Defender's Blood Alex's Destiny (An Urban Fantasy) Read online

  Defender's

  Blood

  Alex's Destiny

  Book 1

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  A K Michaels

  © 2013 by A K Michaels All Rights Reserved

  This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission by the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Dedication

  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

  Author's Note

  Contact Ava

  Other Work by Ava

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to the person that has been with me for more of my life than I was on my own. He's been with me for highs, lows, and all the stuff in between. My husband, the man I love with all my heart.

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  Chapter 1

  “What the hell was this human thinking?” Zach cursed to himself quietly.

  She was wandering about in the middle of nowhere, on her own, and in the bloody dark. Zach was watching this woman closely and had been for a few days, obviously without her knowledge. However, this was the first time he truly felt she could actually be in danger: as he had been advised.

  He’d been on the verge of directly contacting the Witch in Canada who had reported her vision to the Council. The one in which this petite human had been kidnapped, used for a very special ritual to unleash some extremely nasty surprises, and then killed. He thought maybe the Witch had got things a bit confused, as Witches sometimes were prone to do, and in fact that this woman was not involved at all.

  Up until a few minutes ago, Zach did not feel any magic, or supernatural essence, on her. However, he now felt something out of sync in the nature around them that caused his senses to go into overdrive. He would have to see how this played out, and carried on following her at a safe distance, so she wouldn’t detect him.

  He guessed if she saw she was being stalked through the woods that she’d panic and attempt to escape. Not that she could, but he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily.

  *****

  Alex was totally daydreaming, gave herself a mental shake, and then promptly tripped and nearly fell flat on her face. She looked around her and realized she was in the middle of the group of trees that she’d seen in the distance when she’d parked her car. “Shit, how the hell did I get this far from the car without realizing it?” She thought, shocked at the distance she’d covered.

  It was also getting dark, and in Scotland it got dark a tad too quickly for her liking. It wasn’t raining yet, but again, with the Scottish weather, the rain was usually never far away. Her sense of direction was terrible. She could get lost, even when she could see where she was going, but being in the middle of the trees, she had no idea which way to go. “Feck it!” she cursed, well it wasn’t really cursing in her mind, that’s why she added an ‘e’ instead of a ‘u’ so she didn’t feel guilty. She about-turned and thought to just try and retrace her steps, praying she was going in the right direction.

  She was not the type of person to scare easy. She wasn’t afraid of spiders, the dark, or any of the usual stuff that had women running screaming. Once, when her ex had jumped out and given her a fright, she had actually punched him square on the nose, on instinct alone. She was never quite sure who was more surprised, her or her ex, though certainly he was the one who was most upset.

  However, as she carried on walking, she started to feel something, not fear exactly, but well – she didn’t know. She stopped and listened, in case she could maybe hear something that was getting through to her unconscious, but nope, didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.

  “Wait a minute,” she thought. I don’t hear anything? Nothing, no birds, no wee animals, no wind, nothing. That was a bit weird, but she was still not exactly scared, just curious. She was walking in a wooded area with branches, twigs, and all sorts of stuff on the ground, so she couldn’t just run any way, she’d already tripped once. She didn’t relish having a bad fall out here whilst on her own, so she tried to keep her eyes peeled for where she placed her feet, not wanting a repeat performance of her rather inelegant trip from earlier.

  Alex resumed her walk, hoping she would be out of the woods soon. She took a nice deep breath, trying to stop her heart from beating faster, though she didn’t know why it was misbehaving.

  She had always had what her Aunt Mary called a ‘good sixth sense,’ and her aunt always told her to ‘heed it and do what it tells you, even if you think it’s silly.’ And right at this minute, it was telling her to move fast and get the hell away from where she was.

  “What the blazes is going on?” she mumbled softly. This is ridiculous, breathe, walk, get to the car, she told herself, refusing to allow panic to set in. After all, she wasn't a kid, she was a grown woman, being alone in the dark shouldn't scare her. Christ, she was nearly forty, not some scared teen “Get a grip woman.” She hotly told herself.

  *****

  Zach continued following the human, trying to ensure that not only she, but whoever else might be in the area did not hear, see, or in fact ‘feel’ him. Over the past few days the woman had done usual everyday things, such as go to work, going to the gym a couple of times, but not a lot else. Keeping her safe so far had been relatively easy. Until now that is.

  Obviously, if she was aware she may be in danger, she would not have gone for a night time walk in the middle of nowhere. She was not aware, however, and in fact, she seemed totally oblivious of her surroundings, obviously deep in thought about something.

  Zach was not close enough to truly feel her emotions or read her, but he was of the opinion that something was troubling her. He once more studied the human. She was petite, strawberry blonde curly hair, delicious curves in just the right places, not one of the skin and bones type that were all around these days.

  He particularly liked her eyes. An unusual shade of green, which complemented her colouring perfectly. “I wonder what she’s like in bed.” Whoa, where on earth did that thought come from? Zach never ever mixed business with pleasure, and this was definitely business.

  Zach worked all over the world, but this was only his second time in Scotland, in this very picturesque, rural area, not too far from Glasgow, watching this petite human. He was beginning to become concerned. The longer he watched over her, the more he was sensing something magical. What that was he was unsure of, but there definitely was ‘something’ there. He sent out his power, to see if he could sense anything that should not be in this picturesque countryside or in fact, any countryside. Again, it was as if something was not right, but he just couldn’t grasp onto what was out there. “Hmm intriguing,” he thought. He liked a good mystery to solve.

  He continued on, keeping a close eye on the human, when he was distracted by the pzz pzz of his mobile, as it started to vibrate in his jeans pocket. He was far enough behind the woman that her human ears would not hear anything, but he stopped to let her get a li
ttle bit farther ahead before taking it out. He was surprised to see the name of one of the higher-ups in the Council lighting up his screen. He never got calls from them while on a mission.

  “What was going on?” He wondered. “Zach here,” he whispered.

  “Zach, I am so glad I have managed to reach you. The Council has come into some very important and disturbing information. I take it you are still keeping an eye on Alexina in Scotland?” Thadius, a member of the Council asked breathlessly.

  Zach frowned. Thadius sounded very upset, and he was usually so cool and calm. “Yes, of course I am, but nothing is happening on this end, and I just don’t understand what this human has to do with anything magical. Maybe I’m wasting my time?”

  “No, no, no, Zach. This information, if it is correct, has confirmed just how important Alexina is. You must keep her safe at all costs, and you need to get her on the jet and back here to Council Headquarters, as soon as you can! Tonight, if you can arrange it.”

  Zach had never heard Thadius so agitated and certainly had never heard him raise his voice. What on earth was going on? “Okay, Thadius, I'll try and make contact with her without scaring her senseless, and will advise E.T.A. as soon as I have that information.” Zach didn’t wait for goodbyes, he hung up the phone and replaced it in his pocket quickly, muttering to himself. “Shit, what’s so important about this human female?”

  Zach realized he had stayed stationary whilst he had been on the phone with Thadius, and Alexina (although she went by the shortened Alex, he much preferred her full name) had, of course, carried on. She was now quite a distance in front of him, so he set off to catch up with her as he wondered how to ‘make contact’ with her out here in the middle of nowhere, without scaring the living daylights out of her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she took one look at him and ran screaming in the opposite direction.

  He quickly caught up as she was extremely easy to follow, between the noise she was making, which would wake the dead, and then there was her smell! It was the most luscious smell he had come across, ever, and that was truly saying something.

  He did not know when he had decided it was ‘luscious,’ just that he now did, and he was trying to work out what was so different about this woman. However, he was nothing if not patient, and he would figure it out.

  That is, after he figured out how to introduce himself first, then try to talk her into going with him, a total stranger and a Vampire to boot, halfway around the world from her Scottish home to the USA. “Guess I'll just play it by ear and see where it gets me.” He chuckled, not the first time he dealt with things by the seat of his pants, so to speak.

  He wasn’t too far behind, close enough to keep an eye on her while he tried to figure out how to go about things. His senses on alert as he kept close enough to take action if the need arose.

  *****

  Shit, thought Alex, “What the hell is happening to me?” she said aloud to herself. I can ‘sense’ the trees! What in holy hell is going on? Are they talking?

  She stopped walking and tried to calm herself, at the same time as trying to sort through what was happening to her senses and in her head. Godammit, I have finally lost it, time for a counsellor for me I think, she ruefully thought.

  She took several deep breaths and tried very hard to empty her head of these senses, thoughts, and words that were bombarding her brain. “Nope, that’s not bloody working. Okay, just keep walking, block it out and walk!” she told herself forcefully. She spoke aloud again, hoping her words would make more of an impact on her brain.

  “A very large Jack Daniels and Diet Coke is definitely waiting for me at home!” she laughed aloud.

  *****

  Zach could hear what she was saying and feel her growing panic, but he couldn’t figure out what it was that had caused her heart to nearly beat out of her chest.

  He could sense she was trying desperately to keep control, and he felt a deep need to rush to her and comfort her. Again he thought ‘what the hell.’ Why was he feeling like this? He had no idea, but couldn’t shake the feeling and, as he was the master of controlling his emotions, this startled him.

  In fact, he could truly think of no other time in his life when he felt so out of control of his feelings, as he did now.

  Just as they were nearing the end of the wooded area, Zach felt something tickle his senses, something is here. His senses told him it wasn’t another Vampire, or even a Were, but it was definitely something ‘Super’ or magical.

  He went on high alert, every part of him coming alive, his strength building for what he thought was going to be a battle. He ran at full speed, which was faster than the human eye could follow, and was immediately behind the female.

  He put a hand out to stop her and she turned around...“Feck!” she shouted, “Who...” and that was all she got out.

  The air around them started to sizzle, and they could both smell something rotten, something bad, something downright evil.

  *****

  Alex’s senses were now on overload. ‘Run!’ the trees were telling her. Something was materializing in front of them.

  There was black smoke swirling just in front of them, it seemed as if it was becoming solid, a shape. She didn’t get the chance to see what it was though, the stranger who had appeared out of nowhere suddenly picked her up, and she felt the most incredible power emanating from him.

  It did not feel ‘bad,’ but was the most overpowering feeling of strength she had ever felt in her life, and then the most amazing, totally unbelievable thing happened. All around her seemed to ‘shimmer,’ that was the only word she could think to describe it, and then they were at the car park! The car park several miles away, she knew that, because there in front of her was her car.

  The stranger put her down and she stood, very unsteadily, on her own feet. Then she...oops no, no, please don’t let me...

  “Oh God,” was all she got out before she bent over and threw up everywhere, she was sick as a dog and fell to her knees.

  The strange man that had picked her up and got her here walked over to a very large SUV, got a bottle of water, and brought it to her. “Here this will help, it’s always like that the first time you move,” he said.

  “Move! Move! What in blazes do you mean? What the hell just happened? Who are you? What was that thing in the woods? How did you do that? Oh hell, I’m going to throw up again!” Alex bent over and threw up some more, shaking and sweating, and feeling as if she was in some extremely bad nightmare.

  *****

  “I will answer your many questions, but we need to get out of here, now!” Zach replied. He once more picked her up, carried her to his vehicle, and placed her, very gently, into the passenger seat.

  Dear God, she smells so good, her blood is calling to me. He frowned, trying to sort through what was happening to him. No time now, got to get her to safety, he told himself.

  He went around the front of the car, got in the driver’s side, and pulled out of the car park, like a pack of wolves were after them. Never know, probably is, he thought, or something worse – much worse.

  He turned towards the city and put his foot to the floor, they were going as fast as possible for him to get as far away from the area as quickly as he could. He wasn’t sure what that thing in the woods was, but he sure as hell knew it wasn’t delivering a bunch of flowers.

  He turned to look at Alexina, she was pale and shaking, probably from the move, he thought. It wasn’t pleasant if you weren’t used to them, especially the very first time, so he knew she was probably feeling pretty crap right now.

  Despite that, she was staring at him with a very defiant look on her face, and he could sense she was going to let it rip real soon.

  Yup, here it comes, she looks like she is going to explode.

  “Just who the fuck are you and what the hell just happened?” Her face was beetroot red, and he couldn’t stop a small smile from twitching his lips, she looked adorab
le.

  “If you do not answer me in ten seconds, I am dialling 999!” At that she pulled her phone from her jeans pocket and held it up between them, like a shield.

  “Okay, okay, I'll answer your questions, but right now I have to concentrate on driving these bloody back roads to get us both to safety. Jeez, there are no lights. With all these bends even my eyesight’s having trouble. How the hell does anyone get around here without crashing all the time? Yeah, right, sorry, you have questions, but really this is not the time. I will give you answers, just please be patient, and believe me when I say I am here to help you. I will not harm you, and I will make damn sure nobody, or nothing else, will hurt you, Alexina!”

  Chapter 2

  Alex was struck dumb, no easy feat in her case. This stranger knew her name? How? Why? What the hell was going on?

  All these thoughts, and more, were running through her mind at a zillion miles an hour. She tried to calm herself and kept her phone in her hand, just in case.

  She had no idea what had happened in the woods, but when trees start talking to you, well then, you just have to realize it’s something big.

  She looked at this person who had somehow ‘moved’ her, quite some distance, in the blink of an eye and tried to work out if he was, in fact, a threat to her.

  He certainly looked dangerous, but he didn’t make her feel as if she was in danger, if that made sense? Nope, it didn’t. Okay, she thought, have a good hard look and what do you see?

  Well, what she saw was, well, just astounding, yup, astounding was the word that came to mind. He was obviously taller than her, jeez, everyone was taller than her.

  He seemed to be rock solid, well, he had felt that way when he had picked her up. He was sooooo good looking with his jet black hair in that messy style lots of guys were going for these days.