Authors: AJ Jarrett
“Oh, my sweet, don’t look like that.” The man pouted. “I don’t want to harm you. No, I just want to own you.”
The man’s voice was evil incarnate. He personified all of Miles’s childhood monsters come to life. Malcolm meant to do Miles harm, and the man’s bright smile did nothing to ease his fear. Miles ran his eyes over the parts he could see of Malcolm and had to swallow down his urge to throw up. The man looked powerful and in control, two things Miles wasn’t.
By all appearances, Malcolm looked like any businessman who worked in the city. He wore a tailored suit, and by the expanse of his shoulders, he hid quite a few muscles under the jacket. And his hands,
dear god
, they could engulf Miles’s entire face and crush him with one quick squeeze if he reached out to grab him. But what made Malcolm look out of the ordinary was his eyes. They were black as coal. The iris held no color that Miles could see. The blackness stood out in stark contrast to his pale skin.
Malcolm cleared his throat, and Miles looked up at him. He took his massive hand and ran it over the top of his shaved head. Miles could hear the scraping sounds of the new hair growth against Malcolm’s hand, and the combined sounds brought him back to what Malcolm had just said.
Own him? What had he meant by that? The man suffered from some severe delusions if he thought that would ever happen. He would rather die than become this man’s plaything.
“Think again, pal. You will never own me. Ben would never let that happen,” Miles whispered. He gathered what courage he had. He needed to stall Malcolm and get a hold of Ben somehow.
Dropping his hand to his side, he slid his cell out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. He glanced down and pulled up Ben’s number then hit
send
. Ben would hear what was going on and come to him. That much he could count on.
“If that were true, he would be here now. Wouldn’t he, Miles?”
Malcolm tapped his fingers on the tabletop. The clicking sound his nails made caused Miles’s pulse to race. He looked Malcolm in the eye, doing his best not to show fear, but failed miserably. Miles looked down at his phone. He couldn’t tell if Ben had picked up the other end, but he could see the call was still connected. It gave him hope Ben was listening and headed his way.
“Ben’s not my keeper. I can take care of myself. So why don’t you go fuck yourself and die.” Miles’s courage came from the anger he felt toward this Malcolm character. He wasn’t for sure what Malcolm would do with him, but it couldn’t be good.
“You sure do have a mouth on you, don’t you? That is something I will just have to beat out of you, now won’t I?”
Miles tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. The calm tone Malcolm talked in scared him even more. Malcolm didn’t seem to be afraid of Ben or of being caught. That didn’t bode well for threatening the man. Either Malcolm knew things Miles wasn’t aware of, or Malcolm was completely insane.
“You can’t have me,” Miles mumbled as Malcolm leaned forward.
“You see, you don’t have a choice, Miles. You’re my mate, and that means you belong to me.”
Miles jerked back as Malcolm grabbed his wrist. The need to run away bubbled up inside him until a strong hand touched his shoulder. Calmness rained over his body, and he instantly knew his savior had come to rescue him, Ben.
“Let go of my mate, or so help me god, I will end you right here, Malcolm.”
“Your mate?” Malcolm laughed bitterly. “That just made this more interesting now didn’t it? I guess I will have to mate the little insect sooner than I planned to guarantee you can’t have him.”
“What?” Miles squeaked out. What did Malcolm mean when he said “have to mate” with him? He couldn’t possibly mate Miles against his will. Could he?
“Oh, Miles, Ben hasn’t told you anything, has he? So young and human, makes a very stupid combination. You’re barely worth the air you breathe.”
“Shut up, Malcolm,” Ben snapped.
“See, my sweet, your big protector failed to explain the ways of our people. To become mates, I don’t have to make you a vampire, and I don’t need your approval to mate you.”
“That’s not true, and you know it, Malcolm. You need him to say he wants and accepts you as his own,” Ben gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Oh, you fool. There are ways around that.” Malcolm looked to Miles, causing him to squirm in his seat. “See, my dear boy, I have no intentions of turning you ever. Making you vampire would make us equals and make no mistake we are not. We may be fated mates but you are beneath me.”
Miles just stared at Malcolm. Not that he wanted to be wanted by Malcolm, but he made this mating between them sound so impersonal and cold. Why bother if he felt Miles not worthy of his companionship? He just didn’t understand what Malcolm got out of being mated to him.
Ben cursed silently under his breath.
“Oh, look how cute he is when he’s confused.”
“Shut the fuck up, Malcolm.”
Malcolm turned his gaze on Ben, and Miles was thankful for the reprieve of that evil stare.
“You haven’t told him of our ways. That makes you a fool, warrior.” Malcolm made a tsking sound. “See, Miles, being a mated paranormal comes with great power. I’ll become strong and harder to kill. Plus, the added bonus of us being mated will infuriate Ben. Because, my dear boy, when I mate with you, Ben can’t have you unless I die. It’s our laws that you can’t interfere with another’s mate unless the bond is severed by death. And let’s be honest here, Ben hasn’t been able to capture me in the past five hundred years. I really don’t think he will find you once I take you. But on the off chance he does, you will be my mate, and there’s nothing he can do about it.”
Miles smacked his hand down on the table. He was so pissed at the gall of this man. “I won’t allow it. I will never accept you as my mate. Never.”
“Silly boy, I don’t need you to actually feel anything for me to make you agree to the mating.” Malcolm leaned forward toward Miles and whispered, “That’s the joy of being evil.”
“You Warriors of the Dark have no scruples. You all need to be exterminated like cockroaches.”
“Oh, Ben, don’t categorize me into that ‘Warriors of the Dark’ nonsense. I fight for no cause but my own. Fuck the dark side. I don’t need their backing to outwit you.”
Before Ben could come back with a retort, Malcolm stood up. Miles watched as he straightened his jacket. The man looked out of place in his Armani suit among the casually dressed occupants in the library.
“I hate to have to run, but duty calls.” He turned toward Miles. “Miles, my sweet, I will be seeing you soon.” He saluted Ben, and then strode off to the exit.
“Why did you leave your apartment? I told you to wait for me.”
Miles flinched at Ben’s harsh tone. “You weren’t there, and I needed to leave, and Trevor said that Quinn told him if he had to leave to take a friend with him. Safety in numbers.”
“You’re not Trevor, and I’m sure as shit not Quinn. I told you to stay put.”
Okay, he fucked up, but he didn’t need to sit here and be belittled by Ben. He snapped. “If you would have kept your word and been back at eight, I wouldn’t have left with a friend. You weren’t there, and I needed to study. I can’t fail this test.”
“What good is a college degree if you’re dead, or worse, held against your will for all eternity?”
Miles had heard enough. He grabbed his books and stuffed them into his backpack. “I’m sorry, Ben, but my world can’t stop just because vampires fall out of the sky around me. I’ve worked too hard to give up now.”
Ben stood up and grabbed his hand. “Miles, I’m sorry for snapping at you and not being there when I said I would. I know how hard you worked for this, but it drives me insane to think of Malcolm snatching you away from me. I would die without you.”
The anger in his body deflated at Ben’s words. He was scared, but so was Ben, and after meeting Malcolm there was good reason to be. Miles reached out his hand and gently stroked Ben’s stubbled cheek.
“I feel the same way.” He let Ben pull him into a tight embrace. Miles pulled back to look up at Ben. “What happened to you? Why were you not back when you said you would be?”
* * * *
Ben gazed down into Miles’s brown eyes, debating whether to tell him the truth of why he had been late. Maybe if Miles knew the dangers, he would listen when Ben told him to stay put.
“One of my men has gone missing, and we can’t locate him.” Ben watched as Miles’s skin paled. “See why I wanted you to wait for me?”
Miles gave a shaky nod. Ben slipped his arm around Miles’s shoulders and walked him toward the door.
“Did Malcolm take the man who’s missing?”
“I’m not for certain, but I don’t think so. Malcolm would have bragged about the capture or killed Sayer and sent him to me piece by piece.” Ben shook his head. “No, Sayer’s disappearance reeks of another.” Ben started walking Miles toward the main entrance of the library. “Do you just have the one class today, Miles?”
“Yes, just this one,” Miles whispered.
“Okay, I will take you to it, and then afterward I will discuss everything with you.” Ben hated to have to explain to Miles there were more evil jerks in the world just like Malcolm, but he had no choice.
“Thank you, Ben.”
Chapter Five
After Miles’s class, Ben took him back to his apartment to pack a few items. He would be staying with Ben over the weekend. Ben even got Miles to call in sick to work. It would be harder to protect Miles in a crowded restaurant, and Ben didn’t need any extra dead bodies on his conscience if Malcolm happened to attack at Miles’s work.
On the drive to his house, Ben thought of the best way to explain things to Miles in a way that wouldn’t cause him to totally break down. Being mated and becoming a vampire were two completely different things entirely, and he didn’t make that 100 percent clear to Miles before. Being mated was the love bond between two individuals, and if the human chose not to become a vampire, they would just need to have a monthly dose of their mate’s blood to stay alive and youthful. Not a lot of people practiced this method. It was just easier to become a vampire and become stronger and faster. But some people had an aversion to drinking blood. Blood was an acquired taste not everyone enjoyed.
Miles would be given a choice to be mated or to be mated and become vampire like Ben. Ben knew what he wanted Miles’s decision to be, but he couldn’t make that call for his mate. There were benefits that came with being mated and even more so if you were a mated paranormal.
For a paranormal, they became stronger and faster than before, nearly indestructible. They could still die, but it would take a whole lot of work to keep them dead. If the human chose against turning, it wasn’t the end of the world, but they became a liability. If the enemy knew of a human mate, all they had to do was off the human to weaken the vampire or shifter the human had been mated to, and killing the paranormal would be as easy as blowing out a candle.
Love and life are tied together in the paranormal world. Both affect one another in positive and negative ways. The checks and balances of good versus evil were always at play in their world.
Ben often wondered if the witches knew karma would grant their victims a reprieve from their toxic magic. If they did, it must not bother them too much since they still spread their havoc all over the world on unsuspecting humans.
Without even realizing they had reached his home, Ben pulled his vehicle into the driveway and turned the car off.
“This is where you live?”
Ben looked over to see Miles with his face plastered against the window looking at the quiet, comfortable home he shared with his fellow warriors while staying in this part of the country.
“Yep, this is home.” He parked and climbed out of his truck. The need to get Miles inside and out of sight was his number-one priority. After the encounter with Malcolm, all bets were off on letting Miles have free rein to roam as he pleased. Until Malcolm was either captured or killed, Miles was at risk.