TJ Michaels

Excerpt from HATSEPT HEAT
Vampire Council of Ethics Bookk 3
By TJ Michaels
Samhain Publishing, Inc., Published 2009
All Rights Reserved

“Shin?” Kenoe sent the query quietly into her head. She sent back reassurance that nothing was wrong. In fact, if this went as expected, she didn’t think her life could get any more perfect.

Without further ado, Bix signaled the start of the meeting. “So, Shinju, what can I do for you?”

Shinju locked her knees and blurted the words out. “I want to be a Seeker.”

Bix and Alaan both looked at Kenoe, who’d promptly gone ashen. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him that, or any other, shade of gray.

“I can already fight. Max saw to it that I was trained in the arts of war, including hand-to-hand combat and blade training since I was old enough to hold a katana.”

Terror, palpable and vivid, flashed through to her, so strong she almost flinched.

“What? Shinju, a Seeker? Are you crazy?” Kenoe protested. Loudly. His arctic focus on Bix, he lowered his voice to what would have sounded polite except for the dangerous snarl accompanying the words.

“Sir, with all due respect, I do not agree with your even considering drafting Shinju into the corps.”

“Draft?” With the smirk from hell plastered firmly across his mouth, Bix said, “It wasn’t my idea.” His gaze swung a hard left and landed on Shinju.

“Shinju Deni Maruyama,” Kenoe snapped. Hmm, never a good sign when your lover used your whole name in a sentence. “Who the hell put you up to this? Tameth? Carin?”

Okay, now that pissed her off.

“What, I can’t come up with a great idea on my own?”

Kenoe’s jaw clenched and for the first time since he’d run from the debauched harem of his half-brother decades ago, he saw red. Opaque, almost stifling, anger-laced red.

The mere thought of his woman, his human woman, even thinking about accompanying a group of hardened vampires on a rogue hunt sent his blood streaking inward. A heart attack was surely imminent. The next thing Kenoe knew, he was in her face and not at all sure how he’d gotten there from across the room. Her request was so outrageous, he simply didn’t care about propriety.

“Don’t even think about twisting my words, woman. And it’s not a great idea, damn it! It’s stupid and dangerous!”

“Back. The. Hell. Up. And stop yelling at me.”

“Yelling? You’re lucky that’s all I’m doing!” He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she saw either stars or common sense. Instead, he clawed his way toward some semblance of self-control and met her snarl with one of his own. Kenoe didn’t miss the fact that everyone else had backed up a few steps.

“Look, Shin, you are not hunting rogues, period. If you think I’ll permit such a thing you are out of your fucking mind! It’s too dangerous and you’re a human. Not even an enhanced one, like Carin, because you won’t bond with me or take my goddamned blood!” Who cared if the final word had come out a roof-shaking bellow?

“Kenoe Hatsept, are you cussing at me?”

“Look, woman—”

“You think I can’t protect myself because I’m just a plain ole human? Well, prepare to defend yourself!”

Kenoe knew Tameth could have easily stopped Shinju from getting to the blade tucked into the modified sheath that ran along the spine of her trench coat, but his fellow Seeker didn’t even flinch when Shinju went for it. Instead, her lips morphed into a proud parent-type grin. Figured.

Three-foot blade in hand, Shinju dropped into a wide horse stance.

“Shin, what the hell are you thinking?” Kenoe snapped.

“I said,” she gritted out, “prepare to defend yourself.”

With that, the sting from hell streaked across Kenoe’s chest as the blade in Shinju’s hand left a thin trail of blood across his pecs. Damned woman had ruined his shirt. It now hung limply from his body with a gaping diagonal slash across the middle.

“Woman, are you out of your fucking mind? Oh, wait. I already know the answer to that one.”

She didn’t bother to reply, but came at him again, this time her intent clear when her gaze dropped for a split second to a spot just a hair below his waist.

At the last second, Kenoe slipped his own katana out of its back holster and blocked a ruthless slice headed for his groin.

“Damn it, if you ever want to be a mother, watch where you point that thing!”

“Talk is cheap, Seeker. Surely a mere human couldn’t do you any harm. So bring it.”

He laughed and all it did was fire her up more. But there was no help for it. He knew exactly what she was up to. And he must be just as crazy because he felt a feral smile spread across his lips. The sight of her preparing to skewer him turned him on like nothing else.

So the woman was not only a wildcat in the sack…she was a wildcat, period. And a skilled one, he thought as he lowered his katana to block a slice headed for his ankle. He’d expected her to be good given her quietly kept background, which she obviously thought he didn’t know about.

A flux of fierce determination slammed into his consciousness. Shinju’s determination. Why the need to fight him so hard? Why not just let him wrap her up in his love and keep her happy, safe and content for the rest of her days? Suddenly it became clear as polished glass. Bottom line—Shinju needed this. Needed to avenge her brother and be the one to take care of him for a change.

It was something he could relate to all too well, having spent most of his early years with nothing on his mind but revenge. His single-minded dedication to becoming a Seeker was for the sole purpose of dispatching his own brother. And he’d been so consumed, it had almost cost him his soul. He couldn’t let that happen to Shinju. Yet how could he deny her the opportunity to seek what he so thoroughly understood?

Then another thought occurred to him—she’d made her choice. To train as a Seeker, Shinju had to make a commitment to remain among his kind and live as one of them. Live…with him? Permanently, as in bonded?

“Yes, blockhead. Took you long enough,” she hissed into his brain. But that hiss carried with it a dose of love and a dash of humor. “Now, let’s see if you can kick my ass. You win, you make dinner. No McDonald’s.”

That could certainly be arranged. “Snarky-assed woman.”