Wanted by the Vampires (House of Durand Book 2)

  Wanted By The Vampires © 2019 Embrace the Fantasy Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also by Erin Bedford

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Also by Erin Bedford

  About the Author

  Also by Erin Bedford

  The Underground Series

  Chasing Rabbits

  Chasing Cats

  Chasing Princes

  Chasing Shadows

  Chasing Hearts

  The Crimes of Alice

  The Mary Wiles Chronicles

  Marked by Hell

  Bound by Hell

  Deceived by Hell

  Tempted by Hell

  Starcrossed Dragons

  Riding Lightning

  Grinding Frost

  Swallowing Fire

  Pounding Earth

  The Celestial War Chronicles

  Song of Blood and Fire

  The Crimson Fold

  Until Midnight

  Until Dawn

  Until Sunset

  Until Twilight – Coming Soon

  Curse of the Fairy Tales

  Rapunzel Untamed

  Rapunzel Unveiled – Coming Soon

  Her Angels

  Heaven’s Embrace

  Heaven’s A Beach

  Heaven’s Most Wanted

  House of Durand

  Indebted to the Vampires

  Wanted by the Vampires

  Academy of Witches

  Witching On A Star

  As You Witch

  Witch You Were Here

  Just Witch It

  Granting Her Wish

  Vampire CEO

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  Chapter 1

  Marcus

  "I UNDERSTAND YOUR CONCERN, Marcus, but we cannot just let Valentine back us into a corner." Antoine's voice held all the exasperation he felt about the subject. It wasn't surprising since I'd hounded him about it every day for the last week.

  Antoine's office was as meticulous as ever. Every book was in its place, every paper where it belonged. There wasn't even a single paper clip left astray. Sometimes I wondered why our esteemed leader even needed a maid in the first place.

  I'd been against getting a live-in maid from the beginning. A cleaning service would have worked just as well with fewer complications. However, the rest of my brothers had a need to have someone pick up after them. Perhaps part of it was my brothers wanted someone to bother or dote on depending on their whim.

  That desire brought us to our current subject, Piper Billings. A simple name for a more than complicated woman. She had weaseled her way into our house and into the hearts of at least two of my brothers... or so it seemed. Antoine and the twins were harder to read than Rayne and Wynn. Those two were easier to read than anyone, even though they tried to cover it up in their own special way, Rayne with anger and Wynn with a flippant attitude. Someone who didn't know them wouldn't have been able to see it, but as we'd been together for several decades, not much slipped past me.

  Except for Antoine.

  Our leader and savior was more than an expert on hiding his true feelings and intentions. I had to work extra hard to get a read on him, like I was trying to do now.

  "Valentine will not stop until we get rid of her or give her to him." I crossed my large arms over my chest, my gaze set on the man before me. "If you won't give him to her, then you need to eliminate the cause of his attraction."

  Sighing, Antoine sat his pen down and locked those icy blue eyes on me. "Even if I dismissed Miss Billings, there is no guarantee that Valentine won't go looking for her on his own." He pushed his shoulders back and his braided blonde hair fell over his shoulder. "No, she is better kept where we can keep an eye on her."

  "Then at least bind her."

  "No."

  That one word resonated through the room and told me that I'd already pressed my luck. I could keep pushing him, but it would not have a pleasant outcome. I'd been on the receiving end of Antoine's wrath a time or two in our long life together, and it was not something I enjoyed.

  No, better to let it lie and try again later. Perhaps if I were able to convince the others to let her go, then Antoine would be more willing to comply.

  With a jerk of my head, I turned on my heel and left his office. I'd always prided myself on being a man of few words. There was a time to speak up and a time to stay silent. Right now, it was the former.

  I walked toward the library where I knew one of my brothers, Wynn, would be lounging about. It was already past midnight, and most places in town would be closed. There wasn't much a vampire could do after nightfall here. The bars closed at one, and unless you were looking for a pharmacy, there wasn't much nightlife. While that was something I enjoyed about this town, my other brothers were frustrated by it.

  Wynn, for instance, loved the attention of the mortals. He had voted for our house to live in some place ‘fun.’ at least in his eyes. New York or Los Angeles, those were his top picks. Living in the middle of Georgia in a town that barely had a library and a movie theater wasn't his idea of fun.

  But he was young, younger than Antoine and me. We long since had gotten over the need to be in the middle of it all. The pheromones humans gave off would fill the clubs and parties like a thick fog which vampires would revel in. We enjoyed blood the most, of course, but knowing what humans wanted was just as filling.

  It wasn't the same as mind reading, not like Rayne, who could see right inside your mind as if he were watching one of those television sets. It took time and practice to build enough of a wall up to keep him out. It was exhausting, and most of us didn't bother anymore.

  When I pushed open the heavy door of the library, I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice our little maid trying to leave. With a small oomph and a bump against my chest that I barely felt; Piper fell toward the hardwood floor. My hand automatically shot out and caught her wrist to stop her descent mid-fall.

  "Oh, shit." She gasped, her chestnut colored eyes darti
ng from side to side as she tried to regain her bearings.

  With a little tug, I pulled her to her feet only inches from myself. Against my better judgment, I inhaled deeply. The scent of her filled my senses, and I felt myself harden. Peculiar that a woman like her with her big doe eyes and heart-shaped face could cause such a reaction in me. I hadn't felt that kind of immediate arousal in years... if ever.

  "Thank you," Piper murmured, her eyes darting down to the floor as she shifted in place. "I should have been watching where I was going."

  "I ran into you."

  The rumble of my voice seemed to startle her, and her eyes widened, her head jerking up to meet my gaze. I cocked my head to the side, to search for what was so attractive about her that she had us all falling over ourselves to keep her.

  Well, almost all of us.

  "Still, I should have been paying attention. I get used to being by myself during the day I forget you guys live here too." She huffed a laugh, tucking a hair behind her ear and showing off her dangling silver earrings. Three tiny crosses attached with small circles between them swung in the air and bumped against her jawline.

  "Those don't work," I told her with a nod of my head.

  Her brows furrowed, and she pulled back slightly, then her hand reached up and touched the dangling crosses. "Oh." The small word made her lips form into a perfect O-shape before her brows shot up to her forehead as she shook her head back and forth. "No, no. I would never... I mean, I didn't pick them because you're vampires." Piper continued to ramble on and muttered apologies, her heart beating rapidly as I stared down at her.

  "Marcus. Enough."

  Piper quieted, and her head jerked toward the voice. Wynn approached, his hands in his pockets and a languid sort of movement to his gait. His black hair curled as it brushed his shoulders, and his eyes bright blue twinkled with mirth. I could see his tattoo of our house sigil between the folds of his unbuttoned shirt, the same one that matched the one above my heart.

  "Wynn, when did you get here?" Piper's voice became low and breathy, her heart skipping a beat as she looked dreamily at Wynn.

  Interesting.

  "I've been here the entire time." Wynn gave her one of his trademark smiles, the smile that usually had women dropping their pants for him in seconds. He pointed a finger at Piper and wiggled it around. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

  Piper's cheeks turned an interesting color of pink, and she ducked her head before giggling. "I couldn't sleep. I was looking for something to read." She held up the books in her hands, and my eyes finally dipped below her face.

  The short, silky shorts and the tank top that hugged her curvy frame collaborated with her story. My eyes briefly registered how she hadn't put a bra on beneath her top and how the cool library had made that fact quite prominent.

  Wynn clearly noticed as well. His tongue slid across his top teeth, and he bared his fangs to her for a brief second before turning his eyes from the tempting maid to me. "Were you looking for me, brother?"

  I inclined my head in a nod.

  "Then, by all means, let's head to the kitchen. I could use a drink." He gave Piper a sideways glance that made me think he was contemplating taking a bite out of her. That was strictly against the rules... not that Wynn ever had intentions of following any of Antoine's rules.

  "You should go to bed, it's not safe in these halls after dark." Wynn winked, and that made her giggle once more. It was a pretty sound, one that I wouldn't mind hearing more of. I could understand why they would all want to keep her around.

  But what we wanted and what was needed wasn't the same thing.

  "Yes, brother." I opened the door and gestured outside into the hallway. "Let us drink."

  Chapter 2

  Piper

  BLEACH BURNED MY NOSE as I scrubbed at the bathtub in Allister's bathroom. It made my eyes tear up and my nose itch. My fingers were going numb from scrubbing so much, but either Allister was fucking with me or he had killed a whole lot of something.

  I was hoping for the former. No one wanted to be cleaning blood regularly, but thinking back to the beginning of this job, I realized that was exactly what I'd been doing.

  "Fucking psychos," I muttered to myself as I shook my head.

  One would think that after weeks of cleaning this house that I would get used to the nuances that came with working for the Durand brothers. Well, I guess they weren't brothers in the traditional, related-by-blood way. I still wasn't quite sure how that all worked. They weren't exactly throwing out answers like candy around here.

  Since my revelation about the vampiric nature of my bosses or, ick, masters, as they wanted to be called, life has been relatively normal... if you ignored the dinner party with the slutty vampirina and creepy Valentine. They made horror movies about guys like him.

  Ever since I'd gotten those flowers from my new undead admirer, I'd had nightmares that kept me up at night, so much so that I ended up having to find the most boring books in the library just to knock me out. Last night's run-in with Marcus and Wynn made me flush in embarrassment.

  When I slipped out of my bedroom, I'd never expected to run into anyone, or I would have put something else on. It wasn't until I was in the chilly library with two of brothers that I realized how little I had been wearing. If Marcus noticed, he didn't show it, but Wynn clearly did.

  Remembering the hungry look in Wynn's sapphire blue eyes, I shivered. We hadn't had many run-ins since Valentine and Theresa had visited. I'd done my best to avoid all of them the best I could, especially Wynn.

  Even if I hadn't already been panty-dropping crazy about him before I took his blood to heal my wrist that Rayne ‘accidently’ broke, I couldn't be around him now without wanting to jump him. It was an obvious side effect of taking his blood. However, I noticed that the more days that passed, the less aggressive the hold was on me. Sure, I still wanted to tear Wynn's clothes off and have my wicked way with him, but it was more on a normal human level now and less ‘I'm being forced to want you.’

  With that thought in my head, I finished up cleaning Allister's bathroom, something I was going to get back at him in some way for later, and headed to the next room on my list, Rayne's.

  While Valentine and Wynn were still important issues, they didn't trump the biggest one I had, Rayne. Loud-mouthed, too sexy for his own good, and a major pain in my ass.

  Ever since he kissed me to save me from Valentine, I hadn't been able to shake these feelings for him. Well, the one feeling, a singular feeling that made me want to jump his bones every time I saw him.

  So, he was also on my list of masters to avoid. Which you think wouldn't be hard when we had an opposite sleep schedule, but I still ended up running into Rayne on occasion. Either on purpose, his, not mine, or because fate was having a laugh on my behalf.

  It wasn't like I hated him. He was a pain, of course, but one damn fine kisser. The hero thing, saving me from Valentine, put a cherry on top of the already dangerous bad boy part of the whole vampire hottie package.

  "I thought I might find you here," Rayne’s voice came from behind me, stepping right out of my thoughts into reality.

  I jolted, and pain exploded through my head as I hit it on the bathroom sink. Groaning and grabbing my head, I eased back onto my heels, sponge still in hand.

  "Are you okay?" Rayne said as he appeared beside me, concern filling his features as his hand reached out as if he was going to touch me. He thought better of it and dropped the hand as he waited for me to answer.

  "Don't sneak up on people, and you won't be responsible for causing them to mental issues," I told him with more snap than I wanted.

  Hurt skated across his features, and those amber eyes flinched away from me for a split-second, but then it was gone. His face smoothed over, and in place of the hurt, there was an arrogant snarl.

  "Well, maybe a hit or two on the head would make you a better person.” He scowled and stood to his feet. “God know
s your personality sucks as it is."

  Jumping up after him, I threw the sponge down and shoved a finger at his face. He wasn't much taller than me, so it put us at an even level, something I was thankful for when trying to be threatening. "You listen here if anyone needs a personality adjustment it's you. You're an asshole and a jerk, and... and..."

  Rayne grabbed my offending finger and jerked me closer until our bodies aligned with one another. I could make out the freckles on his pale skin and the different shades of red in his hair. The hot feel of his breath on my face made me ache in new ways than before.

  "And totally hot for you," he murmured. His eyes locked with mine, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. Those long pale lashes of his fluttered as his face dipped down, but I pushed him away.

  "Don't do that."

  He released me with a confused frown. "Don't do what? Kiss you?"

  "Yes." I pulled down my polo shirt and leaned down to pick up my discarded sponge. Giving him my back, I went about gathering the rest of my cleaning supplies. "I don't have time for whatever sick game you are playing."

  "Who said I was playing?" Rayne came up behind me, his words a hot promise of something, something I couldn't let myself believe. I knew him. He was just as bad as Valentine.

  There were two possible reasons why he was here now. One, he genuinely wanted me and was looking to pick up where things left off that night of the dinner party, or two, he just wanted to mess with me. Rayne could sense how much that kiss had affected me, and it’s not like I could very well control my reaction to him now, anyway. So, the only conclusion was that he’d come to torture me about it.

  "Stop thinking so much." Rayne placed a hand on my shoulder and spun me around. "I'm not as much of a dick as you want me to be."

  "Says you," I snapped and shifted away from him. I brushed past him and out of the bathroom, then made my way across Allister's bedroom toward the door. I could hear Rayne following me but wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking at him. "You know, just because Antoine pays me—"

  "We."

  "What?" I paused and peered back at him.