Dusk Before Dawn Read online

  It no longer mattered that I had nowhere to go and nobody to help me. I wasn’t attracted to Jonathan and refused to allow him to take my virginity against my will. Running was my only choice, and that was exactly what I did. Fisting my skirt in my hands, I kicked off my heels before lifting the hem off the ground. Then I took off, moving as quickly as I could.

  I heard Jonathan laughingly start to count behind me, and his confidence spurred me on. Grateful for the years I spent running cross country and track, I raced through the gardens, looking for an opening that would get me off the property. I spotted a small gate ahead to the left just as Jonathan called out, “Ready or not, here I come!” Once I reached the exit, I quietly opened the gate and shut it gently behind me, hoping the hinges wouldn’t squeak and give away my location.

  I squeezed through a hedge, and tears of relief filled my eyes when I saw that I was in another garden with paths that led to a large stone house that looked like a castle. Racing toward the imposing home in front of me, I was panting for air as I stumbled up to the door and pounded on the hard surface. I offered up a silent prayer that someone was home, but I was wholly unprepared for the vision before me when the door swung open.

  2

  Kieran

  I was rinsing out my cup from breakfast when I heard a banging that sounded like it was coming from the back door. It led to a vast garden that was surrounded by tall hedges for privacy.

  Whoever was knocking was trespassing, and the interruption wholly annoyed me. Especially since I’d sent my staff home for a few days, wanting some privacy. I sighed and rinsed my mouth to make sure there was no red residue from the blood I’d been drinking. Then I popped to the back door. I twisted the lock and swung it open, only to stumble back at the sight before me.

  Big blue eyes stared up at me, filled with terror, and I felt an overwhelming need to rip apart the person who’d caused it. Pouty, pink lips trembled as tears slid down her cheeks, stained with color from exertion, made even more prominent by her pale skin. Luminous blond curls surrounded her, hanging all the way down past her bottom. She was of medium height, with a willowy body covered in a filmy blue material that flared out from her tiny waist into a long, full skirt. And if I’d been able to feel any sort of arousal, I imagined that I would’ve been drooling over her full but perky breasts.

  She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in nearly a millennium.

  “Help me, please,” she panted as she glanced over her shoulder. I took a deep breath, and that’s when I smelled it. She’d been touched by a nightwalker, and my instinct said that was who she was running from. I opened the door wider and stepped back, allowing her to enter. She hesitated for a beat but looked up into my face and stepped into my lair.

  Lair? That was an odd turn of phrase, I thought. I must not have slept well.

  I glanced outside, and my enhanced night vision picked up movement in the hedges between my garden and the neighbors’. No nightwalker would dare breach my property unless they had a death wish, but I was furious to have them lurking around. I slammed the door shut and turned to see the girl staring at me with wide eyes and biting her plump bottom lip. “You’re safe here,” I assured her gently.

  She nervously brushed her hair over her shoulder and glanced at the door once more. The dim lights from the sconces lining the wall made the large diamond ring on her finger twinkle and momentarily distracted me from the familiar birthmark on her neck. The vampire she was destined for was probably the one who had slid that ring onto her finger while he waited for the right time to sink his fangs into her neck. Disappointment sliced through me at the knowledge that she belonged to someone else. Even though it wasn’t like I could keep her happy if she didn’t. I imagined that a woman wouldn’t want to stay with a man who would never physically desire her. I shook off the ridiculous thoughts and focused my attention on the matter at hand.

  “What if he comes for me?” Her voice wavered, and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her.

  I looked her in the eyes so she would have no doubt of my sincerity. “No one will get to you while you are under my protection.” She looked slightly relieved, and I felt the need to soothe her completely. “What is your name?”

  “Thana,” she whispered. Gorgeous.

  “I’m Kieran. How about I make you some tea, and you can tell me what has you so frightened?” She nodded, but her fingers continued to twist together, so I reached out to untangle them.

  The second our skin touched, my body came to life with a bolt of electricity as though I’d been struck by lightning. “Fuck,” I muttered right before my breath got caught in my lungs. Arousal spread through me like a wildfire in a prairie, causing my cock to swell and harden, the girth threatening to rip through the jeans I’d pulled on when I’d gotten out of bed.

  Feelings of joy and utter bliss were also coursing through me. Not only at the knowledge that I’d found my consort, but because it was this woman in front of me. Somehow, my brain had desired Thana even before my body had the ability.

  My fingers itched to glide along her silky skin and touch her everywhere, my tongue tingled with the same desire, and my mouth watered at the thought of tasting her. The smell of her blood was so sweet, my fangs ached with the desire to sink into her neck, just as my cock ached to drive into her pussy. It took every shred of my control not to grab her and teleport straight to our bedroom and fuck her until she was tied to me in every way possible.

  I needed to approach this carefully. Thana was human, and I didn’t want to send her running, especially since danger was clearly already stalking her.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore these new, intense sensations filling me and tell my body to be patient. I laced our fingers together and smiled tenderly. “Come with me, baby.”

  Thana allowed me to guide her down the hall and through the house into the large open kitchen. Gasping, she released my hand to spin in a circle. “Your house is amazing. But this is the most incredible kitchen I’ve ever seen!”

  I smiled at her reaction, happy she liked her new home. “Do you cook?” I asked as I went about making her some tea. I glanced at her, and it struck me how young she was. She couldn’t be more than twenty, which made me feel even more ancient. I would eternally look as though I was in my early thirties, but that didn’t take away the years between us. Not that it mattered. She was mine, and I would never let her go.

  “I love to cook, but my aunt prefers to use my money to have a chef.”

  My brows rose as I turned to face Thana with a steaming mug. “Pardon?”

  Her face flushed, the blood rushing to her cheeks and making me hungrier than I’d been before I found her outside my door. “Nothing. I—um. Yes, I love to cook.”

  My lips curled down, and I made a mental note to come back to that later. At the moment, there was a more pressing situation. I beckoned her with my hand and started walking toward the door that led to a hallway where my office was located. I stopped and waited as she padded over, wincing once or twice. That’s when I realized she was barefoot. The paths leading to my house were a mixture of dirt and gravel, and I had no idea where from, or how long, she’d been running before ending up at my door. Her feet couldn’t be in very good shape.

  I handed her the mug, and she wrapped her hands around it. “Hold that tight,” I warned her before scooping her into my arms. She was as light as a feather, even for someone who didn’t have my vampiric strength. A smile played at the corners of my mouth when she didn’t protest and even snuggled a little into my embrace.

  Thana’s delicious scent tickled my nose, and I inhaled deeply, trying to imprint it in my lungs. She tilted her head to the side, and I licked my lips as I stared at the two spots on her neck just begging to feed my soul.

  Fuck. I wanted her.

  Her sweetness.

  Her blood.

  Her body.

  All of her.

  My first instinct was to sit on one of the small c
ouches in the room and settle her on my lap. However, I argued with myself to go slow, and I wanted to take care of her feet, anyway. So I lowered her onto a seat and gave in to the desire to place a chaste kiss on her forehead. When I noticed her little shiver, I had to curl my fingers into fists and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from biting her. “Tell me what’s happened, Thana,” I requested as I knelt in front of her. She watched me curiously as I lifted her skirt to her knees.

  The enhanced senses of a vampire could be a blessing and a curse. My eyes drifted to the darkness between her legs. I heard her heartbeat accelerate, and I smelled the tangy scent of her arousal. Squeezing my eyes shut, I thought about the name and species of every flower in my garden. After a minute, I felt a little more in control, but I was careful not to breathe again.

  Grasping her foot, I slid one hand up her calf and the other on her heel, lifting it so I could look at the sole. Sure enough, a few cuts and scrapes had tiny bits of rock embedded in them. Rage like I’d never felt before filled me, and I vowed to send the one who’d hurt her straight back to hell.

  3

  Thana

  The last time anyone had taken care of me was so long ago that I almost couldn’t remember how it felt. I couldn’t believe how tender Kieran was being with me. Or how gorgeous he was.

  Tall, dark, and handsome wasn’t exactly the right way to describe him since his skin was paler than mine and his eyes were a shade of bright blue that reminded me of the Indian Ocean off the Maldives. One of my favorite memories of my parents was when we’d stayed at a luxurious bungalow on the beach there for an entire month. Maybe that was why I felt as though I could stare into Kieran’s eyes forever.

  “We need to get your feet cleaned up. If we don’t get the dirt and pebbles out, you’ll end up with an infection.” He stroked his thumb down the middle of my sole, and goose bumps broke out along my calf.

  He gave me an expectant look, and I forced myself to focus on what Kieran had said instead of how it felt to have his hands on me. “Uh-huh.”

  His lips curved up just the tiniest bit, and I realized I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding how rattled I was by my attraction to him. I felt my cheeks heat and cursed my penchant for blushing. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “It won’t take me long to grab everything I need to take care of you.”

  “Okay.” His smile widened at my one-word response, and I felt my blush deepen. When he brushed a kiss to my forehead after gently setting my foot back down, he foiled my plan to gather my scattered wits. Instead, I stared at his butt as he strode away and pressed my fingertips to the spot he’d kissed once I couldn’t see him anymore.

  When he reappeared only a couple of minutes later, I dropped my hand onto my lap and tried not to look like I’d been mentally undressing him while he was gone. I wasn’t sure what was going on with me—I’d never reacted to anyone like this before. My libido picked a heck of a time to roar to life. I should be focused on what I was going to about my aunt promising my hand in marriage to a psychopath; not on the guy who’d rescued me from a bad situation.

  “This might hurt a little,” Kieran warned as he placed a folded towel beneath my feet and opened a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Wrapping his fingers around my ankle, he lifted my foot and cleaned it with a damp washcloth before pouring the peroxide over my skin.

  “Ouch.” I must have cut the bottom of my foot while running because I felt the sting of the peroxide.

  Kieran’s eyes were full of regret. “I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for,” I reassured him with a soft smile. “Even with your warning, I was surprised by the sting more than anything else. And you’re not the one responsible for me getting hurt in the first place. All you’ve done tonight is help me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t let me in your house.”

  He gave me a jerky nod and was quiet while giving my other foot the same treatment. It wasn’t until he’d slathered my soles with ointment and slid a pair of socks over them that he asked, “What made you run barefoot in the night? Who is responsible for your pain and fear?”

  Something about Kieran made me feel as though I could trust him with anything, even though we’d only met less than an hour ago. Going with my gut, I decided to confide in him. “Remember that aunt I mentioned when you asked me if I liked to cook? The one who uses my money to keep a chef on staff?” He nodded, reaching for my hands as I twisted them in my lap and giving me the courage to continue. “As the executor of my trust, she holds all the purse strings. I haven’t minded how she’s chosen to spend the monthly distribution; my parents left me more money than I’ll ever be able to spend in my lifetime. I’ve bided my time until I turn twenty-one, and she has no more control over me...until tonight.”

  Kieran gave my hands a reassuring squeeze before moving to sit next to me. “What happened?”

  His gentleness and caring were my undoing. Tears welled in my eyes and streamed down my cheeks as I remembered the betrayal I felt when Jonathan had told me what my aunt had done and the fear that followed. Kieran wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side, and I felt every inch of where our bodies touched each other. Taking strength from his embrace, I pulled myself together and lifted my hand to show him the ring Jonathan had surprised me with. “What I thought was supposed to be a birthday celebration turned out to be a dinner in honor of my engagement to a psychopath I’d never even met before tonight.”

  Kieran tugged the diamond solitaire off my finger and tucked it into his pocket. “Consider the engagement broken off. I’ll return the ring for you.”

  I shook my head frantically at the thought of how Jonathan would react and what could happen to Kieran during the confrontation. The rest of the story spilled out, and as bizarre as it all sounded, Kieran seemed to have no doubts I was telling the truth. He was such a good guy, and I hated that he was an innocent bystander to the mess my aunt had created. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I’d never be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to you because of me.”

  “The last thing you have to worry about is me,” he insisted before brushing his lips over mine.

  It was the briefest of kisses, but it was my first and had one heck of a punch. I wanted nothing more than to enjoy the special moment between us, but the seriousness of my situation forced me to focus on the matter at hand. “This is so bad. I live with my aunt. All of my things are there. She only gives me a small allowance each month. I can’t pay for a hotel or food for more than a couple of days at best. She’s my only family left in the world. I have nowhere to go and nobody to help me. What am I going to do?”

  “You’ll never have to worry about not having anywhere to go ever again. You’ll stay with me,” Kieran announced as though it was the most obvious solution to my problem.

  I wanted to accept his offer—which had to prove that I wasn’t thinking clearly, since we’d only just met—but I was starting to second-guess everything that had happened tonight. “What if I overreacted? My aunt will never forgive me for embarrassing her in front of the Thackers.”

  “My neighbors?” he asked as he turned his head to glare at the wall in the direction of their house.

  I nodded and glanced down at the pocket where he’d placed the ring. “Jonathan is the one who I was running from. The man who-who—” It was too difficult to repeat what he would’ve done to me if I hadn’t gotten away.

  “Forget about Jonathan. I’ll take care of him,” Kieran vowed, a muscle jumping in his jaw. He gripped my chin and tilted my head back, crashing his mouth down over mine. My lips parted on a gasp, and he slipped his tongue inside. My fingers clenched the soft fabric of his shirt as I lost myself in his kiss. When he started to pull back, I let out a whimper of protest and pulled him close. A small chuckle bubbled up his chest, but I didn’t mind because he kept kissing me until we were both breathless. “Trust me, Thana. I’ll take care of you from now on.”

  I released his shirt and smoo
thed the wrinkled material while I considered what he was offering to do for me. “Are you sure? That seems like a lot to ask of you since we just met.”

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life,” he vowed, flattening one of my palms against his chest while lifting the other hand to brush a kiss against my knuckles.

  I peered into his eyes, searching for any sign that he wasn’t being serious but didn’t find anything. My heart told me to go for it and agree, but my mind wasn’t on board yet. “This is all so sudden...and after my mad dash from next door, I don’t know that I’m in the right frame of mind to make any life-altering decisions. I might have already thrown what little relationship I had with my aunt out the window tonight for no good reason.”

  Staring into my eyes, he completely freaked me out when he said, “Stop second-guessing your decision to run tonight. It saved your life.”

  4

  Kieran

  Thana’s pretty, blue eyes were swimming with uncertainty, but it didn’t hide her hope. Even if she hadn’t been my consort, I would have helped any young woman in trouble. However, since she was mine, my wrath at the people who had hurt her was vicious. I wasn’t sure how I would handle her aunt yet, but there was no question that Jonathan was a dead man.

  “Saved my life?” Thana repeated.

  I nodded. “Jonathan is a very dangerous man—not to me”—I clarified when she looked like she was about to jump in—“but he wouldn’t have hesitated to hurt someone smaller and lacking the same strength as him.” I paused while I debated how much truth to lay at her feet right then.

  I hadn’t been aware that Jonathan had been turned, and it pissed me the fuck off that I’d been so careless. If Thana hadn’t run straight to me, she could have been lost to me before I ever found her.