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Storm stood up and looked at him.The glow from the fire danced in her eyes.When she licked her lips, he watched, mesmerized by the pink tip moistening her lush lips.“Storm…”

Before he could claim her mouth, he felt himself being tossed across the room.Storm landed across his body, protecting him from falling debris.Her hand clamped tightly across his mouth when he started to speak.

“Grail.”She said in a way of explanation.Moving quickly, she stood and pulled him close to her.

“I know you’re in there, Storm, my dear.Come out and play with me, and bring our tasty friend along with you.We’ll char him up and laugh over the silliness of all this fighting.I can offer you so much more than he could ever.”

Alex pressed back against the far wall and flipped Storm around so that her back was now where his had been, and he moved hard to her body.

“As a human, is he as mortal?Will he die like a regular man?”Alex moved the thoughts through her mind.The words were fast and hard, urgent even.

“No.Yes.It needs to be silver through his heart, though.But his dragon would protect him by wrapping himself around Grail and taking him away.Grail would sense your movement, and as quick as you are, Grail is much faster.You can’t…you can’t think to beat him, do you?He’ll take you, kill you.”

“Do you care, Storm?Would you morn me if he kills me?”Now, his voice was a caress, a stroke along her heart and mind.

Without hesitation, without speaking in his mind, she answered.“Yes.Yes, I would.”

“You are mine, understand?”He warned her.At her nod, he kissed her quickly and pulled his gun from his ankle holster.Winking at her, he took her hand and moved to the front of what had once been a small house.

“Please, Alex, please don’t do this.He’ll kill you.”She whispered in his mind again.

“He’ll try.”When he started to step away, she pulled him back into the semi-darkness.“What?”

“You need to feed from me.I’ll strengthen you, protect you.Feed from me, and my dragon will know you, and it’ll keep you safe, keep us both safe.”

Alex looked at her and smiled.He felt his fangs drop into place to feed.The need to sip from her nearly staggered him off his feet.

He wanted to savor her, make her his, and knew from her sister that dragon blood, especially Storm’s blood, was poison to those who did not ask and were given permission before drinking.But for those who had been allowed that rare sip, the benefits were amazing.Alex leaned into her throat, nuzzling her skin, tasting her with his mouth and tongue.Licking the area just over the pulse pounding in her neck, he pulled back slightly and stuck his bite deep and quick.Her moan ran along his skin like a caress.

At the first taste of her essence, he immediately felt the power surge into him.The more he drew from her, the stronger he felt his body getting.Alex was an older vampire, so his strength was not paltry, but with her surging through his veins, he felt extraordinary.

Pulling back reluctantly, he sealed the tiny wounds with a flick of his tongue.Moving his mouth along her jaw, he reached her mouth and sealed his over her heat.

“I know that you’re in there, Storm.I demand that you come out now and face me.I have plans for us, plans that do not include that vampire mate of yours.Children of our union will bring me more money than I ever imagined.”

Alex backed away from her slightly and saw the lust in her eyes.“If you stay right here, I’ll take care of him, and we can get back to where we were before he interrupted us.”

“I need to keep you safe.I need to stand at your side.”He smiled at her possessive tone.

Moving and taking her hand once again, he hid his gun behind him as they walked forward.

“Ah, the future Queen and her stud.You know, I think I’m going to enjoy killing him.Oh yeah, this is going to be…”

He never finished.As he dropped to the ground, Grail stared at the smoking gun in Alex’s hand.

Alex and Storm watched as Grail began to shift into several forms quickly before he just simply melted into the ground; his blue blood stained the ground beneath him.

There was a lot to be said for the element of surprise.

Chapter 1

Tabby watched as the workers for the new warehouse put the finishing touches on the building.While that was going on, there were big bulldozers flattening out the last of the parking lot, too.It was coming along so nicely that she felt her excitement for it nearly overwhelm her again.Hugging her daughter, she was excited as she was.

“Hello, my darling Mandy.How’s my favorite granddaughter doing this fine day?”She told him that she was his only granddaughter, and they hugged.“So how does this work, Tabby?I know you said that we don’t own the land around here but are getting a tax abatement as well as free rent for the first five years.I don’t understand how they’re going to be making any kind of money when all this work is going into this place.”She looked at her dad and couldn’t help but smile at him.He was as excited as she was.“Your mother is terrified that we’re not going to be able to afford the rent once this place is finished and the terms are finished up.”

“They own the land to be built on.I’ve mentioned that.But once we get up and running, they’ll ease their way of getting money from us every six months.We’ll start out by paying ten grand a month for six months, then it will go to twenty grand.This also has us paying the taxes on the land after five years, too.We’re going to be making out well for this, Dad.”He asked her if she’d had an attorney go over the contracts.“I have.And the only loophole that he could find was in our favor.He even told me that we’d be foolish if we didn’t sign off on this deal they’re giving us.Dad, we’re going to be able to triple our business in less than a year with this warehouse here.”

“You know how your mother worries.”She knew how he worried, too.After assuring him that things were going well, he just nodded at her and told her that she’d done a good job with the expansion.“How many people are we going to be able to hire over the next five years, and do you think that it’ll be easy to get them to work for us?”