Up in Smoke (Texas Vampire Rangers Book 2)
Page 11
“Nathaniel, we have an appointment this afternoon with Dr. Weathers to check me out.”
He chuckled darkly as he hit the stairs. “He better not check you out the way I’m going to. I plan on doing a thorough examination with my tongue.”
“Oh,” was her only reply before he had her sprawled across the bed. He peeled her clothes off, one item at a time, worshipping her body as he went.
Epilogue
Nathaniel and Susan walked out of Dr. Weathers’ office full of smiles. He had taken the bandages off Susan’s hands that were now completely healed up. Other than the fact the skin was very light in color and a bit sensitive from being newly generated, she was healed.
He had also checked her and the baby out and pronounced both to be very healthy. He warned Susan that carrying a half vampire baby would not be easy, but that did little to dampen her spirits. She and Nathaniel were expecting a baby and whatever they had to do over the next upcoming months, she knew she could depend on her mate for anything.
Since he refused to even let her near the stairs, they rode the elevator down. They needed to talk to Walter and let him know about Susan’s condition and tell him that she would not be returning to work. As they excited the elevator, they spotted Walter talking to Donte.
Susan looked over to Nathaniel. “I need to pick up a couple of things at my desk. I’ll be right back.”
She walked over to her desk with the intentions of grabbing her favorite pen she had left there and checking to make sure she hadn’t left anything else. There, sitting on top of the desk, was her little angel decoration. She gasped, sitting down quickly as she stared at the small, paper ornament. How was this possible? Nathaniel had told her everything had been destroyed. She reached out hesitantly to stroke a finger down what was originally a small, blue dress that had been glued onto the angel so many years ago when she had made it. The dress, along with the yellow yarn hair, was now covered in soot, but it was still her little Christmas Angel decoration.
Somehow, despite all odds, her favorite childhood Christmas decoration had made it through the house fire. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Spots started dancing before her eyes and she realized she was holding her breath. A few seconds later, Nathaniel, Donte, and Walter walked over to her desk.
“Baby, are you okay?” Nathaniel asked gently, feeling her distress.
She looked up at him with tears of joy running down her face. Holding up her precious little angel, she choked out, “Somehow it survived the fire, but I don’t know how. I don’t even know who found it.”
“I sent a team after the fire was put out to see if anything could be saved,” Walter spoke up. “They brought this back, amazed that something so fragile had somehow survived the flames and heat.”
Nathaniel took the small decoration out of her outstretched hand gently. “Does this mean a lot to you, baby?”
She smiled up at him, despite her tears. “I made this when I was five. It’s been on the Christmas tree every year since. Yes, and at this point, it’s probably the only thing I have left from my childhood.”
He reached down with his free hand, wrapping it around her, then he pulled her to stand up against him. “Then I guess it’s a very special little angel, darlin'. Just like you.”
As she was wrapped up in Nathaniel’s arms, she heard her boss behind her. “I hear congratulations are in order! Nathaniel, you need to get your little mommy-to-be home to rest. Susan, if you ever want to come back to work, your job will be waiting for you.”
She turned and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Walter. Thank you for everything. Tell Sissy to come visit me.”
He chuckled as he released her back to Nathaniel’s waiting arms. “If you think I’m going to be able to keep her away, think again. I’ll probably go broke from her shopping for baby items!”
They turned and walked out of the Ranger’s Headquarters. As Susan looked down at the little miracle that was sitting in her hand, and then thought about the little miracle currently growing inside of her, she knew she had been blessed.
Books by Alice Brown
Published with JK Publishing
Vampires Among Us
A Special Gift – Book Two
Texas Vampire Rangers
Up in Flames
Up in Smoke
Dragons of Dragonose
Co-authored with Lady V
Sapphamire
Fire and Ice
Ivormantis
Remathyst – Coming Soon
My Beloved
My Beloved Werewolf
Christmas Anthology
Bite Me Baby
With other Publishers
Vampires Among Us – Book One
The Music Box
We would love to hear from you!
Website: Alice - http://AuthorAliceBrown.com
Email: Alice - authoralicebrown@gmail.com
Facebook: Alice - http://www.facebook.com/authoralicebrown1
Excerpt from Up in Flames
Texas Vampire Rangers Book One
By Alice Brown
Opening the door to the bar was like being hit with a Mack truck. The music would only have been obnoxiously loud to the normal individual, but to her sensitive ears, it was downright painful.
Plastering a smile on her face, she forced her legs to carry her over the threshold. Once inside, she spotted her classmates immediately and headed over to the table. On her way she spotted her lab partner, Cindy, on the dance floor with a tall cowboy.
Every step she took, her head pounded unmercifully. By the time she reached the table, she knew she had to leave, quickly. Her head pounded in rhythm with the bass that was so loud it was shaking the furniture. No, she couldn’t stay. There was no way her head was going to stay on her shoulders if she didn’t get out of the loud, noise-filled room.
“Hey, guys, I know I said I would come and celebrate with you, but I can’t stay. I’m sorry, I’ve got a massive headache coming on, and this music isn’t helping.”
“Well look at you, girlie. All dressed up. You sure you’ve got a headache, or a hot date?” Shirley inquired from the next chair over.
“No, I really was going to try to stick it out, but the headache is doing nothing but getting worse, and I’ve got to go lay down.”
She didn’t even wait to see whether anyone else would say anything about her leaving. She just turned around and walked right back out the door she had just entered through not three minutes ago.
Once outside, she sighed deeply. Her ears were still ringing, but at least the pounding in her skull had dulled a little. Her feet carried her away from the sound, walking without a conscious decision. Before she knew it, she was halfway home. As she walked past a small park, a noise to her right caught her attention. When she looked around, she spotted what looked like a man holding a struggling woman. Meredith hid behind a tree, watching, trying to decide whether to attempt to stop the man herself, or call 911.
Then she saw what was really going on, and knew she would have nightmares over it for the foreseeable future. The woman looked battered and bruised. The man had been holding her from behind. When he lifted his head, his fangs were clearly visible. His fangs! He had been feeding on her! She spotted a large knife in the hand he wasn’t using to hold her with. Before Meredith could utter a sound, the man slit the woman’s throat from ear to ear, letting her body drop, then fleeing the scene.
Excerpt from Sapphamire
Dragons of Dragonose Book One
By Alice Brown and Lady V
He quickly did up his tie and headed downstairs to his waiting date, Amberlynn. He glanced around, but Natasha was nowhere to be seen. He stopped one of the guards walking past and quietly inquired as to the whereabouts of his new assistant. They quickly informed him that she had been pulled away temporarily and had sent a message down that she would join him in just a few minutes. Groaning inwardly, he offered his arm to his date before entering the room. All the elders stood as he and his
date entered the formal dining room. “Please, be seated and enjoy the great food at Dragonmire Castle!” He walked around to the head of the table, seated his date on his left side, and took his own seat.
He was proud of his home. When he had decided about eight years ago to access Earth through one of the portals on his home world, Dragonose, he came with the belief that finding his mate would be a rather easy job. Then again, he had come under the assumption that only humans resided on this planet. Now, he knew both assumptions were incorrect. The king had granted his request to leave, only requesting that Blain keep the knowledge of the Iceland portal away from all others. That was an easy promise to make his king. Since then, he only got called upon by his king when the Raptorians grew bored and decided to start a fight. The king would then send out an emergency distress call to each and every one of his dragons, expecting them to return home immediately to help defend their world.
“Ms. Clayton, where is she?” Councilwoman Kristin, who was a pixie, inquired in an almost frightened voice from the other end of the table.
“She was pulled away to tend to some business before joining us tonight. She shall be along shortly.” He certainly hoped so, anyway. It would look so much better for her if she were sitting next to him.
“Does she please you?” another council member questioned.
“I’d rather wait to discuss the business involving Ms. Clayton, at least until she is in attendance to hear it for herself,” Blain replied with a bit of a sting to his words, then he picked up the small glass sitting at the top of his plate, swallowing the liquid, and enjoying the burn. His guests watching him, quickly followed, all except the vampire in attendance. She had her own goblet of fresh blood sitting at her plate. He heard several “ohs” and “ahs” as his guests enjoyed their pre-dinner treat.
“Delicious!” Councilwoman Hazellette, who was a witch, exclaimed in delight as she ran her tongue across her lower lip. “What is this drink called, Blain?”
He couldn’t hold back his smirk or his chuckle. His guests were not going to see the humor in his answer as he did. “Dragon Piss.”
Total silence descended upon the room for about ten seconds before the double doors were flung open, and a beautiful redhead sauntered into the room. She was wearing a black evening gown that glittered in the light; it was a one shoulder strap ensemble, and he immediately spotted the slit that ran all the way up the side to her hip. She walked up to him with such a regal air that he knew she was the envy of the females in attendance—his own date included.
“My apologies for being late, sir,” she stated when she reached his side. He immediately jumped up to pull her chair out for her.
It was a good thing he didn’t need to speak at that moment, because he suddenly found that his tongue wasn't working as he gazed down at her in awe. He had only thought her beautiful when they met earlier today. But now? Now she was absolutely stunning. She put his date and her short red cocktail dress to shame.
“May we proceed now?” Councilwoman Hazellette snapped out.
Yep, let the envy begin, ladies.
“Yes, Councilwoman Hazellette, I apologize if I was the reason for any hold up,” Natasha quickly replied, seeming to know already that Blain was without words at the moment. He suddenly didn’t give two cents about this dinner. And he certainly didn’t give two cents about this Council harping on his mate. All he wanted was for everyone to get the hell out of his castle so he could spend some time getting to know her.
“You…” he started, but his little mate was quick to cut him off as she leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear.
“Please forgive me for being so late, but there was a very important phone call I had to take.”
“Ah…of course,” he stuttered out, gracing her with a smile. He was getting ready to tell the battle-ax of a witch that she needed to show his mate respect, and that would not have gone over very well at this point.
Leaning back in her seat, Natasha graced him with a gentle smile. His heart did a quick leap into his throat before plummeting down to his groin. Oh, good God, was she perfect. One of the elders broke into his deep thoughts as they repeated the earlier question.
“So then, are we to believe Natasha pleases you, and can handle whatever you throw her way?”
Natasha sat silently, but fuming inside. How dared they? This was a paid position, but then again, they had choreographed her numerous forced matings, thinking that it would surely bring on her powers, all the while knowing these “potential” mates were little more than animals.
“Yes, yes, I believe Natasha will fit right into her new position with no problems,” Blain answered with a cold bite in his tone. He still didn’t understand why they seemed so interested in her working for him. Why did they feel it was their business to know how he felt about her? 'Does she please us? Only every damn fucking moment we get to spend looking at her!' his dragon broke through his thoughts.
“Has Ms. Clayton informed you of the chance of danger you are entering into with signing her contract?”
He watched out of the corner of his eyes as Natasha carefully sat her fork down, but refused to look at him as she awaited his response. He could easily read her body language and knew she feared he might have changed his mind in the past hour. She knew all too well what a simple change of his mind would mean to her. Unfortunately, she had no clue how determined he was never to let her out of his sights.
“Yes, she has. And I’m more than willing to risk my chances at having her here,” he said strongly.
“If you sign the contract, there is no going back. She will be your responsibility, and yours alone. With that in mind, are you still willing to sign?”
“Yes, the damn contract is already signed!” Blain gave his most irate expression to each and every one of the Council members, silently warning them he would kick every one of their high asses out the door if one more word were to be said negatively about Natasha. They were way out of line, and sooner or later they were going to be put in their place. And he had a gut feeling when that time came about, he would be right there, handing their asses to them. There was no way he was going to forget tonight. He would never forget how they basically treated her as if she were an animal. How they belittled her right in front of him.
“Soon,” his dragon promised. “Soon we can take her, mate her, and then we will have all rights to protect her!”
For once, he agreed with his dragon completely.
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