by Lili Zander
All hell is going to break loose in the next few days. “What do you want from me?”
“You have a lot of influence over Prince Ragnar,” she replies frankly. “I need to know if you’ll oppose me.”
Lula Kenner had been ready to sponsor Raven. In the arena, she’d stepped forward. Because of that, and only because of that, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.
“I won’t oppose you,” I tell her. “But this is your colony. Your battle. I’m not going to join your war.” My priority is Raven Unnuk. The human woman who is in my thoughts far too often for my own comfort.
When I’m not plotting to destabilize the colony, I’m working on a plan to hide Raven.
Nero suggests his home planet of Merin. “The place is filled with thieves and rebels,” he says. “Everyone has their own secrets. Nobody will look too closely at her.”
“Until they catch a whiff of her blood.” Nero is right; Merin is a perfect place to hide. However, the hospitals in the outlaw world are pretty basic. I’m not sure that any of them are equipped to do something as sophisticated as getting rid of Raven’s blood disease.
“One problem at a time.”
He’s right. I make a decision. “Reach out to your contacts. Make sure we have a place to lie low.”
“I haven’t been home for a few years. I’ll have to see who I can still trust with a secret of this magnitude.” He looks somber. “It’ll take a few days to arrange.”
“I figured.” There’s a part of me that wants to steal Zimmer’s ship right away and jump into deep space, but the truth is, with Levitan hunting us, deep space is no safer than Boarus 4. As much as I hate the idea, until Nero arranges a safe house, staying here is the best answer. “We’ll just have to live with it.”
Nero starts to say something else and then cuts himself off.
“What is it?”
“Raven doesn’t even know her blood is affected. You ever think we should tell her what’s going on? After all, this is her life at stake.”
Yes. All the time. We’re being high-handed, and we’re treating Raven like a child, and my conscience is increasingly restive. “We’re keeping her safe,” I justify myself to my teammate. “Right now, that’s the only thing that matters.”
Nero raises a skeptical eyebrow. “If you say so, Colonel.”
He’s not convinced, but he’s going along with my decision. I can only hope I’ve made the right one.
18
Raven
Boarus 4
Sunrise, NinthDay of FourthMonth
Time passes in a blur of hard work and aching muscles. Finally, it’s the day before the start of the tournament.
Saber orders an elaborate meal to celebrate. He pours me a glass of slenti. “Are you getting me drunk?” I tease him.
Somewhere along the way, I’ve grown comfortable around the three vampires. They’ve watched me fall on my ass countless times during training. It’s hard to stay formal and distant after that.
But it’s more than that. Something frozen deep inside me started to thaw when I found out who was really responsible for my parents’ death. Yes, it had been a vampire who ordered the death sentence, but a human had betrayed them.
Maybe Joanna’s right after all. Maybe not all vampires are bad, and not all humans are good.
Saber’s lips twitch. “As entertaining as that would be, I want you to win this tournament, remember? Just one glass.” His eyes hold mine. Great Spirit, he’s attractive. A tendril of desire coils around my core, causing my cheeks to flush as I stare at him. “You’ve trained really hard. I’m proud of you.”
Right. The tournament. Pull yourself together, Raven. They’re focused on saving your life, and all you can think about is bedding them. “Thank you.” I take a sip of the slenti to cover up my heated cheeks. “I had the best teachers.”
“She is going to win.” Nero lifts his glass in my direction. “I have a wager on you. A rather large one, in fact.”
“You bet on her?” Zeke shakes his head. “Typical.”
I giggle. It’s not just that they’re good-looking. They’re also funny. Nice. Kind. Impossible to resist.
For two days, Nero and Zeke have been teaching me how to fight in the backyard. After the first night, they’d installed warming cones. It’s still cold for humans, even bitten ones, but warm enough for the vampires to be shirtless. It’s been extremely distracting. How am I supposed to care about my sparring technique when their bodies are on display?
They’re attracted to me. I’m attracted to them. Yet, nothing happens. On Boarus 4, I’m considered their property until the tournament starts. Two days with them, and I’ve learned that under these circumstances, Saber, Zeke, and Nero will never make a move.
The thing is, I really wish they would.
Saber takes in my too-flushed cheeks. “Looks like the alcohol’s already getting to you,” he comments wryly. He fills a plate with food and hands it to me. “Eat. You’ll thank me at sunset.”
They’re so nice to me. A trickle of guilt runs down my spine. I still haven’t told them that the Overlord is searching for me. At the start, I’d been afraid that if they knew, they would hand me over to Klaus Zimmer.
Now? I just don’t know.
That’s not the only secret I’m concealing from Saber, Zeke, and Nero. I haven’t told them about Joanna’s plans to break her brother out of the re-education camps, nor am I planning to. No matter how friendly the vampires are, Saber, Nero, and Zeke are, after all, part of the Imperial Army. They’re not going to stand by and allow a prison break.
I had a sex dream yesterday that featured the vampires. All three men were touching me at the same time, making my body tingle and ache everywhere. I squirmed in the sheets, the cool silk tangling between my legs, responding to their caresses. The feel of their fingertips, the warmth of their mouths. My nipples hardened; my pussy wept with need. I’d woken up, my body dangling on the precipice of release.
From a dream.
My life is in danger. The tournament begins tomorrow. Now’s not the time to be thinking of sex. Somebody should tell that to my stupid libido.
Maybe when all of this is over, I can look them up on Starra.
Zeke gives me a warm smile. Perhaps he thinks that I’m worried about the tournament and wants to take my mind off tomorrow. If only he knew. “Have you thought about what you’ll do once you move to Starra?”
“If I win.”
“You’ll win.” He sounds confident.
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the future. No one from the camps ever does. Four years later, that’s the one lesson I haven’t forgotten.
“I like to cook,” I reply hesitantly. “I thought maybe I could work in a restaurant in Starra. Eventually, save enough money to open my own.”
For so long, survival’s been the priority. Even now, imagining a future seems risky. Almost as if I’m jinxing my dreams by daring to voice them out loud.
I might not survive the next few days. The end doesn’t have to come at Zimmer’s hands. There are a million ways to die on the ice. I have a plan, but I’m realistic about the dangers. I could get disoriented. I could read the map wrong and get lost. I could run into a storm, one of the powerful mistrals that whip ice into the air, each shard lethal as a blade. I could be ambushed by a pack of s’kal cats.
I’d really like to sleep with them first. Yet when I think of voicing my desires, the words freeze in my throat. Every human on Boarus 4 sees me as some kind of hero. The girl from the mines who marched into the arena, demanding entry into the Night of the Shayde. But when it comes to telling the vampires I want them, it seems that I am a coward.
19
Saber
Boarus 4
Sunrise, NinthDay of FourthMonth
Raven retires right after dinner to her bedroom. Once she’s out of earshot, I signal to Zeke and Nero that I want to talk. “Any word on Merin?”
“I just heard back from some friends,”
Nero replies. “They’re on board, but they’re going to need four more days to set things up.”
By which time we’ll be in the middle of Glacis. Fuck. There’s no avoiding this damn tournament.
Zeke’s reading something on his comm. “Ragnar’s ship just landed.”
Ragnar’s a complication that I don’t know how to tackle but right now, I’m more preoccupied with the Night of the Shayde. “Zimmer will attack Raven quickly,” I predict.
“How quickly?” Nero asks.
“As early as tomorrow. Raven’s already immensely popular with everyone on Boarus 4. The sooner he disposes of her, the better.”
“The attack will happen during the day,” Nero says. “That’s what I would do if I were him. Everyone knows that vampires cannot be exposed to sunlight. If something were to happen to Raven, Zimmer could pass it off as an unfortunate accident.”
I turn to Zeke. “We brought the sunblock, didn't we?”
He nods. “We did, but it doesn’t work well here. It’s only good for fifteen minutes. Out on Glacis, with the sunlight reflecting off the ice, possibly a lot less.”
“It can’t be helped. We don't have another choice.”
“I’ve been making inquiries,” Nero chimes in. “I’ve got us some black-market juice.”
“You found vigilene on Boarus 4?” That’s an unexpected piece of good news.
“Smuggler ship. They didn’t realize they were selling to a soldier of the Imperial Army. I have a day’s supply, just in case we need it.”
The thought of taking street drugs makes me shudder, but we don’t really have a good alternative. “It’s clear then what we need to do. We follow Raven, taking care to stay out of sight. And if she's threatened, we will take care of it.”
Nero grins. “This is the kind of plan I like.”
I’m on the verge of falling into slumber when I hear Raven cry out. I immediately sit up.
Raven’s whimpering in distress. “Please,” she begs. “Please. I want my mama and papa.”
Vampires don’t dream, but humans do. Raven’s slept peacefully ever since she learned the truth about who betrayed her parents, but it appears that the streak hasn’t lasted. She’s obviously in the middle of another nightmare.
I can’t listen to her suffer. I get out of bed and walk over to her room, pushing open her door. “Raven,” I say softly. “Kära, wake up. You’re having a bad dream.”
“Please,” she sobs, her legs kicking out in her sleep. The blankets covering her slide off, and I swallow hard as I realize she sleeps naked.
I’ve been attracted to her right from the start. It’s taken all the restraint I’ve possessed to keep away from Raven, to give her no sign of my interest.
I push back my desire now and crouch down next to her, brushing away the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Raven,” I say again. “Wake up, sweet one.”
She grabs my hand. “Saber,” she whispers. Her eyes flicker open, and she looks directly at me. “Is that you?”
“Mmm.” She’s on her back now, and it takes all the willpower I possess not to stare at her round, beautiful breasts.
“Stay with me?” She grabs my arm and tugs me to her side. “Please?”
Kill me now. “Okay. But I’m not sleeping on the floor. Move over.”
She obligingly makes room, and I climb in. “You’re naked,” she says, sounding both startled and sleepy.
My lips twitch. “So are you.”
“I’m not used to the fireplaces,” she yawns. “I was too hot. Does it bother you?”
My cock is achingly hard. “No, little human,” I reply, lying through my teeth. She just woke up from a nightmare, and all she’s looking for is some comfort. Not sex.
“I’m not that little,” she says, snuggling up into me. My throat closes. Half-asleep, she’s so trusting, so unguarded. Is this who she would have been had her parents not been taken away? “You’re so warm.”
I can feel every inch of her body, pressed into mine. Her round ass, her gracefully curved back, her braided hair. “You sleep with your hair tied?”
She giggles. “On Boarus 4, a woman only undoes her braids for a man she intends to bed.”
There you go, I tell my cock ruefully. That’s a pretty clear message. She’s not interested.
I remember the smell of her blood, tantalizing, alluring and ever-so-dangerous. A vein beats in the nape of her neck, and I ache to sink my fangs into that soft flesh and drink from her. I want to slice open one of my veins for her and let her feast on me.
“Goodnight, Saber,” she whispers, sweet and trusting, and I push my baser impulses down.
“Sleep well, kära,” I say, whispering the old-Shayde endearment into her ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I hope I’m not making promises I can’t keep.
Deep slumber, brought up by the rays of a yellow sun, is a vampire weakness. We can resist it, but it comes at a cost. During the day, we are as weak as humans, and, when exposed to the sun’s rays, we burn.
There are very few things that will snap a vampire out of slumber. Mortal danger is one. Painful arousal is another.
It’s the latter I’m feeling now.
Someone’s touching me. Running their hands all over my body. Licking my nipples, closing their fingers over my cock.
Raven?
Bit by bit, awareness washes over me. I feel her mouth lower onto my hard length, and she hums in her throat, sounding satisfied and pleased.
I’m still suspended between sleep and wakefulness, and my body reacts on instinct. I stroke her shoulder and run my hands through her hair. A thought niggles in the back of my mind when I encounter loose strands. Something about braids.
She grips the base of my cock with one hand and takes the tip in her mouth. A groan escapes my lips. This has to be a dream.
Vampires don’t dream.
My eyes flicker open. Raven is bent over me, her red-brown hair tumbling around her face, her fingers wrapped around my cock. Her tongue flicks over my head, and I groan again. Ever since I met her, ever since I pulled her on my lap, ever since I first held her in my arms, I’ve been fantasizing about her, yet trying to deny how I feel.
Something tugs me to this woman, and I don’t know what it is, only that it is stronger than I’ve ever felt before. She’s a mix of fragility and strength, of silk and steel, and the smell of her is intoxicating. She carries within her a disease that is almost certain to kill me, yet it’s everything I can do to prevent my fangs from dropping.
Her fingers move over me, soft, exploratory, touching me, feeling me, until I can’t possibly bear it. “Come here,” I growl, lifting her next to me. “Your braids are undone,” I say, lowering my mouth over the pink nipple nearest to me and sucking it between my lips. “So beautiful.”
“Okay,” she replies.
I pinch the other one, rolling the erect nub between my fingertips before her words sink in. Okay.
Fuck.
Solar would walk in her sleep. She’d have entire, seemingly-coherent conversations with us, conversations she’d have no memory of when she woke.
Something similar is happening with Raven. Though her eyes are open, she’s still asleep. To her, this is a pleasurable dream, nothing else.
I swear under my breath. She’s not in her right mind. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, of course she doesn’t. Vampires killed her parents and destroyed her life. When she wakes, I’ll still be the enemy.
When she wakes, she will hate me. Or herself.
“Raven.” I can’t help it; I run my fingers through her glorious tresses. I can smell her slickness, and my cock aches for her heat.
“Mmm.” She trails her fingers over my chest, and I swallow hard.
“Raven, wake up.”
“No,” she pouts. “Don’t want to.”
Neither do I. “You must.”
Her eyes blink open. For a moment, her expression is clouded with desire, and then awareness returns. Hea
t is replaced with shock. She sits up, grabbing the blanket and covering her nakedness. “Saber? What are you doing here?”
Fuck me. I roll off the bed. “You had a nightmare,” I reply. “You asked me to stay with you.”
Her cheeks go pink. “I remember…”
Slumber tugs insistently at me. I sway on my feet, fighting the urge to sink to the floor and give into it. Raven sees me stumble, and her gaze sharpens with concern. “Are you okay?”
“Call of sleep. Not easy to fight.” Not when you’re not touching me.
She jumps up. “Come. I’ll help you to your room.”
I lean against her, and the two of us stagger across the hall. When I reach my bed, I slump down on it.
“Thank you, Saber,” she whispers. At least, I think she does. I’m not sure if I’m imagining it.
What are you thanking me for? I want to ask, but the words don’t come. Deep slumber claims me.
20
Raven
Boarus 4
Sundown, NinthDay of FourthMonth
I can't go back to sleep after that. I lie awake, heat and need pounding through me. One thought stays with me. I thought I was in the middle of a very hot, sexy dream. Saber didn't have to wake me. He could have taken advantage.
Instead, he did the right thing. The honorable, decent thing. Ever since I met them, Saber, Nero, and Zeke have been showing me what kind of men they are.
My entire body aches with desire. I groan and roll over, screaming my frustration into my pillow. I’d wanted them earlier this evening, but I’d been too paralyzed to make a move. Now, in an ironic twist, I’ve run out of time to do anything about it. The tournament starts at sundown.