Story Excerpt
Just A Vampire

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Blond hair sufficiently frosted and spiked?

Check.

Black eyeliner expertly applied to bring out the green in my eyes?

Check.

Lips plump, shiny, and looking like I could suck a golf ball through a hundred feet of garden hose?

Check.

See through t shirt tight over chest and short enough to show off my belly button ring?

Check.

Pants low on my hips and hugging my ass so tight I can't breathe?

Check.

Rowan Connelly laughed at himself in the bathroom mirror. He could breathe but just barely. If he sat down, his tight black leather pants were in serious jeopardy of splitting at the seams and maybe a ball or two would be crushed in the process. But as long as they hung low on his hips and hugged his ass who gave a crap?

His mama always said that being beautiful came at a price and if he hoped to get lucky tonight, that price was breathing. Hell, breathing was highly over rated anyway. Sex, now that was the stuff, and unfortunately, it was stuff he was currently lacking in his life. Hopefully, he looked slutty enough to get someone interested and get that taken care of.

He patted his hair one last time then went into his bedroom and retrieved the condom and small tube of lube from his nightstand and pushed it into his front pocket. He pushed his identification into his back pocket along with some cash then headed toward his living room to wait for his ride.

Twenty minutes into pacing back and forth in front of the front window and he was about ready to go on his own. His brother Seth was never good at arriving anywhere on time but this was ridiculous.

Rowan had a feeling Seth would be late to his own damn funeral.

Just when he was ready to pull his hair out from frustration, the phone rang. Rowan jumped toward it. "It's about damn time," he snapped, not waiting for anyone to say anything. "I've been waiting for—"

"Rowan."

Crap on a cracker. Rowan gripped the counter top so tightly that the tips of his fingers started to sting. He could feel the animosity coming through the phone from the simple mention of his name. Rowan drew in a deep breath and braced himself.

"Hello, Carlton."

"I've sent a car for you. I'll expect you at Briarwood in an hour."

Rowan drew in another shaky breath. His fingers gripped the counter top even more. "I'm sorry, Carlton. I was under the impression that you had banished me from pack lands. I distinctly remember you telling me never to set foot in Briarwood again."

"Rowan!"

Rowan held the phone away from his ear when Carlton shouted into the phone. Had the man ever spoken a soft word? Rowan's head started to throb. He could already feel the headache coming on. He knew for a fact that it would be a migraine by the time he hung up with Carlton.

"I do not have time for your foolishness," Carlton snapped. "Be ready when the car arrives."

Rowan's fingers tightened around the phone. He knew he had to stop letting his former alpha dictate his actions, especially since he had been kicked out of the pack six months ago and had to learn to live on his own with no pack to call his own. It just sucked that his family had suffered the same fate because he refused the alpha's advances.

"I'm truly sorry, Carlton." Right. Rowan rolled his eyes. Even he didn't believe that one. "I have other plans tonight. Maybe we can get together for Sunday brunch."

And maybe they would need snow blowers in hell.

"I don't give a damn what plans you have, Rowan. You will wait for the car and return to Briarwood."

Rowan winced as shards of pain hammered into his head at Carlton's anger. He rubbed his temple until the pain receded then sighed deeply. "No, you never did care about what I wanted and I can see that has not changed."

"Enough, Rowan!"

"I have to go, Carlton." An inexplicable perverse emotion suddenly filled him. "I'm off to the bar to find a big dick to fuck my ass. I can't say it's been nice talking to you but it's been interesting." God he wished he was a fly on the wall to see Carlton’s reaction to his crass words.

Rowan could hear the alpha screaming into the phone as he set it back in the cradle. He had no idea what had made him say what he had to the man. Carlton was sure to be pissed beyond reason. Rowan knew there would be repercussions for his words, starting with the migraine he knew was coming. He just didn't care at the moment.

He had stopped caring six months ago when his alpha kicked him out of the only home he had ever known because he wouldn't mate with the man. A mating Rowan knew nothing about had been announced at his twenty fifth birthday party. When Rowan had learned that his mating ceremony to Carlton was planned for the following month, he knew he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

The expression of uncontrollable rage on Carlton's face when he refused the mating still stuck in his mind. He just didn't care. No one had asked him if he wanted to be mated to the alpha. Carlton had just announced it like he would accept whatever little crumbs the alpha threw his way.

He might not be as tall or as handsome as his three brothers but he had curves in all the right places as his mother liked to tell him. Curves Rowan was very proud to show off. It sounded rather odd when referenced to a man but he did have quite the ass. He had gotten his striking blond hair and high cheekbones from his mother along with her small compact dancer's body.

There were days that he loved the slim lines and tight muscles on his body and the way he moved when he walked across a room. There were other days when he hated the fact that he had inherited Nordic good looks of the rest of his family. It often drew all the wrong people—like Alpha Carlton Gregory.