Chapter Ten: The Vampire Who Came to Help

“I don’t want to hide,” Shar said, glaring at her mate.

“I don’t want him to control you again,” Dustin said with agitation.

“I don’t think he had full control of me,” Shar protested for what felt like the hundredth time.

“I don’t care,” Dustin snarled. “I don’t want to give him the opportunity to try it again.”

Shar sighed, “I understand, Dustin. But you forget that I have your strength….”

He moved so fast she squeaked when he lifted her off her feet and pressed her to his chest. “You are staying in this room if I have to tie you down.”

She smirked. “Do you think that would be such an excellent idea? Tie me down with a vampire in the house?”

Dustin grunted. She had a point, but he wasn’t taking any chances. “Sharissa, please stay hidden.”

Shar saw the plea in Dustin’s eyes and sighed in surrender. “Fine. But I’m not promising to stay hidden forever.”

He sighed with relief, then kissed her.

She pushed against him. “Dustin,” she said, out of breath. “If you keep this up, the vampire will walk in on us while you’re knotted.”

He chuckled, “then I’ll pull out.”

She snorted, “you know that won’t work.”

Dustin sighed. He does know that won’t work. They tried it before when they were running late. He couldn’t seem to pull out, and when he tried, his seed burst inside her without warning, and he knotted anyway. The Goddesses have a horrible sense of humor.

“Just don’t come out while he’s here. Okay.”

She bit her bottom lip, and he knew she was trying not to lie to him.

He growled and demanded, “just don’t let him see you until I know what he’s up to.”

Shar nodded. Now THAT she could promise, she sighed as he set her on her feet. She loved the feel of being in his powerful arms and always missed them when he wasn’t holding her.

The doorbell rang, and her eyebrows shot up. “A vampire ringing the doorbell? Is it true that they need permission to come into your home?”

Dustin snorted, “no, that’s fable lore. They can go into any house they please; besides, if it were true, he has been here before.”

She stared at him. “He has?”

He nodded, then rolled his eyes when the doorbell rang again. “He’s an old friend. That’s why I’m so pissed that he did this to me and my mate. Now, you stay here.” He quickly kissed her, then left her alone in the bedroom.

Shar sighed as she sat on the edge of the bed. Is the vampire going to hurt her mate? She hoped not—he didn’t want to see a pissed-off human mate.

Dustin grumbled as the doorbell rang again. “I’m coming, damn it!” he hollered at the door.

“Well, I hope not. I don’t have the time to wait for the knotting,” Tate Umber said with a grin when Dustin opened the door to him.

“Funny,” Dustin growled.

“Hey, don’t be so crabby, mate boy,” Tate said, still grinning. He pushed Dustin aside as he entered the house.

“You better make this quick, Tate. I have no patience for your shit after what you did today,” Dustin said with agitation as he closed the door and turned to the vampire.

Tate snorted, “I gave her back to you, didn’t I.”

“I don’t know. Were you returning my mate or finding a way out of the mess you got yourself into?”

Tate looked into the shifter’s eyes. They have been friends for too long for him to lie to him.

“Both,” he admitted.

The shifter growled, and Tate took a step back. Another thing he didn’t want to do was hurt his friend if the man attacked him.

“Listen, we need to talk,” Tate said, flinging his hands in the air and moving to the living room.

“No fucking shit—we need to talk,” Dustin said, growling at the vampire. “I thought we were friends, man.”

Tate nodded and said, “we are. That’s why I returned her to you. I could have left her in the alley, in a trance.”

“Oh, how wonderful for my mate that she is mine,” Dustin said with sarcasm.

Tate snorted, “yes, she is fortunate that you are her mate.”

“Cut the crap, Tate, and tell me what you were planning to do with my mate! Have you gotten into human trafficking again?”

Tate snorted, “I learned my lesson three hundred years ago. No, they hired me to return her to her boyfriend and convince her she still loves him.”

A horrible growl erupted from Dustin. He picked up a small table by the couch and threw it at the vampire.

Tate ducked the table and turned to watch it shatter against the wall behind him.

“What kind of assfuck have you turned into, Tate?!”

“For one, I don’t fuck asses. Well, unless it’s a fine piece of female ass.” Tate grinned as he turned back to Dustin. “And two, I didn’t know she was your mate, and he made it sound like they’ve been in love for years, and she got cold feet or something.”

Dustin grunted. “Did he tell you he sent boars after her?” he asked.

Tate paused, “he said that he’d sent men to retrieve her.”

Dustin nodded, “boars. And they tried to kill her, not retrieve her.”

Tate growled, “I hate when someone lies to me.”

“Tate, she came to our office to hire a bodyguard to protect her from Johnny Vega and his minions. He’s angry she left him and thinks she’s his property. He would rather she was dead than on her own, or Goddess forbid, with someone else.”

Tate cursed a stream of curses that even Dustin had never heard before.

“He… he hired a vampire to return me to him?”

They both turned to the hall, where Sharissa Flemmings stood shaking.

“Mafilia, I told you not to come out.” Dustin rushed to his mate’s side.

“You… you told me not to let the vampire see me until you found out what he was up to,” she said, still shaking.

Dustin sighed. She had him there; he had said that.

“Sharissa, you need to go lie down.” He kissed her forehead.

She shook her head and stared at Tate. “No,” she whispered. “I want to hear everything.”

Tate smiled at the human female. She was brave, though from her shaking, he could tell that the knowledge of how far her ex would go to return her to him—shook her. The man had even hired a vampire to hypnotize her into believing she was in love with him.

“Sharissa,” Dustin said, holding her close.

His mate is such a brave woman. He knows most of her shaking was from pent-up anger.

“She should know what’s going on,” Tate said.

Dustin glared at Tate. But he knew his vampire friend was right.

“Are you sure about this?” Dustin asked, looking into Shar’s eyes.

She nodded. “I need to prepare myself.”

“Well, one excellent thing came of this,” Tate said as he collapsed onto a couch.

Dustin sneered at the vampire. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

Tate grinned, “you now have a vampire on your team.”

~🐱~

“I can’t believe Vega has stooped so low,” Daryl said with a growl.

“Hey,” Tate said, glaring at Daryl. With a smirk, he shook his head and laughed.

Everyone ignored the vampire—used to his antics.

“So, what do you plan to do?” Dylan asked, watching his older brother.

Dustin snorted. “Not sure yet.”

He had stayed up most of the night after making love to his mate—thinking about that. And still, he is no closer to an answer than when Tate left them last night.

“He’ll want me to bring her in today,” Tate announced. “Vega had wanted her delivered yesterday.”

“Damn it,” Dustin growled.

“Why don’t we use her as bait?” Drezden suggested.

The entire room erupted with curses and threats.

Tate watched the group of shifter brothers. He has known them since they were cubs. He’d been friends with their father—until the ungrateful asshole ran off with a stupid human. The only human he has found worth spit is Dustin’s new mate.

“What are you thinking about, Tate? You’re quiet.” Dylan asked, watching the vampire.

“I was thinking about your father,” Tate said without flinching.

The room erupted in curses and growls.

Tate shrugged, “you asked.”

“Why would you be thinking about that asshole?” Dustin asked with agitation.

Tate looked at him. “I was thinking about how long I’ve known you boys and how I was your father’s friend once upon a time. Until he left with that human slut, who by now he has traded off—since he is old and wrinkly. Which made me realize I hate humans. The only human I have found tolerable is your mate,” he said, looking at Dustin. “But I don’t know if it’s her or that I can smell you all over her.”

The five brothers stared at the vampire, and Tate chuckled.

“I know, a lot to throw in a few seconds of you five arguing. And to put my two cents in, I think it is a stupid idea to use Dustin’s mate as bait. The oaf will probably run in, guns blazing, and kill the lot of them for even looking at her.”

“He has a point,” Daryl said.

“We don’t use guns,” Dustin grumbled.

Tate rolled his eyes, “it’s a metaphor, you dumbass.”

vampire.Dustin snarled at the Sometimes the man got on his nerves.

‘Sometimes? Hell, try most of the time.’

But he’s a loyal friend. He could have delivered Sharissa to Vega, even though the hypnosis hadn’t worked.

“Dustin!” Daryl shouted.

Dustin looked up at his older brother. “What?”

“We need to put a stop to Johnny Vega before he hires someone who isn’t our friend.”

Dustin nodded. He knows that. Isn’t that what had kept him up all night?

“I can make him forget he wants her,” Tate said, bringing every eye in the room to him.

Well fuck, maybe he should have mentioned this last night. But this is tricky business, and he’s not sure how long it would last.

“Why hadn’t you mentioned this last night?” Dustin demanded.

Tate blew out a puff of air, “because I have no clue what it will do to a man like him, and I don’t know how long it will last.”

“Why don’t we make him believe I’m dead?”

Tate and the Kraftman brothers turned to Sharissa. They had forgotten she was in the room.

“That might work,” Dylan said, always the suck-up.

Tate snorted. He was surprised Dustin hadn’t snapped his brother’s neck by now, with the looks the lad gave Dustin’s mate. But if he was honest, he didn’t see a longing for the woman herself, just a longing for his own mate.

Fucking hell, shifters are confusing with their mate crap. A vampire is simple. Drink blood, party, and fuck every female creature in creation. Except for a female vampire, he did that once, and he won’t go there again.

But then again, this is just how vampires have become—or at least him. Once upon a time, vampires were much like shifters. That’s why he’d become friends with the Kraftman family. Maybe he missed the old ways more than he thought he did. Nah, he likes his life how it is. Or does he?

“Tate!” Dustin hollered at his friend. The vampire was always daydreaming.

“What?” the vampire growled at the shifter.

“Dylan asked if you could make it happen.”

“Make what happen?” Tate asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

“My death,” Sharissa whispered.

Dustin looked at Shar. She seemed to be holding herself up pretty well. But he could see in her eyes that this was taking its toll on her.

“Are you sure about this?” Dustin asked.

She nodded. “I want Johnny out of my life.”

“What if you see him on the street?” Dominic asked.

“I can change his perception of how she looks,” Tate said.

“What about his goons?” Drezden asked.

Tate shrugged, “simple enough. Anyone who has seen Sharissa will now see her as a redhead, a brunette, or whatever you want,” he said, looking at Sharissa.

Dustin studied the vampire. He wanted to help him and his mate. And, if it weren’t for Tate, they would not know how far Johnny Vega would go to get Sharissa back.

“Why don’t we just kill the asswad?” Dominic asked.

“Do you want the mob to come after us?” Daryl asked, glaring at his brother.

Dominic shrugged, “not like they haven’t come after us before.”

“But none of us had a mate to look after before,” Dylan said, looking from his brother to Sharissa.

Dustin grunted. “Dominic, what is up with you?”

Dominic shrugged, “maybe we’re all on pins and needles because you found your mate, and the rest of us are going to live our lives alone….”

“I feel that yours is out there, too,” Shar stated.

Dominic looked up at Sharissa and smiled. “Thanks, little sister.”

Shar smiled at the giant shifter. “Anything for my brothers, but I feel it. I don’t know how—I just do.”

“The Shifter Guide,” Tate said with a nod.

“The what now?” Sharissa asked, staring at the vampire.

She couldn’t believe she was in a room with five cougar shifters and a mouthy vampire who seemed to take pleasure in tormenting and teasing his friends. And she felt no fear. Not for the five shifters, and certainly not for the vampire. She’s well-protected and feels like she could get through anything with her mate at her side.

“Keep thinking that,” Tate said, looking at her.

Her eyes widened, and he chuckled.

“Yep, I can read your thoughts. Not all of them, but some come through.”

“What was she thinking?” Dustin asked.

Shar blushed when the vampire told her mate what he had heard.

Dustin grinned. “I’m happy you feel that way, Mafilia. I feel the same. I feel like nothing can come between us.”

Shar nodded with a shy smile. Dustin pulled her chair closer to his and kissed her.

“If I have to see you knotted again, I’m going to barf,” Dylan said.

Sharissa turned and threw a stapler at Dylan’s head, making everyone laugh.

Dustin pulled his mate closer and kissed her temple.

“Okay, so how are we going to pull this off?” Daryl asked.

Dustin nodded. He was wondering the same thing.

“I’ll tell him a train killed her when she tried to escape me, and it smeared her body up and down the tracks….”