Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More

by Mandy M. Roth

“He was a blood slave and I rescued him.” Brenna went on to tell her about how Finn had been held captive for weeks as the blood slave of a very powerful man.

  “And how are things going?” She didn’t want to pry, but she needed to know. “How do you keep from attacking him?”

  “Is that what Mateo is worried about?” Before she could answer, Brenna continued, “Of course he’s worried. I was too. The truth is, the scent of a sweetblood will always be appealing to us. But you can learn to manage it.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Maybe the fact that his blood is there for me when I want makes me less desperate, if that makes sense.”

  Selena thought she understood. “Like when you’re on a diet and you’d kill for a candy bar because you can’t have one. But when you’re not on a diet, you feel no big urge to binge because you can have a candy bar if you want.”

  Brenna smiled. “Exactly.”

  A big gust of wind rattled the house and rain began pelting the roof.

  “I hope the weather doesn’t get too bad,” Brenna said, casting a worried glance toward the window. “Otherwise Finn won’t be able to fly.”

  Chapter 12

  Although they were buffeted by the storm, Mateo watched with admiration as Finn managed to set the helicopter down in a field about a mile from the facility. The man stayed behind with the aircraft while the rest of them, armed with silver weaponry, made their way on foot.

  The nondescript structure was built into the mountainside, just as Selena had described, so the access points were limited. After they cut a hole in the chain-link fence, Roxy broke them into two groups. She and Zeph would go in through the front, while Mateo and Kip would try to gain access via the delivery entrance. Their goal was to locate and free any sweetbloods before the sisterhood knew they were there. Vampires addicted to Sweet were very territorial. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill a blood slave in order to keep them out of the hands of another vampire.

  Mateo and Kip headed for the underground parking garage. Crouching low, they ran from pillar to pillar until they reached the loading dock on the far side. They hadn’t seen any cameras, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. Spotting a lone security guard on the platform, Mateo snuck closer. He was only a few feet away from her when his boot caught the edge of the concrete step. She spun around at the sound and reached for the comm device attached to her shoulder.

  Shit. He bounded up the steps.

  “Intru—” He stripped away the device, quickly subdued her, then cuffed her to an exposed metal pipe with a pair of silver handcuffs.

  “Damn,” Kip growled. “Do you think anyone heard?”

  Mateo was about to say he wasn’t sure when the sound of a loud alarm cut through the still night air. “That would be a yes. Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

  Once inside, Kip paused and sniffed. “Three sweetbloods. Two females and a male.” He was a highly skilled Tracker, Mateo had learned, capable of distinguishing and tracking almost any scent. “This way.”

  Mateo sprinted after him down a dimly lit corridor, the alarm continuing to echo off the walls. At the third door on the right, Kip stopped. “They’re in here. And they have company.”

  Mateo didn’t bother trying the door. Weapons drawn, he kicked it down. He was surprised to see a small but well-furnished apartment. He’d been expecting a holding cell of some sort.

  The three sweetbloods had been sitting around a table, but they jumped to their feet at the noise. Their guard, a small woman in a brown pantsuit, lunged not at Mateo and Kip, but at the captives. Before either of them could get across the room, she had one of the sweetbloods by the throat, fangs inches from the woman’s jugular.

  “Back off,” the vampire hissed, “or she dies.”

  Mateo took a step backward and motioned for the other two sweetbloods to come toward him.

  The man shook his head. “We want to stay here.”

  Kip curled his lips into a sneer. “Talk about a fucked-up mind suggestion.”

  “No,” the human woman said. “It’s not like that. In exchange for our blood, they’re going to turn us.”

  If that was true, it was so fucking illegal. But then so was letting Darkbloods take the blood and sell it on the black market. The deal was probably just a ploy to gain the humans’ cooperation; the sisterhood had no intention of turning them.

  Mateo saw a flash from the corner of his eye. He turned to see Kip’s knife flying through the air to land with a thunk in the vampire’s chest, a hair’s breadth from the woman she was holding. Holy fuck. He’d never have taken a chance like that. A fraction of an inch further and the woman would’ve been dead.

  Jaw agape as if she couldn’t believe what was happening, the vampire released the human and sunk to the ground. Then her body began to charcoal, folding in on itself until all that was left was a zipper and a few metal buttons.

  After getting the all-clear from Roxy through his earpiece, they led the dazed sweetbloods into the corridor and headed back the way they had come. Roxy and Zeph were in the lobby along with at least a dozen handcuffed dakai.

  “Might as well get comfortable, gentleman,” Roxy said, folding her arms over her chest. “I’ve called HQ for a transport. It’s going to be a while.”

  Get comfortable? Ha. Not until he got back to Selena. He ran a hand through his hair and wondered what she was doing. Was Brenna telling her what a vampire/human relationship was like? Was Selena even interested in something like that with him? Even after knowing all that he’d done?

  “You,” said one of the dakai, interrupting his thoughts. It was an older woman in a white pantsuit, the leader. The silver handcuffs had drained her energy, but her eyes were still bright. “I smell her all over you.”

  What was she talking about? “You’re confused,” he told her, gesturing toward the sweetbloods. “I haven’t bitten any of your sweetblood captives, but one of your lackeys almost did.”

  “Not them. Selena Tosca,” the woman said slowly, each syllable an effort. “My caterer. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You’re sleeping with her and she showed you the rum.”

  Anger coursed through his body like a jolt of electricity. “You seem to have forgotten about her blood turning up on the black market. That’s the reason we’re here.”

  “Black market? Her blood? Please.” She rolled her eyes. “I haven’t touched her or her blood.”

  “Then one of your Darkblood cohorts has.”

  The woman’s expression went ice cold. “I have no dealings with Darkbloods. Never have. Never will.”

  She had to be lying. He turned to Kip. “Can you tell how long it’s been since DBs have been here?” Because of their all-blood diet, they had a subtle but unmistakable stench that resembled rotten meat.

  The man shrugged. “Not in the past few months, but I don’t know beyond that. The scent would be too old even for me to detect.”

  Kip’s words sent Mateo reeling. If Selena hadn’t been drained by Darkbloods here at the dakai compound, then where had it happened? He’d been to her house and hadn’t picked up the scent there either.

  The woman smiled coldly as realization dawned in her eyes. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you? Think you’re strong enough to resist the temptation night after night? Day after day? Good luck with that.” She laughed, and the sound was like an ice pick, chipping away at his heart.

  He loved Selena. That much was true. But was he strong enough not to hurt her tomorrow? Next year? What about ten years from now?

  His phone buzzed, and he absently pulled it from his pocket, his brain trying to sort out this new information. Since learning about the Sweet-laced rum, he’d assumed Selena’s client was the one responsible for her blood turning up on the black market, but now he wasn’t so sure.

  He looked at the screen. The text from Selena nearly brought him to his knees.

  It was one word.

  Help.

  Chapter 13

  Selena ran through the forest, oblivi
ous to the wind and rain because she knew she was going to die. She was sure of it.

  If not at the hands of the vampire, then because her lungs were going to burst.

  It had been some time after midnight, and she and Brenna were playing their zillionth hand of gin rummy, when they saw headlights coming up the driveway. Her first thought had been that someone was coming to burglarize the house. After all, no one knew Mateo was here, and his car was parked in the garage, so any visitor would have assumed the house was empty. But then she’d recognized the vehicle. A dark blue pickup truck.

  It was her father.

  Heart racing, she ran outside, Brenna at her heels. Why had her father come all this way at this time of night in this storm? What had happened?

  Windshield wipers on full blast, the truck stopped in front of the garage behind where Mateo’s car was parked inside. She started to dash off the porch, but Brenna grabbed her arm. “Hold on.”

  “Why?” Selena asked incredulously. “That’s my dad.”

  “Something’s not right.”

  “I know that,” she snapped, impatience tugging at her natural tendency to be polite with a new friend. “He would never have come all this way if it wasn’t urgent.”

  The driver’s door opened, and her father stepped out.

  “Dad? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” The wind swept away her words.

  He lifted his hand in greeting as the passenger door opened and his girlfriend Marcella got out.

  Brenna’s grip tightened around Selena’s forearm, and she took a half step in front of her, partially blocking her view of the truck. “Go into the house and call Mateo,” Brenna said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  The tiny hairs on the back of Selena’s neck prickled. “But I don’t have any cellular coverage here.”

  “Then you need to get yourself somewhere with coverage.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  And then she noticed something odd about Brenna. Her lips looked…different. Fuller. There was a flash of white that hadn’t been there before. Fangs.

  A deafening roar sounded in Selena’s ears and she took a step backward. “Brenna?”

  “I’m going to do what I can to stall her,” Brenna said, “but you need to go. Now.”

  Selena choked. All the questions she had about what was going on paled in comparison to the most important one. “What about my dad?”

  “Your father is not the target. You are. His female companion is a Darkblood.”

  With Mateo’s car blocked, she’d done the only thing she could do. She’d run.

  Arms and legs like pistons, she was oblivious to the blackberry bushes and stinging nettles brushing her exposed skin. With just one bar of service, she had no idea if Mateo had received the text she’d just sent.

  She prayed he did, because she didn’t know how much longer she could outrun a vampire.

  “Damn it, Finn. What’s wrong?” Mateo adjusted his headset and stared out the rain-streaked windshield of the helicopter, wishing he had the supernatural ability to teleport like a few members of his race did.

  “We can’t get off the ground in this wind,” Finn said, flipping a few switches on the instrument panel. “It’s too strong. We’re going to have to wait for it to—”

  Like hell they were. Selena was in danger and needed him.

  He took a deep breath, called forth an inner strength that he hadn’t known existed until Selena’s fall, and willed the aircraft to lift. Even with his eyes pinched shut, he could tell they were no longer on the ground.

  “Holy shit. We’re airborne,” Finn exclaimed from the pilot’s seat. “Let’s just hope we stay that way.”

  The land below them was dark as they flew over the tops of the trees. Although Mateo had no idea what was waiting for him back at Broadmoor, he sure as hell had an inkling, and the thought made his stomach turn.

  After what seemed like a lifetime, Finn was centering the aircraft above the clearing near Broadmoor. The moment it touched down, Mateo leaped from the helicopter and shadow-moved through the forest.

  He burst into the house to find Brenna in the kitchen, eyes closed and chained to the fireplace. Blood dripped from a fresh wound in her arm, and an older man lay unconscious at her feet. It was Selena’s father. A fresh round of panic coursed through him as he scanned the room.

  “Where’s Selena?”

  Brenna opened her eyes, a pained expression on her face. “Move him...away from me,” she said haltingly. “I can’t think.”

  Wounded vampires had one thing on their minds. Blood. Selena’s father wasn’t a sweetblood, but that didn’t matter. A hurt vampire was a hungry vampire.

  Quickly pulling the man out of her reach, he repeated his question.

  “I...don’t know,” Brenna said. “I told her...to run.”

  And that’s when he smelled it. Darkbloods.

  His worst fears had come true.

  “How many are there?” They usually traveled in pairs.

  “Just...one. A female.” Brenna grimaced. “I tried to stop her…and I held her off for a while, but then…this happened. I’m sorry, Mateo.”

  His heart thumped a hammer-like staccato in his ears as he sprinted outside and tried to pick up Selena’s scent. Which way had she run, goddamnit? With the wind blowing as hard as it was and the rain washing everything away, all he smelled was sea air and the earthy, clean fragrance of the forest.

  At least the Darkblood was at the same disadvantage. His only hope was that the female hadn’t found Selena yet.

  Chapter 14

  Lungs ready to burst, Selena was soaked to the bone by the time she got to the fourth cabin overlooking the bluff. She didn’t care if this one was locked like the other three had been, she couldn’t go any farther. She’d break a window if she had to.

  As it turned out, the door was unlocked—yes!—and she let herself in. When she went to close it, a gust of wind tore it from her hands and the door slammed shut with a bang.

  She twisted the deadbolt and collapsed to her knees, water pooling around her as she struggled to catch her breath. Although she couldn’t be sure, she had an overwhelming sense that Mateo was nearby, and the thought reassured her. She gripped the silver candlestick in her hand tighter. It was a wonder she still had it. She’d grabbed it as an afterthought as she’d sprinted through the sitting room. She may be new to this dangerous world of his, but she didn’t need to be helpless. If she got out of this alive, she’d take all the self-defense classes she could find. Learn to fight with a knife. Maybe even fire a gun.

  Please, she thought, let Dad and Brenna be okay.

  “Ah, Selena,” said a woman’s calm voice from behind her. “So glad you could join me.”

  Her breath lodged in her throat like a splinter from a bone and she almost dropped the candlestick. She turned around slowly.

  It was Marcella. And she had a mouthful of fangs.

  He almost missed it. The scent of blood. One moment it was there and the next it was gone, carried off by the howling wind. But one thing he knew. It was Selena’s.

  Weapons in both hands, fangs protruding, he sprinted toward the bluff and kicked in the door of Cabin #4. And there, in the musty darkness, his worst nightmare came true.

  A Darkblood female was leaning over Selena’s prone body, blood dripping from her fangs.

  Oh God, he was too late.

  A murderous rage unlike anything he’d ever felt before spiraled up like a hurricane and consumed him. This vile creature had killed the woman he loved. The woman who’d loved him in spite of his flaws, who’d filled the hole in his heart, making him feel as if he were enough just the way he was. She’d forgiven him and he’d wanted to figure out a way to spend eternity with her…but now she was gone.

  In a flash, he yanked the creature away from Selena’s body and flung her across the tiny room. Something crashed, but the Darkblood landed on her feet like a cat. He pla
nned to cut her to shreds, throw her pieces into the ocean, but before he could throw one of his blades, a powerful blow hit him in the stomach. He staggered backward and fell to the ground, dazed at the female’s speed and strength. She’d no doubt been bolstered by Selena’s rare blood.

  “The two of you recently fucked,” the female spat as she circled him. “I could taste you in her blood. But she’s mine. I found her first.”

  “I...am no one’s property,” said a tiny voice to his left.

  Selena? She was alive!

  She flung an object—a candlestick?—that landed at the female’s feet.

  Although it did no damage, it was enough to distract the Darkblood. Taking advantage of this, Mateo sprang up and drove his silver blade straight into the creature’s heart. “Mine!” he growled viciously.

  He didn’t wait for the thing to charcoal. Spinning on his heel, he fell to his knees at Selena’s side, then hesitated. Blood was everywhere, her scent overwhelming in the small space. His dark nature reared up, a powerful force raging within him, and he ached to bury his fangs in her neck.

  This had to be the embodiment of hell, he thought. To see the person you love survive an attack by your enemy, only to die by your hand.

  “I love you, Mateo,” Selena said softly, reaching out to touch him. “You’re…strong enough, but I’m afraid I’m not.”

  No. He wouldn’t let her die. He couldn’t. He loved this amazing woman with every fiber of his being. She was his, and he was hers. He shoved his dark nature aside, swept her into his arms, and rushed her back to Broadmoor.

  Chapter 15

  Three months later

  “Christ, Selena. You’re insatiable.” Breathing heavily, Mateo fell onto the bed, his magnificent cock still hard and glistening. This view of her man was one she’d never grow tired of.

  “What can I say?” she said, grinning playfully and licking her lips. “You’ve turned me into a monster, and I can’t get enough of you.”