A Mate for Titan (The Program Book 7) Read online

  Table of Contents

  A Mate for Titan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  A Mate for Brynn: A Novella

  About the Author

  Also by Charlene Hartnady

  Excerpt

  A Mate for Titan

  The Program: Book 7

  Charlene Hartnady

  Contents

  A Mate for Titan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  A Mate for Brynn: A Novella

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  Also by Charlene Hartnady

  Excerpt

  A Mate for Titan

  Copyright June © 2017 by Charlene Hartnady

  Cover art by Melody Simmons (ebookindiecovers)

  Edited by KR

  Proofread by Bridgitte Billings ([email protected])

  Produced in South Africa

  [email protected]

  A Mate for Titan is a work of fiction and characters, events and dialogue found within are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, either living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Four months in the past …

  The gun felt heavy in her hands, which trembled. Her palms were sweaty and her mouth was as dry as a martini with three olives. What she wouldn’t give for one of those right now. Natasha put her service revolver in her left hand and wiped her other palm against her black fatigues. Soundlessly, she sucked in a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. She gripped her gun tightly in both hands again, swallowing thickly. Her bulletproof vest felt too tight. For just a second, she was tempted to grip the Velcro edges and tear it from her body, to turn and run. These wayward emotions scared the living shit out of her. This wasn’t like her at all.

  Her focus was drawn back to the job at hand as Rogers gave the signal to say that he was about to enter the warehouse. He locked eyes with her for a second, and winked.

  Asshole!

  The nerve. It wasn’t like he winked at any of the other members of the team. This was typical Rogers behavior!

  Natasha was at the rear. Her job was simple, catch any bad guys who tried to escape and stop any reinforcements trying to enter her team’s flank. In other words, she needed to stand there and look pretty while the men faced the real danger. There was no way a woman could actually handle herself in the thick of things during an operation like this. Right?

  Her hands shook some more. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. At this rate, she was going to prove them right, even though she could do this. In fact, she could handle any one of the positions the team members had taken. She’d done it a million times in the past. Okay, maybe not a million but a ton of times. Enough to know what she was doing. Nothing was different about this time. Well, except … this time she had plenty to prove. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her temple.

  Natasha had been with the FBI for six months now. This was her first real sting operation. She had excelled during her time on the police force, which was where she had been prior to coming there. Natasha could shoot better, kick harder and outrun anyone in her division. It was the whole reason the Bureau had taken notice of her in the first place. Yet, since coming onboard, she’d been treated like a rookie. Like a girl. The worst part of it all was that she was starting to buy into the bullshit.

  She couldn’t help it that she was only five foot four and curvy ‒ make that very curvy, despite trying to hide under two tight sports bras. She also couldn’t help that, in spite of being a little on the plump side, she was considered to be attractive with long glossy black hair and big brown eyes. Natasha even had a beauty spot like that well known model … Cindy something. For the life of her she couldn’t remember the woman’s name.

  She’d heard the guys joking with one another about how they’d like to have a little one-on-one session with her. Or how they’d like to show her their ‘big gun’. Hell, they’d even been rude to her face on too many times to count. The way they leered at her boobs and ass was sickening. Natasha knew it wasn’t so much about what she looked like, but was more of a dominance thing. She’d show them. Screw them all. She could do this. She lived for this. Had given up on marriage and kids for this.

  She sucked in a deep breath as Rogers entered the building, followed by several others. A small team would also be entering the rear of the building. Natasha widened her stance and forced her grip on her gun to ease. She flinched as the first round was fired.

  No way! She was becoming soft. Since when did she flinch at gunshot fire? Never.

  Natasha had been shooting since she was twelve. Her dad had taught her everything she knew. Her first gun had been a Winchester. She remembered waking up the morning of her twelfth birthday and tearing the wrapping paper open. The excitement that coursed through her when her nose caught the telltale scent of gun oil. She still had that shotgun. Her first. It was lovingly wrapped in in a storage bag and placed on the top shelf of her gun safe.

  Her collection had grown substantially over the years. Another gunshot rang out. Focus, Walters! That second shot sparked a whole lot more. Round after round. There was screaming, something crashed.

  Just as the commotion was dying down. Just as her heart-rate began to normalize, the window next to her shattered and someone flew through it. They rolled a couple of times in a shower of glass.

  Then the person sprung up, gun in hand and turned to her. It was him. The guy. The one they were hoping to capture. Richard Montgomery, AKA the drug lord himself.

  His eyes narrowed on her and his hand tightened on his weapon.

  “Drop it,” she instructed, her voice steady even though her heart raced.

  His eyes narrowed some more, his gun lifted an inch
in her direction.

  “Drop it now.” The jerk was going to shoot her and make a break for it. Instead of complying, the gun lifted an inch more. His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. Adrenaline surged, her years of training kicked in. Her body acted as if on remote control.

  Two shots, both to the heart. Richard Montgomery was dead before he even hit the ground. His eyes open and staring.

  Rogers burst out of the warehouse door, his eyes flashed left and right, his gun aimed ahead. He cursed as his gaze hit Montgomery. Rogers ran to the downed perp and felt his pulse, unnecessarily. He cursed again. Harder this time.

  “What the fuck happened?” he snarled, his blazing eyes locked with hers.

  “H-he was about to o-open fire on me.” She sounded like a blithering idiot.

  “I thought you were a sharp shooter or something. You’ve won awards, haven’t you? You shoot clay birds or some shit.”

  Natasha nodded. The evidence of her abilities was lying dead on the ground.

  Rogers sighed heavily. “What was the brief?”

  “Well, it …” Shit! Shit … shit … shit! “It was …” She chewed on her bottom lip.

  “We were supposed to bring him in alive, Walters. As in heart beating and breathing. Alive!” he shouted. “He was supposed to sing like a bird. We almost had the ring leader of this whole operation!” This time he shouted so hard that spittle went flying.

  “He was going to shoot me … I reacted … I … my training kicked in …”

  “Your training?” He looked at her in disgust. “This was over a year’s worth of work. That scum,” he pointed at the dead body on the ground, “was supposed to give us names. We were this close …” he held up his thumb and index finger just an inch apart, “to catching the head of the biggest drug operation in this whole goddamn country and you fucked it up.”

  “He aimed his gun at me.” Her voice was shrill. Her argument weak. Truth was, she could’ve nailed him in the arm or shoulder. Her aim was so good that she could’ve taken off both his ears, leaving him standing. Instead, she’d gone for the kill. Her face felt hot. It was what she’d been taught. It had been drilled into her. When faced with death go for the kill shot.

  “I don’t give two fucks, Walters. You should have used your fancy training and shot him in the shoulder or something. You should have disabled the perp, not killed him.” And there it was. He was technically right! Screw her training, you always follow the brief. She was mortified.

  It just wasn’t in her to ignore her training though. “His gun was aimed at my—”

  “What part of ‘I don’t give a fuck’ don’t you understand? In that case, you should have taken the bullet. You fucked up, Walters. You fucked up in a bad way.” He looked down at the corpse at his feet and shook his head. “This puts us back years.”

  “I’m sorry, I—”

  “Save it.” He holstered his weapon. “I’m sure there’s a desk somewhere with your name on it. You don’t belong in the field.”

  Maybe he was right.

  No, he wasn’t. Then again, what if he was?

  This might be just what they needed to get her out of the FBI. The head of her division had been out for blood from the start. He might just win in the end. What the hell had she done?

  2

  Also four months in the past …

  “Thank you for coming.” Brant adjusted his tie and then unbuttoned his fancy suit jacket and hung it carefully on a chair back. Titan wasn’t sure how he survived being wrapped up in all of that cotton and whatever the fuck his waistcoat was made of. His king wore jewelry as well. What was up with that shit? Gold and some or other black stone sparkled on his cuffs. It looked stupid. What was the point of all the get-up?

  “Yeah,” Zane sighed. He ran a hand down his leathers. Ahhh … Now there was something he understood. The male’s short sword was sheathed at his back, exactly where it should be. He was a warrior. A real vampire. None of that other bullshit.

  “Let’s get down to business.” Brant strode back towards them and took a seat. “The human faction responsible for the abductions of the human women, and the near fatal attempt on Zane’s life, is becoming a nuisance.”

  “Putting it mildly,” Zane muttered. He was the one who had been blown out of the sky. Zane had almost died when his chopper had been shot down, giving him every right to be pissed.

  “We’re done with taking a defensive stance on this. We’re done waiting to see what they do next.” Brant passed them each a file.

  It was about fucking time!

  “Operation Kill the Motherfuckers, as I like to call it, commences next week.” Zane smiled, his fangs erupted and his eyes glowed a tad red for a split second.

  Brant shook his head. “It’s called Operation Finding Nemo. We find the fuckers and make sure that they’re brought to justice. We will be working with human law enforcement on this.” Always the pussy. Titan preferred Operation Kill the Motherfuckers. It had a certain ring to it. At the same time though, he understood the need for treading carefully. Humans were involved. They always had to be careful when humans were in the mix. It sounded like they were going to be working with the local police. He didn’t like it! Not one bit.

  “Excuse my intrusion, my lord.” Titan leaned forward. “There was at least one Sweetwater police officer involved in all of this. Chances are that there will be more.”

  Gideon’s upper lip curled back. It was a normal reaction considering the human in question had abducted the male’s female and now mate. The same human was now buried without a heart. Served the bastard right. Females were soft and timid. Especially human females. Gideon should’ve stayed the fuck away from her in the first place.

  “That’s why we won’t be working with any of the local authorities,” Zane said. “The FBI is sending in a team, a special task force. The president wants this taken care of as a matter of urgency. This type of vigilante behavior could quickly turn south. The last thing he wants is a war with the non-humans. Since it’s the last thing we want as well, we’re all in. We’re sending a team in of our own.”

  “The Program is important to us. We want the newly mated couples to reproduce …” Brant looked pointedly at Gideon and then at Griffin. “We also feel that it would be best that males with females who are with child remain on vampire territory. We don’t want to cause unnecessary stress that would put our future offspring at risk.”

  His kings were looking for someone to lead this little circus. Titan looked around the room. All of the males barring York and Elliot were frowning heavily. York was stony faced. Titan could understand why most of them wouldn’t want to become involved in this. They were all mated. All except himself, Lance and Elliot. Lance was a bastard. He didn’t play nice at the best of times. Apprehension of suspects meant keeping them alive. Fuck! Titan had a bad feeling about this. Elliot looked like he was salivating. His eyes were bright and eager. The male was so wet behind the ears it was a wonder his shirt wasn’t drenched.

  Lance’s mouth twitched and he sighed, leaning back in his chair. The male knew he was safe from having to work with the humans. Lucky fuck!

  “We want you to head up that team, Titan.” And there it was. He had to fight to keep from growling his distaste. “You will represent our people.” Zane gave Titan a hard pat on the back. “We have the utmost trust in you to do right by us.”

  He felt the blood drain from his body. Could hear the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. There was no fucking way he was cozying up to any humans. If this ended up happening ‒ and that was a big fucking ‘if’ ‒ he would work alone. Titan didn’t need humans to get the job done.

  “What Zane is trying to say,” Brant’s voice brought him out of his reverie, “is don’t fuck it up. We will be expected to bring them in. It’s not a witch hunt. The perpetrators will be expected to stand trial.” Brant leaned forward, elbows on his thighs. “But … the odd casualty is to be expected.” His expression tightened and his jaw clenched.
<
br />   Titan shook his head. “I am not the right male for the job.”

  Zane made a snorting noise. “You’re professional, levelheaded, and the decision has been made.”

  “With all due respect, unmake it. I’m not … good around humans. I don’t understand them.” He especially didn’t want to be anywhere near human females. Had they already forgotten what had happened? It was still fresh in his own mind.

  “What’s to fucking understand?” Brant growled. “You are around humans every day in your current position.”

  Titan clenched his jaw. “That’s different. Will I have to work closely with any human females?”

  “Yes. Her nickname is Ball Breaker so I think you’ll be okay.” Brant smiled, his eyes crinkled around the edges.

  Titan scowled. “I can’t do it then.” He worked to keep the growl from his voice.

  “It happened close on a year ago. You were punished … Fuck, Titan, leave it alone. Move the fuck on.” Zane narrowed his eyes. So they hadn’t forgotten. Of course they hadn’t. Why were they making him do this then? It made no sense.

  “It means that we can trust you not to touch any human females.” Brant was a sick fuck. Titan hadn’t been with a female since he nearly made the biggest mistake of his life. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Now he had been chosen to head up this team because of it.

  “Not a fuck.” Every muscle inside Titan pulled tight. He clenched his teeth to keep from snarling.

  “You can do this,” Zane spoke softly. “You’ve been working to keep the humans safe. It means being near them. You’ve done an excellent job of it. There have been no mixed signals.”

  Brant chuckled. “Exactly. Keep everything at a business level and you’ll be just fine. Make sure that the males sent with you understand the same and we’re good.”

  It was useless to fight this. What his kings didn’t know was that he alone would decide how this went down. There would be no others accompanying him and he would pick the humans he was forced to spend any time with. There would be no human females anywhere near him. Fucking forget it. Titan finally nodded. “Fine.” His voice was gruff and laced with irritation. It couldn’t be helped.