Hunter Trials (The Vampire Legacy Book 2)

by Rita Stradling

  He slipped in, and I immediately leaned into him and pulled up his tuxedo coat.

  “You don’t mind missing the party?” he asked.

  “You’re kidding, right?” I slipped the coat off his arms and draped it over my entrance table. Clearly, the table actually had a use. My fingers went to Justin’s buttons, and a thrill of anticipation thrummed through me.

  His hands slipped over my back and up to my zipper, but then he paused. Justin leaned in, kissing me lightly on my lips. When my breath caught, he asked, “Have you ever done this before?”

  “Once. One forgettable time. How about you?”

  He nodded. “A couple of times but never like this.”

  “Do you have a … condom?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted with a grin.

  “So presumptuous.” I unbuttoned down his front. His shirt fell open, showing the corded muscle beneath. He was so much bigger and taller than me, and that had never been so obvious as when I peeled off his shirt. Justin unzipped my dress slowly and slid the material down.

  When I stood there just in my bra and panties, he scooped me up onto him and carried me into my bedroom, kicking the door closed behind us.

  He froze and looked around. “Wait, where’s Bailey?”

  “Professor Gene, who takes care of the kennels, took her for the night. I kind of wanted her out of the apartment for this.”

  Justin chuckled. “Who’s being presumptuous now?”

  He jumped back on the bed, taking me with him. I landed crouched over him on hands and knees and couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you doing?”

  Justin leaned up and kissed my neck. “Do you want to drink from me before, after, or during?”

  My gaze met his, and a tingling sensation spread through every inch of my body.

  “That is a very wicked question,” I whispered, my voice going hoarse.

  He pillowed his head in his hands, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “I guess I’m a little wicked. I am a hybrid. That could mean that I’m part demon.”

  I poked him in the chest. “Or part troll.”

  “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Justin grabbed me around my waist and flipped me under him, pressing his body weight up the length of me. “Answer the question, January,” he whispered in my ear. “Do you want to drink from me before, after, or during?”

  My breath caught, and every inch of my body grew hypersensitive to where his bare skin pressed against mine. I almost couldn’t find my voice, but when I managed, my answer surprised even me. “During.”

  The heat that entered his eyes at the word told me that was more than okay with him.

  When I lost my virginity at fifteen, the sex itself had been fumbling, painful, and quick. I’d ended up breaking up with the guy a few days later, just to close the possibility of it ever happening again. Sex with Justin was none of these things. We kissed and touched and licked each other, savoring every sensation. When he finally entered me, we moved at a slow rhythm while our lips connected and hands pulled each other ever closer.

  The sensations thrumming through every inch of my body were almost too much, and we quickened our pace.

  “Bite me,” Justin whispered as he moved above me, his hands to either side of my head. He tilted his head, showing me his neck.

  I felt my fangs filling my mouth and pricking into my lip—two spots of pain in a world of pleasure.

  I licked along his neck, tasting the salty sweat there, and then I slid my fangs into his skin and pulled them out.

  “I love you,” Justin moaned as his metallic blood filled my mouth, and pleasure exploded through my body.

  After we were finished, and Justin’s wounds had closed, we lay there naked, holding each other and breathing hard.

  A warm, unexpected tear slid down my cheek, and a second later, two more tears followed.

  “Hey.” Justin brushed my tears away with his thumb. “You okay?”

  “You were dead … for a few minutes, you were dead, and it was my fault.” A small sob escaped my throat.

  “No.” Justin combed his hand through my hair and cradled my head with his fingers. There was no humor in the expression he shot at me, just intent and serious. “Even if I did die, it would have never been your fault. Sebastian just wanted to break you so he could kill you easier, and you wouldn’t break. If you had murdered your father, Sebastian wouldn’t have spared me, and you knew that at the time. Don’t feel guilty for being too smart to play into his games.”

  “It just felt real.” I leaned back into his hand.

  “Well, it wasn’t. You saved my life. First, you saved your own and then you saved mine and everyone else in that cage. You might have even saved your father’s life.” He rolled me until I lay sprawled over his massive chest.

  “Maybe.” It all felt like such a big accident. The only thing I did was have a short episode of super strength where I managed to attack Sebastian and send him into a blood frenzy. If that hadn’t happened, I’d simply be dead and drained of my blood. Sebastian would have turned all of my friends into vampires, strapped them to tables and fed their blood to the serum, and then he’d have gone about his day as head of the Hawthorn Group.

  “Well, it’s over now,” Justin said as he brushed my sweaty hair out of my face.

  I covered his mouth with my hand. “Don’t. Those are like the epitome of famous last words.”

  He smiled under my fingers, but I was dead serious. “I’ll take my hand away, but you better not jinx us again, mister. All I want is to settle into a normal year at Blackburn Academy with no more disasters.”

  “Okay.” He chuckled and stretched up his arms and settled into my pillow. “No more disasters.”

  EPILOGUE

  Mitch Holter

  I glared down at an empty fridge. There wasn’t enough beer in the world to get me through this fucking night, and I had found all of two in my apartment. Two. Fucking. Beers.

  It was just enough to give me a headache and make my throat itch for more. Slamming the fridge door closed, I crossed the room but hesitated before my front door. I didn’t want to go out there. If I went out there, I knew where I would be heading, and it wasn’t like January would have beer.

  She was probably still sucking face with Justin at the Ball anyway. What reason would I have to go over there? It wasn’t like I could ask her to spot me a ten for a six-pack. She was fucking broker than I was. Well, we were equally broke now. My father’s and brother’s crimes were the great social leveler.

  Fuck it. I’d go over there because I was bored.

  I headed out of my door and crossed the hall, stopping with my hand raised. And then I stood there, not knocking, not doing anything. Shit.

  Just to do something, I took a look at the door, examining the patch job they did after the vampire punched through the wood. It looked good. There was no seam around where the hole had been. The only thing that showed that there was a patch was that the wood changed its grain.

  I was being an idiot. I turned and headed down the hall a few doors and pounded on Mark’s door. When he didn’t answer right away, I pounded again. I was just about to write him off when the door swung open, and Mark leaned out. He still wore his tux and looked a little rumpled with his light brown hair sticking up in all directions.

  “Not the best time, Mitch,” he said as he peered back behind him.

  “Give me your booze, and I’ll get out of your hair.”

  “Yeah. Just a minute, man.” Mark shut the door in my face and returned a minute later with a bottle of merlot.

  “The fuck?” I asked as he handed it over along with a corkscrew.

  “It’s what I have, friend. You have a good night.”

  “Hey,” I said, maybe just to bug Mark a little bit. “You were at the Ball longer than me, do you know if Justin is still around?”

  “Yeah … uh, he’s with his girlfriend in her room, but I’d give them some space.”

  It felt like Mark had slapped m
e upside the head. Of course, Justin was in there with her. What was I even thinking heading over there after the Hunter’s Ball like she might just want to shoot the shit with me or watch a movie or something? I felt like the biggest fucking idiot in the world.

  Mark started to close the door when a very familiar voice called out, “What is taking you so long, Mark?”

  Amber. She walked out in a lacy black bra and thong. Her gaze fell on me, and her eyes widened just a little too much to be a genuine show of surprise. “We’re busy, Mitch.”

  “Yep,” I said, turning around and heading for the elevator. There was no way that I was going to hang out in my room when my cousin was bumping uglies with his girlfriend across the hall. His girlfriend. They could do whatever they wanted together, and it was no business of mine. It looked like I was going to be drinking this bottle of fancy-ass wine alone in a bush.

  I ended up finding a spot behind the dorm and leaning back against the building. Chugging the thing was out of the question, so I ended up swigging the bitter liquid in as big of sips as I could handle. After half a bottle, a familiar warmth finally surged up in my chest.

  “Who needs fucking friends,” I said before taking another swig.

  I sure as hell didn’t want them, especially not some scrappy chick who couldn’t stop running her mouth, even if it was to save her own damn life. With the amount of shit January talked, it had never been a question of if Sebastian would try to kill her, it had always been a question of when. Marisa had always stood her ground with Sebastian. It was that and that alone that probably got her killed.

  I had wanted it to be more.

  My biggest fucking regret is that my parents took Marisa’s mother into hiding with them. They probably didn’t even think twice about it. They’d probably said they needed her to come with them on vacation and never mentioned that they were painting a big fat target on their back.

  I took another swig, hating the chalky taste but forcing it down anyway.

  The soft fall of footsteps approached from the path, and I quickly shoved my bottle behind the hedge and leaned back.

  The patter grew louder, mixed with the scratching sound of nails on paving stones. There was a rustle nearby. Suddenly, a furry dog face was inches from mine, and a rough tongue started lapping at my cheek.

  “Bailey?” I asked, recognizing the massive shepherd. My heart leaped in my chest as I realized who was probably going to appear on the other side of that leash. I was never going to hear the end of this, drinking in a bush like a hobo.

  But January didn’t come around the corner. Instead, Professor Gene stepped out. He was a short bald man with more muscles than someone twice his size should have.

  “Mitch?” He said as he leaned back a little, squinting at me in the low light. “Is that you?”

  Bailey pounced on my legs and rolled over, showing me her belly.

  “Yeah.” I scratched the dog’s chest. “Just sitting out here getting some fresh air.”

  “You know there are benches just a couple of feet away.” He gestured down the path.

  “I didn’t know that,” I lied.

  “Hey, you’re friends with January Moore, right?”

  Part of me wanted to say fuck no. I don’t have friends, and that’s how I liked it. But, I ended up just saying, “Yeah, she’s my friend. What’s up?”

  “Well, I told her that I’d take Bailey here for the night, but I’m afraid that my Trixie is getting a little aggressive toward Bailey. We tried to separate them, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I haven’t been able to get through to January. Do you know what room she’s in?”

  A wicked fucking idea entered my head, and I had to fight back a smirk. “She’s in room five-hundred-and seven.”

  “Thanks.” Professor Gene smacked his leg. “Bailey, heel.”

  Bailey rolled off me, and her tail wagged as she trotted over to the teacher, but when he started to walk, the dog rooted to the spot.

  “Bailey,” the kennel master called. “Come.” He gave me a half-grin. “She doesn’t want to leave you.”

  I looked at the damn dog and realized … shit. I couldn’t send the kennel master up there to catch Justin in January’s room. I was an asshole, but not quite that big of one yet.

  “I’ll take her.” I reached out for the leash. “If January isn’t answering, she’s probably asleep. Bailey can spend the night in my room; it’s just across the hall.”

  The kennel master hesitated a moment. “You think she’d be okay with that? I see you together all the time … You guys are really close friends, right?”

  “Something like that. Just text her that you left the dog at my dorm, and she’ll get it when she wakes up.”

  The professor sighed as he handed over the leash, and Bailey immediately came to sit beside me. He took a step and then paused. “You doing okay, Mitch?”

  The look of pity in his eyes turned my stomach and threatened to send my wine back up the way it came down. I remembered that look. Every person in the whole damn school had it on their face for the entirety of my sophomore year. Marisa had made no secret of how close we were, and after she died, it was as if all people could do was relive her bloody death when they looked at me. I was the remnant she left behind. Sometimes, I swore that people still looked at me that way.

  The half-wince this professor was giving me held a shit-ton of pity but very little comfort. I was the sole remaining Holter in a family of serial killers. I was pretty sure the only reason that they hadn’t arrested me was that one of the vampires in the arena narrowly missed slicing my head off, and I’d ended up in the same cage as everyone else. The face full of bruises that my brother regularly sent me to school with probably helped convince people that I wasn’t exactly close with my family.

  I had taken too long to answer, and the guy’s enormous leg muscles were flexing under his warm-up pants like he was forcing himself not to run away.

  “I’ll be all right. I got my cousin back, and he’s all the family I need.”

  “Good. Well, goodnight,” Professor Gene said, and then he literally sprinted away from me like his fucking ass was on fire.

  Sighing, I scratched Bailey behind the ears as I reached back into the bushes and wrapped my hand around the neck of the wine bottle. I gave the professor a minute to get far enough away not to spot me, and then I maneuvered the bottle back through the hedge and took a swig. The Merlot tasted a little better, fruitier, and a little less tart like it had gained something by hiding in the bushes for a while. Maybe something fell in it, not that I gave a shit.

  “You know, Bailey, she’s probably going to yell at me for kidnapping you instead of thanking me for saving her bacon tonight.”

  Bailey’s rough tongue licked my ear.

  “Yeah, yeah. Knock that off.” I took another sip and watched the moon rise over the academy. Just as I was taking the last swig of the bottle, I heard the crunch of approaching boots again.

  Beside me, Bailey perked up. Her attention snapped to the path.

  I set the bottle behind the bush carefully. The dog wasn’t growling, so clearly, there wasn’t a vampire or scion nearby, but her attention was fixed in the direction of the footsteps. The footfalls halted. The hedge blocked my view, but I knew whoever was there had to be a couple feet away.

  “Just sitting here, minding my business,” I called out in case someone was afraid I was here lying in wait.

  The person didn’t come forward, and I climbed to my feet and whispered, “Fuck.”

  When I was sitting, I’d only felt a slight warmth in my face and chest, but as I stood, the wine went straight up into my brain. The whole world tilted a little, and I had to grab onto the hedge to catch my balance.

  “I’m coming out,” I said.

  “Good.”

  The voice raised the hairs on the back of my neck. My brain was playing tricks on me. It had to be a fucking mistake. Holding the leash out, so Bailey was still tucked in a bush, I peered past the hedge
and gaped.

  The nearby streetlamp illuminated Sebastian’s chillingly familiar features. “Hello, little brother.”

  Thank you for reading!

  The Vampire Legacy Series

  Midnight Secrets

  Hunter Trials

  Broken Elites

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First of all, I want to thank my Kelly and Anne. Your insightful comments encouraged me to make small and major changes in this book.

  Thank you to Melinda for going above and beyond once again! Your help was invaluable.

  Stories Matter Editing saved my bacon! Thank you so much for your incredible thoroughness at an impossible deadline. Thank you to Denise for your detail-oriented editing!

  Thank you to Kelly, Jeannie, and Michelle for beta reading!

  Thank you to Les for the series’ beautiful covers.

  Sending out gratitude to everyone who read and reviewed ARC copies of this book!

  Lena helped me at multiple points along the way, and I couldn’t be more appreciative for her help.

  Thank you so much to Elle who helped me come up with titles to rename my series!