A Mate for Lazarus(6)

Oh shit!

Alex kept her gaze firmly on him. She nodded. “Yes, of course I did.”

“Well then?”

Well then what?

She shrugged. “I might be on vampire territory and a part of this program but I’m still a woman.” The less she said the better, so she left it at that.

Realization seemed to dawn. “I see… We also attended training. You wish to get to know me better?” He paused and she nodded.

Getting to know him better would buy her time. There was no way in hell she was sleeping with him. Or doing anything physical with him for that matter. No way. No how. It wasn’t happening and that was final.

“Let me guess.” He cocked his head. “You want me to be romantic and to say charming things?”

“You don’t strike me as being the romantic type.” She gave him the once over. Honed muscles, weapons strapped to every part of his body, prominent jaw, predatory glare. Even the blood on his face didn’t look out of place. She would go so far as to say that it suited him. “You’re definitely not charming. How about you just be yourself?”

A look of pure rapture crossed his face. Lazarus even rolled his eyes and rocked on his heels. He made a groaning noise. “A female after my own heart. Thank you.” He took ahold of her hand and squeezed.

The gesture was so sincere. So sweet. It left her momentarily stunned. “Um…sure.” She finally managed to mumble.

“I need to go and sort this out.” He pointed at his bloodied face. “Allison should be here soon. Oh and, Alexandra.” He gave her a lopsided smile. “I look forward to seeing you later.” Then he turned and strode away.

Shit! She felt terrible. He seemed like a decent guy…for a vampire. It was bit of a Catch-22. She needed to be nice enough to him to ensure that he chose her for the next round. Yet, not so nice that he ended up falling for her. One thing was for sure, she needed to buy some time and to do that she needed to get on his good side. No sex though. Even if he was quite a hottie, she definitely would not go there. It would just confuse things. So absolutely no sex.





Chapter 4




It took Brant’s PA, Allison, another half hour to arrive.

Tall, slim, elegant. She wore a pencil skirt to just above the knees, stockings and a blouse that concealed her from her neck to her wrists. All of which should have made her look ordinary, but somehow managed to make her look sexy. Her eyes were the most vivid green that Alex had ever seen. So it was all true, vampire men were tall and seriously stacked and vampire women were tall and athletic. As a species, they were pretty spectacular to look at.

Alex had always been comfortable in her own skin. Her body might not be perfectly toned and sculpted and her fair skin burned easily, but she certainly wasn’t bad looking. She’d never had a problem picking up guys.

These thoughts led her to thinking about the reason that she and the other human women were there. It made her feel sorry for Allison and the other vampire women. To be so incredibly beautiful and yet in most cases to be infertile. It had to suck for them that the vampire men had resorted to bringing human women in. Then again, it also sucked for the vampire guys. Were they even attracted to human women? She was reminded of the way Lazarus had looked at her. He definitely wasn’t complaining.

It must be really horrible to know that you couldn’t have children though. Alex really wanted kids. Plural. She was a single child and hated it. She had always longed for a brother or a sister, siblings…plural…to share her life with. It was lonely growing up as a single child with no one else to play with or to talk to. Alex had made friends over the years but it wasn’t the same. Blood was thicker than water. She would never be somebody’s auntie. Never have that bond.

Her relationship with her father had always been strong. She was very much a daddy’s girl. Alex had never seen eye to eye with her mother though and their relationship had grown estranged over the years since her father’s death.

“Sorry. Please repeat that?” Alex said when she realized that the beautiful vampire woman had spoken to her.

“I just need to confirm that you attended the training. Did you?” Allison put the tip of the pencil she was holding into her mouth.

This was it. Crunch time. She’d managed to get herself onto vampire territory. Had found a vampire that would hopefully choose her to go to the next round. One last obstacle. She had to find a way to get out of signing the contract. The nondisclosure clause would put an end to her dreams of a front-page spread.

Alexandra cleared her throat. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve been stuck here for so many hours. My throat is killing me. I’m dying of thirst.”

Allison gasped. “Oh no. How awful.” She grabbed ahold of Alex’s arm as if she was afraid that Alex might fall at any second. “I will have the guard call a healer.” Her eyes flashed with panic. “Maybe we should call one of your human ambulances.”

Alex shrugged her off. “When I said I was dying, I didn’t mean it literally. You do realize that don’t you?”

Allison sucked in a deep breath. Her shoulders sagged with relief. “I’m sorry. We haven’t had many interactions with humans, or the outside world for that matter. We are not familiar with your slang. Please forgive me. I’m glad that you aren’t really dying.”

Alex choked out a laugh. “Seriously? If nothing else, at least I’ll be entertained.” She cleared her throat. “Yes. I went through the training.” A complete lie. She felt awful but what else could she do?

Allison’s back stiffened. She nodded as she opened the book in her hand and ticked a mark on the paper. “Great. This is just a formality. Did you sign the contract as well?”

“Yes.” Alex answered immediately.

“Great. It should be on file then.” She said almost to herself. “Where is your bag?” Allison looked around the ground at her feet.

Alex gestured towards the guardhouse. “It’s in there. What’s his name was worried it might contain explosives or something.” Alex rolled her eyes.

Allison looked horrified. “Shhhh.” She put a finger to her lips. “Don’t say such things. Did you see the hate groups picketing outside?”

Alex nodded. If she tried hard enough she could hear them chanting something about inbreeding and the stealing of human women. She gave a quick shake of the head. “Bunch of nutters.”

“We take safety very seriously as well as threats against our guests and our people. Please do not refer to bombs and such. Your bags will be checked. Do you have a cell phone or any other electronic devices? Contact with the outside world will be forbidden during the duration of your stay, as you are already aware.”

Thankfully, Alex had figured that something like this would be the case since no contact by the women had been made with the outside world since the start of The Program. A sure sign that there was a crackdown on communication.

“I have my cell phone.” She pulled the device out of the big purse on her shoulder. Suddenly the additional small device pushed between her breasts felt like a throbbing beacon. She only prayed that it wouldn’t be found. No one would find it there unless she was made to strip. No, it would be better not to think along those lines. She concentrated on keeping her breathing even and her demeanor relaxed.

Allison took the device from her. “Do you have anything else that you need to disclose?”

Alex nodded. “I have my 3G device for my laptop computer.” She pointed towards the guardhouse.

Allison nodded. “Don’t worry, I will personally look through your possessions. Let’s get you to the human accommodations first though. I’m sure that you don’t want all your items laid out for everyone to see.” She pointedly looked at the guard who pretended to be interested in his shoes all of a sudden.

“One last question.” Allison raised her brows. “I just need to confirm that you are on birth control. You would have been briefed during your training on the fact that this is a requirement. You would also have seen the clause about it in the contract.”

Say what?

Lazarus had been quick to point out that this was a breeding program, yet they were expected to be on birth control? Go figure. She was sure to keep her expression neutral even though there were major question marks flying around in her brain. “Yes, of course.” She lied. At this rate, lying through her teeth was becoming a habit. One she didn’t particularly like.

It had been about a year since her and Phillip had broken up, so there had been no need to be on the pill. She already established that there was no way she was having sex with anyone so a little white lie wasn’t going to hurt anyone either. Besides, it was a little late to try and see a doctor.

Allison nodded, once again ticking in her book. “Good. Let’s go then.” She walked over to the waiting SUV, opened the door and leaned in. “Titan, will you please fetch the female’s luggage from inside the guardhouse?”

A big, serious looking guy stepped out of the SUV. He nodded once in her direction and proceeded to the guardhouse, returning moments later with her suitcase and laptop bag. The bag was freaking heavy but you would never say so by the way he carried it.