Taming the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance Novella by Chloe Hart

Chapter One
    The October night was sharp with the first
taste of winter, but Liz Marlowe didn’t feel it. She was restless
and keyed up and spoiling for a fight, and a hot pulse of anger
kept her warm in her tee shirt and jeans as she hurried along the
crowded Boston sidewalks, past all the college students in their
turtlenecks and jackets, talking and laughing and putting their
arms around each other for warmth.
    She was frowning down at the sidewalk, lost
in a snarl of frustrated thoughts, when she went around a corner to
escape the throng and slammed into what felt like a brick wall.
    Her reflexes snapped into action and she
recovered quickly, jumping back a few paces as she looked to see
what she’d crashed into.
    Not what, but who.
    It was Jack Morgan, one of the few vampires
in New England she wasn’t allowed to kill and the only one who
could piss her off just by looking at her.
    Which he was doing right now, with one
eyebrow raised and a slight smile on his face. “Well, well, well.
If it isn’t my favorite little ball of hate.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she snapped, before
remembering the resolution she’d made the last time she’d run into
him.
    Never let Jack Morgan get under your
skin.
    His smile broadened. “Why not? It’s an
accurate description. Plus it makes your face turn red and steam
come out of your ears, and I never get tired of seeing that. I
suppose I could call you my favorite elf, but since you’re only
one-sixteenth that would seem like stretching the truth, wouldn’t
it?”
    She forced herself to stay silent, knowing
that anything she said would betray the fact that his shot had hit
home. Liz was the only member of the Green Fae clan with such a
diluted bloodline. Because of that, she’d felt at a disadvantage
among the other demon hunters from the time she was first called as
a warrior.
    And Jack Morgan knew it. He was one of a
handful of vampires who had allied themselves with the elven clans,
and he’d been working with them for decades. He probably knew more
about the Green Fae than she did.
    He knew, for instance, that in a clan of
warriors known for cold-blooded ferocity and iron control, Liz’s
quick temper was considered a serious shortcoming—and an
unfortunate result of her mostly human ancestry.
    That’s why he enjoyed making her angry.
Because he knew how hard she worked to hide her emotions.
    “I keep waiting for a vein to pop out,” he
said. “Right here,” he added, reaching out to touch her
forehead.
    A shiver went through her at the feel of his
cool fingers against her skin. Before he could notice her reaction,
she slapped his hand away and took a quick step back.
    If Jack ever found out she was attracted to
him, her life wouldn’t be worth living.
    She loathed Jack Morgan with every strand of
her hybrid DNA, so it really, really sucked that he was so
goddamned good-looking. He was tall and powerful and built like a
gladiator, with black hair and a wicked mouth and icy blue eyes
that radiated all the deadly competence she longed to possess.
    She took a deep breath. “Get out of my way,
vampire. I don’t have time for you tonight.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I hope you’re on your
way to hit somebody. You look like you need to burn off some steam.
Care to take a swing at me, just for practice? You know you want
to.”
    “And you’ll just stand there and take it, of
course.”
    “Why not? We both know you can’t hit hard
enough to hurt me.”
    She had hit him, once. Several times, in
fact. The fight had been a test, to see if she was ready to
graduate from her training as a warrior, but she hadn’t known
that.
    When she and her teacher had come upon two
vampires in a dark alley she’d gone into battle mode without any
hesitation. She’d been fiercely exultant when she seemed to be
winning, until Yana had called out, “Stop!” and Jack had
immediately backed off.
    And then proceeded to dissect her fighting
technique in a cool, dispassionate tone