Love's Indulgence

  If you did, thank you. Thank you for respecting me and other authors for their hard work, understanding this is our job, and while we love it, we do deserve to be compensated for all the hours, and hours, and hours we put into it.

  If you did not… Go buy one! You are a thief and your parents and grandparents and cute animals all around the world are ashamed of you. There is no justification for committing this crime because it is a crime, no different than walking into a physical bookstore, taking a print copy off the shelf, and walking out of the store without paying for it.

  There is no such thing as a victimless crime. If you truly believe that, you’ve never been a victim. And the victims aren’t only the authors, but the fans who lose authors that quit over our constantly being stolen from and mistreatment. Mistreating the authors that write the books you like or read—not liking them isn’t an excuse for theft, it’s just extra weird then—that’s not a fan. Fans leave reviews to support. Fans send messages of love. Fans… Well fans are nice. Be nice.

  There are lots of ways to fight eBook piracy, reporting the site even if you’re not the copyright holder is always a good option. If you want to help in the fight, Google it and you can see there are many ways.

  Jayme Russo is desperate to escape the life he’s living, and he’s willing to go to extremes to make that happen. He barely survives his transition and catches the plane to freedom only to learn he wasn’t in the clear as he thought he was… While meeting the hottest guy ever who picks him up from the landing strip.

  Seth Curry is used to being desired for all the wrong reasons, but when a treats fairy keeps leaving him gifts, it’s the first time someone’s spoiled him. He’s intrigued but hits a major snag when he realizes it’s a gorgeous woman and he’s gay. Isn’t he too old to switch teams? Should it matter?

  When Seth learns the truth about Jayme, he’s not only sunk but worried about why Jayme was lying. And clearly he had to run, so as a warrior he worries about Jayme’s past coming for him and taking him from Seth’s side. Apparently, he was right to worry.

  1

  I made it to the plane. It was a miracle, but I made it. It was my chance to escape. I swallowed my nerves when I saw one of my brother’s friends standing there with a clipboard, wondering why someone who was a manager of the coven was involved in this.

  “Name?” he asked me, giving me a funny look.

  “Jayme Russo,” I whispered, shaking and kicking myself for not having thought this through enough to come up with another name or ID.

  He blinked at me and then nodded. “Smart. Glad you got out. I tried to find you yesterday to check if you were coming.”

  “I was hiding to stay under the radar,” I muttered, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Thanks for thinking of me.” I gave him another nervous look. He’d never been mean to me, but he also wasn’t someone I’d thought would want to leave his cushy place at our coven.

  “We all get a chance to start over,” he said gently, answering my unasked question.

  “Hopefully,” I rasped, desperate for the chance to escape. I handed over my suitcase to someone who was loading the plane and hurried up the stairs. I found a solo seat in the back by the bathroom and quickly strapped in, hugging my bag to me and praying the plane took off before someone found me.

  “Who’s the cutie redhead?” someone whispered, and I swallowed a flinch. “I would totally have asked her out if I’d seen her at the coven.”

  “Yeah, the hair is sexy, and the dress is a contrast like she’s a good girl. Interesting.”

  No, not interesting. Please ignore the redhead because I don’t want attention.

  And I was a guy. When I’d heard about the subdivision accepting people who didn’t want to come into their covens, I was all ears. I wasn’t scared like others that it was ancient Wyrok starting it. What I did wince about was that it was attached to the “homo camp,” and they were looking to bring in more women to the subdivision to play down the rep. I didn’t care they were gay. I was too.

  They wanted more women though. It had taken me about two seconds to decide if playing a woman would get me out of my life, then I was all about dresses, shaving my legs, wearing makeup, and doing my hair to look like a girl. I even wore a padded bra with some fake boobs I’d managed, keeping them small so it wouldn’t draw the eye.

  Part of me felt bad that I’d stolen stuff to make it happen, but not really. My half brother was always yelling at me to take care of the collection of everything left behind by women he slept with, most wanting the excuse to come back for it or like they had a relationship if they left stuff there. So I did clean it up. I cleaned it all out and packed with it, getting several dresses, undergarments, shoes, and more.

  The rest… Well, they could at least donate to helping me flee after using me as an unpaid and abused servant all those years. Instead of being nice and helping me, most of the ranking women of the coven had used me like I was their servant or dumped their jobs on me. Either way, the bitches could rot and die for all I cared and had the money to replace the makeup I’d snatched.

  I’d only been paid for my internship while in school, and that had been an accident and blessing that had happened before my brother could stop it. He’d flipped his shit when he’d learned that a visiting coven leader had taken note of me and, after learning I was the one who’d made the dessert she liked, had invited me to stay with her coven while I’d gone to culinary school in Italy. Part of me thought she knew I was being abused.

  Either way, she was a goddess to me, and I’d thought of running back there for sanctuary when things had gotten worse after I’d graduated and had to go home, but that would have put her in a difficult position. She had a whole coven to put first, after all.

  I fell asleep during the flight, waking when we touched down. The second the plane stopped, I was out of my seat and at the door, thanking the pilot for getting us there safely. He nodded, looking tired as he opened the door for me. The stairs lowered, and I gasped at what I saw. The landing strip was a winter wonderland.

  “Never seen snow before?” someone asked me from the bottom of the stairs.

  I shook my head as I grasped the railing and walked down so I didn’t hold anyone up. I almost tripped over my feet when I met his intense gaze, dark blue eyes feeling like they looked right into my soul. I tucked my hair behind my ear and shivered as the cold seemed to engulf me now that I was out of the plane.

  “You better get winter clothes and boots fast,” he chuckled, sliding off his puffy jacket and wrapping me in it. “It’s a whole other climate from Orlando.”

  “I don’t have any money,” I worried. “I’ll just stay indoors.”

  “Someone will have extras they’ll share,” he said gently before nodding to the first SUV in the line to get us. “Hop in the passenger’s seat and we’ll get the bags.”

  “Thank you.” I was standing on the ground by then, and I realized I was looking up and up at him. He had to be a warrior. He was gigantic compared to my shrimpy five-four frame… That didn’t grow at all during my transition. Sometimes I thought God hated me. Really? Not even an inch or two?

  I carefully walked to the SUV, needing to sit down again, every inch of me hurting. I hoped they offered blood to people coming in. I wasn’t sure how to drink it, but I knew I needed it. I sent up a silent prayer to whoever might be listening to not let me wither and die now that I’d gotten this far in my escape.

  “Is that you?” the warrior asked me as he got in the driver’s seat. I wasn’t sure what he meant, but he leaned over and sniffed me. “That is you. What is that?”

  “Eucalyptus mint stress relief body spray,” I answered when I caught up to what he meant.

  “It’s nice,” he muttered, giving me
a curious look. “Cleared out my sinuses. It’s so cold here it’s impossible not to get stuffed up.”

  I nodded like I knew what he was talking about. I just liked it and normally used the body wash or soap so I didn’t have other scents on me when I was in the kitchen that could throw me off. But now I was trying to hide I was a guy. I was pretty sure some vamps could tell from scent, right?

  I hoped not.

  Once everyone was in, the caravan headed out and brought us to the subdivision. I couldn’t even hide my shock that there was construction going on when it was so cold and snow piled all over the place, but everyone seemed determined to help get others out, which I appreciated.

  I really appreciated, as it gave me a place to go.

  The warrior dropped us off and unloaded bags, before heading to leave. I called after him and quickly handed over his coat. He gave me a sexy grin as he took it back. “It smells nice now, thanks.”

  I swallowed loudly as I quickly nodded. It should seriously be a crime for men to be that sexy and able to walk around us mere mortals. He left, and I was bummed I didn’t even get a chance to learn his name.

  “We’re going to divide people up in the space we have for now, and it’s temporary,” a guy said once we were all there, exuding power and authority. “I’m Nero, the architect and one of the developers of the subdivision. I know some of you were escaping bad circumstances, but you’re safe now. We’re just not all that organized or ready for more people, so bear with us.”

  “We’ll split you between Nero or my house since they’re the ones fully done,” another guy greeted. “I’m Alastair. If any of you have a profession, please tell us so we can fit you in to help. If you don’t or don’t have one that will work here right now, that’s fine, we can still use you and we’ll make it work. Right now we’re trying to balance everything out.”

  “I’m a baker,” I called out, snatching the chance to get in a kitchen instead of doing everyone’s laundry. Years of it and sleeping in the damn laundry room and I prayed to never see another washer or dryer again. I cleared my throat when I had everyone’s attention, reminding myself to sound like a girl. “I went to culinary school in Italy. If someone has supplies, I can make tons of food, but I’m best at desserts.”

  “You come right here and stay at my house,” Nero chuckled, waving me over. “My fiancé has a full set of sweet teeth and will love me for having a talented baker stay with us.” He chuckled when the other guy growled. “Hey, you got the personal chef staying with you for now that’s in Jordan’s group. No one’s using my kitchen.”

  “Fine, fine, but at least make sure I get a cake or something for Zibon if we’re going to order whatever she needs,” he grumbled.

  I dipped my head to him. “Yes, of course, thank you so much for everything, sir.”

  “It’s just Alastair,” he muttered, giving me a curious look when I raised my head. “I’ll ask who might have extra winter clothes since this group came from Orlando. Otherwise I might have Falcon add a bunch to the next supply run.”

  When everyone was divided up, I felt horrible when I saw they were grouping up the rooms by men or women. I ended up seeing there were an array of mattresses in what had to be the living room and told them that would be perfect for me since I’d be in the kitchen mostly. I claimed one in a corner and listened as they told us what bathrooms we could use and whatnot.

  Awesome. Everyone was too busy and moving to get settled that no one was paying me much attention. The place was warm so there was no reason to push for more clothes after I dug out a light sweater to go with the dress I was wearing. I found the kitchen and just stared at it in awe. All of it was new and top of the line, and it was bigger and better planned out than the coven estate kitchen.

  “I like to eat, and Nero likes to spoil me,” a guy said from my right. He held his hands up in surrender when I yelped. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Verge.”

  “Jayme,” I replied, clearing my throat and moving farther into the kitchen. “It’s nice that your fiancé wants to do that.”

  “Yeah, it is,” he chuckled. “He said someone was a baker. Is that you?”

  “Yes, I can help cook or bake however you need if I have supplies.” I checked the cabinets and found nothing. Not even like a dish.

  “Everyone’s been eating at the cafeteria at the camp. Things are a bit confusing.” He sighed. “How about we head over there for dinner and you can talk with Manny. Maybe snag some supplies and baking stuff until we get more on the supply run tomorrow. Or we can start ordering it from Amazon.”

  “Whatever is easier for you. I am in your care,” I said, defaulting to my normal behavior in the coven so no one had any reason to yell at me. I dipped my head, and he gave me a funny look. Yeah, normal people didn’t act that way, but I had basically been born an indentured servant and worse, so it was how I had been raised.

  He found a heavy sweatshirt for me and led me out to an ATV, muttering it was nice to have more of them now and it was the best idea someone had come up with to him. I hadn’t dealt with snow, so it probably got to be a pain given the amount of it they had. For me it was magical, and I took it all in as we sped along, hanging on so I didn’t go sliding off, he drove so fast.

  “Sorry, they’re really fun,” he apologized after we parked, seeing how I was holding on with a death grip. He did a double take. “You okay? You’re really pale, and my cheeks are normally red from the cold and wind.”

  “It’s just a lot to take in,” I answered instead in case he could tell when people were lying. I’d learned how to dodge that early considering the head butler of the coven estate had the gift and hated me, a complete asshole if he caught me in a lie.

  And lots of times when I was telling the truth. He did a lot of vile shit that he then used his gift to blame others for. He was on the list of people I hoped died too.

  We went inside, and I met Manny, a sweet guy who reminded me of one of my instructors. We were talking about how I could help by making sweets and desserts, as the load on him was too much, when he suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you need blood or something? You look like death, kid.”

  “I think I might,” I admitted quietly. “I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

  “It would be a bother if you dropped or bit someone,” he lectured. He eased down when I started shaking at his tone. “I got it. You came from something bad. It’s a good place here, kid. Trusting is hard though, so take your time but ask for help.”

  “Who do I ask?” I whispered, seriously dumbfounded as to what to do. No one had ever offered me help before, only more shit if I complained or didn’t do what they wanted.

  He moved away from where we were and near part of the buffet line, looking over the top of the protective glass so he could see the cafeteria. He scanned the area for a bit and then locked on someone. “Bowie, hey, can you come back here?”

  “Yeah, what’s up, Manny?” a deep voice called back. He came into the kitchen and glanced between us, focused on me after Manny gave him some sort of signal. “Did you need something?”

  I swallowed loudly, frozen in place.

  “Time to ask for help, kid,” Manny said gently.

  I nodded, my heart thundering in my ears as the aching and headache got worse. “I think I need some blood. Is it possible to get some, please?”

  “Good job,” Manny praised. “You let Bowie take you to the infirmary and check you out, and I’ll have some of the knuckleheads drag over what you’ll need for the morning. I can give you the small mixer and whatnot, but we’ll get more of the big stuff and set you up right at Nero’s.”

  “Or they’re talking on opening a private mall,” Bowie muttered. “People can have shops and not have to pay rent since there won’t be outside customers. I think it’s awesome because the more we have here that’s fun, the less people will want to make runs to Casper or visit other places, which is dangerous.”

  “I would love to have a smal
l bakery,” I blurted loudly, grabbing my head when it throbbed worse. “I apologize for yelling.”

  “I’ll tell them you would, but let’s get you to the infirmary,” Bowie worried.

  I nodded, which was stupid given how I was feeling, and stood, blacking out the moment I did. I woke lying on a cot with a guy wearing scrubs and a lab coat staring down at me.

  “I’m Sam,” he greeted. “I’m the head of the camp’s infirmary, and I’m also a medical doctor.” He waited until I nodded. “How long ago was your transition?”

  “Yesterday,” I answered, my voice sounding like I’d swallowed a frog. “I woke up from it and hurried to catch the plane to get out of Orlando.”

  “Damn, how were you even walking?” Bowie whispered, giving me a shocked look. “No wonder you were in such bad shape. Like damn. I was a mess after mine, and they knock us out once it’s done.”

  “I didn’t grow any,” I drawled, forgetting to sound like a girl.

  “Your situation must have been bad that you risked death or biting an innocent to make that plane,” Sam muttered, staring me over. “How bad?”

  “Bad, but I didn’t know I could hurt someone,” I whispered in horror. “My fangs haven’t even—” I yelped as they came out, noting Sam had cut open a blood bag so I smelled the contents better.

  “Do you get it now? One human with a cut around you and that would have happened.”

  “I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes as it sank in how dangerous I’d been. “No one prepared me. The coven doctor said not to bother him when I reminded him it was my birthday. I hid because I knew if anyone found me not in the clinic, no one would care if they made it worse for me. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I’ll do whatever if you tell me what to do.”

  “Okay, okay, please don’t cry,” he muttered as he sat on the cot with me. “I get it. You’re safe now, hon.” He grabbed some tissues and wiped me up, giving me a few more clean ones that I realized was for my makeup.