His Verae E-Book

Kara Lockley

• Herausgeber: Kara Lockley
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Luke had always been a loner, for hundreds of years. A vampire drifting from town to town. He never expected to fall for his prey. Karina didn't know what it was about the gorgeous man staring at her from across the nightclub, but she knew she wanted to know more about him. Little did either of them know his presence in her life would lead to a battle for her soul.

Leseprobe

His Verae

by Kara Lockley

Copyright 2015 by Kara Lockley

All rights reserved.

www.karalockley.com

Book Description

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 1

Karina watched her friends dancing on the dance floor of the club, and stirred her diet soda with her straw, moving the ice around idly, as she leaned against the bar.

It was a Saturday night, typical. She loved the music and the flickering lights of the club, but she hated to dance. Mostly because she couldn't dance. So she'd watch from the bar as Leanne and Nina danced. Not that they'd spend the whole night dancing, but they'd be out there for a while. Nina was tall and thin and blond and pretty, people definitely stared. She sort of danced like a willow tree blowing around in the wind, no matter how fast the song. It was funny. Leanne was average height, cute, brunette, hair cut into a mod sort of bob. She was slightly overweight. She moved around in a ferocious sort of dance, but it looked good, somehow she knew what she was doing out there. But Karina? When she danced she just always ended up hopping around for some reason. Awful.

Karina was surprised no one had asked her to dance in the last five minutes. Maybe it was mostly regulars tonight. People were bold in clubs, though. There were people who kept trying. She scanned the crowd with her dark blue eyes, stirring her half gone soda. Suddenly her eyes caught another pair staring back at her through the crowd. Whoa. Super sparkly blue. Were those contacts? A very handsome man with short black hair and bright blue eyes was staring at her. She couldn't bring herself to look away. She blinked and he was gone. Like he was never there. She glanced around to see where he went, but could not find him. Then she inhaled. She realized she'd forgotten to breathe while she was staring at him. Wow. Smooth.

She decided to get back on her barstool and sit at the bar for a while. She glanced at herself in the mirror behind the bar. Light brown hair, long, to just below her shoulders, surrounded her face. It still looked neat and tidy, from a lack of dancing. She sighed. In the mirror she seemed to be blushing. Was that from staring at the man across the room? Her mascara had run a little bit on the left side.  She realized a tear had run down her face. She wiped it away quickly, and the mascara smear it had left. Whoa. It was like the man had affected her on levels she hadn't even been aware of. She looked like a lost little girl in the mirror. She had always looked younger than she was. She was 27 now, but looked about 15 in the mirror. Pretty, but young. It made people not take her seriously. It was kind of annoying.

She decided she'd better take a closer look at that mascara issue in the ladies room mirror. She hopped off the barstool again, and she was wobbly on her feet suddenly. She'd worn three-inch heels with her jeans and muted blue gauzy tank top. She was always attempting to get her thin 5'6" frame to reach the heights of Nina's 5'11", but no shoes could do it. She'd only worn them tonight because she was the designated driver. If she'd had even one drink she would have sprained an ankle in these. But not sober. Why was she so out of it tonight?

She took one last swig of her diet soda before leaving it at the bar. She made her way across the crowded room to the restrooms. But on the way someone grabbed her arm. Gently, almost a brush, then warm fingers slowly closed around her forearm like a hug. She glanced back to see who it was. It was him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. He took a step towards her. He was tall. She found herself staring up at him. He put a finger to her lips and mouthed, "Shh..." Or maybe he said it, but she couldn't hear. The club was loud. Pulsing music beat with her heart.

Then he did something even more unexpected. He gently cradled her face in his hands and leaned down and kissed her. A warm sweet quick kiss. And she didn't stop him. Why did she not stop him?

Then he pulled away and walked away from her, glancing back once with a small friendly smile on his lips. He disappeared into the crowd. Then she inhaled again. She really had to remember to breathe. She quickly got a hold of herself and wobbled on her spiky heels to the ladies room. There were a few women in there, so she pretended to be adjusting the barrette at the top of her head, and wiped away the stray mascara. Her eyes were glassy with tears again. What was up with this guy? He was cute, sure, but did she have to lose it every time she saw him?

She got her lip gloss out of the little black purse she carried and absentmindedly put some on. Just to have something to do instead of stare at herself in the mirror. So the other women wouldn't think she was nuts. Not that they were all entirely sober.

Nina suddenly walked into the restroom, caught sight of Karina and said, "There you are!" a little too loudly, and waved her arm flamboyantly in the air. She was a happy drunk. "You have some explaining to do," she said as she pointed at Karina and ambled quickly into a stall to pee. Karina laughed.

Then Leanne walked into the room, very deliberately, like she was trying to remember how to walk. "Karina," she said with a happy sleepy smile and made her way over to her. Then Leanne threw her arms around Karina for a big hug. She squeezed her tight and rocked her back and forth. "You're so great!" Leanne said. Also a happy drunk. Karina laughed.

"Have we had enough fun for the night?" Karina asked.

"Yes!" Leanne said. "Especially you with your kissy face man." She let Karina go then as she wandered back to a stall herself. Apparently, to throw up.

Nina danced out of her stall and came over to Karina's sink to bump her out of the way with her hip. The other sinks were taken. Nina washed her hands and she hummed along with the song currently playing loudly in the club. She dried her hands and then winked in a drunken enunciated way at Karina. Eventually Leanne came out of her stall and washed up as well. Then they headed out of the bathroom together.

Karina led the way holding Nina's hand, and Nina held Leanne's hand. Kind of like children crossing the street. She made her way through the club to the door, pulling the others behind her. She could hear Nina muttering, "Where is he? Where is he?"

Once out in the cool summer night air, they could hear each other better.

"Who was that?" Nina asked. Leanne nodded.

"I don't know," Karina said sheepishly.

The other two looked appalled.

"Well, what's his name?" Leanne asked.

Karina shrugged.

"Dammit, woman, how will you find him again?" Nina asked as Karina helped her into the passenger side of her old little white sedan.

"It's a pretty small town," Karina said. "He'll show up eventually somewhere."

"It's not that small," Leanne said as she allowed herself to be helped into the back seat. "But with his laser eyes, he sure can't hide, right?" She laughed at herself. Karina chuckled.

Secretly Karina was hoping all of this would be hazy enough to be forgotten once her friends sobered up. It's not like she could explain what had happened. She never did things like that. She wasn't a free spirit or anything. Or promiscuous. Or even drunk. Why on Earth had she done that? Maybe it had something to do with breaking up with Brad. That had only been a month ago. They'd dated for a year. That was what she would tell her friends tomorrow when they were sober, anyway. But in her heart she knew it was more than that. It was something different. Magical. Special. Well, that sounded silly to her even in her head.

She drove her friends home, managing to not answer any of their questions about the man. Then she drove herself home, deep in thought. Replaying the kiss in her head till her eyes got glassy again.

Chapter 2

Karina took her makeup off, her barrette out, put her pajamas on, and crawled into bed. It was 1:30 in the morning. She curled up under the covers and fell asleep. She dreamed of the blue-eyed man. They were at the club, everyone in the room around them became a blur, and he was speaking to her. "You won't remember this later," he was saying quietly. "You won't wake up until I'm gone." He kept repeating it. She opened her eyes.

Was she still dreaming? She was in her bedroom. She seemed to be awake. But he was there. He sat on the edge of her bed, with its pink fluffy bedspread, wearing the same clothes he'd had on at the club. Worn out blue jeans with a faded navy blue T-shirt that fit him just right. He wasn't saying the words to her out loud, but she could still hear them in her head. Telling her she won't remember or wake up. His eyes were looking intently and warmly at her. And, frankly, he looked a bit surprised. Her vision was hazy, but she could have sworn that objects were floating. A pink tissue box from her nightstand. A jar of moisturizer from her dresser across the room. Some antique candle holders from the other dresser. And a few other things.

She couldn't fully wake up. Was she hallucinating or dreaming? This obviously couldn't be real. Why would he be here in her bedroom, and... He was still looking at her with surprise, and now worry. He suddenly, faster than a human could possibly move, zipped across her bedroom to her open window and jumped out. Her gauzy pink curtains fluttered in the breeze.

She woke more fully now. Nothing was floating. Though one candlestick and the jar of moisturizer were now lying on the faded brown carpet. And her window was wide open. She never left it open.

She felt calm. Why did she feel calm? She climb [...]