The Young Vampire Mate: The Airendell Chronicler Diaries - Book 1.5 Read Online Free Page A

long ago resolved as a young woman to save myself for my mate.  Smart move, Breena, you are now an eight hundred plus year old virgin! Yay me! GRrrrr.
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    One afternoon in early March, I am coming in from work when I sense my visitor.  What the hell does he want? I wonder grumpily.  My work with soldiers returning from Afghanistan can be exhausting some days.  My empathic abilities help me heal them of their Post-Traumatic Stress, but it really takes a toll on me some days.  Unfortunately, today was one of those days.  I have to experience all of their pain and terror with them in order to help them heal.  For someone who has really never been an actual warrior, I have dealt with the ravages of war more times over the centuries than I care to think about.
    The dreams about my potential mate and worry about my sister have left me unfocused and sleep deprived.  I have really been struggling to cope in my job.  Now I have to deal with Fionn MacLeod.  He’s a dear friend, and I love him like crazy.  But he won’t let me be.  He knows I hide behind my belief that my mate is out there because I am afraid to get involved with a man.  Ever since I let my guard down with the Traveler at age fourteen I have been reluctant to have anything to do with men.  I let my attraction to him endanger my entire Guild.  I have never really trusted my feelings about the opposite sex ever since then.
    I unlock my door and call out sarcastically, “Just make yourself at home, Fionn!”
    He’s standing in front of me before I can set my briefcase and purse down on the entryway table.  “Thanks, beautiful girl, I did.”  He scoops me up into his arms and kisses me, way more intimately than I have ever been comfortable with.  I push him back and look at my childhood friend with an expression of perplexed irritation.
    Fionn MacLeod is powerfully built and tall, probably 6’2” or so.  He has wavy black hair that goes to his shoulders and dark eyes.  He’s a Spell Weaver like me, but he’s more than that.  His mother was a Shifter.  That means that Fionn can Change into a wolf, well any animal,
    at will.  He’s not much of a healer, only a Healer of the Third Order, but he’s always been a fierce and deadly warrior.  And his magic is strong, very strong, even though he’s only a Second Order Spell Weaver.  But he’s definitely a Warrior of the First Order of Airendell.  In fact, he was one of Morna’s favorite and most trusted warriors, back in the day.
    “I just finished my rotation at Airendell protecting the Gateway and wanted to come check on you, baby,” he says with a wicked glint in his eyes.  “Maybe see if you are ready for me to take care of that little problem of yours for you.”
    I snort and smack his shoulder hard.  My little problem as he calls it, is my virginity.  Fionn has been half-heartedly trying to seduce me for centuries.  I look at my friend and wonder, not for the first time, why I have never taken him up on his offer.  He’s really sexy and I know full well he‘d be an excellent lover.  It just never felt right so I have kept him at arm’s length.  But as I stand here looking at my best friend I can’t deny that I have always found him very attractive.
    Fionn isn’t what most women would consider a handsome man because his brows are too heavy, his nose is too big and mouth is too hard, but he’s sexy as sin just the same.  His broad chest and lean hips would appeal to any woman.  He’s a powerful warrior and centuries of training and battle has resulted in a body that is nearly perfect, despite the battle scars.  Besides his physical appearance, he has his animal magnetism going for him.  Shape Shifters and Changelings just ooze sex appeal and Fionn MacLeod seems to have it oozing from his pores and floating into the very air he breathes.  It’s a biological thing, preservation of the species and all that jazz.  It’s also very, very appealing to a very old