Legacy (Vampire Awakenings Book 12) Read online

  Legacy

  Brenda K. Davies

  Copyright © 2021 Brenda K. Davies

  BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

  Books written under the penname Brenda K. Davies

  The Alliance Series

  Eternally Bound (Book 1)

  Bound by Vengeance (Book 2)

  Bound by Darkness (Book 3)

  Bound by Passion (Book 4)

  Bound by Torment (Book 5)

  Bound by Danger (Book 6)

  Bound by Deception (Book 7) Coming 2021

  Hell on Earth Series

  Hell on Earth (Book 1)

  Into the Abyss (Book 2)

  Kiss of Death (Book 3)

  The Edge of the Darkness (Book 4) Coming Fall 2020

  The Road to Hell Series

  Good Intentions (Book 1)

  Carved (Book 2)

  The Road (Book 3)

  Into Hell (Book 4)

  The Shadow Realms

  Shadows of Fire (Book 1)

  Shadows of Discovery (Book 2) Coming August 2021

  Shadows of Betrayal (Book 3) Coming Winter 2021/2022

  The Vampire Awakenings Series

  Awakened (Book 1)

  Destined (Book 2)

  Untamed (Book 3)

  Enraptured (Book 4)

  Undone (Book 5)

  Fractured (Book 6)

  Ravaged (Book 7)

  Consumed (Book 8)

  Unforeseen (Book 9)

  Forsaken (Book 10)

  Relentless (Book 11)

  Legacy (Book 12)

  Historical Romance

  A Stolen Heart

  Books written under the penname Erica Stevens

  The Captive Series

  Captured (Book 1)

  Renegade (Book 2)

  Refugee (Book 3)

  Salvation (Book 4)

  Redemption (Book 5)

  Broken (The Captive Series Prequel)

  Vengeance (Book 6)

  Unbound (Book 7)

  The Coven Series

  Nightmares (Book 1)

  The Maze (Book 2)

  Dream Walker (Book 3)

  The Fire & Ice Series

  Frost Burn (Book 1)

  Arctic Fire (Book 2)

  Scorched Ice (Book 3)

  The Kindred Series

  Kindred (Book 1)

  Ashes (Book 2)

  Kindled (Book 3)

  Inferno (Book 4)

  Phoenix Rising (Book 5)

  The Ravening Series

  Ravenous (Book 1)

  Taken Over (Book 2)

  Reclamation (Book 3)

  The Survivor Chronicles

  Book 1: The Upheaval

  Book 2: The Divide

  Book 3: The Forsaken

  Book 4: The Risen

  CONTENTS

  Other books by the Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Shadows of Fire Excerpt

  Where to Find the Author

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  Kyle surveyed the crowded room of students in search of her. At one time, being in this place and around so many women would have been his ideal way to spend the night. Now, he felt like he was walking a tightrope, and one wrong step would send him plummeting into the Grand Canyon as humans crowded him, beer flowed, music vibrated the windows, and laughter filled the air.

  He was comfortable in the human world, he always had been, but he was impatient to see her again. The only problem, and it was a big one, was he didn’t know if she was coming to this party.

  However, he’d decided to accept the invite when a group of young women asked him to attend tonight. Held in a house just off campus, he’d expected a free-for-all when he arrived at the yellow house, and he was not disappointed.

  In the corner, a set of legs went into the air. Cheers rang out as a woman chugged beer from a keg. Turning his attention away from the keg stand, Kyle searched the crowd again, but he didn’t see Melanie anywhere. Over the past couple of weeks, he’d discovered himself wandering the college grounds in search of her more than a few times.

  That was how he’d received this invitation. The group of women found him standing next to a maple tree on what they called the lawn.

  Three of the women giggled while their friend invited him. While they were shy, the speaker was confident as she stared up at him with her pretty blue eyes. Normally, she was exactly the type he went for, but things had been far from normal lately.

  Ever since he first met Melanie, he couldn’t get her out of his head. He tried staying away from her because no one liked a stalker, but he found himself repeatedly drawn back to the school. He had to calm his more demonic nature by assuring himself she was safe.

  Kyle didn’t try to deny why he couldn’t stay away; there was no point. The second he saw her, he knew she was different, and while he wasn’t completely certain she was his mate, he strongly suspected it.

  His heart beat a little faster at the possibility. His mate. He might have found his mate. Which meant he would finally have a break from his incessant need to bounce from one woman to another, one bed to another, and one lonely night to another.

  It also meant his compulsion to see and protect her would get worse, as would his compulsion for sex, when he reached maturity. He hated thinking about what would happen when he stopped aging. His need for sex would only intensify when he came fully into his vampire powers.

  But, for now, he wasn’t fully mature, and he could keep himself under control as long as she was safe. So, like a creepy idiot, he found himself repeatedly returning to the college to check on her.

  Once there, he always found her. She was usually in the library and sometimes on the lawn, but he never approached her. The one time he tried talking to Melanie, she was as eager to get away from him as a gazelle from a cheetah.

  The encounter had rattled his confidence in a way nothing ever had before. If she were a normal woman, he would have accepted the rejection and moved on. But she wasn’t normal, at least not to him.

  She was also human, which added another layer of complication to everything. However, if she was his mate, he was going to do everything he could to earn her trust and, eventually, her love. He would not ruin this.

  But he was terrified he would.

  He’d never known this level of self-doubt before, and he despised every second of it.

  When they lowered the woman’s legs back to the ground, she threw her arms in the air, and whistles and shouts filled the room. Someone tossed her a towel, and she wiped the beer from her face.

  Kyle sipped his beer and grimaced at the flat taste; he tossed the cup into the trash can sitting next to the door. Though the place with its lack of furniture, worn carpet, and walls stained by fingerprints and drinks was clearly a party house, it was also relatively clean.

  From what he’d seen, there was a trash can in every room. Someone had already come through and emptied one of the bags. The place reeked of stale booze, pot, and sweat, but it wasn’t a pigsty.

  He slipped away from the wall and strode across the living room toward the front door. As he walked, the swing of his arms caused his skin to pull against his new tattoo.

  He’d never considered getting a tattoo before, but he’d also never considered attending a college party simply in the hopes of running into a girl. However, here he was, and when it came to Melanie, he was like a bumbling teen discovering girls.

  Except, he hadn’t been like that as a teen.

  Even when he was entering puberty, he’d always been confident around girls. He’d instinctively known how to approach them, what to say, and he’d never been uncertain about how to proceed with one.

  Part of his confidence was because most of them responded to him with equal, if not more, interest. That was not the case with Melanie.

  She wasn’t the first girl to shoot him down, but she was the only one he continued to pursue afterward.

  He’d tried to stay away from her. Part of that trying was spent in
a tattoo parlor, for the better part of three days, while a vampire continuously took a needle and ink to his left bicep.

  The tattoo was a half sleeve that he designed. The tattoo artist had taken his crude sketch and perfected it until the twisting smoke and malevolence pouring from the sharp lines echoed the darkness inside him.

  Maybe a strange tattoo wasn’t exactly the best way to attract the girl who ran from him, but getting it did keep him away for a little while. And during the time it took to get it done, he’d tried to figure out what his next step with Melanie would be.

  He should have come up with some big, grand plan to sweep her off her feet. Instead, he’d only been able to come up with the master plan of not giving up. Yep, he was a regular fucking Romeo.

  He passed the front door and entered a room he assumed was supposed to be the dining room. However, there wasn’t any furniture in the room that had become a dance space. He stopped when he spotted the pretty brunette who’d invited him here dancing with some of her friends.

  She was so engrossed with her friends she didn’t notice him, and for that, he was glad. He hadn’t been with another woman since encountering Melanie, and he was feeling the strain of his newfound celibacy.

  It had been years since he’d gone a couple of days without a woman, never mind a couple of weeks, but the idea of touching someone else made his dick crawl up inside him. He couldn’t bring himself to be with another when Melanie was on his mind.

  The demon part of him was not happy with this new arrangement as it craved Melanie. If this continued, he could become a threat to others, but he was keeping it together for now. Thoughts of Melanie helped.

  However, he didn’t know how long that would last. Some days, he felt more like a monster than a man. He worried he would one day cross the line into Savagery and not be able to return.

  He was about to leave the room when the scent of spring hit him. The aroma was a mixture of fresh air, new leaves, and blooming flowers. It was the aroma of new possibilities, of dawning life, and Melanie.

  That scent had engrained itself into him during their encounter, and as he watched, she stepped into the doorway across the room. He forgot about the dancers and his uncertainty around her as the others faded away until it was only the two of them in this place.

  He stopped breathing when her tawny-colored eyes met his. Those eyes widened slightly, and her full mouth parted. Then, a tiny smile tugged at her lips. That smile vanished almost as soon as it emerged, but it gave him a fresh resurgence of hope.

  Melanie froze when her gaze clashed with the midnight blue eyes of the man standing across from her. She couldn’t breathe as she drank in the magnificent sight of him. He was as handsome as she recalled and just as gorgeous as he was in the dreams he’d haunted since she first saw him.

  She had no idea why he’d had such a profound effect over her—other than he was hotter than Hell—but she’d thought of him often since he first introduced himself to her. And though she had no intention of getting involved with anyone, she found herself searching for him on campus and being disappointed when he wasn’t around, as well as disgusted with herself for it.

  His short, wheat-blond hair was brushed back from the handsome planes of his face. And oh, what a handsome face it was. Darker blond stubble shadowed his jawline, making his face more narrow and all the more alluring. His black button-down shirt emphasized his lean build; formfitting jeans hugged his ass and thighs in all the right places.

  Like the first time she met him, a small flutter came to life in her belly as she forgot everyone and everything around her. She knew there were other people still present, but she couldn’t see them as her attention remained riveted on him.

  She tried to look away to search for an escape route, but she didn’t move. As much as she wanted to flee, she’d also like to get closer.

  He was a temptation the likes of which she’d never encountered before, and as those penetrating blue eyes ran over her, she felt ensnared in a trap that wouldn’t let go. She wasn’t in a rush to be free either.

  Then, she recalled why she should stay away from relationships and everything she was fleeing. Her recollection shattered the moment, and once more, the pulse of music vibrated her ears, the temperature of the room became suffocating, and the crowd returned.

  A relationship was not part of her plan. But then, her plan mostly consisted of fleeing her past and building a better future. It was a good goal to have, but there were many times when she was certain she would never achieve it.

  There were times when she woke in the middle of the night, gasping and covered in sweat as a crushing weight bore down on her. She’d made it this far, but she couldn’t shake the certainty that her past would never release her.

  And as graduation loomed closer, so did her certainty she would be dragged back into the horrors she fled.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Here you go, Mel,” Lucy said and shoved a plastic cup full of beer into Melanie's hand.

  When liquid splashed onto her hand, Melanie finally tore her gaze away from the man standing across the way. Her attention shifted to her friend as Lucy’s brown eyes surveyed the crowd.

  Lucy’s short, spiky black hair stood on end around her pretty, angular face. She’d replaced the studs in her nose and lip with gold hoops, one of which had a yellow stone in it. Her white tank top with a vintage Pearl Jam logo showed off the tattoos covering her arms.

  With Lucy’s I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude, she was the kind of woman who commanded attention despite her five-foot-two stature and barely one-hundred-pound build. Melanie was two inches taller than Lucy and fifteen pounds heavier, but Lucy was far more noticeable than her.

  “It’s slim pickings in here tonight,” Lucy said as she surveyed the crowd.

  Melanie knew the second Lucy’s gaze landed on the man across the way. Her friend let out a low whistle.

  “I take that back,” Lucy murmured.

  Melanie buried her jealousy as her beautiful friend sipped her beer and studied the guy. Lucy never let anything stand in the way of someone who interested her, whether they were male or female.

  Melanie couldn’t bring herself to look at him again, so she turned to stare into the kitchen. The crowded counters overflowed with plastic cups, cheap liquor, and bags of chips.

  “Have you seen tall, blond, and handsome over there?” Lucy asked.

  “I have, and I’m not impressed.”

  “Then how did you know who I was talking about?”

  Damn it. Melanie realized her nonchalance had failed when Lucy called her on it. Her friend had one black eyebrow raised as she stared at Melanie with an innocent look that was anything but innocent.

  Melanie didn’t know how to respond, so she sipped her beer before saying, “Maybe we should go.”

  “No way! Things are just getting interesting. Tall, blond, and I’d lick him all over hasn’t taken his eyes off you.”

  Melanie rolled her eyes as a group of students entered the kitchen. A couple of the guys grabbed some chips while the girls poured themselves far too much liquor before poking at a bowl filled with nip bottles.

  She could feel tall, blond, and handsome staring at her, but instead of being unnerved, her skin heated in the most delicious ways. She recalled their brief meeting a couple of weeks ago, the warmth of his hand in hers, and the smile that caused his blue eyes to dance.

  During that encounter, he told her his name was Kyle. She’d blurted her name out to him before practically running away. He probably considered her a weirdo, but everyone in the world would think she was a weirdo with her upbringing.

  They’d be right.

  Kyle studied the two women standing in the doorway as he pondered how to best approach Melanie again. He’d never hesitated to talk to a woman before, but he couldn’t stop remembering the way she practically ran from him during their last conversation.

  This was his first real chance to talk to her again, and he couldn’t blow it.

  He was about to say screw it and approach her anyway when the girl who’d invited him spotted him. She smiled as she waved like he was a ship’s captain returning from a year at sea. Kyle smiled as she broke away from her friends and danced toward him.