Read Online MIDNIGHT HUNT: Book 3 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles by Arial Burnz - Free Book Online Page A

the crock of butter from the shelf before she returned to slice the bread. “But I hope to have it in my possession within just a few days.” She placed individual slices onto the trenchers.
    “Are you sure it’s her book?”
    Monika clenched her fists. “I had it in my hands.”
    “It didn’t perish in the fire. You were right all along!” Edda sat back and grinned. “So where is it? Why can’t you get it now?”
    Edda rose and brought the honey pot and wand to the table. Monika frowned and sat to butter the bread. “I was summoned to Vollstadt by a man who said he needed a healer.”
    Edda’s brow increasingly furrowed as Monika retold Thomas’s story of being captured and escaping with the book. “He sounds like a crafty blackguard. You mind him, now.”
    Monika rolled her eyes heavenward. “Oh, you can be certain of that. He’s attractive, no doubt, but I certainly won’t let that interfere with what I’m feeling here...” She tapped the center of her chest, indicating her heart.
    “Are you going to resume your mother’s work, then?”
    “You know I will.” Gods, please let me accomplish what my mother could not. There’s finally hope. “I can’t wait to tell Oma when she returns from helping Papa.”
    “Helping him? What happened?” Edda picked up the wand and drizzled honey onto another slice she’d buttered.
    “I’m not sure. Oma said she was going to Nordenham for some kind of farming accident, but she isn’t usually so upset over tending to others. She was wandering around the cottage in the middle of the night before she left.”
    “Ah, yes, she does have the knowin’ about such things close to home, doesn’t she?”
    Monika nodded and swallowed the lump forming in her throat, the worst coming to mind. She still didn’t know how badly he had been wounded, how all of this was because of the curse. “I told her I knew it was Papa. She was just trying to save me from being worried, I’m sure.” She sighed. “I hope the answers I need are in Mama’s book.” Her eyes welled with tears. “If I can develop a cure, Papa can finally be well again.”
    “This curse has plagued your family for a long time.” Edda stood and hugged Monika. “I best tend to my boys.” She framed Monika’s face with her warm palms. “I’m glad you finally found it, love.”
    “Thank you.” She hugged Edda, who then grabbed her basket and waved goodbye before strolling across the platz. Monika closed the door and smiled. She snatched her harvesting gloves and grabbed an empty basket to slip off into the woods and gather the wolfsbane. Luckily, the other three herbs were already growing in their back garden.
    The stalks of the yellow bell-like flower wasn’t easy to find in the lower regions by the sea. It usually thrived in the more mountainous areas, but a diligent seeker could be rewarded with persistence, and Monika was nothing if not persistent.
    At least two hours later, she dragged herself back into the cottage and settled in for a soothing cup of chamomile tea sweetened with honey. She couldn’t help but steal a few more spoonfuls of her favorite golden nectar before she put it away. After savoring her cup of tea, she undressed and washed the sweat from her body in a standing tub of warm water with a soft cloth and lavender. Naked, touching her body and calmed by the effects of the chamomile, Monika allowed her thoughts to drift toward her Scottish dream lover.
    * * * * *
     
    Broderick awoke with a rock-hard erection and his mind swimming with erotic images of Davina. God’s blood! Gripping his turgid shaft, he closed his eyes and lost himself in the sorely missed lovemaking with his wife, fisting himself and pumping his hips. He could almost taste her from the dream, licking the sweet nectar between her legs, the scent of lavender and her musky essence. Drag and thrust, he pumped his rigid cock, his ballocks hitching as his climax rumbled through his legs and torso. Shuddering and