Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

“Christian Roth was…” She paused, unsure how to express what she’d felt about it, yet equally unsure she wanted to put it into words. “The rumors were wrong. He isn’t gorgeous, at least not in any normal way, but there was something about him. It’s more than looks, there’s this sort of aura.”


Chloe sighed. “That, my friend, is pure power. He runs that company single-handedly, and it’s huge. The Investigations side is only a tiny part. And yet, he took an appointment with you. It’s unbelievable, and not a little strange.” She considered Tara for a moment. “Maybe he caught a glimpse of you coming into the building and liked what he saw. Did he make a pass?”

“No, he didn’t!” But Tara remembered the hot look in his eyes as he held her hand, the energy that had leapt between them at his touch.

“So is he going to take the job?” Jamie asked.

Tara nodded. “I left some papers with him. I’m going back in a couple of days. He reckons there will be some sort of logical explanation for what my aunt did.”

“Oh come on, Tara,” Chloe said. “Logical? What sort of person keeps their kid in total isolation? And uses moral blackmail to make them stay.”

“She was ill,” Tara said gently.

Chloe ignored the interruption. “I bet he finds out that she lost her own baby or something and decided to grab another one.”

“I suppose it’s possible.” But something told Tara the solution wasn’t that simple.

Chloe continued, “Why don’t you do a search on old kidnapping cases and find out if any babies went missing around that time?”

“It can’t do any harm,” Jamie added. “You might even be able to do it on the Internet.”

Tara felt her interest rise. At least it was something she could do herself instead of sitting around waiting. “I’ll do it,” she said. “Now, to breaking that rule.”

The wine was pale golden. She raised the glass to her nose and breathed in the light, fruity fragrance. Glancing up, she found Jamie watching her intently. She held his eyes as she brought the glass to her mouth and took a sip. The wine was cool, not sweet but tart, and refreshing. She swallowed, felt the liquid slide down her throat. She smiled at Jamie. “See? Absolutely no—”

She stopped mid-sentence and frowned. There was a sharp, bitter aftertaste that burned in her throat. She was about to comment on it when something went pop inside her head. Flames flickered in her belly and a wave of wild exhilaration washed over her. Alcohol was even better than she’d expected. She wanted to get up, run, scream, rip something to pieces, preferably with her teeth. And she was hungry, ravenously hungry. She wanted meat.

Which was weird because she was a vegetarian.

Still, she needed to get up. She put her hands on the table and pushed. Nothing happened. She seemed to have no strength in her arms. She stared at Jamie and Chloe, who watched from across the table, eyes wide with shock.

“Tara, what is it?”

She licked her dry lips. “I want—” The words stuck in her throat, she could hardly force them out of her mouth. She gripped the edge of the table until her fingers hurt. The world was shrinking, a black mist encroaching around her until all she could see was a small circle of light that framed Jamie’s face.

“Tara?”

His voice sounded as though it was a long way off. The circle shrank to a pinprick and everything went black.





Chapter Three


Christian woke as the sun went down over London.

He stretched, reveling in the feeling of well-being—he hadn’t felt this alive in decades. He’d hunted the previous evening, and his body was replete, filled with power. But it was more than just the feeding. Piers had been right. He missed the excitement of heading the Order, and now he had the chance to go back.

There was also his newest client, Tara Collins. His mind filled with the intoxicating scent of her. The sensible thing would be to keep their interactions strictly on a business footing. Relationships with humans never worked.

Only trouble was, he was bored with being sensible.

The Order and Tara Collins. What to do?

He stood in front of the open closet and knew he’d made his decision when he pushed aside the formal business suits and pulled on his old Order gear.

He paused on his way out of the building to talk to Graham.

“Nice outfit,” Graham said, his gaze running over Christian’s long black leather coat.

Christian placed the file he’d gotten from Tara on the reception desk. “I want you to look at this. Find out what you can on the aunt.”

“Sure, boss.”