Hawk
Authors: Patricia A. Rasey
Praise for Hawk: Sons of Sangue Series
“Hawk is intense from the get-go ... Each and every character has its own distinct and memorable personality, they're just begging for their own story. Patricia A. Rasey’s fresh and exhilarating take on vampires is a must read.”
—
Kimberly Rocha, Book Obsessed Chicks
"A lot of the arcs started in the first book have some closure in this one along with a surprise at the end. Ms Rasey again does a perfect job of blending the life of a MC club along with the life of vampires.”
—Cindy 0, SnS Reviews
“I’m really excited to meet the rest of the Sons and I hope we see more of them in future books … Patricia A. Rasey is a wonderful story teller. Her stories are imaginative, unique and a blast to read. I thoroughly enjoyed Hawk and I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series.”
—Elizabeth, HEAs are Us
“Hands down my FAVORITE READ OF THE YEAR!!! Yes this book was that good! Ms. Rasey took me on a ride at a hundred miles an hour downhill, didn’t let up, didn’t slow down! A ride I highly recommend!
—Deana, Coffee Books Life
Other Books by Patricia A. Rasey:
Viper
Love You to Pieces
Deadly Obsession
The Hour Before Dawn
Kiss of Deceit
Eyes of Betrayal
Facade
Novellas:
Spirit Me Away
Heat Wave
Fear the Dark
Sanitarium
Hawk
Sons of Sangue
Patricia A. Rasey
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are products of the his book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Patricia A. Rasey
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purpose of reviews.
Dedication
This one is for the Readers!
I appreciate you patiently waiting for Hawk’s story.
It’s for you that I have written it!
To Rasey’s Rebels … my small but awesome street team!
Thank you for helping spread the word!
To the S.O.S. Role Players and Fan Page.
You know who you are and every one of you are awesome!
Thanks for entertaining me daily!
To my Beta Readers:
Barb Auzins, Becky Martin, Suz Overmier,
Michelle Boone, and Suzi Behar!
For your patience in reading two chapters at a time!
To Lara Adrian and Kimberly Rocha, for your encouragement,
belief in my story, and spreading the word. I love you both!
To my editor Catherine Snodgrass, who helped fine-tune Hawk.
I appreciate your hard work and expertise!
To my husband, Mark, as always for your love and encouragement.
I love you more everyday.
And last, and certainly not least, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
for the talent that He gave me.
Blurb:
Kaleb “Hawk” Tepes
, as president of the Sons of Sangue and descendant of Vlad III, needs to keep his head focused on club business. Trouble is someone wants to divest him of it for a crime he committed against his vampire predecessors. He can’t afford distractions, especially those that come in the form of a five-foot-two sprite named Suzi, who once belonged to his nephew. In a moment of weakness, he makes a snap decision that can only spell trouble. Now faced with the one person who wants him dead, Kaleb must make the ultimate sacrifice or chance losing the only woman he truly desired forever.
Suzi Stevens
has tried hard to put her past behind her and move forward. The one man she yearns for over all others, believes her to be nothing but cold-hearted. Hearing that someone has tried to behead him, she shelves past prejudices and rushes to his side, needing to see for herself that he’s all right. What she doesn’t count on is Hawk’s demand to take her as his personal blood donor. Now forced to endure his company, she fears losing her heart for all eternity to the one person who has the power to crush her.
Chapter 1
Dark cumulonimbus clouds threatened to let loose. Cracks of lightning zipped across the horizon and lit the dark ominous skies, laying proof of the forthcoming storm. The likelihood of them making it to their destination before the promised torrential rains hit was looking damn nigh impossible. The winding road could be downright treacherous if the weather report was accurate with its forecast of possible flash flooding. Three to four inches in an hour could cause mud to wash down the mountainous terrain and then they would all be fucked.
Kaleb “Hawk” Tepes glanced to his right at the Sons of Sangue’s Road Captain, Alexander “Xander” Dumitru, riding with him at the front of the pack, while the rest of the Sons followed closely behind. The strong winds whipped Alexander’s jet-black hair beneath his skull cap against the collar of his shirt. Alexander would never hear him over the roar of the motorcycles’ powerful V-Twin engines, so Kaleb nodded to indicate the impending storm. Alexander pointed up the road, then pulled back on his hand and gassed the engine, speeding ahead. Kaleb read his message loud and clear—Kane “Viper” Tepes needed them. Come hell or high water, the Sons of Sangue rose to action when one of their members was in trouble.
Growling at his twin’s lousy timing, Kaleb followed suit and headed into the winding curves of Highway 101 traveling north toward Seaside, Oregon. If they hurried, they might be able to make the edge of the small town up the coast in a little over three hours, providing the weather held out. Grayson “Gypsy” Gabor, the motorcycle club, MC’s Vice President, who road right behind the Road Captain, came up on Kaleb’s right as Alexander pulled ahead. Grayson didn’t look happy at having been called away on a moment’s notice at what he considered a patsy’s errand. Kaleb figured it had more to do with the fact his plans to get laid had been waylaid.
Then again, Grayson hadn’t been a fan of Kane’s since he had left the club six months prior without so much as a word of his whereabouts. That was until four hours ago when Kaleb received an urgent message from their puppet club the Sons had aligned themselves with, the Knights. Apparently, Kane had run into a spot of trouble in the coastal town and had asked for backup. The Knights thought the Sons would want to know.
Damn straight they would.
He thanked the fellow biker and told him to inform the rest of the Knights that the Sons would take care of their own. Kaleb didn’t know what pissed him off more—the fact that Kane had contacted the Knights instead of his own MC, or that he had disappeared months ago without once contacting his twin. They were blood, for fuck’s sake. He had a right to know what was going on with Kane.
Kaleb clenched his teeth against his rising ire. His anger would help no one, so his demand for answers would have to wait. First, his brother needed him and he’d damn well be there for him, no matter what the vamp had done.
The winds picked up as fat drops of rain fell from the sky, hitting his goggles and skull cap. Their luck was just about to run out. Rounding a steep curve and about to hit the straight away, a pop sounded and Kaleb’s rear tire started to shimmy.
“Son of a bitch,” Kaleb said, pulling the unstable chopper to the side of the highway. He looked back to see his wide rear tire had blown a hole. Good thing it happened on a curve and not while he had the speedometer needle buried.
The rest of the Sons slowed to a stop as Alexander and Grayson circled back to see what the holdup was. Several motorcycle engines rumbled over the sound of the winds rustling through the evergreens. Kaleb placed his goggles atop his helmet and let out a stream of curses. Talk about bad luck.
Alexander kicked the center stand down to his idling Harley Davidson, and stepped over the bike. “I think we’re about fifteen miles outside of Lincoln City. Or we can keep heading north to Pacific City. Either way, it’ll be about a thirty mile round trip. What do you want to do?”
Kaleb cursed again, kicking the flattened back tire for emphasis. “We don’t know what kind of trouble Viper’s landed in.”
“Your call, P,” Alexander said.
Rubbing a hand down his chin, he looked north as more fat raindrops hit the asphalt. Prospect Steven “Red Dot” Albu pulled his bike alongside Nicolas “Wheezer” Basil. Nicolas had been Steven’s sponsor since the kid had been a hang around some six months back. He hadn’t yet earned his patch. He got his nickname from his bright red hair that he kept cut short to the skull. Kaleb thought he showed promise and was a good kid.
“Wheezer, you and Red Dot head to Pacific City. See if you can round me up a tire. There’s a motorcycle shop just this side of town. We need it back like yesterday.”
Without questioning Kaleb’s directive, he picked up his booted foot, kicked up the center stand, and headed down the road, Steven close on his tail. Kaleb watched the red taillights fade into the distance before he gave Alexander and Grayson his attention.
“You think we should call Viper?” Grayson asked.
“Whatever trouble he’s into, he hasn’t returned my calls. I tried contacting him right after I heard from the Knights. Left him a message but he hasn’t called back. I don’t know what the hell is going on. You’d think if he was in trouble, he’d answer his fucking cell.”
“Maybe he can’t,” Alexander said, no doubt giving the previous president the benefit of doubt.
His twin and his old lady, Cara Brahnam, had up and hightailed it out of Pleasant shortly after Kaleb had killed Alec Furnar, an ancient primordial vampire with an ax to grind. Kaleb still awaited the fallout from his actions for that little mishap. Killing a primordial was strictly forbidden, not that the piece of shit didn’t deserve it. But Kaleb wasn’t about to let the bastard get away with his shenanigans. The primordial had not only put Kane at risk, he had threatened to take the life of the woman his brother loved. Kaleb hadn’t approved of Kane’s choice in partners, but then none of them had. Maybe that was Kane’s reason for splitting. Either way, he should have stayed in contact with Kaleb.
An inhuman shriek sounded in the distance, followed by the sound of scraping metal against blacktop. His acute hearing picked it up as if it were mere yards away rather than it likely being a couple of miles up the highway.
Grayson’s body went rigid, his nostrils flaring. “Son of a bitch.”
Following Grayson’s curse, the scent hit Kaleb’s olfactory nerves. “Jesus.”
There was no mistaking what every vampire in the pack smelled by now—blood. More specifically vampire blood. Kaleb took off on a dead run, heading in the direction Nicolas and Steven had traveled, knowing he could run nearly as fast as any of the motorcycles. Just then, the storm clouds cut loose and pelted Kaleb and his fellow brothers with rain. Rain poured from the heavens, drenching every one of them. The rest of the vampires abandoned their motorcycles alongside the road and followed Kaleb, knowing with the downpour they were much safer on foot than the slick tires of the bikes hitting tarmac.
It took Kaleb mere minutes to reach the gruesome scene. Two downed bikes and two sprawled, headless bodies. A steel cable stretched across the highway, red blood coating the surface. Nicolas and Steven’s heads lay not far from the cable.
“Son of a fucking bitch!”
Who the hell?
Kaleb glanced toward the thick forest, his gaze zeroing up the steep hill about two hundred feet, a flash of movement catching his notice. That’s when it hit him, the scent of a primordial and the realization that it was supposed to be him. He normally rode at the head of the pack.
* * *
“I have gossip,” Tamera Cantrell said as she entered the small living room to the townhouse Suzi Stevens had shared with her the past six months.
When Suzi had thought it best to leave behind Pleasant, Oregon and the Sons of Sangue, more specifically … Kaleb, Tamera had taken her in. What the hell had Suzi been thinking? She could never truly run from the man. She could put several miles between them, and her thoughts would always conjure up the likes of Kaleb Tepes. She supposed only in death would her reflections of the man finally cease. At one time she had fancied herself in love with the cold-hearted bastard. That is until he fucked his way through a slew of donors, no doubt knowing how he’d hurt her in the process.
But she had been young and dumb.
No longer. Suzi knew Kaleb for the man … vampire, he truly was. A self-centered jerk, who cared for no one other than his twin, Kane. Kaleb could rot in hell for all she cared. She fingered the vial of red blood that dangled alongside a red crystal, all suspended about her neck by a black leather cord. The necklace marked her as belonging to a secret society of donors, or rather food for vampires. She could never tell a soul or risk certain death. The society took their pledges seriously. Because of the donors, vampires could feed without fear of exposure. Without the anonymity, the sub-culture would be exposed, hunted down and exterminated. Vampires may have super strength and agility on their side, making it near impossible to kill them, but they were far outnumbered by the human race.
Suzi glanced up from her novel, placing the book on the side table beside her recliner. Her heart picked up its pace, knowing Tamera brought news about Kaleb. She could feel it like a sixth sense. Damn the traitorous pounding of her heart. No matter what her head said otherwise, her heart refused to listen.
“What is it?” she asked, trying to feign disinterest.
“There’s been talk at the Blood ‘n’ Rave,” Tamera said, being a donor herself and knowing the Sons firsthand. “Wheezer and Red Dot were killed tonight, beheaded on their way up north. Some rescue mission to help Viper that quickly went south.”
“Who else was involved?” Suzi’s heart beat so loudly within her ears that she could hardly hear a word the soft-spoken woman had to say.
The fiery, redhead stood about five-foot-ten on a curvy frame. Suzi often times found herself lacking in the beautiful woman’s company. Where Suzi had size A-cup breasts, Tamera had an overabundance, easily spilling out of a D. Men seemed to line up where she was concerned. Tamera hardly noticed, having no ego at all. If anything, she feared the scales tipped on the heavy side.
“All of the Sons had been on the mission.”
“Hawk?”
Tamera shifted in her stance, looking to the hardwood planks beneath her size nine feet. She no doubt worried how much to disclose, knowing how hard Suzi had tried to put the past behind her. Suzi had even gone so far as forbidding the younger donor to even whisper his name if she had run into him at the Rave.
“Word has it he was the intended target.”
Tamera glanced back up at Suzi, her gaze narrowing as she awaited Suzi’s reaction. And though inside she had gone into full-blown panic mode at the idea of Kaleb losing his head, Suzi clasped her hands tightly in her lap and smiled.
“Then he wasn’t hurt?”
“No.”
“Did the Sons get to Viper?”
“No, not from what I was told. I think they called it a fool’s mission.”
Suzi thought about that. Kane hadn’t been heard from since he and Cara left town following Suzi’s departure. She supposed they had their own reasons for leaving. Turning Cara into a vampire wasn’t supposed to happen. Suzi, however, was glad that Kane had chosen to ignore the stupid club rules and save her childhood friend from death’s clutches, her throat having been slit from ear to ear. Without Kane’s interference, Cara would have died.
“So how did it happen?”
“I was told a steel cable was stretched across the highway.”
Suzi knew Kaleb, being the president, rode out front with the Road Captain. So why had Wheezer and Red Dot been the unlucky ones to come across the death trap first?
“How did Wheezer and the prospect wind up at front of the pack?”
“Hawk had a flat. They sent Wheezer and Red Dot ahead for a new tire.”
“Jesus … Hawk must blame himself.”
“My source says he was still at the Rave as of about twenty minutes ago, downing all liquor in sight.”
Suzi turned her wrist and checked the time on her watch. The Rave should’ve closed over an hour ago. Draven must’ve taken pity on the poor fool and kept the place open out of respect for the Sons. She contemplated on whether to make the fifteen minute trip into Florence or to leave the blackguard to wallow in his own self-misery. Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Suzi knew there really wasn’t a decision to be made at all. She needed to see for herself that Kaleb was okay. Besides, with his brother MIA, he might need someone to talk to, or so she tried to convince herself.
Fool.
Of course she was. But regardless, Suzi rose from the recliner and headed for her small bedroom, grabbing her purse and the diamond solitaire from the dresser top as an afterthought. She had purchased the engagement ring for just such occasions. Men tended to leave engaged women off their radar. In this case, it would be Kaleb’s. Suzi needed to be smart and guard her heart, because Kaleb was the one vampire who had the ability to irreparably crush it.
Suzi shoved her feet into a pair of black leather flats by the door as Tamera watched. Kaleb had always been her biggest weakness, and Tamera knew that. But she would also know trying to talk Suzi out of going would be a waste of her breath. The thought of someone or something trying to hurt Kaleb was like a call to action. Not that she could protect him from harm, but she’d be damned if she stood by without doing anything.