ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (208 page)
Authors: Elisa Elliot
Mark knew better than to try anything too far from the truth. “Yes, Cara was hoping to see her again.” Mark flashed a smile. “You know how human bonds can be.”
Savior kept his eyes on Tara. “Actually, I have forgotten.” He turned his head back to them, this time not smiling. “I tell you what, the girls can talk in my private rooms.”
“No.”
“Why not? It’s quieter…and let’s face it…” He leaned in gritting his teeth. “This way I can make sure you aren’t up to any tricks.”
“Do I look like one of the Fey?” Mark replied innocently.
Savior chose to ignore the statement. “So, my rooms or would the two of you like to just leave now?”
“Your rooms are fine.” Cara said.
Savior looked at her with his head tilted to the side. “Remarkable! You sound almost identical, yet…well not.” Savior stood, his white suit with black silk shirt looked like something from the eighties. “So, let’s get this over with, and please after this night, I hope you will not come here again.” His statement was directed at Mark, and it made Cara’s skin crawl to not be included.
Mark glanced over his shoulder and saw Chris watching them. He mouthed “rooms” as inconspicuously as he could. Chris responded with a nearly indecipherable nod.
Savior opened a door just beyond his personal bar and led them down a long hallway lined with doors. Cara looked at Mark as they passed one that sounded like something sadomasochist was happening on the other side. The color began draining from Cara’s face as she heard a muffled scream.
Savior opened a door at the end of the hall that opened into what looked like a Victorian parlor. Cara could see a shadowed bedroom with dark heavy furniture. Tara settled into a loveseat with a high back. Wood, cut in an intricate pattern, lined the top.
Tara locked eyes with Cara briefly, before settling her gaze onto the floor. Did Cara see hope there?
“Now!” Savior said, clapping his hands together once. “Go ahead and talk!” He walked casually to the wet bar and poured a drink, which he sniffed appreciatively, before handing it to Mark.
Mark looked at the contents with distaste before setting it on the end table beside Cara.
Cara went to the loveseat and sat down slowly beside her sister. She took her hand in hers and rubbed the skin lightly. Tears welled in her eyes as she felt the coolness of her now porcelain skin.
“Mom and Dad are in town. Maybe you should try and see them.”
“Ah, Cheri, that’s not part of the bargain.” Savior said softly. He moved with lightning speed from in front of her to behind the loveseat. It was as if he was a movie in normal speed that was fast forwarded to another spot. Cara jumped as his cold hand snaked its way around her neck. She feel the drag of his sharp nails on her skin. He stopped just about her collar bone. “I love to feel the pulse of the living.” He pressed harder. “Especially just before they are living no longer.”
“Take your hands off of her!” Mark growled. The burning in his skin was immediate, and he was already feeling the pull of muscle as it constricted and began to change shape.
Savior laughed, his eyes lifted wickedly to Mark. “You thought I was bringing you here to talk?” He shook his head slowly. “Stupid dog with his bitch. I’ve been waiting for her to return. I’ve even come to her bedroom window and watched her sleep.”
Cara shuddered. She could feel Savior’s lips hovering above her neck.
“Soon, they will both be under my control and there…is …nothing…you can do about it.”
Mark hunched his back as the first spasm hit. His clothes tore at every seam and within seconds his human body was replaced with as a black and gray wolf. Yellow eyes pinned Savior as his lips pulled back from massive teeth.
“Ah ha! A fun game of cat and mouse!” Savior laughed, jumping the loveseat just as Cara grabbed Tara and pushed her towards the bedroom. The Mark wolf snarled at Savior as Cara slammed the heavy wooden door of the bedroom shut. She locked the door as a loud banging and jiggling of the knob happened from the other side.
“Help me!” She yelled at Tara. “You’re bound to be stronger than me!”
Cara began pushing on an impossibly heavy armoire just to the right of the door. Tara blinked rapidly before coming beside her and knocking her out of the way. With one grunt she pushed the heavy piece of furniture in front of the door.
Cara fought tears as she heard the door splinter. The vampire on the other side cursed in frustration. She heard snaps, snarls, and furniture breaking before Savior’s voice yelled for the women to be forgotten until the dog was dealt with.
Cara put the heels of her hands against her eyes. “Tara?” She lowered her hands and saw that her sister was checking out again. She grabbed her by the tops of her arms and shook her. It was like shaking an Oak tree. “Tara! Is there a way out of this room?”
Tara’s eyes refocused. “What?”
“A way out of here? Is there one?”
“There’s a closet.”
Cara looked around frantically. She had to get to Chris. She saw a small door that looked like it would only fit a child. She ran to it and pulled on the knob. She jumped as Tara pushed her out of the way and grabbed the handle, yanking the little door off of the hinges.
The two women crouched low and stepped into a little hallway. It twisted several times before leading to another door of the same size. Cara was completely blind in the black passageway, but she could see a sliver of light from under the door. She could also hear snarls and yelling and what sounded like bones breaking on the other side.
“You’ll have to move.” Tara whispered.
Cara squeezed around her sister and backed up several feet. The now familiar sound of the door pulling from the hinges gave her a surge of hope. The two women stepped out of the doorway just in time to see a now taller and hairier Chris, rip the throat right out of a vampire. From the looks of the hallway, several vampires had lost their lives the same way. Cara recognized one as the little Asian that had been friends with Gayle.
Chris pointed down the hallway, his voice came out harsh and less than human. “Theerre?”
Cara nodded. She and Tara hung back slightly as Chris, Thomas and Michael loped in their Werewolf bodies down the hallway. They made it to the end in three short strides. Chris didn’t waste any time and barreled through the door.
Cara heard nothing but an eerie silence. She looked at Tara. “Wait right here!”
Cara gasped when she peeked carefully into the room. Almost every piece of furniture was destroyed. Savior’s two men were laying almost side by side, their heads only hanging from threads of skin. Savior’s body was skewered to the antlers of a deer head on the wall, but she had no idea where his head was.
“MARK!” She yelled as Chris picked up his naked and unconscious body from the floor.
Tara had tiptoed into the room, and was staring in disbelief at Savior’s headless body.
Chris tried to communicate with Cara. “Go!”
Cara nodded. She saw Tara and grabbed her by the hand. “Come on! We need to go!”
Tara stepped forward towards Savior’s body and spit on it.
The run through the club was as comical as it was dangerous. Michael threw Cara over his shoulders in the same fashion that Chris was carrying Mark’s listless body.
Members of the paranormal world don’t scream and scatter like humans do in such situations, but they do stare and try to stop you from leaving.
Cara watched through the bumpy run as Tara fielded for them, knocking anyone that tried to stop them flat on their feet. She was very strong. Cara guessed she was stronger than she should be at that stage of her vampire existence. She hoped Thomas was doing as well ahead of them.
Cara shut her eyes as the first doorman snarled and stepped in to try and grab at Tara. She heard a sickening snap and peeked with one eye as the doorman fell to the ground, his head now pointing backwards. The guard at the top of the stairs suffered a similar fate at the hands of Thomas.
Chris threw Mark into the backseat of Cara’s car, while trying to communicate for her to go to his place. She nodded and started the car with shaking hands. Tara jumped in the passenger seat. Their eyes met for a moment, and Tara actually smiled.
X-X-X
Mark opened his eyes and jumped, unsure of where he was. Cara was by his side wiping his face with a damp washcloth. She had been concerned at how his body had been heating up and all of the injuries he had sustained, but Chris had assured her that their kind heal quickly and the spontaneous fever was part of it.
“Hey.” She said quietly.
Mark settled back onto the bed and reached for her hand. “Did you get Tara?”
Cara nodded. “She’s downstairs. She’s a little bewildered and the others are watching her like a hawk.” She smiled. “Well, I think Chris is watching her for a different reason than the other two.”
“She’s a new turn. That can be dangerous if they haven’t conquered the thirst.”
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do with her.”
Mark sat up and pulled her to him. “Do you trust me?” He breathed into her hair.
“Completely.”
“Let me make a phone call.”
Janet and Dan looked at Cara briefly before Estelle backed out of the driveway. Janet lifted her hand in a small wave, her eyes mournful. The lie that had to be told was unavoidable. Janet and Dan had to believe that Tara had simply been swallowed into the subculture of drugs and alcohol. It was the best thing for them, at least right at the moment it was.
“Ready?”
Cara turned to Mark and smiled lightly. “This is really going to be something else.”
He grinned broadly. “Donovan said it was ground breaking. An Alpha to be is bringing a human home to be his mate, and her vampire sister to boot!”
“Will she be able to do it?”
“Learn to hunt animals?”
Cara nodded.
Mark grabbed her around the waist. “Of course. Chris is rather enamored, so I’m pretty sure he and the guys will want to come too.”
Cara laughed out loud. She didn’t care who came. All that mattered was this handsome werewolf and that her sister was finally back.
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The way I looked at it, it was the inevitable. At some point my parents were going to set up an arranged marriage, I just thought it would be later rather than sooner. Boy, how wrong was I? I was only 28; gloriously young, ultimately free and unbelievably rich. It wasn’t like I was undeserving of my wealth, like so many of my business acquaintances who had inherited billions off mommy and daddy. As far as I saw it they were easy targets; used to wealth, expecting of money and ill-experienced in the business world. The idiom ‘like taking candy from a baby’ would be considered hard work when compared with how easy it was to pry money from their hands.
Despite the ease I had worked hard, I was still working hard and with one goal in mind that now seemed a distant fantasy. I wanted to choose my own wife, to make my parents proud with my own addition to the family, a family that above all else was exceptionally picky. To look at them you wouldn’t think it but beneath their skin lay a legacy and a blood line that was second to none. Bare fisted, owing much to my hidden beast, I had fought my way to the top of the business world and had billions of pounds to my name. But that only fuelled the fire, now I was expected to claim a woman to fit my status of wealth and power. My ultimate plan had backfired on me.
A billionaire shape-shifter; I was one of a kind in the eyes of my people, and especially of my family. Naturally smart, gifted and extraordinary as a species, we looked down on the rest of the world but I was still the first of my kind to hit the billionaire status and to be included in the special elite club. It was humorous if you thought about it; the bear beneath my skin was the cause behind it all. He was the intimidation in the eyes of my partners, the fear that was struck into the hearts of those about to lose their business and the hungry greed that belonged to those who would pay the highest price to acquire the companies of their rivals.
It was a special thing to be a shape-shifter; it was a dying breed of elite warriors, talented strategists and exceptional minds. Each of us was different; each had their own beast lying beneath their skin that was ready to break free at any moment. We each had power, power beyond belief and best of all nobody could see it until it was too late. But to this day there were two people who my power had never worked on, my parents; burning strong in the fore-front of my mind I could regrettably still remember how our conversation had gone.
“I have finally found her,” my mom shouted the second I walked into their small country home. I looked at her like she was crazy, beyond crazy. She seemed flustered yet excited; her inner cat, a small beautiful tabby, pounced around.
“I hadn’t realized you had lost anybody,” I stated bluntly as I picked up a cookie from the freshly made batch on the table. I twisted it over in my fingers, it was a long way away from the gourmet breakfast I had enjoyed this morning but still a friendly reminder of homely times.
“Don’t be stupid,” my dad scolded, despite his harsh tone I could still see the excitement dance in his ruby red eyes. His eyes always managed to interest me, a startling characteristic of his chameleon nature, his eyes changed drastically with his mood.
“Sorry dad,” I said quickly, it wasn’t in my nature to apologize but there was something in his look that told me now was not the time to argue. I popped the cookie into my mouth, restraining the growl that tried to break free as the sugared treat settled in my stomach. My bear had a sweet-tooth; it was not something we normally had in common.
“We have found her,” my mom said again as my dad came to stand beside her.
“You said that already,” I chimed in, only to earn another death glare from my father. I held up my hands in defeat and sat down at the kitchen table, waiting to hear exactly what she meant. My interest was diminishing, I had a big meeting in a couple of hours and it was going to take everything I had to convince the company to sell.
“We found you a wife,” my mom said, sounding happier than she ever had before. I slammed my fists down on the table, hard enough to split the old wood in half. The table crumbled beneath my fingers as I dove from my seat, uncaring as to whether I broke it too in the process.
Still to this day, nearly a week later, those five simple words rang hauntingly in my mind. ‘We found you a wife’, how could words as small and plain as those sound so dangerous? I shivered even now as they repeated over and over again in my mind as exact as they sounded on the day. I was sat safe in my office, overlooking the city beneath me, for the first time in my life I realized just how good they had it. Money meant power, power over men, but apparently it didn’t give me the freedom I wanted to choose my own future.
Chapter Two
I checked my clock again, only to notice that less than a minute had passed since the last time I had looked. Frowning I turned back to my laptop and stared blankly at the document in front of me; it was only half filled in and still lacking my signature. Forgetting that the laptop was both expensive and breakable I tossed it abruptly across the room and watched on in annoyance as it crumbled to the ground, a mix of plastic and broken circuits. Resting my forehead against my palms I shook my head roughly, what was happening to me?
This wasn’t me; I wasn’t normally out of control. In fact control was something I was good at, control over myself and others. I was the city’s most eligible bachelor and I had made sure that I had made the most of it. But not anymore, I was sat in my office waiting for the woman that my parents expected me to spend the rest of my life with. The concept was somewhat ridiculous, it was a normal Monday morning and one I hadn’t planned on spending waiting for her to arrive. To make matter worse she was late, I didn’t appreciate lateness.
“I have Mr. George on the phone, he wants to know if you’re sure you want to cancel the meeting at 11am?” my secretary, Linda, questioned through the intercom.
“Yes, of course I do,” I snapped as soon as I had pressed the button to answer her. I had been furious when I had had to ring him and cancel, the first meeting I had ever cancelled and it was costing me big. I had no doubt that he would sell to someone else and for much less as well. He was desperate to sell which was how I had found him, we had struck a deal but now I had no choice but to cancel.
“William,” to the sound of my name I looked up to see my beaming mom looking over at me. How had I not heard her walk in? She smiled her famous smile down at me and I had no choice but to smile back. It was only a half-smile that definitely showed my unwillingness, despite this she practically jumped up and down on her feet, clapping her hands.
“You’re excited!” she exclaimed breathlessly.
“Sure,” I grumbled under my breath, as always she saw what she wanted to see and right now it wasn’t my reluctance.
In a second her arms were across the perfectly polished desk and wrapped around my neck in a show of affection that was unlike her. However excitable and over the top she may be, affection was not something any of us showed easily. She ruffled my blonde hair fondly before dropping her hands and looking away, clearly startled by the display. I blinked, taking it in as I flipped my hair back to where it should be. Today was just getting stranger and stranger.
“I knew you would be,” she almost sang as she took the seat in front of my desk.
“Where is she anyway?” I asked unsurely, wondering just where she could be hiding, it was ten minutes after when she was supposed to be here and I was getting impatient.
“She’s running a little late, but she will be here soon I’m sure,” my mom said, she was clearly trying to excuse her lateness; she knew it was something I hated.
I looked my mom up and down, she seemed happy about this match, overly happy. It made me wonder just what this girl was going to be like. With my life-time worth of experience being part of this family it had always been blatantly obvious that we didn’t accept just anybody into our mix. In the last few years when I had publicly displayed my independence, my wealth and my looks I had almost been shunned out of the ranks. Apparently dating girl after girl just wasn’t the best image for one of the oldest families in England. We were almost royalty in our age, of course we had no blood links with them, no our bloodline had stayed clear of royal blood, what good would it do for the queen to be a shape-shifter.
“Mr. Hastings there is a woman here to see you,” Linda spoke nervously into the intercom. She had always been nervous, my secretary, whether it was my unpredictable nature or the bear that shifted constantly beneath my human skin that made her so, I wasn’t sure.
“She’s here,” my mom said, actually singing this time. It almost seemed like she was going to leap up from her chair but somehow, and I’m not sure how, she remained seated.
The excitement that she showed was definitely not contagious as excitement was supposed to be. Instead of reflecting her mood I shrunk back in my seat as the nerves from before re-surfaced anew inside me. It took me a second to remember myself, remember who I truly was; William Hastings, heir to the Hastings name and owner of the richest company in the country. No, it would do no good to be nervous. I straightened my back and sat firmly in my chair; while there was no escaping the inevitable there was perhaps a way to make it work.
“Send her in,” I said sharply down the intercom most likely making Linda jump in the process.
“You’re going to love her, I just know it. Her family’s status in the community is almost as good as ours and her family has money, lots of money,” my mom bumbled all at once.
“Great,” I muttered quiet; she was from old money, the same kind of money that now filled my bank accounts but through a different means, I had earned my money.
There was no going back now, my future wife was about to walk in. I breathed in deeply; yes there was no avoiding the inevitable. I prayed that my mom had chosen wisely for my fate was uncomfortably in her hands.
Chapter Three
A few minute passed and I knew Linda would be fussing over the woman, making sure she had everything she needed before entering. Not for the first time I wished that I had chosen a more efficient secretary, one that was perhaps a little quicker. Now the woman, no she wasn’t the woman she was my fiancé, was so close I wanted to get this over and done with. While it occurred to me that these last precious few seconds before I laid eyes on her were to be my last moments of freedom I tried not to dwell on the fact. Finally, slowly but surely, the door swung open.
The woman was beautiful. I’m not sure why the fact was a shock, my mom had chosen her after all but it was indeed a fact, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her long fiery red hair was a perfect complement to my own short styled blonde. It was wavy but only just, flowing down her back, the startling shade was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The woman’s face was just slightly sun kissed making her hair stand out violently against her complexion. She was slender but not skinny, perfect curves framed her body in a way that looked so right. Yes, she was nothing less than beautiful.
It took a second, a long torturous second, before she finally met my eyes. The color, such a unique shade of swirling blue almost knocked the breath out of me as they collided with my own chocolate brown orbs. The demon I had fantasized about, the one that was going to come and take my life away from me was normal. She held my eyes for just a moment longer and her bright red lips twisted into the smallest of smiles, it was a confident subtle smile that instantly caused me to mirror it.
“Jasmine, you made it,” my mom exclaimed, finally leaping up from her seat to greet the woman. It was only a fraction of the excitement she had shown mere moments before but it was enough to startle even the most confident of souls.
“Mrs. Hastings, it is lovely to see you again,” Jasmine spoke softly, sincerely. To my surprise her smile didn’t falter, she didn’t back away from my exuberant mom but instead she walked to greet her. If I had had less control my mouth would have dropped open, my mom had once reduced Linda to tears with her extravagant nature and here was this woman, this stranger, fully ready to greet her.
“No my dear, it is lovely to see you,” my mom said quickly as she reached out to shake my fiancés hand. It seemed that some things didn’t change I mused as they undertook the professional greeting.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the moment between the three of us wasn’t as private as I had previously imagined. Lent against the doorway was Linda and her eyes were fixated on something. I followed her wistful gaze back to Jasmine where she and my mom were getting re-acquainted. I stared in shock as I tried to stop my mouth dropping open for what felt like far too many times already today. Linda caught my eye and scampered away before anyone else could notice that she was here. I had no idea how Jasmine had done it but seemingly she had everyone twisted around her finger already.
“William, won’t you come and say hello?” my mom asked, her tone was sharp and impatient to me but I knew that to anyone else it would sound like an innocent question. It had only just occurred to me how rude I had been, Jasmine had been here for a few minutes and all I had done was stare at her.
I jumped up from my desk a little too quickly and in haste I almost knocked over my now empty coffee cup. Steadying it carefully, I straightened out my suit and brought my shoulders back, trying to be every bit the professional I had learnt to be. I knew Jasmine was like me, a shape-shifter, but as I strode towards her I couldn’t even to begin to gauge what exactly she was. Normally it was easy, the image of what a person really was would come to me straight away but with her it was difficult. I looked her up and down, knowing that I probably looked slightly crazy, but then maybe I was. How was it that I couldn’t tell who she really was?