Crimson Highlander: An Onyx Assassins Novel

by Whiskey, Samantha

  Lachlan took a step toward me, running a knuckle over the line of my jaw. “You are a feisty little thing when you’re jealous,” he teased.

  The battle between lust and anger was strong, and I glared up at him. “Oh, you want to make jokes?” I arched a brow at him. “Okay, then, highlander. Do me a favor?”

  “Anything.”

  I trembled but held onto that heat boiling in my soul. “Picture my mouth,” I said, my voice dripping with honey. “Picture my lips you’re so fond of.” His eyes fell, watching my words. “Now picture me sliding the edges of my teeth—”

  He inched closer, walking me backward until my spine kissed the wall between our rooms.

  “Grazing the edges of Ransom’s neck.”

  He growled so loud I jumped. His hands flew out to either side of me, hitting the wall so hard it shook. “Valor,” he warned.

  I poked him in his perfect chest. “That,” I said. “You feel that? That’s what happens to me every fucking time you go to feed.”

  A muscle in his jaw popped, anger churning hot and acidic in his eyes. He took a few steadying breaths before he looked at me again. “It’s. Not. Like. That.” He had to grind out each word. “It’s not about pleasure unless I choose for it to be, and I haven’t since…”

  Since our bond. He didn’t need to say the words. I knew it. Knew it just as much as I knew I wouldn’t have so much as looked at another male since him—didn’t matter if Jason freaking Momoa walked into the room right now and offered to make me scream, I wouldn’t even have to think about it. It would be a hard no.

  Because nothing else existed for me outside of Lachlan. And now that I’d gotten a taste of what it was like in bed with him? God, I was so fucked.

  “And it’s not like you’re offering,” he said, his voice so low I almost didn’t catch his words.

  My thighs clenched with the images my mind provided—how much better would it be if he were inside me and he bit me? Lyric had told me enough to know there was nothing else in the world like it—but sharing blood between mates? That was as good as saying I do, right?

  “You didn’t seem keen to ask, either,” I fired back.

  We stared each other down, neither one ready to break.

  “If I don’t feed, Valor, I’ll turn into—”

  “A real monster,” I said. “I know. The girls filled me in.”

  He leaned down, resting his forehead against mine as if he needed the contact to calm the rage I’d purposely put in his blood.

  Probably not one of my smarter ideas, but damn it, he needed to know how much it hurt, irrational or not.

  “I promise, lass. It’s just like when you eat to nourish your body. You don’t see me getting jealous when you tuck into those BLTs you love so much.”

  I laughed, the motion freeing the grittiness in my chest and earning me a rare smile from the highlander too.

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” he said again.

  I looked up into his eyes, my body practically buzzing with the need to touch him. “Okay, it doesn’t mean anything,” I said as I smoothed my hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck. We’d promised each other only one night together. Just enough to scratch the itch that made us both unfocused and reckless. But I’d been a fool. One night would never be enough. “And neither does this.” I hopped up, and he caught me instantly. My thighs hugged his hips, and I crushed my mouth against his.

  “Fuck,” he hissed against my lips.

  I sucked his tongue into my mouth before jerking my head back enough to meet his gaze. “Say it doesn’t mean anything,” I demanded, breathless. His eyes narrowed, and I tangled my fingers into his hair, yanking on it. “Say it, Lachlan.”

  A wicked smirk shaped his lips. “It doesn’t mean anything—”

  I slanted my mouth over his again and rocked against him. “My bed or yours, lass?” he spoke against my lips.

  “Mine is closer.”

  “By a few inches,” he argued.

  “I don’t care, just take me.”

  He moved then, graceful and quick, without breaking our kiss. The softness of my own mattress hit my spine as he deposited me onto the bed. He eyed the bucket on my nightstand. “Were you celebrating?” he asked, noting the ice surrounding the half-empty champagne bottle.

  “Owen brought it up after I asked for something sweet and alcoholic to drink.”

  Another low growl rumbled from his chest, and I bit my lip. “Sorry,” I said, knowing saying another man’s name right now probably wasn’t the best idea.

  “Sorry?” He tilted his head, slipping his leather jacket off one arm at a time. In another smooth motion, his black tank top hit the floor. Then his pants. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard those words leave those red lips of yours.”

  “Don’t get used to it,” I snapped but couldn’t hold back a gasp at the sight of him. This? The tatted-up perfection of his muscled body, the glorious hard length of him…it’d never get old.

  “I don’t plan on getting used to anything when it comes to you, Valor,” he growled, stalking me on the bed.

  The words sizzled along that bond of ours—the one that pulsed with equal parts lust and anger. How could we fight and fuck like champions without falling over that edge of the bond that would have us turning into something so much more? I didn’t have the answers, and he clearly didn’t either, but that didn’t stop him from shedding my clothes with a few expert flicks of his fingers.

  I gasped again when his hands gripped my knees, drawing them apart—

  “Nu-huh,” I said, and he instantly became a statue.

  “Valor,” he said my name with barely held restraint. “What do—”

  “It’s my turn,” I cut him off, shifting on the bed. I pushed against his chest, and only when he saw the intent in my eyes did he roll over to his back.

  God, he was a work of art. I kissed my way down his chest—a colorful masterpiece with all the tattoos—and down over his carved abs, his hips…

  “Fuck!” He hissed when I drew his cock into my mouth with one sweep.

  I moaned at the taste of him in my mouth—all heat and pine. I swirled my tongue over his tip before glancing up at him from where I hovered. “I wore red lipstick just for you,” I said before taking him in again. His hips arched off the bed, claiming more of my mouth, and his fingers tangled in my hair. I fisted him with one hand, stroking and sucking, and dug my nails into his strong thigh with my other.

  Up and down, I moved my mouth, taking him in as much as I could before drawing back for breath. God, he was huge and hard, and I couldn’t wait to get him inside me. But first? I wanted to play. Wanted to tease and torture and bring him to my level of need.

  I sucked him harder, relishing the taste and feel of him. His hisses and groans only made my core deepen with heat, and soon I was a trembling mess as I stroked and flicked my tongue along his length. And just when I lightly grazed my teeth along the edge—

  “Fuck, Valor, I’m going to come,” he growled the words, shifting his hips as if he wanted to move.

  I kept him in my mouth, flicking my eyes up to meet his churning gaze. And then I took him deeper. Felt him harden to another degree—

  “Fuck!” He hissed, spilling into my mouth. I took him, all of him, my body a tightly wound string of need as power rushed through my veins. I pulled away, his cock springing free of my lips with a little popping sound. I licked my lips as I shifted on my knees above him.

  Yeah, I did that.

  I put that look on his face—surprise and lust and respect and need.

  “What are you smirking at, lass?”

  “I didn’t think a centuries-old vampire could be surprised by much.”

  A wicked glint sparked in his eyes, and he reached up to grab my hips. “I didn’t either,” he said, flipping me so I was on my back, and he was between my knees. “But I’m prepared to return the favor.”

  I bit my lip, anticipation flying through me, but I shook my head. “
I’m not easily surprised, Lachlan,” I said, emphasizing his name enough that a tremor rolled over his beautifully naked body.

  “Always a challenge with you,” he groaned, a smirk on his lips.

  “You’re one to talk—”

  His movements cut off my words, my thoughts. Everything narrowed to his fingers on my wrists, gentle yet strong as he guided my hands above my head and positioned them on the bed railing. “You release these hands, Valor, and I’ll spank you.”

  A bolt of awareness rocketed down my spine at the primal tenor in his tone. He held my gaze, waiting a breath to see if I’d disobey him.

  I kept my hands wrapped around that railing.

  “Good girl,” he said, and my heart raced against my chest. His eyes scanned the length of my body, slow and burning as he took his fill. With just the tip of his finger, he traced a line down the center of my chest, over my belly, and—

  I groaned when he lifted his hand before he could reach between my thighs.

  “Lachlan,” I sighed, lifting my hips in an effort to get his hands back on me.

  He sucked his teeth, his lips peeling back in a smile that showed his fangs descended. “Always in such a hurry,” he chided, then reached over the bed toward my nightstand. The slosh of the ice bucket trilled before he quickly brought his hand to his lips.

  “What—”

  He showed an ice cube between his teeth before he lowered his head to my breast.

  “Oh!” I gasped as he teased that ice cube over my pert nipple. I arched into the thigh he had pressed between my legs, needing more contact, more heat, more Lachlan. He moved to the other breast, teasing me with the cold wetness until I writhed beneath him. Then he finished off the half-melted ice and plunged lower. “Lachlan!” I screamed when his icy-cool tongue slipped between my thighs. The contrast between hot and cold made my head spin as he licked me from slit to clit.

  I arched my hips, meeting his tongue with each long lap. I gripped the bed railing so hard I was shocked it didn’t break.

  Lachlan slipped his hands beneath my ass, palming it, using that leverage to control my movements as he devoured me like his own personal feast. He swirled his tongue over that bundle of nerves, holding onto me so I couldn’t plunge upward like my body desperately begged to.

  “You’re right there,” he said against my swollen flesh, his lips just barely brushing my aching clit. “You feel that?” he asked, plunging his tongue inside me for a split-second before pulling out so fast I whimpered.

  “Yes,” I breathed the word. My body clenched and ached and pulsed. I arched again, but he held me down, just out of reach of his mouth.

  “You’re mine,” he growled, eyes locking with mine. The sight of him between my thighs was almost enough to make me come right then and there. Almost. “In this moment,” he said, flicking that tongue over my clit—a match barely struck. “I own you. Your pleasure. I’ll make you come when it’ll be so good and so hard you won’t be able to walk for hours.”

  My lips parted open, shock and lust and heat soaring through my blood.

  He tipped his chin, just a tad, a satisfied little smirk shaping those lips of his. “Surprised, aren’t you?”

  I clamped my mouth shut.

  He planted a kiss on the spot just above where I needed him. “Surprised,” he growled against my skin. “That you like the idea of me controlling you. Even if it’s only here. You love the idea of letting go. Of giving me absolute control of your body. Because deep down, you know I’ll give you exactly what you need.”

  My breaths came too quick, my thoughts a whirl of need and emotions I couldn’t explain. And without thinking, without letting my mind get in the way of what my body and soul demanded, I said, “You’re right.”

  A wide grin spread over his face, and he arched a brow at me. “I always am,” he said.

  “Not always—” My words broke off to a moan as he dipped his head, sucking my clit into his mouth so fast and so hard I burst into a million pieces of sparkling light. I forgot everything outside the release of my body shattering, and I tangled my fingers into his hair as he licked and fucked me through my orgasm with his tongue. And just when I’d gone limp around him, he pulled back, raising on his knees above me.

  “Bad girl,” he said, eying the hands I’d let drop from the railing.

  “I—”

  One second I was on my back, the next my stomach pressed into the mattress. With one hand, Lachlan pinned my wrists above my head, and with the other? He hauled my hips up until my ass was well on display for him.

  A light smack sent a jolt of pleasure and a bite of pain through my body. My thighs clenched as I glanced over my shoulder. The sight of him on his knees behind me, powerful and strong, his hand poised to smack my ass again?

  Liquid.

  He made me absolutely, fucking liquid.

  “Keep your eyes on me,” he demanded before lightly slapping my flesh again. I moaned, arching backward. “I want you to watch me fuck you. Just like you want.”

  He gripped my hips and hefted me backward, his hard cock plunging inside me with one long stroke.

  “Lachlan!” I screamed, his considerable length filling every inch of me. He pulled out and plunged in again, taking me where his tongue had just been moments ago. My fingers dug into the sheets as I submitted completely to him.

  “Valor,” he echoed my tone, driving into me again and again. Hitting spots inside me so deep I’d never known they existed.

  My muscles coiled like a hot spring with each thrust. My body trembled as he filled me and stroked me and touched me. The sound of our bodies colliding only upped the growing tension in my body, and when he leaned over me to kiss my spine?

  I clenched around him like a vise.

  He hissed, a deep growl rumbling through his body and into mine.

  “Please, Lachlan,” I moaned, not sure how much more I could take. The man was pleasure and sin personified, and here? He owned every inch of me. Took me harder and longer than I’d ever known possible.

  “You want me to stop?” he teased, pulling back a few inches.

  “God, no!” I pushed backward, and he sunk into the hilt again.

  He reached around my body, his fingers rolling over my clit. “This, then?” he asked, breathless.

  “Yes,” I said, pushing against the bed to meet his thrusts. “Harder,” I demanded.

  “Fuck, Valor,” he hissed, one hand on my hip steadying me so he could take me deeper, faster.

  “Yes, God, like that. Yes!” I screamed loud enough for the whole residence to hear, but I didn’t care. Nothing existed outside of this. “Lachlan, I’m…I’m…”

  I couldn’t form the words.

  I could barely breathe or think around the feeling of him claiming me, dominating me, using every piece of himself to wring as much pleasure from me as possible.

  His fingers pushed down on my clit just as he hit that spot deep inside me with his cock, and I exploded around him. His name was a plea on my lips as he pushed one orgasm into another, propelling me over that sweet edge again and again until he found his own release inside me. Until he folded himself over my spine, holding me to him like he was afraid I’d disappear.

  Our breaths matched in pace, our skin slick with sweat as he rolled us on our sides.

  And I let him hold me while my mind came back to this planet—because he’d sent me to the fucking moon.

  “This doesn’t mean anything,” I whispered, and he tucked his chin over my shoulder.

  “Not a thing,” he whispered back.

  And my heart laughed at how fucking dumb we both were.

  11

  Lachlan

  My head swam, and hunger beat at me, parching my throat. Two weeks. I’d been in Valor’s bed for two weeks, and though we told ourselves every time that it didn’t mean anything, the bond clearly had other ideas.

  It wasn’t just stronger now. It was a tangible, visible thing, a stream of a billion shining lights and threads t
hat connected us. Even now, though I sat in our war room, or the bat cave, as Ransom called it, I could feel her in the gym, located through the tunnels just to the right, training with Olivia.

  My female needed to train. She might be strong by human standards, but a vampire could end her in thirty seconds flat. And sure, we might not want the bond, but that didn’t mean my scent wasn’t all over her, warning other vampires away while simultaneously putting a giant fucking target on her back.

  “Are you paying attention?” Ransom snapped.

  I yanked my head out of the fog and blinked, trying to clear my thoughts and focus as Ransom pointed to the monitor on the wall.

  “I’m here,” I responded.

  Benedict scoffed.

  Hawke rolled his eyes.

  Alek studied me carefully, his eyes narrowing.

  “Right. As I was saying, with the new judgments that came down from Conclave last night, we’ll have to spread ourselves thin.” Ransom scrolled through the monitor.

  “We’re already spread thin,” Hawke argued.

  “Then spread thinner,” Alek barked. “Nothing can fall through the cracks. Do you understand me? Nothing.”

  Every male in the room nodded. These meetings were limited to the Order, the five of us. The room itself was built for this exact purpose, containing the long, onyx table we sat at, a wall of computer monitors and data systems that gave Ransom a hard on, and even a small living quarters with a kitchen and seating area in case we needed to seal the royal family in. It was big enough to accommodate fifteen of the Order and their mates.

  The fact that there were only five of us said volumes about the status of our race.

  “These three need to be taken out tonight,” Ransom scrolled over the worst offenders. “I’ve already told Genevieve and Luka that we’d be in their territory for that exact reason. The others can wait until tomorrow night, if you agree.” He looked at me.

  I studied the list and sighed. “The demon, Marcus, needs to be handled tonight. If he’s been convicted of treason, we can’t afford to let him run to the Sons.”