She patted her thick chestnut hair, rolled into a bun at the nape of her neck, and adjusted her round glasses nervously on the bridge of her nose. The glasses were another part of her act—her camouflage. The lenses were clear, non-prescription glass—a pair she’d found in the drugstore years ago when her mother had first entered The Brotherhood, dragging Sarah along with her. Sarah didn’t need them to see but they, along with her frumpy clothes and the extra weight she’d put on, kept her from being of interest to men.
Especially to The Prophet, Father Caleb.
Several strands of hair had escaped from her bun and she pushed them back impatiently, wincing at the small pain in her palm as she did so. She’d cut her hand somehow, on the steel side of the seat in front of her on the bus. The small wound had mostly stopped bleeding but she hadn’t been able to get a band-aid to cover it. Surreptitiously, she blotted it one last time on the underside of her rusty black blazer, glad that the blood stain wouldn’t show.
“Sarah Michaels?” said the attendant again. She was a slim brunette seated at a gray metal desk. It matched the gray couches scattered around the large lobby of the Tampa Human Kindred Relations building, where the interviews were being held. Beside her was a twelve foot tall Christmas tree, decorated with red and gold ornaments and tinsel. It was incongruously colorful in the bland surroundings and it didn’t match the weather either—which was hot. Of course in Tampa, it was always hot.
“I’m here,” Sarah said, in a voice that trembled only a little. “I’m ready.”
She hoped.
“All right—go in through the double doors. Commander Sazar is in the second office on the left. He already has your resume.”
“Thank you.” Sarah bobbed her head nervously. “So…I’m interviewing with him exclusively? I mean, there aren’t any other, uh, supervisors or—”
“Commander Sazar doesn’t let anyone else help make his decisions,” the attendant said briskly. “He’s very particular about who he hires and he won’t allow anyone else to have a say in it.”
“Oh…okay. So I’m going to be in there alone with him?” Sarah asked.
The attendant must have seen the look of uncertainty on her face because the bored indifference of her own expression softened a little.
“Hey, don’t worry—he doesn’t bite unless you give permission first. He’s a Blood Kindred—not a monster.”
So the blonde applicant who had stalked out of her interview in a huff had been telling the truth—Commander Sazar did bite. Or at least he wanted to bite. Oh God, what had she gotten herself into?
I haven’t gotten into it yet and I need this job, Sarah reminded herself grimly. I need to get away from Earth and hide somewhere The Brotherhood and Father Caleb can never find me.
She could still remember the last girl who had run away from the Compound—Jennifer Hastings—that had been her name though everyone called her Sister Jenny. Sarah remembered how the Controllers had found her and brought her back, tied and gagged in the back of a van. The way she had screamed and struggled. And later, the drugged, dazed look on her bruised face when she stood before the alter to become a Bride of the Prophet, as all young women in The Brotherhood were expected to do so they could bear holy children to replenish the Compound…
Sarah pushed the memory away and gripped her tattered brown handbag firmly. Inside it was a cheap comb, a little tube of clear lip gloss she’d gotten as a free sample at the drugstore, and her birth certificate, which she’d managed to steal from the files of The Brotherhood before she ran. That was important because she didn’t have a driver’s license—women in The Brotherhood weren’t allowed to drive. She didn’t even have bus fare for a ride back. If she failed this interview, she’d be walking back to the shelter.
Well then, I’d better not fail.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and pushed through the double doors to go meet Commander Sazar—the man, or rather Kindred, she hoped would be her new boss.
* * * * *
Sazar looked up in irritation as the final applicant knocked timidly at his door. None of the other applicants had been right and the last one had been the worst of all—slim and blonde which reminded him entirely too much of Malinda.
The thought of his dead wife’s name caused a dull ache to rise in his heart. She had been his mate for just three years before she had been taken from him leaving only the boy behind. The boy who looked so much like her with his golden blond hair and large blue eyes…
He pushed the thought of his son away guiltily. He ought to go and see the boy—he knew he should. But work kept him so busy and every time he saw Tsandor it was as though Malinda was looking at him through those crystal blue eyes…
“Commander Sazar?” The girl had a soft, low voice he found oddly soothing. Her appearance was soothing too—nothing at all like Malinda, he saw with satisfaction.
She was plump and short—she wouldn’t even reach his shoulder, Sazar estimated, taking her in with his sharp, pale eyes. She had a soft, pretty face and her hair was dark brown. Her eyes, somewhat obscured behind round lenses, were an indeterminate shade of hazel. Perfect—she didn’t resemble his lost wife in any way.
Then her scent hit him.
He stiffened a little as she walked into the temporary office he was using for Earth-side interviews. Gods, that scent. It was light and fresh and feminine but there was a deeper note underneath—a sweet, coppery aroma.
The scent of fresh blood.
Haven’t smelled blood that sweet since Malinda!
As a Pitch-Blood Kindred, Sazar had what other Blood Kindred considered a disability. Instead of biting only to heal or pleasure his mate, he actually needed blood. Not a lot of it and not often but it had to be from a willing female and right now it had been days since he’d had a female willing to let him bite her.
He could still remember his last executive assistant—her big, frightened eyes and the way she’d trembled when she allowed him to bare her wrist for his fangs. The way she’d fainted from the pain when he pierced her…
Sazar had let her go after that, much to her obvious relief. He couldn’t help it that his bite was so painful—it would hurt any female who wasn’t either his mate or at least reasonably compatible with him. There were ways to make it hurt less but he couldn’t engage in that kind of activity with a female who worked for him. He couldn’t help needing blood but he refused to take advantage in that way.
“Commander Sazar?” the girl said again and he realized he’d been sitting there, staring at her—More like smelling her, whispered a sarcastic little voice in his brain—and not saying a word.
“Ms…” He looked down at the resume in his hands—which had hardly anything on it.
“Michaels,” she finished for him. “Sarah Michaels.” She walked up to the desk and held out her hand.
Sazar started to take it, then realized this was where the scent of fresh blood was coming from. Gods, it smelled good! So fucking tempting he wanted to drag her across the desk and bury his double set of fangs—which were growing longer and sharper by the minute—in the ivory skin of her throat.
No! He pushed the impulse away harshly. Yes, her blood smelled good—incredible to be honest—but that was only because he’d gone without for far too long. He would ignore his darker instincts and conduct this interview in a professional manner.
He had no choice.
Author's note: Want more? Of course you do! Healing the Broken will be out sometime in November. I'm so excited because this is my first ever Kindred Christmas novel. I love the idea of Sarah introducing Sazar to Earth Christmas traditions and I'm having so much fun writing the crazy trouble they get into. Be looking for it soon and for Kindred 21 next year!
Hugs and Happy Reading to you all!
Evangeline Anderson : )
~~~~~~~~~
A Note from the Author about Brides of the Kindred and Kindred Tales:
This is the fourth Kindred Tales novel I have written and i
t won't be the last--I'm hoping to have 1 more out before the end of the year. I am going to write Kindred 21 soon, but it's going to be complicated and take lots of plotting. *Whew!*
It occurred to me as I considered the mammoth task ahead of me, that I have a lot of stories in my head that fit into the Kindred world but don't necessarily fit with the overarching story plot of the Hive which is currently going on in the main books. I wanted to write some of these stories for you, my readers, even though I knew they didn't fit with the "big picture" plot I have going on in the main books.
Each Kindred Tales novel is set in the Kindred world and has the recurring characters you've come to know and love, as well as new Alpha heroes and spirited heroines who have lots of hot sex. I hope you'll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them and I promise to get back to the main plot with Kindred 21 sometime in 2018. Hugs and Happy Reading!
Evangeline
Also by Evangeline Anderson
***All Kindred novels are now available in PRINT just follow the links below to find both e-book and print formats on Amazon.
***Also, all Kindred novels are on their way to Audio, join my Audiobook Newsletter to be notified when they come out.
Brides of the Kindred series
Claimed (Also available in Audio)
Hunted (Also available in Audio)
Sought (Also Available in Audio)
Found (Also Available in Audio )
Revealed (Coming soon to Audio)
Pursued
Exiled
Shadowed
Chained
Divided
Devoured
Enhanced
Cursed
Enslaved
Targeted
Forgotten
Switched
Uncharted
Unbound
Surrendered
Kindred Tales series (side stories in the Brides of the Kindred which stand alone outside the main story arc.)
Mastering the Mistress
Bonding with the Beast
Seeing with the Heart
Freeing the Prisoner
Healing the Broken (a Kindred Christmas novel)
Born to Darkness series
Crimson Debt (Also available in Audio)
Scarlet Heat (Also available in Audio)
Ruby Shadows (Also available in Audio)
Cardinal Sins (Coming Soon)
Alien Mate Index series
Abducted (Also available in Print and Audio)
Protected (Also available in Print and Audio)
Descended (Also available in Print and Audio)
Severed (Also available in Print and Audio )
The Cougarville Series
Buck Naked (Also available in Audio)
Cougar Bait (Also available in Audio)
Stone Cold Fox (coming soon in Audio)
Big Bad Wolf (coming soon)
The Institute series
The Institute: Daddy Issues(coming soon in Audio)
The Institute: Mishka's Spanking
Compendiums
Brides of the Kindred Volume One
Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found all in one volume
Born to Darkness Box Set
Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows all in one volume
Stand Alone Novels
Purity (Now available in Audio)
Stress Relief
The Last Man on Earth
Anyone U Want
Shadow Dreams
Mastering the Mistress
Hunger Moon Rising
Cougar Christmas
Planet X (Also available in Audio)
Deal with the Devil (Also available in Audio)
YA Novels
The Academy(Now avaiable in Audio)
**Please note--these are Amazon/Kindle links. If you have a Nook or other reading device, please check my website for links to all other formats
About the Author
Evangeline Anderson is the New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, Cougarville, and Born to Darkness series. She is forty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.
You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.com
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