by Alice Brown
“So then, are we to believe Natasha pleases you, and can handle whatever you throw her way?”
Natasha sat silently, but fuming inside. How dared they? This was a paid position, but then again, they had choreographed her numerous forced matings, thinking that it would surely bring on her powers, all the while knowing these “potential” mates were little more than animals.
“Yes, yes, I believe Natasha will fit right into her new position with no problems,” Blain answered with a cold bite in his tone. He still didn’t understand why they seemed so interested in her working for him. Why did they feel it was their business to know how he felt about her? 'Does she please us? Only every damn fucking moment we get to spend looking at her!' his dragon broke through his thoughts.
“Has Ms. Clayton informed you of the chance of danger you are entering into with signing her contract?”
He watched out of the corner of his eyes as Natasha carefully sat her fork down, but refused to look at him as she awaited his response. He could easily read her body language and knew she feared he might have changed his mind in the past hour. She knew all too well what a simple change of his mind would mean to her. Unfortunately, she had no clue how determined he was never to let her out of his sights.
“Yes, she has. And I’m more than willing to risk my chances at having her here,” he said strongly.
“If you sign the contract, there is no going back. She will be your responsibility, and yours alone. With that in mind, are you still willing to sign?”
“Yes, the damn contract is already signed!” Blain gave his most irate expression to each and every one of the Council members, silently warning them he would kick every one of their high asses out the door if one more word were to be said negatively about Natasha. They were way out of line, and sooner or later they were going to be put in their place. And he had a gut feeling when that time came about, he would be right there, handing their asses to them. There was no way he was going to forget tonight. He would never forget how they basically treated her as if she were an animal. How they belittled her right in front of him.
“Soon,” his dragon promised. “Soon we can take her, mate her, and then we will have all rights to protect her!”
For once, he agreed with his dragon completely.
Excerpt from A Special Gift
Vampires Among Us Book Two
By Alice Brown
Everything looked deserted when they pulled up in the driveway, but Marshall had an eerie feeling that the house was more dangerous than it appeared. “Keep your eyes and ears open, guys. I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he warned his teammates.
Kevin came across the earpiece immediately. “What’s going on, Marshall?”
“I’m not sure; it’s just a feeling I have. I think we are being watched.” He chuckled lightly. “Hell, we haven’t even made it to the front door yet.”
The three men hopped out of the truck and started up the sidewalk toward the house. Kevin came back on the earpiece to state that backup was on its way, just in case it was needed.
“Thanks,” Marshall replied as he reached for the door handle and opened the door. The team fanned out to scan the room, and saw an old, torn up couch with a couple of punks sitting on it. Another punk, evidently the leader of this little gang of misfits, was sitting in a torn up recliner with a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun pointed at the ceiling.
“Who the hell are you?” the man with the gun demanded.
“What’s it to you?” Tom replied, obviously not in the mood to deal with these lowlifes, but rather wanting to get packed up and out of there. The one with the gun casually stood and walked over to the team, acting as if it was his home and he had every right to be there.
“I don’t know who you three are, but you are on our turf now, dude!” He snorted and spat on the floor. “Now, I believe I asked you first.” The man with the gun suddenly jammed the shotgun under Tom’s chin. As if to emphasize that he was the boss, he continued, “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?”
The team really wasn’t worried about these three misfits; there was no chance they knew they were picking a fight with three vampires. Tom was patiently waiting for Marshall, who was in charge of the mission, to issue the order that they could kill these idiots.
One second Tom was standing beside the guy with a gun jammed up under his chin, the next second he watched with disbelieving eyes as the barrel of the shotgun was bent, making the gun harmless. It was then that Marshall knew who their backup was. Stephanie.
“What the fu…?” The leader stared at his gun as if it had suddenly grown legs. He took a step back and threw the gun over to the other side of the room. A calculating look in his eyes, he addressed Tom, “So, do we have a magician in the group?” He was trying to regain some control over the situation. Yeah, this guy must have done some magic to make that gun turn at such an odd angle; that is the only reasonable explanation.
Marshall sighed loudly, out of patience. He was here to get a job done, and that’s what his team was going to do. Moving so fast that the leader never even saw him move, Marshall wrapped his hand around the guy’s throat and lifted him off the floor, leaving him dangling a few inches.
“I assume you were expecting Enrico,” Marshall stated, listening to the man gasp as he tried to breathe.
One of the punks still sitting on the couch spoke up. “Yeah, man, he owes a lot of money. What, did he send you ‘cause he’s too chicken to come himself?”
“Enrico is in jail,” Tom answered the guy sitting on the couch.
“Where’s the girl?” choked the man Marshall was holding off the floor.
Marshall’s temper flared. He squeezed the man’s neck a little harder to let him know he meant business. Marshall would have already given the order to kill all three of these punks, except the paperwork was such a headache. The council demanded full documentation whenever a human was killed during an assignment, and this would be three times the usual amount, and they just weren’t worth the work.
Marshall glared at the gasping man before answering his question. “Safe, and that’s all you need to know.” Then, furious because he had the audacity to ask about the little girl at all, Marshall followed up by tossing him across the room. He landed in a heap between his buddies on the couch.
Marshall pointed to the man he had just thrown across the room. “You will never go near the little girl or the woman again. Am I clear? Because let me show you what you will be facing next.” Fairly sure Stephanie was still around, Marshall hoped and prayed she would not let him down. He found he was holding his breath as he directed the room’s attention to a seemingly empty corner. Seconds later, Stephanie came to her beloved Marshall’s rescue and displayed an image of the hideous monster that she had turned into last night for her father and Marshall. She took a step toward the bug-eyed, gaping men cowering on the couch. Even Marshall had to admit that if he hadn’t known who was doing this, he would have been a bit shaken up. With her red eyes blazing and what appeared to be steam coming from her nostrils every few seconds, she was enough to scare even non-believers.
Marshall took a menacing step toward the three sitting on the couch. “Do I make myself clear?” he repeated. Three heads nodded in confirmation. “I don’t care what Enrico owed you or what business you have with him. It’s over. He’s in jail, and he’s going to be deported when he’s released. You have until the count of three to get out of this house, or you won’t live to tell about it.”
The two that had been sitting on the couch didn’t even wait for orders from their leader. They scurried off the couch, but one of them leaned down to retrieve the gun that had been thrown on the floor. Stephanie, still in monster form, lunged for him. “Leave that gun right where it is,” Marshall stated calmly. The guy looked up at Marshall, eyed Stephanie briefly, and then took off following his buddy. The leader of the group had also made it to the door, and the two men jostled for position for a moment before they both ma
de it out the door and ran down the street.
Tom and Alec looked a bit nervous with the monster still in the room, and Marshall decided to have a bit of fun. He walked over to stand in front of her. “Thanks, sweetie.” He watched both of his teammates’ jaws drop to the ground. The Stephanie-creature blew Marshall a kiss in return. Marshall chuckled—leave it to his girl to find some comedy in an otherwise serious situation. She disappeared, but it took another ten seconds for Tom and Alec to find their tongues.
“Who—or what—was that?” Tom asked, once he was sure he could speak.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
