Just a Vampire [tribal Bonds 1]

Tribal Bonds 1
Just a Vampire
JUST A VAMPIRE
Tribal Bonds 1
Stormy Glenn
EROTIC ROMANCE MANLOVE

 

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove

JUST A VAMPIRE
Copyright © 2012 by Stormy Glenn E-book ISBN: 1-61926-375-0

First E-book Publication: February 2012

 

Cover design by Jinger Heaston

 

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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Just a Vampire
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DEDICATION
To my Yahoo! group who helped me come up with the wonderful series name, and to Helen, who won!
JUST A VAMPIRE
Tribal Bonds 1
STORMY GLENN
Copyright © 2012
Chapter 1

Blond hair sufficiently frosted and spiked?
Check.
Black eyeliner expertly applied to bring out the green in my eyes? Check.
Lips plump, shiny, and looking like I could suck a golf ball

through a hundred feet of garden hose?
Check.
See-through T-shirt tight over chest and short enough to show off

my belly button ring?
Check.
Pants low on my hips and hugging my ass so tight I can’t breathe? Check.
Rowan Connelly laughed at himself in the bathroom mirror. He

could breathe but just barely. If he sat down, his close-fitting black leather pants were in serious jeopardy of splitting at the seams and maybe a ball or two would be crushed in the process. But as long as they hung low on his hips and hugged his ass, who gave a crap?

His mama always said that being beautiful came at a price, and if he hoped to get lucky tonight, that price was breathing. Hell, breathing was highly overrated anyway. Sex, now that was the stuff, and unfortunately, it was stuff he was currently lacking in his life. Hopefully, he looked slutty enough to get someone interested and get that taken care of.

He patted his hair one last time then went into his bedroom and retrieved a strip of condoms—yeah, he was overly optimistic—and small tube of lube from his nightstand and pushed them into his front pocket. He pushed his identification into his back pocket along with some cash then headed toward his living room to wait for his ride.

Twenty minutes into pacing back and forth in front of the front window and he was about ready to go on his own. His brother Seth was never good at arriving anywhere on time, but this was ridiculous.

Rowan had a feeling Seth would be late to his own damn funeral. Just when he was ready to pull his hair out from frustration, the phone rang. Rowan jumped toward it. “It’s about damn time,” he snapped, not waiting for anyone to say anything. “I’ve been waiting for—”
“Rowan.”
Crap on a cracker.
Rowan gripped the countertop so tightly that the tips of his fingers started to sting. He could feel the animosity coming through the phone from the simple mention of his name. Rowan drew in a deep breath and braced himself.
“Hello, Carlton.”
“I’ve sent a car for you. I’ll expect you at Briarwood in an hour.”
Rowan drew in another shaky breath. His fingers gripped the countertop even more. “I’m sorry, Carlton. I was under the impression that you had banished me from pack lands. I distinctly remember you telling me never to set foot in Briarwood again.”
“Rowan!”
Rowan held the phone away from his ear when Carlton shouted into the phone. Had the man ever spoken a soft word in his life? Rowan’s head started to throb. He could already feel the headache coming on. He knew for a fact that it would be a migraine by the time he hung up with Carlton.
“I do not have time for your foolishness,” Carlton snapped. “Be ready when the car arrives.”
Rowan’s fingers tightened around the phone. He knew he had to stop letting his former alpha dictate his actions, especially since he had been kicked out of the pack six months ago and had to learn to live on his own with no pack to call his own. It just sucked that his family had suffered the same fate because he refused the alpha’s advances.
“I’m truly sorry, Carlton.”
Right.
Rowan rolled his eyes. Even he didn’t believe that one. “I have other plans tonight. Maybe we can get together for Sunday brunch.”
And maybe they would need snowblowers in hell.
“I don’t give a damn what plans you have, Rowan. You will wait for the car and return to Briarwood.”
Rowan winced as shards of pain hammered into his head at Carlton’s anger. He rubbed his temple until the pain receded then sighed deeply. “No, you never did care about what I wanted, and I can see that has not changed.”
“Enough, Rowan!”
“I have to go, Carlton.” An inexplicably perverse emotion suddenly filled him. “I’m off to the bar to find a big dick to fuck my ass. I can’t say it’s been nice talking to you, but it’s been interesting.” God he wished he was a fly on the wall to see Carlton’s reaction to his crass words.
Rowan could hear the alpha screaming into the phone as he set it back in the cradle. He had no idea what had made him say what he had to the man. Carlton was sure to be pissed beyond reason. Rowan knew there would be repercussions for his words, starting with the migraine he knew was coming. He just didn’t care at the moment.
He had stopped caring six months ago when his alpha kicked him out of the only home he had ever known because he wouldn’t mate with the man. A mating Rowan knew nothing about had been announced at his twenty-fifth birthday party. When Rowan had learned that his mating ceremony to Carlton was planned for the following month, he knew he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
The expression of uncontrollable rage on Carlton’s face when he refused the mating still stuck in his mind. He just didn’t care. No one had asked him if he wanted to be mated to the alpha. Carlton had just announced it like he would accept whatever little crumbs the alpha threw his way.
He might not be as tall or as handsome as his three brothers, but he had
curves in all the right places
as his mother liked to tell him. Curves Rowan was very proud to show off. It sounded rather odd when referenced to a man, but he did have quite the ass. He had gotten his striking blond hair and high cheekbones from his mother along with her small, compact dancer’s body.
There were days that he loved the slim lines and tight muscles on his body and the way his hips swayed when he walked across a room. There were other days when he hated the fact that he had inherited the Nordic good looks of the rest of his family. It often drew all the wrong people—like Alpha Carlton Gregory.
Rowan was so deep in his thoughts over Carlton’s phone call that he jumped when someone pounded on his front door. He bit his bottom lip as he stared at the door, praying it wasn’t one of Carlton’s goons. Telling his former alpha off on the phone was a lot different than escaping the numerous pack enforcers who worked for Carlton. Rowan had tried, and failed, to escape them more than once.
“Ro, damn it, open the fucking door,” a voice shouted from the other side of the door. “We’re going to be late.”
Rowan breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to let his brother in. No one called him
Ro
except Seth, not even his mother. Rowan supposed Seth had a right. They were the closest in age even if Rowan was the runt of the litter.
“Hey,” Rowan said as he opened the door to Seth.
“You ready to go?” Seth asked. “If we’re late, all of the hot guys will already be taken.”
Tonight’s little foray to the Crystal Cavern, the hottest club in town, was to celebrate the end of a long project at work. His brother wanted to help him celebrate. Rowan was just hoping to find someone to take his mind off of his loneliness for a few hours.
Rowan grinned. “Ready, willing, and able.”
Seth snickered. “Aren’t we all?”
The trip to the club Seth had chosen was relatively short. It was only a few of miles away, and traffic was light. Finding a parking spot was something altogether different. The line to get into the exclusive club wrapped all of the way around the corner.
“We’ll never get in,” Rowan whispered as he looked at the long line as they walked down the sidewalk toward the club.
“Sure we will.”
Rowan blinked in surprise when Seth grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the front of the line.
Could they do that?
His eyes nearly bugged right out of his head when the bouncer at the front door just nodded to them and lowered the red rope guarding the entrance to the club.
“Seth,” the guard said as he waved them on in.
“Tiny.” Seth nodded back.
Tiny? Seriously? Wasn’t that a cliché? A tall, muscle-bound guy named Tiny? Well, maybe they were all named Tiny. What did he know?
“How did you arrange to get us in like that?” Rowan asked as he followed Seth into the club and down a long hallway toward loud noise and flashing lights.
“I designed the website for the Crystal Cavern last month. The owner liked it so much he gave me free passes.”
“Damn!” Why hadn’t he known about that?
“Right?” Seth grinned over his shoulder.
Seth owned a small company designing websites and computer software. Seth lived and breathed computers since he was old enough to know what a computer was. Rowan just hadn’t realized that there were so many benefits to creating websites.
“Does he need any more web work? Or his car washed?”
“We can always ask.”
Rowan stumbled to a stop when they reached the end of the hallway and the main room came into view. It was huge. Whoever designed the place had to have been a genius. Every inch of floor space was being used to its fullest potential. And by potential, Roman meant it was filled to capacity with gorgeous, half-naked men.
Damn!
The large room was split into two floors. The main floor had a bar on one side, a dance floor in the middle, and tables surrounding the dance floor. The upper level was a balcony that seemed to be mostly tables except for a DJ booth in the far corner and a see-through platform halfway up that had some little twink in itsy-bitsy booty shorts dancing on it.
Strobe lights flashed over every part of the room, and music blared. Hot bodies were pressed close together on the dance floor, leaving no room between them. And it was a bounty of horny men. Rowan was getting hot just watching the dancers.
“Want to find a table or hit the dance floor?” Seth shouted over the music.
Rowan grinned, already feeling his body start to move to the beat of the music. “Dance floor.”
Rowan wasted no time getting to the dance floor. He loved dancing, moving his body to the beat of the music whether it was real or imagined in his head. He had
the gift
as his mother called it.
Rowan waded into the throng of dancers and started moving his body, swaying his hips back and forth as he raised his hands into the air and let the music sweep him away from all of his worries. He was so caught up in the music, he didn’t even mind when Seth moved away and someone else scooted into his place.
Rowan lived to dance.
When he felt a set of large hands land on his waist and a body press up behind him, Rowan leaned back into his faceless dance partner. The man’s body moved expertly to the music, swaying right along with Rowan’s.
His skin started to tingle when the hands gripping his hips began moving slowly up his bare abdomen like a soft caress. Rowan was surprised when the strong hands didn’t move under his short shirt but instead moved up over it until they reached his arms.
It was only as his arms were pushed up over his head and encouraged to wrap around the man’s neck that Rowan realized exactly how tall the man actually was. Rowan’s fingers didn’t even touch. He could only reach onto the corded muscles of the man’s shoulders.
Rowan almost stopped dancing as shock rolled through him. He tilted his head back and saw a set of dark eyes staring back down at him. There was so much hunger in them that Rowan’s mouth suddenly went dry. Had anyone ever looked at him like that? The desire burning in the man’s eyes was scorching.
Rowan jerked, startled when the man’s knuckles trailed down the side of his face. For such a large man, he had a very gentle touch. That was surprising in someone so large. And he was large. The man’s shoulders were so broad they blocked out the light streaming down from the ceiling.
When an arm was wrapped around his waist and he was suddenly yanked back against the man’s hard body, Rowan groaned in appreciation of the cock pressed against his ass through the man’s pants. The hard length felt just as big as the rest of the man pressed against him.
Rowan knew coming to this club was a damn good idea. He pushed himself as far back as he could go and continued to sway his hips from side to side, grinning in sheer delight when the stranger matched him move for move, showing that even a man as large as he was could dance to the beat of the music like he was born to it.
When the music died down, Rowan started to step away, but the arm around his waist prevented him from moving even an inch away. He glanced back up over his shoulder in confusion. The song was over.
But the next one was just beginning—a slow song meant for lovers. Rowan’s eyes widened when he was suddenly swung around and wrapped in thick muscular arms. He couldn’t bring himself to complain when his ass was grabbed and squeezed. It felt too damn good. He didn’t even complain when those large hands stayed on his ass as he was slowly rocked back and forth.
Rowan’s breath caught in his throat when he glanced up to find dark eyes still staring down at him. Had the man even looked away from him at all? It was intense—and hotter than shit. The strength of the man’s stare made Rowan’s skin tingle. The waves of lust flowing off the guy almost brought Rowan to his knees. He might be able to come just from that.
The air suddenly changed around them, becoming electrified. A pulse of power filled the room. Rowan suddenly felt like he was being hunted. He was prey. And he knew the hunter stood wrapped around him. Rowan didn’t know whether to be excited at the man’s interest or scared out of his freaking mind. He was leaning toward freaking the fuck out.
Rowan couldn’t deny how much he craved being pressed against the handsome man or the thrill that ran through him knowing that he had been the cause of the hard erection trapped behind the man’s zipper. That still didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous. He was in uncharted territory.
“Are you thirsty?”
Rowan shuddered as the man’s deep whiskey voice skittered across his skin. “I—I could use a drink.” Or an entire ocean. His throat felt as dry as the Sahara. Rowan licked his dry lips, smiling when the man’s eyes instantly narrowed in on them, and he groaned.
“I have a booth, anamchara.”
Rowan blinked.
And what in the hell did
anamchara
mean? Rowan had never heard that term. Before he could ask, his arm was grabbed and he was escorted past the other dancers and up the stairs to a private balcony overlooking the dance floor below.
It was only as he walked into the VIP area and sat down on the half-moon-shaped couch that he got his first good look at his dance partner. He was fucking gorgeous. And he looked delicious in his tight black slacks and black silk shirt that bulged under the muscle on his arms.
Damn.
“What would you like to drink, anamchara?”
“Water,” Rowan said quickly. He didn’t need any alcohol clouding his judgment at the moment. Keeping a clear head was definitely in order. He was already feeling a bit dizzy just from looking at the man. Alcohol wouldn’t help him any.
“Manu,” the man sitting next to him said without ever looking away from Rowan, “get my anamchara some water.”
Rowan started chewing nervously on his bottom lip when the man’s intense gaze became too much. The waves of lust coming off the guy were making Rowan feel very hot—and just a bit achy. He quickly looked away only to have his chin grabbed and pulled back around.
“No, anamchara, you look only at me.”
Rowan’s forehead wrinkled as he frowned. “Who are you?” He knew there was something different about this man, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. He oozed power like a second skin. It was so strong, Rowan was actually surprised that no one else could feel it.
“You may call me Luca.”
Rowan’s smile wobbled. “Rowan.” No last names needed, not if he wanted to get away from tall, dark, and dangerous. And he wasn’t sure he did.
“Yes, I know.” The skin around Luca’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned. “I asked for your name the moment I saw you.”
Rowan blinked in surprise. “Really?”
That was bad.
Stalkerish bad.
“I could not let you get away from me without knowing everything about you.”
Wow! Obsess much?
Rowan frowned. “Do you always stalk people you just met?”
“Just you, anamchara.”
“Lucky me.” This was all getting a little weird.
“No, anamchara, I am the lucky one, lucky that the gods have designed to grant me with such a beautiful gift.”
Rowan tried not to shy away from the fingers that slid down the side of his face, but it took all of his control. Things were getting weirder by the minute. He just wanted to go out and have a good time, maybe find someone to spend the night with. Rowan only had