He sat the tray of food on her lap and lifted the lid.
Nita’s stomach lurched. She flew from the bed and staggered to the bathroom, dropping to her knees in front of the toilet.
She heaved for several minutes, but nothing came up.
Vlad appeared behind her and handed her a washcloth. “I’m afraid it’s the vampire blood in your veins. I sent for Christof after you didn’t awaken last night. He’s downstairs. Would you mind allowing him to have a look at you?”
“Who is Christof?” Nita questioned, standing to brush her teeth.
Vlad handed her an unopened toothbrush. “He was a doctor in the nineteenth century, before Gina Calimari became infatuated with him and turned him against his will.”
“How awful.” Nita finished brushing her teeth and laid the toothbrush on the side of the sink before turning to face Vlad. “I don’t need a doctor.”
“It would make me feel better,” Vlad admitted, following her back to the bedroom. “What could it hurt?”
Climbing back beneath the covers, Nita stared up into Vlad’s worried eyes. “Fine,” she smiled, softening her gaze. “But if he tells me that I’m going to sprout fangs, we have a problem.”
Vlad’s lips twitched. “There’s nothing sexier than a shifter with fangs.”
A knock sounded on the door. Vlad opened it and took a step back. He waved toward the bed. “Christof, this is Nita.”
A tall, skinny, pale-skinned blond stepped into the room. His blue eyes were friendly, and a crease rested next to his mouth, telling Nita that he smiled a lot.
Christof nodded, a twinkle in his eyes. “It’s a nice to meet you, Nita. Mind if I sit?”
Nita slid her legs out of the way to make room for the skinny doctor. “It’s nice to meet you as well. Listen, I honestly feel fine.”
“Then this shouldn’t take long. I’ll just have a look at you and be on my way.”
With a sigh of surrender, Nita lay completely still while the doctor opened the black bag he’d carried inside and began poking and prodding.
Just when she thought she could stand it no longer, he replaced his instruments and stood. “She’s perfectly healthy. I’m guessing it’s the large amount of vampire blood in her system. The effects of it should wear off soon.”
“But I ate pasta when we returned home a few nights ago,” Nita pointed out. “And it didn’t make me sick.”
The doctor sent her a gentle smile. “I imagine it’s the pasta that’s got your stomach upset. Try some rare steak. That should help settle things down.”
Nita sat up straighter in bed. “How long will the nausea last?”
“I’m not certain,” the doctor informed her. “I’ve never met a shifter. And certainly not one with vampire blood in her veins.”
“We’ll try the steak.” Vlad intervened, showing Christof to the door. “Thank you for seeing us on such short notice.”
“You destroyed Gina,” Christof explained. “I owe you everything.”
Vlad shook his head. “You owe me nothing. I should have killed her long ago.”
“Have a pleasant evening.” The doctor blurred toward the stairs, disappearing faster than Nita could track.
“Damn, he’s fast,” she muttered, snatching up the clothes Ember had left for her.
Vlad laughed. “The skinny ones usually are.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Vlad watched with hooded eyes as Nita dressed in her borrowed clothes. He wanted nothing more than to rip them off and bury his face in the juncture of her thighs.
“Stop staring at me like that,” she teased, pulling on her boots.
“Like what?”
“As if I were a steak.”
He drifted closer. “I don’t want steak.”
Nita slowed her movements, her gaze dropping to his mouth. “Then what do you want?”
“You.”
“Now?” Nita breathed, her hands going still.
Vlad slowly nodded. “I always want you. But unfortunately, we have a meeting to attend.”
Nita’s eyebrows shot up. “A meeting?”
Offering her a hand, Vlad pulled her to her feet. “I have asked your Shaman to bring your people to the council meeting I’m holding tonight. They are to meet us there in half an hour.”
“And the vampires?” Nita asked in a quiet voice.
“Will be in attendance as well.”
The brave face she put on filled Vlad’s heart with another round of pride. Damn, he loved her.
He plucked his cloak from the back of the door and put it on, securing the hood over his head. “Are you ready?”
Nita looped her arm through his. “As I’ll ever be.”
Vlad escorted her down the stairs and into the foyer where several anxious faces awaited.
Even the previously injured shifters stood idly by. They lowered their heads in honor as Nita stepped into the room.
“I’m grateful for your allegiance.” Nita praised them, moving to touch each one on the shoulder. “I will not forget your loyalty. Ever.”
Vlad waited until Nita finished speaking before ushering everyone outside to the vehicles lined up in the drive.
He opened the door to an SUV and helped Nita inside.
“What about Lucius?” Nita inquired, glancing back at the others now filing into available cars.
Vlad shut her door and blurred around the SUV to climb behind the wheel. “He’s staying here with your mother and Mordecai.”
Nita grinned. “Something is going on between those two. I can see it.”
“I believe she stayed in his room last night.”
“What?” Nita’s eyes sparkled with humor. “Aren’t they a bit old to be fraternizing behind closed doors?”
“One is never too old to love,” Vlad confessed, putting the vehicle into gear and driving toward the main road.
Nita reached across the seats and laid her hand over his. “I’ll still love you when I’m old.”
“You won’t grow old.” Vlad glanced in her direction to see how she reacted to that bit of news.
Her mouth hung open in surprise. “Never?”
“Never,” Vlad assured her, loving that he would have her for centuries to come.
Nita turned in her seat to face him. “So, my mother could live a longer life if she took vampire blood?”
Vlad nodded. “As could Mordecai, but he refuses to.”
“Really? That’s insane. He’s getting on up in years. You would think he would realize that death will be knocking in the not-so-distant future.”
“He doesn’t fear death,” Vlad divulged, making a sharp right at the fork in the road. “He welcomes it.”
Nita continued to stare at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Vlad shifted his gaze to his beautiful mate. “He’s lived a good, long life for a human. He has a peace, I fear I will never behold. If he is assured a place in the hereafter, I envy him that.”
The rest of the drive was ridden in silence, with Nita’s fingertips caressing the back of Vlad’s hand.
Her heartbeat drove him to distraction, but nothing compared to her incredible scent. It drifted up his nose to settle in his cock.
Vlad adjusted himself before pulling into the parking lot of the designated council meetings.
Switching off the engine, he turned to face her. “No matter what happens in here, know that I will not allow any harm to come to you.”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “Let’s do this.”
Vlad climbed from the SUV, skirted the front, and opened Nita’s door before she could straighten in her seat.
Angel and Ember stepped up beside them. Angel clapped Vlad on the back. “This has been your place all along. You were created to lead.”
“I never wanted to lead, Angelo. Only to live. But Nita has changed me. I see a future now. With shifters and vampires coexisting.”
“I’m with you, Drac,” Shon announced, joining them next to the SUV. Laura clung tightly t
o his arm. “And I agree with Angela. You make a hell of a leader.”
Vlad’s lips twitched. Damn, but he liked the smartass Shon. “Let us go inside.”
Leading the group to the entrance of the massive rock building, Vlad kept his senses open to anything resembling a threat. He tugged Nita closer to his side. “Stay close.”
“How is it that I never knew this place existed?” Nita whispered, following along beside Vlad.
Vlad kept his gaze trained on his surroundings. “We pride ourselves in being discreet. Not even the local law enforcement would dare venture out here.”
Nita gently squeezed his arm. “Braggart.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Nita stayed close to Vlad as they moved through the dimly lit halls of the building.
The structure seemed to be made of rock, and a musty smell permeated the air.
They rounded a corner into a massive room boasting a large table that sat near the front.
Nita’s breath caught as she took in the many faces of vampires mingling around the room.
“This way,” Vlad explained, jerking his chin toward the table.
Reality quickly set in. Vlad wanted her seated next to him at the giant table, facing the hundred or so vampires occupying the room.
Vlad must have read her thoughts. He leaned in close, pressing his mouth against her ear. “They have all been informed of your attendance. Relax you’re safe with me.”
Murmurs suddenly erupted, coupled with hissing sounds and low, threatening growls.
Nita turned in time to watch her Shaman enter the room with at least fifty of her pack members.
Vlad pulled a chair out for Nita at the table and motioned for her to sit before addressing the room at large. “Enough. The shifters are here at my request.”
The roar of his voice silenced every man and woman in the room. All eyes swung Vlad’s way.
Vlad took a seat next to Nita and held up a hand for silence. “I have asked you here tonight to inform you of my decision to retake my rightful place on the throne. If there are any who wish to challenge me for said throne, do it now.”
The room remained quiet, no one moving or speaking.
Nita listened as Vlad went on to talk about everything that had happened over the last several weeks, ending with, “We owe our lives to the shifters. If not for them, many of you standing here would have died at the hands of the Seekers, as well as the previous council members.”
A tall man, wearing what looked to Nita like an Armani suit, stepped forward. “You actually trust these” —he threw his hand out in the shifters’ direction— “animals?”
Vlad didn’t answer for long moments. A muscle ticked along his jaw as he stared silently at the well-dressed vampire. “Those animals, as you call them, saved your ass, you ungrateful son of a bitch, losing at least a hundred of their own in the process.”
“And her?” the ignorant Armani-wearing vampire sneered, pointing at Nita.
Vlad moved so fast Nita’s hair blew back as he launched over the table and had the other vampire by the throat. “She is your queen. You will show her nothing but respect, or you die tonight. Your choice.”
“That goes for all of you,” Vlad bellowed, addressing the entire room. “Nita Franks is my mate. Your queen. If you can’t accept that, I suggest you leave town, tonight. No harm will come to you as long as you do not return.”
The guy wearing the suit spun toward the door, his fangs resting against his bottom lip and his eyes glowing with rage.
“I’ll just escort Calvin Klein off the premises,” Shon stated, winking at Nita before following the livid vampire to the exit.
Nita’s gaze swung back to Vlad. She had never seen a more majestic creature than the Impaler. With his cloak billowing out around him and his massive shoulders erect with tension, he commanded the room.
“Anyone else?” Vlad offered, his voice deadly low. He turned and held out his hand for Nita.
Without hesitation, Nita stood and skirted the table. She marched toward Vlad with pride shining in her eyes before taking hold of his hand to stand by his side.
He lightly kissed her fingertips. “Are you ready?”
Nita nodded, overcome by a feeling she had no name for. “Yes.”
Vlad turned to face the room full of supernatural creatures. Creatures that were born enemies, yet brought together by a force stronger than hate… Love.
“I would like to introduce you to my mate. Daughter of Ronan Franks, alpha and leader of the Kiana, Nita Franks.”
Tears filled Nita’s eyes as one by one, the vampires lowered to one knee. The shifters immediately followed suit. All heads bowed, and a peaceful silence fell over the room.
Nita stepped forward, her hand shaking as she lifted it to the first head she came to. She moved around the room, touching every vampire and shifter she came in contact with, leaving no doubt that she accepted them as they accepted her.
She glanced up in time to watch Vlad ease the hood of his cloak back and give her a glimpse into his eyes…eyes swimming with pride and a love she couldn’t deny.
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Nita rolled over in bed, grinning at the breakfast on her bedside table.
She’d eventually gotten used to the changes the vampire blood had caused and was soon able to enjoy food once more.
“You’re spoiling me,” she admitted, fighting a yawn. “Or rather, Mordecai, is.”
Mordecai and Virginia had fallen in love, both living in Vlad and Nita’s castle.
The elderly butler had caved one night and decided a little vampire blood to keep him alive longer wouldn’t hurt. He wanted all the time he could have with Virginia.
Nita approved since she hadn’t seen her mother that happy since before Ronan passed away.
“You haven’t seen spoiled yet. I’m having a large green house built on the grounds, so your pack can grow their herbs.”
Nita laughed, kissing Vlad’s chin as she sat up. “You’ve already built them all cabins. What are you going to do when they begin multiplying?”
“They already are. Mrs. Temples is expecting a child in the spring.”
“And how would you know this?”
“Henagar told me.”
“But he’s a vampire,” Nita gasped, her eyebrows shooting up toward her hairline. “Oh my God. This will be the first vampire/ shifter birth in history.”
Vlad wrapped his arms around her and pulled her across his chest. “How about we begin working on our own babies?”
Nita buried her nose against his neck and breathed him in. “I’m not ready to give birth just yet, my big, strapping vampire mate. But I am certainly not opposed to practicing.”
“Deal,” Vlad growled, flipping her over and settling between her thighs.
The feel of Vlad’s erection sliding into her depths as his fangs sank into the pulse point of her throat had to be the most incredible sensation Nita had ever felt.
She would never get used to being taken by Vlad, and she never wanted him to stop.
They had centuries to love each other, she thought as he began to move inside her, stretching her to the point of near pain. More than centuries… Eternity.
~The End~
Enigma: What Lies Beneath
Book One in the Enigma Series
Available on Amazon
Prologue
“Abbie, wait.”
Henry’s voice could barely be heard over the thundering of waves crashing in the distance.
An endless stream of tears streaked down Abbie’s face as great racking sobs seized her small body. Pain welled up from her chest until it became impossible to breathe. Still, she ran.
Her father’s shouts faded with every step she took until they disappeared altogether.
Branches grabbed at her arms like the bony fingers of a thousand skeletons, cutting into her skin. She welcomed the sting of every scratch; anything to relieve the pain in her heart.
; Her mother’s cold, pale face burned behind her eyes, frozen and empty. Gone were the laugh lines, the sparkle…the life.
Abbie couldn’t bear to see her mother lying in a box for hundreds of people to pass by and say words over. She might be only seven, but she was old enough to know it meant goodbye. A coffin, they’d called it. Resting place. Final.
A wail wrenched from her small chest. It ricocheted off the trees, scattering birds in different directions. She’d give anything to have wings in that moment, to fly away and never look back.
Abbie burst onto the beach without slowing. Her little legs ate up the sand as she ran straight for the water.
Memories of swimming with her mother lit through her mind in sorrowful detail. The laughter, splashing around and exploring the unknown.
A storm was coming, but she didn’t care. She needed to feel her mother’s presence, to beg God to give her back.
“Abbie, do you know why the ocean is salty? It’s all the tears God cries when someone passes away.”
“Mama, what does ‘passes away’ mean?”
“Well, it means when people die, they leave this earth to become angels.”
“If they get to be angels, then why does God cry?”
“For the ones that are left behind who will miss them after they’re gone.”
Abbie sailed headlong into the waves with her sights on the second sandbar. She would swim out as far as she could to be sure her prayers were heard. If God cried enough to create an ocean, maybe He would take pity on her and give back her mother.
The weight of her skirt wrapping around her legs made it hard to move in the churning water. She used her arms to pull herself along in a rowing motion until the current became too strong, forcing her to dive under and swim. Her eyes stung from the salt, but she held them open while memories of her mother’s voice whispered through her mind.
“Abbie, did you know that dolphins can communicate with humans?”
“What is commu… Commu—”
“It means talk to them.”
“Have you ever talked to a dolphin?
The Rise of Vlad (The Seeker Series Book 3) Page 13
