Rivals: Episode Three Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Synopsis

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Thanks For Reading!

  Rivals

  Episode Three

  M.G. Walker

  Copyright © 2015 by M.G. Walker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  To Linda, your help has been extraordinary.

  Rivals

  Kimberly Nolan, a BBW with a spunky attitude and a heart of gold, lives in a world where everyone knows vampires and shifters exist.

  Something not many people know?

  That a shifter and a vampire can imprint on the same woman.

  That woman?

  Kimberly.

  It was a position she never imagined herself in. It was also a dangerous game to be playing, she was captured and being held as bait because of it.

  Meanwhile, Xavier is finally getting revenge for his sister, but not everything seems clear.

  Can Gaige and Xavier figure things out before it’s too late? And will they even be able to work together well enough to save Kimberly?

  When this much chemistry is involved, explosions are bound to happen.

  **This steamy hot BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance contains explicit sexual scenes. It also marks the end of Season One. There’s no cliffhanger in this episode.**

  CHAPTER ONE

  XAVIER

  In an instant, I was standing behind him. It may have been a cheap move, but this shifter didn’t play by the rules so I wasn’t going to either. He showed his true colors the moment he murdered my sister in cold blood.

  Nothing was going to cut it. I never truly knew what a desperate desire for revenge felt like until the night my sister left this earth. Before then, I was making peace with what I was, able to find myself living without a constant need to fight and hunt and feed. That only happened in the beginning stages of my vampire years, but I had dealt with all of that. And yet here I stood, hungry for revenge. Gaige Grayson turned me into this monster.

  My vision clouded with red. My fangs felt primed to tear into tender flesh. A thirst was filling me as my hand shot up and encased Gaige’s face. The surprise left the shifter’s defenses down, so it wasn’t hard to pull his head back and expose the pulsing artery pumping blood through his neck. His eyes were wide with shock but immediately narrowed with anger as he processed what I was about to do.

  “Revenge never tasted sweeter.”

  I opened my mouth and exposed the sharp fangs that worked similar to a rattlesnakes. They were hollowed, but not for blood sucking, instead for injecting a venom guaranteed to knock out whoever I held in my hands. It was a venom that every vampire had and was used to ease in the feeding process. But before I could plunge my teeth into his neck, Gaige partially shifted, his hands becoming huge, furry trunks of muscle ending in dangerously sharp claws. Vampires were hard to kill, but we weren’t completely immortal. A swipe across my face would decapitate me and render me as dead as anything else without a head.

  His reaction speed was faster than I expected. He dropped down underneath me and swung his leg around, hammering my ankle with a force akin to a truck slamming into a brick wall. I buckled in a moment of weakness, falling to the floor and allowing Gaige to gain the upper hand. His unhuman grip closed around the back of my neck, threatening to squeeze and possibly end me forever.

  “All of this for something so inconsequential to you,” Gaige said.

  I spat onto the pavement underneath me. “Fuck you.”

  “You have billions to your name, why would you hold it against me for stealing a fraction of that?” he shook my neck.

  What the fuck was he talking about.

  “I thought by bringing you the money tonight,” he continued, “you’d finally let all this bullshit go. But instead you try to fucking kill me. You see where that gets fucked up?”

  Something didn’t add up. I tensed my body and in a blur, sped out from under Gaige’s grip, risking his reaction speed and hoping he wasn’t quick enough to snap my neck before I got away.

  I stood up, my spine still intact. “Is this a fucking joke?”

  Gaige stood to face me and shook his head. “I’m being fucking serious. I don’t want to deal with this shit anymore. I thought I finally found a good girl and you come along and fuck that up. Then you try to kill me? Just fucking take the money and we’ll forget everything that happened.” He picked up the black suitcase and threw it my way. It landed on a corner and cracked open, dropping stacks of tied bills all over the floor.

  “Money?”

  “Yeah, the money I stole from you two years ago. When I was working as a developer for you. I saw an opportunity to jump ship and try to carve my own path, and I didn’t have the capital at the time to invest in anything. So yes, I needed the help and it looked like a victimless crime at the time. Clearly, you took it more personally than I had anticipated.”

  “But Ara?” I asked.

  “Ara?” Gaige responded, sounding genuinely confused by the name. “Ara… Ara… you mean the lawyer found murdered a few years ago? What does she have… Oh fuck. Ara Thorn?... She was your sister.”

  “And you’re the one responsible for taking her from me.”

  “What?” Gaige said, reeling back. “No fucking way. Why would I take out your sister? I’d have no motive. Sure, you and I became rivals in our work but I’m not a fucking lunatic either, I wouldn’t strike out unprovoked. I went to go see her looking for legal representation at the time, but that’s it.”

  I shook my head. “This doesn’t make sense. We found your hair at the crime scene. It was a werebear’s scent in that room. She died the same day you met with her.”

  “I swear on my word, Ara was alive when I got there and alive when I left.”

  That’s when I felt it. A sudden twang of pain radiate from my left shoulder and outwards. It was clear that nothing around me could have inflicted that pain, which only meant one thing.

  “Kimberly’s in trouble,” I said.

  “What? Fuck. How do you know?”

  “We’re linked. Vampires have weak—but noticeable—connections to their partners outside of the physical realm. I could feel when she’s in trouble, only in times of dire need, which means I need to go.”

  Gaige got his keys from his pocket and ran back to his car. “Where was she last?” he called back.

  For a fraction of a second I was going to stay quiet. I decided against that upon realizing how Gaige could be an asset in keeping Kimberly safe—for now.

  “Fountainbleu,” I said, speeding to my own car with a laser focus on making sure Kimberly was safe.

  CHAPTER TWO

  GAIGE

  What in the fucking world was going on?

  Growing up, I was never the sharpest tool in the shed. It normally took me five minutes more to solve something that could be done in two. I compensated and managed to make shit work. But now, I was starting to feel that lag. First, Xavier thinking that I murdered his sister in cold blood, but then if it was
n’t me, who the fuck was it? And why the fuck would he think it was even me?!

  Then, to top it off, that mother fucking bloodsucker managed to somehow “link” with Kimberly. I imagined that was something resembling imprinting in shifters, but there was no way we both could have been meant for her. Which is why I knew he was full of shit. Kimberly was mine and even if she didn’t know it yet, it was as clear as day to me and I was going to make sure she realized it.

  But first, we needed to find her. If Xavier was telling some sort of truth, then Kimberly could be in trouble and she was my first priority. This mess with murders and money could be figured out later.

  My engine roared to life as I slammed the door shut and threw the jet black Porsche in reverse. The roads were empty as I sped behind Xavier, racing underneath red lights and cutting corners dangerously close to the pavement. At one point, I saw Xavier’s car lift up off the ground, tires screeching like banshees as they tried to grab traction, and finally slamming down onto the pavement in a straightaway, his exhaust sounding like shotguns exploding behind him as the car raced ahead. Not to be outdone, I pushed on the gas pedal and pulled up to the side of him.

  I knew where Fountainbleau was. There was no reason I needed to be behind him.

  I pushed down harder, pulling ahead of Xavier and making a sharp turn down an alley between two apartment complexes. The buildings blurred by as the car roared down the narrow road, setting off a few car alarms behind me.

  The alley ended and opened into another street. I could see Xavier in my rear-view mirror, not too far behind me. Ahead of me was the hotel, a huge structure sprinkled with lights coming out from various windows. It was late and so not everyone was awake, just those that enjoyed the night. The kind of people who reveled with the demons that the darkness tends to bring out.

  I didn’t pull into the valet, not wanting to draw much attention to myself. Instead I slowed down and pulled into an open parking spot on the street. I figured Xavier had the same thought when I saw him pull up to the spot behind me.

  “Have you felt her again?” I ask as I shut the door to my car. Xavier was already ahead of me.

  “No,” he called back.

  “Fuck.” I break out into a run and go past Xavier. The huge entrance was meant to exude a certain sense of luxury, but all of that was lost on me. The finer details meant shit as I ran through the sliding glass doors into the lobby. Again, it was a lobby made to attract the rich and famous. With huge crystal chandeliers dangling overhead and lights in blues and purples highlighting the golden walls, it gave off the illusion of being inside of Poseidon's throne room.

  I ran up to the massive front desk where a concierge—who looked more like a Hollister model—greeted me with a confused smile. “Welcome to the Fountainbleau, sir. Is there anything wrong?” He brushed a piece of sun-colored blonde hair and cocked his head. I could sense the security guard’s eyes pinned on me from the corner where he stood.

  “I, uhm.” Fuck. I didn’t think of a cover story.

  “His sister, my wife, was organizing a surprise party for me,” Xavier said, standing next to me now. I noticed the concierge’s attention was suddenly hyper-focused on the vampire. “She knows how badly I’ve wanted to spend a few days here and so she came a few hours before to prepare the room.”

  I nod, unable to believe how quickly Xavier was spinning this bullshit. And his wife? The fuck was that about.

  “Well, Gaige here told me everything once his sister stopped answering his calls. She’s epileptic, see, and we’re worried she may have had a seizure and hurt herself. Can you tell us where Kimberly Nolan is staying so we can make sure she’s ok?”

  I looked to the concierge, my eyes narrowing. There was no way this guy was going to fall for it.

  “Oh yeah, of course. Here let me pull it up for you.” And sure enough, he dropped his head to look at the computer screen in front of him. He typed away furiously at the keyboard as though he were going to be the one to save Kimberly himself. I look to my side and see Xavier staring straight ahead. I could have sworn a corner of his mouth lifted in a smile, but it could have just been my imagination. I doubt this jackass ever actually smiled.

  “She’s in room 305.”

  “Thank you,” Xavier said, sounding sincere.

  “Of course,” the concierge said. “Anything else I can do for you, sir?” I noticed the kid wasn’t breaking eye contact with Xavier. In fact, he almost looked lost in his gaze. “That’s ok.” It wasn’t until Xavier turned and started walking towards the elevators that the kid stepped back and shook his head, as though dusting off the cobwebs.

  “You did something back there,” I said, reaching Xavier as the elevator door dinged open.

  “I wasn’t going to risk him not believing me, so yes, I added some charm to the conversation. Humans have a thing with believing anything vampires say.”

  “Is that how you got Kimberly to fall for you?”

  The jab did not go unnoticed. A muscle in Xavier’s jaw tightened and strained. “I wouldn’t expect an animal to understand the emotions that run between me and Kimberly.”

  My fists balled up. I wanted to knock him out. The bear inside of me rattled me like a wire cage, urging me to swing a fist and clock Xavier right in the head. Who was he to call me an animal? What I felt for Kimberly was so powerful, so instinctual, that I expected only an animal could feel it. The truest form of passion, before it was spoiled by all the bullshit that society added to love and happiness. But, instead of punching he and knocking his lights out, I took a deep breath and remembered why we were here. It wasn’t to fight each other or measure our dicks and see who’s was biggest. This was about saving Kimberly, and to do that, it looked like we were going to have to start working together.

  CHAPTER THREE

  KIMBERLY

  The air was thick and sticky, falling down like a blanket and smothering everything underneath. The whir of a ceiling fan buzzed above me in a rhythmic pattern. One turn….. one turn….. one turn….. one turn. Then, a ship blasted its horn and roared through the silence, breaking the pattern and causing me to jump in my seat with a scream.

  “Oh, now, now. It’s just a ship.” The man sounded like he was cooing a crying baby back to sleep. “Probably a cruise ship leaving port, actually. Holding thousands of people, just a few miles away from this very spot. All of them smiling, laughing, waving goodbye as they depart off into the night. They’ll probably party, drink, gamble, fuck. So many things. So many, many, many things.” A hand squeezed the back of my neck. I whimpered. “Wouldn’t you just give anything to switch places with one of them, Kimberly? You’d have to switch, though.” The voice was just behind my ear now. It was higher pitched but still clearly a man. “You can’t expect to leave me here without any fun either.”

  My body shook with fear and my stomach churned with bile. I was moving my head to avoid his breath behind me but it only made me feel sicker and that was because I couldn’t see anything past the rough, scratchy fabric tied around my eyes.

  “A little birdy told me you enjoyed being blindfolded,” said the disembodied voice. It was coming from in front of me now and from the sound of it, he was now sitting only a few feet away from me. “I hope that’s true. There’s been a ton of misinformation going around lately.” The man laughed one of the most unsettling laughs I had ever heard. It wasn’t too far off from a hyena’s ravenous high-pitched shrieking. “What, with both of your boyfriends wanting to kill each other because of one tiny, teeny, little misunderstanding.”

  Beads of sticky sweat poured from my forehead and down onto my eyes, mixing with my salty tears. It was hot wherever I was being held. And although it sounded like a big room, I couldn't help but feel like the walls were closing in on me. There was no way of me knowing for sure and so I had to sit there, trying not to imagine the building shrinking down around me and capturing me like a broken animal.

  "Are you comfortable? Thirsty? Hungry?"

  I didn't a
nswer. I felt like I was being mocked but was shocked when the cold lip of a glass pushed up into my mouth. I reeled back at first, not knowing what the hell he was about to pour down my throat, but then I had no other option as the liquid came down onto my mouth. Thankfully, I could immediately tell it was water. Nothing was burning and nothing smelled different nor did it taste any different. And so I drank. And I drank.

  I had no idea how thirsty I was until that cool, refreshing water touched my lips. It was like the adrenaline coursing through my veins blocked out any other of my biological needs.

  "There we go, you'll feel better now. Which is good, I don't want you passing out for the big event."

  "Event?" I ask, my voice course even though I just drank a whole cup of water.

  "Spectacle. Extravaganza. Absolute chaos. You see, you're here for a reason, Ms. Kimberly. You're here to finally make things right, although you don't know it yet. You, Ms. Kimberly Nolan, are the last piece of the puzzle in my quest for making peace with my past."

  I could hear him walk closer to me. His steps were foreboding and filled me with fear. I couldn't exactly pinpoint where he was, but I knew he was close. And then I heard the sound of an empty soda can falling to the floor, most likely knocked over by accident. Interestingly, and also dreadfully, it came from my far right, and I could have sworn Elijah was standing on my left. That meant someone else was in here with us.

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask, surprised I could even form words at all.

  “For fun and games, why else?” The breath was warmer on my ear. It made me cringe forward on the seat. My instincts urged me to get up and run, but I couldn’t no matter how hard I wanted to. Both of my ankles were tied together with a thick rope that cut into my skin. My wrists were also tied behind the chair’s back, locking me in place and making sure I didn’t escape. The knots were so tight that I felt my wrists start getting rubbed raw by the twine. And so I stopped struggling and just slumped down.