Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (64 page)

“She isn’t aware of me, not as her mate, nor as a man. I can’t make myself known to her without bringing harm to her. I have contacted Aaron, the master of this realm, and he is on his way. Hold steady until he is able to get there.”

“How can she not be aware of you? I can smell you all over her.” Bradley was going to stake the bastard. “And what do you mean she isn’t aware of you as a man? You do realize she has a gun pointed at me and the shot is silver. I’m not too terribly fond of dying right now. Get your ass over here and defuse the situation.”

“Hold steady, he is nearly here.”

Tucker was closer to her now too. Only about ten feet away, Bradley estimated, but it didn’t help him if she shot. Tucker would take her out of harm’s way if needed, but nothing more than that, Bradley knew. It was the way of mates. You couldn’t do anything but protect them no matter how pissed off you knew it was going to make them. He just hoped he got the opportunity to do that with his own mate someday. Bradley could feel Aaron’s presence immediately after he entered his territory. Christ, he was never doing this again.

~~~

Aaron appeared next to Tucker and pulled the shadows around himself just as Tucker had done. Aaron had been about to make love to his lovely mate when Tucker had told him he was in serious trouble and needed him to please come to the pack house. Thinking Bradley was hurt or worse, he’d left immediately. Tucker had told him that Sam, the woman from his home, was going to shoot the alpha for reasons he didn’t know.

“I know that you have claimed her. So why am I here?” Aaron demanded of the vamp.

He, too, could smell the vamp on the girl. Her scent was stronger with her anger. Tucker should have been able to take control as soon as it had gotten out of hand.

“I haven’t made myself known to her. She isn’t aware of me, nor have I marked or mated with her, just bonded.” Tucker dropped his chin to his chest and then he dropped to the ground.

Aaron was furious. He didn’t want his people to be afraid of him, but he also needed them to respect the rules of the realm. If Tucker wanted to stay under his protection, then he was going to have to know that while Aaron demanded respect, he also gave it. Aaron reached out, took the man’s chin in his hand, and lifted it to look him in the eyes. He looked deep into them, seeing the man he could be.

“This is my realm and as such, my will is law. Do you understand me? You will come back to the mansion with me as soon as this is complete. I will not be put off in this. If you do not show, Tucker James, I will consider it a breach of contract and have you hunted down like an animal. Do you understand all that I have ordered this day?”

Aaron hated making it a demand, but this man was hurting and in need of something desperately. Aaron could smell Sam on Tucker, and it was more than the healing feed he had given her a few days ago. He had had sex with her and that was as bonding as it got.

“Yes, my lord. I will come with you as soon as you make her safe. She…she is very angry and though you smell her around me, she isn’t aware…I took advantage of her while she slept. I didn’t harm her, but I took what was not offered from her.”

Aaron didn’t understand that statement, but knew that he needed to rescue the alpha first. “I see. Actually, no I don’t, but you will explain yourself to me and to her. I will do my best with your mate, Tucker, but as I have had very little to do with this woman, I’m not sure how to handle her. But I can assure you that according to my mate, keeping her safe and out of jail will be a full time job. And not one I’m willing to help you with every day.”

Aaron walked up a few steps past the girl and stopped halfway between her and Bradley. Aaron felt her track him with her eyes and he was surprised by that. When shadowed as he’d been, humans were not able to see him. He materialized when he was standing between her and the alpha.

“Miss Hunter, always a pleasure to meet the new people in my realm. I understand that you and our esteemed alpha have had some issues today. Perhaps I can be of some assistance.”

Sam simply reached behind her and pulled out another Glock that she’d had hidden there. Before Aaron could blink, she had this one pointed at him. Aaron moved only to raise his hands up in much the same way that Bradley had done. The situation had just gone from bad to worst. Well, fuck.

“Oh, yeah, that’s helpful,” Bradley snarled from behind him. “Now she had two targets instead of one. Remind me again why you’re the bad-ass Master of the Realm.” Aaron growled at Bradley and almost laughed when he growled right back. This was so not amusing.

“Just so you both know, I’m a dead shot at any distance. I can and have taken out a man’s Adams Apple at seventy-five feet, centering six bullets point blank. That was using my left hand. My right is just as good, only I missed one and it hit him between the eyes. Bad shot, I guess, but only in making him die quickly.” She shrugged; Aaron shuddered. He didn’t think she was kidding. “I know that neither of you are human, not that I really give a rat’s ass, but these are silver shots. You, bloodsucker guy, you can help me by backing the fuck up. The dog and I are having a private conversation here and you were not invited.”

Aaron wanted to. He wanted to go home and go back to making love to his mate. But before he could say anything, Bradley growled again.

“I’m not a fucking dog, damn it. You know, I think you need someone to paddle that ass of yours. I’m sick to death of this bull shit. Why the fuck am I even a target in this? Because I tried to protect you?”

“Bradley, let’s not piss her off any more than she apparently is.” Aaron was going to die, he just knew it. “Remember, she does have a gun on us both. Tucker, I think this would be a good time to make yourself known to your mate.”

Aaron was a little nervous, but trying hard not to show it. Sam was not. All he could smell on her was Tucker and pissed off female. He could feel that she would shoot either or both of them without any problems or much more provocation. He wasn’t even sure what the hell had happened in the first place. And on top of that, he was going to have to punish the both of them. If he lived…he surely hoped that he would.

Tucker was suddenly in front of Sam. She didn’t even back up and didn’t seem to be afraid of him, which surprised him. They stared at each other for all of ten seconds before she turned and aimed both guns at his chest. He reached out and touched her forehead, said “sleep,” and caught her as she tumbled into his arms. Aaron took the first deep breath he’d had since coming here. And he used it to snarl at the vampire who held the young woman in his arms.

~CHAPTER SIX~

Sam woke up in the same damned bedroom she had been in before. Frustrated at ending up in this house again so soon after leaving made her want to punch someone, hard. So, kicking violently at the blankets, she threw herself out of bed and right into the arms of the man who had stood in front of her at the alpha’s house. Her first thought was that he was incredibly tall. Then she could smell him. She barely caught herself before she leaned in and buried her nose in his neck.

“You. Don’t you dare you touch me! What the hell...let me go you...you dickhead!” Embarrassment notched up her anger a little higher than it would normally have been.

She struggled to get away for few more minutes, and then collapsed against him. As soon as he loosened his grip, she jerked her knee up, narrowly missing his balls. As he went to grab for her again before she hurt him or herself, she elbowed him in the ribs. As he clutched the bruised area, she snapped her head back and slammed it into his nose.

“Stop right now,” he roared. “Christ, woman, what’s wrong with you?”

He was holding his nose with one hand and his ribs with the other. She took a step back. If he touched her again, she was going to claw his eyes out. Then maybe she’d smell him again.

“I want you to move out of my way. I don’t have any idea how I keep ending up at this house, but I damned well am going home.” She started for the door and stopped. “Wait a minute—you did it, didn’t you? How did you do that? You put me under somehow.” She remembered something else. He was near her in the dark, and she frowned at him, trying to place it.

“Yes. I put you in a deep sleep.” He grinned and her heart flipped over. “I thought it was deeper than this, that you’d still be sleeping right now. I have to go to see the master of this realm and I don’t want you to leave yet. I would like to talk to you. Will you be all right if I leave you alone for a while?”

“I’m not staying here. If you think that, then you’re nuttier than a fruit cake.” She started for the door again only to be blocked by him. “I have things to get finished before I open tomorrow and hanging out with this family isn’t high on my list of fun things to do. You and I have nothing to say to each other.”

Sam turned to find her pants. Both times she had ended up in this flipping house. And it seemed that she would end up without her clothes. They seemed to just disappear. And her friggin’ guns. Damn it, if she had to go through that wolf again to get them, she would just buy another one. Well, when she could get six hundred bucks together that was. She leaned down on her knees to see if they had fallen under the bed and heard the man behind her groan.

When she turned around, Tucker was still staring at her ass. He took his time, sliding his eyes from her ass to her breasts then finally up to her face. He grinned at her.

“Enjoying yourself there, fang face?” Normally, she would have pulled her shirt down over her bare butt, but she didn’t seem to mind that he was looking, and that made her pissy too.

“Yes. Yes, I am.” He grinned again. “I want you very badly. I ache with need for you.”

Her heart stuttered several beats. She sat back on her heels and scrambled back, then more when he advanced toward her, slow and determined. Sam continued to back up until she hit the wall behind her, but he kept walking. She began to crawl up the wall until she was standing. He stopped when he was just inches from her.

“You...you need to…this isn’t going to happen, you know. I don’t...I...we aren’t...back up, please?”

Her voice was huskier, deeper than before. And her body felt heavier, needy with…she was not sure for what, but knew that he would have it. The problem was she wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to back away or not. But he was close. Close enough for her to want to sniff at him again. She looked up into his eyes and she groaned this time.

Tucker was a very handsome man, beautiful in fact. His hair was long on the upper half of his head, and hung nearly to his waist. He had it tied with a leather strip at the back of his neck. The bottom portion of his head was shaved close with fine stubble of dark hair, darker than the top, which was a deep mahogany that had been shined to a glossy shine. His face was a classic one, fine bone structure, high cheek bones, and dark, smooth brows over eyes a starling shade of dark blue. His nose had been broken before. She could see where it had healed incorrectly, leaving a small knot in the middle of the long slope that added to his looks rather than took away from them. His jaw was jutted and strong-looking. She found herself wanting to bite it, just a nibble or two. Tucker’s shoulders were wide and well defined, biceps that measured at least twenty-two inches, she guessed. He had a tall, lean figure, six-foot-four at the very least. His chest was wide and Sam would bet were muscled along with abs that were washboard rippled and hard as rock. Sam doubted the man had an ounce of fat on him.

~~~

“Why? Don’t you want me to touch you, Sam? I can smell you, your heat, and your need. I don’t want to stop. I don’t think you do either, do you?” He touched her cheek, and watched with fascination as her eyes deepened to a deeper violet. Tucker slowly raised his other hand to her hip and pulled her body to his. He lowered his head to hers. “Sam…”

“Daddy said to come down now. That it’s time to pay the piper.” Mac’s high-pitched voice cut through them as if he had used a rapier.

Tucker backed up immediately, dropping his hands from her. But not before he saw her flare of disappointment. Sam turned away from him. Closing his eyes, Tucker tried to get his body under control before he turned to the boy in the doorway.

“I need to go down now. I need to talk with the master as he’s commanded. You must stay here and wait for me.”

Tucker wanted to pull her back into his arms, just to hold her, to pick her up and cradle her. He was surprised by this need. He wasn’t much of a touchy person. He felt her shame and embarrassment, and he wanted to soothe her, but didn’t have any idea how to do that to someone.

“Go. Just leave me alone.” Tucker watched as Sam walked into the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind her. When he started toward the bathroom, he stopped when he heard the lock turn.

“Are you coming? Dad said to come on down when you’re ready, but not to take too long,” Mac said and turned and left. With another look toward the bathroom door, Tucker left. He would talk to her when he returned—if he returned.

“Master, mistress. I beg entrance please?” Tucker had been taught, and none too gently, to never go anywhere or into any room he was not specifically invited to. The repercussions of a mistake like that would stay with him for days, if not weeks. And once learned, he didn’t soon forget.

Tucker had once, in the very beginning of his life as a vampire, walked into the room he had been assigned. He had been a vampire maybe about fifteen years. It hadn’t occurred to him that the room wasn’t his to do with as he pleased. He had simply walked into a bedroom he had been sleeping in forever and always without asking for permission. And calling it a bedroom was really giving much more credit for the room than it deserved, as it was no more than a rag on the dirt floor of a four-by-four foot cell. Mistress was there waiting for him, just to catch him making a mistake, he was sure.

She had ordered him on his knees first and when the first slice of the whip bit into his skin, he nearly cried out from it. The whip had been specially made for her, she had told him once. There were at least a dozen long strips of leather, each one with several barbs of silver wrapped around them. He had taken only thirty lashes that night, more than he had ever received to that point, but not the most he would feel against his back in his long servitude with her. Pain riddled his body and he knew when she finished with the whip, she wasn’t finished with him yet.

When she had ordered him to stand, he knew, just knew, he had to leave her. He had to get away before it was too late.

Moving slowly, pain rippling through his back, he stood with his hand behind him and his head bowed. Mistress had ordered one of the other guards to stand behind him and remove his clothes. Once he was naked, she dropped before Tucker and started to fondle his balls none too gently. He knew that he couldn’t say anything, nor could he pull back from the pain. His body was used to her abuse and his cock lay limp in her hands. He hoped he could remain that way for all of eternity if necessary.

But when she took him into her mouth, he hardened immediately and grew harder still as she sucked and licked. Holding back a groan and his climax, he closed his eyes to the sensation. Suddenly, she bit him—she had bit into his cock deep and painfully. As she began sucking from the blood from it, nearly draining him dry, he felt his knees shake and tremble. When she had finished, he dropped to the floor and couldn’t move. Since that night, he couldn’t stand for her to touch him, not that it had stopped her, but to have her bite such a sensitive part of him nearly ended him.

“Come in, Tucker,” the master’s mate said, bringing him back to the present. “And in this house it isn’t necessary to ask to enter a room.”

She didn’t understand that he couldn’t go against centuries of training. He was bigger than the master, in frame and height. But his subservient ways made her nervous, he knew. But he could no more stop being that way than he could stop drinking blood.

“Yes, mistress.” Tucker bowed his head, not making eye contact with anyone in the room as he entered. He didn’t need to look around to know where they both were. The mistress was near the chair that the master was sitting in. The chair was just to the right of the fireplace.

“Have a seat on the sofa there, Tucker. I want to get to know you and why you have decided to forgo asking to be a part of this realm. And then we’ll talk about your relationship with Sam.” Startled for a second, Tucker looked up quickly when Aaron spoke. His voice had been soft and kind.

“We don’t have a relationship, so there isn’t anything to talk to him about. And in the future, I can speak for myself.” Sam barreled into the room like a bull as she thought to correct the master. Tucker felt a smile spread across his face. He should have known that she wouldn’t stay in the background. It just was not in her nature.

“Ah, Miss Hunter. Since you have decided to be a part of this conversation, would you care to have a seat as well?” Aaron pointed to the couch where Tucker sat. “You and I have much to talk about also, I think. And as for your lack of relationship with Tucker, we’ll see, won’t we?”

“I want my guns. I’m getting sick of waking up here without them. And then I am leaving this mad house.” Sam turned to glare at Lizzy. “If you do not stop poking at me, I’m going to give you something to think about next time you try.”

“Don’t you dare threaten my daughter, you half-wit. I’ll have you know that she is just a child and doesn’t know what she is doing. So back off or find I’m not so easy to intimidate as a child,” Sara roared as she came up off the couch. Tucker found himself standing in front of Sam quicker than he thought he could move.

“Gladly,” Sam snarled from behind him.

In the next second, Sara dropped to the floor, her hands gripping her head tightly. Blood poured from her nose and ears. She groaned on the floor in apparent agony. Sara screamed and screamed while holding her head. Magic rippled in the room as several people shimmered like falling rain into the room. Tucker backed closer to his mate to protect her.

“Stop it right now,” Aaron screamed as he flashed forward to go to his own mate’s rescue, which would have been toward Sam.

But Tucker was closer. Tucker slammed his considerable body weight into Aaron seconds before he could touch her, Tucker’s instinct kicking in to protect his mate.

Suddenly, Sam was picked up and thrown hard against the wall. Tucker heard her head hit hard, and knew she would be unconscious before she slumped to the floor. He nearly went to her when a command stilled the room instantly.

“Stop! You, all of you, sit down! Aaron! See to Sara.” The being pointed at Tucker. “You, young man, see to that woman over there. Oh, no you don’t, young lady. Lizzy, you come back here right now and sit down.”

The older woman took command at once, ordering everyone about to see to the injured. Tucker didn’t worry about who they were or how they happened to be there. He was just grateful that he could see to Sam.

“But Grandma, I didn’t hurt Mamma.” Tucker watched as the older being glared at the child. He didn’t know the relationship, but the child sat down and shut up.

“Sit!” This time, the other woman moved toward the center of the room. Tucker was impressed. Pissed, but also impressed at the way they seemed to handle this skirmish as if it were nothing at all.

“Now, Sara, love, are you all right? No, don’t try to hurt Sam.” She pressed Sara’s hand back to her side. “Listen to me. She didn’t hurt you—well, not as bad as she could have. Could she, Lizzy? And don’t you dare lie to me.”

“Now, that is…” Tucker watched as the big master moved to stand in front of the little girl. His eyes had turned and his fangs were deep and long. Tucker pulled Sam into his arms and held her to his chest. He would protect her at all costs.

“Listen to me, Aaron. That poor girl over there, Sam, I believe, only hit Sara with half of what Lizzy has been hitting her with for, well, I would say for several days now.” The woman holding Sara’s hand glared at the child. “How long, Lizzy?”

“She wouldn’t let me in. I couldn’t break her door down, so I kept trying harder and harder.” Lizzy dropped her head down and quietly said, “Since I met her last week.”