Her Secret
Authors: Tara Fox Hall
Tags: #romance, #vampire, #erotica, #paranormal romance, #fantasy, #werewolf, #shapeshifter, #love triangle, #shifter, #sar, #devlin, #werecougar, #danial, #promise me, #sarelle, #tara fox hall, #promise me series
Promise Me #5
by Tara Fox
Hall
Published by
Melange Books,
LLC
White Bear Lake, MN
55110
Her Secret, Copyright 2013
by Tara Fox Hall
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you for respecting the hard work of the author.
ISBN:
978-1-61235-759-1
Names, characters, and
incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the
publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Published in the United
States of America.
Cover Design by Caroline
Andrus
HER SECRET
by Tara Fox
Hall
In a desperate effort to halt her
transformation to vampire, and stop her longing for the sultry
Devlin, Sarelle willingly takes a drug to kill her desire, even as
Danial prepares for the introduction of their son Theoron at a
Vampire Gathering on New Year’s Eve. Faced with Theo’s betrayal at
the eleventh hour, Sarelle must either trust in Danial to save her,
or join forces with Devlin, revealing her secret desire for
him.
Dedicated to everyone
reading this who have never before had a book dedicated to them.
This one’s for you.
Table of
Contents
Chapter
One
“
Get moving!” I said
anxiously over my shoulder. “We have to hurry today.”
My white German Shepherd, Ghost, looked over
at me, then buried his head back in the high grass, searching
eagerly for mice with Darkness, my black German Shepherd. I walked
off without him, striding fast. My feet tangled in the tall
pasture, slowing my passage and making me curse. Darkness bounded
up beside me before I’d gone ten strides. Ghost followed, eager not
to be left behind.
It was a beautiful October day, about fifty
degrees or so. Despite the dark sky, the winter sun was out, its
weak warmth barely registering. Yet I closed my eyes and basked in
it anyway, thinking sadly of Danial. He would never feel the sun on
his skin again.
Danial was vampire. I’d met him a little more
than three years ago. From the moment he’d entered my world,
everything had changed.
We’d had our ups and downs, especially when
I’d chosen his best friend Theo over him. But when Theo was taken
right after we’d become engaged and my world had collapsed, it was
Danial who’d seen me through, and helped me raise Theo’s daughter,
Elle. We’d also had a child of our own, a son named Theoron.
Despite we weren’t together now, I still wore Danial’s fang marks
on one side of my throat, and the choker he’d given me with his
symbol of the golden fox head around my neck, its twin ruby eyes
twinkling. Most of my reasoning was security. I’d been hunted by
one vampire or another the last few years. Manir, the vampire who’d
attacked Danial’s home a month ago in an effort to kidnap Theoron
and me, was still at large.
Manir wasn’t what had me upset today. I was
worried about seeing Danial and spending the night with him,
wondering how my husband Theo was going to take it.
Theo had survived his overseas capture and
torture, which had lasted more than a year. I’d discovered him
living in Wyoming six months ago in a tumultuous relationship with
a werecougar, one of his own species. We’d married soon after, and
he’d returned to New York with me, going back into business with
Danial. But what had seemed so simple had quickly become a mess of
epic proportions.
Elle had a hard time accepting Theo’s return.
Danial was her dad as far as she was concerned, and she didn’t want
another. Theo and she had grown closer in the months that he’d been
back, but she still favored Danial.
Theoron had remained with Danial when Theo
and I moved back into my old house. I could hold my son now, and he
no longer tried to bite me for my blood, but he was still aging
much quicker than a human child, faster even than Elle was as a
werecougar. He was the only dhamphir known to exist. Vampires were
sterile by nature. Though a potion existed that had been formulated
to let male ones become fertile, it almost never resulted in a
pregnancy, and had never before worked well enough to produce a
child. Because of Danial’s success with me, many vampires were now
very interested in our baby and me.
One of those was Devlin, Danial’s brother.
When he’d saved me from an evil gangster a month ago, sustaining
wounds I’d given him blood to heal, he’d turned on me, seducing me
with the threat of force. Sometime in that day we’d spent in
pleasure, he’d fallen in love, or so he swore. He was in South
America now, waiting for me to join him wearing the choker he’d
sent me. But I wasn’t going, even though the thought of him still
weakened me with desire.
Aside from the fact it was morally wrong, I
couldn’t risk it. I’d developed symptoms of turning in the last
month, either from the years with Danial, the intense lovemaking
with Devlin, or some mix of the two. What that meant was I’d become
afflicted with wantonness as soon as I was around a vampire, my
body’s only thought on how to finish the turning process. Worse,
any vampire capable of turning me was also drawn to me in this
state. A week ago that had become apparent, when uncontrollable
desire struck Danial and I, compelling us not only to have sex but
exchange blood.
Afraid, we’d consulted Terian, Danial’s
half-demon sorcerer. He’d suggested weekly sessions for me with
Danial, and round the clock guards, so I’d not be able to find any
unscrupulous vampires to bed or give my blood to. Danial himself
would sate my desires with sex while making sure not to exchange
any blood or bodily fluids with me. Supposedly, I’d change back
fully to human when enough time had passed, though the actual time
span wasn’t known for certain.
Theo wasn’t happy about this at all, but I’d
told him I was going ahead with it. Tonight he was going to give me
his answer on whether he was going to stay with me, or wanted a
separation. I wasn’t worried, upsetting as that option was to me.
Danial had already asked me to stay with him if Theo left. We’d
gotten through something similar years ago when I was pregnant, and
I had faith in him...
I put my foot squarely in a mud puddle.
Swearing under my breath, I yelled again for the dogs. “Hurry up,
guys!” They bounded up beside me, and then passed by, trotting
alertly down the woodland path. I followed them, trying to let the
peacefulness of my surroundings calm me down.
The forest was serenely beautiful. The last
leaves had fallen in a huge rainstorm last night, and the cloudy
sky could be seen through their bare branches. Instantly the blue
reminded me of Theo’s eyes. I let out a sigh.
Asking my husband for permission to bed his
best friend made me ashamed, no matter the reason was logical. But
what worried me most was that this crisis I was going through would
drive Theo back into the arms of Aspen, the woman I’d found him
with in Wyoming. My only relief was in knowing that the other woman
he loved named Tasha was already the wife of someone else, and with
the way he’d left things with Aspen, she was unlikely to ever take
him back.
Ghost came running up. He was carrying a
soggy mouse nest in his mouth. “Drop it,” I said and kept walking.
He promptly did, then picked it up again when he thought I wasn’t
looking. I smiled, despite myself, then the smile dropped from my
face. I was home.
Resolute, I crossed the yard and walked up
the steps. Theo was there waiting for me, his expression serious.
“Can you come inside?” he said.
“Sure,” I said uneasily, and followed him in.
I gave the dogs each a Cheweez, and then sat beside him on the
couch, tense as a spring.
“Sarelle—” Theo began.
He was using my whole name, not my nickname.
This was probably going to be bad. I steeled myself.
“I thought a lot about this, and I don’t want
to share you. When we first got together, I told you I only had one
condition, that you be only with me.” He took a breath and let it
out. “But I understand this isn’t you wanting him, not the real
you, anyway. This is something you don’t have any control over.
Most of all, I get that unless I say yes, it’s going to be the end
of us.”
I wanted to sigh with relief, but didn’t dare
say anything yet.
“You’d go back to Danial if I said I couldn’t
handle this, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” I said uneasily. “I can’t stop what’s
happening to me. He’s the only vampire I know I can trust.”
“Strange you don’t include Devlin in that,
since he saved you,” Theo replied, curious. “But then I still don’t
really trust him either, no matter how good he’s acted lately.”
“I don’t trust him,” I said, carefully
keeping my voice very neutral. “Besides, he’s in another country.”
Thank God.
Theo nodded. “I’ll take care of the dogs
while you’re gone Saturday nights.” He reached out and grabbed my
hand. “But I have some conditions, Sar, that I want you to abide
by.”
I nodded. “Go on.”
“The vampire virus evolved with the side
effect you’re going through now to ensure humans who are partly
turned don’t stay that way, that they become full vampires. I know
Danial agreed not to take your blood, or have unprotected sex. But
if his resolve fails, I want you to tell me immediately. I don’t
want you to become vampire, or get any closer to turning.”
“Neither do I. What else?”
“I want you to go to Dr. Camlyn at least
every other week to keep track of the virus in your system. If it
increases at all, you two are to stop seeing each other. And when
you are fully back to human, I want you to stop spending Saturday
nights with him.”
I nodded again. “That’s the plan, and he
knows that, too.”
Theo squeezed my hand. “If you become
pregnant with our child, Sar, I won’t let you go to him like this,
no matter if you’re still partly turned. I don’t care if it’s safe
or not.”
Birthing Theoron had hurt me inside, but
being partly turned, I was healing slowly with the help of the
vampire virus. It was my dearest hope that the virus wouldn’t
finish the process before I’d gone back to human, because I’d
decided I didn’t want any more children, no matter that Theo did.
“I’m on the pill,” I said quickly. “Besides, Dr. Camlyn told me
it’s not possible yet.”
“I know that,” Theo said, nodding. “But
there’s always a possibility.”
There wasn’t, but I nodded anyway. “Anything
else?”
“Yes,” Theo said. “I don’t want you being
intimate with him at his house when I’m around. You can stay over
on the Fridays that you work for the night, or on Saturday nights,
and have one of the other bodyguards drive you back the following
morning. Also, I need to know how often you’re going to be gone. I
don’t know what you’ve planned with Danial, if you’re going once
every two weeks, or once a week. I care more that you’re honest, so
don’t say it’ll be less if you’re going to need more.”