“Please, take what you need. Please just help us.” A frail voice from the corner spoke up. It was the woman and baby Mikjáll had carried off the street.
“Hush. She’s not taking any of your blood,” the Drakonae growled.
If I wasn’t mistaken, I detected a fair amount of possessiveness in his demeanor already.
“You can have as much of my blood as you need. I’m sure the others will be willing to feed you as well. No one else can travel as fast as you can,” he continued, turning to face me, his eyes still glowing with orange flame. “If I thought I could fly us out of here, I would. But I fear that would only draw more attention.”
“Yeah, that didn’t work out very well for your mother. I’m going to have to say no to the flying dragon plan.”
Mikjáll let the corners of his mouth turn up for just a moment.
“Thank you, though,” I said, placing my hand on his forearm. “I will need your blood especially. After several trips, I will be dragging.”
Killían leaned against my shoulder. “You can do this, my love. We will help you any way we can.”
“You are welcome to my blood as well, Eira,” Jared called out.
Alek raised his hand and waved, acknowledging my request.
Perhaps, with enough help from them, I could pull this off. The wolves wouldn’t feed me, and I knew not to ask. Travis and Garrett were doing their absolute best not to make eye contact. Even Charlie’s gaze remained glued to the floor. Her guilt cried out so loud it could’ve raised the dead.
It didn’t matter. Lycans were a superstitious bunch. No matter that I’d practically lived with the pack for years, none of them felt comfortable donating even a single drop of their blood. Always concerned they’d fall under my thrall.
Killían cupped my face in his hands and pressed a kiss to my lips. His mouth covered mine with a hunger I wished we had time to explore. Instead, I was going to run cross-country, hopefully moving our group far enough away that Xerxes would call off his soldiers.
He’d lost this one.
At least I hoped that’s what he thought. There still was the matter of the dagger he was after.
I ran my hands through Killían’s thick, sandy blonde head of hair and then pulled away from his hungry mouth. Gods, I wanted to just stay and kiss him, but the rumble of another helicopter nearing the mine brought my fantasizing mind crashing down to our dire reality.
“Alright. I need to feed before I start. I hate to ask for more, my love. But—”
“I’ll manage, Eira. Take what you need.”
I could see Killían in the dark. The tiny bit of firelight Jared was throwing off from his hands glistened against his skin. His bright blue eyes sparked with desire, and he nodded, leaning his head to the side, baring his neck for my bite.
The sound of his heart beating and his blood rushing through his veins clamored in my head. My fangs descended, and the hunger I’d been ignoring since the fight overwhelmed me as I sank my teeth into his neck.
The sweet taste of his blood flowed into my mouth, revitalizing my tired body. The hint of magick in his blood was powerful in its own right. Even though Killían had no extraordinary powers, the magick that made him live thousands of years coursed through his veins, making his blood very strong and very satisfying without drinking a lot.
I sealed his skin where I’d bitten and pulled away, licking my lips. I could’ve drunk more. I wanted more. But I wanted him strong and coherent, too. We had a long night ahead of us, and he would likely have to feed me at least once more, if not twice. I needed to pace myself.
“I should take one of you first,” I said, turning to Garrett and Travis.
Travis stood and nodded. “I’ll go. How long will it be between your runs?”
“I can get to the lake house in less than five minutes.”
His eyes widened. “Two hundred miles in a few minutes?”
A sigh slipped from my mouth. “Yes.”
“I knew vampires were fast, but damn…”
“Yes, well. We try not to broadcast our talents to the world, either. Mikjáll, will you push open the gateway?”
The Drakonae nodded and pushed aside the steel grate, letting in a swath of bright moonlight.
I grabbed Travis before another word could be spoken and ran. The landscape passed by as if we were in a jet plane. Everything was a dark grey and blue blur. The ground flew beneath my feet, changing from dirt to grass to pavement and again to grass. I stopped next to a rundown lake house and set Travis’ large form on the ground.
He stood and bent at the waist, sucking in deep breaths trying to regain his bearings.
“You… You c-could’ve at least warned m-me,” he coughed out.
“Where would the fun have been in that?”
He grinned at my retort and gestured with a hand to the house behind him. “How do I get in?”
“I recommend the door.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” His eyes flashed yellow, and a growl rumbled from his chest.
A snort of laughter left my mouth. “The spare key is behind a loose brick underneath the big bay window.”
“Thanks.”
I nodded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He waved me off, and I left, running even faster without a body to carry.
The area around the mine was quiet when I returned, but that didn’t mean they weren’t already closing in on our position.
I stopped just outside the door and tapped on the steel. “It’s me.”
A moment later, it moved, and Mikjáll stepped aside so I could enter.
“Any trouble?” Charlie stepped forward in the dim firelight.
I shook my head. “It was quiet. I didn’t hear any heartbeats close by.”
“We haven’t used the lake house in almost a year. It shouldn’t be on their watch list, and it’s off the main highway,” she added.
“You’re next, Charlie,” I said, stepping closer. “Take a deep breath.”
“Wh—aa.”
I didn’t give her time to argue. Even though there were no signs that the SECR knew where we were at the moment, I could return from the lake house and find all of them captured or dead. Each time I left the mine, my head filled with visions of my dead friends on the side of the river. I didn’t want to lose the few I had left.
When I set her down on the stoop to the lake house, she shuddered and gasped for a breath.
Travis opened the front door. “Come on in. Eira, you doing okay?”
I was semi-okay. My thirst was high, but I needed to make at least one more round trip before asking someone to feed me again. The hunger I felt right now was only a dull ache.
“I’m fine.” I waved him off and left Charlie in his very capable and eager hands.
I ended up making two more trips, bringing Garrett and one of the other Lycans over before I really felt my hunger overwhelm me.
The young man I’d just dropped off smelled like the sweetest wine. I licked my lips and felt the tips of my fangs descending. My mouth watered with each thump thump of his heart. I could almost hear the rush and flow through his veins, the same sound people hear when they put their ear to a seashell. It’s not the ocean, but the echo of the blood flowing inside your body.
“Eira?” Charlie’s voice called from the porch as the latest drop-off left my side. I glanced up and frowned. “You need to drink before you return again.”
“It’s more important to get everyone away from that mine as quickly as possible. I’m used to going hungry. I’ll be fine.”
“You were eyeing poor Landry’s neck like I’d eye a piece of prime rib.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I dashed down the road. Away from the lake house. Away from the sound of Charlie worrying over me.
I was fine.
We didn’t have time to stop. I didn’t have time to stop. Everyone was depending on me.
Chapter 25
XERXES
“I should’ve ki
lled that fucking dragon when I had the chance!” I threw the crystal lowball glass in my hand against the wall and glared at Manda from across the room. “Now there are four Drakonae living in Sanctuary instead of just those two lonely, miserable bastards.”
She sat on the chaise lounge in my office, holding a ripped blouse over her bare breasts —a weak attempt to hide her naked body. Her heartbeat raced, and she stole glances at the door each time she thought I wasn’t paying attention.
The pungent smell of sex permeated the air. I’d taken my pleasure and my fury out on her. I should’ve killed her for betraying me, for stealing away with my prisoners, but I needed her to further my power in the SECR government. If she was dead, she wasn’t useful. And she was still very useful, even if she was behaving badly.
The fight in the street had gone south quickly. The Drakonae in dragon-form gave me no choice but to leave in a hurry. I couldn’t fight him, not without shifting myself, and I refused to reveal that card to the humans.
They killed dozens of my soldiers before I secured Manda. And I nearly lost her to a fucking Phoenix of all things. A Phoenix… I hadn’t come across one of those in centuries. Rose had a few more tricks up her sleeve than I’d anticipated. Who else had she talked into joining her merry band?
All the other prisoners had been lost. Charlie. Eira. The Kitsune female and her baby. Gone. I needed that baby.
The only ones that didn’t escape were the Lycans I’d already killed. At least the death of Charlie’s parents would be a heavy blow to the pack.
Bitch. I gave Manda another glare and snarled.
I was left with a rebellious Djinn who could barely be controlled. Even after taking away her teleportation abilities and torturing her at every opportunity, the female still seemed more determined than ever to undermine my plans.
Humans were fickle creatures, though. If I killed her now, it would create a power vacuum in the SECR, and her open position in the government would attract more attention and chaos than I wanted to deal with at the moment. I needed to have a lieutenant beneath her to step in, but I didn’t yet. Losing the Kitsune baby was a huge setback for another project. Now everything had to start from scratch again.
Fucking vampire. Fucking dragon.
“You fucking bitch, you just had to stick your neck out. They will never trust you again. Even after letting them out of those cages. If you think they’ll ever talk to you or even look at you, you’re wrong.” I reached out in the air with my empty hand and curled my power around her neck, squeezing until she began to gasp for air. She dropped the blouse and clawed at her neck, as if she could remove the invisible force that held her tightly.
“Please,” she coughed. “Master.”
“That doesn’t work anymore,” I answered, clenching my fist tighter. Then I pushed out my arm and launched her through the air. Her body hit the wall of my office with a thud, and she fell into a heap on the hardwood floor.
She raised her head and met my gaze, revealing the spark of determination I’d hoped the last beating and fucking had knocked out of her. It hadn’t.
This strength of will was what made her such a strong queen and such a valuable asset in my war. No matter how hard I hit, she just kept getting back up. But I hadn’t climbed to where I was today by allowing a woman to dictate my actions. She would pay for this mistake like she’d paid for the ones before it.
I just needed the right victim. She was willing to let some of the Lycans die. She’d even tried to kill herself to escape me. That needed to be nipped in the bud immediately.
“Get up.”
She climbed to her feet and wiped blood from her bottom lip. “Just kill me. It would make both of our lives simpler.”
“If you don’t start following orders like a good little bitch, I’m going to kill someone.” My lips turned up into a wicked smile as the answer to my problem popped into my head. “It’s just not going to be you.”
If she was afraid, she didn’t show it.
“I’ll just keep trying. I refuse to continue to help you gain even more power.”
“You will help me. I don’t offer choices. You will serve me in all capacities or I will bring your ladies-in-waiting out of the quppu boxes they’re in and kill them one at a time in front of you. If that doesn’t motivate you, I’ll bring out the rest of your court and kill them slowly and painfully while you watch. So they can know their queen chose the lives of others over her own people.”
“You are a bastard, Xerxes Amir Hilah.”
“I take it we have an agreement then. From here on out, each misstep will cost you the life of one you hold dear.”
Her gaze sank to the floor, and her head bobbed slowly. “I will do as you wish.”
Chapter 26
KILLÍAN
Mikjáll stood at the wall of steel barring the entrance to the mine. His body heated the air around him like furnace. In fact, between his heat and Jared’s, the entire mineshaft was warm and toasty, unlike the biting winter air that swirled outside.
I wiped sweat from my brow. “Can you see anything?”
“No.”
He was a man of few words, but vigilant. Plus, having a Drakonae on our side put us in a pretty good position to fight off almost anything. Still, it was dangerous for him or any of the others to expose themselves. The fight in town where he and Jared’d shifted would cost them.
Everything was videoed and recorded these days. They would be hunted. Jared had exposed his entire species to help save the group. His loyalty to Sanctuary was overwhelming. What was it about that place that made powerful supernatural beings who preferred to live alone band together and fight to save each other?
Rose had achieved something that no other being had been able to create over the course of thousands of years. A place where Others, as the humans called us, lived harmoniously and worked together for the greater good of the world.
They were protecting something. I just wasn’t sure what.
A moment later, Eira appeared in front of the small opening where Mikjáll stood, and he stepped back to let her inside.
Her eyes were wide. Even in the low firelight from Jared’s lit hands, I could see her eyes had turned almost completely red.
“Eira.” I stepped forward, and she turned her head to face me. Her tongue traced the edge of her lips, and she curled her mouth into a snarl. The edges of her fangs peeked from beneath her top lip.
“Who’s next?” she growled.
Her body was trembling, and her hands clenched and unclenched at her side.
“You have to drink, Eira,” Mikjáll said, stepping up behind her.
A blood-chilling hiss erupted from her mouth. She lunged at him, but he caught her before she could bite into his shoulder.
She struggled in his arms, cursing him in a variety of languages.
“Eira!” I said, hoping my voice would cut through the pain of the hunger. She couldn’t drink from the vein without connecting that person to her permanently. She knew this. But she’d let herself go too long. Her body was starving.
I moved forward slowly. “My beloved. You waited too long. You need to feed, but not from Mikjáll.” Pulling a knife from a sheath on my thigh, I drew up my long sleeve and pressed the blade into the flesh of my forearm.
Another growl from her sent a cold chill through me, but I knew she was still in there. Even though her beast was straining to kill, she would be able to regain control. She had fought through her hunger in the barn that first day she appeared in my life again.
My blood ran across my arm and dripped to the ground.
“You ready?” Mikjáll caught my gaze.
I nodded, and he released her from his constricting hold.
She lunged forward and sank her teeth into my arm.
Pain flowered for a moment before the enzyme in her fangs deadened the bite, erasing the sting. She drank deeply, each pull taking a good amount of blood. There would be no way I could feed her again tonight and stay conscious.
<
br /> Using my free hand, I ran my fingers over her head and through the loose strands of her hair in the tightly bound ponytail.
“You are so strong, Eira. You can do this.”
Her mouth closed over my arm. The light touch of her tongue caressed my arm, and I knew she’d returned to me.
A long sigh slipped from my chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, the weight of the world reflected in the azure pools of her eyes.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We would all be trapped here if it wasn’t for your ability to move so quickly and the strength to carry others with you.”
“He’s right,” Mikjáll said. “Take Killían and another with you this time. I’ll feed you next time.”
Her postured relaxed as she realized we weren’t going to hold her loss of control over her head.
I reached for her, slipping my hand around the base of her head and pulled her close, claiming her mouth with mine. She tasted of copper, but I needed to feel her close to me right now and didn’t care.
Her arms looped around my neck, and our tongues danced between our mouths, tasting and thrusting. We both wanted more. Needed more.
“Once we are all at the lake, my love, then I want a real taste,” I said, murmuring the words slowly against her lips as we kissed.
A smile played over her face as she pulled away. “Promise?”
“Can we just get moving? You guys can fuck later,” Mikjáll said, his voice mixed with equal portions of amusement and irritation.
Eira’s eyes rolled, but she turned to the Drakonae male with the patience of a nun.
“Who should I take with Killían?” She appeased his impatience by allowing him to direct who left the mine next.
His aggressive stance melted away in an instant. “The woman and baby. If we have to run, she won’t be able to. Riza,” he called out.
The small black-and-red-haired woman appeared from the shadows, clutching the bundle of blankets hiding her baby from view tightly in her arms.
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