Free Charming (A Seven World Novel) by Dannika Dark

a career kidnapping and selling men, women, and children for profit. The file included his last known location and listed Kat as the assigned bounty hunter. Twenty years had passed, but it was still common knowledge that the higher authority never closed a case on an outlaw until they were captured or killed. That’s why most criminals kept a low profile and avoided reaching outlaw status.
    “Where does a man like you hide?” he asked himself, leaning back in his chair, the leather creaking. “And what brings you to Austin?”
    Southern states had more land, but they were regulated by the Councils, and an outlaw wouldn’t be able to claim territory unless he did so illegally. It would be easier for his crimes to go unnoticed in a populous city. If Vlad was still selling on the black market, then he might be in town for business. There wasn’t a main site like eBay to do this kind of trading, but men who purchased Shifters went through a seller or middleman who would give them private access to his site. After providing their criteria, they sat back and waited for a match.
    Prince sent a quick message to an associate who worked undercover with a list of local names to research. Maybe Vlad was in town hunting his next victim.
    He closed the laptop and stood up, stretching out the stiff muscles in his back before loosening his slim tie and tossing it onto his desk. As tired as he was, he still felt charged from the events of the evening. He strolled across the hallway to his bedroom while unbuttoning his shirt.
    Once inside, he draped the shirt over a chair and removed his leather shoes and black socks. Prince stood before a cheval mirror, his reflection encased in an espresso frame. With his hair loose, he remembered himself as a great leader from centuries ago. Frock coat, gloves, and suspenders to hold up his trousers. Fashion divided the rich and poor in earlier times, and Shifters lived somewhere in the middle. He had always appreciated a good suit; it made him feel elevated amongst others.
    Prince was born in Imereti in the thirteen hundreds, firstborn to nomadic parents who had claimed land to establish a pack. They were of the purest blood, and Shifters gravitated toward them. His father had dreams of living a peaceful existence in a farming community, so he started a family in hopes of settling down. But in those times no one could escape war. Immortals were fighting for power, and Shifters were fighting for survival.
    Prince unlatched his black belt, pulled it away from his pants, and tossed it to the floor. When he grasped the tab of his zipper, he thought of Kat and a smile touched his lips. Whether it was Prince’s open zipper or stumbling over her laces, she didn’t dwell on other people’s opinions. He usually preferred sophisticated women, ones who trembled with anticipation when he unfastened their corsets, but these women were rarities in the modern world. And here he was, faced with two identical women on the opposite ends of the spectrum. One who represented the ideal woman he revered and who matched his personality, and the other who ensnared his thoughts and heated his blood in a way no woman ever had.
    Prince was a man of restraint, one who only indulged in pleasures of the flesh when he needed to settle his nerves. He never chose women from his pack, but instead would couple with unmated women in the territory. It wasn’t often, but he had no other options since he didn’t believe in self-gratification. It showed a lack of control, so it was a habit he’d given up over four hundred years ago.
    Yet as his pants slipped to the floor and he looked at his erection in the mirror, carnal images of Kat tangled in his thoughts. He switched off the light and stripped down the covers, lying on silken sheets. At first it began with a touch, just a simple stroke to the head when he remembered the way Kat had pressed up against him earlier that evening. He’d known she wasn’t wearing a bra beneath her