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

“She didn’t tell me either. Just… the details.”

He nods. “We looked after her more closely because of it. She wasn’t comfortable around men. She warmed to Prey quickly because they’d both been turned at the same time, but it took her a year to really depend on me. To trust me with more than just menial tasks.”

I kick that thought around a bit.

“What about Rival then?” I can’t help but wonder how she could never have mentioned a lover to me.

His rumbling laughter is so pure, I can even feel it reverberating in my own chest.

“Rival wanted to protect her. Men would test her. Male vampires of a lower rank tend to go mad when a woman is above them. So, Rival made it clear that Kyra was not to be fucked with in any way. He claimed her as his, but there wasn’t anything there for him to claim. They were just friends, really. She didn’t want any physical love, but she appreciated what he gave her all the same.” His sigh is heavy, but reminiscent of better times. “I don’t think there was anything between them but a ruse. He protected her by simply acting like a mate. Kyra would never take one though. She never even tried.”

A comforting warmth sears through me.

Rival? The bitter Irish vampire with a cross too far up his ass? He was kind to my sister?

“That’s sweet,” I finally admit.

But then why did he react so ravenously drawn to me when he first saw me posing as Kyra?

“She had all these people around her who wanted to protect her, and yet none of us could.” A thin line forms between his brows and I don’t know why, but my fingers skim over his temple before smoothing the imperfections away.

Then he rolls over and turns away from his forlorn memories in the sky. He looks at me with a slow appreciation that I feel all over.

“I’m going to protect you, Kira Vega” he whispers like the vow is already set in stone.

It’s unfair that I live in a vampiric house of cruel and crass men, but the sweetest man I’ve ever met isn’t allowed inside.

I’ve even been claimed by one of them. My stomach does a flip at that reminder.

“How does a mating mark work?” The question sneaks out before I can stop it.

His lips quirk at one side before a big smile spreads across his lips.

He’s so chiseled, even his jaw is a hard angle of perfection.

He’s… so damn sexy. Sweet and sexy. How is that possible?

“For wolves, a mating mark is the ultimate goal in life. We travel in a pack of extended families, but we all crave to fill that one opening remaining in our lives. We want affection like most people want love.”

“Aren’t they the same thing?” I ask honestly.

“Affection and love? Oh no. Not at all. Our pack provides us with an unspoken sense of love. It doesn’t mean that we like one another. And it doesn’t mean we’re kind and forgiving. But the mating mark, it doesn’t guarantee love will be there. What it does mean is that one person will always care for us. Their heart is connected to our own, and despite any hate that might be under the surface, genuine affection will always find a way out. We just can’t stop ourselves from being drawn to that source of feel-good feelings.”

Feel-good feelings...

“You make it sound almost like a drug.”

His laughter is warm and drips all through my chest until I’m smiling right along with him.

“Oh, it absolutely is,” he whispers.

Vuitton watches me from the corner of his eye before rolling over again, and then his body heat is spreading across my arm in a tingling sensation of hyperawareness.

“Why do you ask about the mark?” His hand props beneath his head, fanning his honey blonde hair in the slight breeze as he stares down on me.

The thought of Prey and the wildness in his eyes creeps up in my mind once again bringing a heavy wave of uneasiness clinging to the memory.

“No reason,” I say instead of word vomiting all my problems to this one man who already has more issues than he deserves. “How do wolves leave a mark if they can’t feed the way vampires do?”

That sexy smile of his brightens until a dimple appears.

“They fuck,” he says with a hard emphasis on the K, and I don’t know why my thighs shift together at the sound of that dirty word on his sweet tongue. I don’t know what he sees in me, but his laughter grows louder, shaking his whole body. “Some don’t. Most supernaturals don’t need any contact at all, really. I just wanted to see you blush. I love when your humanity shows.”

I turn my head when I realize that I’m showing, and I try my best to calm that part of me. I’m supposed to be deep undercover in this world, aren’t I?

When I look back at Vuitton, his gaze feels heavier against my skin. The sun seems to amplify the jade colors within the warm whiskey of his pretty eyes. And I’m all too aware of his attention when it falls from my eyes to my lips.

The breath in my lungs pauses, as if afraid it might be seen were it to slip out. I swallow hard, and still he’s staring like…

Like he just might kiss me.

Again.

A sharp inhale seems to cut off his trance as he looks abruptly back up to the sky and my heart finds its regular beat once again without all that attention making me squirm.

“It’s a full moon tomorrow,” Vuitton’s hand lifts and he points to the pale moon peeking out over the morning sky.

“It’s our birthday tomorrow,” I shake my head hard at that foolish wording.

There’s only one of us left to celebrate. Not that Kyra celebrated for the last two years, anyway. So now it’s just my birthday. Not ours, we don’t share it any longer.

His head turns back to me