The Men of Otherworld: Collection One by Yasmine Galenorn Read Free Book Online Page A

apart.

Blood Ties

    Roman has managed to live as long as he has due to keeping a tight hold on what humanity he has left. Unfortunately, not all vampires feel that way—and not all of his family agrees with his choices.

    Roman stared at the phone as he silently pressed the End Talk button. The news was not good. He really, really didn’t need to start off the day this way. Grumbling, he turned to stare at the woman sitting beside him. She was quiet, polite, and dressed in a dark red skirt and top. The better not to show stains, my dear , he thought. She was new to his stable. Average build, pretty, blue-eyed and a redhead. As he looked her over, it occurred to him that, just once, it would be nice to have a normal breakfast like everybody else, along with a normal cup of coffee. Just once. But those simple joys had been off his table for thousands of years and the only way he could handle everything that seemed so alien—all the activities that made up so many peoples’ lives—was to push the desire aside.
    “What’s your name?” Roman made it a point to know every bloodwhore in his stable. He learned their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, the reason they had petitioned to join his household. He refused to be a use ‘em and lose ‘em type of vampire. It wouldn’t be seemly, not for the son of Blood Wyne, the Queen of the Crimson Veil.
    “Dotti Rollins.” She smiled, but behind the smile, her nerves were showing through. She was dressed like Roman preferred his bloodwhores to dress—skirts, sweaters, normal clothes. He never allowed them to appear at his table in anything but a tidy manner. No negligees, no lingerie, no sweats. Sexy clothes were perfectly fine, but he wasn’t running a brothel or a gym. The fact was, he rarely slept with any of the women who lived under his roof, who provided him with their blood.
    Roman considered her for a moment. She seemed pleasant, almost college-prep. Which brought up the question: What was she doing here? What had brought her into his house, into his stable? He left the choosing of the bloodwhores up to his personal secretary but this meeting—the first—was the final decision. Here, he either put his stamp of approval on the deal, or he dismissed the candidates and they were never allowed to reapply.
    “Tell me about yourself, Dotti.” Roman was gracious. He could afford to be. There were a long line of applicants waiting to offer their veins up to him. It had been thousands of years since he had been human, but he kept a tight rein on himself to keep from becoming a monster. And that included interacting with the living on a gracious, if aloof, level. As far above them as he was on the food chain, Roman never allowed himself forget that he did have vulnerabilities, and death—the final death—was always out there, waiting.
    Her eyes went wide and she flushed. “I’m…I’m a grad student.
    He nodded. Bingo. She was hiding something there, below the surface. “What’s your major?”
    This time the flush ran down her neck, across the top of her chest. “Supe-psychology.”  
    And there it was. He had sensed something off about her. Usually the ones who really wanted to be here were broken. They might hide it well, but there was always something there, beneath the surface, that drove them to the lifestyle. Dotti didn’t want to be a bloodwhore. She wanted fodder for her thesis. Roman could handle the broken ones. He considered it almost a service, offering them shelter and protection. But he didn’t like being used, nor analyzed.  
    He slowly stood and crossed to her side, reaching down to cup her chin and slowly tilt her head up so she was looking into his eyes. He thought about just sending her away, but then the hunger grew, and he decided what the hell, he could send her away afterward. Leaning down, he brushed her lips with one finger.  
    “Well, Dotti, I hope you find everything you’re looking for.” And then, he lifted her hair away from