“He ensured you would need blood the moment you awoke... believing you would be in the presence of this female.” Bleu stopped dead and Loren halted too, and slowly looked over his shoulder at him. Bleu stared straight ahead, his eyes wide and eyebrows lodged high on his pale forehead. He remained motionless for almost a full minute and then his purple eyes slid to Loren and he frowned. “You bit her and unwittingly bound yourself to her.”
Loren nodded. “Unfortunately. In doing so, I have made her a target for my brother and have weakened myself. I have no doubt that Vail will seek her out and torture her, inflicting her pain upon me, having his revenge for what I did to Kordula.”
Bleu swore an oath under his breath and started walking again, his footsteps silent in the hall. Loren waited until he was in line with him and then began walking, keeping pace beside him this time.
“What will you do?” Bleu said in a low, cautious voice.
His second in command wasn’t sure what to make of this or what Loren would do. Loren could sense it in him. His emotions were all over the place and fear laced all of them. Not fear for Loren or the female. Bleu feared saying the wrong thing, inciting the wrath of a bonded male.
That sagacity was the reason Loren had made him his second in command four thousand two hundred years ago when Bleu had been one of the few to make it back from the first attack by Vail. The male had been born for the role of commander of Loren’s legions, a first rate soldier and strategist, and a man who would speak his mind without fear if he felt the kingdom was making the wrong move.
“I will not be completing the bond if I can help it,” Loren said and felt his friend’s emotions immediately settle, the fear drifting away. “I go to speak to the researchers about it now. They will find a way to undo it.”
Bleu cast him an unconvinced look. “What if there is no way?”
“I will complete the bond to restore my strength.” He didn’t let the emotions that swirled inside him whenever he thought about laying claim to his ki’ara colour his voice. If Bleu detected that part of him wanted to complete his bond with Olivia and finally have his eternal mate, he would speak out against her and remind him of his position and his duty, and his war with his brother. All good reasons to let Olivia go, but it wouldn’t stop him from turning on Bleu. Loren wasn’t sure he would be able to control himself.
He felt irritable just talking about her with Bleu, half of him expecting his friend to turn against her, the other half expecting Bleu to attempt to steal her from him. Would he feel like this around all males until the bond with her was broken? He was on the edge and close to losing his cool, scenarios running amuck in his mind, most of them involving beating any male who dared look at her into a bloody pulp.
If this was how he felt now, he didn’t want to think about how he might feel if he completed the bond with Olivia.
No wonder Vail had gone insane.
“I will kill the female.”
Those five words turned Loren’s blood to fire.
He fought to contain the explosive rage that ignited within him and calmly said, “She must not be harmed.”
Bleu cast him a suspicious look, eyeing him closely. “Because it would hurt and weaken you.”
Loren couldn’t lie to his sole friend. “No. I will not allow her to come to harm because she is my responsibility. I brought this upon her.”
Bleu snorted and folded his arms across his chest, stretching the thick black material of his jacket. “She is nothing but a mortal. She is expendable. If we kill her now, you will regain your strength before your brother can attack again.”
Loren whirled on his heel, grabbed Bleu around the throat with one hand and slammed him against the dark stone wall. He shoved Bleu up it, until his feet dangled above the floor, and tightened his grip until the male choked and grabbed at his arm, desperately trying to prise Loren’s hand off him.
He felt his markings flash, the buzz of them appearing adding fuel to the fire, pushing him closer to the edge.
“That is my ki’ara you speak of so ruthlessly. My female.” Loren squeezed harder, his fangs sharp points against his lower lip and the tips of his ears extending. He growled, exposing his fangs, and his ears flattened against the sides of his head. Bleu’s face turned red, veins popping out on his forehead and temples. He gripped Loren’s hand, scrabbling against the wall, pulling at Loren’s fingers. “Watch your tongue, Bleu. I will not hear another word against Olivia.”
Loren sucked in a harsh deep breath, struggling to tamp down the emotions running riot inside him, demanding Bleu’s head as payment for his cruel words regarding Olivia. He shut them down one by one, his grip on Bleu’s throat easing at the same time. The colour drained from his friend’s face and he breathed hard, wheezing and relaxing in Loren’s grip.
“Olivia?” Bleu rasped, his hands going lax against Loren’s arm.
Loren lowered him to his feet and peeled his hand away from his throat. He forced himself back a few steps, giving Bleu some room, still battling his heightened emotions. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, but he would if Bleu dared to speak of killing her again. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself. He might want to break the bond, might not have been looking to form one with Olivia in the first place, but he was still a slave to the effects of it. He would defend Olivia from anyone who sought to harm her, male or female, and he would kill any male who dared to attempt to take her from him.
“My female is called Olivia,” Loren said and Bleu bent over, grasping his knees and wheezing as he tried to breathe normally. “It is a good name. Beautiful.”
Bleu looked up at him, his black hair strewn across his forehead and wild around his pointed ears. The look in his purple eyes told Loren that he was dying to ask if he truly wanted to break the bond, but that sagacity that Loren admired in him won out, and Bleu held his tongue.
Loren knew he didn’t sound as though he wanted to undo what had happened. He could understand Bleu’s difficulty believing him. He would put his friend’s mind at rest.
Bleu straightened, swept his hair back out of his face, and exhaled hard.
“Sorry about that.” Loren wasn’t used to issuing apologies and he had done it twice this day. Once to Olivia and now to Bleu. Maybe the bond changed him in ways other than awakening his lust and making him volatile.
Bleu casually shrugged. Loren continued along the hall, banking left when he reached an intersection and heading down the stone staircase to the next level. This one was made of paler stone that glittered in the white lights, far brighter than the level where his rooms were.
“Olivia is going to work on finding a way to break this bond too, so you see, you have nothing to worry about, Bleu.” Loren turned right at the bottom of the pale staircase, heading along the grand hallway, past towering white statues of the former kings and queens of his bloodline. Vail had a statue once, opposite his at the end of the hallway, close to the throne room.
Someone had destroyed it.
“How is the female able to help?” Bleu sounded sceptical again.
Understandable.
Loren had felt the same way when the female had offered to help, but his lack of belief in her had frustrated her and then she had said a lot of words he hadn’t understood. They had all sounded very technical. He had also felt her belief in herself and her abilities, and that was the reason he had decided to grant her request. She felt she could find a way to break the bond by studying their blood. It sounded fascinating and he was almost looking forward to being with her while she worked on it.
“Olivia is a scientist. It would appear modern science is rather incredible. She is apparently able to study our blood and something to do with things called genomes, and other things I have no clue about. She is confident she can discern from it whether our link is a physical change that she may be able to reverse.” It still sounded incredible, even when he still wasn’t quite sure what those things were.
Bleu raised an eyebrow.
“You kn
ow they have cloned things... creating a duplicate of a living creature.” Bleu motioned with his rigid index fingers, holding them with their full lengths pressed against each other at first, and then moving them apart but keeping them identical. “Some of their science seems dangerous to me.”
Loren frowned. “How is it you know about things I do not?”
Bleu smiled at last. “The benefits of being able to travel freely to the mortal world whenever the mood strikes me. I think I had relations with a doctor once... or a journalist who was writing about cloning. I cannot remember.”
Loren wasn’t surprised. Whenever the ‘mood’ struck him, Bleu took off for a night to the mortal world to satisfy himself with loose women all too willing to give up their bodies, and their blood. The mood struck Bleu often, at least three or four times in a lunar month.
He was probably the most well-versed in human affairs of all of Loren’s staff, yet he was also the one with the lowest opinion of that species. Perhaps spending so much time in the company of females who slept freely with strangers affected Bleu’s opinion of the species in general.
“I am looking forward to discovering more about the advances in science when I spend time with Olivia at Archangel.” Loren banked left, past the statue of his mother, and pushed the first set of arched dark wooden doors on his right open.
“What?” Bleu reached for him, stopping just short of grabbing his arm, the volume of his voice causing the five males in the library to stop their work and stare at him.
Loren looked across his shoulder at Bleu. “I mean to spend time with Olivia in her world. She needs laboratory equipment in order to do her research.”
“Bring it here. We will build her a laboratory.” Bleu had that look again. The one that Loren had often seen in their four thousand years together. He thought Loren crazy.
“I cannot. I brought this upon her—”
“You will be too vulnerable there,” Bleu interjected, shocking the five males in the room and Loren too.
Bleu had never dared to speak over him before.
They were friends, but Loren was still a prince. The flicker of nerves in Bleu’s purple eyes was apology enough for Loren. He knew his friend meant well, but he couldn’t speak to him in such a way in front of others. He didn’t want to have to punish Bleu for such a thing. He valued what they shared and never wanted the difference in their statuses to come between them. If the council heard of Bleu’s disrespectful behaviour, they would demand Loren punish him.
“Forgive me.” Bleu lowered his head and Loren placed his hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it to let him know that he forgave him. Bleu lifted his head. “You will be vulnerable there... both to your brother and to an attack from the hunters within that place. You know I cannot allow you to venture there, and neither will the council.”
Loren intended to visit them next. The moment he had agreed to Olivia’s plan and had offered to be her escort, he had known he would need to convince the council of elders to agree to it too. They were not going to be happy with him. He was going to pull rank on them.
“I will speak with them and make them see that my mind is made up on this matter and I will not be swayed.” Loren stepped into the expansive double-height room that served as the library. There were two levels, although the upper floor didn’t cover the entire length of the room. There was an open rectangular space above him with a balcony running around it. White oak bookshelves lined every inch of wall space and elegantly carved stacks filled the area to his left on both floors.
Above the open area, rainbow colours swirled across the sheer crystal roof, softly illuminating the room.
“I still believe you should bring the female here.” Bleu wasn’t going to let this one go, was he?
Loren sighed. “Olivia needs her laboratory to conduct her research and I cannot leave her alone and vulnerable.” He held his hand up to silence Bleu when he went to speak. “And I will not bring her here, where she feels afraid and unsafe, or allow any other to protect her in my stead.”
He turned to face his friend, wishing for all of his kingdom that Bleu would see in his eyes that his mind was truly made up and no one was going to change it.
“I disrupted her life, Bleu. I caused this problem for both of us, and I will deal with it.”
“Your brother is to blame here.” Bleu’s frown returned, turning his eyes cold and dark. “Meaning your brother plans to attack her. I cannot allow you to place yourself in danger—”
“What do you suggest then?” Loren shoved his fingers through his black hair, his frustration mounting and getting the better of him.
He was going in circles with Bleu and he wanted to break the cycle almost as much as he wanted to break his bond to Olivia. His heart whispered that was a lie and he knew it. Loren ignored it and stared at Bleu, his gaze narrowed and demanding the male offer a solution that would stop him from constantly harassing Loren about his plans.
Bleu looked deadly serious. “I will go with you.”
Some of Loren’s frustration faded on hearing those words leave Bleu’s lips. Loren appreciated his friend’s support and his desire to protect him. The council would be more likely to allow him to go to the mortal world to assist the female if Bleu were with him and he would be safer from his brother too.
The only downside Loren could see was that Bleu would be hard to control around people he evidently viewed as a threat to Loren, but even that wasn’t dampening Loren’s spirit. He would be glad to have Bleu with him.
If only to keep Loren in check and stop him from fulfilling a desire that had seized him with both hands several times this day.
He wanted to kiss Olivia.
CHAPTER 6
Olivia wasn’t making any progress at all. Mark stared back at her from behind his large black wooden desk, his grey eyes narrowed, causing crow’s feet to form beside them. She had known him for almost ten years now, and he had been caring towards her, taking her under his wing and giving her so much freedom and opportunity within Archangel. That had all changed the night she had royally messed up and her demon boyfriend had gone on a rampage, attempting to bring down Archangel’s headquarters in London. Since then, Mark had held her at arm’s length and rarely agreed to meet with her. He didn’t even acknowledge her if they passed each other in the hallways or were present in the same meeting.
Mark leaned back in his mahogany leather executive chair, the deep red colour setting off his crisp black suit and almost matching his silk tie. He tunnelled his fingers through his sandy hair, a tell that she knew well. He was having difficulty taking in what she was asking him to do, and even more difficulty bringing himself to find a shred of the trust he had once shown to her.
“Please. You’ve read my report on the specimen that the team brought in.” Olivia leaned over the black desk, planting her palms on the surface. She struggled to keep her voice smooth and level, hiding her mounting hurt and frustration from Mark. “He’s a rare fae and when I spoke to him about how I would like to have the opportunity to study him, he offered to come in and willingly subject himself to it. All I’m asking is that you call a meeting with the higher ups and we can come to some agreement about this opportunity and they can issue an order to the hunters stating that he’s not to be touched.”
Mark steepled his fingers in front of himself and frowned at her. “Your report about the male intrigued me, Olivia, and I agree this appears to be a good opportunity, but I don’t need to remind you that having living fae or demons in the building as guests is not allowed.”
He really didn’t need to remind her. He didn’t need to remind her on the rare occasions he did speak to her, but that didn’t stop him. He was still punishing her for her mistake.
“Mark... please? I know the risks and I’ll take full responsibility for him. He isn’t a threat to us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to record data and study a species hitherto unknown to us.” Olivia dug her fingertips into his desk, her patience slipping.
He dropped his gaze to his laptop and tapped a few keys. “You know that you can’t judge whether he is a threat or not. What you’re asking for is a leap of faith, Olivia. I’m not sure my superiors will agree to it. Not after last time.”
Her shoulders sagged and her hope deflated. If Mark couldn’t get her clearance to work with Loren in her laboratory, perhaps she could go to the prince’s castle and work with him there. He had teleported her there. Could he teleport the equipment she would need too or was his ability limited to living objects within specific parameters?
“I’ll call the meeting... but on one condition.”
Olivia jerked back to the room and stared at Mark through wide eyes. “Name it.”
“You work in a team and you have armed escorts at all times.”
Loren would never go for that. Neither would she. If she had a team working with her on this, they would ask questions about what she was doing and how was she meant to explain that Loren had accidentally bound them and they were really looking for an out clause?
Never mind the fact that they would realise what Loren was. If they realised he was an elf, and a prince of that species, they would kick her off the team and hand it over to those still in Archangel’s good book.
She was damned if she would let someone steal Loren away from her.
Olivia didn’t want to consider how that sounded. She was talking professionally, not romantically. Never romantically.
“We’ll convene in meeting room three in fifteen minutes. I suggest you prepare.” Mark’s tone made it painfully clear that he knew her thoughts and also believed that their superiors would try to hand this over to someone more worthy of the opportunity to study a new species of fae. If she didn’t make a good case, she would be off the team.
Her only choice then would be to have Loren kidnap her again.
If she went back to his castle, separated from her world and everything here that kept her grounded, it would only be a matter of time before she gave up the fight against the sparks that exploded along her nerve endings and heated her blood whenever she was in Loren’s presence.
Kissed by a Dark Prince (Volume 1) Page 6