Page 10 of Master Botosoni

My heart races with stirred desire, dashed hopes that it could work, and angst about it all. He has to let me go, and not make the thing with my parents and brothers any worse. “You don’t understand the situation. You have no right to make assumptions about things that you do not know. I never asked to be under your protection, Botosoni. My father and brothers will protect me from whatever threatens me. That’s the life that I was born into, my destiny, be it good or bad.”

A low growl rolls deep in his throat. He pulls me closer, stroking a finger down the expanse of my neck, his fangs descend as his eyes redden with heat. “The marks tell me everything that I need to know about your family. I need to know nothing except that. No one has the right to put hands on you. They do it again, and they will deal with me. Do not doubt that, Catina.”

The thought of my father and brothers going head-to-head with Botosoni and his pureblooded brothers sends a shiver of fear down my back; not for him, but for my family because there’s something deep and dark in those eyes that tell me he’s certainly the one who will win.

But at what cost?

I will be shunned from my family and outcast as a vampire-loving whore. Maybe that is what I am, because there is no denying my attraction to the dark-souled beast who makes my thighs quiver with lust and my heart race with something I’ve never felt before.

He uses a finger to tilt my face to him. “Maybe when this is over, there is a choice for you. Right now, you are with us and will help us see this through. You’ll come downstairs with me and meet the others who have journeyed in to help us find the rogues. I’ve brought them up to speed on what you know and what’s happened, but I’m sure they all have more questions for you.

“Willow and Raven are witches, and each have a stone. Madria, who you mentioned before, is with them now and has the other stone. We have a group out gathering information in all the clubs about the rogue vampires and shifters right now, trying to get as much information from the locals as we can, but we need your powers of sight, Catina. You can say no to me, but I cannot let you go.”

My mind swirls with thoughts of a club, of a loud, energetic, and pulsing beat, and people dancing on a crowded dance floor, trying to talk over each other and the music. A dark-haired man in the back scans the area, looking this way and that. His eyes begin to glow a deep, dark red that sends a cold, ominous chill down my spine. “One of the rogues you seek is at a club. A high-class club, with red walls, lights shining over the dance floor in front of the music stage, silver globes, with dancing girls on a stage, and the name Club Descallia over the bar.”

His eyes redden as I speak. “Son of a bitch. The fucking nerve of those rogues. Grab your stuff, and come with me.” He barely gives me time to toss my purse strap over my shoulder before being rushed out of the room and toward the staircase that takes us to the lower level.

The minute we walk into a large marble floored room, the entire group stands. I swallow through my nerves. It’s not like I haven’t been around night dwellers before. Botosoni’s hand settles on my lower back, the heat of his touch stirring that familiar desire but also calming my fear as all eyes of the vampires and their mates turn to me. Dark black, red, and green eyes watch me, and for some reason it takes all the effort in the world not to faint away right in front of them.

I take in the men’s jeans, long sleeved sweaters, so casual and normal in appearance if those bright red eyes weren’t intimidating the hell out of me right now. But I’ve connected with many darker than them with my powers, united loved ones with their deceased and not once with an ounce of fear. I suck in a deep breath, willing my nerves to go away, knowing that the only reason I’m so nervous now is because of the omen that terrified me to death and could definitely come true.

A woman with dark hair and bright green eyes is the first to move. She walks toward me. “I’m Lucianna. I prefer Luce, but I’ve long since given up trying to get people to call me that when all they ever hear from Overmaster Descallia is my entire name.” She rolls her eyes dramatically at the dark, intense one who can be none other than the Overmaster of all vampires. The man who started all of this with his determination to change the way of the vampires in our world.

I give the woman a small smile for trying her best to alleviate my angst. Lucianna extends a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Catina. We’ve heard quite a bit about you from Master Botosoni and appreciate your help. I’ve read quite a bit about our destiny in the Vade Mecum. It speaks of you in terms of a future healer who brought the stones together. It’s part of a larger puzzle that we’ve been missing as we search for the rogues. We appreciate your willingness to help us.”

I don’t tell her the choice wasn’t mine; instead I take her in, having heard about the woman everyone says will be the next queen since her arrival back to Descallia. Nothing about the Overmaster of all the vampires does not travel quickly through Romania, or the countries where they originated. Everyone accepting them in everyday life, no longer gravely afraid, but still curious and wary enough to want to learn all they can. Including my family and the rest of the travelers who go from community to community, seeking available work depending on the season and are seldom in one place for very long.

Botosoni introduces me to the others. “This is Overmaster Descallia, Master Campania and his mate Willow, Master Romano and his mate, Raven, and Master Sardinia and his new mate Madria. Overmaster Descallia’s right-hand man Lucas and his mate Embry will join us as soon as they can. He’s running down leads and feeding them to a few of the others who are out looking for the rogues and a wolf leader we used to believe was a friend.”

The name suddenly swirls in my mind, coming to my lips as though from a dream. “Sheba.”

Lucianna nods, her eyes glowing a hard green. “Yes, he’s been helping the rogues and the shifters who have sided with them for quite some time. We only recently learned of his deceit.”

A shadowy form in the background of the club tries to materialize in my mind but doesn’t before a pristine white wolf takes his place, his crystalline blue eyes glowing with ice cold anger. “Sheba is in the club, the same club that the rogues were in,” I tell Botosoni.

Overmaster’s eyes go wide. “At my club, here, in the city? Right under our fucking noses once again?”

Botosoni clears his throat. “It would seem that at least one of the rogues is right here in the city. Catina believes she saw him at the club. I sent a text to the others to meet us at Descallia.”

Overmaster Descallia growls so loud the glasses on the bar in the corner rattle together. Everyone holds their breath, waiting to see if they or the mirror behind it will shatter; instead, the glasses begin to still. “That wolf will regret the day he turned traitor to his friends; I will see to it.”

They may not have shattered, but Overmaster Descallia looks fit to be tied. He buckles a wide belt that holds long swords around his waist, and puts on his dual chest holder that holds two short daggers that lay in a cross against his chest. The fierce leader looks around to ensure everyone is ready and then looks pointedly at me and then at Botosoni. “She comes with us,” he says to Botosoni, before he places an arm around Lucianna and the group disappears right before my very eyes.

Botosoni places a belt around my waist with two small daggers and a stake. “You stay by my side at all times. Remember, you are under my protection. There is nothing to fear if you do as I say. I’ll teach you to use these soon, but for now it’s best if they think you are capable of using these.”

I swallow through the thickness in my throat. I may know how to protect myself in the world outside of the underworld, but I’ve also never had to go up against rogue vampires, shifters, or witches.

Chapter 9

Botosoni

I envelope Catina in my arms, feeling her heartbeat race as I shift her into a world of dark, knowing that only by destiny’s hand does she find herself in the middle of this war. I should have gotten the information that I needed from her and then let her go. A selfless man would do that very thing, but something about Catina draws me to her very soul. A magnetism that I find interesting, fascinating, and disconcerting at the very same time as I feel her heart beat against my chest.

Still, she’s far too young for me, and a human at that. But that hasn’t stood in the way of the other masters; some of the masters have even been approved to mate witches these days. I would have a far easier path to go convincing the consulate of keeping a human as a mate. Humans have been turned from the dawn of time and mated to the most respected of vampire lords and masters over the centuries. It’s an accepted practice, as long as it’s approved by the consulate.

My jaw clenches with the realization that I’m actually contemplating mating. I scoff internally; a virgin that I never should have even kissed. I should have left her completely untouched, unsoiled, just the way I found her, but I already know that if I have my way it won’t be the last time either.

She wants me as badly as I crave her. I felt it in the racing of her heart and change of her breathing as I claimed her lips, even before I felt the tips of her nipples straining against that sweater that fits her just right.

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