Sleepless Beauties: A Rejected Mates Paranormal Romance (The Vampires Vendetta Series Book 1) by A.K. Koonce (best books under 200 pages txt) 📕

the trees and empty grasslands of the park for around an hour, and the hint of the cars and lives that fill this city aren’t even a whisper any more.

It’s just us, and nature. Suddenly, five enormous fucking wolves are lounging lazily in the bed of grass laid out before us. The tall grass is folded in on itself, pushed down and formed just right to create a fluffy bed for each of the five wolves.

The dark one of the pack lifts its head and immediately my heart stumbles as his eyes widen and his pointed ears perk up all at once.

Then he’s running toward us at full speed.

The thumping of its paws mirrors my pulse. A growl of some kind rumbles from his throat as his big paws eat up the span of space that’s safely between us and the monstrous beast.

Closer he comes. Faster.

He leaps!

And then in midair the shape of a man emerges from the fur of the beast and in less than a shaking breath he grapples Acessa to the ground.

A screech crawls up her throat and just as I take a step forward to pull the man off of her… Musical laughter, untamed happiness shakes out of her throat as he holds her to his chest and nuzzles his mouth into her neck. He whispers sweet nothings as he kisses her, and she just melts right into him.

It’s Louis.

His lips seal over a black shape etched just behind her ear.

A crescent moon with patterns similar to mine.

A mating mark.

My mouth hasn’t closed in several seconds and I’m not aware of anything else as I blatantly stare at the beautifully happy couple who haven’t truly smiled once since I met either of them.

Until now.

“You came,” a deep voice like warm honey calls out from over my shoulder.

My stomach flips at the simple sound of his familiar tone. I’m smiling like a giddy idiot when I turn to gaze at Vuitton’s handsome face.

Oh. My. God.

And his mostly erect cock.

Why is his cock out? And why is it looking at me?

Shit. Why am I looking at it?

I fumble as I distractedly look away from the real monster among all these beasts.

Except, it wasn’t really that big… was it?

I peek back down, just to look away even faster this time.

It definitely was that big, and I think it’s still growing.

Just stop! Stop looking at it.

Stop it.

The rumble of Vuitton clearing his throat forces me to say something.

“Um. It’s cute. I mean— I meant that they’re cute. Acessa and Louis.”

I hate myself so hard right now.

The delicious sound of Vuitton’s laughter sends shivers of awareness all across my arms, despite the oversized black coat I have wrapped tightly around myself.

“Sorry,” he says. When I sneak another look over my shoulder, he’s pulling on a thin pair of black boxers over the etched lines framing his hips. A good thing never lasts long enough, does it? “I didn’t expect to see you for a while yet.”

“Ever? Did you ever really expect to see me again?” I can’t help but laugh, and now that I have the nerve to actually look at him the most warm and calming smile shines through in his pretty eyes.

“I’d have seen you again. I told you I’d be watching. I wouldn’t have walked away without checking in on someone Kyra loved.”

Why does my heart feel so funny? He didn’t confess his love, he just said that he would do a wellness check. Calm down!

But I’m still smiling like an idiot.

Luckily, he is too.

“Want to see my burrow?” He changes the heart-fluttering subject with ease, and I am kind of curious about his burrow of his.

“Yeah,” I nod and look back just once at Acessa to find her tangled up in the arms of her own very naked lover. “Yeah, let’s go check out that burrow. Right now, before the wilderness gets a bit more wild over here.”

Vuitton leads the way across the open field, the tall grass tickles along my fingertips as I follow him. The golden kiss of sunlight that highlights across the lines of his muscles is the kind of stuff sonnets are written about, I’m sure of it. His posture is hard and proper. I’m still stunned by his perfection when he lifts his hand and with the next step, the tall grass slips away.

Nature itself is folded down, criss crossing like architecture across the ground.

“You made this?” I turn, admiring the circular room he’s created for himself among the walls of grass.

“Lie down,” he says, and I don’t know why my stomach dips at that command.

I kneel first, and then slowly lie on the soft blanket of bedding that he has made. It’s warmer here. The wind doesn’t touch my skin, and the sunlight soaks across me like it’s peeking out from behind the clouds for me and me alone.

“It’s comfortable, right?” Vuitton is smiling so hard I can literally feel his pride beaming.

“Incredibly so.” I can’t take my eyes off of the sweet smile he’s lavishing down on me.

Until he too lies down, at my side. His arm brushes mine before he folds it behind his head and stares up at the soft white clouds.

I’m immediately too aware of our closeness. I’m all too aware of the last time he was this close to me. Our tongues were touching, he was just about to caress the neediest part of me, our entire beings were wrapped up in one another, and then we were so rudely interrupted..

I clear my throat hard and try to focus on what’s important.

“Did my sister ever mention the vampire who turned her?” I ask.

An uneasiness shifts between us, replacing the erotic emotions that had recently swirled through me.

“Yeah,” he says it so quietly that I can barely hear him.

“Who was it?” I ask in a rush as Aston’s image flashes in my mind.

He shakes his head slowly, his attention never leaving the drifting clouds.

“She wouldn’t say.”

The apprehension and hurt he feels about that is clear in his