Broken Illusions Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  BROKEN ILLUSIONS

  Ashryn Barker #2

  Laura Greenwood

  © 2017 Laura Greenwood

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the published, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address; [email protected].

  Cover Design by: Melody Simmons

  Visit Laura Greenwood’s website at:

  www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk

  www.facebook.com/authorlauragreenwood/

  Broken Illusions is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  To Wyn, Isla & Eona, who influenced my characters into wanting so many men, and left me with no way of dealing with it.

  And to Macey, proving that being taken by surprise isn't always a bad thing.

  A Note on Language

  Please note that the author of this book is from the UK, and as such, spellings and some turns of phrase will appear in British English.

  Warning

  Broken Illusions is a paranormal reverse harem. There are three love interests, and the heroine doesn’t have to choose between them.

  Blurb

  What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?

  Everything was going so well for me before I became a vampire. Now, I've got a target on my back, and my main ally is a vampire who still hates me.

  Why did it have to be Bram sent on a mission with me?

  My name is Ashryn Barker, and I'm now what I once hunted.

  A paranormal reverse harem.

  What happened before…

  Ashryn grew up at the vampire hunter guild, who sent her out on a mission alone. While there, things went terribly, terribly wrong, and she ended up turned into a vampire, only to meet Remus, Bram, Eric and Dimitri, who soon show her that vampires aren’t quite what she thinks they are.

  Chapter 1

  Why did things always go wrong for me? It's been mere days since the last disaster, yet here I am, running through a forest with a man who hates me.

  Or wants to hate me. I haven't missed the protective glances he's been sending my way since we left the weird metal cage. I refuse to call it a box any longer. More like a holding pen anyway. Seems like an accurate description considering they're hunting us now. And they're not being quiet about it.

  My now sensitive ears can pick up the rustling of the hunters about forty feet behind us. Which is forty feet too close if you ask me. But there's nothing we can do about it yet. Not with sun rise quite so close.

  "Is there anywhere we can go?" I ask through my pants. I'm fit, there's no way I wouldn't be after all my guild training, but this is beyond a joke. I think it might be the lack of blood in my system.

  Yes, I was going to go with that.

  "How the fuck should I know," Bram replies, slightly less out of breath than I am.

  The bastard.

  "Wishful thinking?" I try. I mean, it's that or burn effectively, and after the first time, I'm not so keen on that option. It was rather painful to say the least.

  "Not going to save us."

  "No shit."

  We run in silence. Probably for the best, otherwise the hunters won't have a job left when they get to us. We'll have killed each other.

  The air around us is lightening by the second. Worrying. The sun really isn't very far off now. We need to get somewhere dark. We need to get somewhere safe.

  "This way." Despite my better instincts, I tug on Bram's sleeves as I say it, and pull him off towards the side. I hope he listens to me, because now we're further in the trees, it is starting to look a little familiar. And if I'm right, then there's a bunker just down here and to the left.

  To my surprise, he actually follows me, and the soft crunch of twigs under feet fills the air. I hope the hunters can't hear it. Probably not. They're still human after all, even if they are highly trained.

  Wait, when did I start thinking of them as them and not as us? Am I really so far gone into vampirism?

  Do I care?

  I suppose not. If we're going by sheer numbers, less vampires have tried to kill me than hunters. The odds maybe weren't in their favour for having me on side.

  I almost stumble as I spot the gnarled tree. The one that I know marked the entrance to the bunker. I just need to hope those following us weren't told about this particular one. I don't think so. I found out about it when I was a child, and it hadn't been mentioned since, so I doubt they tell anyone about it now.

  "Here," I whisper, now more conscious than ever that we could get caught. And if they find us here...we'd be trapped in the bunker. There's so much that could go wrong with this. They could open the bunker. Or just lay in wait until we emerge tomorrow night.

  At least that death is less imminent than death by sunlight. That is mere minutes away, if I'm calculating correctly.

  "Get in." I push him downwards, into the small space that I know will be cramped, but also know will save our lives. There isn't much choice in whether we use it or not then.

  It only takes Bram a few moments to respond. Thank the non-existent God for small mercies. I climb in after him, already feeling cramped.

  How am I going to survive the next eight to ten hours with my body pressed against his? This is going to be torture.

  Chapter 2

  "Will you move your elbow?" Bram growls.

  "Shh," I whisper scold him. How can he be so loud? He knows there's hunters after us. He knows they weren't too far behind when we got in here, and it's only been an hour or so. Not that I know how I can tell. Maybe my internal body clock also got better with turning. I can hope. That's a useful skill to have.

  "Sorry," he responds quietly this time.

  His breath fans against the skin of my neck, and I quite like it. Damn, no. That is not an appropriate thought for the situation.

  Especially when I can feel how affected he is by my proximity. I'm hoping it's just because he hasn't had sex in a while. I think. Maybe I don't hope that. Maybe I'm really wanting it to be about me.

  Again. Not appropriate. What is wrong with me today?

  Oh, right. I'm being hunted by the people I used to work along side, and had to climb into a bunker or burn to death. Perfectly reasonable reasons for me to have a bad day.

  Even so, I shift my elbow as much as I can, hoping it will make him more comfortable, and less likely to kill me before daylight ended. He's sadistic enough to use my own stakes against me.

  I think I'd rather he stakes me in an altogether different way.

  Okay, that's enough. I need to drag my mind back up from the gutter or I'm going to lose it completely.

  "Tell me about her," I whisper.

  Oh. Wow. Great going. Ask the pissy vampire about his dead wife.

  When did I get so smart?

  "Why?" he answers instantly.

  Interesting. And not what I expect.

  “We’re stuck in a bunker for the next twelve hours or so, we need to talk about something.” I keep my voice low, like Bram is too
. We both know what’s at risk here. And I don’t imagine burning to death would be a particularly nice way to die. I already escaped death once. Twice, if I count my little trip out into the sun. I’m choosing not to.

  “But why do you want to know?” he stresses.

  I sigh. Only one thing for it. “Because if she’s the reason you hate me, then I want to understand why.”

  “I don’t hate you.”

  “Seems like it,” I huff. He’s done nothing but square off against me since we met. I didn’t ask for any of this. Vampire life has been just as thrust on me as it was for him all those years ago.

  “Who told you?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I reply hastily, trying not to think of my odd conversation with Eric.

  “I’m going to kill Remus.”

  “It wasn’t him.” Which probably gave away the truth. Bram is well aware of who I’ve spent time with since becoming a vampire.

  “Oh.” He sounds resigned, and despite myself, I reach out and touch his face gently, trailing my finger down his cheek. He shivers beneath my touch, but doesn’t pull away.

  So I do. It’s a little weird for him not to respond. I don’t really know how to deal with it.

  "Please?" I almost beg. Why am I so interested in her? It's not like she's in the way of...well, of whatever I seem to believe she's in the way of.

  "You're not going to like it," he tells me. How interesting. That's not how I expect him to start. Maybe he doesn't actually hate me then.

  But if vampire hunters killed my wife, or husband, or whatever, then I'd probably hate me to. To be fair to him.

  Not the point.

  "It doesn't matter. I want to hear," I reply, my curiosity well and truly piqued. This woman, whether a good, or bad, one, is the one who made him the way he is.

  Maybe I just have to hope the damage is undoable. Deep down, a part of me knows Bram isn't quite as brash and abrasive as he pretends to be. I think his heart is capable of great love, he just hasn't had the chance to show it yet.

  Wow. My brain must be damaged from my trip out into the sun. The thoughts crowding my mind are scarily out of character, and I'm not really sure what to do with them. I mean, love? That's never been on my radar. Sex, sure. But not love. No one can afford to love in the guild. It's the quick way to gaining a weakness. And everyone knows weaknesses are a way to end up dead.

  Proper dead. Not my kind of dead.

  "Ashryn..."

  Oh. I like the way he says my name. The way he's dragging it out to almost make it sound like a plea. Like this is too much for him to take. Nope. I need to stop. This is going to end badly for me if I'm not careful. He can be a friend. An ally. Someone I can rely on. He can not be more. I can't let him.

  I can't let any of them.

  I know I was wrong about vampires. Considering I am one, and am being hunted despite the fact I know I've never hurt or killed anyone, I can hardly deny that it's the guild that's in the wrong, not the vampires themselves. Even so, I can't let go of who I am completely. I can't give in to them.

  Remus' scarred face flashes through my mind.

  No. I can't let them get to me.

  "Please, Bram. I've never had anyone like that. I want to know what it's like."

  I could try and kid myself and pretend this was me looking for his weaknesses. For ways in which I can subdue him later on. But I'd be lying to myself, and I'm not okay with that. I also won't admit that out loud, but one step at a time.

  "Fine. What do you want to know?" He seems resigned, not quite what I was going for admittedly.

  "Her name?"

  "Lucinda," he responds instantly. A slightly better sign, I'll admit.

  "And you met..."

  "An arranged marriage. It was a good choice at the time." I feel him grimace in the darkness, and have to stop myself from reaching out.

  "Arranged hardly seems like a good choice any of the time."

  "You're such a youngling."

  "Oi, I'm over age, I'll have you know."

  "How many decades have you seen, Ashryn? Less than three?" he asks it softly. I don't think he's trying to insult me with it, he's just genuinely trying to make me understand.

  I think the dark is making him more forthcoming.

  "In vampire terms, you're young. Well, in vampire terms, I'm young too, but that's not the point. I still lived in a different time. Arranged marriages were the norm, and mine to Lucinda was better than most."

  "Sounds like it," I mutter.

  He chuckles darkly. "In hindsight, yes. But she wasn't always so..."

  "Slutty?" I supplied, thinking back to what Eric had told me.

  Bram lets out a half-growl, half-laugh. He is most definitely softening then. Whether towards me, or in general, I don't know.

  Or maybe it's simpler than that. Maybe he has never been so hard, and it's all just a front to protect himself. Somehow, that won't surprise me if it's true. But here, in the dark, we can feel safe to expose our secrets a little more.

  Plus, there's still a pretty good chance we could be dead by sunset. No harm in spilling all your secrets if you're heading towards never seeing the light of day...no, wait, the light of night? That has a good ring to it actually...if you're heading towards never seeing the light of night anyway.

  "I guess that's the right word. She wasn't always so cold either. At one point, I'd probably even have called us allies."

  "Not friends?" I ask, thinking about how sad that must be. Allies is such a cold word. Even though that's all I've ever had too. Friend's have been in short supply.

  "Friends would imply we had something in common more than a goal. That was never really it. We tolerated each other. She knew she could have had a much worse husband, I knew that she wasn't going to bring disrepute to our name. It was win-win."

  "Not really."

  "You don't strike me as the romantic type, Ashryn," he says, drawing out my name a surprising amount. I like it. But I won't ever tell him that.

  "I guess every little girl dreams of her prince charming for a while."

  "Until they become ruthless vampire hunters." His voice is amused, which is a little surprising, but I'll go with it.

  "It does tend to squash dreams of romance," I admit. "It's hard to think about dinner and flowers when you're being taught exactly where to stick a stake."

  "If I didn't know you, I'd have thought that was an innuendo."

  I let out a small giggle. And I can tell he's smiling despite himself. I have to say, this is kind of nice. Not the stuck in a bunker and potentially dying bit, but the talking to Bram and finding out what he's really like. This is definitely a side of him I can get used to. I just hope it doesn't disappear the moment we leave here. That'd be just my luck.

  "You never know, we might have learned that too," I tease. He swallows loudly.

  "Is that one of the way you've trapped vampires?" he asks, and I'm pretty sure he raises an eyebrow while doing it.

  "I can safely say, I've never had sex with a vampire." But I'm starting to think I'd like to. Not that I'm going to be saying that out loud any time soon.

  "Are you planning on changing that?" he asks, a note of interest in his voice. In me? Or just in the idea of me?

  "I'm hardly planning on going through the rest of my life as a nun," I reply.

  "Even if the rest of your life is the next few hours?" He moves his leg against mine, and I do my best to pretend to be unaffected by it. I am not going to fall for his tricks.

  "Then a nun I'll be," I reply, but I'm smiling. This back and forth? I like it. Almost as much as the softer side of Bram.

  Something tells me I won't be seeing much of that once we're out in the open again.

  "What a shame."

  "There's not enough room in here anyway," I point out. Though admittedly, we are already pressed against each other. It would be fairly easy for me to slip my hands between us and...

  "Interesting that you've thought about that."

  "I
t's a left over thought from when I was here before," I respond, a little too quickly to actually be nonchalant. Oops.

  "And how old were you then?"

  "Twelve," I answer honestly. It was for a training exercise. Pretty much a game of cat and mouse like we're playing now.

  "Not for a game either." He sounds sad. Like he's genuinely upset by the fact my childhood was none existence.

  "Training," I acknowledge.

  "When did you actually start?"

  "Learning to be a hunter?" I feel him nod against me. "About five, maybe six. I don't really remember. They weren't very subtle about it either. Just, here's a stake, here's somewhere to stab it, and go."

  "That's sad."

  "In hindsight, yes. At six, it was all I ever knew. I didn't think twice about it."

  "When were you sent on your first mission?"

  Why is he suddenly so interested? Okay, silly question. I know why he's interested. Most vampires will be when they find out my past. Know thy enemy is a real thing after all.

  "Nine," I reply. "But it wasn't a proper mission. The vampire was weak anyway."

  "Lack of blood?"

  I nod. "I think so. In hindsight, I think they'd already caught him. And then kept him there."

  We're silent for a moment. Neither of us quite sure what to say. All the missions I've taken part of fly through my head, and regret wells up inside me. I've caused so much pain in my life. Killed so many people. So what if they were vampires. That doesn't make them worth any less.

  Without me wanting it to, a sob bubbles up from my throat.

  "Ashryn?" Worry fills Bram's voice. But I ignore that. Knowing he cares for me isn't going to help either of us. In fact, it'll make it harder if he goes back to being a distant dick again. That was kind of annoying when he did that.

  I sob again. Fuck. When did I become this way? I'm not the kind of girl who just cries at stuff. I'm the kind of woman who kicks it's ass.