Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (22 page)

About the Author

Kathi Barton, author of the bestselling series Force of Nature, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. In addition to writing full time Kathi likes to spend time with her eight grandkids, three children and three children-in-laws. She writes to relax and have fun.  

Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman brings them to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans.
[email protected]
.

Follow Kathi on her blog:
http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/

Table of Contents

Divine Savior

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2011

ISBN: 9781937085926

Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2011930723

First Edition World Castle Publishing August 1, 2011

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover Artist: Karen Fuller

Editor: Brieanna Robertson

Author’s Note

The second book in the Aaron’s Kiss series finds Colin Larimore being literally run down by his future mate. But he can’t believe that the Fates would play such a horrible trick on him to give him a mate that would sell her own children in order to feed her habit.

Shade Doe is homeless. And a thief. She doesn’t want to be either, but without an address she can’t get a job, without a job she can’t afford to get an address. It’s an endless cycle. When she befriends two small children and gets deeply entrenched into their lives, she has to use her magic to try and save them.

Through a series of misconceptions and angry words, Colin and Shade come together with their own magical abilities and blades to save each other and the children.  But will it be enough?

~~~

When I started this series of books I had no idea where Aaron and Sara were going to take me. Their book, Blood, Body and Mind introduces you to them and their coming together to form a kiss – a family of sorts.

Sara and Aaron opened the series with their story earlier this year and now it’s Colin’s turn. He had been Aaron’s friend for centuries and even now has his back. But when Colin’s mate comes along and tests his temper, Aaron helps him get through it.

The next book, A Natural Magic continues the story with Dominic and Pic, two of the most stubborn beings Aaron has ever met.  Their union not only brings a whole new magic element to the family but could be the death of an old adversary.

I hope you enjoy this and all the books to Aaron’s Kiss. There are twelve in the series (so far) and if you have any questions or comments on this or any other of my books please don’t hesitate to email me. 
[email protected]
.

~CHAPTER ONE~

Shade hated stealing, but no one would hire her without an address. Well, technically, she had an address she supposed, but living in an abandoned warehouse did not hold much weight when you could not have your mail delivered to you. A post office box would not work for two reasons:  one, she did not have the money to pay for it monthly and two, always the stickler; you needed a physical address so they could verify you needed a box. Stupid bureaucrats, could they not just think things through? If she had a physical address, she would not need a flippin’ box to get her mail delivered to, now would she?

Shade moved along the outer wall of the restaurant’s kitchen slowly. She knew that she could make it to the back door before anyone could catch her, but she was starving, as she had not eaten much in the past four days. She was willing to take a few chances tonight. She could never make herself eat from the dumpster, no matter how hungry she got. It was just too gross and sounded too homeless for her taste. Plus, there were the kids to think about.

She had been dropping off food for the two kids in the apartment building down from where she was staying for about two months now. At first, she had been bringing them enough to get through a couple of days on the off chance she hit a dry spell, but she soon found out their druggy mother was selling it off for a fix. Even if it meant leaving her kids without anything to eat for days on end, it did not matter to Brenda Shell as long as she was high. They couldn’t have been much more than seven and three years old at best.

The littlest one was a girl named Becca. She always seemed to be fighting a cold or something and the other one, her older brother Brent, tried his best to keep her safe. But they were both just kids and couldn’t be held to the same standards as an adult. It was sad that they had to be too.

Shade was pretty sure that the boy had been sold a couple of times to some of his mom’s boyfriends as a good laugh for the men and a fix for her. Brent had never said anything to Shade, but she could just tell by his reactions to physical contact that he had been abused.
Some people should never be permitted to breed,
she thought with disgust.

Another five feet across the kitchen and she would have some bread to go with the cheese she had gotten earlier tonight at another kitchen. Busy kitchens were the best, especially on a weekend night. This one was about as common as they came. There were dirty pots and pans on every available surface. Bus tubs full of dirty tableware and food had ended up on the floor they had been so busy tonight. The kitchen was not dirty by health code standards, she supposed, but it was nasty to think of all the greasy slime on the floor. The noises alone were enough to make a person think twice about working under such conditions. But it was the aromas that had her.

Chicken and steaks sizzling on the grill, the heavy scent of garlic and cheeses permeated the air with their combined mouthwatering temptations. The smell of tart apples and sweet cherry pies nearly fresh from the oven was wafting throughout the restaurant and beyond. The fragrance of the dessert was almost a physical presence in the room.

The wait staff usually did not notice someone dressed like Shade was. Like the cooks, they just thought she was one of the dishwashers. That was the plan and the reason she dressed in jeans and a bulky sweatshirt tonight. Well, there was also the fact that it was all she had, and as it was getting colder out, she had dressed in a few extra layers. She had not saved enough money yet to get a decent coat, not even a cheap decent coat.

Shade finally had the bread and was inching her way back to the door and freedom when one of the under-chefs noticed her. He stared at her for several hard, tense seconds, and then yelled at her to drop it. Of course, there was no way she was doing that and took off toward the door to outside. She had an advantage over the guy, well several, really. She was slight and kept in fairly good shape because she had to walk everywhere she went. He was neither slight nor in shape by any means—
probably taste testing his cooking a little too much,
she thought with a grin.

It had always amazed her that her sense of humor, normally dormant for weeks on end, would chose to show itself when she least expected it or wanted it to.
Next thing
, she thought,
I’ll be explaining to the police how I had to stop long enough to laugh at a joke in my head, and that was how they had managed to capture me.

She was out the door and running down the alley when she hit a wall. Well, it really wasn’t a wall, but a big chest that felt very wall-like, solid and firm. She bounced off of him and backwards, hitting the ground hard enough to throw her foodstuff to the ground and her onto the pavement.

“Damn it, why the hell don’t you watch where you park that thing? A person could get seriously hurt running into you. Help me, will ya? He’ll have the whole kitchen out here in about ten seconds. Sheesh, you get a zip code with all that area you carry around?” She was scrambling now, hurrying to get up and going again.

The man was a big guy. Not fat, not at all, and he was tall, fit, and looked to her like he was very strong. He was just reaching out to help her up when she glanced behind her. The cook was coming out and bringing what looked like the entire kitchen staff with him too.
Christ, doesn’t anyone have tables to take care of or something?
she thought as she gathered her things. Just as the man leaned down to help her again, she popped up and accidently caught him in the nose. Blood burst forth, and he fell on top of her when his feet slipped out from under him. He landed fully on her, knocking the wind from her lungs.

“Bloody hell, woman,” the man yelled at her—like it was her fault. Grinning, she accidentally—on purpose—bopped him again.

Shade started squirming to try and get out from under him, but he was just too heavy. When he tried shifting his weight off her, he just made it worse by making her completely under him rather than mostly under him. By now, the dishwashers and cooks alike had reached them. As the man was being helped up by two of the men, Shade saw an opportunity for escape and took it. She threw her body into the man’s, and both he and the rescuers went down again. This time, the man landed on top of the workers. She was off like a shot, pausing only long enough to snatch up the loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese. Then with a sassy gesture, Shade bowed to her wall-like “rescuer,” saluted the other people from the kitchen, and rounded the corner out of sight.

Shade made it back to the Brent and Becca without being caught. Then after making sure they were fed as much as they wanted, standing with them as they wolfed down slice after slice of the bread and cheese, she left for her own home. It was nearly an hour later when she walked over to her own place to eat and settle in for the night.

The encounter with the staff had scared her a bit. She would not be able to go back there for a very long time, if ever. The staff would be watching for any strangers, especially her. This had been much easier when she was a kid. People would turn away from her when they saw her snitching food, whether from pity or sympathy, she wasn’t sure, but it was getting harder all the time. Then there was the big guy, “the wall” she started calling him. There was something about him. He stirred something inside of her. He was large and wide, but that wasn’t it; it was more sensual. She felt an almost overwhelming need to curl into his arms and rest. She just knew he would keep her safe and protected. Although, where that had come from was anyone’s guess. She had neither needed nor wanted anyone for years and she wasn’t even sure she had before then.

“The wall” was an amazingly handsome man; his blond good looks and green eyes made her think of all kinds of odd thoughts. When she had hit his nose the first time, she had felt the tiny braids he had on the side of his head bump her in the face. It was everything she could do not to comfort him for hurting him, however unintentional. The second time she had hit him was because he had made her mad, but she didn’t think she would be able to do it again. It hurt her to think of causing him pain.

Shade didn’t know anything about herself, at least not before she had regained conciseness after a head injury when she was smaller. She didn’t know what her real name was. She had made up the one she was using. She had used the shade of the building she had found herself in the first time and the beautiful doe standing incredibly close to her she had seen when she first opened her eyes. Any other personal information, birthday, age—she had just plucked that information out of the air. She really hadn’t found the information to be of much importance anyway.

When the pain from the wound started to lessen, she realized she was on her own. The strange part was—as if waking up and finding yourself covered in blood with a bump the size of New York on your noodle was not enough—she knew how to survive. Shade knew she needed to get shelter, food and take care of herself. When she thought back on it, she realized that she just assumed she was about ten or eleven, and just kept track of the ensuing years from there. That made her about twenty-five; fifteen years alone for the most part and she still didn’t have any idea who she was. Sometimes, like today, she found that to be so incredibly sad.

Then there was the whole abilities thingy—she was no way going to call them powers, no way, she thought with a shudder. She could do all sorts of things she was pretty sure would get her locked away in a lab somewhere. Shade could read people’s minds and if that was not bad enough, as far as she was concerned, if she wanted to, she could manipulate people into doing things. She had only tried that a few times, just to see how far she could push someone, but it didn’t feel right, so she left it alone. She could also tell when someone was near her and what his or her intent might be. She only used that one when she was scoping out food, or at the warehouse, when she was alone. She never took chances with her safety; Shade was neither stupid nor naive.

Her body could heal quickly and not leave any mark once it was gone. The wound on her head had been a deep gash, and should have required a good many stitches, but within a few hours, it was sealed up like it had never happened, leaving behind the aches and pains of the other injuries to her body. While the wounds would heal, bruises and cuts that were not life threatening would linger like normal.

~~~

If someone would have asked Colin what she looked like, and the police did, several times over the several hours they had kept him, as a matter of fact, he could not have said. She was a blur of dark clothes, sharp body parts, and red hair. He could have told them that she smelled like hydrangeas and vanilla. But he was reasonably sure that they would neither find that helpful nor amusing. As a matter of fact, neither did Colin.

Colin made it back to the mansion just before sunrise. Barely making it to his lair in the sub levels he was staying in at the Master of the Realms’ home, Aaron MacManus. Colin didn’t even have time to tell Duncan, the man servant of the master, that he was unable to get any information on the cook Aaron had hoped to hire from the restaurant.

The household had been without a cook since his long time friend, Aaron, the new master, had taken it over nearly six months ago. Aaron had challenged the old master, Carlos Sanchez, for his position and had beaten him, decapitating him in the final moments of the fight. It was vampire law that once a challenge was met and won, the winner would become the new master and inherit all that the previous one had. This would include not only homes and monies, but the subjects as well. Aaron had inherited a large mess, one that he was still working through. Vampires with no means to support themselves, neglected properties, and an office that looked as if it had not been touched in centuries.
And will probably remain that way if Aaron had anything to do with it
, Colin thought with a grin.

Normally, a vampire’s home did not need a cook, just a few daytime servants to see to the things a vampire could not. But Aaron had recently taken a mate, Sara Temple MacManus. Sara could drink from her mate with fangs, as well as eat human food. She, a unique wonder, was a member of the Royal Guard in the magical Kingdom of Molavonta, cousin to the Queen of Magic, and a vampire because she was in love with Aaron. Sara could even stand the sun without any restrictions. Yeah, he thought with a big smile, she was unique all right; she had even kicked his butt on more than one occasion.

Colin arose at dusk. He went in search of Aaron and found him in the study with Sara. They were at it again. Thankfully not sex, although they seemed to do that like rabbits too. No they were arguing again. Not that it hurt their relationship. In fact, it seemed to enhance it. Aaron was a macho vamp who only wanted to protect his mate and she was a Royal Guard, naturally prone to protecting everyone close to her. It was an odd mix. But they loved each other completely.

“Colin, would you please tell this idiot that, as a true immortal, I should be able to go out without his big bad ass to hold my hand?” Sara had thrown that one at him as soon as he entered the room.

“Aaron, Sara loves that you love her, but I believe she would like it if you would stop holding her hand.”

Colin was not a stupid man, and he had been on the receiving end of her blades more than once. In fact, she had tried to cut his dick off the first time they had met. Not a good beginning, but they had become friends. He did like her, very much actually, and he respected her a great deal more. While she had tried to unman him once, she had also saved Aaron’s life three times in the space of just a few weeks. But the flip side was, Aaron was Colin’s master, and his best friend, and he so did not want to piss in the corner either. He tried to stay as neutral as possible when dealing with two beings as strong as these were.