Page 2 of Patrick’s Seduction (Scanguards Vampires #19)

2

“ D r. Doyle?”

Fallon Doyle looked up from the microscope she’d been hunched over in her lab at UCSF, a medical university in San Francisco, where she conducted research on epigenetics and aging.

In front of her stood one of the administrative assistants of the department. She’d met the woman a few times but couldn’t remember her name. Her brain was too preoccupied with her research that she’d never made the effort to learn the names of department employees she didn’t see on a daily basis.

“Oh, hi,” she said quickly. “Is there something you need?”

The woman cast her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but I just wanted to remind all your lab assistants that their union meeting has been moved to the large assembly room in the annex up the hill.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” Fallon glanced at the clock on the wall. “When does it start?”

“In twenty minutes.”

“Oh, okay.” Fallon turned on her stool and rose. “Everybody, listen up! Your union meeting starts soon. You’d better leave now.”

Her five lab assistants, two men, and three women, rose to their feet.

“We still have time,” Clara protested, pointing at the pipettes and petri dishes on her workbench. “I can’t just interrupt this experiment.”

The administrative assistant cleared her voice. “I’m sorry, but the meeting is mandatory.”

“Clara, I can continue your experiment,” Fallon offered. “But you’d all better leave, or you won’t make it up to the annex in time.”

“Would you?” Clara replied with a hopeful smile.

While Fallon gave Clara a reassuring nod, there were low levels of annoyed grunts, but her five employees finally made their way to the door of the laboratory.

“I don’t know why we even have to attend,” Brian grumbled. “They never do anything for us anyway.”

When the door finally shut behind them, silence and calm descended on the lab. This was a rare occurrence. For a moment, she closed her eyes. The only sound in the large space was the humming of the freezers and refrigeration units, which contained a multitude of tissue and blood samples. Since these samples were vital to her research, the freezers as well as the refrigerators were equipped with alarms that sent an automatic message to her cell phone should the power go out or the temperature change, so she could take measures to save the contents from spoiling.

For a few moments, she just stood there, enjoying the silence and peace she’d been missing for the last few weeks. Finally, she had the feeling that her life was returning to normal. She walked to Clara’s workstation and looked at the petri dishes and the handwritten notes her assistant had made. Since she’d given Clara this assignment, it wasn’t hard for Fallon to continue where the lab tech had left off.

Just as she was about to transfer one of the petri dishes to the slide beneath the microscope, the sound of a door closing made her snap her head in its direction.

Her heart stopped only to begin pounding uncontrollably, her breath catching in her throat, while her body activated her fight or flight mode. She felt her hand holding the petri dish tremble, and set it down, forcing herself to maintain her outer calm, when inside, she was twisted into knots, annoyance quickly transforming into anger.

“You haven’t replied to any of my messages or gifts,” Cameron said, his tone accusatory, his dark eyes pinning her as he approached. “It’s not polite. Especially not when you treat your boyfriend like that.”

“We broke up two months ago,” she managed to squeeze out with the little breath still in her lungs.

“We didn’t break up.” The words were hard and cold, a dangerous undercurrent accompanying them.

This wasn’t the man she’d dated for three months, not anymore. The fun, carefree Cameron Gallagher she’d met at a bar after her friend had canceled last minute, was nowhere in sight. He’d been charming and romantic, and he’d swept her off her feet, making her feel like the most important woman in the world, or at least in his world. Too late, she’d seen past the handsome facade of dark hair, dark eyes, a chiseled chin, the athletic torso, and the strong, muscular arms that had held her tightly. His tall body, which he knew how to use to every advantage had been such a turn-on. She’d ignored the warning signs until it was too late.

But now, she saw him for what he really was: an arrogant, possessive, egotistical jerk who thought he could control anyone he set his sights on. And he’d set his sights on her. After she’d realized two months earlier what kind of violence he was capable of, she’d broken it off with him.

Clearly, he wasn’t accepting this fact.

“It’s over, and you know it,” Fallon said firmly.

“I say when it’s over. And it’s not over,” he ground out. “You’re mine.”

At the possessive words, an ice-cold shiver ran down her spine into her tailbone, sending her heart rate spiking. She felt her Apple Watch vibrating, alerting her to her elevated heart rate, but she ignored it.

“I’m not yours. Leave, before I call campus security!”

He made a few more steps toward her. Only Clara’s workbench was between them now. With his long arms and his upper body strength, he could easily reach for her and grab her. Inside, anger suddenly collided with fear, the two emotions battling for supremacy. She stepped back, fixing him with her eyes, worried that he would get physical and hurt her. Yes, she saw it in his eyes. He was capable of physical violence. He’d proven it two months earlier, though back then it hadn’t been directed at her.

“Get away from me!”

“You need me.”

“I don’t need you. And I don’t want you. It’s over. It’s been over since the moment you hurt Hank.”

Cameron scoffed, though he didn’t go as far as admitting that he’d hurt one of her lab assistants in a jealous rage. “Oh, please, Fallon, you’re blowing things out of proportion. I’m just protecting what’s mine.”

She gritted her teeth. “Nobody owns me. Least of all you!”

“You will be mine, soon! Because you’ll need me. You’ll see. You’re not leaving me a choice, you know that?” He grunted to himself, his face distorting into a mask of anger and rage. And ugliness. She’d never thought that a handsome face like Cameron’s could turn into such an ugly mask.

“Soon, you’ll beg me to let you come back. You’ll need me because I’m the only one who can help you. Mark my words.”

The threat hung there in the empty lab, and for a few seconds, only the sounds of their breaths filled the silence.

“Never,” she vowed.

A bitter laugh was his answer. “Soon, my dear Fallon, soon, you’ll be mine.”

He turned on his heel and stalked out of the lab, the door slamming shut behind him. She was frozen in place, paralyzed by his words. This wasn’t just an ex-boyfriend who was pissed off that she’d ended it. No, he’d turned into a stalker. For two months now, he’d bombarded her with gifts, text messages, and voicemails. He’d now graduated to coming to her place of work, all in an effort to make her change her mind about him. But her mind was made up. Cameron was neither good for her, nor treated her the way a man in love ought to treat a woman. He wanted her as his property. And she would never be any man’s property. It was time to make him understand—once and for all—that it was over between them.

It was time to ask the police for help. Maybe Cameron would accept her decision when it came wrapped in a restraining order.