Free How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks Page B

Pavel insisted. “They were sticking her in the trunk.”
    Ivan raised his eyebrows. Had someone else captured the Whelan girl before him? Crap. Someone else wanted the reward money. His reward money. “Where did they go?”
    Pavel cursed and kicked a car tire. “We lost them.”
    Ivan snapped his head once more to relieve the building pressure in his neck. “Doesn’t anyone train you people? Or does Stesha hire you right off the boat?”
    The bald one’s face turned red. Red and fully flushed with blood. Ivan’s nostrils flared. AB Negative. God, he was hungry. He had planned to feast on the Whelan girl, but now he would have to look elsewhere.
    “We did get the license plate number,” Pavel offered. “We’ll find out who owns the car.”
    “You do that. And report to me in two hours. I’ll be at my home in Brooklyn.”
    Pavel’s face turned pale. “Yes, sir.”
    No doubt he’d heard the rumors. Sometimes people who entered the home of the Russian coven at night were never seen again. Ivan stepped closer to the six men and stared at each of them in the eye. “If you find her, you will not kill her. That is my job. Don’t even think about earning the reward money for yourself. You won’t live long enough to enjoy it. Understand?”
    There was a series of gulps and nods.
    “Leave me now. Stesha is waiting to hear from you.”
    The six thugs climbed into the black sedans and drove away.
    Ivan strolled toward the crime scene. Neighbors stood about, huddled in groups while they watched the police. A pretty blond in a pink bathrobe caught his eye. He stared at her. Come to me.
    She turned and looked him over. Slowly, she smiled. Foolish woman, she thought she was seducing him. He gestured toward a dark alley. She sauntered toward him, swaying her hips, stroking her fluffy pink bathrobe with long pink fingernails.
    He stepped into the darkness and waited.
    She sailed into her doom as dumbly as a pink poodle bouncing into a grooming parlor, eager to be admired and petted. “Are you new in the neighborhood? I don’t recall seeing you before.”
    Come closer. “Are you wearing anything under that robe?”
    She giggled. “Shame on you. Don’t you know the police are just a few feet away?”
    “Makes it more exciting, doesn’t it?”
    She laughed again, her voice taking on a huskier tone. “You are a bad boy, aren’t you?”
    He took her by the shoulders. “You have no idea.” In an instant, his fangs sprang out.
    She gasped, but before she could react further, his fangs were deep in her neck. Blood flooded his mouth—rich, hot, and with the added risk of the nearby police, it was extra spicy.
    At least the evening had not been a complete failure. Not only was he getting a delicious meal, but this girl’s dead body would serve to distract the police from the missing dentist.
    Ivan just loved mixing business with pleasure.
    Shanna paced the kitchen floor. She wasn’t going to do it. No way was she sticking a wolf’s canine into that man’s mouth. Laszlo had just left with the information she’d reluctantly given him, and now, she was alone in the kitchen of Roman Draganesti’s house. True, he had saved her life. Also true, he was generously offering her asylum. But she had to wonder why. Was he so determined to have an animal tooth implanted in his mouth that he wanted her in his debt?
    She paused at the table for another sip of diet cola. The turkey sandwich that Connor had made for her was still uneaten. She was just too nervous to eat right now. She’d come so close to being murdered. The full impact of that fact was only now sinking in. She owed Roman her life. But that didn’t mean she was going to implant his stupid wolf tooth.
    Who was this Roman Draganesti, anyway? Sure, he was about the most handsome man she’d ever met, but that didn’t guarantee he was sane. He seemed genuinely concerned about protecting her, but why? And why did he have a small army of kilted Highlanders? Where on