Ethan’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #1)(5)
Author: J.S. Scott

“Please don’t be afraid. I’m here to help. The demon is gone. Remember me?” Ethan tried to activate her subconscious memory as his mind reached for hers.

Her mouth moved but no words came out. His eyes pinned hers and held them steady. “Remember me,” he ordered softly.

Brianna shook herself, but her eyes were glued to his. He held her captive with his gaze, and she couldn’t look away. “The evil is gone,” she whispered in a trembling voice.

Ethan nodded. “Yes.”

Brianna slid down the wall as though her legs wouldn’t hold her. Her gaze didn’t leave his as she asked in an agonized voice, “What’s happening to me?”

Ethan released her eyes with a sigh. She remembered. Everything! And she obviously wasn’t handling it all that well.

Chapter 3

Brianna buried her face in her hands, trying to make it all go away. Was she losing her mind along with her body?

Her whole being was shaken and she wasn’t sure anything would ever be right again. The only thing that made sense is if everything she had seen in the last several minutes had all been a horrible nightmare.

Please be a bad dream. Let me wake up and find out this was just a nightmare. I’ll open my eyes and I’ll be in bed. The blood-covered guy will be gone.

She uncovered her face. Nope. No change. He’s still here. She sighed, deciding that obviously he wasn’t going anywhere and she needed to understand, whether she wanted to or not.

“Who are you? What are you?” She was stunned, but after the initial shock she realized she wasn’t really afraid of this man. They had spoken to each other while asleep. This man was her savior. She remembered it now and knew he had protected her from the evil that had been lurking around her.

“I wish I had more time to prepare you, but you must realize that there is something happening that can’t be explained by logic, and you have very little time.” He paused and met her eyes. “I’m a vampire. The demon that was stalking you was a fallen, a vampire lost to evil.”

Oh, God. Brianna groaned and covered her face, breaking away from his eyes. In some strange way… it made sense… and that terrified her. But she couldn’t deny they had spoken in her dreams, not to mention the horrific scene that had just played out before her eyes. Oh, hell. I’m dying. What does it matter whether or not this is logical? “Good guy or bad guy?”

Ethan shrugged. “Better than him.” Ethan gestured at the carpet where the fallen had dissolved.

She rolled her eyes. “Name?”

“Ethan. Ethan Hale.”

“Ethan.” She tested it on her tongue. His name was familiar. It was as though she knew him somehow. “I’m Brianna. Brianna Cole.”

“Brianna.” He breathed her name softly.

“I’m not afraid of you, Ethan. And after what just happened I sure as hell should be. Why is that?”

He answered her gently. “You know me. Subconsciously…you know me. Your life is ending so you’re feeling with your senses right now instead of logic. You know that you’re my mate.”

She choked. “Mate? Me? I’m nobody’s mate.”

“You are, Brianna. You’re my mate. My other half. Keeper of my soul,” he answered her, his voice husky.

She looked for some sort of sign that this was a farce, but the guy was completely serious. “I don’t even know you. Furthermore, I’m dying. That’s a pretty lousy mate to have. I think you got screwed. I come with a pretty quick expiration date.” She attempted to make light of his comments, but somewhere in her heart she actually did feel drawn to him.

“You aren’t dying from a rare form of leukemia, Brianna. You’re ill because you are not yet united with your mate. Your life force is fading,” he explained patiently. He walked over and sat next to her on the floor, across from her so that he could see her eyes. “Somewhere on your body you wear my mark. My family mark is a dragon.”

He held out his left arm. On his forearm was the perfect tattoo of a small dragon. It was fierce, multicolored and very detailed considering it was only about the size of a half dollar. “Oh shit.” Brianna felt her heart flutter and her stomach drop. She had an identical marking on her right hip.

The mark had appeared when she had turned eighteen. One morning… it was just…there. She had never mentioned it to anyone. She rationalized it by saying she must have done it on her birthday. It was one of those rare occasions where she had partied with alcohol when she had been underage and had gotten roaring drunk.

“You have it?” It was a rhetorical question that Ethan already knew the answer to, but he asked her anyway.

“Yes.” She could barely speak. This was all too strange. All too unbelievable.

“Don’t be afraid, Brianna. We were created for each other. This isn’t the way it is usually done. Generally I would meet you. Get to know you. Let you at least get used to me before I dropped this bomb on you. But you have little time. I think you sense that.” His voice was urgent and worried.

“I do.” She answered without hesitation. She did know it. She felt it. “I wish that we could have had more time together.”

“We have forever. But it has to start soon.” His voice was coaxing.

“Ethan… what part of “I’m dying” did you not understand?” She was getting frustrated.

“We can mate, Brianna. You won’t die. You will be with me for eternity.”

“I can’t mate with you! I don’t even know you.” But something inside of her wanted to. Would it be such a sacrifice to mate with a man who made her insides quiver without even touching her? He was the most handsome, compelling man she had ever met and something inside of her yearned for him, was reaching for him.

Besides, her other alternative was dying. Soon!

Yep. Tough choice! I either believe his story and mate with the gorgeous man, or die an agonizing death. It was sort of a no-brainer.

Ethan reached toward her and took her hand in his gently, as though afraid she would shatter, and she felt a jolt of energy go through her body. Just the light touch of his hand was electrifying. “Then know me, Brianna. Open your mind and know me.”

He placed her hand on his temple and her mind flooded with Ethan. Ethan as a young man! Ethan with his brothers! Ethan’s thoughts. Ethan’s battles! Ethan’s emotions. She was utterly and completely consumed by Ethan.

Chapter 4