TheBrokenOrnament Read Online Free PDF Page B

with anyone who was human. A vampire, while able to breed, on occasion, with humans who weren’t their mates, they couldn’t make a life with a human they could completely control.
    While Hunter was sure it would be fun for a while, after a bit it would get boring to have a mate who would do one’s bidding without a fight. He didn’t want that. He’d never wanted that.
    He wanted a mate he could talk to, one he could make love with that he wouldn’t have to force compliance or wipe their memory. That alone was why he’d been alone so many long years.
    Hunter had tried living the lie once. Once was enough to convince him that he never wanted to try it again. After five years, he left the woman after wiping himself from her memory and replacing her lost time with false memories of a husband who died in the war of the time.
    She went on to remarry a human and live a happy life. At least he hoped she’d been happy. He knew that he could never make her so. They couldn’t have children because he wasn’t compatible with her physically and she couldn’t live without them.
    After marrying her human, Sara had gone on to have seven children and lived to the ripe old age of fifty-seven. Well… it was a ripe old age then.
    Looking down at Cherie, he wondered if she really was the one he could make a life with. The seer hadn’t said that he was her lover. She’d only said that her love was a vampire. Hadn’t Arty said that those brought over usually ended up being vampire mates? Just because her mate was a vampire, didn’t mean it was him.
    Why torture himself with hope? He stared at the young woman before him and wished the psychic had said his name. Why hadn’t she revealed who Cherie’s lover would be? It would have gone a long way to easing his mind had she said it was him.
    Hunter jammed his hands into his pockets and headed for the door. He couldn’t bear to stay out here and listen to anymore. What if the woman did toss a name out and it ended up being one of his friends? Would he begrudge them a mate just because he had none?
    His chest ached as he thought of the woman he found in his hotel room. She was so full of life and courage. He loved the way she stood up to him. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know he was a vampire. She knew he was stronger than her, just by human genetic make-up and still she stood her ground and argued with him.
    Lifting his hand, he rubbed the center of his chest where it had begun to ache and wondered how many years the fates would force him to be alone before they finally sent him a woman to love.
    Glancing back, he met Cherie’s gaze and wondered what she was thinking. He could enter her mind and take the information, but he’d never really liked doing that since Sara. It always seemed like a violation.
    Oh, he would do it when the need arose and he’d already done it with Cherie, but it didn’t mean he wanted to repeat the act anytime soon. Besides, if he didn’t delve into her thoughts, he needn’t find out that the man who would be her lover for life wasn’t Hunter Vasco and he could dream for a little while longer.
    “Wait for me.” She shook the woman’s hand before turning to run to him.
    “I thought you wanted to leave.”
    “Well…” She sighed. “I don’t have any money and I have nowhere else to go.” She tilted her head and looked up at him. “Can you help me?” She bit her lip, then looked down at her feet, which were sorely underdressed for the weather in a pair of thin slippers.
    Even if he didn’t want this woman he would help her. It was what his mother had trained him to do—years before he’d become a vampire. Years before a lunatic changed his life forever.
    “Of course I will help you, Cherie.” He smiled down at the top of her head. “The first thing on our agenda will be to go to the mall and get you something to wear. You cannot continue to wear what you slept in and those slippers, while probably quite warm while inside, leave