Page 63 of Bruised MC Bear

Cursed Mate

A Standalone Novella

from the Fated Moon Series

(Includes Axe and Angel’s Wedding)

Bella Love-Wins

1

Vincent

Ifinished my feeding.

The rich, sweet blood from her wrist still coated my lips and tongue.

“Thank you for your service,” I told her, covering the wound where I bit her with a large, square adhesive bandage. Straightening my sport coat, I rose from the sofa. “I don’t need more tonight.”

I stepped over to my office desk and turned on the reading lamp. Even at this distance, the scent of the Gentry’s blood still overpowered me, curling up into my nose, reminding me I was still hungry. This Gentry was new. She was too weak. Draining her of any more blood could kill her. Still, the urge to feed was ever-present as I opened the side drawer and retrieved a wad of bills to pay her.

“This is for you,” I said gently, and pressed the large fold of bills into the curvy, sweet smelling woman’s hand.

“No problem, sir,” the Gentry answered, looking down at the cash. “But I think you made a mistake.” She counted the money. “Wow. This is more than twice the standard rate.”

I nodded for her benefit. My last Gentry never had a problem with being paid extra.

“It’s fine,” I told her, noticing a drop of blood on her t-shirt. Licking my lips self-consciously, I cleared my throat. The bone-deep hunger was not sated, but it would have to do.

“Awesome! Thanks.”

“You may leave now. I will call on you again soon.”

“Yes, sir. Any time at all! Thank you so much.”

I helped her to her feet, and she staggered, further proof she couldn’t handle my needs. No wonder some of my fellow vampires requested two or three Gentry at a time.

“Please help yourself to the juice in the kitchen before you leave. You’ll want to replenish your fluids.”

“Okay, I will.”

“You can also rest a while. There’s a sitting room down the hall. Please relax there before you go. Trying to walk in your state may not be safe.”

She nodded. “Thanks for being so generous!”

As she left the room, the young woman muttered under her breath that the extra cash would be a huge help with rent for her apartment in Red Ridge, Arizona. She chattered on that she could probably spare the extra cash now to fix her car, which she complained had broken down on the side of the road somewhere here in Mesquite, Nevada. She probably didn’t realize my kind had highly attuned hearing. To me, the money was insignificant. The Gentry played a major role in our survival. Blood bags weren’t always accessible or enjoyable, and for many of us, feeding on unwilling humans was too barbaric to carry out, no matter how fiercely our primitive urges drove us to hunt and kill.

The young lady managed to get herself to the hallway and in the direction of my mansion’s kitchen. She was sure to be dizzy come dawn. I winced at the thought, wiping the corners of my mouth with a handkerchief. It had been over three hundred and fifty years since I was turned, and I still didn’t have a taste for blood. I gave up on trying to get used to this repulsive need to feed a long time ago. Aside from it puffing up my dead tissues to make me look living again, there weren’t any other benefits, and certainly nothing about it pleased my pallet. I heard her exchange pleasantries with one of my servants, and I relaxed. Good. As long as she was in their hands, I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting home. My driver would take her back to Red Ridge, less than half an hour away, once she was more herself.

Usually, I wouldn’t indulge in taking sustenance from a human. I stuck to a large stock of fresh blood bags that I was able to secure from a local hospital—as long as I kept up with my donation checks—so the cooler in the basement was ready whenever I needed a meal. This weekend coming up was different. On Saturday, I would be best man at a friend’s wedding, which in itself was not of serious consequence. I was happy for my most trusted friend, Axe, a bear shifter in the Beartooth Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. He was getting married to his human girlfriend, Angel. The real problem was they were getting married on Halloween weekend—in Las Vegas.

A shifter-human wedding. On Halloween. In Vegas.

With a full moon coming.

And I was best man.

A vampire.

What was wrong with that?

Everything.

Which was why I needed to feed on the Gentry’s warm, rich blood. Feeding on a live being was most effective in sating my hunger, so doing it now would keep me strong while I walked among humans. I could only hope to avoid all wolf shifters, werewolves and hunters this weekend. A smirk rose up on my lips as I thought of what Axe’s MC President, Silas, thought about my chances of getting through the Halloween weekend unscathed.

According to him, I was already fucked.