Callie's Blood Mates [Blood Exchange 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Calista’s sigh of relief drew his and Dexter’s attention, and she sagged against the brick fence for a moment. “Weird,” she muttered under her breath, but he and Dex were able to hear her quite clearly with their enhanced hearing.

  After a few moments she pushed off the wall and started walking again. She stopped at the next house and looked about her before opening the garden gate and moving up the pathway, and then unlocking the door and disappearing inside. Vlad was pleased to hear her engage the lock before moving away from her house.

  “I can’t believe we both have the same mate,” Dex mumbled before giving him a sideways glance.

  “Me either, but I suppose it’s not so surprising if you think about it.”

  “How did you come to that conclusion?” Dex asked.

  “We have been close friends for a very long time. Have saved each other’s lives more than once and are really more like brothers than friends. Plus, we have exchanged blood too many times to count. I’d say we are connected on a deeper level than if we actually were brothers.” Vlad thought back to the first time he’d met Dexter.

  They had met almost two hundred and fifty years ago, and although they had been old in the human equation for age at that time, they had both been born vampires and hadn’t looked more than their early twenties rather than in their late forties. He remembered the night he had saved Dexter from being staked in the heart by overzealous and frightened men of that long ago era.

  Vlad’s parents had both been killed at the hands of humans when he was in his late teens, and although he had reason to hate their kind with all his heart, he didn’t. He’d learned to forgive them their ignorance. Of course, none of the people of the village at that time had known for sure that he was vampire, but since he hadn’t been around during daylight hours they had come to their own conclusion—albeit the correct one.

  Dex had only lived one village over from him, and although he, too, had lost his parents the same way and had tried to hide his existence from the village citizens, he had been caught unaware while slumbering in the early hours of the evening.

  His friend had been tied to a post, about to be murdered, but Vlad had been out walking and rescued him. They clicked and from that moment on had been friends. Dex returned the favor and saved his life as well when he’d been caught and beaten and left out in the open as the sun began to rise in the sky. The sun wouldn’t have killed him, but he would have been burned beyond recognition and as such, too weakened to heal himself. He wouldn’t have had the strength to go and feed and therefore would have eventually perished from starvation. Dexter had saved him from the excruciating pain of being burnt to a crisp and for that he was grateful. He couldn’t think of a worse way to die. He’d rather have a stake driven through his heart than be burnt alive.

  Dexter’s voice pulled him from his memories. “How the hell are we supposed to woo our mate? With Pike and his asshole cronies on the loose, it’s not safe for us to bond with her even if she accepts us.”

  “Are you willing to walk away?” Vlad asked.

  Dexter stopped in his tracks and turned to scowl at him. He didn’t answer straight away, and Vlad began to fear that his friend wasn’t going to answer.

  “No.”

  “Can you wait until we have the dark wizards under control before claiming her?” Vlad knew damn well that he couldn’t. From the moment he spotted and smelled his mate, his inner beast had been clawing at him to get out and bond with her. There was no way in hell he was going to walk away from courting her, and he hoped that Dexter wouldn’t either. If he mated Calista without his friend, then he knew he would lose his best friend forever. There was no way that Dexter could visit him if he was mated to Calista and he wasn’t about to mate her without Dex. The blood hunger he felt would never be appeased, and he could even end up killing innocent humans in search of satisfaction. Now that they’d found their mate, the hunger would continue to grow and they could become dangerous.

  “No,” Dexter finally answered with a sigh.

  “Then let us go back home and begin planning,” Vlad said before he apparated instead of dematerializing into small particles, and seconds later he was in his living room back home.

  Dexter arrived a scant second later and they grinned at each other. That skill was still new and exciting to them. Vlad was glad that he and others of his kind had the white witches on their side.

  Hopefully he and his friends would be able to take down the dark wizard George Kite and his cohorts with the knowledge the white witches had shared with them.

  Leaving them alive so they could continue to stalk and harm vampire mates and humans was not acceptable. But in the meantime, he and Dexter had a mate to woo.

  Chapter Two

  Calista smiled as she wandered the museum and turned off the lights. She had only been working here for four months and still couldn’t believe she had landed her dream job. All those years of hard study had paid off and she was now in her element.

  She nodded to one of the guards on the second floor as she took her time moving from room to room. She knew it took her much longer than it should to shut everything off, but she got such joy at looking at the artwork as well as the displays.

  Calista moved into the room, which depicted a display on vampires. Behind the glass was a black cape and wooden stakes, as well as a wax dummy of the supposed Count Dracula from the book by Bram Stoker. The life-sized representation was pretty scary, with white fangs protruding from its mouth and trails of blood down to its chin.

  All of a sudden, the hair on her nape stood on end and a slight breeze caused her hair to move. She spun around and placed her hand over her heart as her heartbeat increased in pace, as did her breathing. When she realized what she was doing, she laughed out loud and then snorted at her overactive imagination. Of course there was no one in the room with her, nor was there anyone in sight. After glancing at her watch and seeing that it was an hour past her usual finishing time, she hurried back to the doorway and flicked the light switch off. Now that everything had been turned off besides the dim lights in the foyer where the security guards sat all night, her job was done.

  She hurried back down to the ground floor to her office just off the main entry and grabbed her things. Minutes later, she was walking along the street and headed for home. She was a little weary after such a long day and decided to stop in at a café for dinner. It was often a chore to cook for one, although she liked cooking, but sometimes she just couldn’t be bothered with all the effort. Maybe if she had a boyfriend or a husband she would cook more often, but for now she would let someone else cook and clean up after her.

  Pushing the door of the café open, she glanced around for an empty table and then headed toward the back. There was only one table free and it was large enough to seat four people, but she didn’t really care. It was also next to the window and since she loved watching people walk by she didn’t hesitate at taking it.

  She glanced toward the door when the bell tingled and her breath caught in her throat. Two tall, handsome, muscular men entered the café and glanced around as if they, too, were looking for somewhere to sit. Their eyes alighted on her, and even though she tried to look away she couldn’t. The men began weaving their way through the tables and patrons, and Calista’s heart raced inside her chest.

  God, they’re beautiful.

  They both wore formfitting black jeans and buttoned dress shirts. The taller of the two had black hair and the most astounding translucent blue eyes she’d ever seen. They were so light in color they reminded her of a wolf’s or a malamute’s eyes. His hair looked to be shoulder length but was tied back behind his neck. The aura of power and menace radiating from him had her breathing escalating. Her eyes shifted to the blond-haired man walking just to the side and behind the dark-haired one.

  He wasn’t as tall as his friend, but he was just as brawny, if not more so, and his hair was trimmed short. His eyes were a gorgeous jade color, and when she met them she swore sh
e could see heat in his gaze. But the authority radiated from him, too. And for some reason she was a little afraid of both of them.

  Calista shifted in her seat and finally managed to pull her eyes from them and glanced out the window, but instead of seeing the people of Portland walking by, she watched their reflections in the glass. They stopped right beside her table and looked at her expectantly. It didn’t seem to matter that she wasn’t looking at them directly. She felt as if they could both see into her soul.

  After taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, she turned around to face them, and before she could open her mouth to ask them what they wanted, they both bent slightly at the waist and bowed to her, in an old world, sort of courtly way. She placed her fingers over her lips to hold in a nervous giggle but when the dark-haired man followed that action she quickly dropped her hand back down to her lap and gripped them together tightly.

  “Good evening. My name is Vladimir Trance, and this is my friend, Dexter Templeton. We were wondering if we could share your table with you since all the others are full,” Vladimir said.

  She glanced about and saw that he was right, and even though she felt a little uncomfortable about sharing with strangers she couldn’t very well say no.

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you, Ms.—?” Dexter asked as he pulled one of the chairs opposite her out and then sat down. Vlad sat next to him.

  “Calista. Calista Morgan.”

  “Please, call us Vlad and Dex,” Vlad said as he held his hand out to her.

  She took his hand in hers and barely held in a gasp when his cool clasp sent frissons of heat racing up her arm, into her chest, and arrowing straight down to her pussy. Calista found herself staring into his mesmerizing blue eyes and felt as if she were drowning in his almost translucent blue gaze. When she realized what she was doing she withdrew her hand and would have placed it back in her lap, but Dex moved quickly and took it before she could move away.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Calista.”

  “Um.” She paused to lick suddenly dry lips and scrambled for something to say. “You, too.”

  “What can I get you?” the waitress asked when she stopped to take their orders.

  Callie ordered a chicken salad and coffee. When she looked at Vlad and Dex, they were looking at each other, and if she didn’t know any better she would have thought they were communicating somehow. She sighed and pushed her fanciful thoughts away.

  As the waitress walked away, Callie tried to remember what the men had ordered, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember. She frowned over that. Had she been so inattentive? Then she figured she mustn’t have heard them since she sat staring at them so much. No matter how hard she tried to keep her gaze off of them, her eyes were drawn to them again and again. And much to her surprise her body was responding to their nearness.

  Her breasts felt heavy and swollen. Her nipples were hard and achy, and her pussy was continually leaking cream, making her soaked panties downright uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat and brought her legs closer together, but squeezing them didn’t help worth a damn. In fact, it only made her clit throb more and her cunt clench around an empty ache that just seemed to get worse and worse.

  “What do you do for a living, Calista?” Dex asked.

  “Call me Callie. All my friends do. I work in the museum.”

  “That must be interesting,” Vlad said.

  Callie smiled and then started talking about how much she loved her job and how she loved to see the history which had helped shape people as they were today. Vlad and Dexter seemed to listen to her every word and didn’t stop staring at her, but she guessed they were just being polite at her rambling. When the waitress brought out their food she realized she’d monopolized the conversation.

  “I’m sorry. You should have stopped me from rambling.”

  “Don’t ever apologize for being passionate about something you love. I find it very refreshing.” Vlad smiled at her.

  Callie blinked and dropped her gaze to his mouth. She could have sworn his eye teeth were longer than the others, but when she looked again she couldn’t see any length difference.

  “What do you two do?”

  “We’re…retired,” Dex answered.

  “You are? You don’t look old enough to be retired. What are you? Thirty-five?”

  “Something like that,” Vlad said. “We have been very lucky to have made enough money to see us through the rest of our lives. We’ve made some lucrative business deals, and even though we are still the major shareholders in our company we let the people we hired run our business.”

  “Wow. That must be…nice.”

  Callie finished her meal, and when she looked at their plates they were empty, too, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember seeing them eat. She frowned as she tried to think back, but when she tried all she drew was a blank. Something strange was going on here, and even though she knew she should probably get up and walk away, she didn’t want to. There was something about these two men that drew her to them.

  “Do you live in Portland?” Callie asked.

  “Yes. Dexter and I grew up on the outskirts of town.”

  “What about you?” Dex asked.

  “Oh. I grew up here, too.”

  The waitress came by with the check, and as she reached for it, Vlad snatched it from the table. “Allow me. It’s the least we can do after you let us share your table.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Vlad glanced at the bill and then pulled his wallet from his pocket. He placed a hundred dollar bill on the table and then rose to his feet.

  “Aren’t you going to wait for your change?” Callie asked. She knew that the money he placed on the table was way more than what their three meals had cost.

  “No. That young waitress has earned every cent of that tip.”

  Vlad held his hand out to her and helped her to her feet after she placed her hand in his and began leading her toward the door. She felt Dex behind her and shivered with reaction. Her whole body felt like every nerve ending was exposed. She’d never been so aware of any man, let alone two.

  Once they were outside, she pulled her hand free of Vlad’s clasp and turned to face him and Dex. “Thank you for my dinner. It was nice meeting you.”

  Dexter moved in so close to her side that his arm brushed against hers. Goose bumps rose up on her skin and then covered her whole body. It was really hard not to show any reaction to his proximity, but when Vlad moved to her other side, a shiver raced up her spine. Her breasts swelled, her areolae crinkled in tighter, and her nipples hardened even more. Callie’s pussy grew moister and then clenched with desire.

  “Please, allow us to see you home safely,” Dexter said.

  Callie swallowed and licked suddenly dry lips. As much as she wanted to spend more time with them, she didn’t know them and didn’t feel comfortable with them knowing where she lived.

  “Thank you, but that’s not necessary.”

  “As you wish,” Vlad said.

  The way both these men spoke put her in mind of the seventeenth and eighteenth century with their old world speech and manners.

  Dexter and Vlad bowed to her, and just before she turned to walk away, they both reached up and stroked a finger down each of her cheeks. Her breath stuttered and her heart thumped, but then they turned away from her.

  Callie took a deep breath and watched as they moved away from her. Vlad and Dex paused and looked back at her over their shoulders.

  “Until we meet again, Calista Morgan.”

  She observed them until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

  “Are you out of your ever loving mind, girl?” Callie berated herself as she started for home. “How can you be lusting after two men you’ve only just met?”

  She started walking in the direction of her home and tried to remember what Vlad and Dex had eaten for dinner, but every time she tried she drew a blank. Not that it reall
y mattered, but it was a puzzle. She couldn’t stop thinking about them or how damn handsome they were. Vlad with his dark hair and blue eyes, and Dex with his blond hair and green eyes. She’d met handsome men before, but not like those two. They seemed to exude sexuality, confidence, and power and it was a huge turn-on.

  The hair on her nape prickled as if she was being watched or followed, but when she looked back over her shoulder she didn’t see anyone close to her or taking any notice of her. With a sigh of relief she turned back around and kept walking. The feeling of being watched stayed with her the whole way home, and as she paused at the gate to her small front yard, she realized that she felt safe for some reason and that puzzled her. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched but she felt safe. Too weird, Callie. You’re imagining things now.

  Callie pushed the gate open and went inside, closing and locking the door behind her. As she moved toward her bedroom, a shiver of desire raced up her spine, wracking her body as she brought the image of Dex and Vlad into her mind’s eye. She stripped her clothes off and moaned when her hands accidentally brushed her hard aching nipples as she removed her bra, and she couldn’t help but cup and squeeze her nipples, trying to relieve the aching throb. But that didn’t help at all. It just made the ache more powerful and her pussy muscles clenched, moisture pooling into her vagina only to bubble out onto her damp panties.