Blood of Night: An Enemies to Lovers Paranormal Romance (Kings of Sterling Book 2)

by Leeah Taylor

  Ollie tugged her hand. “We need to go.”

  He’d pulled her towards the entrance when an explosion echoed off the stone walls, and they both froze. The path out of the catacombs began collapsing towards them. We’re going to die down here. How did it go so wrong so fast? What was with this guy?

  Ollie grabbed her at the waist, and the room went by in a blur, her back slamming into the stone wall inside the iron steel cage in the back of the room.

  Dirt and fire exploded into the room. Ollie braced himself, blocking her into the corner of the cage with his arms wrapped around her, sheltering her from the blinding heat rearing up. She had half a second to do something. Anything. Make a choice. Ollie or her. If the flames touched his skin, like poison, he’d die.

  He doesn’t die for me.

  Her hand shot up as flames licked through the iron bars. The fire tingled over her skin.

  He grabbed for her hand. “Jules, don’t!”

  The magic prickled into her fingertips, hot and cold, and a purple flare sparked to life. Her heart lurched in her chest, and it hurt to breathe. Rock, dirt, and stone hurdled towards them, and she squeezed her eyes shut half expecting she was too late. She dug deep from the pooling energy tightening in her chest, giving in to the burning fury in her veins. Purple blinded in her vision as the strength drained from her core.

  It went quiet. The settling of ruins around them. She opened her eyes, dropped her hand, and sucked in a restricting breath before the heavy weight of her limbs made her legs give out as Ollie caught her.

  An untouched pocket surrounded the cage. She had no idea how long the room would keep though. The support beams holding it all up wouldn’t hold for long if the bowing wood as any indication.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” He lowered her down to the ground, grabbing her by the chin and forcing her to look at him. The absolute terror in his eyes said it all. “Not looking for you to die today.”

  She focused on her breathing, trying to slow her heart and tame the rabid surge of magic coursing her body. Sweat cooled over her brow. “Well, I’m not okay with you dying for me either.”

  “Pretty sure that was my choice to make,” he said.

  He flexed his left hand close to his chest, a faint wince in his brow, as he searched the space around them. Juliette grabbed his hand. A small patch of red blistered skin slowly spread over the back of his hand, and her heart sunk.

  “Ollie…” she choked out.

  “We’ll get out of here long before it has time to spread.”

  “What if we don’t?”

  “We will.” He dug his phone out of his pocket and hope never looked so far away as his brow pulled tight. “So much for service.”

  She couldn’t watch him die. If the burn reached his heart before they got out and to some Ingeot root, he’d die.

  “But what if we don’t?”

  He pointed to the top of the rubble. “There’s some light coming through. We are going to get out of here. Okay?”

  Juliette nodded and gripped to the iron bars, still warm from the flames, to pull herself up. But the weight of her body, the magic like bricks holding her down, forced her back to the ground. It was a steep price to protect him, but she’d do it again without a thought.

  Ollie grunted and pushed the iron cage door open with his good arm. It resisted against the uneven dirt ground. He got it open just enough to slip through and gave her a stern look through the bars.

  “Doll, you and I are going to have a really long talk about this feeding business.”

  “Hey, I drank the bags this morning,” she mumbled, leaning her head back.

  “You’re already pale as a ghost.” He chose carefully where to step as he climbed to their only hope. “Maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t try the barrier spell. May have dropped dead at the altar.” She barely heard him, his voice nothing but a distant whisper. “Doll?”

  14

  Damien

  He stilled and evened his breathing with his finger on the trigger. The deer in his sights was oblivious to the threat lingering only twenty feet away. His heart slowed in his chest to a gentle lull. Barely a measure of a beat. He’d found a calm in the woods just past Val Valena. The quiet was a welcome reprieve to Sterling’s constant hustle and bustle.

  Lucien liked to think it was the hunting, the killing of things, that calmed and sated him. Really it was the very calm in the woods with nothing but nature surrounding him. It, in its own way, called to him, or maybe it called to the wolf now dormant in his blood.

  The haze of his hangover lifted while keeping the memories of whatever had happened the night before hostage. It drove him mad that he was missing a chunk of time with nothing more than a vague idea that Juliette was there. He’d almost convinced himself that he imagined it, but he’d never imagined anything so vividly. Not even his most raunchy fantasies about that girl ever felt as real as her going down on her knees for him.

  He got hard and clenched his jaw to keep from cursing and scaring off his prey. Ollie was right about one thing. He needed to get a blow job, a real one, or laid. Either one. It didn’t matter. He just needed to sate the need and get his head on straight if he was going to work with Juliette on this.

  The deer spooked and bolted as a rapid succession of small explosions echoed from the direction of Val Valena. He dropped the bow to his side and twisted around in time to see a plume of smoke and fire rising in the distance. He froze. Feet glued to the ground. The crossbow heavy in his hand.

  Shit, Jules!

  He dropped the bow and sprinted towards Val Valena. Every bad scenario played out in his mind. Did the spell go wrong? Had Juliette made a mistake? God, Ollie was supposed to go with her. He couldn’t lose them both.

  He reached the steep incline leading down to the cemetery and went down on one knee, taking in the decimated ruins of Val Valena. His phone went off in his pocket, and with a trembling hand he took it out.

  He answered the call on the next ring. “It’s gone, Lucien. Val Valena is gone.”

  The cemetery, the mausoleum. It was all a smoking pile of rock and ruin. There was silence on the other end of the phone. They were inside.

  “They can’t be…” His throat closed up.

  “Damien—”

  “Get up here.”

  They can’t be dead. She can’t be dead. I’m not finished with her.

  He half slid down the incline trying to keep his footing, holding onto hope that maybe they weren’t inside. Heart thudding in his chest, fighting the sickness trying to churn hard in the pit of his stomach, his feet hit flat ground. The bodies of his men were partly burned and strewn across the burned grass. They never stood a chance.

  “Jules!” A sinking feeling drowned the hope he had when only his voice echoed back. “Shit. Ollie!”

  Nothing.

  Hot sickness rose up in the back of his throat and he forced it down, leaning forward with his hands on his knees. He sucked in gulps of air. She couldn’t be under it. He pushed forward into what was left of the cemetery. The headstones were unrecognizable, and dirt and dust still hung in the air. Heat rose up from the ground.

  “Not like this,” he said to no one, looking over the ruins, expecting to see her standing on the other side perfectly fine. Safe and sound. Smiling sweetly at him to give him hope that he could fix everything. Make it better so she’d stay when it was all over. He needed her to be alive, so he could tell her sorry. Go to his knees for her.

  I should have told her. Said the fucking words.

  Juliette knew the truth without him saying it, but she wanted it all the same. She knew he was irrevocably, ridiculously, and foolishly tangled up in her and terrified to love her. Reminded him enough times of it. Proclaiming it for him on more than one occasion.

  Damien blew out a breath toward the sky. She couldn’t be dead. He’d find a way to say the words for her, but she had to be alive.

  How hard could saying I love you be?

  He kn
ew the moment the idea of love had been twisted for him. Even knowing when it happened and how ridiculous it was, he couldn’t make the leap. The memory flashed fresh in his mind, and his stomach curdled.

  Julian loomed over him. An eerie quiet cast over the house after hours of listening, hiding in his room with Lucien as his only comfort, to their mother’s howls and cries. He’d have clawed his ears off if it’d been an option. Ollie hadn’t come easily.

  The angry squeals of a babe erupted from their mother’s room. Damien had hoped for a sister. He already had a big brother. A baby sister would be perfect.

  “You have a brother,” Julian scowled.

  Damien didn’t understand why his father looked so upset. Maybe he wanted a girl too. It didn’t really matter. He just wanted to be a big brother like Lucien.

  “Mom,” Lucien muttered, cowering.

  He had yelled at Julian and wanted to know why he refused to call a midwife. The back of their father’s hand was the response. Damien told him not to yell at Dad but, like always, Lucien didn’t listen. He never did, and he lost a tooth or two because of it that time.

  “Your mother is dead.”

  Julian stalked past them, down the hall and toward the stairs.

  Damien looked to Lucien. “What does he mean? Why?”

  Angry tears burned with the fury in his veins.

  “Why!” he demanded.

  Julian stopped at the top of the stairs, casting a glare back at him. “Love,” he spit out. “Killed your mother.”

  He never saw love the same way. With no explanation, love became the thing that could take those he loved away. Every time he was caught in Juliette’s shining galaxy, a bright light like their mother, his chest pulled tight until it felt like it might cave in. What if someone took her from him? What if they used his love for her against him? What about the love for him?

  But now she had been taken, and he’d never uttered the words once.

  “Jules!” He screamed her name and his brother’s until it hurt. Holding to some delusion that they weren’t down there.

  The barrier was never worth a sacrifice this big. Not if it meant losing everything he held dear. Losing her.

  Scraping and the shifting of rock caught his attention. The little hope he needed to stay sane blossomed, and he searched for the source of the sound. Past where the entrance to the catacombs used to be, where the great room should have been, rock and rubble pushed up. His feet stumbled and slipped over the uneven ground. The rock slid under his weight.

  Let them be alive. I’ll make it alright. I will fix it for you, Luv.

  He dropped to his knees, hands pushing and shifting the rubble. The ground jolted under him, and he stilled. Whatever was left of the supports in the room had to be buckling. He moved faster, tossing earth and rock behind him, until he uncovered a set of bloody and blistered fingers, and his stomach churned. The earth shifted again.

  Damien gripped the hand and pulled, the stone and dirt giving way. A hole opened, and Ollie appeared. Pain twisted his baby brother’s dirty face. He had Juliette tucked into his chest with his good arm.

  “Take her,” Ollie coughed, attempting to lift her up to Damien.

  He reached down and lifted her out. Pulling her flush to his chest and kissing the top of her head. I’ll make this right, Luv. I promise. Without letting her go, Damien put his hand out for Ollie and pulled him out.

  “You look like shit,” he taunted, needing to shake off the doom that had settled down into his bones.

  Ollie collapsed on the ground with his chest heaving and sweat dripping down his face. “You don’t look too hot yourself.”

  He didn’t feel too hot. He’d just come that close to losing half his family. For what? A ridiculous barrier wall. Let the wolves come; he’d slaughter every last one of them.

  Damien stood with her in his arms and pulled his brother to his feet. “What the hell happened?”

  “Adrian Night ring a bell?” Ollie winced, pulling his arm close to his chest. The burn covered his hand and was working its way up past his wrist. “Apparently he had a son, Ramsey, and he’s right pissed off with us about something.”

  “Well, Lucien did kill Adrian.”

  Rightfully so too. The prolific alpha had tried and almost succeeded in killing Juliette. Nearly gutting her in the middle of Juleps. It was the closest any wolf had ever gotten to finishing the job.

  Whether they were threatened by her or it was under Adrian’s order, there was never any clarification of why the wolves had made the attempts on her life.

  “Claims it has nothing to do with Lucien killing Adrian.”

  “What the hell is it?”

  Ollie shrugged. “Have no clue but he’s a screaming pissed hybrid.” What the fuck? “Fucker just blew us up to make some sort of point.” He gave Val Valena a quick glance while shaking his head. “We going to stand here until that last support beam gives, and we end up back down there?”

  “No.” Damien smirked. “I figured we stand here until that burn kills ya.”

  Tires screeched and squealed, catching both of their attention. Lucien and Riley stumbled out of the SUV. He stopped just short of the ruins to lean with his hands on his knees, relief working its way up into his expression. The werecat almost looked gratefully at Damien as they started toward them. Maybe she wouldn’t try to kill him.

  “He say anything else?” Damien asked.

  “Nothing that made any sense. But it’s not about Lucien offing daddy Night.”

  “Of course, can’t be that simple.”

  “Or cliché.”

  Damien glanced at the scattered bodies of his men as he stepped out of the ruins and onto even grassy ground. Heart pulled tight in his chest. More conversations he didn’t want to have with their loved ones.

  “What happened?” Lucien gave Juliette a once over before grabbing for Ollie’s hand. “This is bad.”

  “No shit.” Ollie arched a brow. “I’m okay though, thanks for asking.”

  “Don’t get smart.” He glared at him. “What happened?”

  Damien didn’t need the whole story. He knew all he needed to know. This guy, Ramsey, tried to kill Juliette and Ollie. There was only one way to deal with it. Kill him.

  “She okay?” Riley followed him to the SUV and opened the back-passenger door for him. “Damien?”

  He laid Juliette on the back seat with a nod. She was too pale and burning up, and he knew what both things meant. Juliette wasn’t feeding like she should, and she’d used her unique magic. What the hell is she thinking?

  “Yeah, she’ll sleep it off,” he said.

  “Sleep what off?” Riley asked.

  Ollie sat down in the back of the SUV. He pulled his hand free from Lucien and gestured toward Juliette. “Well, that’s a taste of what a good purge looks like.”

  Lucien snatched the hand back. “Hold still.”

  “Why didn’t you stop her?” Damien asked.

  Ollie jerked his hand out of his brother’s grip again and held it up. “Where the hell do you think I got this from?”

  Lucien glared at Ollie and grabbed his hand.

  “Move it again,” he warned. “I dare you.”

  “If she didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be down in those catacombs, crispy fried.”

  Damien dragged his hand down his face. Leave it to Juliette to put someone else’s life before her own. She knew damn well the possible consequences of using her magic like that. Even with using the altar to facilitate and share some of the power needed for the barrier spell years ago, it had brought her close to death. She was out cold for over a day then.

  “We’ll wrap it up when we get home.” Lucien shoved the jar of Ingeot paste he kept in his SUV back in the first-aid bag. “Going to leave a nasty scar still.”

  “Whatever.” Ollie shrugged. “Not my first. Won’t be my last, I’m sure.” He reached into his pocket and took out his truck keys. “Alright, sweetheart. You’re driving.” Ollie tossed
Riley the keys. “Make sure you get that stubborn girl to feed.”

  Riley gave Juliette one last look before leveling a stare at Damien. “Maybe don’t try to piss or run her off?”

  “Are you trying to give me a reason not to like you?” he asked.

  “Nope, I don’t like you, so I just assume the feeling is mutual.” She walked away before he had a chance to say anything else. She’s going to be a pain in my ass.

  Damien closed the passenger door. “Drive me to my truck just on the other side of the Falls?”

  Lucien nodded. “This was almost very bad. We almost lost them both.”

  “I know.”

  “We need to figure out what this Ramsey wants and deal with him.”

  “We will. Right now, let’s just get our family home. Where they are all safe.”

  15

  Juliette

  She groaned, holding her head while a prickling sensation dominated her limbs.

  “How you feeling?”

  She flinched back with eyes wide on Damien in the driver’s seat. In his truck. Why am I in his truck? The last thing she remembered was Ollie bound and determined to make it up the rubble to hope.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Ollie?”

  “He’s fine—”

  “But he got burned.”

  “Jules.” He glimpsed at her. “Ollie is fine. Now, how are you feeling?”

  Why does he even care?

  “I’ll live.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “Does it really matter? I’m alive, so I can still do your precious barrier spell.”

  The truck squealed to a stop, and Juliette grabbed the dashboard to keep from slamming into it. The jolt vibrated in her bones with angry fury. She growled, glaring at him.

  “Are you kidding me right now?” she yelled.

  Cars braked and swerved to keep from plowing into them. The drivers cursing and screaming at him as they passed.