Caressed by Night by Amanda J. Greene Read Free Book Online Page B

back to life, music vibrating the floor as the bartenders quickly swept up the broken glass and everyone resumed their partying. Kerstyn blinked, unable to believe the sudden change of atmosphere. Time had snapped back into action.
    “You caused quite a stir,” Gabriel chuckled.
    Dimitri crossed the office to join his friend at the window.
    “I thought they were all going to drop dead from astonishment and fear. Even the new vampires knew to show you respect.” 36

    “I lifted the shield I keep on my power. Though they do not know, yet, they could feel my strength.”
    “No shit, I felt it up here. You had those idiotic humans completely stunned.”
    Dimitri shrugged. “I have that effect on most people.”
    “You weren’t the only one everyone noticed. She’s a pretty female.” Gabriel turned from the window and began shifting through papers on his desk. “Is she your human roommate?”
    “She is more than that.”
    Gabriel’s rummaging came to a halt as a tingle skipped down his spine. He slowly turned, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open.
    “Holy shit,” he breathed, his voice so low he could barely hear himself.
    Dimitri said nothing, his gaze focused out the window. He watched the vampires below. Some frantically typed text messages and emails while others dialed their phones. His news was going to travel fast.
    He let a tiny sigh escape from his lungs.
    And so it begins.
    Gabriel stared blankly at Dimitri’s profile, his mind a whirlwind of thought as he began to piece everything together. He knew there had to be a reason behind Dimitri coming to Vegas. This was certainly not his kind of jungle. He had always preferred quiet, peaceful surroundings. Now it all made sense. The ancient had come for his mate.
    “How did you know she would be here?”
    Dimitri tapped his temple with his index finger.
    Gabriel’s inhale was sharp as realization settled in his bones.
    “You can see the future.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.
    “I can see much more than that, my friend.”
    “How long have you had this gift?”
    37

    Dimitri shrugged. “I cannot remember when it first manifested, but it has been with me for nearly six hundred years.”
    “You knew Ven was going to betray you? You knowingly stepped into his trap?”
    The ancient vampire nodded.
    “Why?”
    “It was the right course of action.”
    Gabriel blindly fell back and was relieved when he landed in his chair. He closed his eyes as his brain tried to process all of this new information. He had not felt this overwhelmed by change since the day his life went to hell. Images of his burning village flashed in his mind, bodies of women and children scattered on the cold earth, their blood feeding the soil. He could feel the iron bands biting into the flesh of his wrists and ankles as he was dragged away.
    “Let them go.”
    Gabriel’s eyes flew open and collided with Dimitri’s haunting gaze. He shook his head, banishing his dark memories for the moment.
    Clearing his throat, he said, “I assume you already know about this.” He stood and snatched a red piece of paper off his desk. “Dorian Vlakhos and his wife, Victoria, are heading our way.”
    “They are celebrating their 197th wedding anniversary,” Dimitri acknowledged with a nod.
    “How anyone could stand to be married for that long is beyond me.”
    “One day, you will understand.”
    Gabriel scoffed, “Not likely.”
    He belonged to no clan, an outcast. He was friends with Dimitri and Dorian, the king of the Mylonas Clan, but his connections would not help him with women. As an outcast, no decent vampire female would look upon him with kindness. Gabriel had wealth, power, and strength, but he was among the lowest of the low and all the money in the world could not change his position within vampire society. If a member of his own kind wanted nothing to do with him, why would a mortal? A human woman would flee in terror if he ever revealed his true self. Not that