Up in a Blaze

by Alice Brown

  As his mate, there would be nothing she would want for. Donte yanked on his shirt and stuffed his feet into his shoes. The hell with the house. It was insured. They would go pick out another house together, one she’d consider just as much hers as his. Yes, that’s exactly what they would do. Just as soon as the threat currently hanging over her head was eliminated.

  Epilogue

  One month later…

  Cassie sat back in her chair at work. Glancing down at her watch, she noted that Donte should be coming in shortly. He told her last night he had something special in mind for tonight. She couldn’t wait to find out what it was.

  The last seven weeks had been some of the most terrifying, yet best moments of her life. She still occasionally pinched herself, thinking it all couldn’t be real. But real it was. The team was still actively searching for Gregory, but it was the general consensus that he had probably skipped town and was laying low in another state. Samuel had the Oklahoma State Troopers on the lookout for him, just in case he showed up there. Unfortunately, it seemed he had disappeared into thin air. But they all knew better. He wasn’t about to let up, and sooner or later he would show back up to cause more trouble. That was fine, The Texas Vampire Rangers were ready for him.

  Donte had pushed himself hard right after the house fire, wanting to find Gregory and eliminate the threat hanging over both Betty and her head, but when the team had combed over the city multiple times and come up empty handed, he’d been forced to take a step back and wait for Gregory to strike again. It was just a matter of time.

  Meanwhile, Donte decided to make sure they had a home to go to whenever Gregory was caught. He’d purchased a plot of land, and the two of them had sifted through hundreds of floor plans to find their perfect house. It was currently being built while they stayed in the apartment on the second floor.

  Walter had made a few changes there also. The medical unit was huge and extensive, and even Dr. Weathers would be the first to tell you half of the space was never utilized. With that in mind, Walter and the team had knocked down a couple of walls, did away with a large storage room that was part of the medical unit, and made both small apartments almost one and half size larger. The two apartments butted up against one another, but were completely separated. Cassie liked the improvements, and with the help of Sissy doing a bit of shopping, made their little temporary home quite cozy.

  Even with the active case involving Gregory, and the renovations upstairs, Donte still found plenty of time for them to be alone. Whether it was bringing her lunch and sitting in her office while she ate, or the two of them curled up watching a late night movie, she honestly had never been happier since she had met her mate.

  She looked up as her office door opened. Donte stuck his head in. “Are you about finished, sweetheart?” He walked into her office and greeted her with a kiss.

  “Yes, just let me shut down my computer, and I’ll be finished for today.”

  He smiled down at her, but she could almost feel the excitement bubbling inside him. Whatever her surprise was, he sure was excited about it.

  “Did you have a good day out?” He hadn’t come in the office at lunch today. Instead, he had called her to explain that he and Zack needed to do something while on lunch break and he would see her that evening.

  She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck, hungrily seeking his lips. He kissed her back for a moment, then broke off as he grabbed her hand. “Come with me. I have something for you.”

  She followed him to the elevator then down the hallway to their temporary apartment. She wondered what he was so excited about.

  He opened the door to the apartment and stood back, allowing her to enter first. She gasped as she took in the sight before her. Candles were burning brightly on every available surface. On the coffee table in front of the couch, a dozen beautiful long stem red roses were held in a crystal vase. Next to the flowers was what looked to be a gourmet dinner waiting. She turned her attention back to Donte.

  “This is all so beautiful, but I don’t understand,” she began as she shook her head. They were already mated. She was his, he was hers. The end, right? “What is all of this for?”

  She turned back to the beautiful scene before her for just a second. The soft fragrance from the flowers rose up and greeted her nose. She turned back around to her mate and gasped.

  In his outstretched hand, sat a small box with the prettiest diamond ring she had ever seen. She gasped, certain it couldn’t be for her. He had already done so much for her. But his next words confirmed it was indeed for her.

  “I know we’re already mated, and in my world that means more than any marriage. But I thought maybe you would like to have at least a small wedding to tie us together the human way as well.”

  Tears quickly pooled in her eyes as she watched him take the ring out of the soft bed of silk and place it on her hand. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me, Cassandra Vicors?”

  It took her a minute to be able to trust her voice to speak. “Yes,” she responded, bobbing her head up and down. “I will marry you, mate you, and any else that ties us together, Mr. Chaverez. I love you!”

  “I love you, soon-to-be Mrs. Chaverez.” He snaked his arm around her and pulled her tight against him. Sealing their lips together in a kiss, he mused, just goes to show, that love pops up when you least expect it.

  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

  Up in a Blaze

  Dragons of Dragonose

  Co-authored with Lady V

  Sapphamire

  Fire and Ice

  Ivormantis

  Remathyst

  Rubinmire

  My Beloved

  My Beloved Werewolf

  Bite Me Baby- Christmas Anthology

  Santa Vamp

  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 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.

  Excerpt from Fae Awakening

  True World Chronicles Book One

  By T.S. Chanz

  Bernt smiled to himself as he remembered his mother’s thoughts on their own family history. “Well it shames me to tell you this but the line from biblical lore ‘It is better that your seed land in the belly of a whore rather than on the ground’, I think our relatives invented that as an excuse to fornicate throughout Europe.” As a result, his own powers were diminished but still stronger than any of his relatives.

  As he pondered he’d slowed his pace, letting Fiona get a bit further ahead. Bernt saw the tiny winged creature flitting in the gap between himself and Fi. He started to raise a hand trying to shoo the Imp away, but thought better of it, figuring it would be best to see how she would react. She would definitely see the Imp as the sound their wings made were that of a large dragonfly.

  Imps were curious little creatures, reminding Bernt of the gremlins from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, usually up to mischief. Knowing this, Bernt watched intently just in case the Imp decided to try to cause some sort of trouble.

  The Imp hung lazily in the air, varying his angle behind Fi as if he was trying to take all of her in. Then another Imp joined the first, quickly followed by a third. The anxiety in Bernt’s gut ratcheted up with the attention Fi’s presence was garnering. He didn’t have too much experience with Imps but guessed the more there were the faster things could get out of hand.

  The clutch of tiny creatures fluttered about, switching positions and flowing closer to Fi, then backing away as if they were riding air currents. When the trio got close to Fi, Bernt held his breath, bracing for impending disaster when Fi turned to find three tiny humanlike beings hovering on large insect wings behind her. The female Imp turned as if sensing Bernt’s apprehension, and flew straight at him. He hesitated, stutter stepping, not sure of what the Imp was planning.

  The little female pulled up just short of his nose, causing his eyes to cross trying to focus on her. Turning his head and tilting it back so he could see her more clearly, he saw her smile, extend an open hand toward him palm out touching his cheek. The touch was so light it barely registered with his brain, but in that slight touch the Imp communicated with him. Instantly he knew they had no plans to cause Fiona any harm, they knew what she was and had felt her presence. The power she held attracted them to her, and there were more nearby, watching.

  Before he could blink, the little female flew back to her companions. Bernt saw her touch both of the males and the two of them darted straight up, away from Fi, their wings buzzing loudly with the extra effort. Fiona must have heard th
e extra noise and turned to see what was causing it.

  For Bernt, time seemed to slow in that moment. Before she fully turned around Bernt saw the female Imp look over her shoulder at him, and unless he was crazy, he could swear she winked at him. She held her place in the air right at Fi’s eye level. He realized she wanted Fi to see her, and there was no time for him to do anything to prevent it from happening. All he could do was watch as Fi’s eyes caught the Imp in her line of sight.

  The Imp stayed just long enough for her image to register in Fi’s brain then shot straight up, curled back and away from Fiona, shooting over Bernt’s shoulder and out of sight.

  Bernt kept his focus solely on Fi. Doing his best to keep his face neutral, masking that anything abnormal had just happened. He saw the look of confusion on Fi’s face, and hoped she would dismiss what she saw as a mistake, a trick of light, but she stopped dead and pointed in the direction the Imp had flown.

  “What the hell was that?”

  Trying to play dumb, he blinked and turned looking where she pointed, “What was what?”

  “That little thing that was just in front of my face and flew right past you,” she thrust her finger in the same direction, her voice full of conviction, “you had to see it. The thing flew right past you.”