by Jeni Burns
"Alright. Go and take care of the shop. Don't let the regulars know about Nana."
"Sure." She added a nod, hoping to convince her cousin that she still had shits left to give about the state of their business. It must've worked because with one last eye-roll, Julia left.
As soon as she heard the heavy metal knocker clang against the front door, she stripped off the mom jeans and stepped into a pair of neon green fishnets and her favorite worn and torn jeans. She also traded the cotton tee for a semi-sheer off the shoulder lace blouse in a shade of green that worked with the fishnets peeking through the holes in her pants and also made her eyes pop with bursts of color. She studied herself in the mirror long enough to deem the outfit work appropriate. With her keys missing, she would need a ride. Her cell chirped from the kitchen counter as she landed with a soft thud at the bottom of the stairs. Racing through the living and dining rooms, she managed to snag the device and stab the talk button all before the call was sent to voicemail.
"Talk to me."
"Kara?"
"Yeah?"
"It's Donna." When Kara didn't respond the woman on the other end of the line continued. "At the Dom Depository?"
"Oh. Yeah. What can I do for you?" Julia must've forwarded the store's calls to her cell. The Depository was one of their biggest business accounts. In a place where what happens there, stays there, the demand for kink ranked pretty high and the Depository delivered.
"We have a new professional Sub in need of some assistance in getting their inventory selection up to par. Any chance someone could meet him there in say, about fifteen minutes? I know it's short notice, but he has a full schedule lined up today and you know how Courtney is. She likes the staff to pick their own inventory."
"She's hiring Subs now? Isn't that a bit risky?" She stepped into a heeled boot and tucked the phone against her shoulder. The second shoe gave her some resistance in the form of her keyring. Score! She plucked the keys from her shoe and shoved her foot inside as it registered in her mind that the jangle of keys was missing something. Shit. When had she last seen her ring? Donna cut through her scattered thoughts and explained it was a new program they were trying out as the demand for Subs seemed to be growing in the love 'em and leave 'em town thanks to the explosion of BDSM in main-stream media.
"Please just invoice whatever he purchases to our account and we'll have it settled before the close of business today," Donna finished.
"Sure thing," Kara answered, locking the kitchen door behind her as she pocketed the phone following a quick 'good-bye.' Her phone buzzed a moment later with a text message, but she ignored it. Her newest acquisitions client was getting impatient if the number of missed text messages indicated anything.
Her car could probably make the trip to their store a block off the strip on its own, but since the technology didn't exist yet, she floored it and skirted as many traffic lights as she could without drawing too much attention to herself. Even with the few lights she didn't breeze through, she made it to Sin-Sation in under ten minutes. Not her record time, but not too shabby for middle of the night with all the drunks out walking the street. Before even pulling into the lot, she noticed a man waiting at the front door. She assumed no one remembered to tell him that professional customers were welcomed around back. She shook her head, parked in the designated "owner" spot, and made her way to the front of the building.
"Hi there. Donna told me to expect you. Hope you weren't waiting long," she called as she rounded the corner of the building and the man's full frame came into view. "Come on around back. Business clients have access during non-business hours as needed," she explained as she turned on her heel and led the way. Like the good Sub Donna made him out to be, he followed in silence.
Kara smiled to herself and wondered if maybe that's what she needed in her bed. A man willing to do whatever she told him to for as long as she demanded it. She shook the thought away as she unlocked the rear entry and held the door open for their new client.
As she moved into the finely decorated rear foyer, she reached for the bank of switches on her right, flipping them, and flooding the store with the soft glow of sensual lighting. Sure. Most toy stores and lingerie boutiques went with the typical harsh glow of buzzing fluorescent lighting, but not Sin-Sation. The shop was lit with strategically placed Tiffany lamps and chandeliers. It had all the class of a high-end hotel with the touch of kink that still reminded the shopper they were in a sex shop.
"Donna wasn't super explicit on what you were looking to get, but I can show you some favorites that the Doms purchase for their dungeons, I mean, rooms." Heat spread across her cheeks as the word dungeons conjured an image hidden in the back of her mind, barely in her conscious memories. A cold stone wall. Metal hooks fastened to the stone. Shackles. Delicate skin. Eager anticipation. And then the bite of teeth into flesh. She shuddered and shook the image from her mind.
For whatever reason, she couldn't escape the bite of a vampire who stood front and center in her thoughts and dreams for the last couple of months. As if one might lurk around the very next corner of her reality. And yet, she dared not give the creatures much thought. She needed to have a life. One without mystical creatures waiting to kill her.
She made her way through the shop to the section containing every restraint device they carried. Against the wall was a wooden structure for demonstration purposes and a door that led to the storage room. Kara gave the man in her wake a quick once over, sizing him up, before reaching for a package containing a doorway restraint system.
"This might appeal to you. It mounts in a doorway with a closed door and while the cuffs are sturdy and effective, the Velcro enclosures make it possible to free oneself if things were to get too..." She trailed off not sure how to finish her thought without coming across both prudish and judgmental and offending him.
He plucked the package from her hands and flipped it to examine the back. She took the moment to really appraise him. Dirty blond hair, check. Chiseled features with the perfect amount of muscles that would make any woman give him a second or third look, check. Brown eyes that seemed to see deep into one's soul, double check. Oh shit! The man returned her appraising gaze with a heated one of his own, hot enough to make her pulse sprint and her palms moisten.
"I'm not sure this will contain me." His deep voice held the hint of an accent, but not one should could identify. He cocked his head to the side and handed her the package. "We could add it to the 'maybe' pile," he suggested.
"I can open it and set it up," she offered. "Maybe that would give you a better idea of how it works and if it's, um, restrictive enough," she hedged. Talking about the merchandise never gave her pause before. Something about this man set her on edge.
"Certainly." He gave a slight nod and swiped his hand to the door behind her as if suggesting here was as good a place as any.
Her fingers worked the package open with ease and in a the span of a few heartbeats, she had the system secured around the closed door. Without a word, he stepped into the door frame and nodded toward the ankle tethers. She knelt down and fastened the Velcro tight around each of his legs, unable to ignore the fact that she was eagerly bowing at some strange man's feet. Before she could consider it more, his hand smoothed the crown of her head until his fingers traced down her jawline.
Instinct made her tip her chin in his direction but a feeling in her gut made her eyes still as her gaze landed firmly on the bulge in his pressed slacks. She swallowed a groan and rose to her feet. With great effort, she withdrew his hand from her face and guided it above his head to the first tether. He offered up his second arm before she finished fastening the first. Heat rushed through her veins in another wave of delicious desire. A man so solid and strong willing to be shackled had to be secure in his identity. She stepped back and enjoyed the way his slacks pulled taught across his groin and his tee clung to every ripple of muscled chest beneath the fabric.
He tilted his head to the side and offered her a smile. "D
oes this turn you on?" He paused while she tried not to choke on her tongue. "I'm asking for your professional opinion, of course," he added with a wink.
The nod of her head happened all without her consent. She'd swear to it in a court of law if questioned under oath. There was no way in hell, she'd tell a client she was aroused. Never. And yet, her damn head was still nodding. To make matters worse, her feet also took the few steps required to press her wanton self against the hard panes of his body.
A growl rumbled in his chest and the hardness in his trousers rubbed against her midsection. His head dipped and his tongue sampled the taste of her skin as her hands trailed up the sides of his chest, drawing the fabric of his shirt with them.
Nothing about this was appropriate. The need coursing through her veins. The desire keeping her on the edge of sanity. Never had she felt so compelled to touch, taste, and tousle with a man. Never.
His lips trailed down her neck, leaving a trace of gooseflesh in their wake. The smell of cigar tickled her nose as she inhaled a shaky breath.
"I definitely think this will work for you," she whispered. "In my professional opinion, that is," she added as the scrape of his teeth against her neck sent a pool of liquid heat low in her midsection.
"Hello? Anyone here?"
A male voice interrupted her train of thought and the sound of the back door closing with a clang brought her back to reality. Kara stepped away from the source of her distraction and whirled around to catch another man coming through the rear foyer.
"Oh, you must be Kara. Donna said I could meet you here and you'd help me get set up..." his words died on his lips as they made eye contact.
Heat raced across her face. If this was Donna's man, who did she have in the restraints? Her heart skipped a beat, dipped into low gear and the world around her seemed to move in slow motion. The ripping of Velcro assaulted her ears and the breeze of her mystery man tossed her hair as he whipped past her. His brisk pace only faltered as he passed the newcomer, but barely, before he was gone.
"I'm sorry to have interrupted. I'm Jon. Donna said to come by and meet Kara. Is that you?"
She recovered and nodded. "Nice to meet you Jon. Let's get you all set up." All business again. Nothing would keep her from staying that way either with Jon in the store. Despite his handsome appearance, nothing about him called to her. A last glance at the harness hardened her resolve like a boulder in her gut. Damn.
3
Grim Tidings
Leo's fangs tickled his bottom lip as he remembered the taste of her blood on his tongue. Another few minutes with her in that shop he would've had the fresh taste of her sweet blood coursing down his throat once more.
He'd lived through more than five of her lifetimes and each one made him more desperate to finally make her his for good. This time he refused to fail her as he had in the past. He'd go to whatever lengths were required to keep her out of harm’s way. Once he ensured her safety and ended the wolf pack's murderous plot, she'd finally be his. Forever. Then they could stop competing for jobs.
He shook off the thought of her ripped-open neck caused by yet another alpha wolf looking to please his clan. All in the name of secrecy his three-hundred year old ass. He stepped from the shadows and dared peek in the window of Sin-Sation. Kara looked resolute once more and moved about the store with confidence. A small pile of merchandise decorated the counter. Leo tried to get a better look without drawing attention to himself, but the gauzy curtains obscured his view.
The brief amount of time in her store taught him so much about his mate. Not only was she beautiful and confident in this lifetime, she still was as drawn to him as he was to her. He'd smelled the desire wafting from her as she'd fastened the cuffs. Each incantation of Kara was even better than the one before. Staying away wasn't an option now that he'd found her. No. He'd already risked too much and the bounty on her head was even higher this time around.
His cell phone vibrated in his front pocket, putting a dampener on his thoughts.
He didn't need to even look at the display before answering. At this time of the morning, most of his kind were getting settled before the sun rose. Those of them who were born and not made didn't have the same worries regarding the sun. Hence, knowing who would be on the other end of the line. "What do you want, Julian?"
"Did you find her? I got your cryptic message, but wasn't certain."
"I did." He stepped away from the windows and melted back into the shadows of the building before continuing. "She works here in Vegas. How I've managed not to bump into her baffles me."
"Well, you've been scenting her for months now. Maybe something changed. Wasn't she a witch or something?"
"Something," he agreed although he knew 'witch' didn't cover what his mate was exactly either.
"How did she react? Is she willing to turn so you can stop going through endless cycles of watching her die?"
His friend never failed to cut right to the heart of the matter. "We didn't get around to that. I think she mistook me for someone else and I let her. I didn't want to scare her off." Pitiful as it sounded, it was the truth. Every inch of his body had been dying to claim her from the moment she rounded the corner of the building. The fine-tuned alto voice of hers sent all the blood in his body rushing to his groin. His mate was remarkable.
"What? Come on. You know there isn't a lot of time between when the two of you meet and when she dies, historically speaking." Julian didn't even attempt to suppress his annoyance. "Seriously, mate, you need to tell her. We both know these parts are rife with Pack activity. I smell the dogs in the air everywhere I turn."
"I know," he agreed as the scent of the man inside the building stuck with him. "Now that I know where she is, I'll stay nearby. When she's alone, I'll speak to her."
"Don't tell me you're scared of a girl," his friend admonished. "You're the most badass vampire I know. You've killed more rogue wolves than any other of our kind and, now, you hesitate to talk to a girl?"
"Kara isn't just a girl. She's my mate. I've made mistakes that got her hurt. Forgive me for proceeding with caution this time around."
"There's caution and then there's avoidance. Make sure you know the difference, mate." The lilt in his friend's accented voice mocked him.
"Yeah, yeah. Did you only call to harass me?" Silence on the line answered. "Julian?"
"About that, mate. I received a call with some pretty interesting intel on your woman. We aren't the only ones who've been asking around about her. So whatever changed to let you get a beat on her, seems to have opened the season on her bounty. Tate asked what the bounty was; said he could use some extra cash. Makes me think the Pack might've gotten word and offered a competing one up already."
"Hell. Did Aria have anything to say about it?”
“Haven’t heard from her on the matter yet. She’s been a bit-“ his friend’s loaded pause said more than any words. “Busy.”
Leo could hear the raised brow accompanying the sentiment. He needed to figure out who was after Kara and how to stop them. The man from the store brushed past him in the alleyway that led to the parking lot behind the store. Another whiff confirmed what Leo suspected. Wolf. He considered following the dog to see where he was headed, but his ears picked up the faintest curse from inside the building.
Without bothering to say 'goodbye,' he disconnected the call and raced to the rear entrance of the shop. Still unlocked, he bolted through it and searched the store with a pinpoint accuracy feigned to appear as a quick once over. His gaze settled on Kara. She sat slumped against the counter, tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook as she gulped air and attempted to speak into the phone at her ear.
"Who did this, Julia? Tell me and I'll hunt them down and kill them."
She didn't even look up as he approached her.
Leo scented the air, relieved the tinge of copper that accompanied freshly spilt blood was absent. His lungs screamed from the lack of air. He needed to ensure she was okay. No blood
. Only tears. He knelt in front of her and tucked a loose strand of hair behind the ear not against the phone. The gesture registered in her gaze as she finally seemed aware of his presence. She swiped at her tears and attempted a small smile before saying, "I'm glad Ronin's there. He's always taken care of us. I've got a customer, Julia. I'll be down there as soon as I can, okay?" She quieted for a moment. "Whatever you do, stay there with Linds and Ronin. He'll protect you both."
The sound of another man's name on his mate's lips nearly drove him made. No one else could protect her better than he. His fangs descended as if to prove his point and his fingers clenched tight around the lock of her hair still tucked between them.
"I'm sorry, can I help you?" It took a minute for recognition to flash gold in her hazel eyes. "You. What do you want from me?" She stood quickly, despite his grasp on her hair and poked a finger into his chest as he rose with her.
"Kara," he started.
"How the hell do you know my name?"
He could smell the rush of adrenaline coursing through her body. It's scent sweet and enticing. Her heartbeat thundered and her muscles tensed. Before he could stop her, she shot her fists toward his face while a leg swept the space between them aimed at sending him head over ass to the floor. His reflexes were fast enough to defend against her attack, but his fangs returned with a flourish and gave away what he'd hoped to keep from her a while longer.
"Shit! You're here to kill me."
4
Death Rattle
Kara landed a perfect roundhouse to the vampire's head but instead of dropping to the floor like a stone, he merely glared at her.
"I'm not here to kill you. For Pete's sake, if I wanted you dead, I had plenty of opportunities to kill you already. I'm here to keep you alive."
