Read The Brethren Of Tavish [Vampire Coven Book 1] for Free Online Page A

Didn’t he know this?
    “I hear your heart pounding,” Tavish said and
gave her a cheeky smile.
    “Full nudity is considered treason. A
punishable offence,” Mercy whispered. “Are you going to beat me?”
    “Since I’m the one who rendered you to the
state you’re in that’s doubtful.”
    He has seen me nude.
    Mercy was ashamed. She had seen her reflection
in a sheer sheet of ice, but vanity was considered treason. Besides, all covered
in fur it was impossible to feel beautiful. Mercy hadn’t seen herself nude
in—she didn’t remember the last time she had been nude. Had she ever been? When
washing in an ice filled cave you tended to get the job done quickly and leave
as little bare for as little long as possible. She remembered the one time she
had squeezed the soft flesh of her breasts and stroked lower, under her
clothing. It had felt nice, until her father had caught her and slammed his
open palm against her face over and over until her blood flowed. Had Tavish
touched as well in the forbidden areas? The idea made her face burn; she could
feel the heat slide up her throat.
    “You shouldn’t be so close,” Mercy whispered.
    “I plan on getting a lot closer, little cub.”
    “It isn’t right.”
    “Sins of the flesh?” Tavish started to
chuckle. Tavish cupped the side of her face. He leaned closer and whispered in
her ear. “Have you ever been kissed?”
    “It’s forbidden,” she started to say when Tavish
pressed his lips to hers.
    Mercy felt the kiss right down to her belly.
Her eyes widened in surprise. His lips were gentle and moist. She jumped when
his tongue invaded her mouth past her teeth. Mercy could feel her nipples
tingle. She knew some things about sex. Men and women were made different
somehow below, and men grew no breasts. Her mother hadn’t explained much. Mercy
knew if his hard maleness, her mother hinted at, grew he would want to put it
up inside her. He would put it in her forbidden area and somehow they would
make a baby. The baby was an act of treason. Both she and her child would be
put to death. Mercy shoved Tavish away.
    “Sex is punishable by death,” she said through
her clacking teeth and quivering chin.
    “Those were your father’s rules,” Tavish said
lightly. “You’re mine now and will obey my rules.”
    Mercy was afraid to ask but she did so
hesitantly. “What are your rules?”
    “Complete submission. Absolute
fealty to me. All females of childbearing years must be bred.”
    Mercy gasped. She had to have sex? She had to
have a baby? “Will you eat my baby?” The thought was horrifying.
    “A child is not bled until they mature. There
are forty vampires in my coven and two hundred humans ranging in age from babe
to just beyond middle age. All listen to me. Your father led you to believe we
are all cruel. Like humans, some are, some aren’t. The vampire the escaped man
talked of was more than likely Remo. Remo was banished to the ice and snow.
There is no escaping my coven. No one ever has. No one ever will. Obey my laws
and there are great rewards. Disobey and the punishment is harsh.”
    “Will you kill me?”
    “A human female of your age is very coveted.
You’ll have my protection from the other covens regardless of whether you obey
or not. There are twenty virile men to choose from to create your offspring
here. You may wander free and happy and select your own or you can ask me to
choose. If you don’t choose and try to escape or evade my law, the alternative
isn’t as pleasant.”
    Mercy could feel her thoughts racing through
her mind. She knew she was being told one way or the other she would be forced
to have a child. Her child would be forced to have a child. When she gazed back
at Tavish, she could see he was giving her time to digest his information.
    “We give humans a life here,” Tavish began
again. “You are fed and clothed, watched over…”
    “Treated like animals. I have read of dogs and
cats. But humans don’t eat their pets.