Kellen's Tempting Mate (20 page)

“I love that show. Sheldon is hilarious, but I agree with you. I am nothing like him. Or at least I hope I’m not.” She walked up to Kellen.

He looked down at her, wondering who the women were talking about.

“You clearly don’t watch much television, do you?” Laikyn snuggled into his arms, making him forget all about televesion.

“Not really, no. I’ll watch movies, but don’t have time for watching things on TV at home unless it’s a movie without commercials. When I’m home, I’d rather do something constructive. Now that I have a mate, I think there’s lots of things I’d rather do with my spare time.” He gripped her ass, letting her feel exactly what he meant.

Breezy coughed. “No PDA. There are people in the room.”

“You and Xan don’t count. Besides, I am only hugging my mate.”

“No, your dick is saying hello. Put that thing away. We have company.” Xan tilted his head toward the door.

Kellen sensed their presence long before Xan had mentioned it, but didn’t want Laikyn to freeze up on him. Besides, he liked having her in his arms, smelling like him, and aroused.

“I’m aware,” he answered without letting Laikyn go.

A hard knock on the door leading from the outside broke through the silence.

“Come in, Coti.” The big Hawaiian led Damien and Lucas in. Both men looked at Laikyn, their eyes took in her injury, then stared at Kellen.

“What happened,” Damien waved toward Laikyn.

Grinding his teeth, Kellen looked at Laikyn. “Do you want to tell them or me?”

“I will. Although, it might be easier if I showed them.” She glanced over her shoulder, asking him for permission.

Goddess, he was a lucky bastard. With a nod, he entered her mind. “
I will do this with you so there is no fucked up shit going on. If you feel threatened you back out and I’ll kill them both.”

“Okay.”
And just like that his mate soothed him.

“We will allow that, and understand if you will be piggybacking in with her, Mr. Styles.” Damien gave a regal nod.

“I’ll be with her every step of the way. You understand I will gut you both if you try anything stupid, right?”

“Pup, if we were going to try anything stupid, do you think we’d be standing in this...place, offering assistance?” Lucas spoke for the first time.

They weren’t identical twins but close enough it was hard for most to who was who, but Kellen could tell the difference in them by their scents. He focused on Damien, realizing he was the leader.

Power flowed from Lucas. “We are equal, pup. Never forget it.”

Kellen allowed his own energy to flow, forcing the other man to stagger back. He placed Laikyn behind him. “Don’t come at me with your shit, boy. You and your brother may know more about this thing we are facing, but I can and will wipe the floor with you.”

Lyric pushed her way into the room. “Alright guys. Put your dicks away. No need to piss all over the place.”

“For the love of all, woman,” Rowan roared. “Will you stop running into rooms full of testosterone.”

Like a bubble that had a pin pushed into it, the air thinned out of the room.

“Your mate is correct. Laikyn. Please show us what happened so we may be of assistance.” Damien placed his hand on Lucas’s shoulder.

They may be fraternal twins who were more the same than not, and had equal strengths, but their temperaments were very different. One light and one dark. Kellen made note of his observations, bringing Laikyn to stand in front of him. With his arms banding about her waist, he brought his lips close to her ear. “Let’s do this and get it over with.”

“I didn’t see his face, and his voice may not be real.” She tried to reassure them, making Kellen want to kill the bastard even more for what he’d tried to do.

“We understand, and believe us, we will know who and what we are facing through your memories. Trust us.” Lucas’s eyes focused on Kellen. The other man’s pupil expanded, swallowing up his entire eye.

Linking with Laikyn, they opened up and instead of letting the Cordells into her memories, they flowed into a space in between. Kellen stared around the void, wondering where they hell they were, until Damien’s form appeared. “
This is an in-between where we are all safe from each other’s invasion of privacy.
”

“
Meaning you don’t have a direct line to our minds?”
Kellen wanted to be clear.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “
We will now as do you, have a link to each of us. However, you can sever it the same as us. Now, let’s get on with the showing and less talking. Your voice is getting on my last damn nerve.”

“How have you not killed him before now,” Kellen asked Damien.

The other man shrugged his shoulders. In the space they’d come, Kellen looked at each man, seeing they’d chosen different clothing than they’d had on in the real world.

“This is what we are most comfortable in.” Damien indicated the loose fitting shirt and pants that could have come from any era.

Kellen glanced at his own jeans and T, then shrugged. “Show them, Mon Chaton.”

Laikyn let her breath out, then allowed her mind to open, the images along with her fear flowed into all three of them. Kellen kept his beast at bay, barely. Damien and Lucas stood straight, their eyes doing that freaky thing with their pupils, their chests expanded once, twice, then he didn’t think either man breathed for a full two minutes. When Laikyn finished showing them, minutes had passed. Neither Cordell made a move. Not a muscle or twitch of movement came from either of them. Almost as if they were no longer in their own bodies. Kellen held Laikyn closer. Neither of them making a sound in case it would break into whatever trance-like state they were in.

Lucas was the first to take a deep breath, followed by Damien. His eyes speared straight into Kellen’s. “This was the work of a vampire, but not one as old as we’d first thought.”

“He’s the one from Kansas City. I’m afraid to say he’s much more dangerous than just an old one, Lake. For our entire lives, we’ve heard of those who...take what they shouldn’t, in order to gain more power. Lucas and I are old, and have the blood of our ancestors flowing through our veins. That makes us very powerful. If someone was lucky enough to kill us, they’d be able to siphon off some of our strengths. Of course, there are other beings we could take from and gather power from, but it has been outlawed for centuries. Which is why we were hesitant to approach Laikyn, even though we thought she was our...anyway, that is in the past. Vampires have one shot at finding our Hearts Love. Many settle for something close, but with us, it is one woman for the both. We know now, that there is only one woman who will complete us.” He turned sad eyes away from Kellen, but he’d seen the longing.

Pity, for the brothers had Kellen understanding their plight. “What did you find out, other than he was the same being? Can you track him before he attacks again?”

Damien flicked an imaginary piece of lint from his white shirt. “Leave him to us. We will handle the problem.”

Kellen growled. “Listen, while I appreciate you and your brother rushing here and your offer of assistance, the fact remains, this is now pack business. We need to know how to fight this new threat.”

Lucas’s eyes turned an eerie red, similar to what Laikyn had showed them in her mind. “You are like him,” she whispered, hand flying to her mouth.

“We are nothing like him, yet we are similar, which is why you must leave him to us. You want to help, then stay out of our way. This is council business. We’ve already reported what you showed us to our father, who is the Vampire King.”

“Well, fuck me runnin,” Kellen swore.

“What? Now that you know you’re dealing with royalty, are you going to treat us with respect?” Laughter lit the man’s eyes. If they’d met at a different time, under different circumstances, Kellen may have liked the man.

“I don’t think we’d have hung out in the same circles, but I would have hired you to pimp my ride or something,” Damien said.

Kellen moved Laikyn beside him, freeing up his right hand. “Sit and spin boys. We done here?” He raised his middle finger.

Lucas shook his head. “See, I told you I liked him.”

“That’s because he’s more like you.” Damien pushed at Lucas’s shoulder.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucas asked.

While the two brothers went about a shoving match, Kellen stared at his mate. “Let’s leave the two dickheads to fight it out. I need to be balls deep inside you.”

Two masculine groans met his words. “Inside voice.” Followed by, “TMI,” was shouted out by Damien and Lucas in unison. Kellen wasn’t sure who said what.

“Damn, I was just getting ready to shake the shit out of you,” Xan said, standing next to the large bed, a worried frown on his face.

Kellen stared at Laikyn lying next to him. “How the hell did we end up here?” The two vampires sat in chairs across the room.

Xan shrugged his massive shoulders. “After about fifteen minutes of y’all standing around looking like you were in the zone, I got a little freaked, and lifted you up first, put you here, then placed Laikyn next to you. I felt a little bad for the Cordells so I sat them down. Breezy promised me she’d give me a treat later, so all’s good. No need to thank me.”

Laikyn sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Do I want to know?”

He explained to her how they’d ended up in bed, leaving out the thank you Xan was expecting from his mate.

Damien and Lucas both popped out of the chairs in fighting stances. Damien spoke first. “What the hell? How long were we gone?”

“About thirty minutes.” Breezy looked at the clock on the wall, then nodded.

“Times a wasting. He’s probably already out hunting. I’d say what he did depleted his reserves. It takes great strength to move a person without their help or consent. Which means there is going to be a body count. We can track him by those, or we can go hunting. I vote for hunting,” Lucas said.

“The vision you showed us? That was your home, or at least the woods near your family home?” Damien asked Laikyn.

Laikyn bit her lip, nodding. “I haven’t been there in a couple years, but yeah. My parents live in Florida, but still own the property and the house. They always hoped I’d move back here.”

Kellen kept his anger at the thought of her living out there all alone to himself.

“We will go there now and see if he’s there or been there.” Lucas held his hand up. “If you go with us, he will feel your presence and run. Us, he will think we are checking up on, and think to one up us. Believe me, we’ve faced vampires like him.”

Kellen understood what they were saying, but having others out protecting his pack, defending his mate grated. He wanted to be the one to rip this vampire’s throat out with his teeth.

“The Council will want him to face them. I can’t allow you to kill him outright unless he actually harms you or your mate. I know he did do that.” He pointed at the healed wound. “But he could have killed her. Instead, he was trying to capture her. Believe me when I say this being is not one to play with. Allow us to handle him, and when the time comes to see his death, I will petition you to be there.”

“If he threatens my mate, or any of my pack, I will kill him. Your Council be damned.” Kellen stood from the bed.

Damien inclined his head. In a blink, he and Lucas were gone.

“Well, that is some freaky ass shit,” Lyric gasped.

“You can say that again,” Rowan agreed.

D
amien and Lucas landed in the yard of Laikyn’s family home. Her scent still loomed around them, but the vampire they were hunting overlaid everything.

“He’s been here and gone. We can trace him, but I think we’ll be chasing shadows. He’s got to have some donors around that he’s left alive. Let’s find them, and then we’ll find him.” Lucas bent and picked up a piece of dirt, signs of several footprints were present.

“We should split up. I’ll follow his trail, while you see if you can’t get a lock on one of the humans he has working for him,” Damien murmured, staring at the home.

Lucas looked at the sky, the sun rising would work in their favor. One thing they’d learned in all their very long years, was not to underestimate an enemy. “Maybe we should stick together until the sun is at its highest. Who knows what kind of nasty surprises this being has in store for us.” He tilted his head toward the home. A feeling of being watched even though they couldn’t sense a presence was strong.

“
Don’t you feel that?” Lucas asked through their twin bond.

Damien turned his back, pretending to study the gravel drive, Lucas was sure. “
There is something, but I thought it was my overactive imagination.”

“Let us take to the sky as air, and circle back. See if whatever it is shows its hand.”
Lucas followed Damien, becoming molecules.

A crack split the ground they’d been standing on moments later. Both brothers floated higher, waiting to see what happened next as a man came out the door, followed by another. Lucas didn’t recognize either one, but the fact they were newly made vampires, or younger than a century, had him amazed they were able to control their powers. Not to mention they were working together. Damn, they needed to inform the Council of Vampires.

“
We need to talk to mom and dad.”
Damien’s words echoed his thoughts.

Before Lucas could agree, wind whipped past them. He and his brother knew it was the beings below searching for a sign. They kept their cool, neither of them young and inexperienced fighters, although their instincts demanded they return to the ground and kill the puppets.

“
They will lead us to him.”
Lucas floated next to Damien.

His brother’s dry chuckle entered his head. “
What’s that saying? Like shooting fish in a barrel?”

“Yeah, well right now we’re like sitting ducks.”
Lucas grit his teeth as the two shits below used what powers they had, aiming cracks of lightning at them. The slight stings felt like the pinching he’d endured as a child from the little females who he and Damien could give two shits about.