Liam’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #4)(9)
Author: J.S. Scott

He was coarse, base and she disliked him immediately. A cold chill was running up her spine as she answered sarcastically, “I’m not ready to receive guests at the moment, as you can see. Perhaps we can meet at another location and time.” Or not! Definitely…not!

He closed the door and turned to face her, backing her up against the wall as she tried to move away from him. “Right now is good for me. What you have on is also good for me. I want to inspect the merchandise before I buy,” he stated arrogantly, as he reached for the tie to her bathrobe.

She nearly gagged as she got a whiff of hard alcohol and pungent aftershave. Ewww… “Get the hell away from me.” Regan was pissed off now and pushed him hard enough to move sideways and away from his wandering hands. How dare he come into her home and treat her like a object to be bought and inspected?

“Heard you were a vampire whore, but that can be overlooked, as long as you come from the Taylor line. You’re attractive enough and probably could be adequate in bed with some training,” he told her flatly, moving closer as she backed into her living room to get away from him.

Regan froze, taken aback by his blunt words. Of course he didn’t care, as long as they produced a good lineage. She was a Taylor, he was a Spencer. Two prominent families that were both direct descendants of mage royalty. No matter that neither of those so-called aristocratic families had two pennies to rub together; they would make blue blooded babies.

Her stomach rolling in disgust, Regan put out an urgent calling spell to her sister, hoping Sasha would bring Nathan along with her. She was going to need help getting this repugnant, vile male mage out of her house. For some unknown reason, he already thought he owned her, and he obviously wasn’t leaving by request. Tom was older and male, but Regan would be damned if the vile creature would be disrobing her for inspection. She’d already gone through that at the hands of the council. No way was some beady-eyed, drunk, male mage pawing her like she was property and nothing more.

Her ass hit the couch and she groped wildly to come up with something, anything to bash him on the head hard enough to stop his progress. Her hand came up with a flower pot of artificial stone. Not as heavy as she would have liked but…

The flower pot stopped in mid-swing as a low, menacing growl came from the other side of the room. Regan’s head jerked to the bedroom door to see Liam, dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, his eyes red, his face nearly unrecognizable, and completely ready to go in for the kill.

“Liam?” Please hear me. Don’t kill the revolting mage. He’s not worth the backlash.

The carnality of the noise rose to a menacing snarl and Regan reacted. She swung the pot with all of her strength against the head of the unsuspecting Tom Spencer, and it was hard enough to knock him from his feet. As he sprawled to the floor, Regan threw herself over Tom as she pleaded, screaming, “No, Liam. Don’t do it. He’s not worth it.”

Her fingernails dug into the leather of Tom’s jacket as Liam sprung, trying to yank her from Tom’s body as he growled, “Kill. Protect.”

Just as she was about to give way, the pressure released and she heard several voices screaming curses. She couldn’t decipher exactly what voices were hurling what violent oaths, but she relaxed slightly as she recognized Nathan.

Stumbling to her feet, Regan quickly took in six additional bodies, three male, three female, in her small living room. Nathan, Ethan and Rory had a hold on Liam, while Brianna, Callie and Sasha looked on in horror as Liam suddenly broke his brothers’ holds and rushed for Tom.

“Jesus Christ! He’s like a vampire on steroids.” Nathan grunted as he tried and failed to hold Liam again with the help of his brothers.

Regan’s living room was utter and complete chaos as the brothers struggled, trying to keep Liam from getting in any more hits on Tom, who was still sprawled on the carpet in shock.

Regan lunged toward Tom, ready to throw herself on top of him again, but Sasha, Brianna and Callie held her back, away from the flying limbs of the and thrashing bodies of the Hale brothers.

“He can’t kill him. He can’t kill him.” Regan tugged, trying desperately to break free, but her sister held her back, grasping her tightly around the waist to keep her from running forward.

“Stop, Regan,” Sasha told her in her severe, big sister voice. “Let the guys handle this.”

It really didn’t look like the guys were handling anything. Fists were flying and Liam was coming out on top, repeatedly making his way back to Tom in his furious attempt to snuff out his life.

“ENOUGH!”

The whole room rocked from the booming order and everybody stopped whatever they were doing, including Regan. She tried to move, but she was locked into place, frozen, unable to even twitch her little finger.

Holy hell. What now?

If she could have moved, she would have instinctively stepped back from the form that suddenly appeared in her line of vision, a man who meant business and radiated power that pulsed through the entire room. Shit. He was massive. Strangely enough, he moved his hugely muscled body with the grace of a dancer, strolling casually over to Liam and placing his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Time for you to cool off, my friend,” the voice was still powerful, but Regan swore she heard a twinge of empathy in the statement.

Liam vanished without another word, leaving the man to lower his arm. “I believe it’s safe now. You will all stay calm.”

“Where’s Liam?” Regan demanded the moment she could speak again. “What have you done?”

She stepped in front of the strange male, craning her neck to see his face. His expression was as hard as stone. He didn’t look any older than his mid-thirties, but his eyes gave away the fact that he was ancient. They spoke of knowledge, infinite knowledge and endless wisdom. Definitely vampire, with his signature brown eyes and dark hair that was cut almost military short, making his sharp features appear even more severe than they already were.

The black jeans that molded to his lower body, the black steel-toe biker boots and a black t-shirt just added to his menacing demeanor, but Regan scowled up at him, determined to find Liam.

The big mans lips twitched slightly as he answered, “Your mate is safe, some place that he can’t hurt himself or anyone else.”

“I want to see him,” she demanded, frantic to find out if Liam was really okay. He hadn’t exactly looked normal, sane or safe for that matter. “And who in the hell are you? And why did you move him?”