The Protectors: The Blood Bar Chronicles, Book 2 Read online

  The Blood Bar Chronicles

  Part Two: The Protector’s

  Breathless Press

  Calgary, Alberta

  www.breathlesspress.com

  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, locales, organizations, or

  persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Blood Bar Chronicles

  Copyright© 2012 Breathless Press

  ISBN: 978-1-77101-812-8

  Cover Artist: Victoria Miller

  Editor: James Darcy

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations

  embodied in reviews.

  Breathless Press

  www.breathlesspress.com

  CONTENTS

  BREAKING THE SURFACE

  CHELLIE EDWARDS

  TO STOP A WAR

  RAVEN MCALLAN

  PROTECTING HIS OWN

  XANDRA JAMES

  DESPERATE DESIRES

  SASHA MAY

  Breaking the Surface

  Chellie Edwards

  For my ever suffering husband and sounding board, Mark, my best friends Sarah, Jazz, and Jo, and the incomparable company of my UCW girlies, without whom none of this would be possible, and my mind would still be relatively innocent!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Arielle had laughed when the members of the writing group suggested they have their next meeting in Edinburgh. “This new paranormal culture shift has a lot to answer for, if you ask me, but go on, then. I’m in. Though if I become some victim of a creature of the night, then I swear I will make it my death’s work to come and get revenge on all of you.”

  Through the rain-drenched streets, those words echoed through her mind as she wandered alone around the twists and turns of the ancient roads until she finally reached the neon lights that announced she had reached her destination.

  “Are you serious? The Blood Bar!”

  Inside, she was immediately impressed by the standard of the décor. Yes, it could be claimed that the color scheme was direct from a tart’s boudoir, but the furniture and fittings were all high-class, and she mentally tried to work out exactly how much disposable income would be wasted in the course of the night on a few cocktails and bottles of wine. Shaking the raindrops off her long chestnut-brown hair, she started to look for other members of the group. Spotting Kyla at a table that had been reserved for them all, she waved to get her attention as she crossed the floor to join her friend.

  “Hey, Arielle. Good to see you.” Kyla welcomed her by giving a hug after she had removed her coat.

  “Girl, what a day from hell! Hold on, I’m dying for a drink,” Arielle said, dropping her bag on top of her coat and heading to the bar.

  As she ordered another bottle of wine, Arielle flirted with the good-looking barman. She tossed her hair, leaned forward a little more than necessary, and when he began to smile back at her, she couldn’t deny that she liked having male attention. It had taken a lot to build her self- confidence, and now that she had learned how to use her body to her advantage, she wasn’t afraid to play up to the men who surrounded her.

  “Wow, there’s a few hotties in here tonight. They must have heard we were coming.” Arielle grinned, batting her eyes at a tall, dark man, who passed the table. She laughed at the devilish smile he returned before continuing over to a group of men on the other side of the bar. Kyla and Arielle chatted for a few minutes. They missed Ana’s arrival at first because she walked straight to the bar. Ana was another of their group. When Arielle saw the other woman, she went to bring her back to the table, which was starting to fill with all the members who were filtering in from the dark winter’s night.

  “Do we have a plan for tonight?” one of them asked.

  Arielle and Kyla exchanged blank looks until Arielle shook her head. “Nope! Do we need one?”

  “It’s chatting, drinking—and with Arielle’s luck—pulling fit blokes,” Kyla said, causing Ana to choke on her water.

  “Come on, I’ll get the next bottle of wine in. God knows we’ll get through plenty of them tonight.” Another of the group said.

  Arielle nodded in agreement.

  “I have a feeling that this is going to be a night for the ages, and I say bring it on!” She grinned at the notion of what the next few hours could bring and hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed.

  ***

  The clock was ticking. Every second was precious, and as he wandered the street that led up to the Blood Bar, Malachi de Lothrian hoped it would live up to the promise he had heard it held. It had been so long since the ageless merman walked through the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Part of him was saddened by how unfamiliar the windows were. Shops and department stores were everywhere, all selling things and fashions he didn’t understand, but he didn’t have time to wallow in the slipping of time. He had so much to do. As he took the final turn in the road, he glanced up and saw the bar’s crimson lights and paused for only a moment to ready himself before stepping inside.

  Immediately upon entering, he could see the inevitable interplay of the sexes. From generation to generation, it always remained the same: men attempting to seduce women; women demurely pretending to hide blatant sexual desire beneath a mask of propriety. The pheromones in the air were almost intoxicating, and looking around, he saw the main source. A group of disparate women were gathered together chatting, oblivious to the show they were giving the men around them. A wry smile curled his lips as he considered the potential of luring one or maybe more to give her body and passion to him. Each of the women was attractive and desirable, and each seemed to have selected their clothing as if subconsciously aware that she might not end the night alone.

  Taking another breath of the sweet scent radiating from the table, a different awareness grew in him. All around he could sense the power of others who weren’t mortal. The air was charged with the electricity of their abilities converging in this one place, and Malachi looked about to see which races were present. Vampires and shifters had crossed his path before, and their scents were familiar to him. Dog and shifter smells were almost identical. Vampires’ taste for blood meant that no matter how often they brushed their teeth or used mouthwash in this modern age, the smell of old blood lingered around them, as it did on a shark in the ocean. There were so many different supernatural races gathered that he wondered for a moment if there wasn’t a higher force at work, and the women at the table weren’t sacrificial offerings to tempt the immortals or distract them from something.

  His gaze returned to the table. Those inattentive mortal women were starting to become more noticed by others loitering around them. Malachi knew he didn’t have time to waste on hypothetical threats or potential situations that had nothing to do with him anyway. Seconds were passing by like sands in a glass, and his twenty-four hours were seeping from him too easily. He had to do what he came for before the opportunity was lost.

  Without opening his mouth, the ancient power of the siren song swelled through him and was sent out into the whole bar. It had been so long since he had used his power to entice women to his bed. Yet he saw the ladies at the table start to succumb to the waves of warmth, seduction, and deep passion he sent through the air, and he knew that even the most stifled maiden among them would be helpless to resist.

  ***

 
“Can you believe that guy?” Arielle asked as Dizzy left to go clean herself up after a drink had been spilled over her; the man responsible simply slinked away from their table. Arielle turned back to her friends and was stunned to see them writhing in their seats, a telltale blush rising in their cheeks.

  “Kyla? Ana? What’s up with you lot?” she asked. “He wasn’t that good-looking, you know.” Beside her she heard a soft moan from another girl, and she gasped, nearly dropping her drink as she realized they were all building themselves up to an orgasm.

  Concerned that perhaps their drinks had been spiked, she picked up a couple of the glasses and gave them a sniff, then peered at the bottom for any telltale granules that might be lurking there. Taking a slow glance around the bar, she started to become aware that the men nearby were all starting to look at the table as if they were tasty morsels on some sexual buffet. Not that her friends seemed to mind as they began to rub their breasts or bite their lips in a futile attempt to resist the feelings that were overpowering their senses. Arielle didn’t have time to think of a reason why she alone at the table seemed unaffected by whatever it was that was taking over her friends, as her eyes tried to search out any other explanation of what was going on. Finally her gaze came to rest on a man standing on the other side of the room. He was tall. Sandy-colored waves of hair hung around his face and rested on his broad shoulders, and he was clearly one of the most muscular men present that night. In other circumstances she might have been brazen enough to go over and introduce herself. He had the look of someone out of the romance novels she’d read as a teenager. Before she could make any move on him, though, she was shocked to see three men suddenly grab his throat and force him backward against the counter. Three very angry looking men.

  ***

  Malachi felt the three supes approach before they touched him, and had offered no resistance as they shoved his spine back into the hard wood of the bar. It was almost amusing to see the usually calm vampire, time traveller and shifter look so perturbed.

  “Reverse the siren,”” the vampire, who he recognized as Henri Gillaume, demanded. There was no love lost between them, since the bloodsucker had killed his father centuries ago.

  It brought a kind of satisfaction for Malachi to say,

  “I cannot.”

  Xander de Rista, one of the most notable alphas in the shifter world, stepped to his side, and Malachi wondered why he was playing lapdog to the vampire tonight.

  “Morceau de merde!” Henri uttered at Malachi’s response.

  “I would listen to him if I were you. He has a passion for ripping throats out.” David Malm smiled at the merman. Malachi wanted to scoff at the time traveller. The foolish creature knew nothing compared to true immortals.

  “I’m not afraid of a vampire or werewolf.” He grinned at Henri and Xander.

  “Shifter!” The indignant yell was pulled from Xander before he turned back to Henri. “If we kill him, it will probably reverse. I say we take the chance.” He took a menacing step forward, but Malachi still stood firm. His life was not so easy to take, and he knew that the vampire was more than aware of it.

  “There must be a way,” Henri said, still holding Malachi and looking at the shifter.

  ***

  Arielle had been unable to watch what was happening without stepping in a moment longer. Three on one was totally unfair, and she would be damned if she was going to let a bunch of bullies mess up the face of the one man who had caught her eye.

  “Stop! The man has done nothing wrong,” she said as she rushed over and tried to step between them. It was only as she reached them that she realized how much smaller she was than the men holding the other one down, but she wasn’t going to allow her fear to get in the way of helping out the stranger who clearly needed it.

  ***

  Malachi was as surprised as the others that this mortal woman had dared to come over to them, but what intrigued him more was that her eyes and mind were clear; there was no trace of the siren’s effect upon her. How could that be? He had never failed to make a woman succumb in the past, yet there she was, and she was standing up for him.

  “This is none of your business,” Henri told the woman as David moved to block her view, and Henri began to give in to his true nature to get what he wanted, but Malachi didn’t move a muscle. He had no fear and seemed to almost invite what was about to come.

  “No!”

  The woman’s scream visibly seemed to hurt Xander’s shifter ears as he winced before David lunged for Henri, pushing him off the merman. Malachi heard David say something to Henri that calmed the bloodlust from his eyes, and though Xander wouldn’t understand the sudden awareness in Henri’s eyes, Malachi did. A long time ago things had been another way—a merman’s blood had nearly ended the vampire—and if Henri Fro gave into his desire for blood, Malachi would finish what was unfinished between them.

  As Malachi attempted to leave, Xander moved quicker than he anticipated, resulting in him dropping Malachi to the floor with a well-placed kick to his leg. Looking up at his assailant Malachi could see how Xander’s wolf eyes gleamed, and his claws began to slide out.

  Xander gripped Malachi and demanded once again, “How do we make it stop?”

  Malachi saw the horror in the woman’s eyes at what was happening and heard her bravely facing off with the others on his behalf. She didn’t realize how much danger she was getting herself into by merely being there. Something ins his soul began to feel protective of her. Sighing, Malachi answered Xander, his eyes filled with resignation as he gave away the secret to breaking his spell. “An orgasm. If those the siren affected orgasm, the effect will stop. But only the touch of another being will do it, the one whose heart they belong to. “

  The woman stiffened at his words, and Xander let him fall to the floor before raising an eyebrow at the other men. It was David who smiled at his companions and commented,

  “And who are we to argue?”

  Xander shook his head, and Malachi heard Henri speak softly to David before the man vanished. He then saw Xander cast a look back at him and the woman knelt by his side.

  “There is more than me to worry about,.” Malachi whispered to him. “The time is coming, Xander. I know you feel it tonight too.” He saw the shifter frown, then slowly move aside, leaving him on the floor.

  CHAPTER TWO

  As the men walked away, Arielle turned back to the stranger she had defended, and for the first time really saw his intense sea-green eyes. There was something almost ethereal about him. The steadiness of his breath as his chest rose and fell evenly was almost uncanny for a man who had been on the verge of being choked out by a trio of—albeit well dressed—thugs, and it took a moment before she found her power of speech. “Are you all right?” she asked, kneeling down beside him. “At least they’re gone now. What was that all about? “

  “I am fine,” The sandy haired stranger replied, nodding at her. “Thank you for your concern.” He started to get to his feet and reached out to help her up also. Arielle put her hand in his and instantly felt a strange kind of charge through their palms as their skin touched. The object of her interest then looked over to the table and then back at Arielle. “It was nothing. Just a disagreement that got out of hand. They couldn’t really have done me any harm. It was all posturing. “

  “It didn’t look like posturing to me,” Arielle said with a shake of her head. “That pale guy really looked like he wanted to kill you, and who were the other two? That one who kicked you just goes to prove that money doesn’t give you breeding. He was more like a beast than a man.”

  ***

  An amused smile curled Malachi’s lips as he listened to her appraisal of two of the most well-known alphas in their breeds, and he had to admit it was refreshing to meet someone who needed more to impress her than mere appearance. Deep inside something darker stirred too. He had never met a woman like her before. Not in three centuries had any woman ever shown him the concern this one had, and none had
ever come to his side without being under the spell of the siren. The intrigue of her whole being was like a beacon to his libido. This was the woman he wanted in his bed, and the novel notion of him having to actually seduce her sent his senses into overdrive.

  “I feel guilty that I haven’t introduced myself. I am Malachi de Lothrian, and I am indebted to you for your kindness, Miss…”

  “Arielle,” she said with a gentle smile of her own. “Pleased to meet you, Malachi.”

  “Arielle, like the Little Mermaid?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at the irony of her name.

  “It was my mother’s favorite film as a child. Even the fact that I was brunette wasn’t enough to save me from being cursed with that name, though at least she spelled it differently,” Arielle said, blushing slightly. “You don’t strike me as a man who knows fairy tales.”

  “Oh, I have quite an interest in all kinds of tail.” Malachi smiled, leaving the double entendre there to be picked up as she would. “I like your name. A beautiful woman should always have a name that reflects her beauty, and yours fits perfectly. It also means lioness of God in Hebrew, did you know that? You were definitely a lioness for me tonight.”

  ***

  Seeing the look of lust in Malachi’s eyes, Arielle’s previous facade of bravado slipped slightly as her cheeks reddened. He was handsome and had drawn her attention as soon as she had noticed him, but did she truly dare allow herself to give in to the genuine desire that simmered between them?

  “It looks like your friends have abandoned you,” Malachi noted, breaking into her thoughts, “Perhaps I could repay your kindness to me with a drink?” His words swept over her like waves breaking on the shore. Arielle turned and saw the table where she had been sitting empty. The other girls had all seemed to have vanished into thin air. Slowly she shook her head and turned back to him.