Crave (Vampire Beloved Book Five) Read online

  * * *

  Thursday night, Merrix listened to the band tune up. He was seated at one of the tables with some of the construction workers, and there were coven members scattered around the large open area. The club was closed until ten-thirty p.m. to allow them to practice and get a feel for the new stage, and he was looking forward to hearing them play for real on Friday night.

  Lake, who also helped with coven security, looked at his phone and grumbled, “I’ve gotta go work at reception for this shift.”

  Bellamin used to be one of the coven’s permanent reception guards, watching over Angie, the receptionist and the beloved mate to two coven members. Once Bell found his beloved mate, he’d gone to work with her to catalog Mishka’s antiquities collection, which had left a position to be filled. Until they found someone permanent, the security team members were rotating. Merrix liked working security, but he preferred jobs outside of the club that involved physical activity. He didn’t care much to stand at a door and check visitors.

  Of course, he’d do it if he were asked. A smart vampire didn’t say no to Brone, who was the head of security.

  “Have fun,” Merrix said.

  Lake snorted and finished his bottle of SyBl. “See ya later.”

  “All right,” Harmony said into the microphone. “You animals ready for a preview of tomorrow night?”

  Everyone cheered, and Merrix clapped and whistled. Watching a miniconcert was just the way to pass the time before he had to head over to the restaurant to meet Cyrus for his performance review. He wasn’t worried about it per se and hadn’t had trouble sleeping that day at all.

  Okay, maybe a little bit.

  Cyrus had said not to worry about it, but that hadn’t stopped Merrix from wondering what would be said at their meeting.

  Pushing aside the worry mixed with curiosity, he focused on Harmony and her three shifter bandmates as they started to play. It would be time to meet Cyrus soon enough.

  * * *

  Merrix opened the restaurant door and paused, inhaling the sweet scent that hit him in the face. It wasn’t like something baked how his mom used to make cakes for birthdays and holidays, but it was a sweet scent all the same. And it freaking called to him from a cellular level.

  “You okay?”

  The feminine voice pulled Merrix from his stupor, and he blinked and shook his head. “Hey, Serenade, I’m fine. Something smells really good.”

  “It always smells good in here,” she said. “I never missed human food in all my eighty years until I started working here.”

  Vampires didn’t eat food. They drank real human blood once a week and drank synthetic blood daily. He normally didn’t miss human food either, but he also wasn’t sure that was what he was smelling. Whatever it was, he liked it and wanted it.

  “Cyrus isn’t here yet. Do you want me to seat you?”

  “Nah, I’ll wait.”

  She smiled. “Of course.”

  He sat on a plush couch and glanced at his watch, then leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and inhaled slowly. He sorted through the scents, finding humans and vampires mixed with cooked meats and vegetables and desserts with fruit and chocolate. Underneath those smells was the one that made his unbeating heart clench.

  Rising to his feet, he stared at the doors that led to the kitchen.

  What was back there?

  Who was in the kitchen?

  Chapter Three

  Thursdays were not traditionally busy at the restaurant, so Aeryn used the night to bake ahead for the weekend, making tray after tray of sheet cakes of various flavors for the layered desserts she planned. Since it was June, she focused on strawberries because they were in season and one of her favorite berries any time of year.

  Boyd looked at the bright red berries she was sugaring. “My mama made the best strawberry jam in the county back home.”

  “Aw. My grandma makes freezer strawberry jam. I love it.”

  “I went to culinary school because of my mama. Did you go because of your grandma?”

  “Definitely,” she said. “Her specialty was pies. She could make a crust in five minutes that was a thing of beauty. And her jams were amazing. But she never was much for making cakes or cookies.”

  “We like what we like.”

  “For sure,” Aeryn said and then called out to Serenade, “When’s the first table being seated?”

  Serenade glanced over from where she was applying another coat of lip gloss using her phone’s camera. “Ten thirty.”

  Clapping her hands, Aeryn said, “All right, everyone. We’ve got one hour until the first guests arrive, so let’s get moving.”

  After assigning duties, Aeryn got to work assembling an enormous five-layer dessert from the sheet cakes she’d baked and stored before leaving the previous shift. While she was making a dark chocolate ganache on the stove, Serenade walked into the kitchen.

  “Mishka just called. He wants to know if you can make a special dessert for Harmony. Something with strawberries.”

  “Of course. When does he want it?”

  “Whenever. Just let me know when it’s ready, and I’ll arrange for someone to come get it.”

  “I’ll get on it, thanks.”

  “Hey, did you know your cousin is coming in tonight at eleven?”

  “No. Maybe he and Cella have a date. I’ll have to set aside some cake for him because he loves it.”

  “Your desserts always smell so good. It’s the only thing that makes me wish I was still human.”

  “That’s a sweet compliment, thanks.”

  Serenade nodded with a smile and left the kitchen, her tall heels clicking on the tile. Returning her attention to the ganache, Aeryn got back to finishing it while she considered what strawberry-based dish to make for Harmony. While the ganache cooled, she decided to make a strawberry galette in a cast-iron skillet.

  While she sliced the strawberries for the pie, Boyd grabbed a wrapped round of prepared dough from the refrigerator and rolled it out for her, then set it into the oven to blind bake.

  Serenade walked in announcing, “Cyrus is here. It’s him and Merrix, not Cella.”

  “Oh, I’ll come out and say hi as soon as I get this galette in the oven.”

  “He asked if you had something chocolate for him,” Serenade said.

  “I sure do. Tell him I’ll be out in a few minutes. What does his friend want?”

  “Frozen SyBl. His server already grabbed it for him.”

  Aeryn nodded and watched as Serenade left the kitchen, the swinging doors swished back and forth. Then a scent hit Aeryn that made her stumble back against the counter. It was the darkest, spiciest scent she’d ever smelled, and it made her whole body light up. Her tigress purred, and she felt claws press against her fingertips.

  Something—someone—amazing was out in the restaurant, and judging by the way her tigress was reacting, it was her truemate.

  Was it possible? Had she found her truemate at work?

  The door moved back and forth again, bringing another wave of the delicious scent to her nose and her knees weakened. She gripped the counter, but her hands were wet from the strawberries, and her palm slipped off. She banged her elbow on the counter and lost control of the paring knife, slicing into the meat of her palm and making her hiss at the pain.

  As she righted herself, she looked at her freely bleeding palm and cursed under her breath. She hadn’t cut herself in the kitchen since she was a kid.

  The kitchen had gone quiet. She looked up to ask someone to find the first-aid kit and noticed all the vampire workers were staring at her.

  Well, not her so much as her hand and the blood that dripped onto the stainless-steel surface.

  Clutching her hand to her chest, she swallowed hard. “It’s just a cut, guys.”

  There were a handful of vampires in the kitchen, and none of them were moving except one.

  Vinnie, the dishwasher, was a young vampire, only a year into his immortal life. And right
now, he was slowly stalking toward her like she was something he wanted to eat.

  Her heart thudded in her chest, and she looked around for help, but Felon wasn’t in the kitchen, the night elves were gone, and Boyd and Verona were staring at her like she was on the menu.

  Holy shit!

  * * *

  Merrix sat with Cyrus at a small table and tried to shake off the nerves that assaulted him. He shouldn’t be worried about this, but he was. Simply because he loved his job, and he wanted to do well.

  “I’m Tate, and I’ll be your server,” a male said as he poured ice water into a goblet for Cyrus. “What’s your poison?”

  “Can I get frozen SyBl?” Merrix asked when Cyrus gestured for him to go first.

  “Sure thing. Dried blood flakes on top?”

  “Of course.”

  “And you?” he asked, looking at Cyrus.

  “Find out if my cousin, Aeryn, has anything chocolate for me.”

  “I’ll be right back.” The server spoke to Serenade, who walked into the kitchen. The server went to the bar, and the bartender scooped out bright red balls of frozen SyBl into a glass dish and shook a bottle of blood flakes over it.

  “You look nervous,” Cyrus said. “You really shouldn’t be.”

  “I know. I can’t shake it.”

  “You can’t think I’m going to reprimand you for anything. Hell, I wish I had ten more of you. You’re hands down the best worker in the company. When I talked to my dad and uncle about you the other day, they asked if I’d mind if they stole you from me. I told them I’d bring war to the ambush if they even so much as tried.”

  Merrix grinned. “I’m flattered, honestly. I just want you to be happy with my work. This job is important to me. I feel like I finally found my place.”

  “Trust me. I know how that feels.”

  The server set the dish in front of Merrix and said to Cyrus, “Aeryn will be out in a few minutes with your dessert.”

  “Thanks,” Cyrus said.

  Merrix rubbed the space over his heart and looked toward the kitchen. The odd feeling that something important was in the kitchen still lingered.

  “You okay?” Cyrus asked.

  “Yeah. No. I’m not sure.”

  Cyrus hummed but said nothing.

  Merrix forced himself to turn his attention back to his boss, but then his whole being snapped to attention as a feminine gasp from within the kitchen reached his ears, followed by the most delicious scent he’d ever smelled in his life.

  Blood.

  Shifter blood.

  His truemate’s blood.

  His brain misfired a bit, his nerves jangling like bells, and then he realized that the fact he could smell shifter blood from all the way out in the main area meant the shifter had cut herself and was most likely surrounded by vampires.

  “Fuck!” Merrix leaped to his feet and raced into the kitchen, the swinging door slamming against the wall as he barreled in. The first thing he saw was a female—his mate—backing up slowly, her bleeding hand clutched to her chest, as several vampires stared at her. Only one moved, a newbie who didn’t seem to realize he was stalking toward her.

  Merrix moved to step between his female and the young male. “Back up, Vinnie. She’s not food. You’re not allowed to feed from someone without their permission.”

  Vinnie snarled and bared his fangs. “Want.”

  Narrowing his gaze, Merrix squared his shoulders. “You won’t get by me to hurt her, man. I will put you down if you try to harm her.”

  Vinnie stopped moving but leaned to the side to try to look at the female. Merrix snapped his fingers at him. “Back. Up.”

  A moment passed and then another, but Merrix wasn’t going to relax until he was sure that the young male was under control. And then he was going to talk to whoever hired him to work with a shifter and tell them they were an ass.

  Vinnie went very still, and Merrix knew he was about to do something stupid. “Hey, sweetheart?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Lock yourself in the office, okay? I’m going to get Vinnie out of here, but you’re too distracting.”

  “Okay.”

  Fuck, he hated how scared she sounded. It made his heart pang.

  And it made him furious.

  The scent of her blood magnified as she moved away, and Vinnie snarled. Merrix put his hand up and warned the male not to move.

  But he did anyway, taking a menacing step toward the departing female. As he moved to take another step, the noise of a door closing and locking sounded, and Vinnie growled and launched himself forward, trying to get past Merrix.

  Merrix grabbed him by the neck and drove him in the opposite direction, lifting him off his feet and rushing to the opposite wall. He slammed him against it and let out a growl of his own.

  “You don’t stalk females, period,” Merrix said.

  “Want,” Vinnie wheezed out, his eyes bulging as Merrix put more pressure on his throat.

  Merrix slammed him against the wall again, and the male grunted with the force. “She’s not yours to want.” She’s mine. “You will snap the fuck out of this, or I will put you down.”

  Vinnie snapped his jaws at Merrix and struggled. “Someone clean the fucking blood up,” Merrix yelled.

  “You need a hand?” Cyrus asked. He folded his arms and stared at Vinnie.

  “I need the blood removed, and I need this asshole the hell out of here.”

  Cyrus said, “I’ll clean it up. Don’t want to tempt anyone with her blood. Is she okay?”

  “I think so. She’s in the office.”

  “Take the male outside. I called Brone, and he’s sending over some guards to secure him so he can be disciplined.”

  Merrix nodded, grateful for Cyrus’s intervention. He knew the blood needed to be cleaned up, or Vinnie would just try to get back inside. He’d gone completely off his nut with the scent, and until he calmed down, he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but that. Merrix also was having trouble concentrating, but it was because the female shifter was his truemate.

  That much he was sure of.

  Merrix pulled the male from the wall and grappled his arm behind him, twisting at the wrist until he hollered in pain. Keeping the male focused on the pain in his arm, Merrix walked him out of the kitchen and into the fresh air, where Temple and another male from the coven waited.

  Temple slapped Vinnie on the cheek a few times. “You need to inhale the fresh air and clear out your nose. You’re in deep shit. The shifter you were trying to eat is Cyrus’s cousin, and you’re lucky he didn’t take your head off for threatening her safety.”

  Merrix felt the male inhale and exhale a few times, and when his shoulders slumped, he knew he was coming back to his senses. “You good, man?”

  “Yeah. S-sorry.”

  “You can apologize later,” Vex said. “You’ve got a date with Brone to discuss how to behave as a vampire.”

  Merrix released his hold on the young male, and Vex took him roughly by the arm.

  Temple looked at Merrix and asked, “He didn’t bite her, right?”

  Shaking his head, Merrix said, “No. I’m guessing she cut herself, and he couldn’t control his reaction. I’m surprised they allowed a newbie to work with her.”

  “Me too. Davina should’ve been more careful in who she hired. For sure, he’s not coming back to work here.”

  Davina was the restaurant manager and a coven member. She was nearly one hundred, so she should’ve known better than to put a newbie with a shifter in a kitchen with sharp things.

  “I’m going to check on her,” Merrix said.

  Temple looked at him curiously and then nodded. “Sure. See you.”

  Merrix didn’t run back into the kitchen like an eager youth, but he sure as hell wanted to. He found Cyrus wiping down a stainless-steel counter with heavy-duty cleanser and yelling at the vampires in the kitchen.

  “None of you fucking did a thing to intervene!”

  “We�
�re sorry, Cyrus,” Boyd said. “It was overwhelming.”

  “I promised my aunt she’d be safe. If it weren’t for Merrix, she could’ve died.”

  Merrix stopped in front of the office door and knocked. “Hey, it’s me, Merrix. The guy who stopped the kid from biting you. I wanted to check on you.”

  There was a pause, and then she said, “I’m still bleeding.”

  “I’ll get you a med kit. Hold on.”

  He scanned the kitchen and found one of the kits hanging on the wall. Unhooking it, he strode to the office and said, “Unlock the door, and I’ll bandage you up.”

  “You’re a vampire.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m bleeding.”

  He ground his teeth together so hard that he gouged his gums. As if he’d ever hurt her! “Sweetheart, I swear on my life that I won’t harm you. You can trust me.”

  The pause was significant, and he wondered if she was too scared to open the door. But then he heard the lock click, and relief flooded through him. The door opened slowly, and she peeked at him, her pretty brown eyes wide with fear. He held up the kit. “I’m pretty good at dressing wounds. Let me help.”

  She opened the door more fully, and he stepped in. Kicking the door shut, he braced himself against the sweet scent of her, not wanting his body to react to being so close to his truemate. Particularly not when she was scared and hurt.

  He pointed to the desk and said, “Sit, sweetheart.”

  She sat on the edge of the desk, and he put the med kit down, opening the lid and poking around inside for what he needed. Then he held out his hand, and she placed her injured one in his. Her skin was cold, and she was trembling. The wound was deep and about two inches long, and while it was still bleeding, her naturally fast healing was slowly stopping it. But not fast enough for her to be around a bunch of agitated vampires.

  He opened an alcohol wipe and said, “Tell me your name.”

  “Aeryn Abrams.” She hissed as he gently cleaned her skin, using multiple wipes.

  “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “You’re Cyrus’s cousin?”