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  Love's Denial

  Warrior Camp, Book 3

  Joyee Flynn ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED:

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  Cover Artist: Reese Dante Editor: Devin Govaere Love’s Denial © 2010 Joyee Flynn ISBN # 978-1-920468-86-6

  All rights reserved.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. The Licensed Art Material is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the Licensed Art Material, is a model.

  PUBLISHER http://www.silverpublishing.info

  Dedication

  To my girl Alison:

  Thanks for always having my back and being the most painless editor I've ever had.

  You rock, girl, and I'm eternally grateful.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Learjet: Bombardier Inc.

  Jägermeister: Mast-Jägermeister AG Beretta: Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A.

  CHAPTER 1

  It was really rather pathetic that my sex life was so bad that I had to go to Rune to get some. I was Yuri Stanalovic, for god sakes! Century after century I was used to having men throw themselves at me, simply for the chance to say they'd been with me. But now, everyone was finding their mates and settling down. My two best friends, Dimitri and Matteo, had recently done just that. So here I was, seeking out Rune because I needed to scratch the itch.

  I knocked on his door and walked into his room without waiting for an answer. He always left the door unlocked in case someone would come by and give him some TLC. I wanted to do a happy dance when I saw he was sleeping. That meant I didn't have to get into the whole master bullshit with him. Rune had some fucked up ideas about sex.

  Crawling into bed with him, I saw he was already naked. I shed my own clothes and grabbed the lube I brought with me. One of the issues I had with Rune's idea of sex was that he liked it rough, so rough he bled or got hurt in the process. Yeah, I like some rough sex here and there, but nowhere along those lines.

  I squirted some slick on my fingers as I moved his legs apart. Positioning myself between them, I found he had a butt plug already in his ass. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and used the lube on my cock instead. He snored lightly as I pulled out the plug and pushed his knees up to his chest. I lined up my dick and started to push into him.

  "Oh fuck," Rune whispered as his eyes fluttered open. By the time I saw the recognition on his face at who I was, I'd bottomed inside of him. I moved so I could lean over him, and tried to kiss him. Like Rune always did, he turned his head to the side. That was another issue, god forbid we were actually intimate and it was about more than just fucking.

  "Fine," I growled as I moved back and hooked his legs over my shoulders. If he wanted a hard fuck, I'd give him one. I pulled out slowly before thrusting back into him so hard the bed hit the wall. Rune moaned loudly as I started pounding into him. I knew it wasn't his fault that he had emotional issues, but it pissed me off right then.

  So I took it out on his ass. I slammed into him so hard, over and over again, that he was screaming from my ferocity. "Harder, fuck me as hard as you can, Yuri. Hit me,

  I want you to beat me," he panted.

  "I'll fuck you hard, but you know I won't hit you," I

  grunted, starting to not want to even do that. "Shut up about

  that shit or I'll lose my hard-on."

  "Yes, master," Rune answered as he grabbed his

  own cock. He squeezed it so hard that I was surprised the

  damn thing didn't burst. I looked away as I kept thrusting in

  and out of him. After a few more minutes, he screamed as

  his dick exploded, shooting cum all over both of us. That

  was all I needed. His ass clamped down on my cock, and I

  roared out my own release. I kept thrusting into him

  through my orgasm, trying to draw it out.

  When I was done, I sat back on my heels, letting my

  spent cock slip from his ass. Rune had fallen back asleep

  with a smile on his face. I, on the other hand, didn't feel

  like smiling. The itch I felt was for more than just fucking,

  but at least my cock was happy. As I got off the bed and

  started getting dressed again, I felt my phone vibrate in my

  jeans. Pulling it out I saw I'd missed calls and texts from

  Alexander.

  What does he want at this time of night? I wondered

  as I left Rune's room and headed towards the command

  center. It was just downstairs, in the main housing for the warriors. I jogged down the stairs and turned left towards the tech room. After I entered, I saw Alexander and headed

  his way.

  Alexander was actually the mate of one of my best

  friends, Dimitri. He was also in command of the training

  camp. I was ranked third, under Dimitri. Normally, most

  warriors fought for that first position and I could have,

  probably, even won. I was older and better trained than

  Alexander, but I liked the job that came with being third on

  the base.

  I was in charge of all the outside missions, which

  included things from chaperoning duty to organizing some

  official council member's security, sometimes even search

  and rescue. I loved my job. It was what I had been born to

  do.

  "Where the fuck have you been?" Alexander

  grumbled as I neared him.

  "It's the middle of the night. What do you think I

  was doing?"

  "You smell like sex." Dimitri chuckled, punching

  me in the arm. "Anyone I know?"

  "Yeah, and don't remind me about it," I mumbled,

  reaching out for the file Alexander was holding. "What's

  up?" "An attempt was made on the life of the leader of

  France's covens," Alexander stated as I looked over the file.

  "The head of the American councils was contacted. They

  want outside help, since they think it's an inside job. The

  guy is the last in his line."

  "Yeah, that normally screams insider," I agreed, but

  was still confused. "Why contact us?"

  "You," Dimitri said gently, knowing I wasn't going

  to like it. "They want you sent because of your gift." All vampires
had heightened senses, extreme

  healing capabilities, and strength. We also had one special

  gift that was something we were born with. Mine was being

  able to tell when someone was lying. It was as if a breeze

  blew through the room that only I could feel. Depending

  how big the lie was correlated with how strong the breeze.

  If was a little white lie, it felt as if someone blew across my

  cheek. When it was a big fat lie, it felt like the wind on top

  of Mount Everest.

  "Makes sense," I conceded, though I thought I

  might not be the best choice. "But I think an aura reader

  like Matteo might be better suited to keeping someone safe.

  I have to have the enemy open their mouths, then get close when that happens. Matteo can tell from a distance who the

  assholes are."

  "Exactly what I said to the head of our council."

  Alexander nodded his approval. "Matteo's gift is out since

  he blew open that shit in Russia a few decades ago. No one

  knows about you, except some of us locally."

  "Do I have a choice in this?" I scoffed, pretty sure I

  knew the answer.

  "Nope." Alexander smiled at me.

  "Then when do I leave?" I asked, sticking my

  tongue out at Dimitri who was making faces at me over his

  mate's shoulder. They had the kind of love I never thought I

  would want, but after seeing both my friends with it, I'd

  started longing for it.

  "Immediately," Alexander answered as he elbowed

  Dimitri playfully. "Pack what you need. The jet is landing

  at the air strip in an hour to pick you up."

  "I want all the files of all the ranking vampires close

  to the leader," I said, switching to mission mode. "Email

  them to me so I can study them on the plane. I also want

  the hierarchy. Who gets the most by getting this guy out of

  the way? I want his lineage, everything, Alexander. If I'm

  going to figure out who's the mole or the traitor, I need to

  know as much as I can before I'm ass deep in alligators." "Already working on it." He smiled as everyone got

  quiet. "Safe passage, my friend. You need backup, you call

  us and we're on the next flight. Otherwise, cover your ass

  like a motherfucker and come back to us."

  "You got it, boss." I snickered even though what he

  said meant a lot to me.

  "Hey, we just don't want to have to break in a new

  guy," Dimitri said sarcastically as he gave me a hug.

  Matteo was next, as his mate Nate gave me a little wave.

  Nate was a good guy, but I didn't interact with the pre- and

  post-trans that much, so I didn't really know him. Rushing back to my room, I showered, packed and

  was in one of the camp's SUVs within forty minutes. One

  of the post-trans guys gave me a ride to the air strip. Most

  of the mundane tasks like that went to them. The pre-trans

  were training and learning how to be a warrior. The posttrans were doing some training but mostly learning the

  ropes. They were like interns before they got the official

  warrior title.

  The plane was waiting when we pulled up. I

  thanked the kid, grabbed my bags, and hurried over. Once I

  was all strapped in, we took right off. I love the perks of a private air strip. The captain came on the overhead and told me it was safe to turn on my electronics. I booted my

  computer up and got right to work.

  I'd been forewarned the flight would take about

  eleven hours, depending on the winds. Again, the perks of

  having access to a Learjet. No stopovers, connecting

  flights, or any of that bullshit. France was eight hours ahead

  of what I was used to in Nowhere, Wyoming, so I figured I

  should try and stay awake for the flight and study up on

  what I was walking into. We took off at one in the morning,

  Mountain Time.

  The flight would put in us France at noon, my time.

  Add eight hours to that, plus travel time once we landed,

  and I would be getting to the French Royal Compound

  around nine in the evening, Paris time. If I could stay

  awake, hopefully I would be so tired I'd crash and get

  adjusted to my new time zone. It was the plan anyways. I studied the files on everyone surrounding the

  Royal for hours. When I felt my eyes starting to cross, I got

  up and stretched my legs. The plane was, of course,

  furnished with a mini kitchen, complete with a fridge

  stocked with blood and food. Realizing I'd not eaten or had

  any blood in a while, I loaded up.

  Then I started to look into the Royal himself. France

  was still doing it old school. Even though the legitimate

  government in the human world wasn't a monarchy and

  hadn't been for centuries, vampires weren't as quick to

  change with the times. The new ruler of the French Covens

  was one Grand Duc Dominic Reynard Courtland Aldrich.

  His lineage went all the way back to Charlemagne, who I

  learned had been a vampire. I hadn't known that bit of

  history.

  The Grand Duc, which is Duke in French, recently

  came into power at the age of thirty. Great, he's just a kid, I

  thought, rolling my eyes. But as I read on, my heart went

  out to the guy. His parents had been murdered by unknown

  parties when he was a child away at school. It seemed his

  parents had thought that any good ruler of the vampire race

  needed to be fluent in their understanding of the way

  humans lived. So they'd sent their only offspring to a

  human boarding school in England at the age of ten. While it wasn't unheard of for vampires to attend

  human schools, especially those who hadn't gone through

  their transition yet, it sounded harsh to be sent away at ten

  years old. But then again, at ten, I'd been working in the

  fields of my family’s farm in Poland. So what did I know? The file listed his accomplishments and changes

  since coming into power, most of them seeming to bring

  the covens into the twenty-first century. I liked the guy, on

  paper at least. He had a Masters from Oxford and seemed

  to have learned a lot from spending so much time around

  humans. The bad part being that change brought fear, and

  when people were scared they did drastic things. Like

  trying to kill off or overthrow a monarchy.

  I rubbed my hands over my face as my eyes started

  to hurt again. Being a vampire with heightened senses came

  with all kinds of gifts, like a photographic memory. But I

  was trying to learn about a century’s worth of history and

  background in an eleven hour flight, including the entire

  chain of command of the French hierarchy. Fortunately for

  me, I wasn't going to report to anyone except my liaison

  and the head of the Western European Council.

  "We're going to be landing in less than ten minutes,

  Mr. Stanalovic," the pilot said on the overhead. "Please turn

  off all electronics and make ready."

  I did as he asked and packed everything up before

  making sure I was all strapped in for our arrival. Looking at

  my watch, I saw we had made good time. Good, because I

  was hungry again and ready to sleep. Moments later, I felt the plane's altitude drop as it
descended. I popped my ears as we hit the tarmac, and other than a few bumps, the

  landing was text book.

  Once the plane stopped, I unbuckled myself, got up,

  and grabbed my bags. I opened the side door, the steps

  rolled out, and I strolled off the plane. I looked around to

  see that there was no one waiting for me. Just as I was

  getting pissed and about to call Alexander, a limo drove

  towards me. Raising an eyebrow, I walked a few feet

  towards it when it stopped, not wanting to get too close in

  case it wasn't a friendly.

  "Mr. Stanalovic?" the driver asked as he got out of

  the car and raced over to me.

  "I'm Yuri Stanalovic," I answered, eyeing the guy

  over hesitantly. I was fairly big even for a vampire warrior,

  coming in at almost seven feet. Yeah, try finding clothes

  when you were six-ten. It's not fun. Then you also had to

  figure in that I was over three hundred pounds of solid

  muscle. Most of my clothes were special order.

  "I apologize for not being here when you landed,"

  the driver said, freezing when he saw the look of distrust on

  my face. "You arrived earlier than Councilman Matthews

  told me to expect."

  "Not a problem," I answered, relaxing when he said

  that name. It wasn't the real name of the councilman, but

  the one I had been told to listen for when other people did

  anything on his behalf. I handed the guy my bags and got in

  the back seat, not even bothering to wait for him to get the

  door for me. The guy was frazzled enough at being late, no

  need to act like a stuck-up priss on top of it.

  Twenty minutes later, we were pulling into a large

  estate outside of Paris. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the ride over.

  If time allowed it, I would really like to have seen some of

  the sights. In all my travels as a warrior, France hadn't been

  one of them. I knew it wasn't all cool and warrior-like to

  admit to wanting to do the tourist thing, but we need

  vacations too.

  I opened the door and got out on my own when the

  car stopped in front of a large mansion. And seriously, I

  wasn't sure mansion covered it. I decided to call it a castle,

  because, damn, the place was massive. The grounds were