From the Blurb:
Can a bratty young vampire behave himself for the ultimate reward?
Benjamin Wilde has been around for four hundred years. Clove Noble has only recently joined the clan of the undead. But Clove has also joined Professor Wilde’s Egyptology class, and now the other students have begun to disappear, one by one.
Professor Wilde knows he has to do something to curb Clove’s youthful recklessness. And when the young vampire expresses an interest in Benjamin’s attractive bloodslave Sage, he thinks he might have a way to control him.
Or is Clove smarter than he seems? Will bringing Clove home to Sage be a mistake—or the way to a better future for them all? Because Clove is vulnerable to the other vampires out there, Benjamin wants to protect him as much as he wants to keep him in line.
And what about Sage? Can a human handle being with two hungry vampires, or will Sage make an offer that has been years in the making?
Excerpt:
The answer to that question must have been plain to see on my face because he opened his mouth and chortled with delight. “Oh my God. I didn’t realize vamps could have OCD, but it makes perfect sense.”
Wonderful. He’d only just stepped inside my door, and he was insulting me.
“What does?”
“The reason you got so upset when your students started disappearing. I brought disorder into your perfectly ordered immortal life, didn’t I, Benji? And I’m still doing it.”
“Yes. You are.”
Clove stood with the grace and speed that vampires were known for, just as Sage came around the corner from the kitchen. They stopped when they saw Clove, and Clove’s gaze landed on my sweet acolyte.
“Clove.” My voice was iron. “Stay where you are.”
Clove’s chest moved up and down as he caught Sage’s scent. He lifted his nose and inhaled deeply while I beckoned Sage over to me. Sage kept their gaze on Clove as they darted to my side and wrapped their arms around my waist.
Sage wore nothing but a very revealing red and yellow striped swimsuit that cut across their narrow hips and cupped their buttocks and their junk in the most fetching manner, and a pair of pink flip-flops. There was no remaining mystery as to the size of their package or the sudden tumescence of that organ. Although Sage was almost thirty, they looked younger, especially when they were dressed in a manner such as this. Nobody would have looked at them twice in a first-year university class, which was why I could keep them as my TA without too many questions.
Clove inhaled a shaky breath. “Jesus. Wait! There’s a pool, too?”
Sage giggled—actually fucking giggled—and hid their face in my neck. Then they turned, bold as brass, to Clove, and said, “I hear you’re new in town.”
Clove’s unapologetically assessing gaze traveled from Sage’s flip-flops to the top of their blond head, before shifting over to me.
“What the hell, Benji? Did you get them out of a catalog?” He barked a laugh. “Perfect Humans R Us?”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be insulting or complimentary.
I narrowed my gaze at him. I was about to make a caustic remark, when Sage pulled away from me and approached Clove, extending their hand.
“I’m Sage.”
“Be careful,” I said, not sure which of them I was speaking to. I was protective of Sage, but I also knew that Clove might be struggling.
Sage threw me a glance. “Clove won’t hurt me,” they said. “I trust him.”
Wonderful.
“I don’t,” I said. “Not yet.”
“What the hell, Benji?” Clove said, seemingly affronted. “I did what you asked of me. What more do you want?”
“I want a lot more from you, Clove. I want to be assured you will treat Sage with the respect they deserve. I want you to promise that you won’t let your chaotic vampire urges take over in their presence. I want you to swear that as long as you are in my dwelling, you will let me guide you and teach you how to control those urges.”
We stared at each other.
“Fine,” he said. “As long as I get to satisfy some of my other, more basic, ones, I guess I’m okay with that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I suppose that might be a deal we can make, depending upon how you show Sage and me the respect we deserve in that department.”
“What the hell does that mean? I’m not gonna be your little undead fuck-toy.”
“That’s not what I—” I blinked, stunned at those words. “Fuck-toy? Really?”
Clove pointed at me. “If that’s what you want, I’m leaving.”
I couldn’t deny feeling as if he might, in fact, be protesting a tad too much.
“Of course that’s not—” I gave him a curious look. “Do you really think I’d want that of you?”
He shrugged and seemed embarrassed. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Sage rescued me. “Well, you can’t be his fuck-toy, because that’s my job.”
I shook my head and sat down on the sofa. I was about to give up and simply let them go at each other. I didn’t have the energy for this.
Clove grinned and glanced back and forth between us. Then he focused in on me.
“When did you feed last, Benji?”
Bloodlines is available for purchase on Amazon.
Comments
Post a Comment