She’d already met or at least seen David, Ethan and Emma, but the other three men in the room she’d never encountered before. One of them had been introduced to her as Ian’s younger brother, Aiden. Aiden looked more like Ethan with his raven colored hair and eyes the color of oak leaves, but she could see the resemblance between the three of them. He was leaner than Ian and Ethan, with a whipcord build and an easy smile he bestowed upon her when they were introduced.

  Brian stepped forward and shook her hand. His icy blue eyes held hers as he flashed her a smile. A strand of platinum colored hair curled at the corner of one of his eyes. “Another human, will your family never learn?” he drawled.

  “Don’t be an ass, Brian, and let her go,” Ian warned but truthfully Brian didn’t bother him overly much. He could be a jackass, and his background was questionable, but Ian tolerated him better than Ethan and Stefan did. Stefan and Brian had once been good friends, but they’d had a falling out before any of them had ever known Stefan. That didn’t mean he liked the man touching Paige; he didn’t like anyone else touching her.

  Brian released her hand and took a step back. Paige couldn’t help but smile at Brian and Aiden’s easy charm and striking good looks. However, she found her eyes repeatedly drawn toward the taciturn man standing in the corner. There was no way to avoid his presence. She may be the only mortal in the room, but he stood out amongst the vampires too.

>   At six foot he was the shortest of the men; his presence made him feel like the largest. Her skin rippled from the force of the power emanating from him. Her heart fluttered as his reddish brown eyes met and held hers over the top of his roman nose. She’d never seen eyes quite that color before; they were such a complete combination of red and brown they appeared to be eyes the color of a doe’s one-second, and the color of blood, the next.

  Paige forced herself not to shudder, but she couldn’t stop herself from rubbing her hands up and down her arms as those eyes surveyed her. “And this is Ronan,” Brian said as he turned away and gestured toward the man. “He’s the “leader” of our kind.” With his fingers, Brian created air quotes around the word, leader.

  Ian had never heard of a leader amongst their kind. If there was one though, he had no doubt it was the man standing across from him. He knew power; he’d seen what had become of Ethan in Bermuda. He’d felt it in himself with those vampires at the cabin. There had been more power within him that he could have tapped, if it had become necessary to win that fight. Even delving into those realms that changed the color of his skin and brought something far more lethal forth, would not be enough to bring down the man across from him.

  Ronan stepped forward and extended his hand. His dark brown hair flashed in the dim lights of the motel room as it swayed around his broad shoulders. Paige glanced nervously at Ian when he took hold of Ronan’s hand. She was afraid the “leader” may snap his arm in half; he looked completely capable of doing so, and she’d bet he’d done it more than a time or two in his life.

  Then those eyes swung toward her. Despite her best intentions to keep it from happening, her heart began to beat faster, and her throat went dry. “And you are the one who isn’t a hunter, but one of their human allies?”

  Paige swallowed in an attempt to wet her parched throat, but she thrust back her shoulders and extended her hand. If this man wanted her dead, she would be dead, and there was nothing anyone in this room could do to stop him. She knew that as surely as she knew the earth was round. Ian and his family were strong; this man was stronger.

  “I was,” she admitted and took hold of his hand. A jolt went through her as his power slid over her skin like an electrical current.

  She wasn’t sure if he’d be considered handsome, certainly not nearly as handsome as Ian or his siblings, but he was definitely one of the most fascinating men she’d ever seen. “Was?” he inquired in a rumbling tone of voice.

  She couldn’t stop herself from glancing at Ian. “Let’s just say I’ve realized there are shades of red in the world.”

  Ian smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her waist. Ronan glanced between the two of them before releasing her hand and stepping away. Paige didn’t miss Ethan’s subtle shift that kept his body firmly in between Ronan’s and Emma’s. Before she knew how it happened, she also found Ian’s body in between her and Ronan.

  “If you ever air quote me again, I’ll rip off your hands,” Ronan advised Brian.

  Brian flashed a grin at the rest of them, amazingly unfazed by the vampire’s words. “He’s also a tad testy.”

  This time there was no mistaking Ronan’s eyes were red when they lanced toward Brian. Paige had to give the man credit, Brian didn’t back away from the fiery gaze directed at him, but his head did bow slightly. “Don’t screw with me, Brian.”

  Ian pushed her back a step as the hostility within the room ratcheted up a notch. Turning away from Brian, Ronan leaned against the wall and turned to face them. “Now, I was brought here because you were unable to change this woman’s memories. Is this still something you would like done?”

  “It’s not,” Ian answered.

  Ronan’s eyes had returned to their normal color when they focused on her again. “What of you?”

  She frowned in confusion. “Of course I don’t want my memories changed.”

  “Of course not,” Ronan purred. “So that means you will become a vampire, soon.”

  In an instant her throat became dryer than the desert. She glanced at the six vampires surrounding her. Ian had told her it would have to happen, but she’d been hoping she could have a month or two, maybe a year or two where she could remain human. “Soon?” she croaked.

  “That’s the only way I’ll allow you to remain alive,” Ronan replied.

  Ian’s body vibrated with power, a swirl of red flashed like lightning through his sky colored eyes. “That’s not your choice to make.”

  “You’re young, you don’t know everything of our kind, or even what you are fully capable of, not yet, but I can assure you this is one hundred percent my choice,” Ronan replied. “She’s either turned, her memories are changed, or I kill her myself.”

  A snarl erupted from Ian, before she could consider blinking he leapt forward with the speed of an asteroid falling to earth. Ethan and David also jumped forward. They grabbed hold of him and jerked him back before he could get at Ronan. Ian’s eyes were the color of fire as he glared at Ronan. That strange reddish black color began to swirl through his skin again.

  “What the hell?” David’s mouth hung ajar as he gawked at Ian.

  “It’s what happened to me, in Bermuda,” Ethan told him in a low voice. “Don’t let him go.”

  “I don’t give a fuck who you are, you ever threaten her again and I’ll end you!” Ian spat at Ronan.

  “I’ve threatened your mate, so I will let your insolence pass, but be aware I could kill you and step over your body without so much as a second thought,” Ronan replied in a bored drawl that set Paige’s teeth on edge. Her fear for Ian far outweighed her annoyance with the arrogant head vampire though. She tried to reach out to grab him, but Brian shook his head warningly at her. Her hand fell limply back to her side.

  “And I thought Brian was a dick,” Ethan muttered.

  Both of Ronan’s eyes were entirely filled with the color of blood when he looked all of them over. No one else in the room spoke or moved. Sensing her opportunity, Paige took hold of Ian’s arm and pressed it against her chest. He relaxed visibly against her, but his skin remained that strangely mottled color.

  “Ian please, stay by me,” she pleaded.

  “Listen to her,” Ronan said with a brief glance in her direction. “For a human, she’s surprisingly wise.” He turned his attention to Ethan. “Brian is a dick. What I am is the eldest born of this race, and as such, I am charged with keeping us safe and hidden from human knowledge. My men and I make sure you go to sleep at night, content in your world, while we hunt those of us that lose themselves to the bloodlust, those of us who become a risk to our existence, as well as the existence of humans. If something were to befall me, someone would rise up to take my place. It could be you one day, but you’d have to do more than live in your bubble of a safe world for that to happen.”

  A muscle near Ethan’s eye began to jump, but before he could respond, Emma wrapped her hand around his arm. Ronan turned toward Ian and Paige. A low growl escaped Ian when Ronan stepped closer to them, but Paige refused to release his arm. She was frightened he would go after Ronan again if she did.

  Ronan focused on Ian. “I’m not a threat to her. Not unless she’s one to us. I don’t harm humans unless it becomes necessary. I’m not a killer, but watching over vampires has been my burden for the past thousand years.”

  “How do I know I can trust you?” Ian demanded.

  “First, you can smell that I’m not a killer of humans. Second, I would have killed her already.”

  A ripple of disbelief went through his siblings, as well as himself. They’d never encountered another vampire with the same ability to detect a killer vampire, from a non-killer, by their smell before. Any vampire who killed numerous humans had the distinct aroma of a landfill about them. Ethan’s odor had changed slightly since he’d killed to keep Emma safe, and Brian had a very faint aroma about him, but the smell had faded from the both of them already.

  “You can smell the difference too?” Aiden inquired.<
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  “Any born vampire can,” Ronan replied. “There is much we can do that a changed vampire cannot. You’ll find yourself developing and changing more and more as you age. You’ll also discover we’re sometimes able to break through the normal rules governing vampires, especially when infuriated or under great duress.”

  “We already have,” Ethan glanced around the room. “Or at least I’ve been able to do something I never knew possible.” He pulled Emma closer against his side and held her there. “When she was endangered.”

  Ronan’s eyes flickered over him. “Unexpected for one so young, but understandable if her life was in jeopardy.”

  Ian’s head tilted to the side as he studied Ronan. “The mate bond brings these powers out in us?”

  “No, age and training can bring it out in some of us, not all of us. The mate bond can bring it out earlier, in some of us. Male vampires are more likely to cross these boundaries, though there are a few women who have been known to go beyond the natural bonds too. The mate bond is far stronger than you or I could ever know. However, as born vampires age, their power becomes strong enough that they can become capable of breaking the boundaries placed on us at birth.”

  Ronan turned his attention back to her. “Now, if you don’t mind, would you please tell me how you were able to withstand a vampire’s power of persuasion over you?”

  This man unnerved her more than anyone she’d ever encountered before, but she couldn’t tell him what he’d asked to know. “I realize the hunters were mainly using me as bait, and they’re wrong about all vampires being evil, but they’re still trying to do good. I won’t reveal anything that could be used against them.”