A Mate for Lazarus(31)

Lazarus chuckled as well. “I will have you know that my female thinks that I am a big, cuddly teddy bear.”

“Like fuck!” Zane snorted.

“I changed my mind,” Alex said.

“Yeah.” Lazarus growled low. “After you saw my cock.”

“Shut up.” She slapped him on the arm.

“Quiet.” Brant looked pissed. “Griffin…it’s now or fucking never.”

She slid down Lazarus’ body and turned to face the vampire in question. Oh wow! He was actually sweating. Then he gave a god-awful growl. “Sarah…I pick Sarah.” He looked torn. It was the only way to describe it.

“What?” Sarah shook her head. “No! Why? No!”

“Are you refusing? Do you wish to return home?” Brant stepped forward.

“Um…” Sarah’s eyes darted from left to right.

“She needs to think about it,” Alex blurted. “Can she please have the three allotted hours?”

“I don’t need to think about it.” Sarah’s hands flew to her hips.

“Be quiet.” Alex made her eyes wide. “Just take the three hours. This has been a bit of a surprise.”

“Why did you pick me?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed on Griffin.

He shrugged and toed his boot into the woolen carpet. “You tried to help me.”

Sarah grimaced. “You’re welcome. There, you’re off the hook. I don’t want your pity. You didn’t have to pick me out of some false sense of obligation.”

“Look…” His eyes blazed. “This is not about pity.” He said through his teeth. “We can discuss it…in private.” His eyes darted around the room.

Sarah sighed. “This isn’t a good idea.”

“Give it some thought…you know where to find me if you want to talk.” He said as he spun around and left the room.

Sarah chewed on her lower lip, her eyes wide.

“I need to go to her.” Alex whispered.

Lazarus tightened his arms around her. “Let her have some time to process this. She might want to go and see Griff…she should go and see Griff…”

“I know…I need to go and talk her into it.” Alex leaned back, enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

“No…give her some time and if she doesn’t go, then you can go and talk some sense into her. Besides…” He leaned in so that his mouth was against her ear.

A shiver ran up and down her spine. He inhaled deeply. “You smell amazing.” Then he seemed to snap out of it. “I want to celebrate.”

“And by celebrate…” She let the sentence die, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

A loud wail drew her attention. Most of the women had not been picked, including Vanessa who looked distraught. At least she wasn’t crying. A couple of the women were sobbing openly though.

Lazarus brought her attention straight back to him by grinding his hardening erection against her ass. “Are you up for it?”

“Certainly feels like you are.” She had to smile. “Vampires are insatiable.”

Lazarus chuckled, his chest vibrated at her back. “Pretty much. I hope that’s not—”

“It’s fine…better than fine. Let’s get out of here.”

Lazarus reached down and gripped her thighs, then he threw her over his shoulder and gave her ass a slap. Alexandra shrieked. She couldn’t help it. The whole move was so unexpected. Everyone in the room seemed to focus their attention on them.

Heat rose in her cheeks but it was probably from hanging upside down as opposed to feeling embarrassed. Lazarus had his big hand firmly over her ass so that her panties weren’t showing. Alex tried to keep herself from squirming. His meaty ass looked so good in the jeans he was wearing.

“Lazarus.” Alex recognized Brant’s voice. “Don’t go off the grid. I need you within the next hour to debrief.”

“I have my cell phone.” Lazarus’ chest rumbled against her as he spoke.

“Those fucking fascist groups are going to give me gray hairs.” The king growled.

“You’re at least eighty years too young for that.” Lazarus chuckled.

“Exactly.” A low growl. “The number of hate mail received has doubled. There have been a couple of bullshit newspaper articles printed and one of those idiot fascists actually got onto one of the human talk shows. They are spreading lies. It’s fucking disgraceful.”

Alex wriggled. “Put me down.”

“The asshole said that we are stealing human females and keeping them against their will.” He snorted. “The fucker said that it won’t be long before human blood is no longer pure. That vampires plan on taking over the world and ruling over the humans. How fucking stupid is that?”

Lazarus put her down. “We just want to be left alone,” he said, threading his fingers through hers.

“The asshole groups are going to cause big shit for us.” Brant shook his head.

This was the type of opportunity that she had been hoping for. It was as if the moment had slapped her upside the head. The plan had been to ask for a meeting with Lazarus’ help. This was almost too good to be true. This whole thing felt like it was coming together like it was meant to be. “Forgive me,” Alex interjected. “You guys, the vampires, really need to speak up. You need to tell your side of the story.”

Brant’s eyes turned to her. It was as if he was noticing her for the first time. Asshole! His eyes narrowed as if to say he was listening. She hoped that’s what he was silently communicating.

“The only way to fight these guys is to let your side of the story be known. I would recommend an interview.”

He seemed truly interested in what she was saying because his eyes narrowed further.

“An exclusive with someone you can trust on condition that you sign off on the story before it goes to print…” She shrugged, starting to feel excited. “From there you could give a television interview. Show the world that you are approachable that you do have a softer…a human si—”

“Not a fuck,” Zane growled. “We’re not going public just because a bunch of asshole humans don’t know how to keep their mouths shut. The less they know about what’s going on the better.”

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong.” Alex turned to face the other king. “There are so many blanks. So much that the humans out there don’t know and therefore just assume. You’re leaving yourselves wide open. These fascist groups are then able to come in and paint whatever picture they want. It’s making you look really bad. There is a chance The Program could end up getting shut down as a result. Maybe women won’t be so keen to take part in the future. You need to do something. Fight fire with fire.”

Zane’s eyes darkened and he shook his head. He sucked in a deep breath, preparing to argue further.

Brant put a hand on Zane’s arm. “Wait a minute. This female might be onto something. I need to think on it a bit. The key would be finding the right person to tell the story. Like you said, someone we can trust.”

Lazarus stepped forward. He squeezed her hand. “Alexandra is a journalist. She works for the local paper. I trust her with my life. She is the right person for the job.”

Oh god!

Suddenly the story didn’t mean anything. Everything else just faded away. Her heart clenched almost painfully in her chest. It swelled with emotion. Shit, she was falling so hard that whiplash might be a factor.

She bit down on her bottom lip and swallowed thickly. “Thank you.” She mouthed to Lazarus.

He threw her a lopsided grin and nodded his head. Her heart swelled some more.

“I really think this is something that we need to discuss.” Zane clenched his jaw. “If it’s not handled in the right way, this could backfire…big fucking time.”

Brant nodded. “I agree. I’m also not sure that someone with your lack of…experience, would be the right person for the job. The Sweetwater local newspaper is smalltime.”

“I know the executive editor at one of the biggest New York papers.” Her Uncle James had promised her the front page if she made this happen but she couldn’t tell Brant that.

“You said yourself that finding someone trustworthy was important. Do you know any other reporters?” Lazarus asked.

Brant shook his head. “No, but I’m not convinced.” He huffed out a lungful of air.

“Alexandra has already written some of the article that she had in mind…it’s really good. You should read it.”

Brant narrowed his eyes. “Oh, she has, has she? Mmmm.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Is that why you are here, Miss Stone…to get an exclusive with the vampire kings?”

“It is one of the reasons I’m here.” She felt Lazarus tense. “But it’s not the only reason and certainly not the main one.” She squeezed his hand.

Brant held her under his intense stare for what felt like the longest time. “Alright. Zane and I will discuss it. If we decide to do this and it’s a very big if…”

Alex tried hard not to smile.

“If…Miss Stone…not when…so you can wipe that grin off of your face. If we decide to let you write this story, we will have to sign off on it before anything goes to print and our lawyers will be involved. Let me remind you that you have signed a nondisclosure agreement.”