by Joyee Flynn
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Trademarks
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
About the Author
Also by Joyee Flynn:
Love's Denial
Warrior Camp, Book 3
Joyee Flynn
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Cover Artist: Reese Dante
Editor: Devin Govaere
Love’s Denial © 2010 Joyee Flynn
ISBN # 978-1-920468-86-6
All rights reserved.
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Dedication
To my girl Alison:
Thanks for always having my back and being the most painless editor I've ever had.
You rock, girl, and I'm eternally grateful.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Learjet: Bombardier Inc.
Jägermeister: Mast-Jägermeister AG
Beretta: Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A.
CHAPTER 1
It was really rather pathetic that my sex life was so bad that I had to go to Rune to get some. I was Yuri Stanalovic, for god sakes! Century after century I was used to having men throw themselves at me, simply for the chance to say they'd been with me. But now, everyone was finding their mates and settling down. My two best friends, Dimitri and Matteo, had recently done just that. So here I was, seeking out Rune because I needed to scratch the itch.
I knocked on his door and walked into his room without waiting for an answer. He always left the door unlocked in case someone would come by and give him some TLC. I wanted to do a happy dance when I saw he was sleeping. That meant I didn't have to get into the whole master bullshit with him. Rune had some fucked up ideas about sex.
Crawling into bed with him, I saw he was already naked. I shed my own clothes and grabbed the lube I brought with me. One of the issues I had with Rune's idea of sex was that he liked it rough, so rough he bled or got hurt in the process. Yeah, I like some rough sex here and there, but nowhere along those lines.
I squirted some slick on my fingers as I moved his legs apart. Positioning myself between them, I found he had a butt plug already in his ass. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and used the lube on my cock instead. He snored lightly as I pulled out the plug and pushed his knees up to his chest. I lined up my dick and started to push into him.
"Oh fuck," Rune whispered as his eyes fluttered open. By the time I saw the recognition on his face at who I was, I'd bottomed inside of him. I moved so I could lean over him, and tried to kiss him. Like Rune always did, he turned his head to the side. That was another issue, god forbid we were actually intimate and it was about more than just fucking.
"Fine," I growled as I moved back and hooked his legs over my shoulders. If he wanted a hard fuck, I'd give him one. I pulled out slowly before thrusting back into him so hard the bed hit the wall. Rune moaned loudly as I started pounding into him. I knew it wasn't his fault that he had emotional issues, but it pissed me off right then.
So I took it out on his ass. I slammed into him so hard, over and over again, that he was screaming from my ferocity. "Harder, fuck me as hard as you can, Yuri. Hit me, I want you to beat me," he panted.
"I'll fuck you hard, but you know I won't hit you," I grunted, starting to not want to even do that. "Shut up about that shit or I'll lose my hard-on."
"Yes, master," Rune answered as he grabbed his own cock. He squeezed it so hard that I was surprised the damn thing didn't burst. I looked away as I kept thrusting in and out of him. After a few more minutes, he screamed as his dick exploded, shooting cum all over both of us. That was all I needed. His ass clamped down on my cock, and I roared out my own release. I kept thrusting into him through my orgasm, trying to draw it out.
When I was done, I sat back on my heels, letting my spent cock slip from his ass. Rune had fallen back asleep with a smile on his face. I, on the other hand, didn't feel like smiling. The itch I felt was for more than just fucking, but at least my cock was happy. As I got off the bed and started getting dressed again, I felt my phone vibrate in my jeans. Pulling it out I saw I'd missed calls and texts from Alexander.
What does he want at this time of night? I wondered as I left Rune's room and headed towards the command center. It was just downstairs, in the main housing for the warriors. I jogged down the stairs and turned left towards the tech room. After I entered, I saw Alexander and headed his way.
Alexander was actually the mate of one of my best friends, Dimitri. He was also in command of the training camp. I was ranked third, under Dimitri. Normally, most warriors fought for that first position and I could have, probably, even won. I was older and better trained than Alexander, but I liked the job that came with being third on the base.
I was in charge of all the outside missions, which included things from chaperoning duty to organizing some official council member's security, sometimes even search and rescue. I loved my job. It was what I had been born to do.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Alexander grumbled as I neared him.
"It's the middle of the night. What do you think I was doing?"
"You smell like sex." Dimitri chuckled, punching me in the arm. "Anyone I know?"
"Yeah, and don't remind me about it," I mumbled, reaching out for the file Alexander was holding. "What's up?"
"An attempt was made on the life of the leader of France's covens," Alexander stated as I looked over the file. "The head of the American councils was contacted. They want outside help, since they think it's an inside job. The guy is the last in his line."
"Yeah, that normally screams insider," I agreed, but was still confused. "Why contact us?"
"You," Dimitri said gently, knowing I wasn't going to like it. "They want you sent because of your gift."
All vampires had heightened senses, extreme healing capabilities, and strength. We also had one special gift that was something we were born with
. Mine was being able to tell when someone was lying. It was as if a breeze blew through the room that only I could feel. Depending how big the lie was correlated with how strong the breeze. If was a little white lie, it felt as if someone blew across my cheek. When it was a big fat lie, it felt like the wind on top of Mount Everest.
"Makes sense," I conceded, though I thought I might not be the best choice. "But I think an aura reader like Matteo might be better suited to keeping someone safe. I have to have the enemy open their mouths, then get close when that happens. Matteo can tell from a distance who the assholes are."
"Exactly what I said to the head of our council." Alexander nodded his approval. "Matteo's gift is out since he blew open that shit in Russia a few decades ago. No one knows about you, except some of us locally."
"Do I have a choice in this?" I scoffed, pretty sure I knew the answer.
"Nope." Alexander smiled at me.
"Then when do I leave?" I asked, sticking my tongue out at Dimitri who was making faces at me over his mate's shoulder. They had the kind of love I never thought I would want, but after seeing both my friends with it, I'd started longing for it.
"Immediately," Alexander answered as he elbowed Dimitri playfully. "Pack what you need. The jet is landing at the air strip in an hour to pick you up."
"I want all the files of all the ranking vampires close to the leader," I said, switching to mission mode. "Email them to me so I can study them on the plane. I also want the hierarchy. Who gets the most by getting this guy out of the way? I want his lineage, everything, Alexander. If I'm going to figure out who's the mole or the traitor, I need to know as much as I can before I'm ass deep in alligators."
"Already working on it." He smiled as everyone got quiet. "Safe passage, my friend. You need backup, you call us and we're on the next flight. Otherwise, cover your ass like a motherfucker and come back to us."
"You got it, boss." I snickered even though what he said meant a lot to me.
"Hey, we just don't want to have to break in a new guy," Dimitri said sarcastically as he gave me a hug. Matteo was next, as his mate Nate gave me a little wave. Nate was a good guy, but I didn't interact with the pre- and post-trans that much, so I didn't really know him.
Rushing back to my room, I showered, packed and was in one of the camp's SUVs within forty minutes. One of the post-trans guys gave me a ride to the air strip. Most of the mundane tasks like that went to them. The pre-trans were training and learning how to be a warrior. The post-trans were doing some training but mostly learning the ropes. They were like interns before they got the official warrior title.
The plane was waiting when we pulled up. I thanked the kid, grabbed my bags, and hurried over. Once I was all strapped in, we took right off. I love the perks of a private air strip. The captain came on the overhead and told me it was safe to turn on my electronics. I booted my computer up and got right to work.
I'd been forewarned the flight would take about eleven hours, depending on the winds. Again, the perks of having access to a Learjet. No stopovers, connecting flights, or any of that bullshit. France was eight hours ahead of what I was used to in Nowhere, Wyoming, so I figured I should try and stay awake for the flight and study up on what I was walking into. We took off at one in the morning, Mountain Time.
The flight would put in us France at noon, my time. Add eight hours to that, plus travel time once we landed, and I would be getting to the French Royal Compound around nine in the evening, Paris time. If I could stay awake, hopefully I would be so tired I'd crash and get adjusted to my new time zone. It was the plan anyways.
I studied the files on everyone surrounding the Royal for hours. When I felt my eyes starting to cross, I got up and stretched my legs. The plane was, of course, furnished with a mini kitchen, complete with a fridge stocked with blood and food. Realizing I'd not eaten or had any blood in a while, I loaded up.
Then I started to look into the Royal himself. France was still doing it old school. Even though the legitimate government in the human world wasn't a monarchy and hadn't been for centuries, vampires weren't as quick to change with the times. The new ruler of the French Covens was one Grand Duc Dominic Reynard Courtland Aldrich. His lineage went all the way back to Charlemagne, who I learned had been a vampire. I hadn't known that bit of history.
The Grand Duc, which is Duke in French, recently came into power at the age of thirty. Great, he's just a kid, I thought, rolling my eyes. But as I read on, my heart went out to the guy. His parents had been murdered by unknown parties when he was a child away at school. It seemed his parents had thought that any good ruler of the vampire race needed to be fluent in their understanding of the way humans lived. So they'd sent their only offspring to a human boarding school in England at the age of ten.
While it wasn't unheard of for vampires to attend human schools, especially those who hadn't gone through their transition yet, it sounded harsh to be sent away at ten years old. But then again, at ten, I'd been working in the fields of my family’s farm in Poland. So what did I know?
The file listed his accomplishments and changes since coming into power, most of them seeming to bring the covens into the twenty-first century. I liked the guy, on paper at least. He had a Masters from Oxford and seemed to have learned a lot from spending so much time around humans. The bad part being that change brought fear, and when people were scared they did drastic things. Like trying to kill off or overthrow a monarchy.
I rubbed my hands over my face as my eyes started to hurt again. Being a vampire with heightened senses came with all kinds of gifts, like a photographic memory. But I was trying to learn about a century’s worth of history and background in an eleven hour flight, including the entire chain of command of the French hierarchy. Fortunately for me, I wasn't going to report to anyone except my liaison and the head of the Western European Council.
"We're going to be landing in less than ten minutes, Mr. Stanalovic," the pilot said on the overhead. "Please turn off all electronics and make ready."
I did as he asked and packed everything up before making sure I was all strapped in for our arrival. Looking at my watch, I saw we had made good time. Good, because I was hungry again and ready to sleep. Moments later, I felt the plane's altitude drop as it descended. I popped my ears as we hit the tarmac, and other than a few bumps, the landing was text book.
Once the plane stopped, I unbuckled myself, got up, and grabbed my bags. I opened the side door, the steps rolled out, and I strolled off the plane. I looked around to see that there was no one waiting for me. Just as I was getting pissed and about to call Alexander, a limo drove towards me. Raising an eyebrow, I walked a few feet towards it when it stopped, not wanting to get too close in case it wasn't a friendly.
"Mr. Stanalovic?" the driver asked as he got out of the car and raced over to me.
"I'm Yuri Stanalovic," I answered, eyeing the guy over hesitantly. I was fairly big even for a vampire warrior, coming in at almost seven feet. Yeah, try finding clothes when you were six-ten. It's not fun. Then you also had to figure in that I was over three hundred pounds of solid muscle. Most of my clothes were special order.
"I apologize for not being here when you landed," the driver said, freezing when he saw the look of distrust on my face. "You arrived earlier than Councilman Matthews told me to expect."
"Not a problem," I answered, relaxing when he said that name. It wasn't the real name of the councilman, but the one I had been told to listen for when other people did anything on his behalf. I handed the guy my bags and got in the back seat, not even bothering to wait for him to get the door for me. The guy was frazzled enough at being late, no need to act like a stuck-up priss on top of it.
Twenty minutes later, we were pulling into a large estate outside of Paris. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the ride over. If time allowed it, I would really like to have seen some of the sights. In all my travels as a warrior, France hadn't been one of them. I knew it wasn't all cool and warrior-like to admit to wanting to d
o the tourist thing, but we need vacations too.
I opened the door and got out on my own when the car stopped in front of a large mansion. And seriously, I wasn't sure mansion covered it. I decided to call it a castle, because, damn, the place was massive. The grounds were extensive and very much looked like the house of someone royal. I mean there were even hedges and bushes in the shapes of animals.
The castle itself had to be at least four stories, with towers that added several more. I snickered to myself when I saw the towers, but then remembered it was England that had the tendency to lock their royals in towers, not the French. Also, I took note of the lack of proper security measures in the front, including reinforced doors and cameras. The driver popped the trunk, and I reached in and grabbed my own bags.
"Thanks for the lift, man," I said to his shocked face, and walked up to the main doors. They opened for me without me even having to knock. Good to know security was so tight. I'd really have to check into that.
"Mr. Stanalovic, I'm Edmund Dantes." The smaller man introduced himself to me as he walked quickly towards me. "You'll be reporting to me while staying here."
"No, I really won't be, Mr. Dantes," I replied, raising an eyebrow while smirking, even if I kept the formalities of last names. Funny, the guy wasn't lying, he really thought I was reporting to him. "I'll be reporting directly to Councilman De La Cruz. If you have any questions or issues, you're to take them up with him. Sorry you weren't informed properly, probably due to the last minute nature of this whole thing."
"Umm, I'll have to talk this over with Mr. Egan, the Grand Duc's head of security," Edmund stuttered, looking perplexed. The other thing that came in handy as a vampire was that we understood pretty much every language. It was almost if we had our own personal translators in our brains. Edmund was speaking fluent French, and I was speaking English back at him, without either of us missing a step.
