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

by Leeah Taylor

  “That is not what happened,” he said. “If you’d just—”

  A hand came out of nowhere, sharp claws extended and pressing into Evan’s chest to push him back.

  Riley hissed. “It’s a fact that cats and wolves don’t play nice, and I’m in a particularly foul mood.”

  Juliette looked her up and down, searching for any fatal blows amidst the bloody clothes but finding none. Relief helped release the tightness in her chest. An arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she sagged into the body. Lips pressed to her temple.

  “Scared the hell out of us, Doll.”

  “Jules, please,” Evan pleaded.

  All she could see was her father staring back at her with the same gentle dark mossy eyes.

  “Take your wolves and leave, Evan, before I take up target practice.”

  He chuckled. I didn’t say anything funny.

  “Just like Dad. Stubborn like him. Impossible like him. And overconfident like him.” He shook his head, backing away from Riley with his hands up. “My wolves, the Night Pack, have every right to be here. Sterling is our city too. We’re not leaving.”

  “What’s going on, Doll?”

  She glanced up at Ollie. “Didn’t you hear? Ann Marie gave Jonathan a son, and he abandoned me for him.” She tossed her hand toward Evan. “Meet my brother, the son Jonathan wanted.”

  Evan growled. “Wasn’t like that.”

  “We’re done. Ramsey is out cold.” Juliette tried to stand on her own. “Needs to be moved somewhere until we figure out what to do with him. Where’s Damien?”

  He better have lived, or I’ll bring him back and kill him.

  “Lucien and Xavier are moving him to one of the cells down in Juleps until he’s finished the turn,” Ollie said. “I’ll call Jet and Dash, have them come get Ramsey. Put him in the other cell down there.”

  “And his hybrids?”

  “Dead,” Riley said.

  She nodded, eyeing Evan. “Stay, don’t stay, but do not come to me with your ‘my brother’ bullshit. Because you aren’t anything to me. And if Jonathan sets foot in Sterling, I really will put the barrier back up. Just to keep him out.”

  Shaking his head, he sighed. “Fine.”

  Brother or not, she wanted nothing to do with any of it. Jonathan had abandoned her and left her at the mercy of Ann Marie. And now she knew it was because he’d chosen Evan over her. Chosen to protect one child over the other. She had all the family she needed.

  “Take me to Damien.”

  “Home first, Jules. Feed, eat and rest,” Riley said. “Then Damien.”

  “No—”

  “Doll, you’re not okay. You’re trembling and can barely stand on your own.” Ollie leveled a hard stare down on her. “We don’t even know how this turn looks anyway. You don’t need to see that.”

  She could argue with him, but she’d lose, and she didn’t have the strength to fight either one of them. At least Ramsey was down, and she’d survived it. Now she just hoped Damien did too.

  47

  Damien

  Damien’s eyes shot opened to cold stone walls. Bones pulsing with the ghost of a memory. A violent thirst exploded in his chest like flames licking up his rib cage. He sat up against the stone wall, his shirt covered in blood and sticking to him. Not sure if it was his own or someone else’s.

  Hot bile shot up the back of his throat, and he lurched forward to empty his stomach. Every muscle ached and burned. His bones pulsed.

  Vague visions of Val Valena blurred through his mind. Only one vivid memory stood out. The poison, like acid, burning through his veins. Taking over all his senses and control.

  Jules.

  It was a blurry haze of blood and agony.

  Why can’t I remember?

  A thought crashed to the front of his mind, and his heart shot up in his throat. What if he hurt her? The only clear memory that stood out was Ramsey, the bastard, biting him. Everything that followed was nothing more than a jumbled mess of foggy, vague images that moved too fast for him to make sense of them.

  He touched the bloody mess of his shirt, and his stomach churned. Is it her blood?

  Fingertips grazed over his arm, and he jerked back, catching the hand with his. A gasp caught his attention, and then a calm washed over him when his storm collided with her galaxy. Juliette had never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment just watching him with worry and concern pulled tight in her brow.

  She smiled with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. “I told you I’d be here when you woke up.”

  He crawled over to the bars and leaned his forehead against the cool steel.

  “It’s not my blood,” she assured him like she was seeing all the bad ideas running through his mind.

  “I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” she said. “Lucien called about an hour ago, said you were screaming for me but still entirely out of your mind.”

  His brow pulled together. “How long have I been down here?”

  “Two days.” She reached for his hand through the bars. “You’ve been in and out of it but not at all coherent. Mostly rambling about nothing that made sense.”

  What the hell did Ramsey do to him?

  “Ramsey?”

  “Chelsea and I put up a barrier spell on the apartment over on the Docks. He can’t get out, and only you, your brothers, and I can go in. Lucien and Xavier moved him yesterday.”

  “Marquis book?”

  She shook her head. “He hasn’t said a word since the other night.”

  He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. “So, I’m like him now?”

  Juliette shrugged. “I guess but we don’t know what that means.” She picked up a handful of blood bags beside her and handed them to him through the bars. “Look, drink and then we’ll get you out of here.”

  He took them with a fiery thirst rearing up in the back of his throat. A trash can just beside Juliette was overflowing with empty blood bags.

  “How many of these have I had?”

  She hesitated. “Fifty or better. Lost count.”

  “How in the hell did he do this?”

  “You and your brothers were born wolves. You have wolf blood in you. That spell was designed to make the bite deadly to vampires but turn wolves. He never wanted to kill any of you.”

  Damien uncapped the blood bag. “Assuming he figured that out.”

  “Think about it. Did he ever actually say he wanted to kill you? No, he said he wanted you to have what you deserved. That he was doing this for you. He wanted to be equal with the brothers he was denied.”

  Damien shook his head. Didn’t make any of it okay. He understood the logic, if that’s what Ramsey thought, but it didn’t erase all the bad. Now his baby brother owed a pound of flesh so large he wasn’t sure his death would be enough.

  He didn’t know if he was angry with Ramsey or disappointed. All he had to do was come to them. Talk to them. Tell them who he was. Why did he go about it in such a destructive way?

  “Get me out of here?” Damien asked.

  She pushed up from the ground and shoved a key into the lock. The moment it opened, he snatched her up in his arms. He didn’t give a damn that he was covered in dried blood. Strawberries and cream invaded his space and finally calmed his storm.

  “I thought that was it,” he muttered, holding to her a little tighter.

  “But it wasn’t, and now, together, we’ll get you through it. You’re going to find out how I feel the world around me every day as a hybrid.” She let her head fall back to look up at him. “Together though.”

  48

  Damien

  Damien leaned with his palms flat on the bathroom counter and looked at himself in the mirror. The shower didn’t do much to ease the dull pain still aching down in his bones. Lingering hours later.

  Juliette told him his body tried to shift during the turn, but he must be too much vampire, so it resisted. As quickly as the bones broke and snapped w
as as quickly as his body healed.

  He tried, again, to remember the last two days. Even the moments following Ramsey biting him. Lucien said he tore through two of the other hybrids before collapsing for good. He didn’t remember doing it. Juliette said she’d talked to him and promised she’d be there when he opened his eyes. He didn’t remember that either. His fist slammed down on the tile surface, cracking it. He just wanted to remember the gap of time. Any of it.

  He huffed. Lucien’s going to be a pain in my ass over this cracked marble.

  Juliette walked into the bathroom. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  He didn’t understand why he was so angry. The impulse was there as fast as it was gone. It wasn’t the first time he’d blacked out and lost time.

  “You’ll get used to it,” she said. “The new sensation of emotions. It can be off putting at first but give it some time.”

  This was how she felt the world around her? Everyday? I don’t know if I can live like this. It reminded him of when his father had turned him and even then, it wasn’t so intense.

  It was everything all at once crushing down around him. The cars out on the street. The icy cold air hissing through the house from the AC. The coffee pot downstairs brewing. Light chatter in different parts of the house. And something else he couldn’t place. A sensation that prickled and scraped over his skin.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s me,” Juliette said.

  “What do you mean it’s you?”

  “I didn’t know it at the time, but when I first met Ramsey, I could feel the emotions coming off him. I thought it was my magic. And then I felt yours when I came to see you, and I realized it wasn’t magic but different emotions. And to say rage is absolutely unbearable is an understatement. It’s going to take some getting used to.”

  “Shit.” He pushed his fingers through his hair.

  “Handsome, listen to me.” She pressed her hands to his chest. The spots ignited with a tingling hum of energy. “We’re going—”

  “Is that your magic?” He covered her hand with his. A gentle thrumming spread through his palm. A pulse echoed through his core. “Am I?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “We don’t think so. At least not in a traditional witch way. It’s more likely you have magic in your blood. And yes, that’s my magic you’re feeling.” She smiled, the light reaching up to her eyes.

  “So, you feel like this every day?”

  “Every day.” She nodded. “It’ll be an adjustment having another hybrid around all the time. Like right now, I can feel the waves of frustration coming off you.”

  “Sorry…” If he knew how to control it, he would.

  “Don’t be. It’ll get easier. I promise.” She pressed a kiss into his chest. “You up for dinner?”

  He nodded halfheartedly. “I think so.”

  “We don’t have—”

  “No,” he sighed. “Now or later, I have to be up for anything. Dinner is a good place to start.”

  49

  Juliette | 49

  For the first time, Juliette felt like she was home. No threats. Nobody trying to kill her. Nothing felt more comforting than sitting in their corner booth in Shirley’s listening to those three brothers tease and taunt each other just like old times. Their carefree laughter like music in the old diner.

  “Okay, so when’s this wedding?” Ollie asked.

  Lucien and Chelsea both went wide-eyed, and the table erupted in hysterics.

  “Well, come on, when do I get to officially call you sister?” Damien asked. “Out with it!”

  Chelsea kind of half-shrugged and leaned into Lucien with a tell all smile. “You kinda already can.”

  The table went quiet, and mouths fell open.

  “You didn’t. When?” Juliette asked.

  “The morning before we met Ramsey up at Val Valena. We just wanted to be,” Chelsea struggled for the words. “We didn’t want it stolen from us.”

  Juliette understood why they had done it and didn’t blame them at all considering the very real possibility none of them were coming down from that place. But no way did Lucien Frost get away without having an epic Frost wedding.

  She sat back and eyed Damien next to her. The smile lighting up his face was a refreshing sight. She’d almost lost him up at Val Valena. If Ramsey had been wrong, then Damien would be dead. She laced her fingers with his in his lap. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

  Now we have forever to heal the broken pieces.

  She knew I love you was enough to begin something together, but it didn’t erase their history. They had a mountain ahead of them to fix a lot of the hurt. She’d hurt him as much as he’d hurt her, but it wasn’t enough to give up on him. She wanted it all with him.

  “You’re still having a wedding though,” Riley said.

  She wasn’t asking; she was telling them. Juliette tried to keep from smirking.

  “We thought maybe in the spring.” Chelsea laughed. “I’m not giving up the opportunity to see this man in a tuxedo.”

  Conversation turned to ideas for the wedding, Riley and Chelsea talking animatedly about all the possibilities for spring nuptials.

  Damien gave her hand a squeeze. “You okay?”

  “I think I am,” she said. “Are you?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I’ve never been better, Luv.”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Wanna get out of here?”

  A devious spark lit up in his eyes. “You have no idea, Luv.”

  They said their goodbyes, happy to see Lucien and Chelsea finally smiling and genuinely happy. They deserved it. And getting to see Ollie watch Riley like she might be his new whole world was a relieving sight. He and fate hadn’t exactly been the best of friends. He deserved to be happy too. Probably more than any of them.

  Sterling was as lively as always. Couples and families strolled through Riverfront Square. They lined up at the food truck parked at the corner of Riverfront and Main. All of them oblivious to the sacrifices made to keep their home safe.

  Juliette tugged him to the door that led up to the loft above Shirley’s. “Come upstairs with me.”

  “To the loft?”

  “Yeah, I want talk to you about something.”

  She’d thought about it a lot during the two days Damien was locked up in Juleps.

  Juliette pulled the door open to the loft, smiling as the lights lit up the space and her heart swelled at the perfection of it.

  Damien lifted her up in his arms, coaxing a squeal out of her, and set her down on the edge of the kitchen counter. The thrumming of energy in his touch was hypnotic. A new sensation she was beginning to fall in love with.

  “You seem to really like it here.” He tousled her hair and tangled his fingers through it to pull her to him.

  “Well, this really good-looking guy made it just for me.”

  “Oh? Better looking than me?”

  “Oh, definitely,” she teased.

  “Better watch that mouth, Luv.”

  His lips consumed hers. A surge of heat flashed over her skin. A steady thrum of energy ignited between them. He was still Damien. But now there was a vulnerability to him. She was determined to help him navigate the new territory.

  She pulled away breathless. “Move in here with me.”

  Damien stared back at her with an unreadable expression. “You want to live here?”

  She looked around the space, smiling at the bookcases full of her favorite books. The paintings on the wall he’d created just for her. And the king bed with plum sheets. It was so much more than fresh paint, new floors, and luxury appliances. It was a haven for her. And for him. His way of saying I love you when he was too scared to just say it.

  They needed a fresh start together. To explore what they had, what they’d always had, together without the reminder of mistakes and history.

  “I’ve lived in that house since I was nineteen, and it will always be home.” She took his face
in her hands. “But, Damien, we danced to the same song for way too long and finally changed it. Now let’s change where we dance together.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “I want you to want it too.”

  His new steely blue storm consumed her, taking her breath away. “Wherever you are, Luv, is home.”

  She grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him to her, grazing his lips. “Good, then take me to bed, Mr. Frost.”

  He cocked his brow with a low rumble from his chest. “With pleasure.”

  He carried her up to the landing and laid her down on the bed then pulled his shirt off. Her eyes roamed his chest, loving the initials inked over his heart. She went lower and gasped. Sitting up and touching the spot just below the letters of her name.

  Her fingers grazed over the vibrant red design. Realistic and vibrant, a blooming red rose was tattooed in almost the same spot her scar was. “When did you have time to do this?”

  He chuckled. “I’m guessing about the same time Lucien and Chelsea were getting hitched at the courthouse.”

  Sneaky.

  “I told you, Luv…” He pushed her back into the mattress. “I want you etched into me. The initials served as reminder of the loss of you. The rose serves as a reminder of my mistakes. Now I get to fix them.”

  “Together.”

  He kissed her on the forehead. Damien cupped his hand to her cheek. “Tell me, Luv, what do you want?”

  Juliette smiled up at him. “I want to hear you say it again.”

  His lips touched to hers. “I love you, Juliette Ann Marie Marquis. I’ve always loved you.”

  She’d never get tired of hearing him say it.

  “One more time.”

  50

  Epilogue

  Staring up at the window on the second floor of the warehouses, Juliette gripped the steering wheel. Torn between starting the truck and leaving or just going up there. She’d gone back and forth on the decision since Damien came home from one of his visits and told her Ramsey was asking to see her.