by Aubrey Brown
Sequel to Ravenous
Hunger
Rose Penelope Drake has her mind set on marrying her father’s best friend. However, His Grace William Arthur Huntington the Duke of Edington still sees her as a child, breaking her heart. Wanting to create a new life for herself, she volunteers to journey to London, and her parents agree to a season among the ton.
Having made a promise to Gabriel to watch over Rose, William attends her coming out ball and discovers himself attracted to the woman she has become. He attempts to stay away from the temptation of her, but once he sees a marquise play for her hand, he begins a seduction that cannot be denied. Much to his ire, Rose refuses his hand, even though he knows she hungers for him. All the while, two dark forces have set their sights on ruining William and Rose’s eternal happiness, for William cannot live without her.
Will William convince Rose they must wed before the villains tear them apart, or worse her father finds out about their rendezvous’? Or will they forever remain in hunger?
Note: This book contains dubious consent.
Genre: Paranormal, Regency, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 58,123 words
HUNGER
Sequel to Ravenous
Aubrey Brown
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
HUNGER
Copyright © 2013 by Aubrey Brown
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-198-2
First E-book Publication: July 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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DEDICATION
This novel is for my loving husband. Thank you for all of your support and hours of dedication in allowing me to chase my dream! And to my good friends and followers on Facebook, thank you for rooting me on and supporting me!
HUNGER
Sequel to Ravenous
AUBREY BROWN
Copyright © 2013
Prologue:
The Night of Lord Halverson’s Wedding
Earl of Halverson’s estate; English countryside, near the sea; 1820
She felt a presence just outside the castle’s gate. It was a dark foreboding feeling. It sent her heart racing and her breath to hitch. Rose was but ten years old, and had been through the recent trauma of losing her parents, but she was saved by her uncle and her new aunt. What would scare a meeker chit sent curiosity through Rose’s veins.
She walked through the castle gates, and moved along the wooded area of the grounds, feeling the presence come closer and nearer. She felt excitement move through her breast. Her palms began to sweat. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. She moved through the gates, through a hedge, and came to an even more densely wooded area.
She gasped when a shadow seemed to move through the air. It was as if mist came from the dirt ground. A man appeared before her eyes, he seemed to be three and thirty years of age, and strongly built. His dark-brown hair fell over his bright blue eyes. She stood in wonder of the moment and of him.
“Did you not know, child, that the woods at night are dangerous? They can contain monsters who could gobble you up whole.”
That voice was haunting, it was mystical, and Rose answered in the only way she could.
“Sir, you are stalking our grounds. My uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady Halverson, would not like you here. And I am not a girl. I am ten years old. I’m a woman.”
Her chin pointed into the air. It was an indignant stance that held a firm spine.
His penetrating eyes searched hers. It was as if he were reaching into her soul for answers. Rose felt oddly calm and not the least bit afraid him.
“You are not afraid of me. You should be. Go on back to the festivities,” the stranger stated, as he waved his hand before her eyes.
As he had before, he left in a shift of the wind.
Rose felt her mind begin to wool over, so she shook her blonde head to clear the fog. It took but a moment, and her mind was clear and her eyes came back in focus. She looked around her and wondered why she was in the middle of her uncle’s woods.
* * * *
Rose was quietly lying on her bed when she heard raised voices. She crept from her chamber and walked slowly down the hallway. The voices were becoming louder. They seemed to be coming from her uncle’s office.
She stopped just outside the slightly opened doorway and listened to her uncle’s raised voice.
“You are not welcome here, William! I want you to cease standing just outside our gates, demanding entrance. You are the very reason I was turned by Josephine. I was lured to her bed that night, and you then sought me out to counsel me about my undead state, under her direction, to lure me into some disgusting lifestyle.
“I admit, Gabriel, that I was infatuated by her. You know as well as I do that the dark gift entices us all. She set her sights on me, to lure men like you. I was blind and ignorant of her. She married another nobleman and laughed when I begged her to wed me. I saw her for what she really was,
and what she had enticed me to become. I vanquished her soulless body to Hell, and then tried to find you after I went to ground for a long while. I believed she loved me, and I would have done anything to please her, which you well know now. Would you not go to the very pits of hellfire for your wife?”
Rose looked through the slit in the door, to find her new aunt seated on the settee with tears in her eyes. Rose then looked anew to her uncle and saw him immediately calm. He walked over to his new bride and kissed her palm.
“You are right, William. I have never loved as I love now. All your words of apology just ring hollow to me. You betrayed my trust. She changed me into the hideous creature I am now. You say she is dead at present, from your own hands?”
“Indeed. She never loved me, and that is why I have been seeking you out all these years. I wanted to beg your forgiveness. You are bloody good at darkening your thoughts. The night you left the castle before your marriage was the night I felt your presence for the first time in decades,” William said in admiration.
Aunt Emma cleared her throat. “Gabriel, without your dark gift we would not be as we are now. I would be married to a man who would beat me every night as I lay in the birthing bed year after year. Nay, let me finish,” She placed her fingers upon his lips. “We are here now, and we are a family with Rose and James. It is clear he wants to make amends for the wrong done to you. However, I must add it is only a wrong if you feel you lost something valuable in the experience. We are together now. Can we not just thank and forgive William for that?”
Rose was confused by the conversation. Her uncle was a monster? She looked to the man who was now speaking and gasped. He looked very familiar. A flood of memories came upon her in a rush.
Her aunt’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Darling, will you retrieve Rose from the door. I just sensed her presence. I think she has been there for a while now.”
Gabriel walked through the door and glowered. “What are you doing up at this late time, my lady?”
Rose looked at her uncle. “I heard yelling, and I became curious.”
“Curiosity is a dangerous thing, my dear,” Aunt Emma stated.
Rose ran into the room and into Auntie’s arms.
Rose looked to the stranger. “What are my aunt and uncle talking about? What did you bring upon them?”
He ticked an eyebrow near his hairline. “Your child is blunt and curious, Gabriel.”
“She is my angel, William, and she will not rest until she knows the truth. Her mind is set.”
And so it went, a story of intrigue and horror was told of her uncle’s change into the undead. He was a vampire and so was her new aunt. The stranger, who was named William, was responsible for her uncle becoming a vampire. Instead of being afraid she was gladdened.
She ran to the man and hugged him at his stomach. The man jerked in response and held stiff.
Rose whispered to his belly, “Thank you, sir, for without you, my uncle would have died a long time ago, and James and I would have gone into an orphanage. We love him and our new aunt very much.”
Rose heard soft crying coming from her aunt, and it suddenly struck her that she wanted to call her mummy and her uncle daddy. She felt the man unstiffen and begin to pat her awkwardly.
Rose turned away from the man and walked over to her new parents. “May, I call you mummy and daddy. I know you’re not really my parents, but I love you much like I love my real mummy and daddy.”
She was moved quickly into the loving bosom of her new parents. “We love you little one, of course you may call us whatever you wish.”
“You have an amazing daughter, Gabriel and Emma. She is truly the sunshine,” William stated.
That was the moment Rose knew her own mind. She would marry William. She did not know him, but time would allow for that. She wanted to be the one to make him happy once again. It was a serious commitment for a girl so young, but her heart was William’s.
Chapter One
As the years passed, William became a regular visitor in their home, and she followed him about, asking all manners of questions, when she should have been in bed. She was shoved into her room night after night with thoughts of William dancing through her mind. He had told her of the time the Queen herself gave him the title of, His Grace, William Arthur Huntington, the Duke of Edington, with a generous estate close to Surrey. He saved the Queen’s son’s life, by giving the foolish youth some of his healing blood. The young prince had tried to fight a duel over an entirely inappropriate chit.
The stories made her laugh, and some made her cry. However, he would never tell her anything of consequence. She hungered to know him inside and out. Especially after the night they buried poor Anna, their first governess. He held her in his arms as she cried for the crabby old woman. He never said a word to her, but she knew he cared about her welfare. She cried extra-long that evening, simply to be with him.
James would ask why she would stay up so late to see their parents’ visitor. Rose had no answers for him. He was still unaware that their parents were vampires. And her parents wanted it to stay that way. How James did not know was beyond Rose.
* * * *
1827
Through the years, Rose fell fathoms deeper in love with William. She also had a suspicion he knew. He was pulling away from her, making sure to come into the house after she had fallen asleep. He even stopped using the childish nickname he had given her. He called her sunshine, because he had told her that she brought light back into his life. She must have let her mind open to William’s preternatural abilities then.
Her father and mother taught her to shield her thoughts from others, who may use her for devious plans. After all, her parents were vampires and knew their own kind. And she did not do a thorough job of shielding her thoughts from her William.
Even though Rose and James were never formally adopted, they were wards to the Earl of Halverson, and they were treated as their blood children. James had been sent away to boarding school and would soon start his education at university, while Rose earned her education from a governess, dance instructor, a language teacher, and a dozen other tutors, that would make her into a fine, marriageable lady. The only problem that was foreseen by her mother was her wardrobe. She had very nice dresses for every occasion near the castle, but the finery was of country quality. She needed a more extensive wardrobe. It was not an issue living her on her father’s estate. However, it was now.
Rose wished she had beautiful dresses, just as the women at court did. Her mother regaled her with stories of balls, parties, and seasons. She wondered what it would be like to be courted by William during a ball or soirée. She would don a gown cut in the latest fashion, and she would wear her hair scandalously down. She would dance with him as if she was on air. Her dreams came to a halt as she remembered her obligation to Elizabeth.
Years before, her parents had let another child, named Elizabeth, move into the castle with her grandmother. She was the granddaughter of the governess who replaced her aunt Emma. Her name was Misses Greenleaf. Elizabeth’s parents had both died in a carriage accident shortly after she was born. She was a beautiful child, who was pale of skin, and fire of hair. Her eyes were the color of green moss and she had whimsical dimples on her cheeks when she smiled, and a heart of gold. She especially loved James when he could come home from school. She followed him about, much as Rose had done with William. Rose smiled at the possibility of her Beth loving James as she did William.
Beth’s family raised her until financial constraints made it so her grandmother had to bring her into the castle, and taught her as she taught Rose. Beth was quite a bit younger than Rose, by at least nine years, and needed extra tutoring. Plus, she had noticed her governess, Beth’s grandmother, Misses Greenleaf, has slowed down much of late. So Rose spent most of her evenings teaching Beth her sums and letters, mundane things that made Rose restless. She loved Beth as a sister, but she yearned for more.
Rose hungered for an adventure,
just as James was having at his boarding school, and she yearned to do it with William. However, it would seem he needed more of a push. After all, she was in love with him, which meant he was in love with her. Right?
So her day went much like her all-day, everyday life. She spent her time teaching Rose. Later that evening, Rose was called into her father’s office were she found him with grave concern upon his face. “What is the matter, Father?”
Gabriel uncoiled his legs from behind his desk and walked over to her. He led Rose to the settee to be seated. He then found his own seat next to hers. Tears filled his eyes as he looked into her eyes.
“Your mother is in hysterics, and I am very worried. Misses Greenleaf is dying. We have both been giving her blood to sustain her for the last five years. However, her body is no longer taking our healing powers. We have discussed with her giving her the dark gift. Nevertheless, she has stated God wants her to come home to her husband and children. She says she will miss Beth, but she wants to go on to her reward.”
Rose held her father’s shaking body in hers. It was complete madness to think that Misses Greenleaf was dying.
“What of George?” Rose asked.
“He is anguished, but in agreement with her decision.”
“Why is it that I have a feeling that this is not the only crisis, Father?”
“Ever so curious, my dear Rose. Misses Greenleaf, was not entirely truthful with us about Beth’s removal from her other son. After the death of her children, she found Beth living in dire conditions. She stole into the home and removed Beth. Her son and she have not spoken in years, and she has kept the secret since. She fears when she passes, her son will find Beth.”
