by C. D. Gorri
The female beside me moaned, and I slowed down a bit. For her sake. That was a first. I was not known for my compassion, and yet as far as she was concerned, I wanted nothing more than her absolute safety, comfort, and pleasure.
Bloody hell. This was going to be a problem. I had to get it under wraps and fast. I needed the woman to help me so I could better protect her. I had to hunt that fucker, secure my reputation, heal the rift between Ana and myself, report to the council, and confirm peace in my Clan. Then and only then would I even consider telling the sweet mortal what she was to me.
Why Vladek thought targeting my reputation was a good idea, I would never know. But I had to restore my clients’ confidence in my abilities to curate and obtain rare items. But more importantly, I had to avoid a war with Ana’s Clan, and I needed to make certain my Clan knew without a doubt I was Knyaz.
The gates to my home opened as I neared them. I sped to the curved driveway, stopping only when I reached the front doors.
“Moy Knyaz?” Ivan asked and caught the keys I tossed his way, holding the front door wide while I passed through with my burden.
He had been with me for almost two-hundred years now and was as loyal and faithful a friend as I had ever known. Of course, he was also a stickler for titles and formalities.
“It’s fine,” I growled and headed to my bedroom.
I’d had every intention of placing her in another room, since bringing her to the infirmary was not gonna happen. Fucking hell. My blood boiled at the very idea of placing her anywhere else. I’d thought maybe the room adjoining mine would suffice, but no, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
The thought of placing her in any other room had my fangs threatening to descend and my claws ready to tear the fuck out of anyone who came near her. Part of the reason why I’d sent Klaus after her attackers rather than allow him to enter the alley with me.
Perhaps my aggression was one of the effects of drinking her sublime blood. But no. That was not the reason. Everything inside of me told me why she was in my bedroom, my bed, and not in the medical wing of my estate where I would’ve taken any other normal who’d been injured and needed my care. It was because Carina Martin was not just the average little normal.
She was my Chosen. My blood song. And I was a second away from killing the next person who tried to enter my room with her inside it.
“Alek? Klaus had me send the others to his location. He reported back five minutes ago, he is en route. The Werewolves are dead-”
“I can’t discuss this now.”
“What’s going on? Can I help?” Ivan entered my room where I was currently removing Carina’s dirty, blood-stained clothes.
I turned and snarled, shielding her with my body, fangs bared, claws out, and chest heaving with the energy it took to restrain myself.
“Apologies, Knyaz,” Ivan stilled and averted his eyes to the floor, but even that show of submission was not enough.
“Leave us,” I growled and tried to put a leash on my instinct to hunt and kill anyone who came near my as of yet unmated female.
“Sir?” he said, facing the wall, “I understand. Can I bring you something to help? A washcloth? Antibiotics? Ointments?”
Booted footsteps sounded in the hallway and another joined us. I smelled the blood he’d spilled on my order clinging to his clothes, and it offended me. I wanted to hurt the Wolves who did this, but I’d have to be content with knowing my blood brother had taken their lives on my order.
“Klaus,” I turned my head to look at him, eyes flashing fire as I struggled to control myself.
“Moy Knyaz,” he said and bowed deeply, “it is done. The female’s attackers have met with a far worse fate than I am certain they had in mind for themselves,” he reported.
I saw the bloodlust still visible in his eyes and used my innate powers as Knyaz to calm my guard. He exhaled slowly, and the glow receded, leaving only his native green irises behind.
“Thank you,” he said, and I understood.
Being a warrior was not easy. A Vampire could fall prey to his own inner beast. Klaus battled with his demons on a daily basis. Like so many of us who were turned, we wrestled with our Vampire natures. Bending and forcing them to submit to our reason otherwise we would all be doomed and ruled by an uncontrollable desire to kill and maim and feed. That would be the ruin of our species.
“Ivan?”
“Yes, moy Knyaz?”
“Please, bring the antibiotics and ointments. Leave them by the door,” I cleared my throat, “But do not enter. I can’t let anyone near her. Especially while she is wounded.”
Every muscle in my body tensed as both men cocked their heads to the side in their bids to listen to their leader. Klaus’ gaze remained away from where I stood blocking Carina with my body and Ivan left to gather the supplies.
Thank fuck. I’d hate like hell to tear the men apart. But I would. For her, I would do anything. I acknowledged that one truth with a frown.
I was the Knyaz of the House Delov, but for this woman, this precious female, my chosen, I was nothing more than a servant in my own house. Kneeling at her feet, begging to be recognized.
Fucking hell. This was insane, but my heart pounded whenever I was near her. She was my blood song. I would do anything to ensure her safety, her happiness. Carina Martin was my whole world.
And she did not even know it.
“You are possessive of the woman already? Is it true? Is she your Chosen?”
“Fuck,” I struggled to control my reaction to Klaus’ statement, when all I wanted to do was snarl and snap at him, “Is it that obvious?”
“I’ve never lied to you, brother,” Klaus grunted, “I have never seen you look the way you did caring for her and in your own room too. Your expression and destination gave you away.”
“Moy Knyaz?”
I turned to see Ivan, one of my oldest and most trusted men almost stepping into my room, but Klaus’s arm shot up and stopped him. Thank fuck. I would’ve attacked.
Even then, I growled and hissed, and both men stared harder at the floor. Typically, I did not give in to such displays of dominance, but my body was not my own anymore.
I fought with myself, forcing my attention back to cleaning her wounds, and ignored the two of them. My men. My trusted men, I repeated.
“I am worried for you, Alek,” Klaus said from the hall.
“Save your worry for her. You can bring in the supplies now, I have control of myself.”
Both men were loyal, I appreciated their concern, but it was unnecessary. I was fine. It was Carina who presently suffered. She moaned and tossed her head, but I waited for the sound of the cart to stop and Ivan to retreat before I turned to move it closer to where she was lying on the bed.
I glanced at the sheet beneath her and frowned, Ivan must have placed it there earlier, but I’d been too far gone to notice. It was heavy and lined with plastic. The kind used in the infirmary. Good. That would make it easier to clean and tend her wounds before I could place her under the covers to heal.
She frowned and I knew she was in pain. Since we did not exchange blood, her healing was progressing much more slowly. I could scent her in the room, on my clothes, in my mouth. Even her blood was tinged with that caramel cocoa-butter flavor that would forever remind me of Carina.
It clung to my lips, but I pushed away my thirst for her. Would I always crave her blood? Would I even be able to feed from another? I had no idea. But it didn’t matter. My needs were second to hers. Always would be.
I frowned as I removed her dirty, bloodstained clothes and drew another sheet to cover her nudity. There were long, deep scratches on her chest and neck. Large bruises to her ribs and abdomen. Her knees were scraped, and she’d broken fingernails fighting the animals who’d attacked.
How I longed for their deaths. I was mildly soothed by the fact that Klaus had executed my will with speed. Like the sword in my right hand, he struck hard and true. She was avenged. And now I could
heal her.
Still, I wish I could give her my blood. But I could not. Not yet, anyway. I would not begin the process that would turn her into a Vampire without her approval. And she had most definitely had not seemed to want to be turned when last we spoke.
Perhaps in time, I calmed myself with the thought and bathed her wounds. The healing salve was an ancient remedy mixed by Witches under my employ. It would work for humans and supernaturals alike.
“Is there anything you need? To feed perhaps?” Ivan asked from the doorway.
“No.”
How could I think of food when she was still so quiet and pale? I watched for any sign she was fighting the agents in my venom that would help heal her. Sometimes a Vampire’s bite had residual effects on a person after he or she was used for feeding. I only hoped it would not bring her any further suffering or pain.
“Alek, I brought water for the female should she wake,” Ivan held a tray by the door.
His gaze still averted, I walked over to retrieve it and growled when he did not release it immediately.
“Go.”
He bowed and turned around, leaving only one pain in the ass standing in my hallway.
“Well, I’m not fucking asking,” Klaus muttered and took position as guard.
The fucker always did whatever he liked, and he was an excellent soldier. I nodded once and waited for Ivan’s footsteps to recede down the hall. Klaus turned to face the hallway, and I shut the heavy double-doors that led into my suite.
I’d had my private rooms enchanted to ward off any who would harm me and made a mental note to include Carina in the protection spells. They were not infallible, but they did help.
This was my home, but as the new Knyaz, I had many enemies. I could never let my guard down. Especially now.
I carried the tray back to the bed and left it on the nightstand. Then I continued my inspection of the delicate female’s bruises. Cleaning them and applying the salve as I went, my hunger to kill the sonofabitch who’d ordered this brutal attack grew as I counted no less than five injuries that could have killed her had I not been there in time.
She was here now. Safe with me. I repeated that little fact every few minutes or so just to keep myself sane. The mansion was my home, but it also housed six of my honor guards, a handful of servants, and various visitors from within my Clan at any given time. Still, my personal wing was off limits to everyone except Ivan and Klaus.
When I was named Knyaz, I made my blood brother the head of my guard. Klaus was and remains the truest friend I have ever known. I trusted him even more than Ivan, who’d practically raised me.
We’d fought in the Blood Wars together, that hated battle between Vampire Clans that had raged for nearly sixty-years and across every continent. He was loyal, and an irritatingly devoted SOB.
Ivan had come into my employ as a young man. Hired by my grandfather to see to it that I had the proper education for a nobleman. True, we were poor as shite, but we were Vampire nobles all the same. Ivan stood with me while I scrounged to fill the family coffers. He’d been right there with Klaus and me through our worst struggles.
“No,” Carina moaned unintelligibly, and I was jogged from my reverie.
I bent forward to listen. Anger rolled through me as I saw the bruising on her neck begin to darken. She had obviously been choked. There were scratches on her throat and face. No teeth marks, thank fuck. She would heal as a result of my bite. The Werewolves did not taint her with their venom. She would get well, but slowly.
Something inside of me pushed and snarled. It pressed me to give the sweet normal my blood, to begin the bonding process and to speed up her healing, but I pushed back. I was tempted. So fucking tempted. But if I fed her from my vein, it would start the process of changing her from human to Vampire.
That choice was not mine to make. Pissed off at myself, I refrained, but only just from biting into my wrist and giving her my blood. It would heal her more fully and so much quickly than the venom from my bite alone.
Shit. This was an impossible decision.
“Her wounds are not life-threatening,” Klaus’ voice broke into my train of thought.
Growling, I turned my head to make sure he was still facing out before I sliced the remainder of her ruined clothes with my claws. Using great care, I tugged them off her body. I was mindful not to cut or bruise her delicate skin, and when I’d finished undressing her, I readjusted the sheet covering her body.
I needed to protect her modesty, hide her from prying eyes. Eyes that I would personally pull from their sockets if any dared take a gander at her. She was under my patronage now. Mine to protect.
Need pulsed through me, but again I was not such a monster to gain pleasure from looking at her without consent or awareness. My efforts were perfunctory and necessary, not that my cock gave a fuck. But that I could ignore. The blood and bruising that marred her delicate skin. Not so much.
I wanted to hunt the fucking monster who ordered this atrocity. But she came first. I had to clean her wounds. Needed to tend her myself. I tried to reason it was only to prevent infection, but then why didn’t I just send her to the infirmary to be treated? No. That wasn’t why. She was too important to leave in the hands of anyone else. Besides, I didn’t think I could.
The bowl of water turned red and brown as I cleaned her skin. Those motherfuckers had left her in a ditch. They’d choked her and cut her with their dirty fucking paws. Left her in a cesspool that wasn’t fit for an animal. The image of her clinging to life in that alley in a pool of her own blood was forever ingrained on my brain.
Fucking hell. My whole body was vibrating with pure red rage. He would pay for that. Slowly and painfully, Vladek would pay. Then she moaned and all thoughts of vengeance left me.
“It’s alright, you will be alright,” I whispered while I tended her.
As if my words alone could somehow will her to health. There were no life-threatening wounds left, only bruising. She would be fine. And as I dried her skin with the soft washcloth, I whispered to her, coming to the realization that she meant more to me already than anyone else I had ever met.
Longing filled me and as I listened to the steady, strong beat of her heart, I realized she was getting better. For the first time in my eternal existence, I thanked the universe, the gods, every fucking thing I could think of, offering praise, and making every conceivable bargain to ensure her health.
Anyone who knew me would tell you I was not a man, or a Vampire, of faith. Hunger and violence were a Vampire’s first instincts. I had honed my urges, turning them into a lethal skill set used to further my business and my Clan.
I am Aleksei Delov, the Knyaz of my Clan, and a Vampire for over six-hundred years. Yet in all that time I had never felt anything like this strange, all-consuming urge welling up inside of me now. It was like a litany repeating over and over again in my brain. Tattooing itself into my head and making it almost impossible for me to think anything other than those three little directives.
Protect, cherish, claim.
Yes. I wanted that. Yearned for the fragile creature in my bed with everything I was made of. It felt strange, and yet, I welcomed it. Fuck, I needed it. More than air. More than blood.
“Moya krov’ pesnya.”
I was repeating myself, but it didn’t matter. I brushed her hair back from her face with my hands and studied the sleeping beauty while I took the muck and blood-soaked cloths and tossed them on the wheeled cart. Her smooth skin was cleaned, and I’d placed ointment on her bruises.
She was beautiful. So very lovely. Not my typical choice of female companion, but I knew now that I had been wrong. So very wrong.
I’d always gone for tall, thin, lethal-looking blondes. Carina Martin was the polar opposite. She was petite, short really, and curvy. A beautifully sculpted female with hills and valleys I was dying to explore.
Wrapped in a new, clean sheet, I lifted her and pulled the soiled infirmary sheet to the floor. Her sweet caramel s
cent wafted into my nostrils and I wanted to rub my nose in the crook of her neck, to breathe her in deep, place my lips there, my fangs, drink from her, and mark her as my own. Shivers ran through my body, but I managed to find the strength to deny my thirst. Then I laid her down under the covers and tucked her in.
“Soon, my love,” I whispered and traced a line from the slight widow’s peak on her forehead to her stubborn chin.
Lovely, indeed, I spent the next minutes memorizing every centimeter of her face. Her hair started at the roots as midnight black, but grew lighter all the way to a golden hue at the tips. I had to admit, the overall effect was very pretty. Very pretty indeed.
I especially liked her unique whiskey-colored eyes. I wanted to see them trained on me once more. But she needed sleep, and so I would wait at her side until she woke.
Gritting my teeth against the unquenchable thirst I felt just being near her roused within, I forced my fangs to withdraw, and groaned at the fact that there was nothing I could do for that hardness in my pants.
Fuck, I should not be thinking about my cock, but Vampire or not, I was still a man. And the slacks I wore were fucking uncomfortable with a hard-on.
Don’t be a prick, I scolded myself. Inching the chair closer so I could breathe in the divine scent that clung to her, I contended myself with watching over her.
It would be caramel and cocoa butter dreams for me. The combination was intoxicating. I could not leave her side. She might need something during while she rested, and of course I would not entrust her care to anyone else. But even as I sat, I knew this was going to drive me fucking crazy with desire.
Calm the fuck down. I growled in my throat, but it was no use. Between my dick and my fangs, I didn’t know which mindless appendage throbbed more.
Groan. Come on, I was not some psycho obsessed with this lovely creature. I could back off if I wanted. Only, as it turned out, I could not. I abso-fucking-lutely couldn’t bring myself to leave the room. Shit. I had to admit, I sort of resembled a psychotic boyfriend at the moment. The kind who made relationships out of daydreams.
Oh well. I was in trouble and I knew it. A nerve twitched in my cheek and I ran a hand over my face. Scooting the chair closer still to where Carina lay tucked safely inside the covers on my bed. I couldn’t risk lying next to her. It was all I could do now to keep myself from staking my claim.