Princess (The Dark Shadows #1) Read online

  Princess

  The Dark Shadows 1

  Ariel Marie

  Contents

  Princess

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Before You Begin

  1. ~Nadira~

  2. ~Cooper~

  3. ~Nadira~

  4. ~Nadira~

  5. ~Nadira~

  6. ~Nadira~

  7. ~Cooper~

  8. ~Nadira~

  9. ~Nadira~

  10. ~Cooper~

  11. ~Nadira~

  12. ~Nadira~

  13. ~Nadira~

  14. ~Cooper~

  15. ~Cooper~

  16. ~Nadira~

  17. ~Cooper~

  18. ~Nicu~

  19. ~Nadira~

  20. ~Cooper~

  21. ~Nicu~

  Acknowledgments

  Toma

  About the Author

  Also by Ariel Marie

  Princess

  The Dark Shadows 1

  by Ariel Marie

  Copyright © 2015 by Ariel Marie

  Cover design by: The Cover Collection

  Editor: Sue Soares

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, businesses, events, and incidents are a figment of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any similarities to real people, businesses, locations, history, and events are a coincidence.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN: 978-0-9963263-5-3

  Created with Vellum

  To my number one fan, my best friend, the love of my life, my rock, my partner in crime, my Ace… Thank you for being you and supporting me in every step of the way.

  WARNING: Due to the explicit language and graphic sexual scenes, this book is intended for mature (18 years +) readers only. If things of this nature offend you, this book would not be for you. If you like a good action story with hot steamy scenes with vampires and hot detectives, then you have chosen wisely.

  1

  ~Nadira~

  Thank the Gods above it is three o’clock! Time to get ready to blow this Popsicle stand!

  “Hey, Nadira, when you get a chance, I’m ready to take report,” Michelle called out from the door.

  “Give me a second!” Nadira answered quickly, typing her last notes in her patient’s chart.

  Her patient, Jonathan Christie, was a newly turned vampire. Found in an alley with wounds a mere mortal would have died from, he somehow survived the rogue attack, now considered a newly born vampire. A neophyte. She did one last check on the blood she hung on Mr. Christie before scurrying out of the room to give report.

  After working a twelve-hour shift, she was ready to get off work. She wouldn’t complain though; she went to nursing school so that she would have a purpose in life. Being the only daughter to the ruling vampire clan came with perks, the main one being not having to work. However, that was not Nadira. She’ll be turning three hundred and ninety-nine soon and actually loved having a steady job. Being the healer in the family a nursing career was right up her alley.

  The downside of being Nadira Olaru was that she must have a guard for protection when she left her home. Her father, the King, demanded that she be protected at all times due to their royal status. When she was in the hospital, her guard inconspicuously blended in with the patrons of the small supernatural hospital. She had tried to argue with her father about this since there had never been an incident. No one was stupid enough to try anything against her family but this was an argument that she lost.

  This morning’s plan after work was to go home, shower, and curl up with a good book. A filthy little romance book, that is. She just ordered a new one on her tablet by her favorite author that she couldn’t wait to dive in to. Her brothers always teased her unmercifully about her dirty little novels, as they called them. She didn’t care, her love life was non-existent, and there was nothing wrong with curling up to fantasize about her next book boyfriend.

  She briefly looked around the nursing unit, spotting Michelle’s blond head standing next to the nursing station.

  “This will be quick; it wasn’t bad tonight,” she said, sliding to stand next to Michelle.

  “That’s what I like to hear,” Michelle joked, grabbing her pen.

  After giving report on all of her patients, she hurried over to the locker room to grab her jacket.

  “Hey, Nadira, we’re going out for breakfast. You wanna go?” Anika asked, coming into the locker room.

  “Sure, let me just text Cyran to let him know,” she said, pulling out her cell phone, to send a quick text as they walked to the elevators.

  “You know they will still follow you,” Anika whispered, getting on the elevator.

  “I know, but I would rather it be from afar, then to have to argue with my father about it.”

  Few humans knew of the supernatural world and Anika was one of them. Meeting in their first year of nursing school, Anika and Nadira hadn’t been separated since. Once they graduated from school, Nadira helped Anika secure a job at the secret paranormal hospital, Lutheran Hospital.

  Lutheran Hospital was a small hospital created for supernaturals only. It was a small, undisclosed state of the art facility with a twenty-bed nursing unit. Supernaturals had the ability to heal themselves but the hospital was created for those with more severe injuries that would call for the attention of paranormal physicians. The hospital employed a mixture of human and supernatural staff.

  Anika was the sister that she always dreamed of. She accepted Nadira without hesitation the night she discovered Nadira was not human. Of course, she asked a million questions about myths, but Nadira calmly explained vampirism to Anika.

  She explained to Anika that she was born a vampire and was the youngest of five children. She shared what life was like with four older alpha vampires as brothers. As a vampire, she was unable to tolerate the sun for long periods. The humans created the myths that vampires would combust if they go out in the sun. They could go out in the sun, but it would drain all of their supernatural strength and powers, making them almost human. Her family was the ruling vampire clan with her father, Vladimir Olaru, being the king of vampires.

  “Who all is coming?” she asked Anika once they were seated in her silver Toyota Camry.

  “Lisa, Mel and Robin will be meeting us there.”

  “I haven’t seen Robin in forever! Where has she been?” she asked.

  “She’s been working on the East Coast. She got a job as a freelance photographer and has been moving around a lot.”

  Ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of Lilly’s twenty-four-hour diner, which was well known for its breakfast, bakery, and coffee. They quickly jumped out of the car and went into the restaurant, where they found their friends already seated. The girls were dressed up, probably coming from a late night of partying. As soon as Anika and Nadira sat down, the waiter grabbed their orders.

  Working the weird hours of three in the afternoon to three in the morning leaves the twenty-four-hour bakery quite empty, leaving the girls to enjoy the whole restaurant to themselves.

  “You sure you don’t want anything to eat, Nadira?” Mel asked, laughing as their plates were delivered.

  “I’m not hungry. I just need a good cup of Joe and I’m good!” She laughed slightly, giving her usual cover story. None of the other girls knew that she was not human. “Where did you guys go tonight?” she asked, changing the subject.

  Vampires were not able to tolerate food. They were able to
drink liquids, but their stomachs just could not digest food. Nadira was born a vampire and never had real human food. Liquids and blood were the natural diet for vampires.

  “Well, I wish I had your willpower with this good food! I know the minute I swallow this food, it’s going straight to my hips!” Robin groaned, taking a big bite into her pancakes. “We went to that new club down on West Sixth Street called Treasure.”

  The bell over the door rang, signaling patrons entering the diner. She glanced out the large window by their table, noting two black unmarked cars parked on the street in front of the restaurant. Her vampire vision allowed her to see that the first car was empty and the second car held her guard, Cyran, waiting for her to finish hanging out. A prickling feeling coursed down her arms at the same time the hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention.

  That’s weird.

  She glanced around the diner, noting the two handsome men who stood in front of the counter, placing their order. The first one stood about six feet tall, with a slim, fit build and sandy blond spiked hair, a dark leather jacket, and jeans. The second one wore dark jeans and a similar jacket, standing about six-foot-three-inches tall with jet-black hair and a nice muscular build. Something about the second one captivated her and the sounds of the girls laughing and talking faded off into the background.

  As if feeling someone watching him, the second one turned and looked directly at her. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounded in her chest as her hands became sweaty. His warm brown eyes held hers; she didn’t want to stop looking into those bedroom eyes. Time stood still and she suddenly had the urge to go to him. The guy behind the counter came back with the mysterious guy’s order, causing him to break eye contact. He turned, laughing at something the cashier said.

  “Wow! What the hell was that?” Anika said, elbowing Nadira to get her attention. She turned to the girls now realizing that all eyes were on her.

  Lisa fanned herself with her napkin. “Please tell me you’re going to talk to him!” she exclaimed. “If you don’t, I certainly will. Did you see his eyes?”

  Her incisors threatened to descend, making her not able to speak as she tried to get control of herself. A deep dark emotion swirled around in her chest. Never had she experienced this type of sensation before. Is this jealousy? She couldn’t believe it, but right now, she wanted to reach across the table and snatch her friend’s hair out.

  “I don’t know…” she started to say, while all the girls at the table protested.

  “When was the last time you’ve gone on an actual date?” Robin asked, earning herself a scowl from Nadira.

  “How about got laid?” Lisa chimed in.

  “It’s been a minute…” she started to answer. Glancing over, she could see that he was making his way over to their table, leaving his friend at the checkout counter.

  “Oh, no! He’s coming!” she squealed, not knowing if she should flee or hide under the table. The girls laughed at her, enjoying her squirming in her seat.

  She had never had this reaction to a guy. Sure, she had dated before and even had sex, but she never had a heart stopping, no one else was around, you were the only two in the world, moment like this before. Just looking at him took her breath away. She flushed slightly, sensing her panties becoming damp, watching him walk towards her. His eyes didn’t leave hers as he drew closer to her.

  Could he be her Fated Mate?

  Almost four hundred years old, she always dreamed of finding her one true love. Her parents were Fated Mates and had been together for over five hundred years. She had longed to find her mate, someone she could spend all eternity with.

  “Good morning, ladies.” His voice was deep and sensual, causing her to close her eyes for a second before opening them, finding that his attention was on her.

  “Well, good morning to you!” Anika, ever the flirt, said. Between the two of them, Anika was the outgoing one, not afraid to say anything to anyone, while Nadira was more quiet and reserved.

  He barely acknowledged the others at the table; his eyes locked on Nadira. “Hi, good morning,” she said softly, pushing her deep brown hair that escaped her bun behind her ear.

  “I’m Zac Cooper,” he offered his hand with a smile. “But my friends call me Cooper.”

  She looked around at the girls quickly; their eyes were glued to the two of them before she took his hand. His large hand engulfed hers, sending a tingling sensation up her arm. She sniffed a little, noticing that he was human.

  “I’m Nadira Olaru and my friends call me Nadira,” she cringed on the inside at how corny that sounded. He smiled, showing perfect teeth, causing her heart to stutter. She was absolutely mesmerized by him and wouldn’t be able to look away from his mocha-colored eyes if rogue vampires attacked her. Her eyes zeroed in on the pulse beating rapidly at the base of his neck.

  Good, he was affected by this too!

  Her incisors broke through her gums slightly. She had to concentrate to get them to draw back up into her gums. The urge to sink her fangs in him and draw his thick warm blood into her throat suddenly overwhelmed her. The warm masculine scent of him surrounded her, enhancing the call of his blood, making it harder for her to remain in her chair. One of them was going to have to leave soon, before she did something that would shock her friends and everyone in the diner.

  “So what are beautiful women like yourselves doing in a diner in the middle of the night?” he asked, smiling at everyone at the table.

  Did someone seriously just let out a sigh?

  “We just got off work and these three gals, just left partying to meet us for breakfast,” Anika said. “Would you and your friend like to join us? I’m sure that we can make room at our table.” Anika said, looking over at his friend at the counter.

  “I would love to, but can’t right now. On duty,” he pointed to his badge that hung around his neck.

  “Both of you are cops?” Lisa asked batting her eyelashes.

  “Detectives. My partner over there is Sam Colsten,” he said, nodding over to his partner who held up his coffee cup in greeting when all of their eyes turned in his direction.

  “I hope you don’t think me bold, but I would love to call you sometime,” he said turning his brown eyes back to Nadira. His lopsided grin sent a tingle to her core. She clamped her legs together quickly.

  Someone at the table delivered a hefty kick to her left shin, bumping the table. Nadira hid her grimace behind her smile as she nodded her head. “Sure, that would be nice.” He pulled out his cell phone while she rattled her number off to him. He gave her his in return.

  His phone beeped, signaling a text at the same time as his partner’s went off. “Duty calls. I’ll call you soon,” he said with a wink before turning to jog out of the restaurant behind his partner.

  “OH. MY. GOD!” Mel howled.

  The girls laughed at her as her face flushed from embarrassment. She’s excited too, seeing how her body responded to him. She never dated a human before; how will she explain her special diet or her sensitivity to light, and that she just happened to be a vampire princess?

  2

  ~Cooper~

  “Getting numbers while on the clock! Smooth, man,” Sam chuckled as they pulled off from the diner.

  “Let’s not talk about it, you. I seem to remember a certain night when we stopped over a little Latina’s house so you could—”

  “Okay, okay!” Sam laughed, holding his hands up. “You don’t have to air my dirty laundry. She was hot. I’ll give you that. I would have gotten her number too,” Sam chuckled.

  There was something about her. He couldn’t explain it. While ordering his coffee and breakfast sandwich, the skin on the back of his neck tingled, as if someone was watching him. He was almost brought to his knees when his eyes met her ice blue eyes. Her thick dark brown hair with blond highlights was pulled up in a high messy bun. He assumed she was a nurse since she was dressed in scrubs. Even after working a long shift, she was still the most beau
tiful one in the diner. Her creamy skin was flawless, drawing him to her.

  He was a little rusty in asking for her number. He had been in a relationship with his on again, off again girlfriend, Eden, for the last four years and they broke up again six months ago. He hadn’t really had time to date after finally breaking it off with Eden for good. He didn’t want to leave the restaurant without her number. He couldn’t. Something about her just drew him to her like a moth to a flame.

  The minute her hand touched his, his cock jumped to attention, trying to drill a hole in his jeans. Her shyness was a major turn on. Just thinking of helping her open up, screaming his name while he pounded his cock into her soft wet creamy core, had him about to embarrass himself. He needed to get out of there before he humiliated himself by either drooling or coming in his jeans. His phone rang, breaking through his daydream.

  “Cooper,” he answered, as Sam brought the car to a stop at a red light.

  “Hey, Cooper, it’s Janice. You and Sam are needed over at the old Barmilla Technologies building downtown. They’ve got another body that fits the description of the other three ya’ll are investigating,” the police night dispatcher said.

  He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, rubbing his face with his hands. He had hoped that he could have gone home to get some shuteye before having to get back to the station. He’d been up for almost twenty hours now.

  “All right, we know the place,” Cooper hung up the phone.

  “What we got?” Sam asked.

  “Down at the old Barmilla Technologies factory building down on West Eighth Street. Another DB,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. Another ‘DB,’ translated into laymen’s terms: dead body.

  Their latest investigation had been a string of murders across the city. So far, they had been working on three similar deaths. All the bodies were found with no scratches, injuries, bruising, or any defensive wounds. The bodies were immaculate. The only thing the coroner found on all of the bodies were twin puncture marks on the neck and the bodies missing at least half of their blood supply.