Pine Falls 1
A Thousand Years Dead
Aiden O’Connell has waited a thousand years for his mate and her discovery is both a joy and a revelation. She brings with her a secret that threatens the entire vampire race.
Kaitlyn Winters leaves home to embark on a new career, but what it brings her is the frightening reality that vampires exist. Escaping them barely alive, she finds she must learn to trust another vampire as he claims she is his mate.
Mountain lion shifter Sean Marland answers a call for help, only to have his world explode when he finds his mate and learns he is to share her with a creature he never dreamed existed.
As the three of them grow to accept their differences and fall in love, they find that Kaitlyn’s secret not only puts her at risk from her attackers, but makes her a target for all vampires.
Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Shape-shifter, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 35,989 words
A THOUSAND YEARS DEAD
Pine Falls 1
Ashley Malkin
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
A THOUSAND YEARS DEAD
Copyright © 2015 by Ashley Malkin
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-422-8
First E-book Publication: May 2015
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
To my wonderful husband for all his love and encouragement.
I would also like to thank my readers for investing in the idea of everlasting love.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
About the Author
A THOUSAND YEARS DEAD
Pine Falls 1
ASHLEY MALKIN
Copyright © 2015
Chapter 1
Traveling down the highway at seventy miles an hour, Aiden enjoyed the feel of the fresh air flowing over his skin after having spent the better part of the last month underground. The air was frigid as it whipped around him. It was early January and winter was just getting started. The bike’s vibrations ran through his body and the throaty rumble of the engine silenced his world to anything else.
Aiden was now sick of the sight and smell of wolves. After the death of his friend Liam, the rest of the wolf Alpha’s pack had proved to be idiots. They’d followed Liam’s greedy, murderous brother, Richard, into an all-out attack on a peaceful pride of mountain lion shifters in Eminence, Colorado.
“Fucking wolves.”
If fratricide had been Richard’s only crime, Aiden might have killed him after only two weeks of torture. He had, however, led his docile pack of wolves into the battle under duress, threatening to kill their children and elders if any wolf failed to fight. A fight they were pathetically ill-prepared for.
It had led to scores of deaths in the pack, the vast majority at Aiden’s own hand. Not that he felt any remorse for their deaths. They should have killed Richard West themselves instead of believing his ridiculous lies, lies that had implicated Aiden himself in instigating the battle with the pride of cats.
He had considered Liam West his friend for the last two hundred and fifty-six years, and he would miss his friendship. He had, however, proved to be an inefficient Alpha. He should have built a trusted inner circle of strong and intelligent Betas who could lead if the Alpha was ever compromised. He’d seen the effectiveness of such a power structure when he’d fought with the Eminence pride against Liam’s own pack.
If the cats had been as stupid as the wolves, he’d finally be at rest after more than a millennium of walking the earth. Even in his own mind he couldn’t refer to the last thousand years as how long he’d lived. He’d simply been existing.
In his dealings with them, the cats had proved themselves to be both honorable and intelligent. He had liked their young Alpha, Finn Frederick. Being around the pride for those few days had also reawakened his yearning for his mate.
Vampires were not a prolific race. Their numbers remained fairly constant. The low birth rate amongst the species was balanced by their longer lifespans. Wolf shifters seemed to be the most populated species of Other on the planet. Or maybe it just seems that way.
“Fucking wolves.”
Aiden’s words were again lost to the wind and the noise from
his Harley. He’d had the bike in storage since the 1960s and was taking it for a last ride before he left America for good.
Bearing witness to the young cats’ love and devotion to their mates had made him reassess his current vagabond lifestyle. “Current” comprising the last three hundred years he’d spent on this side of the world. He was considered a rogue by the American vampires as he refused to affiliate himself with any specific coven.
His complete lack of interest in vampire politics, coupled with his age and power, had saved him from an assassination order. But now he wanted more. He wanted to finally find the other half of his soul. He wanted to belong to someone and have them belong to him. He wanted his mate. With so few vampires in the United States, he felt his search would have a better chance of success in Britain and Europe, where the majority of vampires chose to live.
Letting his 1960 Harley Davidson Sportster rust away in storage had not been an option. His new friend, Finn, looked like the kind of man who would appreciate such a gift. Plus the cat Alpha needed compensating for Aiden taking Richard West away from him.
Aiden found himself smiling into the wind as he remembered the bribe Finn had offered for Richard’s return to Eminence for punishment. He hadn’t taken Finn seriously when he’d offered Aiden his firstborn daughter, but his tiny mate, Melanie, obviously had. Their arguing had only served to make his longing for a mate of his own grow deeper.
He planned on delivering his gift sometime tomorrow, before catching a flight to London. He hoped his mate had been born in his three-hundred year absence from Europe.
Glancing down at the bike’s gas gauge, he noted the need to stop soon for gas. Perhaps he’d take the opportunity to find himself a meal. Being an old vampire meant he didn’t have to feed as often as the young ones, but it had still been a month since he’d fed. Richard’s torture had consumed him for the last three weeks. Feeding before he met with the shifters may be prudent. No need to push their budding friendship by feeding in Eminence.
* * * *
Kaitlyn felt she’d had a great first week in her new job. She’d applied for the position as Personal Assistant to the Mayor of Lauderville, Idaho, as a way to climb out of the secretarial pool she’d previously been drowning in.
She’d been born in San Diego, and after years of traveling the country with her father’s work, they’d settled back there when he’d retired. She had worked as a secretary in the department of public works for two long years. Her dedication and hard work had failed to get her noticed and she’d grown tired of being constantly passed over for promotion.
Her father had suggested she look for a position elsewhere and a Google search had struck gold with this job. Lauderville was a small town, but she didn’t have to stay here forever. She planned to shine in this job, thus giving her CV a boost and helping her land a great position back in San Diego.
Mayor Graves’s voice on her intercom interrupted her thoughts. “Miss Winter, could you please be ready at five to take the minutes of a meeting I have just scheduled with Councilors Dixon, Taylor, and Kennedy?”
“Yes, sir.” There go my plans to do some unpacking.
She’d worked late each night this week and tonight was apparently going to be no different. At least tomorrow was Saturday and she could spend the entire weekend getting her apartment organized. She didn’t know anyone in town, so it wasn’t like she had anything else to do.
Finishing up the last of her work, she collected her laptop and walked to the mayor’s adjoining office. The door was ajar and she could hear the men talking inside.
She tapped her knuckles lightly on the open door. “Are you ready for me, sir?”
The sounds of laughter drifted out the door, but after a few seconds the mayor told her to enter.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” Kaitlyn said politely.
“Miss Winter, we’re forgoing the conference room tonight.” Mayor Graves gestured to the leather sectional arranged around a large coffee table. “Please make yourself comfortable. We’ll be right with you.”
Kaitlyn sat at the very end of the sofa and arranged her laptop comfortably. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. She forced herself to look up slowly when she’d wanted to jerk her head up in alarm.
The three councilors and the mayor had all stopped talking and were now staring at her. The look in their eyes reminded her of the looks she’d seen on wild animals. Hungry, wild animals. As they all loosened their ties, she looked back down at her computer and pretended to get ready for their conference.
Her father hadn’t raised an idiot for a daughter. He’d taught her to listen to the primitive instincts she’d been born with. She couldn’t recall ever having had a need to use them before, but that didn’t mean she’d ignore them now. The air in the room seemed charged with menace. It pricked against the bare skin of her arms. She watched as the fine hairs rose to attention.
“Darn,” she said softly. “My laptop is running low on battery. I’m just going to get the power cord from my desk.” She decided to chance another look at the men as she rose to her feet.
The mayor now stood directly in front of her. She hadn’t seen him move, but there he was. He laid his hand on her arm. “Sit down, Kaitlyn.”
She obeyed immediately. Despite every muscle in her body being previously tensed and ready to run from the room.
“Remove your blouse and brassiere please,” the mayor continued.
“It’s been a long fucking week waiting for this, Selwyn,” said Councilor Dixon.
Kaitlyn reached up and began unbuttoning her favorite pink blouse. No. Stop. Don’t. I don’t want to do this. She was screaming, but not a single word escaped the prison her mind had somehow become. What’s happening to me? Why can’t I run?
“She’s got a fine ass, Selwyn,” Councilor Taylor said. “Perhaps we should tell her to get completely naked.”
“I want to taste her, John. Not fuck her.”
She dropped her blouse on the floor and reached for the clasp at the front of her bra. Stop. Stop. Stop.
“You went too far with the last PA, John,” Councilor Kennedy said. “Mind control didn’t stop her boyfriend from noticing all the bruises you left by fucking her like that.”
“She tasted like a whore. I simply treated her as such.”
Kaitlyn now sat on the sofa in nothing but her skirt, stockings, and ballet flats. She dropped her bra and folded her hands in her lap. No. I’m strong. I can fight them. They can’t do this to me. Mind control? Is that what they’re doing to me?
“But Kaitlyn’s not a whore,” the mayor said. He sat down next to her and gripped her high ponytail tightly in his fist. Using her hair, he pulled her toward him and extended her neck until it was stretched in front of his face. “I’m not sure what she is, but she smells exotic.”
“Maybe we’ll know what she is from her taste,” Councilor Kennedy said. He sat on the other side of her and licked her neck.
Kaitlyn didn’t even shudder. She just sat there screaming in her mind.
“Well, I’m feeding from her fucking tits, then,” Councilor Taylor said as he knelt beside Kaitlyn and grasped her right breast roughly.
Kaitlyn had no idea what was happening. But she knew she was helpless to stop it. She couldn’t even cry. Her body seemed to belong to the mayor. Councilor Dixon raised her left arm to his mouth as he knelt down next to John Taylor.
The mayor struck first. She felt his mouth at her throat a scant second before she felt the slice of sharp teeth sinking into her neck. She then felt the same stabbing pain on the other side of her neck, her wrist, and her breast. They are drinking my blood and I’m just sitting here letting them. They’re vampires? Fight them. Run. Oh God, do something.
She sat still as they moaned and growled softly. There was no longer any pain, but her vision began to dim. She felt her heartbeat speed up. She sat unmoving as they killed her.
The mayor drew quickly away. “Stop. We’ve taken too much already.” He licked
her neck and stood. He adjusted the jutting erection in his trousers then tightened his tie. “My God, her blood tastes good. We can make this a regular Friday night treat if we don’t drain her now.”
“I still can’t tell what she is,” Councilor Kennedy said, “but she’s definitely got some unusual DNA in her family tree.”
“I don’t care if she’s a fucking demon. She tastes great.” Councilor Taylor bit her nipple and took another long suck before licking over both the wounds he’d inflicted on her breast and rising to his feet.
Kaitlyn wanted to die. She had watched, and done nothing, as the sleazy vampires had just violated her.
“Get dressed.” The mayor talked to the other men as she dressed. Once she was dressed, she sat waiting for her next command. Run. Find a sharp object, stab the bastards in the heart, and run. It did no good. No matter how much she screamed at herself, her body wasn’t responding.
The mayor appeared at her side. He laid his palm on her shoulder. “We didn’t need you for the meeting. You left at five. You will eat red meat each night for dinner. Go now.”
She could move again. She picked up her laptop and rose to her feet. She walked calmly from the mayor’s office without once looking back at the men in the room. Walking at the same even pace, she went to her office and collected her coat and purse. She felt weak and dizzy and her vision swam in and out of focus. She resisted the need to curl up in a ball and sleep. She had to stay on her feet.
She stared straight ahead in the elevator and walked out of the City Council building to her car. Once seated behind the wheel, she drove out of the parking lot and slowly down the street until she’d traveled two blocks.
A Thousand Years Dead [Pine Falls 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 1
