More Than Blood

by Amanda Vyne

  Gabe sighed and pulled his gown down. His father was as much a slave to tradition and the old ways as the elders. “The elders cannot make wise decisions for our people anymore.” At his father’s outraged expression he continued, “Unless they accept that the old ways are not the best path any longer. I think we should do as the Rainier House has done and give all those with Sanguen blood full acceptance in the House. Pure or not.”

  LIAM FERRAR LOOKED at his son for a long time. Gabrial had always been very headstrong. His allowing him to attend college outside the safety of the House complex with that Rainier boy was responsible for his difference in belief. He did not want to see his son put out of the House by the elders but he feared that was what the future held for him.

  “I did not come here to argue House politics.”

  Gabrial frowned. “I assumed you were called when I was injured.”

  Liam shook his head. “I contacted Kyeros Forestor to procure an invitation into Incog. I came here because I was concerned about your behavior and wished to see for myself what you are involved in. Your female was very irate. She took exception to something I said and made her objections very clear.” He rubbed his face. “Also, I remembered an incident you might have interest in.”

  Liam sank into a chair when his obstinate son cast him a confused look. He had very few regrets for the more than half century he had been serving his House. Any death in his House pained him but none more than the loss his House suffered nearly fifteen years ago.

  “Fifteen years ago we opened our House to a woman and her child. Her father was a good friend of mine, and he requested asylum for his daughter and granddaughter. He was dying from the disease and without sons, a new line would be taking over the House. He feared for their safety once he was gone. I promised to look after them.” Liam smoothed a weary hand over his hair. “Days after they arrived, the child disappeared.”

  Gabe sat forward. “Disappeared? Was she ever found? A body?”

  “No, nothing. Your uncle and I looked for months.” It had been the first time he had ever seen his older brother, Maxim, so involved with House business. Maxim, although older, had been born with the disease and was forbidden from marrying or having children and thus taking any position of power within the House. It had affected him deeply and he was always prone to fits of depression. It made Liam feel guilty for his own health and position in the House. At the time he hadn’t known that Maxim had fallen in love with the woman.

  “Were there any suspects? Could she have run away?”

  Liam shrugged. “We suspected the new doyen and his family were involved, perhaps had taken her because she in some way threatened their position in the House. The elders found it unfounded because she was female and could not assume any positions of authority. Your Uncle Maxim said the child was unhappy and very spoiled, that her mother had been having difficulties with her. Perhaps she ran away. I always felt responsible. I had promised her grandfather they would be safe.”

  “What happened to the girl’s mother?”

  Liam stood and walked to the window. This was his favorite time of day. The sun had set but night was not fully upon them. “Several months after her daughter disappeared she was found in her cottage. She had slit her wrists.”

  When Gabrial said nothing he turned to once again study his son. He had become a good man with strong convictions. His mate, though not of pure blood, was a strong woman. Although the effect of her blood on his son was still questionable his gut told him that the pair would make strong, healthy offspring. He only feared that those offspring would not be the future of his House. Tradition was important but he did not believe the elders would dispose of thousands of years of tradition overnight. Change would come, was inevitable, but he feared it would not be in time for his son.

  “I must return. Come soon to visit your mother. You know how she worries.” He paused. “And tell your mate that although crossbreed children were not welcome members of our House, they were never mistreated. Every child was well loved in their foster homes. I saw to it personally.” Liam laughed as he started to fade. “And tell her she has quite a right hook.”

  Liam reappeared in his inner office. Never had he been so dissatisfied in his position as doyen. Of course, he’d never before disagreed with the politics within his House. Their traditions had always been black-and-white but this was the first time he found himself seeing the gray areas.

  There was a tap at the door. “Brother?”

  “Enter,” Liam said with a sigh as he sank down into a chair. Maxim shuffled in.

  “Things did not go well with Gabrial?”

  “I’m afraid it is worse than we initially believed, Maxim. Gabe has taken a bloodmate.”

  Maxim stiffened. “That should be good news, brother.”

  “Yes,” Liam said, rubbing his forehead. “It should, but my son has bonded with a crossbreed.”

  Maxim sank down across from him. His brother’s face was set in lines of thoughtful concern and Liam was glad he was there. Maxim had been a great asset, giving him an outlet for the concerns and misgivings he could not reveal to the elders. It was a relief to share his concern for his son with Maxim.

  “Agreed, that is not good. I assume she is at least half Sanguen?”

  “Yes.” Liam reached up and gingerly touched his eye. “I will hazard a guess and say the other half is Guardian.”

  Maxim’s rheumy eyes narrowed. “She struck you.”

  Liam chuckled and leaned back. “I may have deserved it. My son was seriously wounded and she was very upset. I allowed my temper to control my tongue.” The image of her rose in his mind. The woman had seemed inconsolable, covered in his son’s blood and nearing hysteria. He wondered if she’d told his son she loved him or if his son had told her the same. Most likely not if she was half as stubborn as his son was. Their offspring would be incredible, a true asset to the blood of his race. If she were only full Sanguen.

  “That is inexcusable, brother. Did she not realize who you are?”

  “Oh, Maxim, I believe she struck me because she knew exactly who I was. That is the least of our problems. Gabe’s bond with her has created new problems.”

  Maxim was silent, as always patiently waiting for Liam to confide in him.

  “Her blood has created a permanent change in him. His wounds healed within a matter of hours, Maxim. It was very disconcerting.”

  Maxim’s face had paled. “We can sever the bond.”

  “I fear that will not be possible. Since their blood exchange his body will not accept the blood of another. I have heard of such a phenomenon before, long ago. If we sever the bond he will die.”

  Liam frowned and jerked up when his brother looked so pale, his frail body swaying. “Maxim, are you ill? Should I call the physician?”

  Maxim jerked and gave a wan smile. “No, Liam, I – I am fine. I am just shocked. The elders will have him exiled for this.”

  With a sigh, Liam slouched against the chair. He was only this relaxed with Maxim. “Yes, I fear you are right. The elders would never allow such a thing to occur within the bloodline of the imperial family.”

  Liam frowned at his brother’s obvious unrest. Maxim was fragile, his body having been ravaged by the disease for so many years. Years ago their father had sent Maxim away to a special medical center managed by the Triumvirate to help research the disease that plagued the Sanguen race.

  Once Liam had ascended as doyen he’d immediately contacted his brother. Maxim had the right to choose whether he wanted to spend his remaining years with his family or in the cold confines of a medical facility. Their father, who had ascended as elder, had protested vehemently that Maxim was better off at the facility but the elders had agreed to have him brought home. Maxim had fared so much better than many who suffered from the genetic blood disease. He attributed Maxim’s health to his being within his own House.

  “Brother, go and rest. You look peaked. I will call you when I take this before the elders.” />
  Maxim blinked and nodded weakly. “Yes, perhaps I will. I do feel tired. We will do our best for Gabe, Liam.”

  Liam nodded as he watched his brother shuffle away.

  “YOU PUNCHED THE doyen of my House in the face?”

  Kel glanced up from where she lay back on the lounge chair in her usual tank and a pair of boy shorts, despondently listening to the night sounds of the city. They usually soothed her. This balcony with its view of the bay was the sole reason she’d taken the tiny apartment, especially since her salary at Incog would allow for a much nicer place. Tonight she just couldn’t find peace in the sounds of the city.

  “He was being a jerk at a really bad time for me,” Kel said dryly, returning her eyes to the flickering lights on the bay. His scent drifted to her on the cool breeze and she closed her eyes. Those emotions welled up in her again, that gut-wrenching fear and the even worse sense of overwhelming loss she’d experienced when she thought he would die. Her eyes and nose stung. God, this was impossible.

  She felt his gentle touch somewhere deep inside her. She instinctively accepted the merge with him. He felt so vital and strong. But the memory of the agony she’d experienced for that brief moment when she thought she’d lost him rose up hard, choking her. Immediately she mentally pulled away from their bond, closing herself off from him.

  “Kel. Don’t.”

  Somehow his presence in her life had become synonymous with peace. Life had dealt her such a crummy hand but she’d managed to build some semblance of contentment with what she had. Then he’d come along and insinuated himself into that peace and she couldn’t imagine ever being content again without him. It scared the shit out of her. She’d come so close to losing him. Losing him was losing that peace she’d worked so hard to achieve. She just didn’t think she could survive the loss again and remain sane.

  A tear squeezed from the corner of her eye.

  “I don’t think I can do this.”

  Suddenly he was there, his heat and scent wrapping around her before his arms even reached her. His lips brushed her face, absorbing her tears.

  “You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here.”

  Kel snapped her eyes open. “But you almost weren’t. You almost disappeared today. Just like that” – Kel snapped her fingers – “and poof, you could just be gone. And then what? You want me to depend on you so that when you’re gone I just crumble. I can’t do it.” Kel shimmered across the balcony, wrapped her hands around the railing as she looked out over the city, eyes skimming over the bay.

  Gabe rose to his feet and turned toward her. “You have to trust me, Kel.”

  Trust him? How was she supposed to do that? Exactly where did she fit in his life? He was the damn House marshal, future doyen of his House of the freaking Ferrar House, for God’s sake. Damn it all!

  Kel spun and paced past him, running her hands through the short, still damp length of her hair. As soon as Dr. Tanner, the clinic doctor, had told her that the blood was healing him, she’d left. She’d had to leave, to put some distance between her and those suffocating emotions, but they followed her. She’d taken a long, hot shower, watching the water, tinged pink from his blood, stream over the tile floor and swirl around the drain, wishing it had taken her fear and pain with it.

  That’s what really stood between them. Her past and his future.

  “Tell me what happened fifteen years ago.”

  Kel jerked at his soft words. What had happened fifteen years ago? She couldn’t recall very many details of that night. She remembered the glitter of blood red beads on the floor and the disgust on her mother’s face. She remembered the hurt of being abandoned and fear of being alone. The rest of it was carefully tucked away where she couldn’t reach it.

  Only in her nightmares.

  “I don’t remember,” Kel whispered.

  “But you dream of it.” He’d shimmered to just behind her. His heat warmed her, thawed the chill seeing him fighting for his life had caused deep in her.

  Kel spun and faced him, her dark eyes shuttered. “I dream of a lot of things. If I’m lucky, I never remember them when I wake.”

  “Tell me what you do remember.” He stepped closer. His scent whirled around her provocatively. There was so much heat in it. He was aroused. She could almost taste it on her tongue. “Trust me.”

  His hand reached up to cup her cheek and she turned into the touch, drawing that scent deep into her with a gasping breath that made it feel as though she was starving for air.

  “God, Gabe. I was so scared.”

  Gabe sighed and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, baby. I never meant to put you through that.”

  With a humorless laugh she wrapped her arms around him. “You’re apologizing to me for being used as a butcher’s block.”

  “If it will ease you.” His voice rumbled in his chest.

  Kel clenched her hands in the back of his shirt and pressed her face to his chest, feeling the heat of his flesh exposed by the collar of his shirt against her cheek. Raising her head, she pressed her lips to that triangle of exposed skin. He tasted so good.

  “KEL.” HIS BREATH hitched.

  “I need you, Gabe. I don’t want to, but I do. I just need to touch you, to taste you. Make me forget –”

  A swell of fear, dark, and cold crashed over him and he knew she was thinking of his attack again. He forgot his disappointment at her inability to trust him with her nightmares, with her past. He forgot his suspicions that she might be the girl that went missing from his House fifteen years ago. All he could think about was the woman in his arms whose fear for him offered him hope.

  Her lips brushed his breastbone again and her small, hot hands slid around his ribs to reach the buttons of his shirt. Each slip of a button revealed a little more of his chest and her lips followed. She swirled her tongue over him with soft, throaty sounds of pleasure that reverberated through him, making him pulse with need.

  Kel reached up to push the shirt over his shoulders; her eyes gazed up at him through the thick fringe of her dark lashes. The dark chocolate depths mirrored his own hunger and he felt his erection press harder against the fly of his jeans. Her eyes slowly lowered and her mouth burned a path across his chest until she found the flat brown nipple. She touched the tip of her tongue to it with a hum of pleasure and her need swelled over his, merging and expanding until it made his skin feel too tight.

  “Ah, Kel.” He moaned as her mouth left a trail of heat down his stomach, the muscles trembling and tightening beneath her touch. Her lips played over the raised pink scars from his healing wounds. Each tremor rumbled through him, though his growing erection and the muscles of his ass tightened with his straining control. “You’re killing me, love.”

  Her hot breath fanned the taut skin just below his belly button as she sighed. His hips jerked toward her and an incredible ache coiled low in his body. When her finger dipped into the top of his waistband on either side of the fly and her little tongue played just beneath the edge he thrust his hands into her hair, framing her head.

  With a low growl she gave a tug and his jeans split with a soft pop and whoosh of his zipper. Her sound of pleasure at seeing he did not wear underwear sizzled over him, and his hands fisted reflexively.

  “Woman.” He growled when that dangerous little tongue of hers tentatively circled the throbbing crest of his engorged head, the tip tracing the rim. His cock jerked. With another sound of discovery, her small hands wrapped around the length of him and her mouth grew bolder.

  He flung his arms out and wrapped his fingers tightly around the metal railing, the concrete and brick half wall abrading his lower back. Her mouth felt so good, hot and moist around his sensitive flesh. He looked down at the top of her shining dark head and watched as his cock disappeared beyond her dark, rosy lips. Her tongue stroked that sensitive groove just under the engorged head, her fist tight around the base and her lips gliding over him. His hips surged against her and she made a humming noise that rev
erberated through his entire body. His body quaked uncontrollably as he groaned with pleasure.

  “I NEED TO be inside you. Now.”

  Kel made a low sound in her throat but only wrapped her fingers tighter around the smooth base of his hard cock. She wasn’t ready to let him go. She suddenly wanted to feel him fall apart in her hands, to taste his pleasure on her lips. A glistening drop of fluid beaded up in the dusky slit on the head and Kel leaned in to gently press the tip of her tongue to it, loving the taste of him.

  “Kel.” The low noises he made only excited her more and she ran the flat of her tongue up the length of him, absorbing each ripple of pleasure that crested over her through their connection.

  Wrapping her hand around the considerable girth of his hard cock, she couldn’t completely encircle him. A small thrill sizzled through her when she thought of the delicious burn she felt when he pressed it so deeply inside her. Soon. Right now she wanted to feel him come apart in her hands.

  She shifted his throbbing cock up to press him against the taut expanse of his belly, cupping the soft weight of his testicles in her other hand. His hips thrust against her hands and she drew the soft flesh into her mouth, gently sucking on the smooth skin.

  “Baby, you’re killing me.” His voice rumbled low and hungry in his chest, and she felt his flesh draw up to his body in reaction. Pulling away she let his testicles slide from the moist heat of her mouth. The skin glistened from the stroke of her tongue and she gave them a gentle squeeze in her palm, returning her attention to the purple head of his cock.

  A drop of fluid welled and slid over the angry flesh. Kel closed her lips around the head, laved her tongue over the tip.

  “Oh, baby, that feels so good. Suck me.” Kel felt a rush of cream flood her from the erotic timbre of his voice. Folding her tongue around the crest she sucked him deeper into her mouth, feeling the soft glide of him over the roof of her mouth. His hips bucked, pressing his broad head into her throat.