Blood Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  “But we weren’t talking about the attempted assassination then. We were talking about our missing females.” Sylvan draped her arm around Drake’s shoulder and pulled her close. “We guard our females because only the females carry the Were DNA. Both male and female Weres produce breeding hormones, but only a female Were can produce a Were offspring. The males do not carry Were mitochondrial DNA.”

  “Ah, God,” Drake murmured. “You think someone is trying to force breed females?”

  “Or perhaps figure out how to artificially replicate the process. Cross-species breeding has occurred, but it’s rare.”

  “To what end? And who would do this?” Drake’s every instinct rebelled against the idea, but it wouldn’t be the first time one race attempted to subjugate another by controlling reproduction.

  “Our enemies,” Sylvan murmured. “Or perhaps our friends.”

  “You need to give me a minute,” Becca said, rearranging her clothing with shaking hands. “I can’t face the Viceregal until I catch my breath.”

  Jody stroked her hair, her eyes still shimmering with lust. “You look beautiful.”

  Becca’s heart tripped. Jody had never touched her, never looked at her, with such tenderness. In that moment, she was lost. “You’re a little overwhelming, Detective Gates. I…I’m afraid I’m quite undone.”

  “No more than I,” Jody murmured. She stepped back, averting her gaze. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “Which part?” Becca had half expected Jody’s retreat. Jody had perfected the art of isolation, and now she had to be thrown by how intensely they’d connected. Becca was still reeling, still stunned by how easily she’d accepted Jody into her body, into her psyche. God, into her heart. How could something so many humans labeled unnatural feel so incredibly right? She touched Jody’s arm. “Which part do you regret? Feeding from me? Or feeling me?”

  “Becca,” Jody whispered, and her voice carried the weariness of ages. “You don’t want what you think you want with me.”

  “Don’t presume to know what I want. And whatever you do,” Becca kissed her, “don’t ever presume to make my decisions for me.”

  Jody shook her head. “As if anyone could.”

  “Some have tried. But not anymore.”

  Jody caught Becca’s chin in her hand and stared into her eyes. “Who? Who tried to put out the fire in you? You burn so bright, so strong. Who would ever want to dampen that flame?”

  Becca’s throat closed, and she wasn’t sure she could answer. How many times growing up had she heard don’t be so independent, follow the rules, I know what’s best for you, do as I say. “My father, for one. But I rather thought you found my persistence annoying.”

  Jody smiled, her thumb tracing back and forth over Becca’s lower lip. “I do. Supremely so. But I wouldn’t change it.”

  “If you want to keep whatever appointment we have, you’ll need to stop now.” The stroke of Jody’s thumb stirred need low in the pit of her stomach. She was wet, and her clitoris throbbed, and she wanted Jody’s mouth on her neck again. She wanted to swallow eternity in Jody’s kiss. “I want you again. Only this time I want to taste you.”

  “We can’t.” Jody’s face hardened. “I won’t risk blood thrall.”

  “You don’t know I’m susceptible.” Becca laughed grimly. “Just because you make me come harder than anyone ever has? You think I’ll become just another host? A quick meal for you in trade for mind-blowing orgasms?”

  “Don’t belittle what we shared,” Jody snapped.

  Becca caressed her face. “I won’t if you won’t.”

  Jody caught her wrist and kissed her palm. “Have you no sense of danger? No sense of your own fragile mortality?”

  “Of course I do. Far more than you. I’ve always known I would die. I don’t fear death, not at the cost of living. Don’t try to make me.”

  “And how do you think I would feel if I were the cause of your death?”

  “Is that what you fear? Why?”

  Jody exhaled sharply. “We have no time for this.”

  “We have no time for anything else,” Becca whispered.

  Jody entwined her fingers with Becca’s and drew her against her side. “We need to see the Viceregal. It is required.”

  “Fine. But this conversation isn’t over.”

  Jody kissed her. “Is any conversation with you ever over?”

  “Not where you’re concerned,” Becca said against her mouth. She let her tongue slide over Jody’s, felt the tips of Jody’s incisors, receded now, like a distant promise. The memory of Jody entering her, drinking her, drowning her in hormones made her body pulse with renewed desire. “God, I want you again. In bed, with nothing between us. You’ll be…quiescent…today, won’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “But if I stayed with you, you would know I’m there.”

  Jody pulled her close, a tremor racing through her. “Yes. I would know you’re there.”

  “Then say yes. Say it now before we have to face Francesca. Give me that.”

  Jody closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to Becca’s. “All right. Yes. Yes.”

  “Then let’s go see the Viceregal so we can go home before I have to worry about you and the sun.”

  Jody chuckled. “You think I am so easily gotten rid of?”

  Becca caressed Jody’s face. “I’m more worried that you don’t care enough to be careful.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Too late.” Becca lifted Jody’s hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles. “Way, way too late.”

  “Forgive the informality, Ms. Land.” Francesca lounged on the divan in the parlor, her head in Michel’s lap. Michel’s shirt was open, her breasts barely covered. Michel’s pale skin was flushed a rosy hue, as was Francesca’s. Michel’s hand rested inside Francesca’s gown, her long fingers visible through the gauzy material as she stroked the Viceregal’s breast. “I’m afraid you’ve caught us at a bad time. Had I known you were coming down to see me…” She gestured toward the open bedroom. “They were eager.”

  “Thank you for seeing us,” Becca replied. Through the open door, three naked humans were visible, lying in a jumble on top of the maroon sheets. She didn’t believe for a second that Francesca hadn’t known they were on their way. She suspected the whole scene was staged, but she wasn’t moved by it. All she could feel was Jody.

  Beside her, Jody said quietly, “We were delayed, Viceregal. My apologies for disturbing you at this time.”

  Francesca rubbed her cheek against Michel’s bare chest. Michel sucked in a breath, her hips rising indolently beneath Francesca’s head. “What is it, Jody, that couldn’t wait until tonight?”

  “I’ve come to claim blood rights over the human, Becca Land,” Jody said formally, “and to petition that you declare her forbidden to any Vampire in your Dominion.”

  Francesca pushed herself upright. Her eyes glittered, and her full lips parted seductively. “And do you intend to complete the blood bond? Declaring her sacrosanct would be contrary to our customs otherwise.”

  “The bond is not required,” Jody said.

  “No, but it is expected.”

  Becca sensed Jody stiffen. There it was again. The bond Sylvan had mentioned and that Jody clearly did not want her to know about. “Explain to me. What is the blood bond?”

  “Nothing you need to be concerned with,” Jody said without looking at her.

  “I wasn’t actually asking you.” Becca regarded Francesca. “Viceregal?”

  Francesca laughed as if delighted. “Are you sure you want to continue with your claim, Jody?” Idly, she ran her fingers down the center of Michel’s bare torso, as if she were petting a favored animal. A dangerous animal.

  “I have made the claim, Viceregal.” Jody’s voice was tight.

  “Have you exchanged blood?” Francesca asked.

  “Yes,” Becca said.

  “No,” Jody answered simultaneously.

&nbs
p; Francesca’s eyes narrowed. “And still you do not complete the bond?”

  Jody remained silent.

  “Your father’s Dominion is at risk as long as you are not a bonded heir, Jody. Now is not the time to destabilize one of our strongest Clans.” Francesca rose, and power shimmered on the air. “Accept your responsibility, and do what must be done. Otherwise, I do not acknowledge the claim.”

  “I can make the claim without your support,” Jody said.

  “You would challenge my authority in this?”

  Francesca was inches away so quickly, Becca almost stepped back. She forced herself to remain still, but her heart was jumping around in her rib cage, searching for a way out. A wave of suffocating heat struck her, as if the air had been sucked out of the room, and a giant fist closed inside her chest, making it impossible to breathe. Her head pounded, and spots danced before her eyes. Jody groaned and dropped to her knees. A trickle of blood flowed from Jody’s nose. Her hands opened and closed convulsively. Becca’s lungs burned.

  “Stop it!” Becca panted, struggling to stay upright as she pushed herself between Jody and Francesca. “Whatever you’re doing to her, stop it.”

  “You are indeed brave.” Francesca smiled, her fingers skating along the edge of Becca’s jaw. She leaned close and kissed her. Her mouth tasted of honey and ancient seas and timeless skies.

  “Oh,” Becca gasped. Electricity arced through her, and orgasm swelled in her depths. Exquisite, aching pleasure—and nothing to do with her. Unwilled, unwelcomed. She drew a breath and surrendered to instinct. She stopped fighting the invasion and opened herself to the power. The erotic charge flowed through her and dissipated into the air, like lightning discharging into the earth. Her skin prickled, and the choking in her chest eased. Suddenly, she could think. Her body was her own again. “Please. Let her go.”

  Francesca cocked an eyebrow and regarded her with interest. “You are no ordinary human, Ms. Land.”

  “I’m very ordinary,” Becca said breathlessly, taking Jody’s arm as Jody staggered to her feet. “I just won’t stand by and see you hurt her.”

  “She has already absorbed some of your power, Jody,” Francesca said, returning to the divan. She curled against Michel, rested her head on Michel’s shoulder, and pressed her palm to Michel’s abdomen. “The bond is nearly forged. Do what should be done.”

  “The blood rights?” Jody asked through gritted teeth.

  The Viceregal waved a hand. “Yes, yes. I acknowledge your claim on this human.” She opened Michel’s shirt and kissed her breast, her incisor glancing over a tight scarlet nipple. “Leave us.”

  “My Liege,” Jody murmured, grasping Becca’s hand and pulling her toward the door.

  Francesca made no acknowledgment but drew Michel’s hand between her legs. Michel locked eyes with Becca, leaned over Francesca, and worked her arm deeper between Francesca’s thighs. Francesca moaned, her head thrown back, her hips undulating.

  Becca forced her gaze away, and as they escaped into the darkened hall, Francesca’s laughter washed over her like a familiar caress.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Niki and Lara are here,” Sylvan said as she and the centuri left the club. She grasped Drake’s hand and threaded her way between the vehicles until they reached Becca’s Camaro. Niki stood by the side of the vehicle, her arms folded across her chest, legs spread, eyes tracking the lot in all directions. When she saw Sylvan, she dipped her head.

  “Alpha.”

  Sylvan looped an arm around Niki’s neck, pulled her close, and kissed her forehead. “Imperator.” She glanced into the backseat. Lara lay curled in a fetal position, eyes closed. “How is she?”

  “Asleep. Or unconscious, I’m not sure.”

  “She fed?”

  Niki’s jaw tightened, the muscles along the sharp edge bulging. “Yes.”

  “And how are you?” Niki’s features were drawn and tight, a gold rim burning around forest green irises. Even in the moonlight, her skin glistened. Sex sheen. Nocturne was always a sea of sex and blood, but in the hour before dawn when the Vampires feasted, the very air bled. Weres weren’t captives to blood like the Vampires, but their wolves became aggressive when surrounded by so much of it. All the centuri were aroused. If Niki had been a witness to Lara’s feeding, she would need to tangle, and she’d just been in a club full of Vampires. Sylvan knew very well what a powerful draw a Vampire could be when the frenzy hit. “I can leave Andrew with Lara if you need—”

  “No,” Niki said quickly. “I can do my job, Alpha. As you ordered.”

  Sylvan stroked her face. “There is no one I trust more. You know that. But if you need—”

  “No,” Niki repeated, her gaze lowered, holding no challenge. “I need only to safeguard the Pack.”

  “Stay with Lara, then—protect her. And the Vampire and the human, too, as much as you can.” Sylvan lifted her head and scented. “They’re on the way. Bring Lara to the Rover—we’ll follow them to the Vampire’s lair and brief you on the way. I want Lara with me for a few minutes. I want you both to feel me. To feel the Pack. You’re ours, Niki. Don’t ever doubt that.”

  “Yes, Alpha.” Niki’s eyes flashed, and she rubbed her cheek against Sylvan’s neck.

  “Don’t worry, my wolf.” Sylvan caressed her cheek. “I will bring you home soon. Both of you.”

  “You should drive,” Jody said, skirting around the front of Becca’s car to the passenger side.

  “I was planning on it.” Becca looked at Jody across the roof. “Are you all right?”

  Jody glanced to the east where the sky was lightening. “Yes, just a little tired.”

  “We’ll be home soon.”

  Jody smiled at the word. She rarely thought of her town house as anything other than her lair. The place she went to avoid the sun, where her blood servants gathered to nourish her at sunrise and sundown. The seat of her power was not a place, but existed in her mind. Ironic, for beings who lived forever, to care so little for the physical. Watching Becca drive, the way her hands held the wheel, her fingers sliding now and then along the curve, reminded Jody of just how pleasurable the physical could be. Touching Becca, absorbing the heat of her skin, was a pleasure that far surpassed the countless orgasms she’d experienced in the years since she’d come into her maturity and first fed.

  Becca glanced over at her, then reached across the space between them and took Jody’s hand. Jody wondered at the bright swell of pleasure in her chest from the all-too-human action. She tightened her fingers around Becca’s and rested their joined hands against her leg. She very rarely sought or welcomed touch. When she fed, she caressed her hosts in the way she knew would excite them, but she did not require their attentions, only their blood. The orgasms she experienced as the life-enriching ferrous compounds infused her system had nothing to do with intimacy.

  All that had changed with Becca. When she’d fed from Becca, she’d held herself back, keeping the bloodlust at bay so she could taste Becca, feel Becca’s body pressing against hers, hear Becca’s cries of pleasure. She’d managed until the very end to maintain her sanity, to preserve a thin patina of awareness, and then she’d had to succumb to the mindless need. Becca’s blood had filled her, and the lust had claimed her consciousness. She did not want that emptiness with Becca.

  “Whatever you’re thinking,” Becca said quietly, “you can stop. Some things can’t be controlled by reason.” She laughed, a warm sound that sluiced over Jody’s skin, banishing the chill that always lingered beneath the surface.

  “What?” Jody asked. “What do you find humorous?”

  “I’m telling a Vampire, whose mind is like a steel trap, not to think.” Becca laughed again. “Everything about us—you and me—is a contradiction.”

  “Yes,” Jody said, surprised by a sudden surge of exhilaration. “That makes it interesting, don’t you think?”

  “Interesting. Yes. It does make it that.”

  The heaviness of the coming day se
ttled over Jody, making her limbs sluggish and her mind dull. She did not want to sleep. She did not want to leave Becca unprotected.

  Sylvan’s Rover pulled to the curb in front of her town house, and Becca parked behind it. Jody climbed out, unlocked the door to her town house, and held it open for Niki, who carried Lara inside. Becca followed.

  Sylvan remained outside on the landing. “Do you require extra protection?”

  Jody shook her head. “I have soldiers who will guard the lair during the day. What do you intend to do?”

  “Search out the possible locations where our females might be held.”

  “And if you discover where they are?”

  Sylvan’s canines flashed. “We will free them.”

  “You could be going up against significant firepower. If whoever is holding them also attempted to kill you, they’re going to be firing silver. You should let me put together an attack force of Vampires. We are the superior advance team.”

  “Tell me, Vampire,” Sylvan said conversationally, “if you had to guess, who do you think is holding our Weres?”

  “Humans,” Jody said immediately. “Vampires have no need to capture Weres. Our two species know more about each other than anyone else.”

  Sylvan nodded. “Even the Fae, with their powers, and the Magi with their spells could not hold one of us.”

  “What about other Weres?”

  Sylvan snarled. “Possible, but why?”

  Jody shook her head. “One of the things we must discover.”

  “I have given you two of my best,” Sylvan said, looking past Jody into the house. “It seems we are together in this. For now.”

  “For now.” Jody backed up as a ray of sunlight shot across Sylvan’s face. In another few seconds, the foyer would be flooded. She was weary and she was hungry. “Wait for me, if you can, Wolf. We may be stronger together than apart.”

  Sylvan smiled. “An odd admission for a Vampire.”

  “Times have changed.”

  “Yes, they have.” Sylvan clasped Jody’s shoulder. “We’ll meet you at sundown, then.”