The Alpha's Addiction: Huntsville Pack Series, #4

By Michelle Fox

The vampire who wants what he can't have...

Vampire Davian Sanglante's mission is to stop a blood slave ring, not fall in love with a drug addicted werewolf caught up in the whole mess. 

Adele may be an addict, but she has the eyes of an angel and she sees right into Davian's heart. She knows him. Gets him. Sees him.

It's almost  enough to make his heart beat again, but he knows he can't have her. A vampire like him doesn't get a happy ending. Not with the secrets he keeps, even from Adele.

A novella length shapeshifter romance that ties into the next book in the Huntsville Pack series, The Alpha's Bite.

Excerpt:

Adele broke our kiss and leaned back, her gaze searching my face. "What is it about you, Davian? Is it the blood?"

"Yes," I told her, although I wasn't certain that was true. Thralls were deeply bonded to their vampires, but it didn't usually involve this much kissing.

She bit her bottom lip."I want you like I've never wanted anything."

I shoved her away, uncomfortable with the way she watched me...like she was hungry enough to swallow me whole. A dark temptation twisted in me, big enough to swallow us both. "Don't want me Adele. This won't last."

"Why not? You're immortal. That's forever."

"Because I'm not good for you. Not like this."

"Who hurt you?" she asked, her voice soft and resonating with an understanding I didn't want. She was far too perceptive for my comfort. The bond must be broadcasting my emotions. I closed my eyes and clamped down, refusing to share.

"You can trust me. I won't tell anyone." Her hand cupped my face and I turned into her palm, kissing the sensitive skin there. She started to speak again, but I covered her mouth with mine, wanting to cut off further questions. I didn't owe her my past, and my demons were too heavy to share without consequence.

She sighed and moaned into my lips. My body stirred and my senses spun. She smelled like a forest on a hot day, a mix of sunlight and pine and fresh grass tinged with lilac. I hadn't been so close to the sun since I'd been turned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Fox
• Release date: Sep 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386053422

Book preview

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. All events depicted are fictional. Characters are consenting adults. Any resemblance to places and persons, living or dead, is unintentional coincidence.

Every effort has been made to provide a quality reading experience, but editors and technology are fallible. Please report typos or formatting issues to [e-mail].

Chapter One

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Davian

My stomach knotted at the scent of hopelessness in the air. Dozens of empty eyes looked at me. I doubted the shifters before me even knew they were conscious.

The Contessa had warned me it would be bad, but until now, until it was in front of me, I hadn't understood the horror. I pretended to inspect the shifters, fighting to keep my expression even and measured. My mission relied on me swallowing my disgust. In this place, buying shifters was just another business transaction.  In this moment, life served the immortal.

I wondered if the Contessa had known so many shifters were involved.

The line of eight female and three male shifters stood against the wall in the strip club basement, waiting for me to make an offer. This wasn't even all of them. Sources said Zion had an ongoing supply. He was moving more shifters than anyone else in history. Usually, the shifters rose up and fought back, but not this time.

Zion walked up and down the row of ragtag shifters standing before him, some held in place by his men, others too beaten down to do anything other than follow orders. Their clothes were torn and stained with blood, and their slack faces held vacant eyes that didn't respond to anything...not even the insistent thumping of strip club music from the floor above.

By contrast, Zion himself looked out of place in his designer suit—navy with a light blue handkerchief in the pocket, and underneath, a crisp white shirt unbuttoned to the middle of his chest. He dressed like a rich man, one who'd taken a very wrong turn somewhere. Which actually, he had, and by his own choosing, too. It made his mouth twitch in a self-satisfied smirk. The dark hole he'd dug for himself was making him a very wealthy vampire.

These are all from the same supplier? I asked, careful to keep my expression neutral. Zion must suspect nothing.

He nodded and flashed a gleeful smile. I have a connection inside the packs. His voice had a patois I couldn't place. Maybe Creole. Or French-Canadian. Or maybe he just faked it. I'd seen vampires do that before. Accents were always hot in the US.

I raised an eyebrow. The packs know about this?

He scowled. What do you care? You're just here to buy, right?

Just curious, I said, forcing a casual smile.

You're not a bleeding heart, are you? He picked out one of the shifters—a blonde with pale skin and dead eyes—and yanked her forward. This one, he said, shoving her toward me. She's still high from her last hit, so you'll taste it, but it won't be enough to affect you.

I caught the woman, her weight so light I felt like I'd been handed a sheet of paper. Her jeans hung on her undernourished frame. A hint of lilac clung to her, like a stubborn spring refusing to bow before the lingering darkness of winter. Blonde hair outlined the heart shape of her face. She had a natural beauty, but looking into her eyes, I saw nothing, not even a spark of awareness. She'd become a husk of someone who'd once had a life. 

What do you want me to do?

Claim her. Show me I can trust you. He crossed his arms, waiting.

My fangs throbbed in my mouth. It had been a long time since I'd fed. But the woman in my arms could not consent, and claiming someone against their will had been forbidden for the last hundred years. The world would be full of thralls otherwise. Someone would notice and vampires didn't want to be noticed. We preferred to cloak ourselves in shadows and let the light fall someplace else. Which was why Zion's operation needed to be shut down—quickly and quietly.

Lifting the woman up a bit higher, I nudged her head back with one hand, exposing her ivory neck. She blinked at the movement, but otherwise remained still. Her neck was a long, arched expanse of smooth skin, like soft, untouched snow. Her pulse quivered in the hollow of her throat. It was too much. I had to look away.

What's her name?

Who cares? Zion shrugged. You can call her whatever you want. She'll be yours, after all.

Adele, came a whisper so soft I almost missed it. Her blue gaze met mine, and something flickered in her eyes this time, something alive and aware.

Davian, I whispered back.

"She's food, Zion said. Why are you introducing yourself to her? Just feed."

I shot him a dark look. In my time, we knew each other's names. There used to be salons where we mingled with humans, hand picking the best and offering them a sort of patronage in exchange for their blood. We'd had rules of engagement that all civilized vampires followed, but that had since faded. The modern world used time against us and eroded the eternal.

I would bet Zion had been turned after that time. His gauche sensibilities suggested he'd never courted his blood, never bowed over a woman's hand before slipping his fangs into her throat. The violent and the bloodthirsty had been shunned in my time. He would not have survived that era. Not like this.

Names don't matter anymore, he said. Now claim her or I'll kill you as the mole you probably are.

I'm not a mole.

Prove you're not some patsy from the council. Because that's the only reason you wouldn't feed. Show me you're for real. He reached inside his black suit jacket and pulled out a dagger, the blade tapering to a fine point. Or I'll kill you and send your dust back to them.

I'll be quick. I whispered the promise into Adele's ear. Then nuzzling her neck, I inhaled her scent, smelling the fur of the wolf lurking under her skin. My fangs slipped past her skin. The first gush of blood had a faint chemical aftertaste from the drugs, but it sweetened after that.

For a moment, time went backward and I stood in the woods of my childhood, surrounded by musk on all sides. And lilacs, but that came from Adele's scent. My fangs dove into her blood, filling me with her warmth and innocence and a memory of a place I could no longer claim as home.

In the distance, I heard my sister's voice calling for me with a playful laugh. I wandered through my memories, wishing they would sweep me away and never let me go.

I'd thought I'd been unhappy in those days. If the me of then could see me now, I would be a different man. I'd had no idea how bad things