It was Buzz Cut.
He and his two comrades were standing beside a huge, all-black Tahoe with tinted windows. They were parked near the air-fill station and hadn’t noticed Ember yet. She pressed against the brick building and did her best to mold into the shadows. Ember held her breath and listened.
“…the woman didn’t seem to know anything,” Buzz Cut was saying. “But we’re pretty sure Arkos is coming by this way. The boys have a trap set and we’ll bring him to you shackled and subdued, Mr. Scala.”
The backseat window was rolled down and Ember caught sight of who the goons were speaking to. The man had long dark hair that fell past his ears and a strong jawline. His skin was tanned and his eyes intense. He was handsome in a way, but Ember caught definite bad vibes rolling off him.
“Don’t fail me, Mitchell,” he growled at the idiot she had dubbed Buzz Cut at her bar. “You won’t like the consequences if you do.”
Whoever Arkos was, they seemed to be closing in on him. Poor sucker. They looked like they didn’t mess around. Maybe whenever they caught this guy, they’d all leave Devil’s Folly for good.
The sooner the better, the gnawing sensation in her gut told her.
Ember was finally able to let out the breath she’d been holding when the Tahoe squealed out of the parking lot and the goon squad returned to their sedan, following behind.
Back on the highway headed toward home, Ember got lost in the music for a few blissful moments. Just a few more miles and she’d be safe in her bed, the memories of tonight and all her bravado distant memories.
Headlights up ahead caught her attention. Two cars had parked haphazardly behind a Jeep, which had found itself wedged into a tree off the side of the road.
Pity. It’d been a beautiful Jeep from what she could see in the wash of headlights. As she approached, Ember took in the two dark sedans and the pieces clicked into place.
This was the trap set for whoever this Arkos was.
Ember slowed her truck without realizing it and took in the scene further.
Two men in dark clothing, more of Scala’s goons she presumed, struggled as they tried to move a massive form from the Jeep. The unconscious man was huge—well over six feet tall and broad like a linebacker. She couldn’t see his face well, but saw that dark hair swept over his eyes and dark stubble dotted his jaw.
A new sensation stabbed her in the chest—different from the fear she’d felt when she witnessed Scala and his henchmen at the gas station. This one was fluttery and squeezing all at the same time, and the longer she looked at the man being dragged away to what was most likely his death, the stronger this phantom pull got.
Without meaning to, Ember had pulled her truck to a stop a short distance from the sedans and watched, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the steering wheel.
Time slowed to a crawl and the seconds ticked by as Ember’s brain raced to come up with what she was going to do now that the goons had spotted her. There were three in total and all of them were now squinting into her headlights.
She’d be a fool to think they weren’t all armed to the teeth. She had seconds to make a decision.
The goon who wasn’t currently dragging the Arkos man from the car reached a hand inside his jacket.
Three…
The other two unceremoniously dropped Arkos to the ground and looked toward the third man.
Two…
In seconds, they were reaching for their own weapons.
One…
Ember flicked the emergency lights on her dash and immediately the blue warning lights she had installed her first summer as a paramedic with the local volunteer rescue squad blazed on—two on the roof and two in the dashboard. They were blue, the county’s chosen color for volunteer paramedics, but she hoped these three might mistake her for a state trooper.
A second flick of her wrist and the turn of a dial and the world’s loudest, most obnoxious alarm sounded from the amplifier on the roof. The alarm, meant to be used so other search teams and para-rescue groups could find her, was ear-splitting and Ember prayed it did the trick.
The highway was relatively secluded, but there was a housing development not far from the road. In moments, they’d be awake and flipping on lights to investigate what the hell had woken them up so rudely.
The men looked at each other and Ember read the panic in the faces. And just because she had guardian angels looking out for her it seemed, she glanced in her rearview mirror and saw a couple pairs of headlights cresting the horizon behind her.
Total coincidence, but the goon squad just might think it was backup.
Ember chewed her lower lip and felt the sweat beading her forehead.
Seconds later, the bluff worked and the three men dashed for the sedans, leaving Arkos in a heap on the ground. Tires peeled out against the concrete and flew down the highway.
She pulled up closer to the Jeep and threw her truck in park, knowing she didn’t have much time. She ran to the unconscious man and rolled him onto his back, and checked his neck for a pulse. She let out a quick sigh of relief when she felt a weak one.
Ember gently pushed the black hair from his eyes and studied his face.
He was a god, she decided right then and there.
A dark curtain of black lashes laid against his chiseled, tan cheek. His nose was smooth and straight and his lips—have mercy, his lips were full and slightly parted as he breathed.
“Holy crap,” Ember muttered to herself as she leaned over him. “You’re beautiful.”
He made a noise then and Ember sat back quickly in surprise. His eyelids fluttered open, but he didn’t seem to be awake. A noise rattled in his throat, but he made no sense.
“Listen, mister,” Ember said, leaning back toward him. “You obviously are in a shit storm of trouble and I don’t think we have much time until your friends come back. We need to get you in my truck, but I sure as hell can’t carry you. You’ve got to help me a little, okay?”
He groaned then, the sound was a little clearer than the gurgling he’d just done. Maybe he was coming out of it little by little.
“Okay, I’m going to try to sit you up and get you on your feet,” she said, grasping his hands in hers. They were warm, electric. She didn’t miss the shock of energy between them when their hands touched.
Ember pulled and pulled and finally had him in a sitting position, but only as long as she kept a hold of his shoulder. She leaned in close and tried her best to ignore the spicy, masculine scent that flooded her senses. He smelled like spice and smoke and her heart rate and heat level responded instantly.
“What the hell?” She muttered, confused by her own reaction. Doing her best to ignore the fact that her traitorous body was acting like a hormonal teenager, she yanked against the man in an attempt to budge him. He didn’t move.
“Mister,” she hissed in his ear. “You need to help me a little here or we’re both goners. Your friends are most definitely going to come back really, really soon and we need to go now!”
He groaned again, but this time as she pulled, she felt a little give in his weight.
Oh thank goodness, she thought in relief. Maybe they’d get out of this jam alive after all. They struggled together until he was on his feet and staggering toward her truck.
“Almost there,” she whispered, straining under the sheer weight of him. She fumbled with the door handle and nearly toppled when the man started to go limp again. “Not yet, not yet, not yet!”
At last, the door popped open and she shoved the man into the passenger’s seat, albeit awkwardly. Reaching between his knees, Ember could have sworn she felt her cheeks flush as she reached for the release latch in an effort to give him more leg room. She was precariously close to this stranger and found it hard to concentrate, despite the fact that there were armed men likely headed their way.
With the man securely tangled and shoved into the truck, Ember leaned against the door and closed it before racing toward the driver’s side.
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Jamming the truck in gear and racing back onto the highway, she headed toward the most secluded and safe place she could think of—her tiny cabin on the top of Bald Mountain Pass.
She cast a quick glance at the sleeping man beside her, a gentle buzz spreading through her belly.
“You better be worth the trouble, mister,” she whispered into the darkness.
Chapter Four
His head was split into two and the universe hadn’t even had the decency to properly kill him.
At least that’s what Kai assumed and he slowly came awake and acclimated himself to the sounds around him without opening his eyes. Somewhere in the distance, an annoying bird chirped an obvious morning song. He hated birds. Not too far away from him, there was the sound of metal banging and water running.
And her.
From where he laid with his eyes closed, Kai could here Ember humming a song under her breath—a sweet, melodious sound that instantly had him hard and twitching in his pants.
Shit.
What the hell had happened?
He didn’t move right away and peeled one eye open and then the other, taking in the surroundings. It was a small living room and he was twisted over the top of a too-small sofa, his legs and feet hanging off the end.
The memories returned in a wave—the drive followed by the blinding flash of light, the crash, the stab of the needle in his neck, the descent into darkness. And Ember’s voice. He remembered thinking he was dreaming when he heard her sweet voice talking to him, calling him mister of all things.
Kai didn’t remember anything after that and he had no idea how she’d managed to get them both out of harm’s way and into her cabin. He knew it was hers—the air around him was charged with her unique sweet scent.
His canines lengthened at her proximity and he warred with his body to control itself before he scared this woman half out of her mind.
“Can I get you anything?” Ember asked from the doorway. Kai jerked into a sitting position and ran his hand through his hair. She smiled nervously. “Your breathing was different. I knew you were awake.”
“Watching me sleep?” His voice was raw and ragged and his mind still swam at his attempt at humor. Whatever they’d hit him with was still in his system.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know if you were going to try to murder me when you came out of it, so I haven’t slept yet. Sorta keeping vigil, I guess. You can tell yourself it’s because I was worried you wouldn’t make it if you want to.”
From where Kai sat, he heard the subtle quickening of her heartbeat and could pick up the traces of fear she was emitting. And yet she stood there attempting to crack jokes at him.
Ember Terzi was something else.
“Did they see you?” Kai grew serious as the ramifications of Ember inserting herself into the fray became clear.
He didn’t have to explain what he meant. Ember shook her head.
“I don’t think so. Maybe the truck’s outline and the fact that I have lights and a speaker system that can shatter windows from 500 yards, but they didn’t see me before they took off.”
As she spoke, Kai took the opportunity to study her face. This was the closest that he’d been to his genaíka—his mate—since finding her.
Ember had mahogany hair that fell in loose waves to the middle of her back and from the smell of her, she’d just showered. Her eyes were a luminescent light grey and she had her father’s olive complexion. Perfect, lush pink lips that she licked nervously nearly undid him.
In her black running shorts and grey tank top, the swell of her curves were even more apparent than when she wore those ass-hugging jeans. Her nipples pushed through the fabric of her shirt and Kai had to bite back a groan and look away before his groin sprang back to life again.
Kai was at a loss for what to do next. He’d had every intention of leaving town and drawing the New Dawn scum with him, but now that Ember might possibly be involved, his plans needed to change.
“Why did you get involved?” He didn’t want to ask it, but he had to know. How had she known where to find him and what had compelled her to get involved in the dealings of strangers?
Foolish, brave woman. He wanted to be angry at her, to rail at her for taking such ridiculous chances for someone she didn’t know—but he owed Ember his life.
He watched her pretty mouth open and then close abruptly. She was searching for the right words.
“I don’t…I don’t know,” she finally managed. “I just couldn’t drive away, no matter how much I wanted to.”
Her voice was shaking as she spoke and Kai had to fight back the urge to stand up and take her in his arms to comfort her. The more distance Ember kept from him right now, the better. He’d make a new plan, he told himself, and keep her safe. And he’d take care of New Dawn himself.
And then, and only then, if he was still alive, would he return to Devil’s Folly to claim his mate.
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. Better to get his over with quickly—Ember was obviously no fool and the longer he waited to give her the full truth, the harder it was going to be for her to accept him…and her own birthright.
“I think you should sit down,” he said, motioning for her to join him.
She narrowed her eyes when he said her name, obviously wary of how he knew it.
“Okay,” she said nervously and took the chair opposite him.
“Ember, do you believe in things that go bump in the night?”
Chapter Five
Shit. This guy wasn’t kidding.
She’d chalked up his talk of ancient bloodlines and immortality to the nasty bump on his head. But then this gorgeous stranger had begged her to remain calm no matter what happened next and she tentatively agreed to it, knowing full well that she had no intention of honoring her word.
“Okay,” her voice had warbled.
Kai, he’d insisted she call him Kai and not Malakai, drew his lips back over his teeth and she watched in abject horror (mixed with a tiny dash of fascination and blooming heat) as his two canines slid into sharp points. The expression in his eyes was almost sad—a silent pleading with her not to freak out.
She freaked out anyway.
“HOLY HELL!” She jumped backwards without really thinking it through. She toppled feet over head and broke the chair she’d been sitting in. Kai was at her side in an instant, his large, warm hands behind the back of her skull—which had taken the brunt of her fall.
She blinked up and noticed the fangs where gone.
“I didn’t imagine that, did I?” She whispered weakly.
His eyes narrowed and his shook his head. She couldn’t be sure, but he almost looked disappointed in her reaction.
With a strong, steady motion, Kai pulled her on to unsteady feet and kept a hand on the small of her back.
“Are you okay?” His deep voice broke through her scattered thoughts.
“No,” she replied honestly. “But I’m going to be. Just give me a minute.”
She left him standing in the living room and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from underneath the kitchen sink.
She heard him snicker behind her.
“A little early for that, no?”
She pulled a small juice glass from her cabinet and poured it full of the amber liquid. Tipping her head back, she poured the stinging shot down and banged the glass on the counter when she was finished. She blew out a dramatic breath and repeated the steps one more time.
“You just introduced me to the world of vampires,” she wheezed. “It’s definitely not too early for this. Can I pour you one, Mr. Arkos? My fridge is fresh out of blood, unfortunately.”
“Kai,” he said gently. “It’s just Kai. And I haven’t had blood in almost three decades thanks to the miracles of modern science.”
He quickly explained the tablets his clan took, which they affectionately dubbed “multivitamins,” that took care of the need for organic blood. Not all vampires chose this route,
however. Ember let it drop for the moment.
Her eyes watered from the ferocity of the alcohol and she dabbed at them with the bottom of her tank top.
“You stopped at the part where you were going to explain why New Dawn was after you,” she said as she righted the chair and sat back down.
He blinked twice and looked at her without speaking.
“What?”
Kai frowned, his dark eyes searching her for something.
“That’s it? You don’t want to argue a little more about how this can’t be real and how I’m insane?”
He seemed genuinely perplexed at her acceptance.
Ember sighed.
“Listen, this might be the whiskey talking, but honestly, it’s not a huge surprise,” she said quietly. “My dad didn’t age. I mean, sure, he looked different from when my sister and I were little, but he didn’t change all that much while my mother did. My father was incredibly strong and fast his whole life. He could throw a roughneck through the wall at Erebus like it was nothing. Trust me, it doesn’t make perfect sense, but it’s not entirely crazy, either. I even asked him about it once and he said it would all make sense one day.”
Kai was still looking at her like she was crazy.
“I’m not taking this all that well,” she continued. “I’m definitely freaked out, trust me. But my dad—it was obvious things were normal with him and he even tried to tell me when I was out of high school. In his own way, I think, he was trying to warn me that his past was going to catch up with him eventually and that I’d have questions.”
Ember sighed, letting her gaze drift.
“And every couple of years or so, we’d have a strange guest from the old country,” she said. “Dad would clean the house for days—obsessing over making sure everything looked like we were really happy and successful. Then we’d have a visitor—an uncle or distant cousin—he’d say. So formal.”
“Family members, most likely,” Kai said. “The Terzis are very close-knit—even if one decides not to turn. Your father, and the rest of your family, was very important to them.”
“So I’m not freaking out yet,” Ember said, her grey eyes back on Kai. “But it doesn’t explain what you’re doing in town. New Dawn followed you here—but why did you come to Devil’s Folly in the first place?”
ROMANCE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE: The Vampire´s Bride Awakening (Alpha Male Shifter Kidnapping BBW Romance) (Paranormal Young Adult Protector Romance) Page 2
