Chapter One

Twenty-four years later…

Kit tapped her pen on the table and stared at the disheveled woman in front of her. “I warned you, Melissa. Byron doesn’t like women placing themselves naked in his bed unless he invites them. He chooses his women and his feeding companions. If he sent you away, then it is your fault. I am not intervening for you,” Kit said wearily.

How many times before had she done this? Of course, Byron didn’t exactly help much. He had been known to walk into a room and just take one of the women by the hand and lead her away without even speaking a word. The sexual pull a vampire exuded was always intensified after he’d touched one particular woman, and for a little while Melissa had been his favorite. Byron’s call seemed to be rather strong for a vampire who was just over a century old, but then, Kit had only known a few. She was very drawn to Byron, so maybe she wasn’t the best of judges.

Melissa sat staring at Kit with heartbroken eyes.

Kit hated her. Not for any particular reason. Melissa was nice, pretty, she had a sweet heart, she was sharp, and she had been through a rough time, otherwise she wouldn’t be here.

A Hunter’s home tended to be a fortress on the outside, but the inside where the Hunter brought people when he wasn’t sure what else to do with them, held a veritable enclave of wounded souls.

Enclave—that was what they were—an enclave. Made up of the warriors who surrounded the outside and protected the vampire during the day while he slept, and those who acted as food and sex partners while he was awake.

Byron had brought Melissa here three years ago. For a year, she hadn’t been able to even look at another person without fear in her eyes. She had moved past that. In the second year, she had learned that she could take care of herself, and in the third, Byron had taken her into his bed.

That was why Kit hated her.

And Byron, being the bastard he was, had even made sure Kit saw it. She had walked into his office thinking he had business to discuss, and instead she had been audience to a blowjob. Granted, somebody had given her the wrong fucking time. He had wanted to talk to her in a couple of hours, but for crying out loud.

Well, it really wasn’t his fault.

She could still remember it, how Melissa had sucked on Byron’s cock, and how much Kit wanted to be the one doing it. Byron had opened his eyes—he had known she was there—and glared at her. “Do you mind, Kit?”

“Not at all, Byron. I like to watch,” she had drawled. Well, she hadn’t ever really watched anything like that before, but she hadn’t really been able to leave either. Her eyes were drawn to the length of his cock as Melissa slid her lips up and down, pulling back to stare at Kit with wide eyes before resuming what looked to be a very pleasant task.

His fangs flashed and she suspected part of him wanted to tell her to get the fuck out. But another part was aroused. He had gripped Melissa head’s tightly and started to rock his hips faster, forcing his cock farther and harder into her mouth until he came. Kit’s sharp sense of smell caught it in the air and she stared at him, so hot she burned.

He’d made his human pass out. “That’s the bad thing about humans, Byron. They just can’t handle as much,” Kit said, tsking a little, clucking false sympathy.

That was when things had started to change, at least on his end.

Things had been changing on her end for a long time. Byron was her soul mate. She knew it. She had told him so when she was nineteen, which had been a mistake. Apparently. He had taken her for a love-struck kid and he had laughed, patted her on the head, and sent her off to college. Six years ago. And she still felt the same.

After her little peep show, Byron had gone out of his way to antagonize her, and she couldn’t figure out if he was angry at her or trying to tease her. He was so…skilled with women, but he was acting so crudely toward her. He was her boss, signed her paychecks, but he was also her Master. She had gone into service to a Hunter, and sworn to abide by the Council law. That meant something, damn it. She not only was a Hunter in her own right, she was his first Lieutenant, his guard, his servant, the highest honor a Master vampire could afford a member of his enclave.

Kit guarded him while he slept; she ran the household and his people while he was away.

She owed fealty to him until she decided that she was going to leave, or he decided to send her away. It was still her decision—although one hundred years ago, it wouldn’t have been. A hundred years ago, she would have been Byron’s until he was tired of her, or until she died. The Council had changed things. She would have to appeal to them and they would allow her to leave, providing she did things appropriately. All she had to do was state her case, basically her unhappiness with the situation, and they would let her leave. The Council didn’t like any of their people being unhappy.

Kit just couldn’t seem to make herself do it. Yet.

But, for now, he was her Master. Although she was not subservient, if he gave her an order, she must follow. She was not a slave. She actually had a position of power in his enclave. All obeyed her as they obeyed him. Nobody could question her orders, for her orders came from Byron. She acted as his second, and if she expected others to follow his orders, then so must she.

So when he sent for her, she went, even though she knew what she was walking into. It had been Byron and Benjamin Cross, his other lieutenant—a very mysterious, unusually powerful were—who were fucking Melissa. Benjamin was buried to his balls in her pussy, and Byron—oh, hell—he was bent over her and thrusting deep inside her ass.

The blonde was screaming with delirious pleasure and Kit hated her. She stood staring at them, unable to speak, but unable to leave until Byron gave her permission. And what she wanted was to rip the bitch away and take her place.

She had strolled over to a chair and flopped into it, sliding her hand inside her panties and starting to rub her clit, meeting Byron’s eyes over the bodies of the others. Bastard, she had mouthed at him, as she stroked and massaged.

If she closed her eyes—her mental powers were strong enough—she was almost able to imagine it was her they were fucking. But just almost. After all, Kit was still a virgin. She had never even had sex, much less the pleasure of a threesome.