A Mate for Lazarus

by Charlene Hartnady

  “Good morning.” Brant stepped forward, his voice was raised. “Welcome and thank you for taking part. Let’s quickly go over the rules. Shortly, I’m going to ask each of our males to pick a female. The male can decide as to whether or not he would like to pick someone. In other words, he may decline to do this.” The king looked around the room, sure to look into each and every one of their eyes from time to time. He wore a tailored suit and tie. Zane was at his side, still in his full leathers. His arms were folded, his dark gaze brooding.

  “Should a male pick you…” He was sure to look around the room. “Please know that you may decline and go home if you wish. None of you are under any obligation to stay. Also know that you’re free to go at any time, should you decide to stay. For those of you that are not picked”—he paused—“you will be escorted back to your room, given three hours to pack and to say your goodbyes and then you will be escorted from the property. In light of some recent events, there will be a full debriefing before you are integrated back into human society. Know that plans have been put into place and that all of you are safe whether you remain here on vampire territory or whether you go back.”

  “What recent events?” One of the women asked.

  Brant and Zane exchanged looks. Alex knew that they were referring to Jenna’s abduction.

  “This is not the forum for such a discussion so I will keep it brief. There are fascist groups that would like nothing better than to see the downfall of the vampires. They are angered by the program and do not believe that we should be permitted to mate with human females. There have been violent events.”

  A murmur raced through the group of women.

  “What violent events?” A woman shouted.

  “Yes, we have a right to know.” It was the blonde, Vanessa was her name.

  It wasn’t lost on Alex that King Brant had said events instead of event. Which depicted more than one.

  “You will in due course. It is our hope to roll out The Program. To have many more of our males take human females. Rest assured that you will all be properly debriefed and assisted with your reintegration. Should anything go wrong, this would greatly affect The Program and I for one would not stand for that. We greatly appreciate your efforts and you will be well rewarded.”

  On that note, the atmosphere in the room lightened significantly. “Will we be able to come back?”

  Brant pursed his lips for a few seconds. “It is not completely out of the question. Though not for any of these males standing before you, as compatibility was not proven. However, it is a possibility for future males that enter into The Program.”

  Again, his words seemed to appease the group. They were still in with a chance then. The disappointment was still palpable as many of the women knew that they were not going to be picked. Alex swallowed hard. She tried not to look at Lazarus who was talking to the person next to him.

  “Right, let’s get this over with.” Brant folded his arms.

  “You first, Griffin.” Zane growled.

  The vampire in question took a step forward. Swallowing hard, he crossed and uncrossed his arms several times before stuffing his hands into his pockets. Then he shook his head. “Give me a minute.”

  “What is there to fucking think about? If you have to think about it, you shouldn’t choose anyone.” Zane’s full attention was on Griffin.

  Brant raised his brows.

  “It’s not as simple as that,” Griffin mumbled.

  “Fine.” Zane shook his head and pointed at the next vampire in line.

  “No one,” the guy growled. Two more guys decided that they weren’t choosing anyone as well. The next one however, did say a name and the girl jumped up and down squealing.

  Lance stepped forward. “No one.” His voice was a deep growl. His eyes were so stormy that they looked dark instead of the beautiful light blue she knew they were. It was a good thing that he hadn’t chosen anyone. Hopefully he would be a bit more sensible in the next heat. Alex somehow doubted it though. Sarah’s words ran through her mind. He did seem wounded. Like someone had deeply hurt him. It didn’t excuse his behavior, but Alex found herself feeling sorry for him anyways.

  Two more guys stepped forward, each one of them picked one of the ladies with the same reaction. Squealing, clapping, big smiles.

  It was ridiculous.

  Did they have no control?

  It was women like these that gave humans a bad name. Then Lazarus stepped forward. Her heart was pounding in her chest. This was it. Those dark intense eyes focused on her. He threw her a lopsided grin that had her panties catching fire. “I choose…Alexandra.”

  A squeal somehow managed to escape her. Instead of prancing on the spot like the others had done, she pranced right over to the big, beautiful vampire and threw herself into his arms. He caught her while making a growling noise. The hilt of one of the swords and what felt like the hilt of a smaller knife dug into her legs but she didn’t care. She kissed him. Square on the lips. No holds barred. So what if everyone was watching.

  “Enough,” Brant growled.

  “Leave them.” She could hear that Zane was laughing. “I can’t believe that this fucker found a human female that actually wants him.”

  Lazarus chuckled as well. “I will have you know that my female thinks that I am a big, cuddly teddy bear.”

  “Like fuck!” Zane snorted.

  “I changed my mind,” Alex said.

  “Yeah.” Lazarus growled low. “After you saw my cock.”

  “Shut up.” She slapped him on the arm.

  “Quiet.” Brant looked pissed. “Griffin…it’s now or fucking never.”

  She slid down Lazarus’ body and turned to face the vampire in question. Oh wow! He was actually sweating. Then he gave a god-awful growl. “Sarah…I pick Sarah.” He looked torn. It was the only way to describe it.

  “What?” Sarah shook her head. “No! Why? No!”

  “Are you refusing? Do you wish to return home?” Brant stepped forward.

  “Um…” Sarah’s eyes darted from left to right.

  “She needs to think about it,” Alex blurted. “Can she please have the three allotted hours?”

  “I don’t need to think about it.” Sarah’s hands flew to her hips.

  “Be quiet.” Alex made her eyes wide. “Just take the three hours. This has been a bit of a surprise.”

  “Why did you pick me?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed on Griffin.

  He shrugged and toed his boot into the woolen carpet. “You tried to help me.”

  Sarah grimaced. “You’re welcome. There, you’re off the hook. I don’t want your pity. You didn’t have to pick me out of some false sense of obligation.”

  “Look…” His eyes blazed. “This is not about pity.” He said through his teeth. “We can discuss it…in private.” His eyes darted around the room.

  Sarah sighed. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  “Give it some thought…you know where to find me if you want to talk.” He said as he spun around and left the room.

  Sarah chewed on her lower lip, her eyes wide.

  “I need to go to her.” Alex whispered.

  Lazarus tightened his arms around her. “Let her have some time to process this. She might want to go and see Griff…she should go and see Griff…”

  “I know…I need to go and talk her into it.” Alex leaned back, enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

  “No…give her some time and if she doesn’t go, then you can go and talk some sense into her. Besides…” He leaned in so that his mouth was against her ear.

  A shiver ran up and down her spine. He inhaled deeply. “You smell amazing.” Then he seemed to snap out of it. “I want to celebrate.”

  “And by celebrate…” She let the sentence die, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

  A loud wail drew her attention. Most of the women had not been picked, including Vanessa who looked distraught. At least she wasn’t crying. A couple of the women were sobbing o

penly though.

  Lazarus brought her attention straight back to him by grinding his hardening erection against her ass. “Are you up for it?”

  “Certainly feels like you are.” She had to smile. “Vampires are insatiable.”

  Lazarus chuckled, his chest vibrated at her back. “Pretty much. I hope that’s not—”

  “It’s fine…better than fine. Let’s get out of here.”

  Lazarus reached down and gripped her thighs, then he threw her over his shoulder and gave her ass a slap. Alexandra shrieked. She couldn’t help it. The whole move was so unexpected. Everyone in the room seemed to focus their attention on them.

  Heat rose in her cheeks but it was probably from hanging upside down as opposed to feeling embarrassed. Lazarus had his big hand firmly over her ass so that her panties weren’t showing. Alex tried to keep herself from squirming. His meaty ass looked so good in the jeans he was wearing.

  “Lazarus.” Alex recognized Brant’s voice. “Don’t go off the grid. I need you within the next hour to debrief.”

  “I have my cell phone.” Lazarus’ chest rumbled against her as he spoke.

  “Those fucking fascist groups are going to give me gray hairs.” The king growled.

  “You’re at least eighty years too young for that.” Lazarus chuckled.

  “Exactly.” A low growl. “The number of hate mail received has doubled. There have been a couple of bullshit newspaper articles printed and one of those idiot fascists actually got onto one of the human talk shows. They are spreading lies. It’s fucking disgraceful.”

  Alex wriggled. “Put me down.”

  “The asshole said that we are stealing human females and keeping them against their will.” He snorted. “The fucker said that it won’t be long before human blood is no longer pure. That vampires plan on taking over the world and ruling over the humans. How fucking stupid is that?”

  Lazarus put her down. “We just want to be left alone,” he said, threading his fingers through hers.

  “The asshole groups are going to cause big shit for us.” Brant shook his head.

  This was the type of opportunity that she had been hoping for. It was as if the moment had slapped her upside the head. The plan had been to ask for a meeting with Lazarus’ help. This was almost too good to be true. This whole thing felt like it was coming together like it was meant to be. “Forgive me,” Alex interjected. “You guys, the vampires, really need to speak up. You need to tell your side of the story.”

  Brant’s eyes turned to her. It was as if he was noticing her for the first time. Asshole! His eyes narrowed as if to say he was listening. She hoped that’s what he was silently communicating.

  “The only way to fight these guys is to let your side of the story be known. I would recommend an interview.”

  He seemed truly interested in what she was saying because his eyes narrowed further.

  “An exclusive with someone you can trust on condition that you sign off on the story before it goes to print…” She shrugged, starting to feel excited. “From there you could give a television interview. Show the world that you are approachable that you do have a softer…a human si—”

  “Not a fuck,” Zane growled. “We’re not going public just because a bunch of asshole humans don’t know how to keep their mouths shut. The less they know about what’s going on the better.”

  “You see, that’s where you’re wrong.” Alex turned to face the other king. “There are so many blanks. So much that the humans out there don’t know and therefore just assume. You’re leaving yourselves wide open. These fascist groups are then able to come in and paint whatever picture they want. It’s making you look really bad. There is a chance The Program could end up getting shut down as a result. Maybe women won’t be so keen to take part in the future. You need to do something. Fight fire with fire.”

  Zane’s eyes darkened and he shook his head. He sucked in a deep breath, preparing to argue further.

  Brant put a hand on Zane’s arm. “Wait a minute. This female might be onto something. I need to think on it a bit. The key would be finding the right person to tell the story. Like you said, someone we can trust.”

  Lazarus stepped forward. He squeezed her hand. “Alexandra is a journalist. She works for the local paper. I trust her with my life. She is the right person for the job.”

  Oh god!

  Suddenly the story didn’t mean anything. Everything else just faded away. Her heart clenched almost painfully in her chest. It swelled with emotion. Shit, she was falling so hard that whiplash might be a factor.

  She bit down on her bottom lip and swallowed thickly. “Thank you.” She mouthed to Lazarus.

  He threw her a lopsided grin and nodded his head. Her heart swelled some more.

  “I really think this is something that we need to discuss.” Zane clenched his jaw. “If it’s not handled in the right way, this could backfire…big fucking time.”

  Brant nodded. “I agree. I’m also not sure that someone with your lack of…experience, would be the right person for the job. The Sweetwater local newspaper is smalltime.”

  “I know the executive editor at one of the biggest New York papers.” Her Uncle James had promised her the front page if she made this happen but she couldn’t tell Brant that.

  “You said yourself that finding someone trustworthy was important. Do you know any other reporters?” Lazarus asked.

  Brant shook his head. “No, but I’m not convinced.” He huffed out a lungful of air.

  “Alexandra has already written some of the article that she had in mind…it’s really good. You should read it.”

  Brant narrowed his eyes. “Oh, she has, has she? Mmmm.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Is that why you are here, Miss Stone…to get an exclusive with the vampire kings?”

  “It is one of the reasons I’m here.” She felt Lazarus tense. “But it’s not the only reason and certainly not the main one.” She squeezed his hand.

  Brant held her under his intense stare for what felt like the longest time. “Alright. Zane and I will discuss it. If we decide to do this and it’s a very big if…”

  Alex tried hard not to smile.

  “If…Miss Stone…not when…so you can wipe that grin off of your face. If we decide to let you write this story, we will have to sign off on it before anything goes to print and our lawyers will be involved. Let me remind you that you have signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

  That wiped the smile right off of her face. Alex felt so guilty. She nodded. Maybe she should say something? How could she? It would most certainly get her kicked out. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Lazarus. She didn’t need to sign a damned nondisclosure agreement. This was going to happen strictly above board or not at all.

  “I will send Allison to collect what you have written so far.”

  Her eyes widened. “It’s very much in draft format. It would benefit greatly from actual quotes and insights from yourself and Zane as well as from one or two of the women within The Program.”

  “Send the article…we can discuss it from there.” He gave her a tight smile and strode away.

  “We’ll be in touch.” Zane growled and followed after Brant.

  Chapter 14

  Sometime in the middle of the night…

  Lazarus’ nostrils flared as he took in her intoxicating scent. Fuck! He had been told that this was normal. That once a male found his mate, he would grow almost addicted to her scent. That it would do crazy things to a male.

  Her body was warm and soft against him. Her breath was deep and rhythmic as she slept. He’d rutted her right after the ceremony. They’d ducked into one of the supply closets. It had been frantic and rough, lasting mere minutes.

  He’d spent the afternoon in debriefing. He’d popped his head in to see Gideon who was still unconscious. Brant had called him to his office. His king was impressed with the article that Alexandra had written. It really was a good, honest depiction of vampires even if one or two of the facts were a bit iffy. It looked as if his female was going to get her shot at doing an exclusive article. They’d tentatively celebrated at dinner and had gone back to his suite early to continue the celebrations. He couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of her. He’d taken her against the door, in his bed and again in the shower.

  Yet, here he was, in the middle of the night, with a raging hard on. Shit! Alexandra was a human. Although she had jokingly complained of being tender, she had yet to say no to his advances. This female sure was something. Her hair fell in curls about her face. The red coloring more defined against the white of the pillow.

  Almost against his will, his hand on her hip tightened. His other hand slid around her body and cupped the soft flesh of her breast. Her nipple hardened beneath his palm.

  He was such a fucking goner. Lazarus had never wanted a female more. Never felt this deep, all consuming craving before. It was like he was losing control of his body, his heart, his very soul.

  He let out a shuddery breath. His hard cock was flush against her plump ass. She moaned and muttered something in her sleep while pushing her soft cheeks more firmly against him. Lazarus groaned softly. He nuzzled into her neck, breathing in her scent.

  Pure rapture.

  He slid his hand down her curves, pushing his fingers between her thighs until he found that tight bundle of nerves nestled between her fur. Using just the tip of his finger, Lazarus played with her clit, stroking the sensitive nub. Her breathing went from deep and rhythmic to shallow and panting. Her body tensed and her ass began to rock. Alexandra moaned. “That feels so damned good.” She made a whimpering noise. “I shouldn’t be up for this. I ache…all over.”

  “If it is too much, I could stop or…” He kept up the friction against her tightening flesh.

  “Don’t you dare…Jesus, but you’re good with your hands.” She moaned even louder, grinding herself against his hand. Her ass, inadvertently, was rubbing up and down his cock.

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