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  Midnight Vows © July 2016 J.E. Taylor

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  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Midnight Vows | J.E. Taylor

  MIDNIGHT VOWS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  About J.E. Taylor

  Midnight Vows

  J.E. Taylor

  MIDNIGHT VOWS

  Welcome to the wedding of the millennium.

  Before she met Damian Andreas, Naomi Hawk always envisioned her wedding on a beach at sunset.

  She never thought she’d get married in the mountains under a canopy of stars, but being a vampire bride makes logistics, such as dress shopping and finding a location willing to book a midnight ceremony, difficult to navigate.

  Is her wedding going to be everything she dreamed, or a disaster of epic proportions?

  Chapter 1

  I slammed the phone down, letting out a yell of frustration. Damian came sliding into the room, his eyes all frantic like perhaps Lucifer had shown up instead of me going all banshee because I couldn’t find a place that would book a midnight wedding.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “These stupid people don’t want to stay later than eleven at night and keep suggesting an earlier wedding. At this point, I’d settle for city hall, which of course, closes at five,” I snapped and waved my hand around like a damn princess.

  It was as close to a true hissy fit as Damian had ever seen from me, and his lips twitched. The man was trying his damnedest not to laugh, but he was obviously losing the battle. Which aggravated me even more.

  I went to lick my lips before I admonished him, but my tongue ran across my sharp incisors. Crap, my crazy was showing. I had transitioned into shadow form from all the burning irritation cascading through my blood.

  He burst out laughing.

  “Damn it, Damian, I’m trying to plan our wedding, and all you can do is laugh?”

  “Would you like me to try to find a place?” he asked, curtailing his chuckles.

  “Yes. That would be one less thing to deal with.”

  “Any preferences of locations?”

  “Outdoors. Preferably in some garden setting with a view. And we don’t need a reception, just a bottle of champagne for after the ceremony.”

  He gave me a nod and turned to leave.

  “And if the place has a photographer, that would be a bonus. We also need a minister and a couple of folks willing to act as witnesses.”

  He paused at the door. “Are you sure you don’t want to run down to Las Vegas?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to have a drive-through wedding,” I snapped. I didn’t. I wanted something worthy of forever, and Las Vegas was just not it. Besides, a Las Vegas wedding seemed cheap and tawdry, and more like something thrown together at the last minute. I wanted something more meaningful. Something put together with care.

  Except I was failing miserably at this.

  “Honey, the place doesn’t matter. The fact we say I do does.”

  Men had no fricken’ clue. I glared at him.

  He hurried out of the room to escape my wrath.

  The wedding I had dreamed of as a kid involved a beach just as the sun kissed the horizon. That wasn’t happening. Not with the shadow virus running amok in my system. Sunshine would turn us both into a pile of ashes, and I was sure Damian would be none too pleased by that, not after waiting twenty-five hundred years for me to come along and steal his heart.

  I sighed and opened anther web browser. After searching Denver bridal salons, only two offered hours past 6pm, and I snagged a 7:30 appointment at Emma and Grace Bridal Studio for the following Monday. Thankfully, it was early enough in March to allow us to get to Denver in time for the appointment. Any later in the year and I’d be screwed.

  I prayed I’d be able to find a dress that didn’t need alterations, because I was sure the in-house seamstress probably worked bankers’ hours. Instead of harping on that possibility, I perused their dress offerings, trying to settle my frazzled nerves. There were quite a few that interested me, and I jotted them down on paper and just prayed they would have them onsite for me to try on. I wanted a dress that clearly stated I was the bride, and not one that could be confused with an evening gown. I also wanted a gown that would make Damian’s heart stop the minute I stepped within his line of sight.

  Damian walked in the room and dropped a piece of paper on the desk. “We are booked at the Secret Garden on Saturday, May 5th for a midnight ceremony under the full moon. You have the bridal suite starting at 10 p.m. I figured two hours ought to be enough for hair and makeup, right?”

  I nodded, dumbfounded.

  “I also booked a photographer and a justice of the peace to perform the ceremony. Do you need me to do anything else?”

  I stared at him, and then my gaze dropped to the paper before bouncing back to him. “How in the world did you get all that so quickly?”

  He grinned. “Money talks,” he said and gave me a wink.

  My brain ran down all the options for the ceremony. “Does the place have any music for me to walk down the aisle to?”

  “I can ask when the curator sends the contract. He also said we could take a look at the venue any evening this week if we’d like. There are a couple of spots we can choose to hold the ceremony onsite. I told him it would have to be after 8 p.m., and he said that was fine as long as we give him a day’s notice.”

  “Maybe we can go on Monday after my dress appointment? It might be later than eight though.”

  “Why don’t we go a different night so you’re not rushed?”

  That was why I loved the man. I smiled, thinking of how rushed I’d already be if the store wanted me out by eight. I just hoped they would let me stay later so I can try on the dresses I had jotted down.

  “Tuesday?” I asked, and he gave me the thumbs up before he left the room.

  I leaned back in the chair, staring after him. He just pulled off what I hadn’t been able to after hours of begging and pleading. I glanced at the paper and stared at the venue name. Secret Garden. That was one I just bypassed because I thought the website was cheesy and not well done.

  I hoped it offered what I was looking for. I sighed, glancing at the dress list. I had a dozen dresses listed and I would have to narrow that down based on what I saw in the mirror. If they ran true, I might actually be able to wear it off the rack.

  Chapter 2

  “This is the dress,” I said as I stared in the mirror. It was the last dress on my list, and I had one other hanging on the maybe bar. It struck me as funny that the first dress I tried on and the last dress were the two that tickled my fancy.

  I twirled in the dress, letting it settle around me before I turned to the saleswomen surrounding me.

  “This is the one!” I repeated. It fit snug and was exquisite. I could actually wear the sample dress out of the shop with zero alterations, and the shoes that I had been trying the dr
ess on with fit beautifully.

  Annabel, my salesgirl, clapped with a broad smile. “Let me get you a veil that will match that dress perfectly,” she said and disappeared.

  I turned to the other saleswoman. “This looks better than the other one, right?” I asked, worried that I might have made a mistake between the two. My gaze jumped to the dress hanging against the wall.

  “You look lovely in all the dresses, but Angeline looks like it was made just for you. You shine in that dress.”

  I’m sure the price may be the reason she was saying that, because the Angeline by WToo was one of the more expensive dresses. But I didn’t have a budget. Damian had said get whatever I wanted, and right now, I wanted this dress with these shoes.

  Annabel came back with the veil and slipped it into my hair. She was right—the details in the veil made it a perfect choice and the half length was perfect.

  “I’ll take it all. Dress, shoes, veil and corset,” I said, turning and smiling at the two women before returning my gaze to the mirror. “My wedding is on May 5th. Can you get this in that fast?” I asked while I was still studying my profile. While I was paler than I used to be, my Native American heritage made my skin look more natural than I imagined most suffering with the shadow virus dealt with. In other words, I didn’t look like a pasty white vampire.

  “Let me check,” Annabel said, and both she and the other sales woman stepped away, leaving me to change into my street clothes. I glanced at the clock and winced. It was a little after nine, and guilt flooded my bones. These two women had stayed much later than they had to in order to help me.

  By the time they came back, I was pulling on my cowboy boots.

  “Unfortunately, that particular dress can’t be here in less than twelve weeks,” Annabel said, her cheeks bloomed red.

  “However, you could buy the sample,” the woman next to Annabel said. “It just came in last week, and you are only the second bride to try it on. I’d be willing to part with it along with the accessories so you can have the dress you were meant to have. I can always order another one for our stock, but even that won’t make it here in time for your wedding day.”

  I stood and walked over to the sample, holding the hem to make sure there wasn’t any dirt or snags in the fabric. I wanted this dress. “I’ll take it. Can you store it here until the wedding, or do I need to take it today?”

  “We would prefer that you take it, and then the week of the wedding bring it back to be pressed. You have a choice of picking it up on either Friday or the day of the wedding. We close at five both days.”

  I bit my lip and sighed. “I can drop it off the Monday before the wedding, but it will be very close to closing time. I don’t usually get out of work until after eight at night, so...” I gave her a shrug.

  “If you call that day, I’ll stay an extra fifteen minutes if that helps,” the woman said. “I own the shop, so I don’t mind.”

  I smiled. “Are you Emma or Grace?”

  “Emma,” she said and took the dress as well as the veil, shoes, and corset to the counter to bag them up.

  The dress was tucked into a large garment bag that I hoped would fare well on the flight home.

  “Can I have another one of those large shopping bags to fold the garment bag into?” I asked. “I’m meeting my fiancé for dinner and I don’t want him to see the dress.”

  Emma packed the garment bag into one of their large shopping bags. “Just make sure to hang it up once you get home, okay?”

  “Absolutely. As far as picking up the pressed dress, I’ll probably have a courier pick it up for me. What will they need to be able to pick up the dress?” I asked, wondering about the logistics again. However, if Damian was able to book a venue and all those other things in less than an hour, I should be able to hire a reliable courier to deliver my dress to the Secret Garden.

  “As long as the courier shows us a copy of your dress press receipt, and a note authorizing us to release the dress to them, we can let them take it.”

  That worked for me. I left the shop with two large bags and a grin, and crossed to the sports bar across the street where Damian had parked his fine ass for the duration of my shopping.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” I whispered from behind him.

  He glanced over his shoulder and then turned at seeing the bags.

  “Success?”

  “Oh, yes. That was the perfect dress shop,” I said and caught a kiss. “I was thinking it might be nice to stay at a hotel here in town for the night before the wedding. I’ll need to hire a courier to pick up my dress and if I’m at a hotel, at least I can have it dropped off in the room instead of having it delivered to the venue.”

  He bit his lip. “That might not be such a bad idea, but...”

  I knew what was coming next and I sighed.

  “Our friends might get wind of our whereabouts if we do that,” he said.

  He had a point, but as much as I wanted to avoid detection by Lucifer and his henchmen, I wanted our wedding to be special and as normal as I could make it.

  “Do you really think two nights will be an issue?”

  He shrugged and palmed my cheek. “It could be.”

  “I doubt they would put two and two together if we got separate rooms for both nights.”

  His hand dropped, and a crease appeared between his eyes, signaling his familiar look of confusion.

  “You aren’t seeing me on our wedding day,” I said, and he huffed a laugh. “I’m serious. I’m doing this right, so either we get separate hotel rooms or you stay at the cabin.”

  He balked. “I’m not staying that far away from you.”

  “Fine, then it’s settled. We’ll stay in a hotel.”

  He chewed his lip, visibly annoyed with my backing him into a corner.

  “You can get a town car to take me to the venue, and one to take us back to the hotel, too,” I added with a grin.

  His dimples appeared. “You’re really going to town with this wedding, aren’t you?”

  “It’s the only one I’ll ever have, so you bet your ass.”

  He grinned at me and the spark in his eyes meant one of two things—either he was hungry for food, or he was hungry for me. He threw cash on the bar for the whiskey he nursed while I was trying on dresses and took my hand, leading me outside.

  HE DROPPED ME OFF AT the cabin with my bags in tow, and I stepped inside to hang up my dress and other items. He didn’t follow me in, so that spark was more about sustenance than sex.

  I stepped outside a moment later, and he glanced at me before he closed his eyes and sniffed the air. I did the same. This winter had provided slim pickings for us, and I was glad for the early break in temperature because the wildlife had started to move around again, giving us more palatable options of food sources.

  “Moose,” he said with a grin and pointed to the east.

  A moose had more than enough blood to fill us both up. I grinned as well. We broke out in a run and I closed my eyes, willing my transition. When my eyes opened again, I felt the snow under my huge white paws. Damian’s wings beat above me and his shadow moved faster in flight than I did bounding through the snow.

  I was the huntress of the two of us. Damian wouldn’t take down a moose because neither hawk nor man wanted to tango with a thirteen-hundred pound menace. But my alter ego was a seven-hundred pound white Siberian tiger. At a full sprint, I could hit fifty miles per hour easily, and the force at which I could hit a moose of average size could knock it over. I just have to watch out for the antlers.

  Damian loved to watch me go in for the kill. He said I was a force beyond imagination. To him, it was like an exquisite dance, one he never wanted to be a participant of. After all, I almost took down Lucifer, but the sunrise saved his ass.

  I caught the moose off guard, hitting him square in the shoulder with a force of nearly two tons. He teetered and fell to the ground, creating a snow puff, but before he could regain his senses, my teeth sank in, severing his jugular
. My reward was a fountain of lifeblood.

  The hot liquid poured into my mouth, but instead of lapping it, I let it fill my mouth and swallowed. I could feel the strength building in my bones, replenishing my cells and giving me that heady high.

  Damian landed next to me and grabbed the antlers, pulling the head farther to the side so he could get a drink of warm blood. I growled at him without removing my teeth. When I was in my primal form, I didn’t like sharing.

  “Deal with it,” he said and leaned in next to me, biting into the fading fountain of life.

  When the carcass was drained, I yanked my teeth from the fur and licked my chops. Damian retreated as well, taking the spot next to me, and his hand landed on my head, caressing me behind the ear. My wild cat loved it when he scratched behind my ears, and I leaned into him, almost knocking him on his ass.

  “I think it’s time we go satisfy our other appetite,” he said.

  I licked the last of the blood from my paws before glancing up at him. Right now, my inner cat had other ideas. I just wanted to run and play in the snow for a little while. When I was in this form, the feline urges took over, and I wasn’t in a position to contradict them. I bounded into the snow before turning and swaying my tail.

  He rolled his eyes and then darted straight at me, tackling me into a roll in the snow. This time, he ended up underneath me, and I took the opportunity to mop his face with my tongue until he was laughing and pushing my snout away.

  “Enough! If you want to get kinky and lick me all over, let’s go home and you can have at it, but only as my fiancé, not a tiger, okay?”

  I chuffed at him and stepped off, letting him get to his feet and pat the snow from his clothing.

  “Are you ready to go back now?”

  I shook the snow from my fur and gave him a nod.

  He took a couple running steps towards our cabin, and then the hawk came out. I ran in the same direction feeling freer than I had ever felt in my life. While the shadow virus had its drawbacks, it also had its benefits, like being able to run at high speeds through Colorado’s frozen mountain terrain.