Royal Blood The Complete Collection

by Amity Cross

  “I would forget what he said. Those words are theirs.”

  She immediately clamped her mouth shut, and I opened the message to find Vaughn’s location.

  “They’re going to help us find Lafayette?” she asked after a moment.

  “Yes.”

  “But Lorelei will want to kill him after she’s gotten what she needs,” she exclaimed. “We’re meant to bring him in alive.”

  “Maybe,” I mused. “But maybe we’ll give her what she wants and get them out of this in the process.”

  She shook her head as she realized what I meant to do. “You’re going to play them, aren’t you?”

  “For their own good. If what I have in mind works, they’ll both be spared from a life in prison. Any life they can spend together is better than being alone in darkness and filth.”

  Lorelei would get her truth and believe her captor dead, Lafayette would be incarcerated and his organization dismantled, Vaughn would get to live his life with the woman he loved, and Section Seven would be pissed off but gain a powerful network of intelligence. It just had to play out the way I intended, or we’d all be on the chopping block.

  “I hope you’re right, X,” Mercy murmured.

  I grimaced and rubbed my eyes, already feeling the strain of being back in the spy business where duplicity was master. I hoped I was right, too.

  Chapter 20

  Lorelei

  When I opened my eyes, I was alone.

  I was curled up in bed, Vaughn’s scent clinging to the sheets. It was daylight outside.

  One hundred and thirty-five. One hundred and thirty-five. One hundred and thirty-five.

  The sound of footsteps echoed up the hall, and a moment later, Vaughn appeared in the doorway. Leaning against the frame, he watched me as I stretched.

  “Did you sleep okay?” he asked.

  I sat up, eager to know if he’d taken care of the mess I’d left behind in the shed.

  “It’s done,” he said, sensing my thoughts. “You slept a long time.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” I complained, eager to begin tracking Allaire.

  Vaughn sighed and crossed the room, sitting beside me on the bed. “You needed your rest. It’s been a long couple of days.”

  I rolled my eyes. “There’s too much work to be done to sleep.”

  He hesitated, watching me with a careful expression. “Lorelei… Do you remember what happened in the shed?”

  I blinked. “Of course I do.”

  “Then tell me.”

  Tell him? Tell him? What was this, report time? I told him last night. It had thrown me, the memory surfacing of Ballinger, but it had confirmed everything my father had said about Lafayette, only it was like it had happened to someone else.

  “You think I’m weak?” I exclaimed. “Seriously, Vaughn?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not at all.”

  “Then what do you care?”

  “I care about you,” he said, turning his gaze to mine. “Last night you were…” he trailed off, his brow creasing.

  Was he concerned I was going off the deep end? Was he concerned he would have to force me into some mental institution?

  “Were what?” I hissed.

  “You were muttering the same number over and over, begging me to help dismember Ballinger’s corpse like it was just some inane thing on a to-do list. You were… I don’t even know. What do you expect me to think?”

  Turning away, I scowled as the memory that had surfaced while I’d been questioning Ballinger began to tug at the edges of my mind again. I’d had awful, brutal things done to me at the hands of my captors, The Watchman, and my father, but I’d done just as many to other people.

  “I remember what I saw,” I said, trying to restrain my rage. “I remember Ballinger’s face, I remember pieces of what The Watchman did to me, I remember my body count…but most of all, I remember all the things I’ve done. Which is worse, Vaughn?” I turned to face him, my gaze catching his blue eyes in its thrall. “How would you deal with all of that?”

  His expression softened as he raised his hand and cupped my cheek. “Lorelei…”

  I leaned into his touch, my eyes fluttering closed.

  “You scared the shit out of me, you know,” he murmured. “I didn’t know what to do to help you, so I made some calls…”

  My eyes flew open, and I jerked back, knocking his hand away. “What?”

  “Xavier Blood,” he said.

  “You didn’t!” I exclaimed. He could be working against us, plotting to take me down in the wake of Royal Blood. He’d torn my father’s heart out with his bare hands. There was no way of knowing where his true intentions lay…

  “Lorelei,” Vaughn murmured, trying to calm me. “I know you say you’re coping, but that’s not what I saw last night. He’s survived the deterioration of The Watchman’s conditioning. He can guide you where I can’t. I don’t know how to help you.”

  I stood, wrapping my arms around my middle.

  “Don’t you think it’s possible that you only think you’re in control?” he asked.

  He thought I was lying to myself? Unknowingly tricking my own mind into believing I was perfectly sane? I supposed that was the whole point of going mad. I wouldn’t know I was a few screws loose at all. I sighed, shaking my head. Was I already past the point of no return?

  Standing by the dresser, I stared at the stupid ceramic candleholder covered in melted wax. Without a second thought, I picked it up and hurled it across the room where it connected with the wall and shattered with a crack.

  Vaughn shot to his feet and grabbed me around the waist.

  “He ruined everything!” I screamed at him. “He should’ve just put me down like a fucking animal! He should’ve killed me!”

  “Shh,” he said soothingly as he held me tight.

  “Let me go!” I thrashed against him, but he used all of his strength against me.

  “Use me,” he murmured. “Don’t let them win. Don’t let them win.”

  Twisting in his arms, I fisted my hands into his hair. “Why didn’t he just kill me? Death is better than what I became.”

  “You don’t mean that,” he said. “Not when we have a chance to be something more.”

  “I don’t know if I can survive this,” I blurted.

  Vaughn backed me against the wall and took my mouth with his. His tongue dove greedily against mine, his kiss blistering and commanding. I let him placate me with his touch, the growing hardness of his cock pressing against my belly.

  “We’ll find a way,” he said breathlessly. “Whatever it takes.”

  Hardly daring to believe his devotion, I shoved at his jeans, desperate for his touch and for his cock to pound into me.

  “Fuck me,” I moaned, feeling heat beginning to bloom between my legs.

  “But—”

  I brought my mouth down hard on his, silencing his complaints. I knew he was concerned about taking me after I’d remembered… He had nothing to worry about. He was still the only man I’d allow to touch me in such a way.

  Understanding that it was the first time I’d acknowledged my sexual monogamy to The Hangman, I kissed him harder as my hands found their way to his cock. I’d allow him to do things to my body I’d scarcely dreamed of…if he wanted to. What was done to me before—unwanted or not—had no place when we were tangled together.

  Vaughn was the remedy for my poisoned mind.

  I tore my lips away as the realization began to sink in. So many revelations, so little time…we still had a long path to travel to get the closure I needed. Truth, revenge, and Vaughn.

  “Lorelei,” he moaned, pushing his jeans down and freeing his cock.

  Sighing, I pulled the T-shirt I wore over my head and flung it away, and he did the same until we pressed against each other, skin to skin, his cock like steel against my stomach.

  “I need you to fuck me hard,” I commanded. “Fuck me hard, and don’t stop. I need to come…”


  Vaughn’s eyes seemed to darken as I awakened the beast inside him, and he lifted me in his arms and tossed me back onto the bed. Climbing over me, he positioned his cock at my opening.

  “Hard.” I moaned, clamping my hands onto his ass, trying to force him into me.

  He thrust, sliding into me all the way, our skin slapping together. Pleasure shot through my body as he struck against my clit, and I clawed his back, dragging my fingernails along his skin.

  Keeping his promise, he pulled back and thrust again…and again and again, setting up a punishing rhythm that had my body rising quickly. His mouth pressed against my neck, sucking and biting, his grunts muffled as we let go of all the bullshit and allowed our animalistic base code to take over.

  All too soon, I was a quivering mess, tightening around his cock as he pounded into me and coming harder than I’d ever come before. Nothing mattered but the overwhelming sensation that Vaughn had commanded from my body.

  He came suddenly, filling me with his desire, his thrusts slowing until he buried deep and held.

  Clutching his body to mine, I writhed in the afterglow of our furious fucking, my entire body tingling with unbridled sensitivity. He moaned as I moved, grinding his pelvis slowly against my clit as his cock began to soften inside me.

  “I’m with you until the end, you hear?” he declared, his gaze meeting mine.

  My eyes misted with tears, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of what we’d just shared or if it meant something deeper.

  He slid out of me and lay on his back, pulling my body against his. The scent of sex hung in the air and stuck to our skin, creating a heady mix of feelings I was still trying to decipher.

  “Do you know what I’d do if I weren’t in this life?” he asked, his fingers stroking through my hair.

  I had no idea. All I could see when I looked at the future was darkness. All there was, was this.

  “What?” I asked, curiosity overriding what I knew to be logical.

  “I’d live in the Caribbean,” he said dreamily. “Jamaica probably. They have the whitest beaches, the clearest water, and life is about music, food, and family. I think I could be content there.”

  “What would you do?”

  “Of a daytime, I’d repair old boats, charter them out to tourists, and dive on the reefs. Of a night, I’d watch the sunset over the water and watch the stars come out. Could you imagine a life like that?”

  Closing my eyes, I dreamed up an image of a wide beach with sand as white as snow and clear, blue water that lapped gently at its edge. I imagined the coral reefs with colorful fish darting to and fro, the sunlight sparkling on the surface like glittering diamonds. The thought of Vaughn working on such a simple pleasure as repairing a boat seemed absurd, but he’d spoken about it with such longing I knew he’d make it there some day.

  “That sounds nice,” I whispered, almost believing I could feel the sun on my skin.

  “A simple life,” he mused. “No more pain, no more killing. Just…life.”

  And in it a kind of redemption. It was a wonderful dream, but I couldn’t see myself ever making it there. I was trapped in my nightmare, and the only thing that kept me alive was Vaughn. Strange how things played out in ways that were least expected.

  If I had to give up my life so Vaughn could have the one he desired, I supposed I’d do something about it, but could I live without him? Not right now.

  Sighing, I nestled into his side, stroking my palm across his stomach.

  “I’ll play nice,” I murmured. “When they come.”

  Vaughn’s lips pressed against the top of my head. “Thank you.”

  Chapter 21

  Mercy

  “This is eerie,” I declared as X parked the car out the front of a picturesque cottage. “I’m seriously getting the creeps.”

  After the phone call with Vaughn, we’d immediately driven to the location he’d texted us. It turned out to be a two-story bluestone cottage in an isolated pocket of Devonshire just outside of the city of Dover with its famous white chalk cliffs. A wild and windy patch of the country that seemed fitting for an assassin on the brink.

  X raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

  “What do I mean?” I exclaimed, pointing at the bluestone cottage. “Look at it!”

  He shook his head and unclipped his seatbelt. “It’s isolated.”

  “It’s exactly like ours,” I retorted. “It’s like the upscale version.”

  “It’s of no consequence where they choose to hole up. A cottage is a cottage no matter where it is. Our place is ours alone, and so is their’s. The fact that Vaughn trusts us enough to give us the location is a feat.” He opened the car door and went to slide out. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Mercy.”

  I rolled my eyes again, knowing I’d probably get eyestrain before the day was over. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  He reached across the console and grasped my thigh. “Tact.”

  “You’re saying I’m not tactful?” I asked, trying to conceal a smile. “I take this very seriously just so you know. Remember when you went crazy and kidnapped me? That was very serious business.”

  X grimaced. “Not one of my finest moments.”

  I nodded toward the house. “Past experience that might come in handy, huh?”

  He shook his head and slid from the car. Following him, we walked across the graveled drive as the door opened, and Vaughn appeared. By the looks of it, he’d been waiting for us ever since he’d called. I couldn’t blame him really. If I were in his shoes, I’d have done anything to help X. Remembering how I’d gone to Mei behind his back, I wondered if this would be the same for Lorelei. A betrayal.

  Their story was different to ours though, so maybe it would be a welcome development.

  The last time I’d seen Vaughn, he looked a lot worse for wear. He’d had the shit beaten out of him and had been thrown into the same cesspool as I had. Then he’d limped off into the sunset with Lorelei.

  “Hey,” I said, pointing at him. “Your face actually looks human.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know that smartass commentary came with the package.”

  I peered at him. “Nice cottage.”

  He shook his head and turned to X. “Thank you for coming.”

  “Of course.” X held out his hand and the two men shook like they were sealing a business deal.

  “Come in,” Vaughn said, gesturing to the open door behind him. “Make yourselves comfortable. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

  Moving past The Hangman and stepping into his cottage, I raised my eyebrows. It was nothing like the little refuge X had kept secret near Exeter. Compared to this, it looked like a run-down shack in the woods. Once a billionaire, always a billionaire.

  We were guided into the lounge where a fire was popping merrily in the hearth. X sat on an armchair, making himself right at home as Vaughn perched on the couch. I chose to poke around, peering at all the things on the mantle. Curiously, the photo frames held nothing in them.

  “Working for the government?” Vaughn asked, getting right into it. “Seriously?”

  “Not directly. It’s black ops,” X replied.

  “What’s the difference? You’re still working for the greater good. I didn’t think that word was in your vocabulary.”

  “I couldn’t deny my past, not after remembering my family.”

  “What are we doing here, then? I know MI6 would love to get their hands on me.”

  “There’s history here, too. Another thing I can’t turn my back on. After this is done, there will be nothing left to interfere with our work.”

  “Nice of you to imply we’re a loose end that needs tying off.”

  Leaving the two men to continue their pissing match alone, I wandered through the kitchen and found a little study tucked away at the rear of the cottage. The shelves were lined with all kinds of books, and a desk stood at the far end, large windows opening up the rear wall, so all I could see was the
field beyond.

  The sound of footsteps echoed in the silent room, and I turned to find Lorelei standing behind me, her arms crossed over her chest. She was just as I remembered her from The Watchman’s compound in Bristol. Tall and beautiful with flawless skin and a deadly expression. The only thing that had changed was her hair. It was shorter, the curl more pronounced without the added weight.

  “Mercy Reid,” she stated, giving me the once over.

  “Nice haircut,” I replied. “Long hair is such a drag. All the brushing and shit.”

  “Why are you here?” she asked, scowling at me. “I thought Vaughn only invited Xavier Blood?”

  “We’re a package deal. Like you and Vaughn, I suppose.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Me and Vaughn?”

  “You are, you know, aren’t you?”

  “Fucking?” she asked, blinking.

  I snorted at her bluntness, kicking myself for tiptoeing around her like she was going to break. She’d snap me in two long before she showed any signs of weakness.

  “That’ll do it, I suppose.”

  “What do you want, Mercy?” she asked, staring at me like I was unwanted baggage.

  “We want the same thing,” I replied. “Lafayette.”

  She sighed, not doing a thing to hide her annoyance. “We’re close. We just need to get to Allaire, then we’ve got a clear shot at Lafayette.”

  “Julien Allaire?”

  “No. He’s dead.” She rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated having to explain her motives to me.

  Julien Allaire was dead? The last time I’d seen him was when he was tied up in the catacombs underneath Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. X was meant to let him go… If he was dead, then X had killed him and hadn’t told me.

  Sighing, I shook my head. It didn’t seem to matter now, not after X had confronted Greggor and The Watchman and made peace with the monster inside of him. It wouldn’t be constructive if I brought it up with him now. Water under the bridge and all.