UNCONTROLLED BURN Read Free

dealing with rude drunks.” Ronan swirled the wine in his glass, inhaling its aroma before sipping from the glass and savoring the dark liquid.
    Hope spoke through gritted teeth. “Ronan, I really have no desire to go a round or two with you tonight. I just came in for a quiet drink and some face time with Alex.”
    “Someone call my name?”
    Glenn watched the co-owner of O’Malley’s sneak in from the kitchen as if she could hide her arrival from him. Though Alexandra Flanagan hadn’t told him specifically where she was headed when she’d dropped her apron under the bar and gathered her purse, she’d said she wouldn’t be long. Three hours was longer than it took to run a typical Thursday night girly errand. Whatever the hell that might be.
    “Evening, Alex. You working the kitchen tonight?” Ronan asked.
    “Yeah, something like that.” Alex smiled apologetically at Glenn.
    Their short order cook, Chris Dillon, had left unexpectedly an hour before Alex, leaving him to finish the evening by himself. Not that it was a problem for Glenn, but their behavior was just a little suspect. Alex was battling some personal crap she wouldn’t share with him and she certainly didn’t need Chris’s demons adding to her fight.
    Of course, from all appearances, it seemed as though Chris had a thing for Hope who only had eyes for one particular fireman. And the way Ronan’s eyes followed Alex’s every move led Glenn to believe the vampire’s nightly visits had nothing to do with the wine they served. Who the hell knew what Alex wanted in the romance department.
    Damn Peyton Place if you asked him.
    “Chris have the night off?” Hope asked.
    “He went home sick,” Alex replied, slipping her apron over her head. “Can I get anyone anything?”
    Ronan finished his wine in one swallow. “How about another glass of your finest.” He leaned forward and winked. “Nothing like a local California wine and a beautiful lassie to end a perfect evening,”
    “You’re usual?” The smile Alex flashed as she uncorked the bottle of Merlot, lit up her Irish pixie features.
    Glenn didn’t miss the way Ronan wrapped his fingers around Alex’s as he was taking the glass. Though the two vampires worked together at the university and were decades older than their twenty-something appearance—infancy in the grand scheme of immortality—Glenn wished the guy would just back off from both women.
    To keep himself from grabbing the vampire by the scruff of the neck and escorting him out of the tavern, Glenn busied himself sorting and boxing the empties behind the bar. The tribunal wouldn’t think much of him mistreating the answer to his very desperate plea. Ronan was in town at Glenn’s invitation. The vampire had arrived in South Kenton six months ago with the lush winds of spring and would be here only as long as it took to discover the reason behind the recent rash of murders. Once they brought the rogue vampire to justice, Ronan would move on to the next place where vampires threatened either humans or their own species.
    Alex on the other hand, was family. Nearly a decade after he’d settled in this Northern California mountain town forty years ago, she’d found her way to him, a stray in need of saving. Glenn had made it his personal mission, nearly a century ago, to help new vampires keep their existence secret from the mortal world of humans. His reputation had spread and now, countless numbers of young vamps came to him. Drawn by word of mouth, they sought explanations, training and—if possible—redemption.
    Every single one of those Glenn had saved over the years hummed softly in the background of his consciousness, permanently connected to the very heart of his being. Some, like Alex, were closer to the surface. Until recently, her internal monologue was as much a part of him as his own thoughts. Tired of his presence in her head, she’d somehow managed to block him. Glenn shouldn’t miss her quiet whispers, but