Midnighter Seductions 1
Claiming Destiny
An ancient portal quietly reopened the day the Mayan calendar ended, but it wasn't the "big bang" ending of the world as predicted. It did, however, change everything for Destiny Harriston.
Stranded on a desolate stretch of New Mexico highway, Destiny doesn’t know she’s just become prey for two very different hunters. One wants her life. The other wants her for life.
Rock and Jag entered our world expecting to find the women their legends spoke of, but all they found was an old man babbling on about stories of Chupacabras and Midnighters. When Destiny crosses their path and is critically hurt, they’ll be forced to face an ancient enemy who has lurked in the shadows for more than a millennium.
Capturing their woman was the only way to keep her safe, but now two worlds are threatened and they have to choose between their love for her and protecting everything they’ve ever known.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal
Length: 50,571 words
CLAIMING DESTINY
Midnighter Seductions 1
Corinne Davies
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
CLAIMING DESTINY
Copyright © 2013 by Corinne Davies
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-774-1
First E-book Publication: March 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
For my honey, who always stands behind me and somehow knows when I’m trying to hide from my book. He pushes me and keeps me writing on those days when I’m sure I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.
For Heather and Bella, who always inspire, encourage, and keep me on track with our sprinting. You’re amazing friends and I wish we didn’t have so many miles between us. Thank goodness for Skype. J
And for all the wonderful people at Siren Publishing who work so hard at editing, formatting, and taking care of all the details I don’t have a clue about. You’re awesome and I’m grateful for everything you do.
CLAIMING DESTINY
Midnighter Seductions 1
CORINNE DAVIES
Copyright © 2013
Prologue
December 21, 2012
The ground shivered under Eddie Santiago’s feet. “Daym, they wuz rite.” The old man staggered on his feet and tried to maintain his balance, but the quart of Jack Daniel’s he’d knocked back had demolished his sense of balance. They’d been talking on the radio about some old Mayan calendar and that end of time was coming, but he’d lived through hell and the world had continued on around him. Nothing but a bunch of hooped-up malarkey and TV bullshit. He’d never imagined in his seventy-five years that they’d be right.
He’d looked the Vietnam War in the eye and lived, and if this was his time to go then he wasn’t going to run like some lily-livered coward. He watched as the dry earth in front of him cracked and opened. Earth and sand poured into the hole, making it bigger, and a wind hotter than hell itself rushed out and pushed him back a few steps. The earth rocked at the same moment and Eddie staggered, landing back on his ass this time.
An orange and yellow glow emanated from the hole. Must be lava, hope it kills me quick. He waited for molten rock to bubble up out of the crevice, but all that happened was the golden light grew in intensity. Lightning lit up the night sky in the distance. Strike after strike shot to the sky from around him. The smell of ozone surrounded him and his heart beat harder than it had in a decade. The hair on his arms stood up and he took the last swig of Jack from the bottle. If he was going to die it would be with the taste of his favorite whiskey in his mouth.
Then it all stopped.
The earth stilled. The lightning ceased and silence fell over the area. Eddie watched as a large shadow rose up from the hole and then skittered back away as a large figure blocked out the light. At first it looked like a large bear, but it moved like some sort of jungle cat. Black as night, he couldn’t make out much of its shape except for the eerie green eyes that stared right at him. His brain tried to formulate an answer to how an animal managed to end up down there. Maybe it was a tunnel that caved in and that was his home?
A second shadow moved in the darkness and Eddie decided that perhaps he might not live to see the morning. He looked around wildly for anything he could use as a weapon, but the only thing he could see was a couple sticks and some brush. The shadows moved and more appeared and fanned out behind the first creature, who now stood up on his back legs. “Wait a damn second! What the hell are you doin’?”
It wasn’t no damn animal but a man dressed up as one. It walked closer to Eddie until he stood right over top of him. Eddie looked up at a pair of eerie green eyes and felt his throat close up in fear. “El Chupacabra?”
A second man stalked up to him, his
eyes looked like the blue arc from a welding torch. “Where are our women?” he snapped.
The legend is real? Eddie never would’ve imagined the possibility in all his life. He’d been listening to his favourite radio show, The Other Side, last night and they’d been explaining how, chupacabra and other paranormal creatures hide in plain sight. That had to be a sign.
“Y’all Midnighters?”
Chapter One
Six months later
Destiny Harriston wiped her arm across her forehead, stopping droplets of sweat from dripping into her eyes as she looked down at the engine of her car. Smoke poured out of something, and the stupid thing was dead as a doornail. She’d been trying to make it to Vegas and had taken a wrong turn. Okay, so maybe she should’ve stopped at a hotel and gotten a good night’s sleep instead of napping on the side of the road, but she couldn’t shake the feeling like she was close. Ridiculous really, because she wasn’t even in the right state, but in her dozy mood she must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere because now she was completely lost.
Pushing herself off the car she left the hood up and looked down the empty road. The heat beat down on her back, as a warm breeze did nothing to make her more comfortable. Off in the distance were some mountains that looked suspiciously like pyramids. If they were what she thought they were, she had an idea where she was, and that was in the completely wrong part of the state with a broken-down vehicle.
To top this situation off, she had a job interview in two days at a casino in Vegas. If she didn’t get there on time it would be the end of her chances to work toward her dream. She’d end up in some diner for the rest of her life, working double shifts and complaining about her feet. At least working as a dealer in a casino was a step up from smelling like a greaseball every day. The tips would be better, too, she hoped. All she needed was a couple big winners to toss her some hefty tips a couple times a week…it was possible. It’s not like her dream was to move to Hollywood and become a world-famous actress. That was craziness.
But I’m not going to get there standing on the side of the road daydreaming. The smoke pouring from her engine had slowed down some and she leaned back over the side of the engine and looked around. A pointless effort since she had no idea what to look for. If she saw a hole in a hose she could wrap something around it and get going long enough to make it to a gas station or a phone. As she waved her hand in the smoke, it dissipated enough for her to see lime-green speckles over her engine.
Oh, no! That looked like transmission fluid and she knew enough to know that was a bad thing. “Fuck!”
She glanced back at the barren landscape around her and then down the road, hoping to see a car or truck. Hitchhiking was dangerous, but so was wandering around a desert. From here to the horizon was nothing but dirt and brush and not another car in sight. The back of her neck tingled and she slowly turned in a circle, looking all around her. It felt like someone had been watching her, or guiding her…somewhere. “Get a grip, you’re tired and overheated.”
She checked her phone, but it hadn’t magically picked up a signal. It looked like she was going to be walking after all. Trumping back to her trunk she pulled out her small suitcase with her necessities. Originally her plan had been to use the small suitcase when she stayed in a hotel so she didn’t have to dig around her trunk for her stuff every time. It had wheels, so it would be easy to pull along the road behind her.
She figured it would be better to have some belongings on her instead of leaving them all behind. The two bottles of water she’d picked up the last time she got gas were tucked into one of the side pockets of her purse. Leaning back into her trunk she rifled through a bag until she found the pepper spray she carried with her at night and tucked it into her back pocket. Better safe than sorry. She could use it to ward off any animals.
She rubbed sunscreen into her legs and arms and wrapped a light cotton shirt around her waist and plunked a big floppy-brimmed hat on her head. She’d had visions of Audrey Hepburn when she bought this and was she glad she did now. She slipped on her oversized sunglasses and slammed the trunk closed. Pausing to kick the tire, she muttered “stupid car” before heading down the road. The suitcase tugged slightly on her arm as she walked.
She could feel the heat radiating up from the asphalt and there was a slight smell of tar in the air. Looking behind her, she could see where the wheels on the suitcase were making marks in the road as she walked. Well, if anyone finds my car at least they will know which direction I went.
The pyramid mountains were to her right and she knew that there were some small towns, but it would be stupid to try to cross any section of the desert with only two bottles of water. What she was doing now might be classified as slightly dumb, but if she drank one bottle of water and hadn’t seen any sign of life then she’d save the second bottle and head back to her car. Sooner or later someone was bound to drive by. This was a paved road after all, and that gave credit to the idea that vehicles did head in this direction from time to time.
Destiny trudged down the road and imagined what her life might be like five years from now. Thirty was a stepping stone and she hoped that by then she’d have found her place in the world and maybe by then she’d have saved up enough to open a business of her own. At this point she wasn’t certain what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want to be working for any more schmucks that thought grabbing her ass was their right as a boss. That was what drove her to leave her last job. Her manager was getting a little too handsy with her and a complaint to the owner, his wife, got her fired. Destiny hoped the bitch caught a nasty case of crabs from her skanky husband.
Two hours later, Destiny was seriously questioning her plan. The sun had dropped very low in the sky, making the shadows stretch out like they were reaching for her. She’d put the top on to cover her shoulders as the temperature started to drop with the sun. Her anxiety climbed with each passing minute. She could turn around and head back to the car. At least there she wouldn’t have to worry about any wild animals coming after her, but then all this walking would’ve been for nothing. Her legs were starting to feel shaky, so she knew she had to sit down soon, but she worried that if she sat down she wouldn’t want to get back up. It’s not like she carried matches to make a fire and she’d given up smoking years ago, so she no longer had a lighter on her at all times.
What if there was a gas station on the other side of this hill? That would suck if she walked all the way back after being so close to the end. She switched hands on the suitcase. Her shoulders were killing her from dragging the stupid thing. More than once, she’d considered letting it go and leaving it behind, but what if she needed something out of it? The wheel caught in a rut and the handle yanked out of her hand and clattered to the ground for the fourth time in the last twenty minutes. Her feet were killing her and she was afraid that if she took off her shoes to check for blisters she might not get them on again.
“Oh, fuck it!” she snapped and sat down on the top of the case. It felt so good to get off her feet for a moment. Her thighs twitched and she yawned. Maybe she should have a nap? I read somewhere that a quick twenty-minute catnap is sometimes better than a long sleep. She looked at the sun. It’s not going to set in the next twenty minutes. She would feel better and push forward. It couldn’t be that much farther to some sort of civilization. It’s not like I’m lost in the rainforest, for Pete’s sake.
She set the alarm on her phone for twenty minutes and walked over to a large rock on the side of the road. Sitting down next to it, she relaxed back against its warm surface. It felt cozy against her back and she stretched and yawned. Twenty minutes and then I’ll keep going.
* * * *
Chak Tok Ich’aak, more commonly known now as Rock, watched his friend, Jag, pace in front of him. Jag stomped another four steps and then turned.
“I don’t know how you can stand there so calmly. This feeling…” Jag dug at his chest with the heel of his hand. “I can’t stand it. We need to go. Now.”
“Not yet.” Rock looked up at the sky and judged the amount of sunlight left. One of the more fascinating aspects of this world was how it managed to do so well with only one sun. He missed the feel of the double suns of his world. “Soon, Jag. We’ve waited this long.”
“That’s exactly my point. We’ve waited this long, I don’t want to wait any longer.”
Rock understood exactly what Jag was feeling. The incessant need that clawed at his skin and pushed at his chest urging him to run and run fast would’ve been maddening, but Rock was used to waiting. He’d learned to control that urge long ago, a talent honed by the art of war. He had a mere fraction more patience than Jag or he’d be pacing the front as well. This was the first time since they’d crossed into this world that he felt a real connection to it.
This was more than simply a feeling of anticipation. Their lives hung in the balance. In fact, this entire world was under a threat from the moment that portal opened and they’d stepped through. It’d been a thousand years since the portal last bridged their world with this one, a wait his people had forecasted and written prophesies and legends about. Many had worried it would be the end of their world, but as he had suspected, nothing happened.
A soft noise behind him alerted him to the fact that they weren’t alone. One of his Midnighters stepped up beside him and watched Jag pace back and forth. As part of their education about this planet, Eddie had told them the legends of Midnighters. Stories of men who abducted women and claimed them for eternity. Neither he nor any of the other god-chosen warriors had any intention of enslaving the women they were looking for but nothing would prevent them from claiming them. The warriors adopted new names to fit in easier and dubbed themselves Midnighters.
Davies, Corinne - Claiming Destiny [Midnighter Seductions 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 1
