The Calm Before the Storm Read online

  The Calm Before the Storm

  One year after the battle between the sun sprites and vampires, Ben Volio finds a vampire on the brink of death alongside the road. With no other help available to him, and no knowledge of vampire medicine, Ben takes him to the home of his friends, where he hopes they can heal the severely injured stranger.

  However, this is no ordinary vampire. Seth Sampson was a former guard employed by the vampire Lord Veturious, and ever since his betrayal of the family, he has been held captive and tortured as punishment, and now he's being hunted down until he's returned to his prison.

  His very presence endangers Ben's friends, who are also in hiding from the vampires and sun sprites. Should Ben trust that Seth will not give away their secret as a trade-off? Or will becoming close to him prove to be the worst mistake of both their lives?

  Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal,Vampires/Werewolves

  Length: 63,325 words

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  THE CALM

  BEFORE THE STORM

  Mandy Rosko

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  MANLOVE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove

  THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

  Copyright © 2012 by Mandy Rosko

  E-book ISBN: 1-61926-181-2

  First E-book Publication: January 2012

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  THE CALM

  BEFORE THE STORM

  MANDY ROSKO

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter One

  Motherfucker! That hurt!

  The sudden and distinct burning, as though his bare skin had been licked by a whip, brought on by a hard bullet zipping through the flesh of his outer thigh and taking some of it away with it nearly put Seth down. As it was, he only stumbled before biting down hard on his teeth and forcing himself to stop being such a pussy and just run.

  More bullets buzzed like angry bees past his ears or caught onto his clothes and tore at them, taking more strips of skin away.

  Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.

  But it’s hard, the inner little whiny voice inside his head complained. Seth wasn’t in nearly the shape he’d been in a year ago, despite being a vampire now. Even vampires could let their bodies go to waste after so long of inactivity.

  After being locked in a box for so long, let out only to become the family feeder, amongst other things, his vampire strength counted for less than half of what he had back as a human.

  This was his second escape attempt, and a damned miracle he’d gotten this extra chance. It would not go to waste. He’d had to pull a fast one on that fucked-up psychiatrist, Winchester, and steal his suit, which was way too small, to better blend in amongst the rest of the staff, but he’d gotten outside, He’d made it past the line of the family property before the lights came on, however, signaling that his escape had been noticed.

  Now he had guards on his ass.

  A ripping and tearing sound from behind, followed by the deep growls and savage barking told him that the werewolves were going into hunting mode. They’d shot at him until their clips were empty, and now they’d released the hounds and were going to sniff him out.

  Panicked adrenaline pumped high within him. Werewolves were excellent hunters, and the pack faced punishment if Seth got away.

  That was some killer motivation for them right there.

  Fuck! God fucking damnit! No! He was getting out of here. He was not going back into that box! He. Was. Not!

  Everything became sluggish around him, his movements, the wolves chasing behind, and even the sounds of their barking became faraway echoes that stretched out as though someone had put the world into slow motion. It allowed his brain to catch up and put thoughts into his head at a rate that enabled him to plan, to look through the dark trees and find any way that would allow him to lose the hounds before they clamped their giant jaws around his legs and dragged him back to the manor.

  It didn’t help much that werewolves, when in wolf form, were biiiiig sons of bitches. The largest one stood taller than Seth was, and that was just when on all fours. Oh my, what large teeth you have, Grandma.

  He briefly imagined turning about-face— always do what your attackers least expect you to do, right?— and just pummeling his fist into the first hairy snout that met it. Big dogs or not, that would stun the hell out of anyone. Maybe that would buy him a few—

  No. His adrenaline was pushing him through the running part, and maybe some kind of a miracle wo
uld allow him to best one of those things behind him if he had to, but that was a pack back there. There had to be twenty of them just chasing him, the human guards still back at the manor waiting for him to be caught and brought in now that the werewolves were out taking care of business. These were all men he’d once worked with and shared lunch breaks with.

  Friendship didn’t mean shit compared to the blood loyalty they had for their master, Wiktor Veturious, and Seth could hardly blame them.

  Seth had been totally fucked after his betrayal was discovered last year. Imagine what that vampire lord prick would do to creatures he thought of as dogs if they didn’t catch Seth tonight.

  Sorry, guys, he thought, eyes still scanning the trees.

  It was his ears that picked it up, the gentle trickle and later the harsh sloshing of water over rocks not much farther into the distance.

  The stream! It fed into the river. Had he made it so far already?

  Didn’t matter. Seth poured every ounce of energy he had into his legs. Divert all power to the engines, Scotty! He ran like he was Superman, arms pumping and lungs nearly bursting as he sucked back his air. When his bare feet made the transition from soft, well-groomed grass to sharp and angular rocks, he kept his pace regardless of the pain until his legs splashed into the cold water.

  He made a sharp turn. Now he was running along the bank, just in the water, but it was pointless to hide his scent as the werewolves were still three hairs behind him. The warm air from their flaring snouts heated his back, and the snap of teeth followed by the brief tug of his stolen dress shirt before a long strip of it was ripped away, came next.

  Don’t stop. You’re almost there. Please, God, don’t let me stop.

  If his body gave out on him now, he was done, and there would be no third chance. Wiktor would never allow him the opportunity to escape ever again.

  But then, yes, there it was! Even through the darkness, it was still as clear as daylight with his vampire eyes, and the place where the stream thickened, where the water flow became heavy and dark, was just within sight.

  A long howl sounded from behind, and, Fuck!

  Another werewolf appeared from between the trees barely ten feet off, crashing through them and slamming his hairy body into Seth’s, knocking him off his path and onto his knees into the water. The cold liquid splashed around his body and up his nose in the fall like he was on a frickin’ log ride or something. He shot his hands out to catch himself but scraped them along the rocks at the bottom.

  Another howl sounded, and there was more splashing as the wolves trotted their enormous paws into the water, surrounding him on all sides but for where it was too deep to stand.

  One of them was still in man form as he approached, the water rising to his knees. “Let’s go home, Sampson. This doesn’t have to be hard.”

  Jackson was leading the group. Figured that the pack alpha would be at the head of this particular chase.

  Seth wanted to roll his eyes at the words his friend had spoken.

  This doesn’t have to be hard, he’d said. Easy for you to say.

  He was surrounded, almost. He’d been knocked into the deeper area of the water, and now on his knees, it went past his waist. Only one other were apart from Jackson was still in human form as far as Seth could tell without looking at them, which meant there was only one more gun he had to worry about, and they wouldn’t be shooting to kill.

  He shot up and dove for the deeper part of the water.

  A hideous-sounding snarl and a splash followed behind him. For the tiniest second, his heart actually made a beeline for his throat at the thought of those wolves following him into the deep end, doggy-paddling after his ass, but then the sharpest pain, worse than any bullet in his thigh, pummeled into his leg and exploded out the knee while he was still in the air.

  Seth screamed as his stomach followed the same trail as his heart as his whole body spun out of control with the force of the strike, the dark trees above twisting and blurring together until he hit the black water, which did dick-all to soften his landing.

  His entire body felt like it had gotten slapped in the belly flop he did, and the added pain nearly made him pass out, but he went down hard and deep, his head knocking into the rock at the bottom. White flashed inside his brain like fireworks coming from the direction of where he’d hit his head.

  He had enough time to think about how fucked he was going to be when the boys brought him back to the manor to face Lord Veturious, right before he lost consciousness in the water.

  * * * *

  Jackson’s guts twisted as he watched his old friend, floating face up in the water, slowly get dragged into the stronger current where stream became river.

  One of his wolves sloshed closer, ready to swim out and retrieve their prey. Jackson’s fist lurched out, caught the young wolf by the scruff, and pulled him back with a growl of his own. “Stay.”

  He wouldn’t risk any of his wolves being overtaken by the current, especially not the young one.

  The wolf, Joey, turned his golden eyes on Jackson. The only thing human about them in this form was that, currently, they were confused and frightened.

  Confused as to why his alpha would have him pull back, and frightened of what their vampire master would do to him when he discovered the loss.

  The same went for the others, all of whom were now either in the water, or on the damp rocks, watching their captive float away, faster and faster as the current took its hold, until he disappeared clean around the bend.

  A few whines sounded, some visibly struggling with the effort to not rush in the water and take him, risk of drowning or not. Paws shifted, hackles stood on end, but now, everyone turned their eyes to their alpha.

  He turned his back to the current and walked out of the water. “I want you all to listen to me very carefully,” he began. “I was the one to let him get away. I was the one who slashed him too hard and killed him, who lost his body in the water.”

  Several growls of disagreement followed his statement. His pack did not require human words in order to communicate with their alpha just how much they were not pleased with his plan.

  It was the only good thing about his position as leading alpha. He didn’t have to give two shits what they thought. This wasn’t a democracy, and so long as Jackson remained the strongest in the pack, his wolves would do as he said.

  Of course, after Wiktor was through with him, he wouldn’t be leading his pack for much longer.

  Joey, the wolf who’d taken out Seth’s leg, was barely more than a pup. This was only his second hunt, and he wasn’t even an alpha, but an omega they were passing off as one just to keep him out of the kitchens. Jackson would never allow him to be punished for his mistake in wounding their prey to such a degree.

  Not that it mattered how Seth’s leg had twisted in that fucked-up angle as he’d been struck. He was unconscious and bleeding in the water. And a vampire. If he wasn’t already dead from getting his head bashed in, and Jackson’s ears had picked up the sound of that nasty crunch, then he was going to be dead when the sun came up in an hour, or better yet, the blood loss would take him.

  He—Seth—would never feel a thing, being knocked out like that.

  A good, quick, painless death, compared to decades or even centuries of torture at Wiktor’s and Winchester’s hands.

  He allowed those thoughts to flow through him, allowing his wolves to see into his reasoning, to understand.

  Okay, so maybe he did care about what they thought of the decisions he made. Sometimes.

  Now the pack’s concern shifted to him, and whining and pathetic yipping ensued. Joey came forward and nudged Jackson’s hand with that huge wet nose of his. He might be an omega, but he was still fairly large for one, which made it easy to trick the vampires into thinking he should be part of the guards.

  Jackson pushed him away, ignoring the way Joey’s tail curled between his legs at the shove. “We’re doing this, and I am commanding you all, no on
e is to stray from the story. Got it?”

  Every hairy head dipped in silent, if hesitant, agreement. Damon was the last to give in. Likely he would be taking over the care of the pack when Jackson was no longer able to.

  Jackson blew out a hard breath. At least the next leading alpha would be a fair one. “All right, let’s head back and tell the master that I lost his pet.”

  Was Wiktor ever going to be pissed. Not only would Jackson be returning with a story about accidentally killing the prisoner, without a body to prove it, but the sheer fuckup quality of the situation would ensure that Jackson would be hurting in the morning as punishment.

  Still, he figured the vampires would have no choice but to believe him when he said that Seth had been killed. The remaining wolves wouldn’t be able to track his scent so long as his body continued to travel along the water, and there would be no time to send out the humans to search either, as the alleged dead body would become ashes in the morning light anyway. Seth should be far enough downstream by then that the vampires wouldn’t bother with the risk.

  All the same, Jackson hardly appreciated how his wolves followed behind him, all silent and grim, even their thoughts, as though Jackson were marching to his death. The fuckers could at least keep some hope for him.

  Even with the risk, Jackson was glad he was able to give Seth a somewhat peaceful death.

  Chapter Two

  Ben all but put his foot through the brake of his Jeep when he realized that floating log thing in the water was a body. The tires shrieked across the pavement in loud, ear-splitting indignation before the vehicle finally came to a jerky halt.