DarkHunger
Kayla Louis has never believed in love at first sight. But from the moment she lays eyes on a dark, handsome stranger in a club named Diamond, she instantly falls for him. From the moment Kayla meets Ian, her life changes quickly. If she learns of his dark secret, she will never accept what he is.
Ian Delancy has always thought that mates were made, not born, but from the moment Kayla walks into his life, he knows that she is to be by his side for all eternity.
Ian quickly learns that he has to save Kayla, not only from himself, but also from a pack of wolves whose main goal is to take away his mate before he has gotten a chance to know her.
Will Kayla accept who Ian is, or will she turn on him and become the one thing he despises most, a werewolf.
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Dark Hunger
Copyright © 2012 Aminta Reily
ISBN: 978-1-77111-135-5
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Dark Hunger
Night Hunters
By
Aminta Reily
Chapter One
Ian Delancy placed the coffee cup on the table and leaned back on the couch, reading the daily news from his new iPad. As he read an article about the new devices of the century, he marveled how times had changed over the millennia. Instead of having to rush out to purchase newspapers, books, and magazines from the corner stands, you could stay home and download them onto almost any electronic device. New technology was a magnificent upgrade from his time, when he didn’t have electricity or running water. When he turned eleven, his father took him out to hunt for their supper. They didn’t have fully loaded grocery stores that provided all their necessities. If you didn’t go out and hunt for your meals, you starved.
Using his finger to turn the page on the device, he thought how he’d debated with his girlfriend when she brought him the iPad for Christmas. He’d told her he didn’t need some portable device to read his paper. He wanted his regular newspaper where the ink smeared his fingertips as he turned the page. He didn’t want to join the technical world that Meagan and the entire human population seemed to be working towards. He liked the way the world was. However, whether he liked it or not, times were changing. Things such as electronic newspapers and digital music were taking over the world, and he could either become accustomed to revolution or let the world pass him by.
Ian could accept those simple changes with ease. He sighed, knowing there were other changes he didn’t want to accept but had no choice about.
Over the past three years, he’d accepted the changes of the world and the new technology, but he couldn’t accept the recent change in his relationship, which had gone from sizzling and intimate to bitter and dreary. Not that Meagan had told him personally their sex life had no sizzle. She seemed to enjoy when they were together sexually more than he did. He couldn’t understand. If she enjoyed it, why did she sleep with human males every chance she could? He didn’t need words to show him she didn’t want to be with him, her actions did.
Seventy years of being together with one person could become tedious. Nevertheless, he wanted to do whatever it took to make their relationship last. He wanted to be like his mother and father and have a long lasting relationship.
His parents loved each other, and they would do anything and everything to make each other happy. In all his life, he never knew of any others who expressed their love as strongly as his parents did.
To have a loving relationship, both he and Meagan would have to change to make it work. Meagan would have to stop having sex with every human male she could manipulate him. They would have to talk to each other and be honest about what they thought had come between them. Once they figured out where the fire had died, they could work on ways to rekindle it.
Talking sounded like a plan, but last month when he’d tried to get Meagan to talk about their problems, she only laughed at the thought of them having that discussion. She quickly told him that some needs were not being met by him. She believed she needed more in life than just a one-on-one relationship. If she felt that he could not satisfy all her sexual needs, why wouldn’t she agree to break up?
He loved her. At one point he’d loved her with all his heart and would have given her the moon if he could snatch if from the sky. Now, he had to accept that she would take other lovers into her life.
Meagan wanted to have her cake and eat it, too. She told him she couldn’t live without him in her life. She only needed to scratch an itch that he couldn’t reach sometimes.
An itch? Yeah, right.
He didn’t accept being treated like nothing, but he would let her fulfill whatever needs she needed fulfilled. Once she figured out how much he loved her and learned no one else could love her or treat her the way he could, she would come back to him. Until then, he had to just wait and date others. Well, sort of date others.
Why sort of? When he decided to go on a date with one of his friend’s coworkers, Meagan didn’t want him showing other women any sort of affection. Talk about a one-sided relationship. Not that Meagan showed her anger openly, knowing he would throw how many men she had fucked in her face, but the wave of anger flowed from her like a river.
Ian could not prove that Meagan had done anything wrong, but he was certain she had scared the young woman because the next night, she wouldn’t return his calls. After two days of trying to contact her, he received a text stating she didn’t want to see him again. Ever! Why would someone send a text like that when they expressed how much fun they had with you and how much they couldn’t wait for the next time they met? Then, the next day, they didn’t want anything to do with you. He knew it had to be Meagan who’d scared her and nothing would change that thought.
Ian sighed. Not reading the paper any longer, he thought about how a vampire’s life could go from being an alpha male to waiting at home and reading a newspaper while his girlfriend was out screwing someone. How could he have let his life become so pathetic?
He’d thought kicking Megan out a year ago would change her and let her see that her ways were ruining their relationship. She’d moved a flight up in their apartment complex, and now her infidelity had become worse. Now she didn’t have to go out and meet the men, as she gladly brought them to her apartment for their meetings.
Meagan didn’t care about who she brought to the apartment, but he did. If he wanted to bring a female companion back for a little one on one, it would be almost impossible to enjoy himself, knowing Meagan could interrupt him at any moment. She often made it known to him that she would come in any time she wanted by barging in unannounced.
Ian’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket only seconds before the music began playing. He placed his iPad on the coffee table, pulled out his cell phone, and saw Logan Delancy’s name, his younger brother from Florida, flashing on the screen.
He pondered for a moment, wondering if he should answer it. Logan only called when he needed something. Logan was the slacker in the family. He didn’t believe in working hard. He wanted everything to be handed to him on a silver platter. Unlike their parents who owned several casinos in Vegas, or Ian, who ran a couple of businesses of his own, Logan sat on his ass doing nothing.
Ian also worked part time for the Night Hunters, which had given him enough money to invest millions in the stock market fifty years ago. He had made more than he could count since that time, so his brother thought of Ian as his personal piggy bank.
Ian knew that even if he hadn’t owned the businesses, he could work for the Night Hunters full time and get paid a hefty salary for going out and protecting humans. Logan refused to work for the Night Hunters, stating that he would never work for anyone. Instead of using what money he had made on good investments, he opened a farm, breeding animals in Florida. Not that Ian had anything against raising animals. The fact that Logan wasn’t making the profit that he wanted made him have to ask for money every so many years.
“Hello,” Ian answered on the forth ring.
“Big brother, how are you doing?”
That wasn’t a good sign. Any time Logan started his sentences with
big brother
, he wanted something or wanted him to do something that Logan knew Ian didn’t want to do. “What is it, and how much will it cost me?”
Logan’s laughter blasted through the speaker.
Ian looked up as Meagan walked into his apartment, not bothering to knock as he kindly did before entering her place. She smiled and waved at him, then flopped down on the couch beside him.
“I need for you to come to Jackson Blue Spring, Ian.”
Ian had almost missed what Logan was saying as Meagan’s stench of sexual release filled his nostrils. Why did she come here after her escapades instead of going home and showering? She knew how sensitive he was to scents, and he could still smell the sex on her even days later. She could at least try to wash some of the scent off her, so it wouldn’t be so strong.
“Who are you talking to?” Meagan finally asked.
Ian didn’t notice that he had been staring at Meagan until he blinked a couple of times. Anger flared and flowed through his body. He clenched his teeth at the itch of his fangs aching to emerge. It took all of his willpower to keep them submerged. Why did he put up with her bullshit? He only had to tell her to leave, and she would have no choice but to go. He would be happier if he did tell her to get out of his life.
“I’m talking to my brother, Meagan,” he snapped.
“Whom you are ignoring!” Logan growled in his ear.
“I’m not ignoring you, brother. I heard what you asked me to do. I’m just wondering why you are asking me to come to Florida.”
“Well, Ian, since I opened up
Diamond
a couple of months ago, there have been a lot of killings of humans in this area. The police are covering it up due to it being a peaceful area and not wanting to cause panic, but I think that werewolves are doing the killing.”
“I hate to hear of the killings, Logan, but why not get Nicholas or Kyle to help find out who is doing the killing? They are in the area. Why call me?”
“To tell you the truth, Kyle was the one who told me to contact you. They are indisposed at the moment.”
“In other words, they are out of town with random women, fucking, and now that the area is not secured, they want an outsider to come in and fix what they don’t want to deal with.”
There was a long pause from Logan before he responded, “Pretty much.”
Ian would never leave any human in danger by leaving his area. Kyle and Nicholas were being irresponsible. They would rather party instead of taking care of the humans they were supposed to be protecting.
He let out a long breath. He knew that he would be just as irresponsible if he didn’t go help his brother. He didn’t want to go, but he needed to think of a good reason other than telling Logan that there were others much closer who could help him.
As Ian thought of ways to get out of going to Florida, he turned his attention to the woman sitting next to him. As he looked at her, his heart beat faster, and his temperature rose. If possible, he knew his heart would burst from the hurt and pain he experienced when he looked at her, unlike before, when Meagan was around and this butterfly feeling would start in the pit of his stomach. At one point in his life, she made his heart swell with joy when she came around. Now, she only made him sick to the stomach at the thought of even being with her.
He didn’t know how long it had been, but he was sure it’d been over three months since they had fucked, which suited him just fine. Not that he had a high sexual urge to be with her or any woman to be exact. Oh, he used to want to make love to Meagan every moment of the day. He wanted to spend every waking moment with her. Yet, after the years of being hurt, this woman had sucked his life source out of him, and now he was pathetic.
Turning away, he decided that he wanted to get away from her, and to be free from her infidelity and the pain she caused. Maybe this could be a little vacation for him to get his thoughts together to make sure he wanted to make it work with her.