Christian's Coven 6

The Dark Side of Love

Rhys and Ceri have risen…

The twins, Rhys and Ceri, had been placed in a dark sleep almost

two thousand years ago. They were whispered about by vampires,

resting so long that most thought them just a myth. But when a

human stumbles on the cave that Rhys and Ceri rest in, myth

becomes reality.

Nathaniel loves caving. It’s his one peaceful respite in his

confusing life. When he accidentally cuts himself, the blood

awakens a nightmare that he can’t escape. Not only does he

discover that vampires exist, but one of them shows Nathaniel just

how truly horrifying vampires can be.

Running for his life, Nathaniel finds himself turning to one of the

vampires for help. The problem is he’s running from one of the

twins. Ceri thinks Nathaniel is one of the evil humans he must kill,

while Rhys argues that Nathaniel is redeemable.

Rhys isn’t so sure Nathaniel is redeemable, but he must stop Ceri

from killing his mate.

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal,
Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 39,542 words

THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE

Christian’s Coven 6

Lynn Hagen

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove

THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE
Copyright © 2012 by Lynn Hagen
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-856-2

First E-book Publication: July 2012

Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be
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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of The Dark Side of Love by Lynn
Hagen from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you.
Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

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THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE

Christian’s Coven 6

LYNN HAGEN

Chapter One

Nathaniel Ford glanced down as his climbing partner, Orin,

descended down the side of the shelflike cave. He glanced up to see
that they had cleared about sixty feet, but it looked like they had
another sixty to go.

“This is amazing!” Orin said as he inched his way down. “Utterly

amazing. I had no idea this cave even existed.”

Nathaniel could see Orin’s LED light from his hard hat gleaming

off of the cliff walls, creating shapes and patterns that seemed almost
eerie in the cave’s darkness.

Nathaniel loved to climb, explore, and do anything outdoors, but

this cave felt wrong. He wasn’t sure why, but his skin seemed to
vibrate with a foreboding that made him want to climb back out and
run as fast and as far away as he could.

But there was an underlying tension in his muscles. Something

was pulling him deeper into the cave, and it wasn’t the ropes they
were using. Some unseen force seemed to vibrate inside Nathaniel,
whispering to him, calling him deeper into the unknown. The
darkness seemed to echo all around him. And that more than anything
made him want to haul ass out of there.

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The small opening that he and Orin had slid down into was barely

a speck above Nathaniel’s head as he looked up once again. He felt
like he was leaving his world behind and entering into another world.
He felt that rush every time he explored a new cave, but this wasn’t
that same rush. This was more like an ancient world that man was not
supposed to venture into. It was a foreboding and dark feeling that
seemed to inch its way into every cell in Nathaniel’s body, warning
him to climb back up the ropes and never look back.

The two contradicting feelings were warring inside of him as he

glanced down at Orin. One voice called him deeper into the cave,
another told him to run.

Nathaniel shook his head, wondering where in the hell his morose

feelings were coming from. This was just a cave, like any other he
had explored before. He was a caver, and the most dangerous thing
that he could encounter was flooding, hypothermia, and falling rocks.
Oh yeah, and falling, but Nathaniel was pretty sure the ropes were
sufficiently tied off in a figure eight and the bolts accurately
grounded. He knew the slings and carabiners were in working order
because he had checked them himself. When it came to his safety and
the safety of those with him, Nathaniel didn’t mess around.

He pitched further down, watching everything around him as Orin

continued to descend. That niggling feeling that something wasn’t
right stayed with him. As he glanced around the darkened cave,
Nathaniel felt a soft breeze blow by him. He could have sworn he
heard someone’s voice on the air, whispering for him to come closer.
He shook his head and looked down to see that Orin had descended
even further. Nathaniel began to move again, finally reaching the
bottom of the cave.

Orin slipped the body harness off and then his backpack. He

squatted down and unzipped his backpack, grabbing the camera from
inside. There was an excited bounce in his step as he stood and started
taking pictures of the cave.

The Dark Side of Love

“Watch your step,” Nathaniel warned as Orin took a step back,

nearly falling on a piece of slab stone sticking out an inch from the
wall. He could tell his partner was excited, but Nathaniel couldn’t
share his enthusiasm. His stomach was in knots.

“I have to say it again.” Orin chuckled as he snapped a few more

pictures. “This is amazing!”

Nathaniel smiled. Aside from the strange feeling brushing over his

skin like a clinging black oil, the place was just that, amazing. He
grabbed an extra flashlight from his backpack after ridding himself of
his harness and shined the light directly in front of him. Nathaniel
could see crawl spaces that would fit one man at a time. The
catacombs of narrow crawl spaces seemed endless as his flashlight
bounced around the cave.

Orin shoved the camera back into his backpack and then slung it

onto his back. “Let’s get started.” He turned his head. His LED light
from his hard hat shone on one of the crawl spaces across the cave.
“How about that one?”

Nathaniel took a deep breath and nodded. He wasn’t going to

allow himself to get wigged out from this cave. It was like any other
cave. No ghosts or ghoulies, and no inhuman creatures dwelled here.
It was just a cave.

And if he kept repeating that to himself, he might actually begin to

believe it. Nathaniel usually didn’t spook so easily, but there was
something about this particular cave that was doing just that, spooking
him. It was silly, but he couldn’t help the way it made him feel. He
had never backed out of an exploration before, and he wasn’t going to
start now just because he had the creeps.

Placing his feet carefully on the small shelves that jutted out from

the walls, Nathaniel slowly followed behind Orin, his steps precise
and measured.

The air smelled fresher down here, nice and cool. The temperature

seemed a few degrees colder at the bottom of the cave, but Nathaniel
was dressed for the weather. He pushed forward, climbing in behind

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Orin as they crawled through the passage one at a time. Orin had
taken the lead, seeming unaffected by the eeriness Nathaniel was
feeling. The man plowed full steam ahead, excited and eager to
explore. Nathaniel usually felt the same way, but not today. No, today
he was being cautious as they crawled deeper into the unknown.

“It’s so damn dark,” Orin said as he moved forward. “There’s no

light source from anywhere but my helmet.”

Nathaniel had noticed that as well. Caves were dark, but most of

the ones he and Orin had explored in the past had some kind of
natural lighting from the openings above them that spilled in the
daylight. This cave had no natural openings. The hole they had
climbed down to get in here was barely wide enough for Nathaniel to
get through.

Which told him how small the opening truly was. Nathaniel

wasn’t a large man. He had a nice frame from hours of working out,
but he wasn’t bulky. That had been the only opening Nathaniel had
spotted so far.

Maybe there would be some light at the end of this tunnel. He

hoped.

As they moved forward, it felt as though they were descending

further downward into the cave, not up. The temperature continued to
drop, making Nathaniel shiver. He wasn’t sure if it was from the
cooling temperatures or the feeling that had his gut knotted in tiny
figure eights.

Nathaniel felt a pulse in his chest, a feeling as if he should crawl

back out and climb back up into the daylight high above the cave. It
seemed the further down he went, the more nervous he became.

“Do you feel that?” Orin asked as he pushed forward, never

pausing once.

Nathaniel stilled for a moment, trying to look around, but saw that

his climbing partner hadn’t stopped, so he hurried forward. “Feel
what?”

The Dark Side of Love

“I don’t know,” Orin said from in front of him. “It just feels

weird. It’s like my body is trying to force me to go back. It must be
the change in pressure.”

Nathaniel had never heard of wanting to run like hell because of

any change in pressure. He could hear the nervousness in Orin’s voice
as he spoke. It seemed Nathaniel wasn’t the only one creeping out
down here. The man’s moves had slowed, and Orin seemed less eager
than when they first started out. That alone told Nathaniel that he
hadn’t been imagining things. If Orin felt it, then the creepiness
existed. Right? “Do you want to go back?”

“No,” Orin said quickly as he continued to crawl forward. “I want

to see what treasures we can find down here.”

There were no treasures to be found, at least none that could be

weighed like gold or silver. The treasure was exploring the unknown,
finding a cave that hadn’t been explored before or not in recent times.
They cleared the crawl space and Nathaniel made his way out with
Orin’s help. He stood, brushing himself off, and shined his hard hat
light down toward his backpack. He squatted down, digging out his
extra flashlight. There was no natural lighting in this cave like he had
hoped and Nathaniel needed the flashlight if he was going to get a
better view of what was around them.

“Holy shit,” Orin half whispered, half shouted in awe.
Nathaniel turned to stare at Orin. His partner was gazing off into

the dark, his hard hat light shining on something he found fascinating
from the way his mouth hung open slightly. Nathaniel turned his
head, looking in the direction Orin was looking. He gasped as he
stood there staring at the strangest writing on the wall he’d ever seen.

“What is that?” Orin asked.
“I don’t know,” Nathaniel said as he moved closer, shining his

light up and down the wall, back and forth, seeing etches of some
strange symbols that he did not recognize. The symbols covered the
walls from top to bottom and from one end of the room to the other.
Nathaniel was pretty sure that they were in some sort of chamber. It

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wasn’t very large, and the walls seemed smoother in here, less
shelflike. He ran his hand down the walls, feeling the etchings under
his fingers. He used the flashlight to see as he traced the strange
symbols. They were worn, dull, and Nathaniel could tell they were
etched ages ago, but he could still make out the symbols.

Orin pulled his camera from his backpack and started snapping

pictures. The flash from the camera blinded Nathaniel temporarily as
he took a step back and then fell on his ass. He cried out when he felt
a burning throb in his arm. When he reached to touch the pain, he felt
wetness. Damn it, he was bleeding.

“I need the first aid kit.”
Orin tossed the strap of his camera over his head and let it dangle

at his side as he grabbed his backpack and hurried over toward
Nathaniel. “How bad is it?”

“I’m not sure, but it hurts like hell.” Whatever he cut his arm on, it

had torn through Nathaniel’s protective clothing. He looked down as
he pulled his hand away from the cut, the light from his hard hat
shining on his fingers. There was more than just a trace of blood on
his hand. It was more like a pool of the red crimson decorating his
fingers. He was going to need stitches. But first, he needed to stop the
bleeding before he passed out down here.

That would not be a good thing.
Nathaniel felt the blood soak through his clothing, drip down his

hand, and trail off toward the ground. Orin tied a makeshift tourniquet
around his upper arm, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. He
bandaged Nathaniel’s arm the best he could. “Are you okay to climb
back through the crawl space?”

“We don’t have to leave because I cut myself.” Nathaniel was not

cutting their time short because he fell. This was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to photograph something that hadn’t probably been seen
by anyone since being carved into the walls. He was not throwing that
chance away.

“Are you sure?” Orin asked.

The Dark Side of Love

“I’m sure,” Nathaniel said as he pushed to his feet. He felt slightly

dizzy, but knew he could manage. As long as they didn’t stay down
here too long, he would be all right. “Take the pictures.”

Orin gave him a long stare before nodding and turning back

around, pulling his camera from around his neck. The flashes began
again as Nathaniel walked around the cave, his hands running over
the smooth texture of the wall, feeling the ancient writing under the
tips of his fingers once more. Nathaniel wasn’t sure, but he could
swear that this wasn’t any documented language he’d ever seen
before.

What did it say? What did it mean? Who etched the symbols into

the wall of a long-forgotten cave? He heard the camera clicking away
behind him. Nathaniel turned around and swore he saw the dirt right
by Orin’s feet move.

“Orin,” Nathaniel said slowly.
“What?” his partner asked as he continued to snap picture after

picture. Nathaniel pointed the light of his flashlight onto the dirt floor,
seeing that the dirt looked disturbed, freshly moved. It was no longer
well packed, but somewhat resembling a freshly made anthill. He
swallowed hard.

“Orin.”
Orin spun around, glaring at Nathaniel. Even in the dimly lit

cavern, Nathaniel could see the hard glint in Orin’s eyes. “I’m trying
to get some award-winning shots here. What is it?”

Nathaniel had never heard Orin talk to him like that before. It was

irritation and annoyance all mixed in one. They had only been
partners for six months. He really didn’t know Orin all that well. The
man was a damn good caver, but socially, they never got together.
Nathaniel didn’t care for Orin to snap at him like that.

Nathaniel’s flashlight slid back down toward the dirt, his entire

body freezing in horror as he watched a hand, or what looked like a
hand, push up past the dirt floor. The scream froze in his throat as he

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saw bones, with skin so dry and rotted that he swore he was seeing
things.

“Orin!”
Orin spun around, his eyes narrowed at Nathaniel. Nathaniel

pointed down to the ground, his fingers shaking uncontrollably as the
hand turned into an arm and then a shoulder. Something was
emerging from the dirt floor, and Nathaniel was not going to stick
around to see what it was.

“Run!”
Leaving their backpacks behind, both of them raced to the crawl

space at the same time. Orin pushed Nathaniel out of the way as he
began to crawl inside the hole. The man wasn’t moving fast enough!
When Nathaniel glanced back at the dirt, he saw that a head had
appeared. The scream finally broke free from Nathaniel’s throat. It
was so loud that his ears began to ring from the echo.

Nathaniel twisted around, diving for the crawl space. He had to

get out of there. As he pushed through the small opening, he felt a
cool brush of air race past his face. The air smelled old, like
mothballs. Nathaniel tried his best not to gag, but the smell had gotten
into his mouth and hit the back of throat, forcing Nathaniel to cough
as his eyes began to water.

Losing his vision down here to tears was not the wisest thing to

do. He paused for a moment and wiped at his eyes, smelling the blood
from his wound on his hands.

“Orin!” Nathaniel shouted, but no one answered. Had Orin left

him behind? He didn’t see the light from Orin’s hard hat in front of
him.

He crawled as fast as he could, which wasn’t that fast considering

the space was so tight that his shoulders were brushing the sides of the
walls. His arm was throbbing painfully now, but Nathaniel wasn’t
going to stop. Not when he had just seen something that was utterly
impossible. Only things in horror movies emerged from the ground,
not in a fucking cave! Nathaniel finally cleared the crawl space and

The Dark Side of Love

stood, rushing back the way he had come. He held his hand over the
wound on his arm, hurrying to catch up with Orin.

The air around him moved so fast that Nathaniel’s shoulder-length

hair blew up in a whirlwind. He spotted Orin in front of him, maybe
twenty feet. “Orin!”

Orin looked back, stared Nathaniel directly in his eyes, and then

turned back around, running as fast as he could.

The bastard was leaving him!
Orin was leaving him behind!
Nathaniel put on a burst of speed, trying his best not to fall down

or knock himself out as he ran toward his harness. He wasn’t sure he
could climb out of the cave in time before whatever that thing was
tackled him, but he sure as hell was going to try. His injury was
throbbing, reminding Nathaniel that his climb out of this cave was not
going to be easy or quick.

Nathaniel looked over his shoulder. That was a big mistake. He

screamed louder this time when he saw the bones wrapped in dried
skin almost floating toward him. He couldn’t think of a better way to
describe what the thing was doing. It was fast as hell, but its feet
didn’t seem to touch the ground. There was no possible way that thing
wasn’t walking, but as Nathaniel looked down at the ground…yeah, it
was floating, all right.

Why in the fuck hadn’t he listened to that gut feeling when he first

climbed down the rope? He should have turned back around and left
the cave, not explored it.

“Orin!” Nathaniel shouted and then turned back around, knocking

his head on a shelf that was jutting out about four inches from the
wall. Nathaniel grabbed his head at the same time he fell to the
ground. He could feel warm wetness as he pressed his hand on his
head. He was bleeding again. Was he going to make it out of this cave
before he was either eaten alive or lost all of his blood from
carelessness?

Lynn Hagen

That was the second time he injured himself, and he had a feeling

that bleeding around this thing was not a good idea. Not only was his
arm throbbing in pain, but now his head. Exploring this cave was not
working out how Nathaniel thought it would. It was as if the cave
itself was trying to keep Nathaniel trapped deep in its bowels.

Nathaniel released his head and looked up to see black eyes

staring down at him. The eyes didn’t fully fit the sockets as they
rolled around loosely. Nathaniel was going to be sick.

The thing raised its arm, its hand reaching toward Nathaniel. His

eyes zeroed in on the fingers. It was like those mummies that were
well preserved, but the skin was stretched over bones that were visible
through missing tissue. The skin looked almost glossy.

“Don’t touch me!” Nathaniel shouted as he scooted backward, his

voice an octave higher than it normally should be. “Don’t you fucking
touch me!”

His heart was in this throat as he spun onto his hands and knees,

pushed away from the floor of the cave, and then ran so damn fast that
another protruding shelf almost clipped his head again. “Orin!”
Nathaniel shouted when he saw his partner halfway up to the entrance
in the ceiling of the cave. The bastard really was leaving him behind!

Orin glanced down at him and then behind Nathaniel, his eyes so

wide that Nathaniel thought they were going to pop from their
sockets. He choked on a scream, knowing what Orin was staring at.
That thing must be right behind him. Orin climbed up the rope faster.

“You’re on your own, Nathaniel!” Orin shouted from the ropes.
Nathaniel brushed the blood from his face. It was trickling in

small drips into his eyes, blinding him. He couldn’t afford to be
blinded right now. Not now. Please not now.

Nathaniel was trying not to be in shock over Orin deserting him.

The bastard was actually leaving him. He just couldn’t get past that
fact. Orin was practically handing him over to that thing while he
escaped.

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel reached his harness, but was terrified that he wouldn’t

get it on in time. That thing was coming for him, and Nathaniel was
too afraid to look behind him to see just how far behind him it was.
He looked up to see Orin hanging from the rope one second and gone
the next. A dark blur had flown across Nathaniel’s vision. The only
thing left hanging was the swinging rope.

Orin screamed from somewhere in the cave, and Nathaniel

wondered if the thing that had grabbed Orin was the same creature
that had been right behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw
the thing that had chased him was standing to his left, watching him
intently, but came no closer.

Nathaniel felt sick when he realized that there were two creatures

in the cave. His heart was slamming into his chest as he glanced
around, trying to get a fix on where Orin and the second creature
were. This wasn’t real! This couldn’t be. Maybe he had passed out
back in the small chamber from blood loss and was dreaming all of
this.

Nathaniel glanced at the creature a few feet away and knew

without a doubt that he did not possess such a vivid imagination.

They were real.
He wasn’t sure what kind of creatures they were, and Nathaniel

wasn’t going to hang around to find out. Nathaniel quickly strapped
the harness to his body, his fingers fumbling, feeling three sizes too
big as he buckled the straps in place. He was unable to get the
carabiner hooked. His hands were shaking too badly.

The creature that had been following Nathaniel stood there, but it

didn’t touch him. Nathaniel wasn’t sure what was holding the thing
back, but he wasn’t going to press his luck and hope that the creature
just stood there while he escaped.

He had to get out of there.
The creature started talking, but Nathaniel couldn’t understand a

word it was saying. It sounded like bones scraping together more than
anything. He shook his head, feeling the panic rising inside of him as

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a sob tore from his chest. “I don’t understand you. I don’t understand
what you are saying.” The words were half strained, half sobs. He was
trying his best to not fall apart. Nathaniel had to keep his wits about
him. But looking at the skeletal frame in front of him with skin so
dark, so dry, stretched over its frame, Nathaniel wasn’t so sure he
could keep his composure much longer.

Nathaniel watched as the creature cocked his head to the side, an

almost birdlike motion as its eyeballs rolled loosely inside the sockets.
Nathaniel fought back the urge to scream at the sight, but his stomach
had no problem rolling with nausea.

The scream didn’t stay trapped in his throat for long. Not when

the creature reached for Nathaniel, its bony fingers coming right for
him. “Don’t touch me! Please, don’t kill me,” Nathaniel sobbed.
“Don’t kill me, please. I don’t want to die.”

The skeletal bones wrapped around Nathaniel’s wrist, gently

pulling him closer as the other hand reached for Nathaniel’s face, the
scraping of bones whispering across Nathaniel’s cheek.

Nathaniel felt raw terror curl in his stomach and expand

throughout his entire body. His heart was trying to escape through his
throat as the creature pulled Nathaniel closer.

He prayed he didn’t pass out.
If he passed out, he may not wake up.
He watched in frozen horror as the thing pulled Nathaniel’s wrist

to its mouth. The lips were pulled back, the skin so tight that the
creature’s teeth were fully exposed, and Nathaniel screamed once
more when he saw a set of dirt-covered fangs. The fangs were yellow,
dirty, and dull looking, but sharp enough to do some serious damage.

He pulled at his wrist, trying to free it from the creature’s tight

hold, but the creature didn’t release him. The grip was too strong,
even for something only made of bones and dried skin. It pulled
Nathaniel’s wrist toward its mouth, and Nathaniel was powerless to
stop it.

The Dark Side of Love

Oh, hell. This was not happening to him. It couldn’t be. This was

something he should be watching from his couch in a horror movie,
not living through himself. This was a true nightmare that Nathaniel
prayed he lived through.

His thoughts spun and shattered as the creature’s jaw opened,

showing Nathaniel that there was no tissue and no muscle inside the
cavernous depth. There was nothing but bones and teeth. Teeth that
no longer looked dull, but sharp enough to tear his wrist apart. The
creature bit down on Nathaniel’s wrist. The pain was sharp and
intense as Nathaniel screamed again, feeling the edges of his vision
fading.

Nathaniel swallowed a few times, blinking rapidly and trying his

best to stay conscious as the creature drank Nathaniel’s blood.
Nathaniel was afraid to pull. Afraid to pull his arm away for fear that
the skin on his wrist would be torn away and he would lie bleeding
and dying on the cavernous floor.

He was already bleeding from his head and arm. A wrist wound

would only be the icing on this nightmarish cake.

The creature’s thick, rough tongue—if one could even call it a

tongue—scraped across Nathaniel’s wrist, as if licking at his blood,
his tissue, his flesh. The tongue was more like a dried prune than a
soft muscle as it swept back and forth across his skin.

Nathaniel shivered with revulsion.
The creature lifted its head. Nathaniel was horrified when he saw

his blood spilling down the back of the thing’s throat, splashing over
ribs and spine, dripping onto the cave floor. There was no tissue, no
muscle, nothing to catch the blood and absorb it.

Yet the creature looked like he had just been well fed.
On Nathaniel’s precious blood.
Blood that now lay on the floor.
That sure as shit looked like a lot of Nathaniel’s blood. How much

had that thing taken?

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The thing moved its jaw a few times, opening and closing its

mouth, and then a strange clearing sound came from its throat.
Nathaniel watched in fascinated horror as the throat began to fill.
Tissue formed and muscle grew into place, slowly closing that part of
the thing’s body up, the esophagus well covered now.

The thing cleared its throat again, and then opened its mouth.

“Where am I? What is the year?” And then the creature stepped
closer. “Where is Christian?”

Nathaniel shook his head rapidly back and forth, trying again to

pull his wrist free. The blood was still welling up and spilling over
from the twin puncture wounds, but Nathaniel would take the blood
loss if he could just get free. “I–I don’t know any Christian. Please, let
me go,” he whimpered softly.

The creature leaned in, his skeletal face very close to Nathaniel’s

neck. He feared that the thing was going to sink those fangs into his
neck next. But instead of biting Nathaniel, the creature made a weird
snorkeling sound as it sniffed Nathaniel.

“You smell…” The creature hesitated, looking around the cave as

if searching for the right word. “Moist,” he said a moment later.

Moist?
Did the thing really say moist?
That could not be a good thing.
“I can smell your fear. I can smell your blood. I can smell your

flesh.” The creature moved around Nathaniel in a complete circle
before ending back in front of him. Nathaniel noticed the creature’s
eyes were filling in as well. They weren’t rolling around in their
sockets any longer. The orbs were solid, the tissue around the eyes
more noticeable, and the eyes were staring directly at Nathaniel. He
noticed the irises were blue, almost humanlike.

“Yeah, I…uh…” Nathaniel trailed off. He wasn’t sure what to say

to that. What would be the proper response to someone saying they
could smell his flesh? It really wasn’t a question, so Nathaniel chose
silence. The creature standing before him had no flesh. Well, he did,

The Dark Side of Love

but it was dried and stretched across his bones—except around the
thing’s throat and eyes. That part of him seemed to be forming at an
alarming rate. It was like looking at a half-formed man.

The man had no flesh, no blood, and no tissue. Nathaniel was

afraid to point those things out for fear the creature would try and take
them from Nathaniel.

The creature cleared its throat once more, and it sounded almost

human. “I am known as Rhys.”

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Two

Christian’s eyes flew open. Something was terribly wrong. He

could feel his twins. He felt them in his very bones.

And he knew in that moment that they were awake.
Christian knew that Ceri and Rhys had found blood. He knew

without a shadow of a doubt that his younger twin brothers were now
awake. Christian immediately slid from his bed and dressed,
disseminating to Dante’s.

Dante was the coven leader, master vampire—or whatever title

the leaders went by these days—of the Northern coven of vampires.

It took two head vampires to open the cave where Christian had

placed the twins so long ago, and Christian had chosen Dante as the
second to open the cave with him.

They had been going to the cave for months, making sure the

twins were undisturbed when the elders of the vampire world had
gone looking for the twins.

Thus far Christian’s brothers had lain in peace.
But someone had disturbed the twins’ restful slumber.
Christian approached Dante’s bed, having no time to let Dante

know that he was coming. He had to move quickly and use the
inhuman speed of a vampire to get out of Dante’s way when the
vampire leapt from his bed, ready to attack.

There were two humans in the bed with Dante, both still asleep.

Christian knew that Dante had a liking toward humans, but now was
not the time to dawdle on such thoughts. “I am sorry to disturb you,
Dante.”

The Dark Side of Love

“You know better than to enter my bedroom unannounced,

Christian,” Dante snarled as he stood, relaxing his stance. Christian
was the least bit worried about the man’s snarling, but knew he would
be just as pissed if someone entered his bedroom unannounced. But of
course, Christian had two mates and a son to protect.

It didn’t pass Christian’s notice that Dante forwent the prince title.

The two were not formal and did not stand on ceremony when it was
just the two of them alone. Christian batted away Dante’s protest with
a wave of his hand.

“The twins have awakened.”
Dante stilled, standing there frozen for a moment, and then his

eyebrows pulled down into a frown.

“How?” Dante asked as he began to move once more, grabbing

his clothes from the chair by the bed, and began to dress.

“Someone has fed them,” Christian answered, still puzzled about

how anyone had discovered his brothers resting spot. The place was a
virtual fortress. He even carved the ancient warding spells into the
walls. The spells would make anyone who came near the place feel an
overwhelming need to leave right away. Who the hell had gotten past
them? “There is no other explanation for them being awakened
without my doing so.”

The two humans stirred in Dante’s bed, one opening his eyes and

staring directly at Dante, a blush creeping across his cheeks. Christian
had to admit, Dante had very nice taste when it came to his play toys.
“Is everything okay, master?”

Christian smirked.
Master?
Oh, this was priceless.
Dante cleared his throat, glancing at Christian and then back at the

man who spoke. “I told you not to call me that,” Dante reminded the
human with a bit of irritation in his voice. “I am not your master. Now
I want both of you to leave.”

“But—”

Lynn Hagen

“Now,” Dante said firmly, but managed not to shout.
The two humans scrambled from the bed, grabbed their clothes,

and were gone from Dante’s bedroom within seconds.

Dante turned back to Christian. “How do you know they have

been fed?” he asked as he slid his shoes on.

Christian glanced at the door the two men had run through, a

smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“They are of my bloodline. I can feel them feeding at this very

moment.”

“Shit,” Dante said as he shook his head. “Then we better go find

out what’s going on at the cave.”

“I agree.” Christian placed his hand on Dante’s shoulder. Usually

he blindfolded the vampire to keep his brothers’ resting place a secret.
But if Rhys and Ceri were awake and feeding, there was no use.

Christian disseminated them from Dante’s bedroom to the cave

high in the mountains, and prayed they weren’t too late.

* * * *

Rhys was hungry.
He needed blood.
He needed it desperately.
But there was one small problem with him feeding from the man

in front of him. Rhys couldn’t touch the human, not the way he
needed to for a proper feeding. Scanning his eyes over the human in
front of him, Rhys wasn’t too impressed with his thin stature or his
black hair that was cut to his shoulders. Since when did men have
such short hair? The human’s brown eyes were too close together, and
his lips were uneven, the bottom fuller than the top, giving a false
sense of a pouty lip.

Rhys couldn’t see that well, not while he was filled with hunger,

but he could see well enough to know that the human was too plain,

The Dark Side of Love

too ordinary. Maybe after a proper feeding he would see the man in a
whole new light. But he doubted it.

Rhys winced and breathed through the clawing in his body.

Hunger pains made Rhys almost double over in agony. He needed to
feed. If he didn’t feed soon, he would lose what advantages he had
already gained from the small amount of blood he had taken from the
human in front of him. His throat was closed and he could speak, and
Rhys didn’t want to lose that.

The blood that Rhys had drunk from the human standing in front

of him was slowly absorbing into Rhys’s mind. He was seeing the
world as it was today through the human’s blood, seeing the many
changes that had taken place. Most of the images were strange and
foreign to Rhys, and he gasped when he saw what year it was.

He had been asleep, Rhys and his twin, for a little less than two

thousand years. He glanced around the cave and saw Ceri in one
corner feeding on the human that he had taken from the sky.

Rhys could smell the evil nature of the body Ceri was feeding off

of, and knew that his twin was going to kill the human.

It did not bother him.
Ceri and Rhys hated rogue vampires and the scourge of human

society. But that would mean that Ceri would be well fed, well
enough that his mind would be sounder than Rhys’s, until Rhys could
feed the hunger that gnawed at his very soul.

Rhys could feel the pain inside of him, although there wasn’t

much left of his form. But he knew he couldn’t feed off of the human
in front of him.

“What name are you?” Rhys asked and then shook his head. That

wasn’t correct. “What name are you called?”

“Nathaniel,” the human answered in a shaky voice.
The smell of blood flooded Rhys’s senses, and he forgot about

any pleasantries as he flew over to where Ceri was feeding. He had to
eat. He had to find nourishment. Rhys crouched beside his twin,
helping Ceri devour the human. Rhys needed the blood desperately.

Lynn Hagen

Vampires normally did not eat flesh, but they had been asleep for so
long and there was no ample amount of blood supply to feed their
hunger.

Ceri moved over an inch, but feasted on the human’s stomach

where all the soft organs were easily obtainable. Rhys took the throat,
consuming blood and flesh. The hunger began to ebb slightly. Rhys
knew it wouldn’t be enough, but it would have to do for the moment.

Rhys felt his body filling in, muscle and tissue forming as he ate.
His vision became clearer, enabling Rhys to finally see everything

around him with crisp clarity. He was damn glad his eyes no longer
rolled around in their sockets. That had been a feeling he never
wanted to experience again. Having his body without tissue or muscle
was agonizing.

He started feeling whole once more as his body absorbed the

nutrients it needed from this human. A few more feedings and Rhys
would be restored to his former self.

Rhys caught movement off to his right and turned, seeing his

human climbing up a rope, trying to get out of the cave. Now that he
could see fully, he knew that the human they were feeding from
hadn’t flown, but climbed.

Rhys leapt from where he crouched, arms outstretched. He

grabbed the human from around the waist, pulling him from the rope.

“No!” Nathaniel screamed as he twisted in Rhys’s arm, trying

desperately to get free. “Let me go, please. I swear I won’t tell anyone
about you. Please, please, let me go.”

Rhys ignored the man’s begging. He landed back by his twin, and

then began to feed again. Nathaniel screamed as he looked at what
Rhys and Ceri were doing, and then ran to the cave wall, dropping to
his knees and emptying his stomach.

He knew what the two looked like, but the hunger overrode any

logical thought that Rhys may have had. It tore at his mind as he ate.

“You are eating Orin,” Nathaniel sobbed as he wrapped his arms

around his stomach and slid to the floor. The cries were soft as

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel curled his legs up to his chest, making himself as small as
possible. Rhys watched the human, Nathaniel, his mate from the
corner of his eyes as he fed. Now that he could fully see, Rhys noticed
how Nathaniel’s cheekbones were delicate, well formed, giving his
face almost a feminine appearance.

But the broad shoulders were all male. Nathaniel’s body may not

be formed like a true man’s should be, but it would do. The man was
pleasant enough to look at. He wasn’t too offending to the eye now
that Rhys was better able to see.

Ceri leaned back when only a shell was left of the human they had

fed from, his fully-formed eyes sliding over to Nathaniel. The hunger
lingering in his twin’s eyes was unmistakable. Ceri planned to
continue his feeding.

“No, Ceri. He is not for consumption.”
Ceri cocked his head, his expression questioning.
“He is not to be touched.”
Ceri gave a slight nod, but sniffed the air as he moved a fraction

closer to Nathaniel. Rhys knew Ceri would not touch the human, but
Rhys had to admit, Nathaniel did smell very sweet. The human’s
blood was calling to Rhys and Rhys was hard-pressed not to feed
from his mate the way he needed to. But a deeper connection was
starting to form and Rhys knew he could fight off the need.

He wasn’t so sure about Ceri.
Rhys knew Ceri wouldn’t touch Nathaniel…for now. He wasn’t

too sure how long his brother would hold off though. They were both
starving.

“What have you done?”
Rhys spun around, crouching in front of Nathaniel as his eyes

swept the cave. He saw two vampires watching him. He bared his
fangs, Ceri doing the same.

“Rhys,” the vampire said as he moved closer. “It is I, Christian.”
“Lies!” Rhys shouted as he moved back slightly, blocking

Nathaniel from the vampire’s sight. Ceri grunted, sliding next to

Lynn Hagen

Rhys, defending Nathaniel as well. Or his brother was standing at
Rhys’s side as he always did when either was threatened. Rhys wasn’t
sure which, but was glad to have his twin at his side.

The vampire moved closer, his arms outstretched, showing Rhys

that he was unarmed. “It is true, Rhys, brother. I am Christian.”

Rhys stood to his full height, Ceri moving over to crouch in front

of Nathaniel. He didn’t know the two vampires standing so close to
his mate, but they were about to pay the price for venturing too close
to Nathaniel.

Moving with inhuman speed, Rhys grabbed the vampire around

his throat, lifting him from the ground as he snapped his fangs toward
the vampire’s throat. The vampire moved his neck out of the way just
as Rhys bit into air.

“He is your brother!” the other vampire shouted. “Release him at

once! He is the prince.”

Rhys harrumphed. “He is no prince.”
The vampire who claimed to be Rhys’s older brother shoved his

wrist toward Rhys’s mouth. “Take my blood and you will see that I
am telling you the truth.”

Rhys grabbed the wrist offered and sank his fangs into the flesh.

He moaned from the blood, feeling the ancient power of his bloodline
flow over his half-healed tongue. With just one drink, just one feeding
from this vampire who claimed to be Christian LeAnthony
Espelimbergo, his older brother, Rhys was feeling the power restoring
him. It wasn’t full power, but it was more than enough to help restore
his body and mind.

He eased away from the wrist trapped between his lips, licking the

wound closed. Rhys growled loudly as he threw Christian across the
cave, watching his brother slam into the wall and hit the floor. “You
buried us! You put Ceri and me into the dark sleep. I should kill you
for that alone!”

Christian pushed himself up from the floor, dusting his body off.

“I did it for your own good.”

The Dark Side of Love

“Pah!” Rhys said as he stormed back over to his twin and mate.

“You did it for yourself. We had done nothing to warrant being put to
sleep.”

Christian was calm, his facial expression serene, as if he couldn’t

be riled. “You were killing half the population, Rhys. You and Ceri
were almost to the point of becoming rogues yourselves. Had I not
given the two of you the dark sleep, I would have lost you both. You
know as well as I that there is no coming back once a vampire turns
rogue.”

“Lies!” Rhys shouted once more. “We cannot become rogues. We

are the original vampires, the first ever born of our line. We are
immune to such things.”

Christian moved closer to Rhys, which in turn put Christian closer

to Nathaniel. Rhys gave a low warning growl, stopping his brother in
his tracks. Christian glanced at Rhys’s mate curiously, but took a step
back. “I would never lie to you or Ceri. What I did, I did to save you
both.”

“You did it so you could rule the human world on your own. You

wanted to be prince. How dare you stand there and defend what you
did to us!”

Rhys had drunk from Christian, and he knew that Christian

believed he did what was best. But Rhys was having a hard time with
what had been done to him and his twin. It had been almost two
thousand years.

Two thousand long years.
And Christian wasn’t even the one to wake them. It had happened

by chance, by accident. If Nathaniel had not bled over Rhys’s resting
place, how much longer would he and his twin have slumbered?
“How long were you planning on keeping us asleep, dear brother?”

Christian looked startled as he glanced from Nathaniel to Rhys.

“What do you mean?”

Rhys glided over to Ceri and Nathaniel, turning around so he

could face Christian. “I mean, how long would you have kept us

Lynn Hagen

buried? It was not you who woke us, but this human. And by
accident, I might add. So tell me, Prince. When did you plan on
waking us?”

Christian shoved his hands into his trousers, sighing deeply. “I am

not sure. But know this. I wasn’t going to let you sleep much longer.”
Christian glanced up at Rhys, a wistful look in his black eyes. “I have
missed you both terribly.”

Rhys grabbed Nathaniel around his waist, hauling him close as his

mate struggled to get free. Ceri stood, backing away from Christian
and pushing his back so close to Rhys’s chest that they were almost
touching.

“You may be telling me the truth, dear brother. But for almost two

thousand years we have slept while you have ruled. Until you make
amends, there is no peace.” Rhys placed his hand on Ceri’s shoulder
as he disseminated.

* * * *

Nathaniel gasped, his head spinning as his stomach rolled. He

wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he was no longer in the cave.
How the hell did that happen?

“Where am I?” The room he was standing in wasn’t shelflike, and

there weren’t any dirt floors. No, Nathaniel was standing in a place
that looked long forgotten. It was a palace. That was for sure. But the
place looked as though it was falling apart and nature was making an
appearance everywhere he looked. Vines and small plants grew in
abundance while the marble floors and pillars were cracked, missing
whole chunks in certain places.

“This is my birthplace, Nathaniel,” Rhys said as he swung his

arms wide, a self-satisfied look on his face. “Welcome to my home. If
I were fully healed, you would see how splendid this place was in my
day. But, without a full feeding, I can only give you the palace,
unrestored.”

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel glanced around, wondering where exactly home was.

And if this was Rhys’s home, then his housekeeper needed to be fired.

The place was in ruins.
He hoped like hell no one actually lived here. Nathaniel could see

the freaking sky through the ceiling! There was no roof. And as he
looked around, he came to the conclusion that one good sneeze would
level this place.

He glanced back over at Rhys, seeing that the man was fully

formed. There was no dried skin or bones to be seen. He looked like
any other man now. And damn if he wasn’t a sight to look at. Rhys
was hot as hell.

Fuck, he really was losing his mind.
How could he think a walking corpse was good looking? Okay, he

didn’t look like a walking corpse any longer, but still.

“How did you…” Nathaniel waved a hand at Rhys’s body. “Grow

skin?”

Rhys looked confused for a moment and then threw his head back

and let out the deepest, warmest, and richest laughter Nathaniel had
ever heard. It was marvelous and made Nathaniel want to hear it over
and over again. It filled the room with its musical sound. Now that
Rhys didn’t look like a walking corpse, Nathaniel wasn’t ready to
pass out. But he did remember what Rhys looked like before he “grew
skin,” and it still made Nathaniel shiver.

“I drank from a very powerful vampire, Nathaniel. His blood

hurried the process of ‘growing skin’ along.”

Nathaniel was not going to scream.
Nope.
He wasn’t.
He knew in his mind that Rhys had to be a vampire from the teeth

and the drinking blood thing, but to hear it out loud was a bit
discerning. “And him?” Nathaniel asked as he pointed to the other
vampire.

“His name is Ceri, and he is my twin.”

Lynn Hagen

Ceri didn’t look like a twin to Rhys. He still looked closer to a

walking corpse. The vampire’s skin was greyish, tinged with red.
Ceri’s mouth had dried blood all around the edges from eating…
Nathaniel swallowed again, fighting not to be sick once more.

“You ate my friend,” he said calmly, but through gritted teeth. He

could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he wrapped his arms around
his stomach, remembering how Orin had left Nathaniel as he fled.

Even if the man was a coward, that didn’t mean he had to die.
“You called that foul thing friend?” Rhys asked with astonishment

in his tone. “I tasted his flesh, Nathaniel. I saw his life. He was not a
kind man.”

“But you didn’t have to eat him!” Nathaniel shouted and then

backed an inch away. As mad as he was, these two were still vampires
and Nathaniel had seen what they could do.

Playing nice with the men that had sharp teeth was probably a

wiser thing to do. Nathaniel did not want to end up like Orin.

Rhys took a step closer to Nathaniel, baring his fangs as he balled

his fists at his side. “He violated women. He preyed on the helpless,
Nathaniel. I saw his dark desires, what he craved most, and they had
extended to you as well.” Rhys’s eyes narrowed as he stared at
Nathaniel, and Nathaniel noticed that Rhys’s irises had gone from
pale blue to a blue so deep that they were cobalt. “He had plans for
your young flesh, Nathaniel. Your friend was planning sinister things
for you in that cave.”

“I’m not young!” Nathaniel was so lost at what Rhys was saying

that his age was the only thing Nathaniel had to argue about.

Was Rhys telling the truth?
Was Orin a rapist?
Was the man planning on hurting Nathaniel once they were done

exploring the cave? He felt sick all over again.

“My young mate, you could be one hundred human years and it

would still pale in comparison to how old I am.”

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel didn’t appreciate the condescending tone Rhys was

using, as if the man was superior to Nathaniel. “I happen to be thirty-
one, prick.”

“What is this prick you call me?” Rhys asked humorously. The

humor only ticked Nathaniel off further. He probably should play nice
with the vampires, but Nathaniel was so damn confused about what
was happening around him that he tossed caution to the wind and
gave in to insanity.

“It means that I’m insulting you, moron.” Nathaniel was mad. He

was beyond mad. Part of it was from Rhys and Ceri dragging him into
their very bizarre world, but part of it was the revelation that Orin was
planning something so heinous that Nathaniel felt cold inside.

He had just missed being violated and harmed. And inside a cave

that had a depth of one hundred and twenty feet from opening to
floor, there wouldn’t have been anything Nathaniel could have done
but fight Orin, and possibly killed or been killed.

The thought was staggering.
“Thirty-one?” Rhys chuckled. “My, you are old. And if you insult

me again, you will not like the outcome.” Rhys’s humor fled that
quickly. His deep blue eyes had turned so cold that they looked like
two stones of ice in their sockets. That look terrified Nathaniel. Rhys
wasn’t a small man after all. Nathaniel would most definitely be
defeated in any fight he thought of having against the vampire.

Vampire.
Nathaniel still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he was

standing in some sort of ruins, arguing with a real live vampire, while
another watched him with eyes so hungry that Nathaniel felt like a
roasted pig on a spit.

He refused to show the twin any fear, even if he was shaking apart

on the inside. Nathaniel decided to change the subject and get his
insult off of Rhys’s radar. “What language were you and the other
man speaking back in the cave?” He had heard Rhys and the
newcomer talking, but it sounded like rapid gibberish to Nathaniel.

Lynn Hagen

He would have bet money that it wasn’t a language of this world. Or
if it was, then it was something that hadn’t been spoken in a very,
very long time.

“That is no concern of yours, Nathaniel,” Rhys said and then

turned and walked away, leaving Nathaniel alone with Mr. Hungry
Eyes.

Freaking perfect!

The Dark Side of Love

Chapter Three

Christian walked into his office at his club, The Manacle, and

upheaved his desk, sending it flying across the room to shatter and
splinter against the far wall. Rage, pain, and hurt filled him at Rhys’s
words. How could his brother think that he had put them into the dark
sleep for selfish gain? Had Rhys not seen what was happening to him
and Ceri? Had he not noticed that his dark blue eyes had rimmed in
red, a telltale sign that he was becoming rogue?

And his brother thought he was immune to such things? How in

the hell could Rhys be so naïve or egotistical to think that he couldn’t
fall? Christian was not only baffled, but enraged.

Christo and Isla—his second and third—came running into his

office, looking as though they were ready to fight whoever was
tearing Christian’s office apart. Their battle stances waned, replaced
by confusion as they looked from Christian to his desk sitting in a
ruined heap on the far side of his office.

“Is there anything I can assist you with, Prince?” Christo asked.
“My brothers have awakened. Warn the coven. Warn the shifters.

They have woken with a deep hunger, and I’m not sure what their
intentions are as of yet.”

Christo’s pale face whitened as Isla cursed where he stood.

Christian felt the same way. Rhys and Ceri were uncontrollable at
best, but Christian had naïvely thought that he could control them. He
wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Hell, he knew for a fact that it
wasn’t true now that he had spoken to Rhys.

Lynn Hagen

And if he had no control over the two, gods help humankind. He

disseminated from the club, appearing in the manor. Christian went
straight to his bedroom, checking on his mates and son.

He may not have control over Rhys and Ceri, but if either man

came near his mates and son, then all bets were off.

* * * *

Rhys stood in the room he had played in as a child. It all seemed

so different. The palace was no longer the shining glory it had once
been. Nothing seemed real. The world had changed drastically, and
Rhys wasn’t sure where he fit in any longer. The images he glimpsed
at through Nathaniel’s blood were not only baffling, but frightening.
Nothing was familiar and nothing made sense.

“I’m sorry.”
Rhys looked out over the beautiful mountains, wondering what he

was going to do with Nathaniel. He had been asleep for almost two
thousand years. Not only did he have to figure out how the world
worked now, he had a mate to contend with.

“For?” Rhys asked as he turned. Nathaniel was standing in the

doorway, looking around Rhys’s bedroom nervously.

“For giving you such a hard time.”
Rhys was a little shocked that Nathaniel was apologizing to him.

He admitted that he had scared his mate when he first awoke, and
with the feeding, both feedings. Nathaniel should be shouting,
screaming for his freedom, or at the very least, trying to find a way
out of here. But he stood there looking lost.

“Forgiven,” Rhys said as he turned back around. He opened his

mind to Nathaniel’s blood, to the world as it was today. He saw many
things that disturbed him. Not only had mankind gotten worse in their
deviant behavior, but the population of humans had exploded. One
memory of Nathaniel’s whispered by Rhys and he grabbed onto it,
examining the image in his mind.

The Dark Side of Love

Rhys was confused by the image. He didn’t understand it. As the

image unfolded in his mind, Rhys became angry, enraged. He wasn’t
sure what it meant, but he knew that it wasn’t good.

Turning, Rhys walked over to Nathaniel and grabbed his arm,

sniffing at his mate’s skin.

“What are you doing?” Nathaniel asked as he tugged to regain his

arm. “Are you trying to bite me again?”

Rhys dropped Nathaniel’s arm, but moved in closer, sniffing at

the human’s neck. He could smell the foul stench of evil that floated
just under the skin. It smelled vile and dark. “How have you been
caring for your body?”

Nathaniel leaned back, putting space between his neck and Rhys.

“I shower.”

Rhys knew he wasn’t asking the question correctly. He wasn’t

sure what the correct term was. He could see the image, but Nathaniel
wasn’t talking in the memory. “You contaminated your blood, why?”

Nathaniel eased back, his eyes darting from Rhys’s face to his

chest, and then down to the floor, a shameful expression etching tight
lines around his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rhys grabbed Nathaniel, grabbed his wrists and pulled him closer.

His mouth was so close to Nathaniel’s that he could have kissed him,
but instead, he inhaled deeply. The foul odor was riding on the small
puffs of air escaping from Nathaniel’s slightly parted lips. “You have
contaminated your blood, Nathaniel. Explain.”

“That’s none of your damn business,” Nathaniel snapped as he

yanked at his wrists. “Let me go.”

Rhys shoved Nathaniel away from him, disgusted that his very

own mate was one of the creatures that he detested. There was no
excuse for Nathaniel’s behavior, none whatsoever. It had been a
choice, and Nathaniel had chosen wrongly. “I will not have my mate
polluting his blood. You will never do those things again.”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest,

glaring at Rhys with defiance. “You cannot tell me what to do, Rhys.

Lynn Hagen

I don’t even know who you are. What right do you think you have to
tell me how to live my life?”

Rhys grabbed Nathaniel by his upper arms, forgetting

momentarily how strong he was compared to humans. He eased up a
little, but made sure Nathaniel felt his rage as he stared into his mate’s
brown eyes. “It is no longer your life, Nathaniel. You belong to me
now. If I smell those foul things inside of you again, I will punish
you.”

“They’re called drugs, Rhys, and everyone does them. It’s called

recreational use, not that it’s any of your business. You don’t have to
worry about smelling them on me again because I’m getting out of
this crazy-ass place.”

Rhys’s curled his fingers into Nathaniel’s upper arms, the anger

building like a great fire that was reaching skyward. He had never
heard of a defiant mate before. It was unheard of in his time. What
else had changed so drastically? Would Rhys be able to cope with the
humans of today?

“You will do what I say, when I say. There is no room for

compromise or argument.”

“Like hell!” Nathaniel shouted as he twisted and turned, trying to

break free from Rhys’s grip.

“Stop struggling before you make me hurt you, Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel stopped, his eyes widening as he stared up at Rhys.

Studying Nathaniel’s face, Rhys could not only see but smell the fear
pouring off of his mate. It insulted his senses and made him even
angrier. Mates were not supposed to fear their masters. It was
just…unheard of. Mates were supposed to be submissive, compliant,
and very passive. Nathaniel was fighting him tooth and nail, and Rhys
couldn’t understand why.

“I saw what you did in that cave to Orin.” Nathaniel’s voice was

warming up, the anger just at the edges. “If you are saving me for a
snack, get it over with. I don’t like waiting to be devoured by two
bloodthirsty vampires.”

The Dark Side of Love

Rhys released Nathaniel and walked briskly from the room. His

mate was impossible. There was not a submissive bone in the man’s
body. This only fueled Rhys’s confusion, which in turn pissed him off
even further.

“Do you want me to eat him?” Ceri asked as he leaned against a

pillar that looked as though it would fall at any moment. His twin’s
eyes were cold, frostbite cold, as he glanced toward the bedroom. “I
can smell evil in his blood. I can eat him now and save you the
trouble later.”

Rhys shook his head. “He is not to be touched, Ceri.”
“Who says you need a mate?”
He should have known his twin would figure out who Nathaniel

was to Rhys. Ceri had always been able to tell what Rhys was
thinking at any given moment. “I do.” He wasn’t sure why, though.
Nathaniel was everything Rhys had fought against almost two
thousand years ago. Not everything exactly, but Nathaniel had the
potential to become a very bad person if left to his own devices.

This placed Rhys in a quandary.
“Fine, but if the foul smell continues to plague his blood, I will

take matters into my own hands, brother.” Ceri pushed away from the
pillar and disappeared from the room, leaving Rhys to curse silently.

The mess was in his hands, and Rhys had to figure out what to do

with Nathaniel and his drugs. He knew by the images that his mate
was too weak to resist them, so it was up to Rhys to stop Nathaniel
from becoming Ceri’s next meal.

Ceri was a very rare vampire. So rare that he was the only

vampire that enjoyed eating flesh. Rhys had to rethink that. Times had
changed, and even the vampire population had exploded. There may
be some out there that liked the taste of flesh just as much as Ceri did.

Rhys had eaten Orin out of necessity, but Ceri had eaten the

human out of delight.

Maybe, just maybe, Christian hadn’t been too far off the mark

when he had put Rhys and Ceri into a deep sleep. Ceri had started to

Lynn Hagen

consume flesh on a regular basis, which wasn’t tolerated even two
thousand years ago.

And Christian knew that Rhys could not function without Ceri.

They were like each other’s right and left lung. If Ceri needed to be
put into a dark sleep, then so did Rhys—because he couldn’t be
without his twin.

“Am I really a prisoner here?” Nathaniel asked as he slowly

walked toward Rhys, his steps a little shaky as he stopped by the
doorway.

“Yes.” Only because, if Rhys let Nathaniel go, and his mate

contaminated his blood again, Ceri would make good on his promise.
Rhys could not allow that to happen. Rhys also didn’t want Nathaniel
to give in to the wickedness. The human was his mate and Rhys had
to take care of the man—whether he wanted the help or not. “I need to
go see my brother.”

“Ceri?”
Rhys shook his head. “Close your eyes, mate.”
Nathaniel eyed him cautiously and then slowly lowered his

eyelids. Rhys grabbed Nathaniel around the waist and disseminated to
where Christian’s presence was felt by Rhys’s blood.

He gasped when he appeared not only in a crowded room of

humans, but in a place that smelled so much of evil that Rhys’s anger
thundered through the room and into the night.

* * * *

Nathaniel slammed his hands over his ears as Rhys shouted. It

was loud, ear piercingly so. He didn’t understand what the vampire
was so pissed about. They were in some sort of Goth club. It wasn’t
Nathaniel’s cup of tea, but it was nothing to get all pissy about.

Many people screamed and got out of Rhys’s way, but not before

Rhys grabbed two men, one in each hand, choking them. “I can see

The Dark Side of Love

what evil you have done,” Rhys said above the music. “I can see what
evil you are.”

“Rhys, let them go.” Nathaniel latched onto one of Rhys’s arms

and pulled. This was insane. Nathaniel had just been given the
opportunity to run. Run like mad while Rhys was distracted. But
instead, he stood here trying to stop the vampire from choking the life
out of these two men, two strangers.

Yeah, he must have really gone nuts. Running should have been

his first thought.

The one in Rhys’s left hand was turning an odd shade of purplish

red. Nathaniel knew he had to get the man free. There wasn’t much
time left before the guy passed out, and then he would be dead.

“Rhys, let him go,” Nathaniel shouted as he pulled at Rhys’s

fingers, trying to bend them back. Damn, the man was strong.
“You’re going to kill him.”

“He deserves to die.”
“Not today,” Nathaniel said as he did the only thing available to

him. He bit into Rhys’s hand, hard. Not enough to draw blood, but
hard enough to leave teeth impressions.

“Not now, mate.”
Nathaniel looked up to see lust in Rhys’s eyes as he stared down

to where Nathaniel was biting him. Really? Nathaniel was trying to
cause the vampire pain so he would release the man and it was turning
Rhys on?

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. He was not going there.
“Release them, Rhys.”
Nathaniel immediately released Rhys. He had to. The voice was

so compelling, so demanding that he could do nothing but obey it. He
saw the man who had appeared in the cave. His hair was black,
shoulder length. The man also had eyes so black, that Nathaniel felt as
though he were falling forward into them.

Lynn Hagen

“They deserve to die, Christian,” Rhys said as he turned, pulling

the two men with him. “I can smell the evil intentions just under their
skin.”

“That may be so, but that is not how things are done now. Human

police will deal with them.”

Rhys laughed. It was low and vicious, his blue eyes filled with

doubt. It wasn’t the rich laughter Nathaniel had heard earlier. This
laugh made his skin try to crawl from his body. “Humans policing
humans? Since when, brother? Since when do we allow them to
police each other?”

Brother?
Just how many brothers did Rhys have? It was a scary thought as

Nathaniel turned to Christian, looking at yet another vampire. It made
him wonder just how many vampires there were in the world. Did he
really want to know?

Probably not.
Christian lifted his hand, the black in his eyes bleeding out until

they looked like twin ink wells. It made Nathaniel take a step back,
toward Rhys. Nathaniel swayed, feeling as though he were falling into
the bottom of those eyes. They were pulling at him, calling to him.

“Not him,” Rhys said and released one of the men to touch

Nathaniel’s arm. Nathaniel shook his head, the need to fall into those
black depths gone.

“He is your mate,” Christian said as he nodded toward Nathaniel.

“I understand this, Rhys. But you cannot kill in my club, or anywhere
for that matter. You can no longer be judge and jury. There are too
many humans who are evil. To wipe them out would not only kill half
the human population, but bring attention to us in ways we do not
wish to be seen.”

“But they’re evil,” Rhys said. He almost sounded like a child

pouting, trying to reason away his actions.

Nathaniel placed his hand over the one Rhys had on his arm,

staring up at the vampire. “He’s right.”

The Dark Side of Love

Rhys glanced down at him, confusion glittering in his pretty blue

eyes. “But they’re evil,” he repeated.

“You can’t kill them all,” Nathaniel said as he reached out,

tapping at Rhys’s other hand, trying to get the other guy free. The
man in Rhys’s right hand had passed out, and Nathaniel was afraid
that he would be too late to save the guy.

“Where is Ceri?” Christian asked. He glanced around the club and

then looked back at Rhys. “Where is your twin?”

Nathaniel could see worry in Christian’s eyes. If this vampire was

worried about Rhys’s twin, that couldn’t be good. He had seen Ceri
eat Orin, and it had twisted his stomach to know the man could do
something like that.

Back in the cave, Nathaniel had seen the regret in Rhys’s eyes

when he ate Orin. Gross, but true. But there had been nothing short of
joy in Ceri’s when he dined on Nathaniel’s caving partner. If that was
how the twins dealt with evil, Nathaniel knew the man in Rhys’s right
hand was in deep trouble.

“He is where he wants to be,” Rhys answered.
That only confused Nathaniel. What the hell kind of answer was

that?

“Is he cleansing the world of evil?” Christian asked as a few men

stood at Christian’s back, staring at Rhys in fascination and horror.
Nathaniel didn’t understand the look. Sure, Rhys was choking the shit
out of the guy in his hand, but the look these men had in their eyes
didn’t match what Rhys was doing.

Something was wrong.
Nathaniel’s pulse was thudding in his throat as he eased closer to

Rhys. In a club full of strangers—Rhys being included as a stranger—
Nathaniel found that Rhys was the closest thing he felt to safety. Was
he insane? He should have been standing with Christian, or running
for the door. Not moving closer to a vampire he had witnessed eating
a human.

Lynn Hagen

Damn, now he was using the word human. It was rubbing off on

him. He frowned as he stared at Christian. He didn’t know what was
happening to him, but Nathaniel felt as though the world he had
known, had grown up in, was gone.

He’d mourn the loss later. Right now he needed to free the man in

Rhys’s hand. Nathaniel pulled harder at Rhys’s hand, feeling Rhys
slowly uncurl his fingers. Nathaniel pulled and tugged until the man
finally collapsed to the floor. Two other men hurried over and
grabbed the unconscious guy, carrying him away.

“You are always welcome here, Rhys, but only if you do not harm

anyone. I cannot allow anyone, human or vampire, to be harmed
while in my care,” Christian said as he took a step closer. “But I need
to know where Ceri is.”

“I am here.”
Nathaniel looked behind Rhys to see his twin standing there,

sniffing the air like he was a dog or something. He wasn’t getting a
good feeling about this. Nathaniel had witnessed firsthand the damage
Ceri could do to a human body. And the club was filled with human
bodies.

“Hello, Ceri,” Christian said as he gave a slight bow. “Welcome

back to the living.”

Ceri grunted, his eyes sliding from the abundance of humans to

Christian. “No thanks to you.”

“I did what I thought was best for everyone involved,” Christian

said, no remorse, not a trace in his voice.

“What is this place?” Ceri asked, obviously ignoring Christian’s

statement as he looked around the club. Nathaniel swallowed hard.
Not only did Ceri look confused, but his eyes were full of intrigue.
“What is its purpose?”

“To feed and enjoy oneself,” Christian replied.
“I can feed here?” Ceri asked in amazement. “I never thought you

would see things my way. You were always so self-righteous.”

The Dark Side of Love

“No, Ceri,” Christian replied, “it’s not that kind of feeding. You

must not harm your donor.”

Ceri chuckled and Nathaniel felt as though ice were sliding down

his spine. The laugh wasn’t merry. It was malicious. “Donor? That’s
rich. Things have become very mild, very blasé. What happened to
the days of old? To the days when we did not cater to humans, but the
opposite? They are cattle, not guests.”

“Those days have passed,” Christian answered.
“Have they?” Ceri asked as he grabbed the closest guy to him and

sank his fangs into the man’s neck.

Nathaniel watched, feeling his stomach twist and roll. He

remembered Rhys biting into his wrist. That had been some painful
shit.

“No.”
Nathaniel looked up to see Christian with his hand up, holding

back the men behind him. “Ceri is not hurting the man.”

Nathaniel looked at the donor, seeing bliss in his eyes, as if he

were enjoying every moment of being used for blood. And then things
got ugly. The human screamed, trying to push Ceri away.

Rhys’s twin released the man, the guy falling to the ground,

covering his neck with his hand, looking up at Ceri in horror.

“They are merely cattle,” Ceri repeated his belief as he turned

toward Nathaniel. There was a gleam of something in the vampire’s
eyes. Nathaniel not only swallowed hard at the intended look in Ceri’s
eyes, but felt sick at the blood covering the vampire’s chin and neck.
“And I plan to eradicate those evil beings standing before me.”

Nathaniel took a step back, bumping into Rhys as he felt his heart

pounding in his throat. Ceri was talking to Christian, but he was
staring at Nathaniel as if he were talking directly to him, about him.

He knew in his heart that if Ceri got ahold of him, Nathaniel could

kiss his ass good-bye.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Four

Rhys didn’t like the look his twin was giving his mate. He knew

that look, had seen it many times. Ceri planned on killing Nathaniel. It
was very evident in his blue eyes. “He is off-limits, Ceri.”

Ceri gave a mock bow, his eyes as empty as a dry well. “As you

wish, brother.”

It had been Ceri’s insatiable appetite all those millenniums ago

that had sealed Rhys and Ceri’s fate, had made their brother put them
into the dark sleep. Rhys knew this. But Ceri was his twin. He
couldn’t just turn his back on his twin.

So he had been buried, right along with Ceri.
“My club is off-limits,” Christian said as he took a step forward,

the vampires behind him doing the same. “Things have changed, Ceri.
You will not only put vampires on the charts if you start killing
humans, but we will end up being the ones hunted.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Ceri asked. “Being hunted by the prey?

Now that should make things very interesting.”

Rhys studied his twin. It seemed the dark sleep had only made

Ceri’s appetite grow by leaps and bounds. Ceri was even hungrier for
human flesh than he had been back then. He was really starting to see
Christian’s reasoning behind the sleep.

“You would have us hunted?” Christian asked, a touch of anger in

his tone. “You would endanger our race? For what, Ceri? For the
chance to play your little games?”

Rhys noticed the vampire by the door slowly ushering the humans

from this club. The vampire kept his eyes on Ceri, hurrying the
humans out of the door. Ceri had his back to the door, and wasn’t

The Dark Side of Love

paying any attention. Or so it seemed. Very little got by Ceri and
Rhys. He pushed his mate behind him as he stared at his twin. “We
need to learn the ways of the humans now, Ceri. Christian speaks the
truth when he says that the times we are now in are different from
where we have come from.”

Ceri turned, his eyes narrowing at Rhys. “Always the voice of

reason, Rhys. Sometimes I wonder if we are truly related.”

Rhys was losing his patience. Ceri was playing some sort of game,

and his target was Nathaniel. Rhys knew his brother well enough to
know that all this talk was just a distraction.

He could feel Nathaniel’s fingers curl into his shirt. It was an odd

feeling, having someone at his back. The situation must really scare
Nathaniel. Rhys didn’t like the idea of his mate being scared. His
mate’s earlier reaction would have Rhys guessing that Nathaniel
would be one of the humans running for the door. But his mate had
stayed by his side. Something stirred inside Rhys at that thought.

But he knew that it didn’t matter if Nathaniel had run. Rhys had

tasted Nathaniel’s blood. He would be able to find his mate anywhere
on earth.

“I need to find you a suitable place to sleep,” Christian stated.
“You want me to trust you with my sleep?” Ceri bellowed the

question, hatred filling his eyes. “Never again will I let that happen.
You tricked me once, brother. You will not get another chance.” Ceri
disappeared in a blink of an eye, but Rhys could feel his twin and
knew where the man was.

“And you?” Christian turned to Rhys.
“I can manage to find my own resting place for the day.” Ceri

might still be the loose cannon between the two, but Rhys agreed with
him. He would never trust Christian with his sleep again. It may have
been necessary almost two thousand years ago, but Rhys would be
damned if he went back into the dark sleep.

“Very well,” Christian said. “But I will be watching Ceri. If he

goes after any rogues or humans, I will deal with him.”

Lynn Hagen

Rhys heard the threat in his brother’s voice. He had no doubt

Christian would do just that. He was the oldest, the more powerful.
Rhys and Ceri may give him a run for his money, but in the end, Rhys
knew full well who would win.

“And if I go after them?” Rhys asked, feeling Nathaniel stiffening

behind him. Rhys reached behind him, laying a comforting hand on
his mate’s side.

“The same applies to you as well,” Christian answered, but Rhys

could see the pleading in his brother’s eyes for Rhys not to go after
anyone. Rhys should feel for his brother, but he was numb. He hadn’t
had a full feeding yet, and Rhys was feeling tired. He knew Ceri was
feeling tired as well, but they hid their weakness.

Rhys grabbed Nathaniel and vanished from the club, ending back

at his childhood home. He hadn’t known anywhere else to go. The
world he found himself in was too strange, too different. There were
humans every damn place. Rhys could feel them like bugs crawling
over his skin. They had burst in numbers, overcrowding the planet.

“Why are we back here?” Nathaniel asked softly from Rhys’s

arms.

“Enough questions,” Rhys said as he pulled Nathaniel to his

bedroom. “I must rest.”

“I’m not tired,” Nathaniel said as he tried to pull free. “What if

Ceri tries to kill me while you’re asleep? I saw the way he looked at
me. That man is dying to off my ass.”

“He is dying to do what?” Rhys turned as he asked. Gods, this

language in these modern times confused him.

“Kill me, Rhys. Your brother is as batty as they come. He isn’t

right in the head, and now he’s loose, running around who knows
where, ready to kill the evil. And he has categorized me as evil.”
Nathaniel made quotation marks in the air as he said the word evil.

Rhys didn’t understand that gesture, so he ignored it. Nathaniel

was turning into one squirrelly man.

The Dark Side of Love

“He is resting now, Nathaniel. He will not come after you until he

is well fed.” Had he just said that? Would Ceri really come after his
mate after giving his word? Rhys wasn’t sure, and he honestly didn’t
want to find out. If Ceri broke his word, Rhys didn’t want his twin
making him choose between blood relations and his mate.

Ceri wouldn’t like the outcome.

* * * *

Nathaniel looked over his shoulder, seeing Rhys fast asleep. The

man’s lips were slightly parted, but he looked like he wasn’t
breathing. Nathaniel watched Rhys’s chest for a moment and then slid
from the bed, not wanting to know if Rhys wasn’t breathing. He
wasn’t sure he could handle that right now.

He crept to the door, looking behind him to make sure Rhys

wasn’t awake. Nathaniel wasn’t sure where he was, but anywhere was
better than being around a vampire. He crept through the old palace,
heading straight for the front doors. He managed to pull one of the
doors open just enough to squeeze his body through. The door may
squeak after so many years of not being used, and Nathaniel wasn’t
going to chance the sound waking Rhys.

Nathaniel blinked a few times from the bright sunlight, and heard

noises. His eyes adjusted to his surroundings, and what Nathaniel saw
only confused him. He was on a city street. Turning, Nathaniel saw a
storefront behind him. There was no castle door. It was gone.

“Watch it,” a man said as he hurried by Nathaniel. He stepped

back, taking in what looked to be the city. He was home? That
couldn’t be possible. There wasn’t a castle in his neighborhood.
Nathaniel would have remembered something as large as Rhys’s
home sitting smack-dab in the middle of the Dollar General and
McDonald’s.

He didn’t stand there looking a gift horse in the mouth. Nathaniel

hurried toward his apartment, craving the need to be home. After the

Lynn Hagen

craziness of yesterday, he wanted a hot shower and a long-ass nap. It
was hard to believe that everything that had happened to him took
only one day. It seemed a lot longer to him. It felt like a goddamn
lifetime.

He thought about Ceri and the promise in his eyes to kill

Nathaniel if they were ever alone. No, Ceri hadn’t said that out loud,
but it was very clear in the vampire’s eyes. The guy would off his ass
the first chance he got. Nathaniel wasn’t going to wait around for that
to happen.

He may be cattle, but he wasn’t stupid.
No one knew where he lived. They didn’t even know his last

name. All Nathaniel had to do was lay low and he would be all right.
There was no way any of those vampires could find him. Opening the
door to the apartment building, Nathaniel saw what he didn’t want to
see right now. Manny was leaning against the wall, giving Nathaniel a
curt smile.

“It’s payday, Nate. Do you have my money?”
Nathaniel hated being called Nate. Manny knew that. He was

doing it on purpose to prove a point to Nathaniel that he could say it
and there wasn’t a damn thing Nathaniel could do about it. He also
forgot about his debt with everything that had been going on
yesterday.

“I haven’t been to work yet to pick it up,” Nathaniel lied.
Manny’s smile broadened as he pushed away from the wall.

Manny had a way of smiling that made his eyes sparkle and also made
a guy feel at ease.

Nathaniel knew it was a false sense of security the man was

giving with that charming smile. Manny was anything but safe. The
drug dealer was a very handsome man, fooling a lot of people into
thinking that he was one of the good guys. A lot of men made the
mistake of relaxing with Manny, thinking him harmless. Nathaniel
wasn’t that naïve.

The Dark Side of Love

“You have until three, bro. I’ll be back to collect,” Manny said,

still wearing that smile that looked as though it could even charm the
devil. Nathaniel nodded, keeping a safe distance from Manny as the
guy walked from the building.

He breathed out slowly as he watched the door for a moment, as if

Manny would reappear and demand what was owed to him. Nathaniel
hurried to his apartment, unlocking the door and shutting it closed
behind him. He had to get to the bank and withdraw the money.
Manny wasn’t a man who accepted excuses.

“Where have you been?”
Nathaniel tossed his keys onto the coffee table and took a seat on

the couch. His brother, Van, was sitting there eating a bowl of cereal,
looking as if Nathaniel’s life wasn’t in ruins. Why would he? Van
knew nothing about what was going on. He knew nothing about how
Ceri wanted him dead, or how he had been a vampire’s snack. Would
Van believe him? Probably not. If Nathaniel hadn’t seen it with his
own two eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it either.

“Hanging with the dead,” he replied.
“Over at Gina’s again?” Van asked.
That was another thing about Van, always the joker. The man

didn’t take a damn thing seriously, not to Nathaniel’s knowledge. But
Nathaniel had to admit, the guy was funny. To Nathaniel he was.
Most people didn’t get Van’s brand of humor.

“Something like that. When did you get here?” he asked as he laid

his head on the back of the couch. He tucked his hair behind his ear,
wondering if Van would believe him if he told his brother what had
happened to him. He felt like he needed to tell someone. Van was his
best option, but even to Nathaniel, the tale was too farfetched. Maybe
keeping the events to himself was better. It wouldn’t make him look
like he was a loony bastard.

“Last night. I thought you and Orin would be back by then. You

have a hot date?” Van asked as he drank down the milk in the bowl.

Orin. Shit.

Lynn Hagen

How in the hell had Nathaniel forgotten about the man? Images

began to flutter into his mind of Ceri eating Orin and then Rhys
joining him. His hands began to shake as he realized that he had two
really bad men after him. Rhys would be, as soon as he saw that
Nathaniel wasn’t lying next to him. This situation just seemed to be
getting progressively worse.

“Orin won’t be back,” Nathaniel said sadly. Orin may have

planned on doing unthinkable things to him, but that wasn’t a reason
to eat the guy. No one deserved a death like that. Nathaniel felt so
damn tired now, drained. Everything seemed to fall down on him,
making him feel as though he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

“I need to borrow a hundred bucks,” Van said as he stood and

took his empty bowl to the kitchen. “My pay was short, and I have
things I need to take care of.”

So did Nathaniel. As tired as he was, he needed to get to the bank.

His pay was direct deposit, but Nathaniel kept that information to
himself. He was glad he had, or he and Manny would be on their way
down there now. Nathaniel didn’t let anyone know where he banked.
It just seemed smarter that way. The less people that knew, the better.

Orin hadn’t even known where Nathaniel lived. And from what

Nathaniel learned, that was a damn good thing. He still couldn’t
believe that Orin was going to hurt him. That didn’t make any sense
to him, but neither did yesterday.

The only person that knew pretty much everything about

Nathaniel was Van. He trusted his brother. His parents had taught him
that family was the most important thing in the world. When
relationships fell apart, and friends drifted away, family would always
be there.

So far that theory had held true.
“I was going to head to the bank.”
“Cool,” Van said as he walked back into the living room. “Want

me to come with you?”

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel knew what Van was doing. His brother knew Nathaniel

used the occasional drug and hated that fact. Van was always
lecturing him on drugs, but Nathaniel just didn’t want to hear it today.
He had enough bullshit to worry about without hearing Van’s long
and drawn-out speech.

“No. I want you to hang out here until I get back.”
Van moved so quickly that Nathaniel ran into his brother. He

blocked the door as he glared down at Nathaniel. “Manny was just by
here a few minutes ago. He says you owe him some money. Is that
true, Nathaniel?”

Nathaniel could hear the disapproval in Van’s voice. He really

didn’t want to go through a round with Van. “I’m going to get his
money now, Van. He’ll be paid, you’ll get the money you need, and
everyone will be a happy man.”

“How can I be a happy man when you’re using, Nathaniel? How?

You know goddamn well what happens when you owe Manny.”
Van’s eyes narrowed as he pushed his back into the door, stopping
Nathaniel from walking out.

“Move, Van.”
“You’ll pay him and then buy more at the same time. Enough is

enough, Nathaniel. You need to stop.”

Nathaniel had heard this lecture a hundred times. He wasn’t a

drug user, not in the sense that Van was talking. He held his job, was
a functioning member of society, and paid his taxes. He wasn’t one of
those people that threw it all away just for another hit. He was an
occasional user. Van made it seem like he was on the road to hell.

“That’s none of your damn business, Van. Now get the hell out of

my way so I can take care of this.” He tried to push Van aside, but his
brother wasn’t an easy man to move. Van was a couple inches taller
than Nathaniel and much broader in the shoulders. His brother had a
good sixty pounds on Nathaniel.

“Promise me that you are only going to pay Manny for what you

owe him. Promise me, Nathaniel.”

Lynn Hagen

Nathaniel cursed under his breath. Van knew that Nathaniel kept

his promises. His brother was forcing Nathaniel’s hand, and he didn’t
like it. “If you don’t move, I won’t loan you the money.”

“Fuck the money if it means you’re going to use. I’d rather be in

debt than watch you throw your life away.”

“Not today, Van. I’ve dealt with enough in the last twenty-four

hours to make your damn skin crawl. Now move or I’m going to force
you out of my way.”

Van’s arms slid from his chest, his badass look slipping away as

well. “What happened? You and Orin were only supposed to go
caving. Did something happen in the caves?”

Boy, that was an understatement. Everything had happened in that

cave. Things that Nathaniel wished he could forget. He saw Ceri
eating Orin again, and Nathaniel felt like he was going to be sick. If
Van only knew the nightmare Nathaniel just survived, he wouldn’t be
stopping him. “Yes, something happened in the cave. I don’t want to
talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. Just let me by, Van,”
Nathaniel pled softly.

Van placed a hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder, his eyes softening.

“Whatever it was, it isn’t worth using, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel brushed Van’s hand from his shoulder. “I need to go

before Manny comes back. We both know what will happen if he
comes back and I don’t have his money.”

“Fine,” Van said as he stepped aside. “But give me the money to

give Manny. I don’t want you dealing with him.”

“I’m a big boy, Van.” Nathaniel opened the door and walked out,

cursing under his breath for the second time that morning. Trotting
down the steps, Nathaniel pushed the door open and walked out into
the bright sun.

He decided not to go to the bank. Van needed a hundred bucks,

and he owed Manny two hundred. That could be withdrawn from an
ATM. There was an ATM down at the gas station. It was a lot closer
than Third Federal, Nathaniel’s bank.

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel pulled his bank card out, withdrawing four hundred

dollars, his daily limit. He shoved the extra hundred bucks in his other
pocket and headed down to Clover Avenue. He knew he would find
Manny down there. It was better to pay Manny where he hung out
than having the man back at his door.

He could also avoid Van trying to pay Manny off. Van hated

Manny and wasn’t shy about letting the man know this. Manny
wasn’t shy about letting Nathaniel’s brother know that Van was
pissing him off most of the time. The last thing Nathaniel wanted was
for Van to get hurt because he was trying to lecture Manny on the
evilness of selling drugs.

Nathaniel found Manny leaning against his car, chatting it up with

a few of his friends a few blocks down from the gas station. Nathaniel
hated talking to Manny in front of his friends. They never said
anything to Nathaniel, but the looks they gave him were enough.

They always looked at Nathaniel like he was a worthless piece of

shit. One of them always looked at Nathaniel like he would be a good
fuck. Nathaniel was not going there with the guy. He wasn’t that low
in the gutter to use sex for drugs. He would never be that desperate.
He was a casual user, and casual users didn’t give up any ass for their
next hit.

As Nathaniel walked closer, he had a feeling that the only reason

those men didn’t say anything was because of Manny. The man didn’t
like his clientele harassed. It was bad for business. Gods, maybe he
did need to leave this shit alone. Nathaniel always walked away from
Manny feeling as if he truly were throwing his life away. He was an
occasional user. He wasn’t throwing his life away. But Nathaniel felt
like it whenever he dealt with Manny.

“You come to pay, homey?” Manny asked as he straightened,

walking away from his friends to meet Nathaniel.

Nathaniel’s eyes immediately shot to the ground. Manny was

using his friendly voice, as if they had grown up together. That was

Lynn Hagen

the farthest thing from the truth, but once again, Manny had a way of
giving off the vibe that he was safe, a friend.

Drug dealers and users were not friends.
“I just came to pay what I owe, Manny.” Nathaniel dug the money

from his pocket, separating the extra hundred and shoving it into his
back pocket.

“You need anything, Nate?” Manny asked as he shook

Nathaniel’s hand, making it seem like they were glad to see each
other, and then shoved his hand into his pocket, stuffing away the
money Nathaniel had just given him.

Nathaniel looked at Manny’s friends, seeing that all-too-familiar

look they gave him. He hadn’t planned on buying anything. Nathaniel
had planned on using the other hundred to buy some groceries.

He licked his lips, his eyes darting to Manny. “Not today.”
“Are you sure, mi amigo?”
They were not friends.
Nathaniel glanced back at the ground, thinking of Van waiting for

him back at his apartment. “My brother is waiting for me.”

“He can wait,” Manny said as he slid something into Nathaniel’s

shirt pocket. “Keep the money in your back pocket. I’ll catch up to
you next week for payment.”

Nathaniel’s pulse quickened as he nodded, walking briskly away.

He needed to get home, and he didn’t want to see the look the men
would give him. It seemed lately that Nathaniel was using more
frequently. That thought bothered him, but he pushed it away as he
hurried home.

Van was lounging on the couch, watching the television.

Nathaniel walked into the house casually, pulling the money that he
had kept separated from the money he had owed Manny and his
grocery money. He tossed the bills onto the couch, right onto Van’s
chest. “Do you want some coffee?” Nathaniel asked as he walked into
the kitchen.

The Dark Side of Love

“You know I don’t drink that crap,” Van said. “Thanks for the

money, Nathaniel.”

“You’re welcome.” Nathaniel started the pot of coffee, shoving

the drugs down into the coffee canister.

“I’m heading to my place. What time is Manny coming by?” Van

asked from the kitchen doorway.

Nathaniel shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
Van stood there studying him for a long second and then nodded.

“I’ll come by later this evening. Don’t deal with Manny until I get
back.”

Van was too damn naïve for his own good. What dealer waited

around until someone’s big brother came by to handle the deal? He
sighed. “Gotcha.”

Van left, leaving Nathaniel to stare at the percolating coffee. His

eyes darted to the coffee can, and then back at the carafe. He was
never this impatient before. Nathaniel used leisurely, never in a hurry.
But it seemed this morning that the drugs were making themselves
known by just sitting in the damn coffee can.

After what happened to him yesterday, it was a surprise Nathaniel

didn’t use as soon as Manny had given him the drugs. He needed to
forget. Nathaniel didn’t want to see Ceri eating Orin. Nathaniel didn’t
want to feel the bite wound that was still on his wrist.

Thinking about the bite only made it throb. Nathaniel pulled his

sleeve back and stared at the wound. There was bruising around the
two puncture wounds. It looked like spider bites gone bad to the
naked eye, but Nathaniel knew what they were. He knew what had
bitten him, and it wasn’t a damn spider.

The holes were larger than what a spider would make, but if

anyone saw them and asked, Nathaniel was sticking with his spider
bite story.

Once Nathaniel had his cup of coffee made, he opened the

canister, withdrew what he had shoved into it, and walked to his
bedroom.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Five

Rhys woke, knowing immediately that something was wrong. For

one, he was so hungry that he almost felt like he had when he first
came out of the dark sleep. Hunger was at the forefront of Rhys’s
mind, but he knew there was something else wrong.

Turning in the bed, Rhys saw that Nathaniel wasn’t lying next to

him. He reached out to his twin and found Ceri, but he didn’t feel his
mate with his brother.

Rhys rose from the bed, looking around. He couldn’t feel

Nathaniel in the palace. Fear, anger, and hunger instantly filled him at
the thought of Nathaniel out in the world by himself. He needed to
feed before he went on the hunt for his mate, but Rhys worried that
something had happened to Nathaniel.

It was an odd feeling worrying over someone else. Rhys never had

that responsibility before. It was true that Nathaniel was comely to
him, not much to look at, but the need to have his mate near was
overwhelming.

Opening his senses to the blood call, Rhys reached out for his

mate. It was a good thing that he had tasted Nathaniel’s blood. It
enabled him to find his mate anywhere. Nathaniel could have been
anywhere on the planet and Rhys would have been able to find him.
But Rhys felt how close his mate was. What angered and disturbed
him was that Rhys also felt what Nathaniel felt, and Rhys wasn’t the
least bit happy with what he found.

His mate was being evil once again.
Rhys’s anger escalated to a new height as he disseminated,

reappearing in a small dwelling that was bathed in darkness. He was

The Dark Side of Love

shocked at how small the place was. Humans lived in these small
boxes? He brushed the thought aside as he searched the tiny dwelling,
finding his mate laid out on the floor in a room that held a bed and a
small table. Nathaniel’s eyes were closed, his breathing shallow, and
his heart rate was slower than a human’s should be.

Rhys knelt beside his mate, sniffing at his skin, his lip curling

back at the offensive odor. Nathaniel’s blood smelled noxious. Rhys
was so hungry that he considered finding another human to drink
from, but having Nathaniel so close was fogging his mind. Until he
ate, he wouldn’t be able to think clearly. He had gone too long
without feeding properly because of his sleep. If Rhys didn’t get
enough sustenance into his body, he would think like an animal, being
driven by instincts alone.

Everything had changed, from what Christian had relayed, and

Rhys knew that finding a donor wasn’t going to be as easy as the days
of old. Humans no longer knew that vampires existed. It was only
speculated now. Rhys knew this from Nathaniel’s blood memories.
Humans portrayed vampires in a romantic light in things called films,
and even in books.

What fools.
Vampires were lethal creatures that used humans to sate their

thirst and do their bidding. There was nothing romantic about that
concept. Rhys understood humans two thousand years ago. He wasn’t
so sure he would understand them now.

Rhys lifted Nathaniel’s head, bending over to sniff at his nose and

lips. He could smell where the drugs entered his mate’s body.
Whatever Nathaniel used, he had inhaled it through his nose.

Rhys felt disgusted as he laid his mate’s head back onto the floor.

He looked around, using Nathaniel’s memories through his blood he
had ingested to find what humans referred to as paraphernalia. Rhys’s
fingers traced over the items on the floor, lying so close to his mate,
letting Rhys know exactly what Nathaniel had done.

Lynn Hagen

“Why?” Rhys asked through gritted teeth. “Why have you given

in to the dark side of this? Why have you tainted not only your body,
but your blood?”

Nathaniel’s eyelids fluttered. Rhys could see the brown irises as

Nathaniel slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were restricted, almost
nonexistent. Rhys curled his hands into fists, stopping the urge to slay
his mate.

Evil was evil, no matter what form it appeared in. But Nathaniel

was his mate. The two emotions warred inside of him as Rhys moved
further away from Nathaniel, backing into the wall and then sitting as
he stared at what Nathaniel had done to himself.

Rhys had never stopped to consider a life when he had killed

before. The only thing that had mattered to him was that the person
was wicked.

What else was there to consider?
Evil people had to be stopped. But he couldn’t slaughter

Nathaniel, no matter what he believed in. Self-preservation was a
strong mechanism that all living organisms held, and the bond
preternatural creatures felt when they have found their mate was just
as strong. No, Rhys could not kill Nathaniel, but he could make sure
this never happened again.

Rhys picked Nathaniel up from the floor, taking his mate into the

room with running water. He turned the knobs in the stall and stepped
under the spray. Nathaniel groaned, but didn’t open his eyes. Rhys ran
his hand over Nathaniel’s hair, letting the water soak his mate’s skin.
“Wake, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel groaned and opened his eyes, staring up at Rhys with

those brown beauties. “I’m sorry,” his mate whispered as he began to
shiver. Rhys wasn’t sure if it was the cold sting of the spray, or the
drugs his mate had taken into his body.

“Why?” He had to know the answer.
Nathaniel curled into a ball in Rhys’s arms, shivering. “I couldn’t

say no. I couldn’t resist. You’re right. I’m evil.”

The Dark Side of Love

“No,” Rhys said as he sat down inside the stall, letting the spray

wash over both of them as he cradled Nathaniel in his arms. Nathaniel
began to softly cry as he shook. Rhys rocked his mate, wishing
Nathaniel was stronger, but not faulting him for his weakness. “I will
be strong for the both of us.”

“Why do you want me, Rhys?” Nathaniel asked as he glanced up

at Rhys. “Look at me. How could you want someone like me? I’m
broken, pitiful. Why would somebody as strong as you want someone
like me?”

Rhys stared into Nathaniel’s eyes, seeing a future he hoped he

could have. Nathaniel was fragile, delicate, but strong, far stronger
than even he could imagine. Why couldn’t the man see how strong he
truly was? Nathaniel could beat this evil drug.

He kissed the side of his mate’s face and then laid his chin on

Nathaniel’s head. Rhys rocked Nathaniel as his mate cried. He felt
powerless to help the man.

After Nathaniel’s tears had dwindled down, Rhys rose from the

stall and stepped out. He carried Nathaniel back into his bedroom and
laid him on his bed. “I want you because you may not be perfect, but
you are mine.”

Nathaniel turned his head away, but not before Rhys saw the

shame in Nathaniel’s eyes. He sat on the floor by the closet once
more, wondering again what to do with his mate. Nathaniel didn’t
want this sickness, but Rhys was clueless on how to save the man he
was growing to love.

And he was growing to love Nathaniel in such a short period of

time. Rhys wasn’t sure if it was because he never had anyone to call
his own, or if it was the helplessness he saw in his mate. Whatever the
reason, he knew he couldn’t abandon Nathaniel. He would help his
mate get through this and make sure it never happened again.

Nathaniel had so much potential that it hurt Rhys’s heart to see

him like this. The man was so much more than he was giving himself
credit for.

Lynn Hagen

“You would spare him?” Ceri’s voice whispered to Rhys before

his brother appeared in the doorway. “He reeks of immoral decay, and
you sit on your ass and wonder what to do?”

“He is my mate, Ceri,” Rhys whispered as he looked up at his

twin, seeing the judgment and punishment already forming in Ceri’s
cold blue eyes. “I cannot slay him.” His voice was unsteady, wobbly
even. Rhys cursed himself for his weakness, but he just couldn’t kill
his mate. He could not raise his hand to Nathaniel.

“Then I shall render judgment upon him,” Ceri said as he grabbed

Nathaniel from the bed, his calm exterior cracking around the edges
to show Rhys why they were hunted once upon a time. Humans may
have done their bidding thousands of years ago, but there were also
humans who feared them so much that they killed a vampire on sight.
Looking at Ceri now, with Nathaniel in his grasp, reminded Rhys who
they truly were.

Rhys rolled from the floor, standing in front of his twin as he

reached for Nathaniel. “You swore to me that you wouldn’t hurt him.”

“I did,” Ceri admitted. “But he has infected himself once more,

Rhys. He has to be stopped. He has to be punished.” Ceri’s voice was
stone solid as he bit into Nathaniel’s neck before throwing him across
the room. Rhys heard a snap and feared that his twin had killed his
mate. Rhys backhanded Ceri so hard that his twin slammed into the
wall, leaving behind a large hole as Ceri fell to Nathaniel’s bed.

“You would harm me for that human?” Ceri asked as he wiped the

blood from his lips. “You would defend one who has proven himself
evil?”

“I would defend my mate,” Rhys answered as he knelt next to

Nathaniel. “I would kill you, Ceri, to keep Nathaniel from harm.”
Rhys bent, lapping at the blood seeping from the neck wound. The
blood was bitter on his tongue from the drugs, but it was still food.
Rhys battled a war in his body not to drink from Nathaniel. Again, he
found himself doing something he had never done before.

The Dark Side of Love

He never forced himself not to drink from a wound that was

spilling so much precious blood. Rhys licked enough to slow the
bleeding before he pulled away.

“Even his blood displeases you,” Ceri pointed out as he stood

behind Rhys. His twin knelt beside Rhys, waving a hand toward
Nathaniel. “Come, brother, we shall dine on him and be done with
this matter.”

Rhys rocked back, tasting the coppery taste of blood that lingered

on his tongue as he stared down at Nathaniel’s prone body. His mate
was starting to wake, his eyes darting from Rhys to Ceri, but they
were still unfocused. “No, Ceri, no.” Rhys shook his head. “I can’t.”

Ceri leaned closer, rubbing his cheek on Rhys’s shoulder, almost

catlike. “Oh, brother. Do you smell his blood? It is tainted, but still
calls to me. We can eat him together, as we once did so long ago.
There is no shame in what we do, Rhys. He deserves to die for his
sins.”

Rhys studied Nathaniel’s face, seeing for the first time the pouting

lips and the slight cleft in his mate’s chin. It was as if Rhys had finally
opened his eyes to his mate’s beauty. Nathaniel had dark features, his
heritage lying in Mexico or someplace exotic. His dark hair lay
loosely around his face, making Nathaniel look like a dark angel. “I
cannot eat him, Ceri.” Rhys’s voice was weak, unsure.

Ceri reached forward, his fingers tracing the lines of Nathaniel’s

thick eyebrows. “Then give him to me, Rhys. You don’t have to be a
part of this. I will shelter you from the guilt.”

Nathaniel’s eyes began to focus, and what Rhys saw was fear. His

mate understood what was happening, what was being said. His eyes
darted between Ceri and Rhys wildly as he tried to back up, but he
was already against the wall, so there was no place to go.

“Tell me, mate. Why have you tainted your blood?” Rhys asked

with a touch of anger lacing his question. “Help me spare you from
Ceri.”

Lynn Hagen

Nathaniel winced as he pushed to a sitting position, his olive

complexion paling. “It’s called an addiction,” Nathaniel whispered as
he glanced at Ceri.

“So you admit that it is not just a passing usage?” Rhys asked.
“I—” Nathaniel licked his lips and then looked up at Rhys. “What

can I say to save myself?”

“Tell us the truth,” Ceri growled. “Tell my twin what he needs to

hear.”

“I’m not a bad person,” Nathaniel began as Ceri snorted. “I

thought I could take it or leave it, but lately, I can’t. I need help, Rhys,
but that doesn’t mean I’m not redeemable.”

“Redeemable?” Ceri scoffed. “There is no such thing.”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said as his head snapped around to Ceri, “there

is.”

“What would you do to redeem yourself?” Rhys asked as he

moved covertly to place himself between his mate and Ceri.

“I could stop.”
“Lies,” Ceri said as he stood. “If you could, you wouldn’t have

indulged.”

Nathaniel pushed to his knees, glaring up at Ceri. “Who made you

God?” he asked. “Who gives you the right to pass judgment on
someone?”

Ceri snarled as he grabbed Nathaniel by his collar, hoisting him

from the floor. Rhys laid his hand on Ceri’s arm, warning his twin
with his eyes that he was not going to allow Ceri to harm Nathaniel.

Ceri nodded, slowly, and then turned back to Nathaniel. “I am

Ceri. Son of Marsian. The first human to create the vampiric lineage
over two thousand years ago. I was born of the noble line, and that
gives me the right to not only pass judgment, but to carry out the
sentence as well.”

“I’ve never heard of Marsian,” Nathaniel squeaked as Ceri held

him.

The Dark Side of Love

“Do you mock me?” Ceri asked as he shook Nathaniel. Rhys

snarled as he took his mate from Ceri.

“Enough,” Rhys said as he backed away. “I am your twin. I was

born moments before you, Ceri. I also have the right to judge. I judge
Nathaniel…” Rhys searched for the word his mate had used.
“Redeemable,” he finished.

“I’ll give you this one, brother,” Ceri said as he stared maliciously

at Nathaniel. “But no one else shall be saved.” Ceri vanished from the
room, leaving Rhys and Nathaniel alone. Rhys silently breathed out a
relieved breath.

“Uh,” Nathaniel said as he glanced to where Ceri had disappeared.

“Does this mean I’m not going to die?”

Rhys released Nathaniel, sitting on the bed as he rubbed his eyes.

“It will not be Ceri that kills you.” He was tired, tired of fighting with
Ceri, tired of trying to figure this world out. So much had changed,
and Rhys wasn’t sure he knew the rules any longer. Everything was
different. Nothing was familiar any longer.

Nathaniel moved a little closer, and then knelt at Rhys’s feet.

“What will kill me then?”

“The poison you infect your body with,” Rhys stated tiredly. At

one point in time, Rhys had been a force to be reckoned with,
someone who was whispered about in the dark. But today, today Rhys
felt every bit of his age and then some. Not only had the world and
the rules changed, but now he had Nathaniel to care for.

“If you infect yourself again, I may not be able to sway my twin’s

judgment.” Rhys let Nathaniel know the truth of what had just
happened. He had stopped Ceri, but it was only if Nathaniel didn’t
succumb to the allure of the drugs again.

Somehow he knew he would have to kill Ceri because Nathaniel,

whether he knew it or not, was already a victim of the drugs that he
infected himself with.

* * * *

Lynn Hagen

Christo sat at the booth on the second floor at The Manacle,

overlooking the dancers as he talked with Isla and Jacob. Christo was
the second-in-command, Isla the third. Jacob was a newly converted
vampire, still enjoying his new life. The man was cool and helped the
club when needed. That was a bonus considering Jacob had no
qualms about anything the vampires needed him to do to get any job
done.

“You think the twins will pick up where they left off?” Isla asked.

“If so, can’t we use them to take care of our little rogue problem
under the city?”

Christo snorted. “You’re talking about two ancient vampires, Isla.

They can’t be leashed like dogs. The only person to control them is
Christian.”

“But if they could be leashed, think of how easy getting rid of the

rogues would be,” Jacob added.

If only they could use the ancient twins in that manner. Christian

had brought in the best from each coven to eradicate the rogues,
calling the group the annihilators, but the numbers of rogue were just
too high. Although the annihilators had killed a good amount, the
problem was only getting worse. The rogues had to be stopped. The
rogue numbers had tripled, and the number was only growing.

“What if the twins pick up where they left off?” Isla asked as he

downed the rest of his crimson. “What is the prince going to do then?
It’s not like he’s going to kill his little brothers.”

“He thinks Rhys will listen to reason without taking drastic

measures. Ceri is up in the air right now. He won’t listen to Christian.
He believes that he has the right to kill the evil humans and
preternatural creatures.”

“That’s half the population,” Jacob said in astonishment.
“I heard they ate somebody in the cave they were sleeping in,”

Isla said.

The Dark Side of Love

Christo nodded. “Some human who planned on hurting Rhys’s

mate.”

“Wait,” Jacob said as he held his hand up. “Rhys has a mate?”
“Yeah,” Christo said. “One of the cavers who accidently woke

him.”

“Damn, I wish my mate would fall into my lap.” Isla chuckled,

but Christo could see the truth in Isla’s eyes. The man desperately
wanted to find his mate. They all did. But until Christo discovered
who his mate was, he was still going to play.

“You’ll find her,” Jacob teased.
“If my mate is a female, it won’t matter,” Isla replied. “I’m

bisexual, Jacob. You can’t tease me about having sex with a woman
when I do that anyway.”

“But you’ll be mated to a female,” Jacob stated smugly.
Isla opened his mouth and then closed it, his eyes narrowing on

Jacob. “Not funny.”

“I have to go talk with the day walkers,” Christo said as he stood.

“Play nice, you two.”

Christo left to go talk with the lone shifters Christian had hired to

watch the coven during the day when the vampires slept. After
finding out that vampire hunters discovered where they lived and tried
to attack, Christian wasn’t taking any chances.

Christo missed the simple days of fighting and fucking. This

rogue mess, along with the twins, was giving him a solid headache.

* * * *

Gavino stood in front of Christian’s desk, a pissed-off look on his

face. Christian didn’t blame the guy, not after what Gavino had just
told him.

“How am I to do my job when I have your little brother down in

the sewers eating the rogues?” Gavino asked. “Ceri is becoming a
very big problem. I thought it would be a good thing to have him help

Lynn Hagen

us, but he came at my team like he wanted to eat us as well. Put a
leash on your brother.”

Christian stood so fast that Gavino was struggling for air before he

even realized that Christian had his hand around the fool’s throat. The
surprise was evident in the man’s eyes. “Speak to me like that again
and Ceri is the least of your problems.”

“My apologies, Prince,” Gavino sputtered, but made no attempt to

get Christian to release him, “but Ceri is a big problem.”

Christian knew this. He had to find a way to stop Ceri before he

killed a human. So far his brother was eradicating Christian’s rogue
problem, but as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
Christian released Gavino. The man had been rude, but it wasn’t his
fault that Ceri was becoming a liability the vampire community did
not need.

“I was not trying to be rude, Prince, but Ceri must be dealt with.

Today it’s the vampire rogues, tomorrow it will be humans. We can’t
afford for the humans to discover our existence, and in the worst
possible way. They don’t take kindly to murder, even if the victims
are the scourge of their society.”

Very true. Christian knew part of Ceri’s problem was his hunger.

After being asleep for so long, he was starving. Ceri would eat his
way through the rogue population, and if his thirst wasn’t sated, the
humans would be next. It was as if two thousand years hadn’t passed.
The problems of old were the problems they faced now.

Christian rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers, wondering

why the preternatural world was in chaos. Not only had his twins
woken, but vampire hunters were growing in numbers, the drug
Liquid Wrath was mutating, and Yasuko was pregnant again. He
should have stayed in bed. At least the last problem on his list was a
good thing.

“I’ll handle my brother, Gavino. I want you to focus on the job

you were paid to do.”

The Dark Side of Love

Gavino gave a slight bow, but his eyes weren’t convinced that

Christian could rein his brother in. Hell, Christian wasn’t sure of that
either, unless he did the one thing he was really trying to avoid, and
that was killing Ceri.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Six

Nathaniel sat on his couch, staring up at Rhys. It had been a week

since Ceri had come to kill him. Manny was going to be showing up
at his door soon to collect what was owed to him, but hell if Nathaniel
could get away long enough to go get the money.

Rhys hadn’t let Nathaniel out of his sight. It was both irritating as

hell and comforting knowing Rhys would protect him from Ceri.
Nathaniel just wanted his damn life back. Rhys had been taking him
to the palace to sleep, and the only reason they were back at
Nathaniel’s apartment was because Nathaniel had lied.

He had told Rhys that he was meeting his brother because Van

needed to borrow some money. Rhys had believed him, which made
Nathaniel feel like shit, but Nathaniel knew Manny. If he wasn’t here
to pay the man back, Manny would go after Van. That was something
Nathaniel couldn’t live with.

Rhys stood in Nathaniel’s living room, poking at the television

with a strange expression on his face when a knock sounded on
Nathaniel’s door. Rhys looked up, a dark look crossing his face.

“That’s Van,” Nathaniel said as he smoothed his hands down his

jeans, wondering what in the hell he was going to tell Manny. Rhys
stayed where he was, but his expression hadn’t changed. Nathaniel
stayed frozen to the couch, thinking that maybe coming back here
wasn’t one of his more brilliant ideas.

“Are you going to welcome him in?” Rhys asked as he moved

away from the television, heading toward the door. “He is family.
Family is always welcome.”

The Dark Side of Love

Oh shit. Nathaniel jumped up from the couch, blocking Rhys from

going to the door. That wasn’t an easy thing to do. Rhys was a very
large vampire. His shoulders were almost as wide as Nathaniel was
tall. Power and authority didn’t ooze from the man. He wore it like a
second skin. Rhys was definitely comfortable in who he was.

Nathaniel only wished he possessed confidence like that.
The knock sounded again, harder this time.
“Your brother seems to be growing impatient. Give him the coins

he needs so we can be gone from here.”

Nathaniel could feel panic setting in. He shouldn’t have lied to

Rhys. He knew that now, but telling Rhys he had lied wasn’t going to
go so well. Nathaniel started to get a headache, right behind his left
eye. It pounded insistently, making him swallow a few times as he
glanced at the door.

Rhys stepped closer, the dark expression growing as he leaned in

and sniffed at Nathaniel’s neck. “The poison you ingest has come to
the surface, why?” he asked as his head slowly rose, the blue in his
eyes bleeding until the whites were no longer visible. “Is it your
brother that feeds you these wicked things?”

“No,” Nathaniel answered quickly. “Van hates drugs.”
“Then why is the craving in your eyes?” Rhys grabbed

Nathaniel’s upper arms, pulling him closer as he licked Nathaniel’s
neck. “I can even taste a slight lingering.”

Nathaniel was shaking so badly that it felt like Rhys holding him

was the only reason he hadn’t fallen apart.

“What are you afraid of, Nathaniel?” Rhys seemed confused, but

his eyes softened slightly. “Tell me your fears and I will slay them for
you.”

If only it were that easy. But the offer touched him…in some

deranged sort of way.

The knocking sounded as if Manny was trying to break the door

down. Nathaniel knew that knock. Manny was pissed.

Lynn Hagen

Nathaniel had seconds to gasp before Rhys slammed his lips onto

Nathaniel’s. He struggled to pull away, to get free. Visions of what
Rhys had looked like when he first saw the vampire chased through
his mind. Nathaniel didn’t want to kiss the man. He wanted to get free
and run as fast and as far as he could.

The kiss turned from demanding to exploring in the blink of an

eye. Nathaniel stood stiffly, allowing Rhys’s tongue to lick across his
lips, to trace the lines of his mouth. The tension eased as Nathaniel
started to relax. He never would have thought that an ancient vampire
could kiss like a god.

Nathaniel moaned, pulling at his arms. Rhys released them, and

Nathaniel snaked his arms around Rhys’s shoulders. To feel so much
strength, so much power under his hands was intoxicating. Nathaniel
sank into the kiss, opening his mouth wide to let Rhys in.

Gods, help his insanity, but he wanted Rhys in the worst way. The

man may have been what nightmares were made of when Nathaniel
first laid eyes on the man, but he was a gorgeous warrior in
Nathaniel’s eyes now. The man was muscular, big, and powerful. The
combination was heady as Nathaniel moaned into the kiss.

Rhys pulled Nathaniel closer, his fingers digging into Nathaniel’s

back as he crushed Nathaniel to him. Nathaniel grew hard, his cock
straining against his jeans.

When Rhys pulled back, Nathaniel whimpered and tried to chase

after Rhys’s lips with his own. He didn’t want the kiss to end. He
wanted Rhys to grab him and take him to bed. Nathaniel was yearning
to be fucked by this god.

“The scent has abated,” Rhys said as he licked at Nathaniel’s lips.

Nathaniel groaned and opened wider.

“What scent?” Nathaniel asked as he slid farther into Rhys’s hard

body. “Kiss me again.”

When Rhys gave him a smile that said he intended to do more

than just kiss, Nathaniel’s breath left his lungs in a whoosh. He’d seen
that look. All men had it. It was a promise of wicked things to come.

The Dark Side of Love

But Nathaniel had never had anyone give him that look before. He felt
like he was Rhys’s entire universe in that one smile.

“Answer the door, Nathaniel,” Rhys said gently.
And just that quickly Nathaniel’s gut tightened and his heart

began to beat so hard that his chest hurt. Rhys released him, but didn’t
move away as Nathaniel walked toward the door. Nathaniel didn’t
want to do this. He had fucked up. He knew this. But he didn’t want
to pay the piper. He didn’t want Rhys to know how truly weak he was
when it came to Manny and the drugs he sold.

Taking a deep breath in for bravery, Nathaniel opened the door.

Manny stood on the other side, glowering. His fake smile was gone,
with no pretense to it showing up anytime soon. “Are you trying to
avoid me?” Manny asked angrily. “I gave you things in good faith,
Nate. If you think you’re going to hide from me, then I haven’t scared
you enough with how I collect my debts.”

Nathaniel knew how Manny collected his debts. He had seen it a

time or two. Manny always made sure his new clientele was aware of
what would happen if they tried to get away with not paying him.

Manny had taken Nathaniel to one of his client’s homes, shooting

the client’s brother in the leg when the client said he wasn’t paying
Manny what he owed. Manny seemed to have enjoyed seeing the
terrified look on Nathaniel’s face when the brother screamed and the
client begged for another day.

Nathaniel shivered at the memory. “I remember.”
“Good,” Manny said, his lips slightly upturning. “I’ll take the two

hundred you owe me and be on my way then.”

Nathaniel’s fingers gripped the doorknob harder. He hadn’t been

to work in a week. More than likely he was fired. Nathaniel knew that
there wasn’t anything deposited. All he had was his savings, and since
his habit went from occasional to full-blown addiction, that savings
had dwindled down to barely enough to put groceries in his home.

“I don’t have it, Manny. I haven’t been to work.”

Lynn Hagen

The humor in Manny’s eyes slid away, a promise replacing it.

“That’s too bad, Nate.”

“Wait,” Nathaniel said as he reached out and grabbed Manny’s

shirtsleeve. Manny stared down at Nathaniel’s hand and then up at
Nathaniel.

“You really do want to let me go, Nate.” It was a warning.
“Or what?” Rhys asked from the doorway. Nathaniel could hear

the growl rumbling from behind him and knew that Rhys was five
seconds away from causing some serious harm.

Nathaniel released Manny, taking a step back. He had to call Van.

He had to warn his brother that the dealer was coming after him.
Nathaniel felt sick to his stomach. He had caused this, created this
mess. Now it was up to him to figure a way out. Van was going to
hate Nathaniel for this. His brother had warned him time and time
again to leave Manny alone. And now look at things. Nathaniel had
created a large mess that he wasn’t sure he could clean up.

Many would go after Van and hurt the guy just to prove a point to

Nathaniel. He had to get out of here. He had to warn his brother.
Nathaniel had to find someplace safe Van could hide.

Fuck, this was so screwed up.
“Is this your brother, Nathaniel?” Rhys asked as he took a step

closer to Nathaniel. He could practically feel the heat coming off of
Rhys’s body. God, why had he lied? It was tearing at his gut. Rhys
had saved him from Ceri, had protected him from the world, and
Nathaniel had paid the man back with deceit. He wouldn’t hold it
against Rhys if the vampire just handed Nathaniel over to Manny and
went about his life.

He still wasn’t sure why Rhys dealt with him. He was flawed,

screwed up, and broken, yet Rhys kept coming back for more. The
man must be a glutton for punishment or something.

“No,” Manny said as he eyed Rhys with a scathing look that

almost made Nathaniel wet his pants. “Who are you?”

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel opened his mouth to lie to Manny when Rhys stepped

into the hallway, leaning closer to Manny. Nathaniel knew what Rhys
was doing. He was sniffing Manny.

Nathaniel gasped when Manny shoved a gun into Rhys’s gut. “I’d

back off if I were you.”

That was when Nathaniel noticed two guys at the end of the

hallway. Manny hadn’t come alone. This was turning into a
nightmare. The only thing that would top this mess would be if Ceri
showed his scary ass right now.

Nathaniel knew for a fact that Ceri would eat all three men. As

much as Nathaniel wanted his problem to go away, he didn’t want
Ceri eating anyone. The vampire needed a new diet.

Rhys growled low as he pulled Manny closer, the gun pressing

further into Rhys’s gut. “Do you think your weapons scare me?”

“Please,” Nathaniel whispered as he stood there feeling helpless.

“Don’t hurt him, Manny.”

Nathaniel wasn’t afraid of what Ceri would do to him if Rhys

were killed—okay, he was, but Nathaniel found that he had pled for
Rhys’s life because he didn’t want to lose Rhys.

The thought baffled him, but he knew in his heart that he couldn’t

watch Manny shoot Rhys.

He just couldn’t.
Nathaniel had spent a week in Rhys’s presence, watching the man

try to figure out the modern world. It was funny at times, especially
when Rhys had stabbed the microwave in Nathaniel’s kitchen, but it
was also touching to see Rhys struggle to come to grips with that he
wasn’t going to just kill the evil of the world.

Rhys was trying, more than Nathaniel could say about Ceri. But in

that week of coming to Nathaniel’s apartment briefly or spending
nights at the palace, something inside of Nathaniel had grown to care
about Rhys, to care about what happened to the vampire. Rhys had
been patient with Nathaniel, teaching him about the ways of the

Lynn Hagen

vampires, treating Nathaniel like spun glass. It touched Nathaniel in a
way he had never been touched before.

He would examine the why of the situation later. Right now he

needed to save Rhys from being shot. Nathaniel was so damn scared
that he almost dropped to his knees to beg Manny to leave Rhys out
of this mess.

“Then pay up,” Manny said as his upper lip curled into a snarl.
“I don’t have the money. I wasn’t lying when I said I haven’t been

to work.”

“Then we have a problem,” Manny said as he shot Rhys in the

stomach. Nathaniel screamed as Rhys stumbled back. Nathaniel felt
like his entire life was hinging on Rhys.

Tears filled Nathaniel’s eyes as he stared at where Rhys was shot.

A small amount of blood was spreading out over Rhys’s shirt,
staining the fabric.

Nathaniel watched in astonishment as Rhys went after Manny.

Nathaniel had never seen a more determined look on anyone’s face
than he did on Rhys’s.

Gunfire rang out in the hallway. Nathaniel was shoved back into

the apartment, and when he looked back, he saw that Rhys was the
one who had pushed him inside. He tried to run back into the hallway,
but Rhys shoved his body into the doorway, blocking Nathaniel from
leaving the apartment.

“Rhys!” Nathaniel screamed, sobs racking his chest as he clawed

at Rhys’s back to try and pull the vampire inside. He couldn’t let
Rhys die because Nathaniel let his drug use get out of hand. He
wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

He heard Manny scream, and then Rhys hurled his body

backward, knocking Nathaniel out of the way as he slammed the door
shut. Bullets broke through the wood of the door, and Rhys grabbed
Nathaniel as he disappeared.

“No!” Nathaniel shouted. “He’ll go after Van!”

The Dark Side of Love

“I must feed,” Rhys said as he looked down at Nathaniel. “I’ve

lost what blood I’ve been able to drink thus far.”

Nathaniel saw that they were back in the palace, but his attention

was on the hole in Rhys’s stomach. It wasn’t large, but it was seeping
blood. Shouldn’t there be more blood? When Nathaniel looked up at
Rhys, he saw another hole in Rhys’s shirt. He had been shot in the
shoulder as well.

“Will you live if you feed?” Nathaniel asked, and a small part of

his brain was screaming for him to run. A vampire was asking to bite
him, to drink his blood, and Nathaniel was standing there saying yes.
What in the hell was wrong with him?

“Where does your brother dwell?” Rhys asked as he dropped

down onto the bed. Nathaniel didn’t like the look on Rhys’s face. He
looked like he was in pain. And it was because of Nathaniel.

* * * *

“Brother, I need your help.”
Rhys could feel Christian stirring in his mind. It was a soft

whisper, and then he heard the words. “All you have to do is ask.”

“I need someone to gather my mate’s brother. He is in mortal

danger.”

“Tell me where he is,” Christian answered.
Rhys repeated the address Nathaniel had given him.
“I will send my most trusted,” Christian replied.
“There are men with weapons going after Van, Nathaniel’s

brother. Please protect him.” Rhys pushed the thought into
Christian’s mind, feeling himself growing weaker. He would have
been able to kill all three men with no problem, but with so little
blood in his veins, he was as weak as a newborn right now. If
Nathaniel had any ill intentions toward Rhys, now would be a good
time for the man to strike. His very life was placed in his mate’s
hands and the human didn’t even know it.

Lynn Hagen

“I need to feed,” Rhys repeated to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel crawled onto the bed, leaning close, his eyes darting

from Rhys’s wounds to his face. He must look a mess. “Then feed.”

Rhys hooked his arm around Nathaniel’s neck, using the speed

only a vampire possessed—and his last remaining energy—as he
pulled Nathaniel down, sinking his teeth into his mate’s vein.
Nathaniel cried out, but didn’t pull away.

Rhys rolled, placing Nathaniel beneath him as he drank deeply.

His body was craving the blood, urging him to take his fill. Not only
was he wounded, but Rhys was starving. His body had gone so long
without a proper feeding that Rhys felt on the verge of insanity. He
was so damn hungry that his entire body felt like one large muscle of
pain. Even his eyes hurt.

“Rhys,” Nathaniel cried out but didn’t fight him. “You’re taking

too much.”

“Rhys, I am sending food to you,” Christian whispered to him.

“Release your mate.”

Rhys saw three humans appear, along with two vampires. “We

bring you food, Rhys,” one of the vampires said as he moved closer to
the bed, giving a slight bow. Rhys growled as his eyes darted at each
man, daring them to come closer with a murderous glare. No one was
taking his mate away from him.

Christian appeared by his bed. Rhys roared when Christian

pinched his nose and pulled his head back, making his fangs slide
from Nathaniel’s neck. “Take what I offer,” Christian said as he
waved the first human forward.

The human knelt on the bed, tilting his head sideways. Rhys sank

his teeth into the human, drinking down quickly. He could taste fear
in the human’s blood, but a willingness to be taken. Rhys didn’t want
to have sex with this man. He only wanted to feed from his body.

Christian took the human, replacing him with another. “When he

is done feeding, take the humans to my office, make sure they are
well, and then scrub their minds.”

The Dark Side of Love

“Yes, Prince.” The other vampire bowed his head.
When Rhys fed from the third human, he could feel his hunger

ebbing away. The wounds were healed, and his hunger was sated. He
felt the power flow through his veins, like it had two thousand years
ago.

Rhys threw his head back and roared, feeling his veins sing with a

power that was coursing through his body and making him feel alive
once again. He could hear Ceri roar as well somewhere off in the
distance in his mind, answering Rhys’s call.

His brother was feeding, feeling the power as well. There was

pure joy humming through Ceri at the moment, a joy Rhys knew his
brother gained from slaughtering rogue vampires. He closed Ceri out,
wanting this moment for him and Nathaniel alone.

The three humans and two vampires vanished, leaving only

Christian behind. Rhys could see the love in Christian’s eyes right
before he, too, disappeared.

“Are you fed?” Nathaniel asked from beside Rhys.
Nathaniel was lying on the pillows, staring up at Rhys with a

hunger in his eyes. The heat rolled through Nathaniel’s brown eyes, a
heat Rhys hadn’t seen in a very long time. He reached down and used
his claws to tear Nathaniel’s shirt from his body. Next he ripped the
fabric from Nathaniel’s lower half, leaving his mate naked for Rhys’s
eyes to feast on.

He drank in his mate’s olive-colored skin, his fingers tracing the

lines of his mate’s sternum. “You do not fear me?”

Nathaniel writhed under Rhys’s touch, his legs spreading wide.

“Yes.”

“Then why do you offer yourself to me, Nathaniel?” Rhys’s

clothes melted away with just one thought as he knelt between
Nathaniel’s spread legs.

“Because I was afraid you would die,” Nathaniel answered as he

pulled at Rhys’s arms.

Lynn Hagen

“You feared for my safety?” he asked, astonished that Nathaniel

felt that way. He thought his mate wanted nothing to do with him. In
the week that Nathaniel spent in his bed sleeping, his mate had made
sure that there was plenty of room between their bodies. Not only had
Nathaniel’s body language told Rhys that he was off-limits, but the
fear that had come off of Nathaniel had been so thick that Rhys had
felt like he was choking on it.

“Yes,” Nathaniel answered.
Rhys didn’t trust the look in Nathaniel’s eyes. “What has changed

you?”

Nathaniel looked away, his fingers slipping from Rhys’s arms.

“I’m tired of running, Rhys. I’m tired of being afraid. I don’t want to
live like that anymore.”

“So you think sleeping with me will gain my protection?” Rhys

was insulted. Men came willingly to his bed. He could have any man
of his choosing. To hear his mate tell him that he only wished to gain
protection was a slap to his face.

“No,” Nathaniel replied as he turned toward Rhys. “It’s hard to

explain, but you feel like a safe harbor in a storm. You feel like
someone I can crawl inside of and shut the world out.”

“You cannot run from your problems, Nathaniel. Not when your

problems are inside of you.” Rhys pushed away, leaving the bed.
“The demons after you are inside of you. You must deal with them. I
can fight that which threatens you, but not when the threat is
yourself.”

“Then help me,” Nathaniel said as he slid from the bed. Rhys had

to look away. He could never hold his anger when a man was
standing naked in front of him. It was his one weakness. “You say I’m
redeemable. You argued that point with your twin. Help me fight this
demon. Not everyone who you see as evil is really evil, Rhys. Some
people just have issues they are dealing with.”

“Issues?” Rhys asked. “How can ingesting poison be an issue?”

The Dark Side of Love

Nathaniel moved closer, Rhys’s eyes falling down until they

landed on Nathaniel’s cock. Damn it, he was trying to make a point
here, not be distracted by his mate’s hardness.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?” Nathaniel asked. “Really evil

and unsalvageable?”

Rhys moved back, turning away from Nathaniel. “Yes. You crave

what that man had on his person. You crave to have the poison one
last time. How can anyone good want that vile and toxic stuff in
them? What good man would crave its taste?”

“It’s called an addiction, Rhys. Just because my body craves the

drugs, doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. It means I have to fight what
isn’t good for me. I don’t want to murder anyone. I don’t want to
harm anyone. I’m not a thief. I try my best to live the right way. I
have a damn flaw,” Nathaniel argued.

“A flaw?” Rhys asked as he spun around, his fangs flashing at

Nathaniel. “A flaw is having two left feet. A flaw is having something
you cannot change. Your drug use is not a flaw but a choice, and you
choose to be a user.” Rhys knew that word from Nathaniel’s
memories. He knew a lot of other things he wished he hadn’t. He
could see that Nathaniel spoke the truth about trying to be a good
man. It was all in his memories. But how could he be good and bad at
the same time?

It just didn’t make any sense to him.
Nathaniel threw his hands up into the air, a throaty sound coming

from him as if he were exasperated. “Don’t split hairs, Rhys. It’s a
flaw. I don’t want to be a user. I don’t want to be addicted. I fight it.
Trust me, I do. But whenever I see Manny, he’s like a damn trigger
and the taste comes back to me.”

“Then I will kill Manny.”
“You can’t just kill what you don’t like, Rhys.”
“Why?”
“Because life doesn’t work that way. I don’t know what made

Manny into the man he is, but you just can’t kill him.”

Lynn Hagen

“Why not?” Rhys was confused as hell. If this Manny person was

responsible for his mate using drugs, why couldn’t he kill him?
Manny was evil, selling poison to humans and hurting them when
they didn’t give him coins. He was what Ceri and Rhys had fought
against for so many years. “You would allow someone like that to live
among your women and children? You would allow him to prey on
the weak?”

“I agree that he shouldn’t be allowed his freedom, but jail would

do just fine for someone like Manny.”

Rhys growled out his frustration. “You make no sense to me,

Nathaniel. He hurts humans when he doesn’t get what he wants. He is
a tyrant. Manny should die. There is no grey area.”

“It isn’t just black-and-white, Rhys.”
“Yes,” he growled. “It is.”
“You’re impossible!” Nathaniel shouted. “You refuse to see any

reason but your own. You refuse to hear what you disagree with. I
don’t even know why I am wasting my breath here.”

“Because,” Rhys said as he stepped closer, feeling the need to pull

Nathaniel’s naked body into his arms. He wanted to taste his mate as
he fucked him. Rhys wanted to feel Nathaniel’s warm skin pressed
against his as he drove his cock deep inside Nathaniel’s body. “If I
cannot understand why evil is not always evil, then you have no
chance of living.”

The Dark Side of Love

Chapter Seven

Well shit. Nathaniel had no clue what to say to that. He had racked

his brain trying to figure out a way to explain humanity to Rhys, but
how could he argue a point he didn’t wholeheartedly agree with?
There was a small part of Nathaniel that agreed with Rhys, to a point.
It would make life a whole lot simpler to do things Rhys’s way. But it
wasn’t the right way to do things. Rhys wasn’t judge and jury, no
matter how highly he thought of himself.

“Then I don’t know what to say,” Nathaniel confessed. “I can’t

explain humanity to someone who has never felt it before.”

“You would just give up and let me kill you?” Rhys asked, his

tone suspicious. “Why?”

“Because,” Nathaniel said as he sat down on the bed, feeling

utterly ridiculous being naked when he argued. There was something
about clothes that helped shield his pride. And not only was his pride
being hammered, so was his heart.

Nathaniel sat there quietly, examining the thought that had just

come to him. Why was his heart being battered? He looked up at
Rhys, staring into his blue eyes, and knew the truth. He was falling in
love with the vampire. As crazy as it was, Nathaniel was handing his
heart to Rhys. Too bad Rhys would rip it out of him, literally. Rhys
killed what he deemed evil, and he had told Nathaniel that using drugs
was evil.

And somehow, that made him evil.
Not that Nathaniel could argue with that. But trying to convince

Rhys that he wasn’t a bad man wasn’t working out so well. He was up

Lynn Hagen

shit creek, but not only did he lack paddles, his damn boat was full of
holes, making Nathaniel sink deeper and deeper into trouble.

He leaned back when Rhys approached the bed, fearing that the

vampire was just going to kill him and be done with this. He couldn’t
satisfy Rhys’s need to know why everyone who seemed evil wasn’t
evil.

“Give me something, Nathaniel,” Rhys said as he crawled over

Nathaniel, making Nathaniel lean back until his shoulders were
pressed into the mattress.

“What do you want?” he asked and then swallowed, hard.
“Anything,” he replied. “Anything that will save you.” Was it

Nathaniel’s imagination, or did Rhys sound desperate?

“Take my life, Rhys,” Nathaniel whispered as he closed his eyes.
“You would give me your very soul? Why, Nathaniel? Most

people fight to live. Why do you willingly give me your life?”

“Because,” Nathaniel said as a tear slipped down his face, “I’ve

seen what drugs do to men who had very good lives. I don’t want to
go down that road. I don’t want to give up my soul to the devil for one
more hit. I would rather give it to you.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” Rhys said as he leaned back.
Nathaniel nodded. “I’ve seen the haunted looks in users’ eyes.

I’ve seen them sacrifice their families and their jobs. I’d rather die by
your hands than Manny’s.”

“There is one way to stop all of this,” Rhys said as he leaned

closer, his tongue tracing Nathaniel’s neck. Nathaniel shivered,
wrapping his arms around Rhys’s neck as he cried. He wanted this
man. He wanted him desperately. Aside from Van, Nathaniel had
nothing worth living for. He had been so lost, so lonely, until Rhys.

“Tell me, Rhys,” Nathaniel pled. “Tell me how to stay with you.”
Rhys nipped Nathaniel’s neck, and then lapped at the sting. “I can

make you a vampire. I can bind you to me for all of eternity. You are
my mate, Nathaniel, but I refuse to have an evil mate. If you wish to

The Dark Side of Love

overcome this addiction, then let me give you another chance. Let me
take away the cravings. I can give you forever.”

Nathaniel cried out when Rhys thrust inside of him. He hadn’t

been expecting it. He opened his legs wider, digging his nails into
Rhys’s back. “Next time, use lube, Rhys.”

“Next time.” Rhys whispered the two words into Nathaniel’s neck

as he rocked inside of Nathaniel’s body. Fear, doubt, hesitation, and
everything in between rushed through Nathaniel as Rhys took him. He
felt an attraction, a willingness to be with the vampire that he had
never felt with anyone else before. But was that enough to give Rhys
what he asked for? Eternity was a long-ass time.

Nathaniel moaned as the long, thick cock that seemed to fill him

so perfectly brushed across his prostate with every thrust of Rhys’s
hips. Each thrust, each roll sent shivers through his body as he clung
to Rhys.

Nathaniel shuddered with increasing arousal and cried aloud as

Rhys eased him to sit back on the bigger man’s widespread thighs.

The new position left Nathaniel impaled on Rhys’s hard cock.

Nathaniel gasped as he was raised and lowered over and over,
relishing his lover’s strength and endurance.

“Rhys…oh my god…oh god,” Nathaniel cried out as Rhys fucked

him like a god. The man knew exactly where his sweet spot was and
stroked his cock over it again and again.

Nathaniel tightened his legs around Rhys, pressing his heels into

the alternately flexing and relaxing buttocks to impale himself deeper
onto his lover’s steel cock.

Rhys set up a hard, fast pace as he pounded into Nathaniel’s

writhing body. Nathaniel clung to Rhys, feeling his balls tightened
against his body.

“You cannot convert him,” Ceri shouted as he appeared by the

bed. Nathaniel should have been embarrassed at someone seeing him
get fucked, but Nathaniel couldn’t find it in him to care. Rhys was

Lynn Hagen

doing too much of an excellent job and Nathaniel prayed the man
didn’t stop.

“He is evil, Rhys. What you propose is wrong.”
Rhys laid a gentle kiss on Nathaniel’s lips before turning toward

his brother. “He is my mate, Ceri. You seem to forget this fact.”

“I forget nothing! This human may be your mate, but he has

willingly given in to that poison not once, but many times. How can
you even think of changing him?”

“Change me,” Nathaniel begged as he tugged on Rhys’s neck,

trying to gain the man’s attention. “Please don’t let me be without
you, Rhys.” Nathaniel didn’t want to be converted because Ceri was
arguing against it—although he secretly smiled at the finger he was
mentally giving the twin. No, he wanted to spend forever in Rhys’s
arms. He wanted to belong to Rhys. He felt a connection with the
vampire that went beyond reason, beyond sanity, but Nathaniel knew
in his heart that he couldn’t be without the man.

Nathaniel cried out when Rhys leaned forward and bit into his

shoulder, taking blood from him for the second time today. He wasn’t
really sure if he had enough left in his body to donate. He felt his
heart slow to a faint beat as his eyelids began to flutter. “Are you
killing me, Rhys?”

Rhys released his shoulder, shaking his head. “No, trust me,

Nathaniel.” Nathaniel nodded as he watched Rhys open the vein in his
wrist. “Drink from me, Nathaniel. Come over to my life and be bound
to me forever.”

Nathaniel wasn’t too sure he could drink blood. What about

disease? He licked his lips as he stared up into Rhys’s face, seeing the
blue in the vampire’s eyes darken. Rhys looked eager. Nathaniel took
a deep breath, trusting Rhys as he had never trusted anyone before.
Here goes. He pressed his lips against Rhys’s wrist, licking at the
wound, trying his best not to touch his lips to Rhys’s skin.

The Dark Side of Love

“No, mate,” Rhys said gently. “Do not lick, drink.” He ran his

hand over Nathaniel’s head, encouraging him to press his lips to the
wound.

“Stop this now!” Ceri shouted as he raced toward the bed.
“Back off, Ceri!” Rhys growled the words so loudly that Ceri

stopped in his tracks.

If Nathaniel thought he would survive, he would smack Ceri. The

man had piss-poor timing. He was in the middle of getting fucked by
this gorgeous man for pete’s sake.

Nathaniel took a deep breath in through his nose and then drank

Rhys’s blood. He could feel Rhys thrusting his cock inside of him, his
strokes deeper, longer, but the blood wasn’t like anything Nathaniel
had ever tasted. He was expecting something warm and metallic
tasting, and it was, but it was also sweet, almost familiar.

Nathaniel grabbed Rhys’s wrist, drinking greedily as Rhys

shouted out his release, hammering his cock into Nathaniel’s ass over
and over again. With a flurry of thrusts, Rhys buried himself as deep
as he could be, and then roared his completion. Nathaniel could feel
the hot seed being spilled inside of him, but all Nathaniel could do
was think about the blood he wanted so much more of.

“That is enough, mate,” Rhys said gently as he pulled at his wrist.

“Now you shall sleep and let the conversion take place.”

Nathaniel nodded, feeling the sleep take over, his body becoming

weightless. He didn’t even care that he hadn’t had his own orgasm.
Nathaniel was too damn groggy to protest. His mind became fuzzy as
he turned his head and sighed. He felt the blankets being tucked
around him and then arguing voices, but he was too damn tired to
care.

* * * *

“What have you done?” Ceri asked as he took a step toward the

bed. Rhys blocked his brother. Ceri didn’t look angry, but baffled.

Lynn Hagen

Rhys threw his arms around his twin, holding him, hugging him.

“He is my mate, brother. I could not kill him. I feel a strong bond with
him.”

“Stronger than ours?” Ceri asked as he embraced Rhys.
“No,” Rhys shook his head. “Not stronger. Equal, but not

stronger.”

Rhys felt Ceri’s lips on his cheek. His twin gave him a soft kiss

and then turned his head. “Thank you for the beautiful lie,” he said
right before he bit into Rhys’s neck, almost tearing out his throat.

Rhys struggled to get free, but Ceri held on to him, sinking his

fangs deeper into Rhys’s flesh.

“Christian!” Rhys shouted in his head. “I cannot kill him. He is

flesh of my flesh, one and the same.”

“Release him, Ceri!” Christian shouted from behind Rhys. When

Ceri growled, pulling Rhys away from their older brother, Rhys felt
Christian’s hand on his neck. Christian had shifted into his original
form. Rhys could do the same, but he knew in his heart that he
couldn’t kill Ceri. No matter what his twin did, Rhys just couldn’t
take his twin’s life.

Rhys felt skin being torn from his neck as Christian separated

them. “Why?” Rhys shouted as he covered his neck, feeling
Nathaniel’s blood leaving him. He saw for the first time another
vampire standing close, looking as though he wanted to come to
Rhys.

“He is Nija, my fourth. I have given him a small part of my

conversion powers. Let him heal you, Rhys.”

Rhys looked from Christian to Nija, and then to Nathaniel who

was still asleep. “Do not kill Ceri,” he whispered to Christian before
he offered his neck to Nija. It took great trust to offer one’s neck. Nija
could finish what Ceri started before Rhys even realized what the
vampire was doing.

When Nija leaned in, Rhys gripped the vampire’s shoulder.

“Harm me and you will beg for death.”

The Dark Side of Love

Nija grinned. “I’m not foolish enough to think I can take you on,

Prince.”

Rhys was startled by the title, so startled that he didn’t even see

Nija lean in. He felt the vampire’s tongue lap at his neck, and then his
lips suckered at Rhys’s torn flesh. Rhys knew that Nija would gain
powers from drinking Rhys’s blood, but at the moment, he didn’t give
a shit. All he wanted was to crawl onto the bed with Nathaniel and
protect what now belonged to him.

“Are you going to crusade for the evildoers now, Rhys? Is your

heart bleeding for them?” Ceri asked. “You call our eldest to your
defense, and then you allow a lowly vampire to heal you. What has
changed you, twin?”

“Love,” Christian answered for Rhys. “Your twin has found love.

It heals even the darkest of hearts.”

“Love,” Ceri spat. “It has blinded him. Rhys would never have

allowed that human to live before. These modern times have softened
the vampire race. But not I. I will clear the rogue and the scourge that
plague these times.”

“No,” Rhys said as he pulled away from Nija. “You will not kill

anymore.”

Ceri slammed his chest into Christian’s, but couldn’t get past their

older brother. “We shall see, Rhys. You have abandoned me. You
have chosen the human over your flesh. I will take up both our plights
and cleanse the world in both our names.”

Rhys growled when Ceri disappeared. He knew Ceri would do

exactly as he had promised.

“We will find a way to save him, Rhys,” Christian said as he

slowly returned to his former self. “I refuse to lose either of you to the
allure of the dark side.”

“Do not comfort me, Christian. I cannot take that right now. Ceri

is lost to me.” And for the first time in his existence, Rhys felt his
heart breaking.

Lynn Hagen

“Call me if you need me,” Christian said before he and Nija

vanished. Rhys walked to the window, folding his hands behind him
as he stared out into the dark night. This place was illusionary. Rhys
knew this. The palace had brought him comfort in these modern
times, but Rhys would never be comforted again if he couldn’t get
Ceri back.

Rhys turned toward the bed, watching Nathaniel sleep and

wondered if turning his mate had been worth the price he had just
paid.

* * * *

Nathaniel poked at his newly formed fangs with his tongue. This

was going to take some getting used to. He pushed his tongue into the
sharp edge of his tooth as he sat on the bed.

Christian had offered his home to Rhys and Nathaniel, and Rhys

had accepted the offer. That had surprised Nathaniel considering Rhys
had told Christian in the club that he would never trust Christian with
his sleep. Now that Ceri and Rhys were on the outs, it seemed Rhys
was becoming more humane, more tolerant. Maybe Ceri had been a
bad influence on Rhys, but it still hurt Nathaniel to see the lost look in
Rhys’s eyes whenever Ceri’s name was mentioned.

“You’re going to cut your tongue off if you don’t stop,” Van said.

“It’s strange enough seeing you like this without you playing with the
damn things.”

“I can’t help it,” Nathaniel said as he slid his tongue along the

fangs. “It just feels so weird.” Nathaniel poked at his teeth some more
until he saw Rhys walk into their bedroom. He had never seen Rhys
wearing jeans before. The vampire had always worn some sort of
toga-looking thing. It had been short, showing off his masculine
thighs. Nathaniel hated to see his mate cover his gorgeous body up,
but he wasn’t going to complain. Rhys was trying his best to adapt,

The Dark Side of Love

and Nathaniel was thankful that the man was even trying. He even
looked good in the ribbed shirt.

“Damn,” Nathaniel whispered as he stared at the crotch of Rhys’s

jeans. He couldn’t help it. The area drew his eyes in and held him
captive. Nathaniel was stunned further when he saw Rhys blush.

“I’m going to head to my room,” Van said as he walked by Rhys,

giving him a nasty glare before exiting the bedroom. Nathaniel knew
Van blamed Rhys for this whole situation. Van hadn’t fought being
brought here. He had told Christian that he had seen this coming. But
what he didn’t like was the fact that Nathaniel was now one of the
vampires.

Van hadn’t freaked out like Nathaniel thought he would when his

brother found out vampires existed, but he wasn’t happy about the
news either. Van was too damn fickle sometimes. Nathaniel was just
glad Van hadn’t refused the help or he just might be dead right now.
If Christian hadn’t gotten to his brother first, Manny would have used
Van against Nathaniel. He shivered mentally at the thought.

It hurt Nathaniel to know that Van couldn’t accept what Nathaniel

had become, but he was glad Van was still speaking to him. He had
caused this. From his lack of will, Nathaniel had changed so many
things around him. He would take Van’s anger just as long as Van
was still speaking to him.

“I take it you think I look good in this denim fabric?” Rhys asked.
“Good enough to eat.” Nathaniel blushed as he spoke. He wasn’t

sure where his courage was coming from, or why he so suddenly
accepted Rhys. Maybe it was the fact that Nathaniel had fallen in love
with the man. Falling in love made people say and do things they
normally wouldn’t do.

And Nathaniel was doing a lot of things lately that he never

thought he would do. He pushed up from the bed, smiling up at Rhys
as he ran his hands down the front of his mate’s jeans. “Take them
off.”

Lynn Hagen

Rhys shook his head. “I can’t. Christian and I are going to seek

out Ceri and try to talk with him.”

Nathaniel knew Rhys was broken up about his twin. He felt like it

was his fault that Rhys and Ceri were on the outs. It seemed
everything that was going wrong was Nathaniel’s fault. He had no
clue that when he was pulled in by drugs that so many things would
happen, so many lives would be forever changed.

The only bright side to all of this is that he got to keep Rhys. But

keeping Rhys wasn’t easy. The vampire was always worrying about
his brother. Nathaniel had taken a once-proud warrior and reduced
him to what was standing in front of him.

His cock softened as he turned away. How could Rhys even look

at him after what he had done? It was a miracle Rhys even wanted to
keep him.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Nathaniel asked. He really

didn’t see how he could be any help, but he had to ask. He had to
offer Rhys something.

“You can tell me why you look so sad all of a sudden,” Rhys said

as he pulled Nathaniel back in front of him, tilting his chin back so
Nathaniel could see the blue in Rhys’s eyes.

“If I hadn’t started using, you and Ceri would still be talking.”
Rhys lowered his hand. “Ceri may use your drugs to blame many

things on, but in my eyes, what happened was needed. Ceri is getting
out of control, and if it wasn’t for you, I might be standing right
beside him.”

“But,”—Nathaniel waved a hand around the room—“if it wasn’t

for me, a lot of this wouldn’t have happened. Van is in hiding, I’m a
vampire now, and Ceri blames me for taking you away from him.”

Rhys pulled Nathaniel into his arms, holding him close. “You

have taken me from Ceri, Nathaniel. You have taken me from the
madness and made me examine why people are evil. I would have
never done that before. You have made me look at humans in a
humane way. That is a large feat, not to be taken lightly.”

The Dark Side of Love

“Are you saying that you’re glad I took you from Ceri?” Nathaniel

was confused. He would hate anyone that took Van away from him.

“What I am saying is that I am glad you have opened my eyes to

many things, mate. You have taught me to think about why a person
is the way he is before I strike against him. Some may think that is a
weakness, but it enables me to use better judgment.”

Nathaniel wasn’t buying it. Rhys was once a powerful force, and

now he was more like a human judge. He felt like he had crippled
Rhys. Although he was glad Rhys didn’t just kill people because he
thought them evil, he wished it wasn’t he who had made the mighty
fall.

“You still look doubtful,” Rhys said as he pulled Nathaniel toward

the bed. “Why?”

“It’s my issue, Rhys. It’s something I have to work through.”
Rhys gave him a long stare with his beautiful blue eyes before he

nodded. “I will trust you to work through this.”

“Now take off the jeans.” Nathaniel smiled. He would examine

his feelings about what was happening around him later. Right now
Nathaniel wanted to feel Rhys’s body holding him down, fucking him
until he screamed uncle.

Rhys ran the tips of his fingers over Nathaniel’s jaw, his smile

soft. “You would have me late to meet Christian for a chance to be in
my arms?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Nathaniel replied. “You know I’m hot

for your body.”

“Just my body?” Rhys teased.
“Right now, yeah.”
Rhys chuckled. The sound was deep and made Nathaniel shiver.

Rhys was a good-looking man all on his own, but when he smiled, it
seemed to take his rating from a ten to a twenty in seconds flat.

Nathaniel had never been in love before, and he wasn’t sure he

was getting it right, but from the look on Rhys’s face, he was at least
pleasing his mate. Being in love was strange. Nathaniel never knew

Lynn Hagen

what to say or do, except when it came to sex. He was awkward and
inept most of the time, saying things that made him blush profusely.

“I am sorry to say, mate, but this must be quickly done.”
Nathaniel knew Rhys liked to take his time. If nothing else, Rhys

was a very thorough lover. But Nathaniel knew Rhys was pressed for
time.

“How does a blow job sound?”
“Explain,” Rhys said as he began to nibble down Nathaniel’s

neck, almost making him forget what he had to explain.

“A blow job means sucking your cock.”
“I like blow jobs,” Rhys said as he leaned back and unsnapped his

jeans. Nathaniel held back the snicker when Rhys seemed to struggle
with the snap.

“Not used to jeans?” Nathaniel asked. They were button fly, no

zipper. Rhys growled out his frustration as he yanked at the material.

“It was bad enough buttoning all of these up in the first place.”
“Let me help.” Nathaniel leaned forward, using his teeth to release

Rhys’s cock. Rhys’s breath hitched as Nathaniel licked along his
exposed skin. Rhys still refused to wear underwear, complaining that
they were too restrictive and Nathaniel didn’t have one damn
complaint about his mate going commando. It made getting to the
man’s cock a whole lot easier.

Nathaniel pulled at Rhys’s jeans until they were resting at his

knees and then swallowed Rhys’s cock to the back of his throat.

“Yesss,” Rhys hissed as his hands wove through Nathaniel’s hair.

Nathaniel felt lost, consumed by Rhys as he worked Rhys’s cock
down his throat. The scent of man, and Rhys, filled his lungs as
Nathaniel pulled back and then took the hard shaft back down his
throat once more. The taste of pre-cum exploded on Nathaniel’s
tongue and he knew he wanted more. Nathaniel sucked hard and fast,
knowing they were pressed for time.

He smiled when Rhys began to pump his hips, fucking

Nathaniel’s mouth with an eagerness that encouraged Nathaniel. He

The Dark Side of Love

sucked harder, moving his head back and forth, letting his tongue play
with the depression right under the head of Rhys’s cock.

“You are very good at blow jobs,” Rhys complimented as his

fingers tightened in Nathaniel’s hair. Nathaniel could see Rhys’s balls
pull close to his body and knew his mate was close.

Nathaniel formed a suction with his mouth, doubling his efforts.

As badly as he wanted to spend more time bringing Rhys pleasure, he
knew that Rhys had to go.

Nathaniel flicked his tongue out, letting it slide down Rhys’s shaft

until it reached his balls. He knew Rhys loved having his balls played
with. Nathaniel had stumbled onto that discovery when Rhys was
fucking him. He would use that knowledge now to bring Rhys off
quickly.

“Nathaniel!” Rhys shouted as his hips bucked, his hot seed

splashing to the back of Nathaniel’s throat. Nathaniel licked Rhys’s
cock clean before he pulled back, smiling that stupid-face smile up at
Rhys.

“All better?” Nathaniel asked.
“Much,” Rhys answered as he blew out a breath. “But I am sorry

that I cannot return the favor right now.”

“You have to go. I’ll catch up with you later,” Nathaniel said as he

stood, kissing Rhys on his soft lips before he turned away, trying his
best to hide his erection. Rhys would want to take care of Nathaniel’s
hard problem, and he knew Christian was waiting for Rhys.

Rhys wrapped his arms around Nathaniel, his chest pressing into

Nathaniel’s back. “I will pleasure you beyond your wildest dreams
when I return, mate.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Nathaniel said as he patted Rhys’s arm.

“Now go.”

Nathaniel had to help Rhys rebutton his jeans if Rhys was getting

out of there anytime soon. Nathaniel watched Rhys leave the room,
but not before Rhys stole one more kiss. Nathaniel shook his head,

Lynn Hagen

smiling to himself and feeling like he could conquer the world with
just one look from Rhys.

Damn, being in love only made Nathaniel one big-ass goofball.

The Dark Side of Love

Chapter Eight

Rhys thought about Nathaniel as he stared at Ceri. He thought

about how he was in love for the first time in his life. Rhys had to
admit, if even just to himself, that the thought of loving someone this
much scared the hell out of him.

His enemies—and sadly, Ceri was included in that category—had

something to use against him. Rhys knew in that moment that he
would do anything if Nathaniel was used as a pawn against him.

“I have cut the rogue population down to half of what it was,”

Ceri said as he faced off with Christian. “You should not be
complaining, but thanking me. There were hundreds of them living
together under this city. Why are they working together, Christian?
Why have they united when they are solitary creatures?”

The question was asked in anger, but Rhys could hear the

curiosity in Ceri’s voice. Hell, he wanted to know the answer as well.
Rogue vampires preferred to feed and kill alone. What had changed
them?

“I have been trying to discover the reason as well, brother,”

Christian replied. “A drug called Liquid Wrath was invented, using
elements from each race to form this drug. The main component is
human blood. The leaders of the paranormal community feel that the
drug is mutating, and that is the cause of the rogues uniting.”

“Leaders?” Ceri asked. “We are the leaders. The three of us. Who

shares this mantle?”

Christian sighed. “You have missed much, Ceri.”
“Because of you,” he accused as he pointed at Christian.
“Then let me fill you in,” Christian replied.

Lynn Hagen

“Let me drink from your wrist, and I will know what you know,”

Ceri said as he took a step forward.

“I cannot,” Christian said.
“But you allowed Rhys to drink from you in the cave,” Ceri

pointed out.

“But you are much more dangerous, Ceri. I fear that you will use

what knowledge you gain to use against not only me, but our people.”

As sad as it made him feel, Rhys agreed with Christian. He had

his brother’s memory and knew what Christian knew. It was powerful
information. In the wrong hands, it could be destructive.

“Then speak,” Ceri said, and for the first time since they woke, his

twin looked tired. Rhys wanted to go to Ceri, to comfort his twin, but
he knew Ceri wouldn’t welcome any comfort from him.

Christian stood in his office and explained about how the shifters

were living amongst them. He told of the fey, the demons, and every
preternatural creature that existed. He told Ceri about how the evil
demon named Marino had created the drug called Liquid Wrath, and
the effects it had on the different species. Christian left out how the
drug affected humans. Rhys wasn’t sure why, but telling Ceri that the
drug killed them instantly may not be a wise thing.

He told Ceri about the vampire hunters, and how they had blown a

hole in the side of his club, killing humans and vampires alike. Ceri
listened with no interruptions, his eyelids slowly narrowing as
Christian filled him in on everything that had happened while the
twins slept.

“And you harp at me about killing such vile creatures?” Ceri

asked. “Why? I don’t understand why you would stop me, brother.
They are even more evil than I first suspected.”

“Because,” Christian answered. “If you eat a rogue infected with

Liquid Wrath, you may be as affected as I was. You are too powerful,
Ceri, to take that chance. We can find another way to eradicate our
problem. So far you have been lucky, but your luck will not hold out
much longer. Liquid Wrath is not something to take lightly. I became

The Dark Side of Love

a victim when converting a human and it forced me to shift from my
vampire form into my original form over and over again. I barely
survived the ordeal and nearly went insane. You do not want that,
Ceri. Trust me. It won’t be pleasant.”

Rhys liked that Christian told Ceri that the problems was ours. He

was including Ceri and making his twin a part of the solution. Very
clever.

“They are my food,” Ceri stated in confusion. “How will I feed if

I cannot eat them?”

“You can drink blood as we do, Ceri.” Christian’s forehead

wrinkled as he frowned, the worry clear in his eyes. “Is that so bad?”

“You know my gift and my curse. I crave flesh, Christian. You

may choose to deny that knowledge, but my hunger cannot.”

Yeah, that was a real problem. A problem Rhys wasn’t sure they

had a solution for. Even if Ceri agreed to stop eating rogues, he still
craved the flesh.

“I have a BDSM club, Ceri. There are some humans that enjoy

getting bitten. Not eaten of course, but bitten. You may want to try
this new approach and see if it satisfies your hunger, your craving.”

Ceri shook his head. “That is like telling me I can drink blood, but

cannot swallow. It won’t work.”

Rhys had an idea. “You have eaten cattle before when no human

was accessible. Can you live off of that, twin?”

“Do not call me your twin, Rhys. You have made your choice, and

it wasn’t me.”

Rhys felt his anger growing. He loved Ceri just as much today as

he did so many years ago. Why couldn’t his twin see this? Just
because he loved Nathaniel, it didn’t mean he couldn’t love Ceri. He
wanted to pound the truth into Ceri, but he knew Ceri wouldn’t listen.
Rhys just prayed that Ceri came around someday to the idea that Rhys
could love more than one person.

“But can you?” Christian asked.
“I can try,” Ceri said.

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Lynn Hagen

“Then that is more than I had hoped for,” Christian said.
Rhys was hoping for more, but he would take what Ceri offered.

At least his twin wasn’t going to accidently ingest that drug or kill
humans.

It was a start.

* * * *

Nathaniel slammed the bedroom door, his heart beating out of

control.

“What’s wrong?” Rhys asked as he appeared in the bedroom. It

still weirded Nathaniel out that Rhys could disseminate, but he had
more pressing problems to deal with than his mate appearing out of
thin air.

“There is a huge fucking dog on the other side of this door,” he

said as he quickly turned the lock on the door. “What vampire keeps a
dog for a pet?”

“A dog?” Rhys asked as he walked toward the door.
“No!” Nathaniel said as he grabbed Rhys’s arm, trying to pull his

mate back from an unthinkable mauling. “He’s huge. He’ll eat you!”

Rhys chuckled. “I highly doubt that. It’s just a dog, Nathaniel.

Most dogs don’t attack just because a person is standing there.”

“They do if they are protecting their territory,” he answered

matter-of-factly. “And from the size of him, he’s going to gobble you
up if you go out there.”

“Move aside, mate. I think I can handle a dog.”
“But he’s huge!”
“You’ve stated that, Nathaniel.”
“But he’s huge!” Nathaniel just couldn’t get the size of the dog

out of his head. The thing was huge!

“So am I, mate,” Rhys said with humor clearly in his voice. “If he

tries to eat me, I’ll run back in here, okay?”

The Dark Side of Love

101

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at Rhys. “Not funny.” It did

Nathaniel’s heart good to see Rhys teasing and playful, but damn, that
dog was huge!

Rhys cracked the door open, looking out into the hallway.

Nathaniel gripped Rhys’s arm, almost pulling the man back into the
bedroom. There was no way he was going to allow Rhys to be eaten
by that dog. No way.

“You mean this dog?” Rhys asked as he squatted down and began

to rub the huge dog behind his ears. “He’s not huge.”

“Says you,” Nathaniel said as he backed away. “Just don’t let him

in.”

Rhys patted the dog on the head and then turned toward

Nathaniel. “Do you fear dogs, Nathaniel?”

“Hell, yeah. Ever since I was bitten as a small boy, I’ve feared

them. They have very sharp teeth.”

“So do I, Nathaniel.” Rhys showed his fangs, as if proving a point.
“They have large mouths,” Nathaniel pointed out. “Dogs go on

instincts. You can’t talk to a dog and let him know you aren’t there to
hurt him.”

“Yes,”—Rhys nodded—“you can.”
“How?” Nathaniel asked.
“By letting them scent you. Dogs are pretty good judges of

character.”

“No way!” Nathaniel nearly shouted. “He is not sniffing me. It

was bad enough when you sniffed all over me in the cave.”

“But you let me.”
“What choice did I have?”
“If you can face me after the dark sleep, you can let a small dog

sniff you, Nathaniel.”

“Hell, no.”
“Is Mango bothering you?” Jacob asked from the doorway.

Nathaniel had met some of the vampires that lived here, and he knew
Jacob was mated to Shelby. He liked Shelby.

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Lynn Hagen

“No, he’s just huge,” Nathaniel said a little more quietly,

embarrassed that everyone was seeing his fear of dogs so plainly on
his face.

“Mango wouldn’t hurt you, Nathaniel. He’s a very good rogue

detector, but he loves to play,” Jacob said.

“Rogue detector?” Nathaniel asked.
“Yeah,” Jacob said. “He barks like crazy when a rogue is near.”
“I’m still not letting him sniff me.” Nathaniel felt foolish, but he

was afraid of dogs. There was nothing anyone could say to change his
mind. Nathaniel squeaked and then ran for the bed when Mango came
running into the bedroom. Mango jumped up onto the bed, sniffing at
Nathaniel wildly.

“Mango, no,” Jacob said as he walked into the bedroom. “That’s

not nice.”

Nathaniel lay there frozen, waiting for the dog to bite him.

Instead, Mango began to lick at his face. “Gross.”

“I think he likes you, Nathaniel,” Rhys said with a wide grin

plastered on his face. Nathaniel glared at Rhys and then looked at the
dog.

“You think so?”
“I think you made a new friend,” Jacob said as he pulled Mango

off of the bed.

“He likes me?” Nathaniel said as he stared at Mango. “But dogs

don’t like people. They bite them.”

“I’m sorry you had such a bad experience as a child, but most

dogs don’t bite unless threatened,” Jacob said as he rubbed his hand
over Mango’s head. Nathaniel must be out of his damn mind, because
he found himself reaching for Mango and then petting his fur.

Mango didn’t growl. Nathaniel let his fingers brush through the

fur, smiling at how soft it felt. “He likes me,” Nathaniel stated this
time.

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103

“I told you,” Rhys said as he sat on the bed, petting Mango as

well. “He’s just a dog. He wants to be petted and played with, but
protects those he loves.”

Nathaniel couldn’t believe he was petting a dog. He had spent the

better part of his life running from them. It was silly, but he felt like
he had accomplished something by facing his fear.

It was a small feat, but one Nathaniel took pride in. Now if he

could only get Ceri to lick his face and be his friend, he could breathe
easier. Okay, maybe not lick his face, but being his mate’s twin’s
enemy was not a comforting feeling.

“Don’t be afraid of him if you see him around, Nathaniel,” Jacob

said as he headed toward the door. “He really is a good dog.”

“I won’t,” Nathaniel said. An urge to wave good-bye to Mango

almost made Nathaniel raise his hand, but he suppressed the urge.
Mango was just a dog, after all.

“You handled that very well,” Rhys said as he closed the bedroom

door.

“Handled what?” Nathaniel asked as he scooted from the bed. “I

don’t know what you are talking about.”

Rhys chuckled. “Your fear, mate. I’m very proud of you.”
Nathaniel quickly turned his head, not wanting Rhys to see the

tears forming in his eyes. When was the last time he had someone say
they were proud of him? Not since his madre. He had been doing
nothing lately to make anyone proud of him. Nathaniel sniffed, trying
his best not to cry. He was not going to cry.

“You faced your fear and overcame it,” Rhys said as he

approached Nathaniel. “It takes a lot of courage to do something like
that.”

Oh hell, he was going to cry.

* * * *

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Lynn Hagen

“What is this?” Rhys asked once more as Nathaniel led him into

what he referred to as a theatre. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be here,
but Nathaniel had seemed so excited to show Rhys what a movie was
that his mate had practically bounced in place.

Christo, Isla, and Sutton had accompanied them, Isla stating that

he hadn’t seen a movie in forever. Rhys wasn’t sure he wanted to see
one at all. He gripped his 3-D glasses in his hand, wondering what in
the hell he was going to do with them. Nathaniel had just handed
them to Rhys, no explanation on how they worked, just what they
were.

“I told you, a movie theatre,” Nathaniel said as he pulled Rhys

along. “We’re catching the late-night movie, so we don’t have to
worry about the sun.”

Rhys glanced around, seeing large images on the wall. “What are

those?” he asked.

“Posters advertising the different movies that are now playing,”

Nathaniel answered as he walked to the counter of food. Rhys wasn’t
sure what his mate was doing, considering Nathaniel could no longer
eat any of that stuff.

“Nathaniel,”—Rhys lowered his voice—“what are you doing?”
Nathaniel ordered his food and then looked up at Rhys. “I know I

can’t eat it, but it’s such a part of the movie experience that I couldn’t
pass it up. I won’t eat any of the food. It’s just for the familiarity.”

That made absolutely no sense to Rhys. Why order something he

couldn’t eat? What was so nostalgic about ordering food for a movie?

Nathaniel grabbed the small box of food as he pointed toward a

hallway. “The one we want is down that hallway.”

“I need to get some popcorn,” Christo said. “You can’t watch a

movie without popcorn.”

“You eat food?” Rhys asked Christo.
“No, I throw the popcorn at the screen.”
“Why?” Rhys asked.

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Christo shrugged. “You just do. I’ve seen humans do it all the

time.”

Rhys was even more confused.
“Come on, big guy,” Nathaniel said as he walked past Rhys.

“Underworld: Awakening is about to start.”

“Now you’ll see how humans portray us.” Sutton snickered as he

walked past Rhys. “It’s pretty damn funny.”

Rhys followed everyone into a larger room with an even larger

screen. He took a seat next to Nathaniel, the other three men sitting a
row in front of them. Rhys settled back, admitting that the seats were
pretty comfortable.

“Here,” Nathaniel said as he grabbed Rhys’s glasses, pulled them

from their plastic, and then placed them on his face. Rhys had an urge
to bat them away, but kept his hands in his lap.

Rhys stiffened when the movie theatre grew dark. He glanced

around to see a handful of humans huddled together in various seats
with their glasses on their faces. Rhys turned back around, looking up
as the movie began to play.

“What is this?” Rhys asked as he reached his hand out, trying to

grab the things projected in front of him. He had never seen anything
so wondrous. As the movie played, Rhys gripped the edge of the seat
in front of him, accidently pulling Christo’s hair as he tried to get a
closer look. It was simply brilliant how humans made images on the
screen. Rhys laughed at a few scenes when the vampires flew down
toward the ground. He had forgotten how fun it was to do such a
stunt.

Rhys growled when Christo and Isla began to throw their popcorn

at the movie picture. “I like this,” he said disapprovingly at the two.

“It’s tradition to throw the stuff, man,” Isla said as he handed

Rhys some popcorn. “Try it.”

Rhys threw the popcorn, wincing when it hit the screen. He

glanced around, seeing a couple of humans smiling at him. He

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chuckled and turned back around, seeing Nathaniel staring up at him,
a wide grin on his face.

“I’m glad you like this.”
“I’m having a great time, mate. Thank you.” Rhys leaned down,

kissing Nathaniel on his lips before settling back. Nathaniel pushed
into Rhys’s side, cuddling closely as they watched the movie.

When it was finally over, Rhys was filled with a humming that he

had never thought he would feel from simply watching a movie. He
held his enthusiasm in check as they exited the theatre.

“Are there more movies we can see?” he asked casually.
“Not tonight,” Sutton answered. “That was the last showing.”
Rhys kept his disappointment to himself as he escorted Nathaniel

outside. He would have loved to have seen another, but they always
had tomorrow night.

“Shit,” Nathaniel said under his breath, but Rhys caught the word.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, just keep moving.” Nathaniel pulled at Rhys’s arm,

hurrying him toward the street. Rhys glanced around, trying to find
who was making his mate so nervous. He spotted the two men that
had been in Nathaniel’s hallway, using their weapons against Rhys.

He pushed Nathaniel toward Isla.
“Rhys, no!” Nathaniel shouted as Rhys headed toward the

humans. He was not going to allow them to breathe a second longer.
Not only did his mate fear the two, but they were evil. Evil men
should not live.

“You can’t do this, Rhys,” Christo said as he caught up with him.

“Not in public.”

“Then I will secure them and take them back to Christian’s club.”
“Not happening,” Christo said as he stepped in front of Rhys. “If

you want them that badly, then we have to sneak up on them. You
can’t just kill them for every human to witness.”

“Why?” Rhys asked. “They tried to kill me. Why should I not

return the favor?”

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“Because, damn it,” Christo said as he glanced over at the two

humans who were hurrying away. “You just can’t.”

“That is not acceptable,” Rhys said as he pushed Christo aside.

“Now move and go watch my mate.”

Before Christo could argue, Rhys went after the two humans,

using his race speed to catch up with them. He grabbed both men by
the back of their shirts, baring his fangs as he bit into one of their
necks.

“Rhys, no!” Nathaniel shouted just as flashing lights almost

blinded Rhys.

“Freeze!”
Rhys turned to see more humans with guns. They were standing

by a car with swirling lights. “Let them go, now.”

Rhys saw the three vampires who had accompanied him and his

mate to the movies, and they were paler than normal.

“What the hell are you?” one of the men with a gun pointed at

Rhys asked.

As a small crowd formed, Rhys roared and then disseminated

from the street, taking the two evil humans with him.

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Chapter Nine

“I couldn’t scrub their minds,” Christo said as he paced

Christian’s office. “There were too many humans on the street.”

Christian stood from behind his desk, cursing under his breath.

And here he thought Ceri would be the one to out them. Boy, had he
called this one wrong. He ran his hand through his long hair,
wondering how he was going to fix this. “How many?”

“There were two cops and maybe ten witnesses standing off to the

side. It was late, and thank fuck for that, or there would have been
more humans seeing what Rhys was doing.”

“Where is Nathaniel?” Christian asked as he stepped around his

desk.

“At home, pacing and crying, worrying that Rhys is going to be

killed.” Christo shoved his hands into his front pockets, shaking his
head. “I barely got Nathaniel calmed before coming to you.”

“Do you know who the humans were?” It was a long shot, but if

they could track the humans down, they could minimize the damage.

“Isla acted as if he were a part of the gawking crowd. He managed

to get five of the names, but the other five weren’t being cooperative.
I sent a few men out to scrub the humans’ minds that Isla could
identify, but we have five more to find, plus the cops.”

Letting the other five leave without knowing who they were was

going to be a bitch to fix. He just prayed no one used their cell phones
to record what Rhys had done. “Have Jacob check the Internet for any
video that might have been taken. If this goes worldwide, we’re
screwed.”

Christo gaped at Christian. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

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“Just do it,” Christian said as he opened the blood call, searching

for Rhys. As soon as he got a lock on his brother, Christian vanished
from his office, appearing in their childhood palace. Rhys was pacing
his bedroom, the two humans lying on his bed, unconscious.

“Rhys?”
“I couldn’t do it.” Rhys growled as he continued to pace. “I

wanted them dead for what they did not only to my mate, but every
other human who is addicted to drugs. But I couldn’t kill them.” Rhys
sounded pissed.

Christian saw blood on one of the human’s necks and walked

closer to examine the wound. “We have to scrub their memories and
return them home.”

Rhys rounded, glaring at Christian. “How do you do it, brother?

How do you ignore what these evil men do?”

“You have to pick and choose your battles or you’ll go insane,

Rhys,” Christian said as he waved his hand over the humans’ heads,
replacing their memories of what had happened with a memory of this
being a stunt and act. He made the humans think that this was
something to entertain the humans with, but all fake.

“It drives me mad knowing there are humans out there that are so

evil that others cringe at their sight. I can feel their vile intentions
crawling down my skin, Christian. How do I ignore that?”

“You must learn to live with those feelings as I have, Rhys. We

can’t save them all.”

“Why?” Rhys asked desperately. “Why can’t we save the children

who cry when their very own parents abuse them? Why can’t we save
men and woman who are beaten from just being in the same room as
their abusers? Why can’t we stop people like them,”—Rhys pointed at
the two men on the bed—“from peddling their poison? Tell me why
we can’t kill them, because I’m having a hard time understanding
these modern laws, Christian.”

“Because as faulty as it is, humans have a judicial system that they

use to imprison those who are evil.”

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“Imprison them?” Rhys asked in astonishment. “They shouldn’t

be imprisoned. They should be executed. There is no rehabilitation for
an abuser or pedophile. There is no saving a man who can kill his
loved ones without remorse. There is no saving murderers and
sinners, Christian. You know this as well as I do.”

“There are many who would argue that point, Rhys. There are a

great deal of humans who think the mind can be altered or repaired.”

“I don’t like it here,” Rhys said softly as he turned back toward

the window. “I don’t like these modern times.”

Christian wanted to reach out to Rhys, to comfort his brother, but

he knew Rhys was working things out in his mind. “There are a lot of
good things about these modern times, Rhys.”

“Like what?” he asked as he turned toward Christian.
“Did you enjoy the movie?”
A small grin formed on Rhys’s face. “Tremendously.”
“Have your mate show you how the city is lit up at night. Have

him show you how to dance to soft music as he is encircled in your
arms. Take pictures with Nathaniel when you both are smiling at
being in love. Have Nathaniel show you how to play chess or how to
ride a bicycle. There are many wondrous things to experience, Rhys.
These times are not all evil.”

“Can Nathaniel show me how to operate one of those cars?”
Christian chuckled. “Yes, but I would suggest using a deserted

parking lot. It isn’t as easy as it looks.”

“I don’t like these modern times, Christian, but I’ll try.”
Christian placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, gently

squeezing it. “That’s all I can ask. Go home to your mate. I’ll clean
this mess up.”

Rhys nodded. “Thanks.”
Christian watched as Rhys vanished, and then turned to the two

prone men. He placed his hand on their heads once again, imbedding
in them the thought of not selling drugs any longer and turning in

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111

whoever was involved. He knew how much this meant to Rhys, and
this much Christian could do for his brother.

* * * *

Nathaniel launched himself from the bed and threw himself into

Rhys’s arms. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again! I was going
out of my mind with worry that you were going to be shot, or worse.”

He tilted his head to the side when Rhys buried his face in

Nathaniel’s neck, inhaling deeply. “There you go again with that
sniffing thing.”

Rhys chuckled as he pulled back, his blue eyes sparkling. “Thank

you.”

“For what?” Nathaniel asked.
“For being you,” Rhys answered and then took Nathaniel’s lips in

a soft kiss. Nathaniel moaned as he opened wider for Rhys.

“You scared me,” Nathaniel said as Rhys released his lips and

then began to nibble his way down Nathaniel’s neck.

“I know,” Rhys said. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You owe me a blow job,” Nathaniel said as he gripped Rhys’s

hair, tugging at the silky strands.

Rhys grinned. “That I do.”
Nathaniel wasn’t stupid. He quickly peeled his jeans off, tossing

them aside, hearing the change fall to the floor. He pulled his shirt off,
tossing it aside, and then laid himself out on the bed. “Have at it.”

Rhys tickled Nathaniel’s belly with a soft kiss, making Nathaniel

squirm. Rhys placed his hands on Nathaniel’s waist, holding him still.
Rhys didn’t make Nathaniel wait long. He engulfed Nathaniel’s cock,
increasing his suction as his tongue danced along Nathaniel’s shaft.

“Oh, god.” Nathaniel fisted his hands into Rhys’s hair, pulling and

tugging as Rhys slid his hand between Nathaniel’s ass cheeks.

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“Oh, fuck. Gonna come. Not yet. Rhys…” Nathaniel knew he

made no damn sense, and he wasn’t supposed to if the blow job was
done right. And Rhys was doing it very right.

Nathaniel fought the growing sensation as his legs began to shake.

Rhys knew exactly what he was doing. The man gave one hell of a
blow job.

Rhys grabbed Nathaniel’s dick, laving it from tip to balls.

Nathaniel screamed, begged, and whimpered when Rhys’s wonderful
mouth left his erection.

“Don’t you dare stop.”
“But you just begged me to stop.”
Had he? “I didn’t mean it. Don’t listen to a damn word I say.”

Nathaniel hitched his hips, trying his best to get his cock back into
Rhys’s warm mouth. Rhys shoved Nathaniel’s legs back, his tongue
bathing Nathaniel’s perineum and then his balls. He could feel Rhys’s
breath on his skin, and it made him cry out.

“Your mouth. I need your mouth before I come.”
Rhys lifted his head, swallowing Nathaniel’s cock once more as

Nathaniel shouted and his ass clenched. Rhys’s fingers were still
buried inside of him, making Nathaniel’s orgasm grow higher.

“That’s it, mate. Give me your seed.”
Nathaniel’s muscles seemed to lock into place as his balls

emptied. Rhys had pulled away, milking Nathaniel’s cock, watching
intently as Nathaniel’s seed fell onto his chest. Rhys leaned forward,
licking away the ropes of cum that lay on Nathaniel’s body.

Rhys wasted no time in lubing Nathaniel and then sinking his

cock deep into Nathaniel’s ass. Nathaniel rested his ankles on Rhys’s
shoulders as his mate grabbed his hips and thrust inside of Nathaniel.

Nathaniel pulled Rhys down, although the move made his legs

bend a little too far back. He’d deal with the discomfort. Right now
Nathaniel wanted Rhys. He bit Rhys’s bottom lips, sucking it into his
mouth as he teased the lip with his teeth.

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113

Rhys groaned, opening his mouth wider so Nathaniel could play at

his bottom lip. When he tasted blood in his mouth, Nathaniel pulled
back. “I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

Rhys thrust deeper, sucking his bottom lip in and then licking the

blood away. “You’re allowed to bite me, Nathaniel.”

“I can?” Nathaniel had bitten Rhys, and fed from him, when he

was first converted, but Shelby had showed him what crimson was.
Nathaniel liked how it tasted. Rhys hadn’t said anything about
Nathaniel drinking from him, so Nathaniel had never asked. From the
sweet blood in his mouth, damn, he had been missing out.

Rhys tilted his head. “Go ahead.”
Nathaniel tried to lean forward, but he was already turning into a

pretzel. “You’ll have to let my legs go.”

Rhys let Nathaniel’s legs slip from his shoulders as Nathaniel

leaned forward, sinking his teeth into Rhys’s neck. The warm liquid
splashed onto his tongue, making Nathaniel groan as he drank from
Rhys.

As soon as Nathaniel released Rhys, and licked the wound closed,

Rhys pulled out of Nathaniel, making Nathaniel whimper, before
Rhys flipped him over, sliding back into Nathaniel’s ass.

“On your knees,” Rhys said as he pulled Nathaniel back by his

hips. Nathaniel pushed to his knees, arching his back as Rhys
continued to delve into his body with deep strokes. His arms shook,
along with his legs, as Nathaniel felt his second orgasm building.

“Harder, Rhys,” Nathaniel shouted as he grabbed his cock,

stroking it to Rhys’s rhythm. His head fell back onto his shoulders as
Nathaniel shouted, his seed spilling into his hand as Rhys roared
behind him.

Nathaniel was done for. He had no energy left. From worrying to

getting fucked properly, he was wasted.

Rhys dropped down next to Nathaniel, his skin moist with sweat

as he threw an arm over his eyes. Nathaniel wanted to cuddle, but hell

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if he could find the energy to move, so he settled for tossing his arm
over Rhys’s stomach as he closed his eyes.

* * * *

“Thank you for calming your brother,” Gavino said as he sat

down at the table in Christian’s office.

“He has found other ways of satisfying his appetite,” Christian

said as he sat back. Ceri had agreed to try cattle, and Christian was
thankful for that. He had worried that Ceri would become
uncontrollable, and a part of him still did, but so far, so good. “Has
the rogue problem gotten worse since Ceri has left the sewers?”

“No, and it cleared out a lot of rogues for us. As much as I bitched

about him being down there, he took care of a shitload of them.”
Gavino grinned. “If he didn’t enjoy eating people, I just might have
gotten along with him.”

“He is…unique,” Christian admitted. He watched as August

brought a tray of crimson in and set it down on the table. Christian
wondered where Brandon, August’s brother, was. He had saved
Brandon from the Northern coven when Brandon had killed some of
the old leader’s followers. But after killing those vampires, it wasn’t
safe for Brandon to be there any longer. Christian had taken Brandon,
along with his brother August, back to The Manacle with him. August
was working out great, Brandon, not so much. The guy had a
propensity for trouble.

“Thank you, August,” Christian said as the smaller vampire set

the tray down. Before Christian could pick a wineglass up, August
squeezed past him and tried to serve Gavino. The young vampire
tripped over something on the floor and went flying toward the table.
Christian grabbed for August to stop his head from cracking against
the table, but Gavino got to August first.

August’s cheeks colored as he quickly stood up. Christian noticed

how Gavino’s hand lingered on August’s arm before releasing it.

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“Careful,” Gavino said as he sat back, but kept his eye on August.

“You could have gotten hurt.”

Christian was glad Gavino had quick reflexes, because he wasn’t

sure he could have stopped August’s head from connecting with the
table. August darted a glance at Christian and then Gavino, nodding
his head rapidly as he practically ran from the room.

“Is there something I should know?” Christian asked with a smile

on his face.

“Not really,” Gavino grumbled.
Christian left the subject alone. He could see the annihilator didn’t

want to talk about it. “Is there anything else going on that I should
know about?” he asked as he sipped at his wineglass.

“Jacob took care of the Internet. He said he hasn’t seen anything

pop up from what Rhys had done down by the movies. Isla and
Christo are tracking the last five people down who saw what your
brother did, but the memories you planted into those two men’s heads
seem to be working. They were on the news saying it was a stunt they
pulled off for shits and giggles. The media isn’t too happy with them,
but it worked.”

Christian breathed a sigh of relief.
“But there’s more.”
Christian sat his glass down and laced his fingers together. “Go

on.”

“I went into their neighborhood to make sure they quit dealing

like you asked.”

“And?”
“They work for some human scumbag named Manny. He wasn’t

too happy when his two top men quit on him. One of them ended up
eating a bullet. The other is in the hospital in a coma. Do you want me
to deal with this Manny guy?”

Christian sat there as still as a statue for a moment. He hadn’t

even thought about the repercussions behind the two men leaving the
drug dealer. It never occurred to him what might happen to the men.

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The only thing Christian had thought about was stopping Rhys from
killing them.

Shit.
“No, I’ll look into this Manny character myself.”
Gavino nodded and then stood. “Then I’ll get back to work.”
Christian sat back, wondering how he was going to deal with this

situation. It was a human problem, and having two of the drug dealers
off of the street may have saved lives, but he wasn’t a fool. He knew
that two more would take their place by tomorrow morning. It was an
endless battle, and a battle that did not belong to him. Keeping the
vampire hunters away from his coven was hard enough. Keeping Ceri
in control was even harder. Did he really want to take up another fight
that was a growing problem in the human world? The drug enforcers
of mankind couldn’t even keep the drugs off of the streets. Christian
decided to let it go. Even if he dealt with Manny, one more would
replace him.

It was a never-ending circle that Christian just didn’t have the

energy for.

* * * *

Rhys glanced around the club, taking in deep breaths and letting

them out slowly. He could do this. He could walk among the evil men
and not kill each and every last one of them. Christian had told him
that he had to pick and choose his battles, and committing mass
slaughter was frowned upon in these times.

But damn if it wasn’t tempting as hell.
His skin crawled with the wicked, but Rhys concentrated on the

vampires at the bar.

“Can I get anything for you, Prince?” Winston, the bartender,

asked.

Rhys waved a hand in dismissal. “Don’t call me that. Rhys will do

just fine.”

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“You got it.” Winston grabbed a glass from under the bar and

filled it with blood. “On the house.”

Rhys picked the glass up and sniffed it, taking a small sip. It

wasn’t bad, but the crimson wasn’t fresh from the vein, the way Rhys
preferred his blood. In a pinch, it would do.

“So, are you planning on sticking around here?” Winston asked.
Rhys sat the glass down, looking Winston over. “You do not fear

me.” It was a statement of observation. He could see the truth in
Winston’s eyes. He really didn’t fear Rhys. “Why? Everyone else
hurries away from me or stumbles over themselves to please me. You
stand here wanting to talk.”

“I’m a bartender. That’s what I do.” Winston grinned. “Everyone

comes to me with their problems, and I listen.”

“But I did not come to you with a problem,” Rhys pointed out.

“You asked me a question.”

“And thank goodness for that. I like my job, but once in a while I

like to just talk without playing shrink to everyone.”

Rhys opened his mouth to answer Winston when Nathaniel

hurried over, pulling on Rhys’s arm. “We need to talk.”

“Later,” Winston said as he walked away.
Nathaniel pulled on Rhys until they were standing in the hallway

leading to Christian’s office. A few humans had wandered down the
hallway but took one look at Rhys and then fled the other way.
Nathaniel quickly snapped his head around, making Rhys look around
as well. “What is wrong?”

“I was in the back hallway over by the BDSM rooms with Shelby

and Connor, and I saw some of the vampires talking with some guy
on the dance floor. At first, I thought nothing of it. The guy smelled
funny, like a wet dog. By the way, that’s really creepy that I can tell
different species by their scent—”

“You are getting off track, Nathaniel.”

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“Right. So anyway, Shelby and Connor were talking with

Vaughn, and I was watching the dog-smelling guy. I know you won’t
like this, but I know when a deal is going down.”

“Deal going down?”
“Yeah. The dog-smelling guy was dealing drugs. Only, it was in a

small brown bottle, and not in a little baggie.”

Rhys stepped closer to Nathaniel, sniffing at his neck, looking for

that vile odor his mate had smelled like when he was human.

“Will you stop that?” Nathaniel said as he smacked at Rhys’s arm.

“I didn’t buy any. I’m past that. My cravings are gone, and I’m happy
as fuck about that. I’m not trying to screw this life up like I did with
my old one. But you have a drug dealer in this club.”

Rhys’s first instinct was to find the dealer and rip his head from

his shoulders. He stepped toward the club intending to do just that.
Nathaniel’s hand on his arm was the only thing that stopped Rhys
from going after the shifter.

“Wait,” Nathaniel said. “You know as well as I do that you just

might eat him. You better get Christian in on this before we have
another scene like we did at the theatre.”

That stopped Rhys in his tracks. He knew Nathaniel told the truth,

but it burned his male ego to have to go get help for a problem he
could solve within seconds. He really didn’t like this new world he
now lived in. It seemed like a man wasn’t allowed to be a man.

Turning on his heel, Rhys walked into Christian’s office. He

spotted his brother sitting on the couch with his mates, holding his
son. Rhys studied the small family for a moment, feeling a pang in his
chest. What would it be like to have a family with Nathaniel? What
would it be like to become a father? Rhys had never thought about
warning Nathaniel about becoming pregnant. With everything else
going on, the idea to warn him never even occurred to Rhys.

“Yes?” Christian asked as he handed his son to Yasuko and stood.
“We have a problem.”

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119

Minsheng was off of the couch and following behind Christian.

Rhys would never understand the little man. He seemed very
protective of Christian and the rest of his family. Rhys had never seen
anyone who looked like he would kill a man in a matter of seconds
for coming near the ones he loved. A lot of things confused him these
days, but love most of all.

“What is it?” Christian asked as he approached.
“Nathaniel spotted a drug dealer here in the club.” Rhys’s eyes

wandered back over to Yasuko and the baby. He wasn’t sure why, but
the two fascinated him. He knew that the child was his nephew, but he
had never gotten this close. Christian feared Rhys and Ceri around his
child. Rhys had felt that emotion coming from his brother. And
honestly, he didn’t blame Christian, but it still hurt like hell.

“Who spotted him?” Minsheng asked.
“My mate,” Rhys answered as he turned back to Christian. “He

said the dealer smelled like wet dog.”

“A shifter,” Christian growled. “I’ve had incidents with other

shifters dealing Liquid Wrath in my club before.” Christian headed
for the door, but Rhys was frozen in place as he watched Yasuko and
the baby. Why it held his gaze, he wasn’t sure. Was it the small babe
in Yasuko’s arms or the look of complete happiness on the man’s
face?

He just didn’t know.
“Hello, Rhys,” Yasuko said as he dipped his head in greeting. “It

is nice to see you.”

Rhys nodded numbly, staring at his nephew. He had only seen the

infant a handful of times. Christian would never let him close, and
rightly so. He was a killer. “What’s his name?” If the baby was a girl,
he’d apologize.

“Minzhe,” Yasuko said proudly.
“Are you coming?”
Rhys turned to see Minsheng watching him, a look in his eyes that

told of pain and torture if anyone went near the two on the couch.

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“Would you like to hold him?” Yasuko asked as he pushed away

from the couch, walking toward Rhys. He stopped right in front of
Rhys and lifted the baby up.

Rhys swallowed hard. He could feel panic seize his chest as he

stared down at the smallest little creature he had ever laid eyes on.
Minzhe was so tiny that Rhys was afraid he would crush the infant
with his bare hands. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I’ll hurt him.”

“No,” Yasuko said as he shook his head and smiled. “You won’t.”
“He is your nephew,” Christian said as he stepped next to Rhys.

Rhys almost jumped when he felt Christian’s hand come to rest on his
shoulder. He couldn’t remember the last time his brother had touched
him in simple friendship. Was that what a family did to a person?
“You may be a warrior of old, but you must embrace your…softer
side.”

Rhys wasn’t too sure about his softer side. He craved a family of

his own. But now that he was looking down at his nephew, he wasn’t
too sure he was father material.

“Are you mad?” Minsheng snapped as he stepped between Rhys

and Yasuko. “He eats people, Christian! You cannot trust him with
our son!”

“That may be true, mate,” Christian said as he plucked the baby

from Yasuko’s hands and helped Rhys in holding his nephew, “but he
is also a man with wants, dreams, and needs. He is not just a warrior.”

“If you drop him, I’ll cut off your legs at the knees,” Minsheng

said with a nasty little scowl on his face. His claws had extended
when he brought them up and glared at Rhys. He was clearly warning
Rhys, both in words and actions.

That so did not help Rhys’s nerves. He stood there stiffly, looking

down at his nephew and felt a long-ago yearning well up inside of
him. Ceri had called him soft for longing for a family, but Rhys
wasn’t soft. He would give all that he had and more to have a family
with Nathaniel.

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His mate may have been a lot of things when he was human, but

Rhys knew in his heart that Nathaniel would make a great father.

* * * *

Nathaniel walked into Christian’s office, wondering what was

taking Rhys so long. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Rhys
holding a baby in his arms. He leaned against the doorframe, amazed
at how right Rhys looked with an infant in his arms. Nathaniel felt a
pang in his chest, wishing he could keep that raptured look on Rhys’s
face forever. If he had the power to give Rhys a child, he would.

Rhys’s expression was so serene, so peaceful. Nathaniel fell even

more in love with Rhys at that moment. He knew that no matter what
they had been through, or what was to come, that he would do
whatever it took to make Rhys look that way toward him.

It was actually a little terrifying watching Rhys hold the baby. Not

because he was an ancient vampire holding an innocent infant, but
because Nathaniel could see how much the man had come to mean to
him in such a little amount of time. If Nathaniel wasn’t careful, he
was pretty sure Rhys could become his entire world.

Nathaniel backed out of the office, giving Rhys his time with his

nephew. It was their moment, a moment Nathaniel didn’t want to
spoil. He felt tears in his eyes at seeing Rhys look so human, so
fatherly. The man wasn’t just a big brute with muscles. Rhys had a
heart of gold, and Nathaniel felt like shit for putting his mate through
the wringer when they first met.

Maybe it was time for both of them to let go of their pasts and

look forward to the future they could have together. But first,
Nathaniel needed to deal with the present. He drew in a deep breath
and then walked back out into the bar.

He could do this.
Really.

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Lynn Hagen

Chapter Ten

Nathaniel felt like a snitch, plain and simple. In his old

neighborhood, that would have gotten him shunned and possibly shot.
Here, everyone was interested in what he had to say. It was an odd
feeling, and Nathaniel wasn’t sure he liked the attention. He might as
well have had a sign above his head with a neon blinking light that
read Snitch Right Here.

“Point him out to me, Nathaniel,” Christian said as he stood there

in the far corner of the club, looking frustrated as hell. “This feels a
little too familiar to me, and I’m getting very tired of having to find
dealers in my club. If I didn’t think it would scare everyone away, I’d
have every single person patted down before they entered.”

Nathaniel knew that no one wanted to go to a club where they

were patted down first. He sure as shit wouldn’t want to. Not that he
was holding anything, but it was a feeling of invasion when someone
patted him down. He didn’t like it. “He’s right there,” Nathaniel said
as he jerked his head toward the culprit. Damn, he really did feel like
a lowlife snitch.

“You’ll have to be a little more specific,” Christian said. “Your

chin jerk just pointed to half the club.”

Nathaniel sighed. “It’s the guy wearing the leather pants.”
“Again, half the club, Nathaniel.”
“Why are you not telling him who it is?” Rhys asked.
“Because,” Nathaniel said, “I feel like a rat.”
“There is no shame in telling me who brings harm to my club,

Nathaniel. This is supposed to be a safe place for humans to party and

The Dark Side of Love

123

vampires to feed. If someone is here selling their poison, I want it
stopped.”

Nathaniel agreed, but he still felt like a rat. His took a deep breath,

feeling his lips slightly tremble. “Him.” Nathaniel pointed directly at
the man who smelled like a wet dog. He wasn’t upset about telling the
prince who was selling drugs. No, Nathaniel was upset because Rhys
had thought that Nathaniel had bought drugs. Rhys had a right to
assume Nathaniel had done that, but it still didn’t soften the sting of
knowing his mate still looked at him that way.

Nathaniel took in a shaky breath when Rhys slid his arms around

Nathaniel’s shoulders. It was comforting, but Nathaniel still felt
bruised from Rhys’s question.

“You feel a little warm,” Rhys said as he laid the back of his hand

on Nathaniel’s forehead.

“I thought vampires didn’t get sick,” Nathaniel said as Rhys

turned him around.

“They don’t.” Rhys was looking at him strangely. “Is anything

else wrong on your body?”

Nathaniel loved the way Rhys talked. He tried hard to talk the way

Nathaniel and everyone else from this century spoke, but his thick
accent, along with the culture he had grown up in, was very
prominent in his speech.

“My stomach hurts, and I feel a little tired. But that doesn’t mean

anything, right?” he asked as he watched Christian and a few other
vampires approach the smelly man. The guy looked like he was
arguing, and Christian looked calm as he spoke with the man.

“What are they going to do with him?” Nathaniel asked.
“That is entirely up to my brother.”
Right, Nathaniel didn’t need to know. He really didn’t.
“I am told that the vampires have a doctor. Would you like me to

fetch him for you?”

Did he? Not really. Nathaniel had felt worse than this and had

survived. “No.”

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Lynn Hagen

Rhys slid his arm around Nathaniel’s neck, cradling Nathaniel in

the crook of it as they watched the vampires who were with Christian
grab the man and take him to a back room. Nathaniel glanced up at
Rhys when his mate squeezed his neck with the crook of his arm,
smiling down at him. “We can go.”

“Yeah.” Nathaniel was tired, feeling the need to lie down. He was

still adjusting to his new life, and there was just too much excitement
around here for one day. He walked to the back hallway with Rhys,
and then they appeared in their bedroom.

Nathaniel crawled up onto the bed, yawning as he pulled the

covers over his shoulder and took a nap.

* * * *

Rhys sat on the bed, staring into Nathaniel’s eyes as his mate

woke. “Your eyes, they are black.”

Nathaniel lifted his hand, feeling his face. “Like bruised?”
“No.” Rhys shook his head. “The irises are no longer brown. They

are black.”

He watched as his mate pushed the covers aside and ran to the

bathroom. Rhys was up and running when he heard his mate shout.

“Why are my eyes black?” he asked as he pulled the skin down to

examine them further. “My eyes shouldn’t be black. Is it because I’m
a vampire now? Is it some delayed transformation?”

Rhys could see Nathaniel was trying to hold it together. He pulled

Nathaniel into his arms, resting his chin on his mate’s head. “I’ll
summon the doctor.”

“Okay,” Nathaniel said as he looked at his eyes once more in the

mirror. Rhys left his mate to examine his eyes as he disseminated
back to the club. He found Christian in one of the back rooms.

“My mate needs a doctor.”
Christian nodded. “I’ll have him sent to the manor. Is everything

all right?”

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125

“His eyes are black,” Rhys said as he looked around the room.

Christian’s vampires were there, and so was the shifter.

“He is with child, Rhys.”
Rhys stared at Christian as if he were speaking another language.

He just stood there, frozen to the spot. There was no way he had heard
his brother correctly. Did he? “What did you just say?”

Christian walked away from the shifter, placing his hand on

Rhys’s shoulder and guiding him to one corner. “Your mate is with
child. The black eyes are a sure sign, but I’ll have the doctor examine
him.”

Rhys wasn’t sure what to say. He just stood there staring at

Christian, but not seeing him. His mind was racing, his heart beating
hard as he thought about Nathaniel carrying his child. “I have to go.”
He disappeared before Christian said another word.

He found Nathaniel standing by the bed, rubbing his eyes as if he

could make them change back to their original color. “Did you find
the doctor?” Nathaniel asked as he kept rubbing his eyes.

Rhys stood there watching his mate, smiling. He couldn’t stop the

smile from forming. He was going to have a family for the first time
in his life. He felt as though a part of him was complete as he watched
his mate damn near rub his eyes out. Grabbing Nathaniel’s hands,
Rhys pulled them from his mate’s face. “Stop before you cause
bruising or irritation.”

“But they shouldn’t be black,” Nathaniel complained.
“The doctor will be here soon.” Rhys debated on whether to tell

Nathaniel what he had just learned or wait for the doctor to confirm it.
Maybe it was better if the doctor confirmed it. That way, if Nathaniel
didn’t take the news so well, the doctor would be right there to help.

Rhys jerked back and growled when he saw Ceri appear right

behind Nathaniel. His lip was curled as he grabbed Nathaniel and
disappeared.

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Lynn Hagen

“No!” Rhys shouted, but his brother was gone before he could

even reach out and grab his mate to safety. What the hell had Ceri just
done?

* * * *

“He won’t find you,” Ceri said as he shoved Nathaniel to the

floor. “I’ve closed our link. Not even the blood call will help him.”

Nathaniel stayed down. He knew a madman when he saw one.

Ceri’s blue eyes were wild as he glared at Nathaniel and then walked
over to a large chair in front of a roaring fire. Looking around,
Nathaniel could see that they were in some kind of lodge, or maybe a
wooden cabin. He wasn’t sure.

“You have taken what I cherish most. You will pay for that,

junkie.”

Nathaniel practically bit his tongue off before Ceri bit it off for

him. He was about to give the man a piece of his mind, but he knew
better. Ceri didn’t have all of his marbles.

“I didn’t take him from you, Ceri. I tried to run, but he came after

me.” Nathaniel had to think of a way out of this. He had to keep the
nutty twin calm.

“That’s because he is your mate. Rhys would do anything to keep

you, even throw me away.”

Nathaniel pulled his legs to his chest, feeling a chill seep into him

that wasn’t there moments before. Ceri didn’t look like he would
listen to anything Nathaniel had to say. He bit his bottom lip,
wondering how in the hell he was going to get out of this mess. Ceri
wasn’t a man that he could talk any sense to.

“You practically threw yourself at Rhys from the moment he rose

from the ground,” Ceri accused.

“Are you serious? He looked like a mummy the first time I saw

him,” Nathaniel said before he could think better of his outburst.

“Are you saying my twin doesn’t please you?”

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127

Nathaniel was fighting a battle he wasn’t going to win. It seemed

no matter what he said, Ceri was going to twist his words around. “He
does now.”

“Those are details I’d rather not hear about,” Ceri said as he

dropped down into a large wooden seat that had furs covering the
chair from back to floor. Just exactly where the hell were they?
Nathaniel glanced up at the window to see snow falling in a heavy
curtain. They weren’t in the city. It was too warm for snow.

“You know,” Nathaniel said as he enjoyed the warmth of the fire

that was crackling behind him, “Rhys can love two people.”

“Why, does he have another mate I’m unaware of?”
Nathaniel rolled his eyes. The man was as thickheaded as they

came. “No. I was talking about you and me. Just because he loves me,
doesn’t mean he stopped caring about you.”

Ceri gave a quick glance over to Nathaniel and then studied the

fire. “A man cannot love more than one person. It is not possible.”

“Do you love Rhys?”
“Of course I do.”
“Do you love Christian?”
Ceri opened his mouth to answer and then closed it, sitting further

back into the chair as he gazed out of the window. Nathaniel could
tell he struck a nerve. Ceri was still pissed at Christian for putting him
to sleep, but he couldn’t deny to Nathaniel that he loved his eldest
brother. Ceri’s brows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched, but he
didn’t say another word. That was fine by Nathaniel.

He curled up on the furs Ceri had pushed him down on, feeling

tired as hell. He shouldn’t be going to sleep with a loony in the same
room, but Nathaniel was finding it hard to keep his eyes open.

“And when the baby comes, will Rhys have room for me then?”
Nathaniel sat up, suddenly wide awake. “What baby?”
Ceri’s head turned slowly, like in the movies when a person

knows the monster is behind them but is afraid to look. His eyes
widened, and then he caught his surprise and hid it. “My, my. Tell me

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Lynn Hagen

my twin did not warn you of our lineage. Your eyes have turned
black, Nathaniel. That is the sign of carrying a child in vampires.”

Nathaniel was lost, but he didn’t want Ceri to have the upper

hand. Call it stubbornness, but he didn’t want it to seem like Rhys had
hid anything from him. “He told me.”

Ceri threw his head back and laughed, the sound filling the room.

It was very strange staring at Ceri when he looked identical to Rhys.

“You lie, Nathaniel.”
At least the man hadn’t called him a junkie again.
“Rhys did not tell you that the original vampires can impregnate

their mates or anyone they sleep with.”

Rhys was in big trouble for leaving that bit of information out of

his résumé. Nathaniel was going to have a long talk with his mate
about keeping secrets. “He may have forgotten to mention it.”

Ceri sighed. “Rhys was always the sentimental one, pining for a

family of his own. If Christian had not put us in the ground, Rhys
would have a legion of children right now.”

Nathaniel had to remember to send Christian a thank-you card.

“And you think that is a bad thing?”

“It makes him weak. Our enemies would have something tangible

to use against him. I have told Rhys time and again to let that dream
rest, but he still talked of children. His mind is like an old woman’s
sometimes, wishing for things he cannot have.”

Nathaniel was not going to point out that Rhys could have it. If he

was indeed carrying Rhys’s child, Nathaniel was keeping the babe no
matter what. Danger or not, this was his shot at a family he thought he
would never have.

He was still in shock that he was pregnant, but he wasn’t going to

dwell on that thought right now. The only thing he needed to
concentrate on was getting out of here, alive.

“And what do you dream of, Ceri? What do you want out of life?”

The Dark Side of Love

129

Nathaniel moved back as Ceri stood, his blue eyes blazing as he

glared down at Nathaniel. “My wishes are not for your consumption.
Do not try to befriend me.”

Ceri was a hard nut to crack, but Nathaniel caught a glimmer of

longing in Ceri’s eyes before he turned away. It seemed Rhys wasn’t
the only one wanting things he thought he couldn’t have. Ceri wanted
something. It was in his eyes.

“You may rest. I will not harm you. As angry as I am with my

twin right now, I would not hurt him in that way.”

That was a load off of Nathaniel’s mind. He still didn’t trust Ceri

though. The man was a loose cannon. He could change his mind in
five minutes. But Nathaniel didn’t want Ceri saying anything if he
didn’t rest. He lay down on the pelts, but kept his eyes glued on
Rhys’s twin.

Nathaniel yawned. “Then why did you take me?” He curled his

lips in, wishing he hadn’t opened his mouth. He was tired, and his
damn tongue had betrayed him. He just prayed Ceri didn’t hand him
his ass for the question.

“I am lost, Nathaniel, if you must know.” Ceri let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t not know how to win Rhys’s favor back.”

“Well, taking me didn’t score you any brownie points.”
“I do not plan on keeping you. I just—” Ceri turned away,

walking toward the window and placing his hands on the sill. The
man looked totally lost. Nathaniel wasn’t sure what to do. He
shouldn’t be feeling sorry for the guy, but he was.

“You just needed someone to talk to?” Nathaniel ventured.
“I am not weak,” Ceri growled, but didn’t turn around.
“Talking to someone about how you feel isn’t weak, Ceri.

Everybody needs someone to talk to.”

Ceri stayed quiet as he looked out of the window. Nathaniel had a

feeling that Ceri had a lot of things to say, but was too proud to say
them. “I have a brother. His name is Van. He tried to keep me away
from drugs, lecturing me, looking out for me.”

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Lynn Hagen

“He sounds like a smart man,” Ceri said.
“He is. But I wouldn’t listen to him, and now look at the mess I’m

in. Brothers are important, Ceri. They are there for you even when
you fuck up. Van never gave up on me, no matter how much he hated
what I was doing. He never walked away.”

“I did not walk away. Rhys did.”
“He did not,” Nathaniel said. “If I remember correctly, you were

the one who said he chose me over you so he wasn’t your twin any
longer.”

Ceri’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t comment or disagree.
“Talk to Rhys. He misses you.”
“Did he say that?”
“No, I can see it in his eyes whenever anyone mentions your

name. He has this sad look like he has lost his best friend.”

“But he has you now.”
Nathaniel grunted. Was the man ever going to see that Rhys loved

them both? Was he ever going to understand that Rhys had enough
room in his heart for Nathaniel and Ceri? It was like trying to pull
teeth from a lion. “Then let him suffer.” Nathaniel curled up into a
ball, letting his eyes slowly close.

“Go back to your mate,” Ceri said, and the next thing Nathaniel

knew, he was lying in his and Rhys’s bed.

“Thank god,” Rhys shouted as he ran toward the bed. “I could not

call to your blood. I was worried he would harm you.”

“He didn’t hurt me, Rhys,” Nathaniel said as he stared around the

room, seeing Christian and a stranger standing there talking. “Who is
that man?”

“The doctor,” Rhys answered as he began to examine Nathaniel.
“Will you stop that?” Nathaniel said as he batted Rhys’s hands

away. “He just needed someone to talk to. Ceri is confused. He thinks
you can’t love me and him at the same time.”

“But that’s not true,” Rhys said as he sat down beside Nathaniel.

“I love him as I always have.”

The Dark Side of Love

131

“And the baby?” Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at Rhys. “You

could have warned a guy that he could get pregnant. Do you know
how weird this is?”

Rhys had the decency to blush as he turned toward the doctor.

“You may examine him.”

“Go talk to Ceri, Rhys. He needs you.”
“I will, after the doctor examines you.” Rhys stepped back when

the doctor approached. He walked over to Christian and began to talk
softly.

Once the doctor poked and prodded him to death, Rhys came back

over to Nathaniel’s side. “Well?”

“He is expecting.”
Nathaniel felt his head swoon as he lay down. He had wished in

Christian’s office to give Rhys a child, but now that that wish was
true, he wasn’t so sure. “You are in so much damn trouble, Rhys.”
Nathaniel didn’t mean it. He loved Rhys with all his heart, but felt
devilish in making Rhys squirm. He was the one who was pregnant
after all. If he was going to suffer through carrying their child, then
Rhys could take some ribbing.

“Welcome to my world,” Christian said as he chuckled.

“Congratulations, you two.”

Rhys nodded, a wide grin on his face, but Nathaniel kept the

scowl on his.

Rhys cupped Nathaniel’s face, unshed tears in his eyes as he

smiled down at Nathaniel. “You have given me something I had only
dreamt of. Thank you.”

Now how was he supposed to stay mad at Rhys when he was

gushing with emotions? Damn, the man didn’t play fair. “You know I
love you, right?”

Rhys’s eyes widened, and then he laid a soft kiss on Nathaniel’s

lips. “And I love you.”

“Good,” Nathaniel said as he wrapped his arms around Rhys’s

shoulder, pecking him on the cheek. “Because it will be a very long

132

Lynn Hagen

time before you get any more ass for withholding that tidbit of
information from me.”

Rhys pulled back, shock on his face, and then a wide smile

formed. “As you wish. But I think you will be changing your mind.”

“You think so?” Nathaniel asked.
Rhys nodded. “How can you resist my body?”
Nathaniel laughed, feeling like he was truly loved for the very

first time in his life. He had Van, and he had Rhys. Now he was going
to be a father. What started out as a fucked-up road he was traveling
down turned out to be the road to heaven.

* * * *

Ceri stalked the man. He kept to the shadows as he waited for the

dealer to be alone. He knew that Manny Sanchez was a very bad seed.
The man couldn’t live. Ceri gave his word to Christian that he would
feed from cattle when the need arose to taste flesh, but he said nothing
about killing the man who had gotten Rhys’s mate hooked on drugs.

He felt like shit for calling Nathaniel a junkie, but he was hurt and

lashing out. The blood call was still closed to Rhys and Christian.
Ceri needed time to himself. He didn’t know where he fit anymore,
and he needed to find his place in this strange new world.

So much had changed, and Ceri wasn’t sure he wanted to be here.
“Who’s there?” Manny called out as he stopped walking and

looked over his shoulder. “I have a gun, and I’ll kill you if you try
anything.”

Ceri knew the man couldn’t see him. But it was nice to know the

guy turned to violence so quickly. After plowing through the rogues
in the sewer, Ceri had come to realize that he didn’t want to kill like
he used to.

And that pissed him off.
If he didn’t cleanse the world of evil, then what was his purpose?

What did his existence mean? Talking to Nathaniel had helped ease

The Dark Side of Love

133

Ceri’s worries about his twin, but it did nothing to comfort him about
his role in this modern world.

Revealing himself, Ceri glanced down at the human who had hurt

many people, killed a few, and peddled his poison to the weak.
Surprisingly, he didn’t look like much.

“Who the hell are you?” Manny asked.
“I am your judge and jury, Manny Sanchez, and I find you guilty

of your crimes.”

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lynn Hagen loves writing about the somewhat flawed, but

lovable. She also loves a hero who can see past all the rough edges to
find the shining diamond of a beautiful heart.

You can find her on any given day curled up with her laptop and a

cup of hot java, letting the next set of characters tell their story.

Also by Lynn Hagen

Ménage Everlasting ManLove: Christian’s Coven 1:

Christian’s Menace

Everlasting Classic ManLove: Christian’s Coven 2: Nija’s Temptation

Everlasting Classic ManLove: Christian’s Coven 3: Eli’s Way

Everlasting Classic ManLove: Christian’s Coven 4:

Vaughn’s Vampire Hunter

Everlasting Classic ManLove: Christian’s Coven 5:

For the Rest of Eternity

Available at

BOOKSTRAND.COM

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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THE END

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