Chapter One
Bellino Towers, Central Park, Manhattan
Lorcan Connolly, Prince of Beasts stood in the large training chamber in the basement of Bellino Towers and watched as his two senior lieutenants engaged in hand to hand combat. He’d almost decided to be Connor’s sparring partner, so he could take to the ring and beat his opponent to a pulp. But in his mood, he’d likely kill him.
Sinead had not returned his call.
In fact, she’d not returned any of the last twenty calls he’d made to her, and his beast was not happy. It wanted it’s mate. Enough was enough. Sinead took great pleasure in denying the mating frenzy, but she couldn’t resist forever. Could she?
For a beast, forever was a long time. So there.
This denial made him look weak. He looked such a fool, and he was the heir to the throne. He needed to rein her in.
Just thinking about her had his inner beast roaring. He struggled to contain the beast whenever she was near. Which she was fully aware of, so she avoided him. She’d moved out of Bellino Towers into the human world. Just like his traitorous brother had done.
Anger sizzled under his skin. He was being torn in two. His beast would not be kept contained for much longer.
Yet to take his mate without the frenzy would leave him childless and the beasts needed to repopulate. The last vampire—beast—war had diminished their numbers. It wasn’t so bad for the vampires. Vampires were made not born. Although the war had ended in a mutual ceasefire, the vampires now held the advantage with their replenished numbers. Something the King was very aware of. The beasts lived by the vampires leave.
It but the beasts in danger.
He pulled out his phone and dialed her number again. And again it went straight to voicemail. It took all his ice-control to stop from throwing the phone across the room. Instead he returned it to his pocket, grabbed his coffee, and tried to concentrate on his duty. The protection of Bellino Towers and all the beasts in New York.
Why her father, the King of the beasts, had let Sinead move out of Bellino Towers he just couldn’t fathom. And even after the murder of her roommate, the subsequent trial she’d insisted at testifying at, he’d not forced her home.
But you did not argue with the King. His rule was absolute. Already her father saw it as a weakness that Lorcan couldn’t control Sinead, and that he hadn’t managed to ignite the mating frenzy with his daughter. The King and the beast council were watching every move he made. His elder brother’s scandalous behavior and traitorous betrayal, meant he didn’t have the luxury of making mistakes if he was to ascend the throne. His father had made him swear a vow that he would restore the Connolly good name his brother, Tremaine, had trashed. Only then could he take his rightful place on the throne. He’d given his father his word.
But Sinead’s denial of their mating bond was a kick in the balls.
He turned his attention back to watching his two sentinels train. Aidan’s fist crashed toward Connor’s cheekbone, only Connor moved his head just in time and it found air. Good. Connor was wounded a day ago by a lady on a bike of all things. Broken legs and ribs, but his speed and focus was back at the one hundred percent range already due to their rapid healing abilities.
“That’s enough, Aidan.” He put down his coffee. They didn’t need to continue fighting for Lorcan to pass Connor back into active service. “Connor, you’re back on active duty as from now. Go get cleaned up and meet me in my office in twenty minutes.”
These two would be on patrol tonight. There was very little that could threaten the beast stronghold, but there had been rumblings about a few rogue vamps causing issues.
“Am I on patrol tonight?”
Lorcan straightened from where he was leaning against the wall. “Are you asking to be excused from duty, Aidan?”
Connor laughed. “My brother needs a rest. I nearly whipped his ass, and I’m the one supposed to be out of condition.”
“Fuck off, Connor. I didn’t expect to be on duty tonight, so I have a date.”
Lorcan’s lips firmed and he turned away. “Cancel it. You know duty comes first.”
“Aye, My Prince.”
Shit, Aidan was pissed. He only ever called Lorcan, My Prince, when he was annoyed. “Got something to say to me, Aidan?” His steely tone warned of his temper. Aidan was his best friend and the one beast who had stood by him and his family when the scandal erupted. But sometimes Aidan went too far.
Aidan ran a hand through his hair before swinging round to face him. “Not all of us are mated, Lorcan. I will never be mated and have a chance to father a child. So don’t deny me my pleasures.”
“I’m not denying you. On patrol and then you can—have your fun.”
Like he knew it would, his deriding tone set Aidan off, but Lorcan was itching for a fight.
“Don’t take it out on me just because your mate isn’t accepting you—”
Lorcan was across the room and in Aidan’s face before he could blink. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence if you wish to keep your head,” he growled in Aidan’s ear.
Aiden pushed angrily out of his hold. “I know you’re under a lot of pressure regarding the King and Sinead, but I stood by your family when your brother left to mate with a human. I never revealed that you knew who the human woman was because if they caught Tremaine he’d be tried for treason and put to death. Please remember who your friends are.”
He took a deep breath and struggled to hold his beast at bay. Aidan was right. His friend was loyal to him and his family. He trusted Aidan with his life. “Sorry. I’m not in the best of moods. Sinead won’t answer my calls.”
Aidan merely nodded and began collecting his sweatshirt form the floor.
“Lorcan’s right, Aidan. It’s our duty to protect our kind. Besides, it’s not as if this woman is important. You change woman like you change your underwear. She’s not worth losing your job over, or a friendship.” Connor was trying to lighten the mood.
It looked like Aidan would argue, but one look at Lorcan and his friend saw how close he was to beasting. “Fine. Twenty minutes. In your office.” And they were about to walk off, when over the loud speaker a siren started. All three men starred at each other and then they began to run toward the war room.
He couldn’t remember the last time the siren had sounded. Something terrible had happened. His problems with Sinead evaporated. Years of royal protection training kicked in. All his focus pinpointed on duty.
His King needed him.
The beasts needed him.
He would not let them down.
***
Lorcan burst into the King’s chambers, Aidan and Connor hot on his heels. The siren’s wail had ceased, but tension crackled in the air. The King stood by the window, his broad shoulders taut with worry.
“My liege, what’s happened?” Lorcan demanded.
The King turned, his face grim. “It’s Sinead. We’ve received intelligence that a hitman is after her.”
Lorcan’s beast roared within him, clawing to be released. He clenched his fists, struggling for control. “Who? Why?”
“We believe it’s connected to the man she testified against – the one who killed her friend Tracey,” the King explained. “It seems he’s taken out a contract on her from prison.”
Aidan cursed under his breath. Connor paced the room, restless energy radiating off him. “At least being a beast it will be difficult if not impossible to kill her with human weapons.”
But it could expose her as a beast if she is shot and doesn’t get injured meaning she would be banished to the beast dungeon for many, many years. No human could know about the beasts. “Where is she now?” Lorcan asked, dreading the answer. “She should never have been allowed to live outside of Bellino Towers.”
The King rounded on him. “I had expected you to convince her to come home. To accept you as her mate. She should have been home weeks ago. You’ve let me down. Don’t let me down now or I won’t support you and your family’s line becoming the next King. I’ll convince the council to select another beast family for the honor.”
Lorcan’s face flushed with color. The title of King was passed around the five families of the council. It was his family, Connolly’s, turn when the current King died. Tremaine’s leaving has tarnished their family but because Sinead was his mate the King had allowed the honor to pass to Lorcan.
Sinead’s refusal of the mating frenzy put his family honor at stake. His hands fisted at his side. Everyone was looking at the floor after the King’s angry words. Lorcan lifted his head. “I’ll find her. Do we have any idea where she is tonight?”
One of the King’s advisors stepped forward. “We… we’re not certain, Your Highness. We believe she may have gone clubbing tonight.”
Lorcan’s blood ran cold. Sinead was out there, vulnerable, while a killer hunted her. His mate was in danger.
“We need to find her immediately,” Lorcan growled. “I’ll go myself—”
“—No,” the King interrupted. “We need a coordinated effort. We can’t risk my daughter’s life, and risk your beast mating fear seeing you rush off half-cocked.”
“If she’s clubbing it will likely be Black Velvet.” Aidan offered. “I’ve seen her there a few times.”
Lorcan bristled, Dante’s bloody club. He didn’t trust the Prince of Vampires—especially not where beautiful women were concerned and Sinead was gorgeous. His beast began to roar.
“But she also likes the club After Glow,” another of the lieutenants said.
“Aidan, Connor , you’ll come with me to check the clubs. The others can check her work and home and put a trace on her phone.”
The King nodded approvingly. “Good. I’m trusting you with this, Lorcan. Bring my daughter home safely. If you don’t…”
The King didn’t need to spell it out. If anything happened to Sinead, his chance of being the next King would be gone and his family would be disgraced once more.
The weight of responsibility settled on Lorcan’s shoulders. He would not fail. He couldn’t. Sinead’s life depended on it. His family’s honor and position depended on it.
“We’ll find her,” he vowed, meeting her father’s eyes. “And we’ll deal with this threat permanently.”
As they left the King’s chambers to begin the search, Lorcan’s mind raced. He had to find Sinead before it was too late. His beast howled within him, desperate to protect its mate. For once, man and beast were in perfect agreement.
He would find her. He had to.
Chapter Two
Thirty minutes later, Lorcan strode past the bouncers at the entrance to Black Velvet, New York’s most exclusive nightclub ignoring the long queue of humans desperate to enter. No one stopped him. It was as if they subconsciously knew what he was, and sensed the danger.
The thumping sound of the music hit him as he entered the club. When Tremaine deserted, Lorcan learned to despise the human world and all it stood for. Undisciplined, hedonistic pleasure seekers—like his brother—they knew nothing of duty and honor.
The deep bass sent a taunting rhythm though his body—Sinead was in danger and the siren had summonsed the team to find her immediately.
He’d tried ringing again but… He tried to push aside the fear coursing deep inside. Was she already dead? Why did she have to push the boundaries of beast life and make everything a battle? Just once he wished she would put her family before her desires. But she was just like Tremaine—selfish.
Now he was here on a rescue mission. The emergency was about his mate and his protective instincts drove him. Sinead had pissed off a powerful human and there was a hit out on her. He would never let any harm come to his mate. Even if she continued to deny the mating.
Heedless of the dim lighting and smoky air, it took but a second to locate her. This was the fourth club he’d visited in his hunt for her. The only thing keeping him sane was his duty.
He’d not seen her for over two months, not since the trial, yet Sinead’s scent called to the animal within him. She was here. His barely-leashed beast surfaced and a low growl rumbled deep in his chest. He let out a long breath. He’d found her.
Then he glared at the dance floor. Lorcan didn’t know if he wanted to fuck her, or kill her, or both.
Sinead Quinn looked nothing like the kindergarten teacher’s aide she was during the day. She danced as if the world might end if she stopped. Her head lolled back, her slim arms and body swayed in time to the incessant beat. Her short dress rode up with each sway, displaying far too much of her long, perfectly muscled thighs, all the way up to the shadowed V of her groin.
But when she presented her back to him— the beast inwardly roared. Her pale skin was uncovered from neck to butt, the material falling in folds at her buttocks, and he could see the top of each round globe, and the tattoo of a wolf just above them across her lower back.
Worse still, the man she danced with had his hands there.
Mine!
He was at her side within a heartbeat; so fast she did not sense him. If he’d been the enemy, she’d be dead. So much for her boast of being able to protect herself.
Her small cry of alarm died when she saw him. Lorcan was furious that she could see the flare of his nostrils, see the rage burning in his eyes, and hear the pounding of his heart and not care. He didn’t want her to know how close his beast was to emerging.
Sinead pushed out of the human’s hold. “Back off, Lorcan,” she drawled. “He’s nothing to me.”
The human could not hear her words, but his beast hearing could hear her clearly over the music, and her seductive tones did nothing to calm his inner torment. “He had his hands on you.”
The human pushed forward, chest thrust out, and yelled, “Hey, man. The lady wants you to back off.”
Lorcan said nothing, merely stared. But his murderous gaze conveyed his innermost thoughts, because the man stepped back, turned, and all but ran from the dance floor.
Beside him Sinead cursed. “Great. Just great.” She rounded on him, anger marring her perfect features. “We were just dancing for heaven’s sake. You know. Having fun?”
She made to move round him, but he grabbed her upper arm.
She looked down to where his hand gripped her tightly, and then up into his face, a tight smile upon her luscious lips. “Let go of me. I haven’t seen you in months. If you’re not here to dance, why are you annoying me tonight? We’re not mated yet.”
Her taunt found its mark.
Pain lanced every inch of his skin, but he forced his fingers to open, his hand to fall.
To everyone of their kind, including her father, the King, she was Lorcan’s. His chest heaved with the need to mark her as his own, but Sinead still refused him. She denied the mating frenzy. How he longed to drag her from here, take her home, mate with her and indulge all his wildest fantasies. She wasn’t his—yet. He wished he understood what she wanted from him. But that mystery wouldn’t be solved tonight. Tonight was about keeping her safe. So he kept his icy control, refusing to allow her to see his desperate need for her.
“You’re in danger. Your father wants you home,” he said. “You’re to come with me.”
“I’m in danger? Since when? Aren’t you sick of being Daddy’s good little sentinel?”
“He’s ordered you back to Bellino Tower and I’m not leaving without you.”
“I’m not moving home. I have a good job. I can look after myself. Unlike you, I like the human world. I like my own space, my own apartment—away from father.”
Away from him more like it.
“Don’t test me today, Sinead. I’m so close—”
She pressed against him, her dainty hand skimming over his chest, moving down over his taut stomach, directly to the hardened bulge at his groin. “So I see?”
He sucked in a breath. “If you don’t remove your hand, I’ll pin you to the floor and take you right here.”
Instantly, she let her hand drop from his body. “You can’t. To take me the first time without the frenzy would leave us childless and I know you don’t want that. You’re consumed with the need for a child—a son.” She laughed softly. “It would almost be worth losing my freedom just to see you surrender that iron-clad control and ruin your plans for beast domination.”
He bent his head and breathed deep. Then he straightened and smiled—as much as a flash of teeth could be called a smile. “Soon you’ll be mine. I can smell the change in you. Before long you won’t be able to deny your driving need for me. I’ll be all you think about. Your overwhelming desire will be to please me, and only me.”
She shivered and backed away. “You’re so sure of yourself. But I’m twenty-four and we’re still not mated. Most females face the change at eighteen. Perhaps I’ve found a way to prevent the change. I’ll not tie myself to a man who has no feelings for me other than as a breeder of warriors.”
He leaned in close until his nose almost touched hers. “You were marked as mine the day you were born. Nothing you say or do will prevent our mating. You should accept it as I have. Do you really think I want a mate like you? A woman who refuses to face her true identity? You, who defies her father, the King of our race.” He gave a hard, cold laugh. “If I could pick my own mate it would not be you.”
“Walk away. That would be fine by me,” was her sassy reply.
“Don’t tempt me.”
With that angry taunt he grabbed her hand and began pulling her from the nightclub, wondering what he’d ever done to deserve being mated to a female beast who’d rather be human.
She had no understanding of just how much the human world had cost him and his family. He thought of Tremaine every day of his life. It was as if a huge gaping wound lived deep inside.
Ten years ago, at eighteen, he’d been summoned before the council of elders and the King, along with all the males of his age within the clan. This was the mating ritual. Not every man got a mate. The imprint only worked on some.
But once imprinted with a mate, the pair were bonded for life. When the female reached sexual maturity, the need to mate would overwhelm each couple and a mating frenzy would overtake them. This frenzy helped ensure the life-blood of their race continued, because only after the mating frenzy could a child be born.
But both male and female had to surrender to the frenzy. A mate could not be taken by force if a child was to be conceived. And each female reached maturity at different ages.
“I don’t want to have a child with a man who dislikes me. It’s not fair on the child. I should know. My mother hated my father.”
Lorcan tried to ignore her words, but he understood her hurt. Her mother had taken her own life when Sinead was fifteen. Suicide—unheard of in the beast world. Sinead blamed her father. She blamed the rules of their world, and ever since, she’d tried everything she could to deny her heritage.
Cloaking them both so they were invisible to the human eye, Lorcan continued to all but drag her from the club.
He was almost to the exit when a new smell invaded his senses—vampire.
Lorcan stopped so suddenly Sinead barged into his back. He glanced round, and over the heads of the humans he saw a vampire lounging against the back wall. Not unusual given the club was owned by a vampire—the vampire—Prince Dante.
Beasts and vampires had an uneasy truce. Both species were about equal in strength and immortality. The beasts had a slight advantage. They were almost impossible to kill—beheading or a silver bullet being the only way. Whereas vampires died in sunlight, from fire, from a stake through the heart and from beheading.
They were about half way to the exit when the vamp was suddenly in his face. He’d moved so fast Lorcan only had time to push Sinead behind him before his lieutenants, Aidan and Connor materialized out of the crowd and formed a protective circle around her.
Lorcan’s claws elongated. Something about this vampire wasn’t right. He should be afraid of facing three beasts. He wasn’t. He should be concerned they were in public, too. Dante Romano, the Prince of the New York vampire coven, had the same law as the beasts—death to any vamp who brought supernatural beings to the attention of humans.
The vampire grinned. “She’s a beauty,” he crooned. “I wouldn’t mind a piece of that fine ass. I didn’t realize she was a beast until tonight. It only sweetened the deal.”
Lorcan’s lips curled back, his incisors elongating into fangs. The vamp had been stalking Sinead. Probably since she’d given evidence at the trial of her human friend Tracey. She’d moved in with a human, but still could not stop the catastrophe that had left Tracey dead and Sinead with a contract on her life, the target of a hitman. Tracey had been murdered by a jealous ex, Duncan Clayton, and goddamn it to hell, Sinead had insisted on testifying. Now Duncan was in prison and out for her blood. He’d put a hit out on her.
They couldn’t dispose of Duncan until the hit had been cancelled, or the hitman identified.
“Get out of our way.” He tried to suppress his beast, but still the idea of a vamp ogling Sinead saw his killing instincts rise to the surface to protect his mate. Lorcan wanted to savage him, with no offers of mercy.
But he couldn’t, not in public, and the vamp knew it.
Lorcan relaxed slightly. The vamp was all mouth, playing with them. He too, could not cause a scene.
The vamp was grinning at Lorcan like a madman. He looked like a heavy-duty biker; his arms covered in tattoos. His white t-shirt, stretched across a solid chest, was printed with the words, ‘who wants to live forever,’ yeah—he was a dickhead, whose ice-blue eyes flashed with menace in his shaven ugly head.
Lorcan stared him down.
Moments later, as predicted, the vamp stepped aside, his gaze flicking to Sinead. “I’ll be seeing you real soon, sexy.”
Lorcan loved the way Sinead flipped the vamp the bird as Aidan and Connor guided her past them. “Whip his ass, Lorcan,” she murmured.
He bared his teeth. “For once we are in agreement.”
Lorcan turned to face the vamp, leaning close the stench was bad enough to turn his stomach. It was far more worrying that the vamp smelt old and powerful. And wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it. “If I see you near her again,” he said, quietly, “I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”
The vamp merely laughed.
The careless response tugged at Lorcan’s control. “Dante will hear of this. Do you know who Sinead’s father is?”
The vamp shrugged. “Tell Dante. Who cares? Fuck him.”
And that was when Lorcan understood what he was dealing with, what his inner beast had already figured out. He was facing a rogue vamp, one who did not live by the rules of Dante’s world. Rogues were the deadliest and most dangerous of their kind, living on the fringes of the vampire world, killing at will. They were hunted by their own, and disposed of.
What did a rogue want with Sinead?
Hitman.
Understanding came a second too late.
Before Lorcan could blink, the vamp leapt ten feet away, dropped to the floor, and fired a gun—a gun Lorcan had not seen. Clever. The added silencer was clever too. The vamp was using a human weapon because he was in public.
But if this was the hit man Tracey’s ex had employed to kill Sinead, he’d made a mistake. The vampire might be a danger to her, but no human bullet could kill a beast. They didn’t make silver bullets anymore. A bullet could wound, yes. Incapacitate for a short period, certainly. But not kill.
Luckily the shot went wide, embedding in the door frame that Connor had just passed through. Lorcan was on the vamp before he could get a second shot off. His beast’s rage tearing to the surface—but he held back. He had to get the vamp outside in the ally where no one could see. Then he’d ensure the vamp bothered nobody again.
He slammed a fist into the side of the vamp’s head, but before he could do any more damage three human bouncers were on him. In his rage the cloaking had slipped. He couldn’t throw them off without revealing his beast strength.
The vamp rose to his feet grinning as Lorcan tried to maintain a human facade. “Now I know what she is, I won’t make another mistake. See you round, Lorcan.”
Lorcan struggled in the humans’ hold but nodded. “Real soon. You can count on it.” He was thankful no one else had seen or heard the gun above the incessant bass beat of loud music, or he’d have police all over him.
He watched as the vamp left, his body strung tight as a bow. He didn’t even know the piece of shit’s name. But he’d learn it. Dante Romano would be getting a visit very soon.
Lorcan prayed Aidan and Connor had got Sinead home to her father. She’d be protected within Bellino Tower, the beasts’ fortress.
When the bouncers let him go, he thought about following the vamp. But he’d be long gone.
Lorcan wanted to get home to Sinead. But first… He stopped at the exit and using one elongated claw he dug out the bullet. It might help them trace the hitman.
It wasn’t until he was back on the street and standing under a street light, that the implication of what he held hit him.
The vampire hadn’t known Sinead was a beast. If he had he’d never have brought only a gun. This vampire wasn’t local to New York. Every vampire here knew who Sinead was – the King of the Beasts daughter. What did this mean? Why did Duncan hire someone from out of town?
He curled his fist around the bullet. The fact the vampire had learned who or what Sinead was tonight, and yet still fired his gun, told Lorcan just how dangerous or mad this vampire was.
An icy fear slid over his skin as he signaled his driver.
He’d not been too concerned about Sinead when he’d thought it was a mere human trying to kill her. But a rogue vampire who knew she was a beast, and knew exactly how to kill a beast—that was a different —and a far more dangerous situation.
Now all he had to do was explain to Sinead why she had to follow his every command.
Yeah-right! He couldn’t see that happening, and that’s when the fear really gripped him.
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