Finding the Blood Assassin [Lords of the Expanse 3] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Honor James

  His body twitched at the knowledge she would be moving about the ship again, but he fought it down. “It would likely be the wisest course for us to continue to speak for a time,” he decided. “If not, let’s not think on that at this time, my lady. We are not yet at the place where we need to worry on the what-ifs. Tell me something of yourself that no one else knows.”

  Chapter 5

  “Jami, call me Jami, please, my lord,” she said, and he could hear her moving around, a door opening and then sliding shut on a small whoosh of air. “Something about me that no one else knows? Something that no one else knows?” she repeated slowly, as if having to think about it. “I would rather not tell you because then someone would know.”

  Rolling his eyes at her words, Raven shook his head. “Amusing,” he muttered before he bent over double, a hand to his middle as fire raced under his skin. “How long until we reach the planet?” he asked on a groan he couldn’t stop to save his life. His body was fighting back, wanting to get the nourishment it so badly needed, and it wasn’t going to play fair. Soon he’d either have to have her dose him or he’d have to attempt to place himself into a trance.

  “Two days, my lord. With me pushing the engines to their limits, it will be two days. And then, I hope, there will be a place where I can put down for a while so that I can fix the baby up. But don’t worry, my lord, I won’t be in your hair. As soon as I drop you off you will never have to see me again.” She let out another heavy sounding sigh. “I will get you there as quickly as I can, my lord.”

  Groaning softly, he nodded to himself. “Don’t push too hard,” he warned, knowing that if something happened they could be stranded, not a prospect he was looking forward to. “Just get us there, Jamison,” he whispered moments before he passed out, his body unable to take the internal pressure a moment longer.

  She heard him hit the ground and sighed. Dammit, she wished that her father hadn’t held him in such high regard.

  Throttling back on the speed slightly, she moved from her seat and knowing he was out cold, moved into his room where she stood quietly at his side and opened her vein to him. Pressing her wrist to his lips, she silently prayed she could give him just enough to take the edge off of the bloodlust he was feeling, or she wouldn’t make it to his home world.

  Before he could wake, she sealed off her wound and stood back, moving silently and out the door. She had given him a lot of her blood and felt it. She felt the wooziness and knew she needed to refuel herself or things would be very, very bad for her.

  Grabbing three bags, she quickly drained them before moving to the sonic shower to hopefully get rid of most of the pains and kinks in her body. She was only half awake with the lights off when she fell, much like he had, facedown and naked on her bed. The sleep of their people took her, and being as young as she was, she hadn’t been able to rebuke the pull.

  Groaning as he rolled slightly, Raven pushed up from the floor. Not the best place to be sleeping considering the deck plating was a hard metal alloy. In the next instant he tasted her on his tongue and, eyes snapping open, he licked his lips slowly. “What did you do, girl?” He breathed as he pushed to his feet, one hand to the wall to brace himself. He didn’t feel quite as close to the edge and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she’d fed him from herself while he’d been passed out. “Sneaky, Jamison,” he muttered. “Very sneaky.”

  Shaking his head, he went and pulled on the pants he’d been wearing earlier and a shirt before he began to walk slowly through the ship. Checking the control room, his eyes very determinedly turned from the view. He saw that she’d slowed them but that they were still on course. Shaking his head again, he tracked her to her room and, before he thought better of it, soon stood staring down at her naked back, buttocks, and long legs. He did wonder what it would feel like to have those long lithe limbs wrapped around his waist a moment before he covered her with a blanket and left her alone.

  She had no idea how long she lay in bed before she twisted, turned, and let out a soft moan of disapproval. She was exhausted, true, but she had work to do, too. Sitting up, she pulled the blanket up and over her body and sighed. The nipple rings in her breasts gleamed brilliantly in the low light from the bathroom. He had asked her something about herself that no one knew. It was simple. She liked a little pain with sex. She loved to be spanked while being taken, loved to give as good as she got. Why didn’t she tell him? She didn’t tell him because she wasn’t that stupid. He would likely have had a heart attack if she had told him that his grabbing her by the neck and tossing her against the bulkhead was a serious turn on for her.

  She let the blanket fall and stood, stretching wide and far behind her before she went through her morning yoga routine and then the sonic shower. Getting dressed in another uniform, she pulled out two bags of blood and quickly emptied them before moving off to the control cabin to see how much closer they were to his home.

  She saw him look up as she stepped into the room, a brow cocked in a decidedly regal look. “You know, if it had been anyone else I’d have cut your throat for what you’d done.” He had his back to the view screens, she noticed, his words from earlier coming back to her. He set the data pad in his hand down, her eyes following the movement and she saw, well, it looked like a report of some sort. Made sense he’d want to get everything down before they got back to his home. “How are you feeling?” he asked her, drawing her attention back while shifting in his seat. He did move his boots from where he’d propped them up onto an inactive console, though, she noted.

  “I’m feeling fine.” She took her seat and pressed a button. “There, the solar shields are down so the view screens are closed off.” Leaning back in her seat she shrugged. “I needed you to have the edge off. I don’t like being caged in with a Vampire Warlord of your reputation who is riding bloodlust.” She moved her booted feet to prop up beside his and shrank down in her seat slightly. “You were out cold, and I took the opportunity.” She wasn’t sorry for what she had done and she damn well would do it again. She would just likely have to drug him next time.

  Lifting a brow at her words, Raven turned his seat slightly to look at her dead on. “Just what do you mean by a Vampire Warlord of my reputation?” he asked, curiosity coloring his tone.

  “My lord, you forget that my father helped to raise me.” She smiled as she recalled her father, who was still very much alive and kicking. “He felt the sun and moons would fall from the skies before an enemy would get the best of you.” She lifted a delicate shoulder in a shrug. “According to him, when the bloodlust hit you and you let it out”—she moved in her seat to get more comfortable—“you could decimate worlds with it.” She folded her arms under her breasts as she watched him. “I know you were fighting it. You were winning but you were hurting, my lord. I could help, so I did.” She moved her feet so that her boots tapped his. “And I would do it again. You have to feed, my lord. It really does boil down to that one single fact.”

  Grunting softly at her presumptuous nature, Raven just studied her for a long moment. “It’s genetic you know,” he murmured softly. At her look he shrugged. “The inability to feed while in motion,” he clarified for her. “My grandfather and uncle were the same. It’s not something we can overcome, which can be hard to deal with on long flights. Which is why I trained, not for space, but for covert missions safely on terra firma instead. As long as I am not in flight I can keep the bloodlust at bay for well over a year,” he confided quietly. “Had they not used so much silver or electricity upon my body, I wouldn’t have been in such desperate straits.”

  “I can understand then why you didn’t choose to become captain of your own starship.” She watched him and then jerked her chin in his direction. “I saw the silver, I’m sorry for that.” She wanted to remove the hoops and lick the wounds. It was the oddest thing. She wanted him. Even with the growls and the anger, she wanted him. She had heard of his voice, how people hated to listen to it because of the low, frightening timbre,
but she liked it, a lot. “We are only about twenty-three hours out now, my lord, so it’s not long at all before you will be on ground and able to feed till your heart’s content.” And she would never see him again, strange how that made her chest constrict. “Now, I’m going to go and check the engine, if you will excuse me?” she asked as she stood. “The comms are open. If you need me, just yell.”

  “I will,” he said quietly as he watched her. “As for the silver,” he murmured as she headed to the door, “it actually doesn’t bother me. The piece that was near my spine was worse. The piece that is in my leg is more bothersome,” he said when she paused. “It’s what they did with them that bothered me a little more and pushed me to the edge and the need to escape.”

  She winced because he had mentioned electricity and nodded. “Then it was providence that I came. I know that your—” She’d been about to say the word mother but stopped herself. “It’s a good thing that I was sent to find you when I was, my lord.” She bowed her head to him respectfully. “I will get you home as quickly and safely as possible, my lord, and then you will be well rid of me and able to heal as you need.”

  “I don’t want to get rid of you, my lady,” he said, looking surprised at the words as they left his mouth. “I have been rude, crude, and more than a little inflexible, and you have acted as a true lady.” His lips twitched slightly, not quite a smile but she knew he was remembering her dropping him with a well-placed knee. “You should be commended for even tolerating me for a moment. I can honestly think of no other that would have bothered.”

  She smiled and shook her head. “Then it’s a good thing that it was me that she contacted. It’s a good thing that she only wanted the best for you.” She reached out, unable to stop herself, and touched his cheek. “You were abused, hurt. It’s little wonder that you are even now civil as you have been riding the bloodlust. It is fine, my lord.” Stepping away, she smiled. “Now, I need to get down to the engine room.”

  Nodding, he kept his mouth shut and his hands to himself. Though it was a battle, the brief touch and the scent of her skin had his teeth sliding down in need. Once she was gone Raven leaned his head back in the chair and closed his eyes as he lifted a hand to rub at his forehead. Only a few more hours and they would be back home, and then he could feed properly to ensure he didn’t attack her. But gods, the next few hours were going to be a true test for him.

  It was silent for a long time, even though the open comms link let him hear her progress through the ship. The sound of a door opening and shutting was followed by a small thump. “What is it about that man that has me in knots? What is it about him that makes my whole damn body burn with need?” Her words were a mere whisper, but she’d obviously forgotten that the ship’s communications were still open.

  Jerking upright, Raven lowered his feet to the deck plates as he listened to her soft words and felt his body react accordingly. Letting out a breath, he pushed to his feet and made his way through the ship until he stood over her sitting form. Crouching down, he touched her hair lightly. “You should know, that when asking yourself such interesting questions, you should ensure the communications within the ship are turned off.”

  She looked up at him in horror and gulped. “Well son of a bitch,” she grumbled, and her face went a very becoming pink shade. “And you had to come here personally to tell me?” She licked her lips, her gaze a little hungry on his face as she stared at him.

  “It seemed the wiser choice at the time, as I could ensure you didn’t throw yourself out an airlock,” he told her quietly. “Do you want to say anything else now that you’re faced with the devil, or should I leave you alone to muse by yourself?” he asked softly.

  “You aren’t the devil,” she said instantly, a knee-jerk reply obviously. “The things that I want to say, you really don’t want to hear because they are very lustful and needy, and that is so not what you need or want to hear in this moment in time.”

  “Likely not,” he agreed, nodding as he settled to the deck before her, his legs on each side of hers. “But you may as well tell me. I’m currently too tired to do anything about whatever you might say or suggest. I have, perhaps, enough energy to return to the quarters you gave me to pass out, but I would not place any wagers on that fact,” he said with a shrug.

  She grinned and shook her head. “How about you head up to your room and while I am down here safely tucked away from you where I don’t have to see the horror on your face, I will tell you?” she asked with a smile. “Go. If you are tired, my lord, you should go and rest. I will talk to you until you are ready for sleep. Go.”

  Remaining still for a moment longer he nodded slowly, knowing it was likely the only way he’d hear whatever thoughts might be running about in her head. “All right, but you’d better talk to me or I’ll be very cranky and have to figure a way back down here to throttle you,” he said. He was joking, of course, his tone very clear. Which he only could do since the bloodlust wasn’t riding him just then. However when it was, there was no joking, just deadly seriousness. Pushing to his feet slowly, his whole body aching and sore, he looked down at her for a moment before walking out of the engine room and back to his assigned quarters.

  “I will talk to you, my lord,” she whispered as he left her. As he moved he could hear her starting to work, the distinctive clang of tools to metal clear through the link.

  Inside the room he undressed and then, crawling into the bed, he flopped onto his back with a groan. Ordering the computer to shut the lights off, he didn’t really need them anyway, he pushed a pillow under his head. “All right, my lady, I’m as comfortable as I can get,” he told her, draping an arm across his forehead, the other at his side with his hand on his lower belly and his eyes on the ceiling.

  “I was just thinking.” She made the turn of the valve she held before she pulled back, working on the ship while talking to him. “I was just thinking of how you looked naked. Seeing you lying there on the bed as you were, I had the urge to reach out and touch you.” She leaned back against the bulkhead for a moment and wiped her brow on her sleeve. “I was thinking of how I wanted to lick at the silver in your cock and balls, and I wanted to know just how thick and how hard you got.” She was never going to be able to look at him again, but she didn’t seem to care in that moment.

  “I’ve never looked at a man and wanted him like I do you.” She let her head drop down, her chin to her chest. “But the coup de grace was me thinking of you pressing me hard against the bulkhead. I wanted to know if you were as rough in bed as out.”

  “Depends on my partner,” he told her. She could hear the bed creaking under his weight. “I always try to please the woman before anything else, and it’s always whatever she wants.”

  She straightened and, wiping her hands on a cloth, sighed. “And that, my lord, that was what I was thinking.” She moved to the other side of the engine. “Get some rest, my lord. I will have you home before you know it.” And then she was going to find a nice deep hole to crawl into and never come out of. She couldn’t believe she had told him her deepest, darkest thoughts. The only thing she could think of was the fact that she didn’t lie. She didn’t have the stomach for it when he asked. “Rest, my lord. Soon you will be home and safe once more.” She crawled under the engine, but before she did she finished with, “I won’t be able to hear you for a while, so rest and don’t wig out when you can’t hear me or I you.”

  Growling at her words, he stretched slowly. “Pigheaded woman,” he muttered. “Too bad you can’t hear what I was going to mention,” he said, idly wondering at the same time if maybe she was listening. “If you could hear me you’d hear how your scent affected me, made me harder than I’ve ever been in my life, and trust me on this Jamison, it’s been a very long life.” Sometimes it seemed longer than he could stand. “When I held you to the wall all I wanted to do was tear your clothing off, open you to me, and fuck you as hard as I could. I was even tempted to take blood from you while I fucked your pus
sy. Something I’ve never done with a female, ever. Course, the downside is that the silver in my cock might irritate you and that wouldn’t be a good thing. Or maybe it could rub at you just right and have you coming so hard that both our heads explode.” Shrugging, he rolled carefully to his stomach. “Oh well, guess we’ll never know will we?” he muttered in a sleepy tone before yawning. “Good night, my lady,” he said on a sigh as he slid into sleep.

  * * * *

  She was under the loudly purring engine, ensuring all of the lines were running accordingly and then slid out. With a sigh, she patted the engine. “You are doing wonderfully. Get us there to drop him off, and then we will retire for a few years.” She was done with wandering, done with traveling. She didn’t know how or why she made that realization, but she had.

  She left the engine room and paused by his door, lightly touching it before moving to her room to curse. First, however, she turned off the comm. She could hear him, but not he her. “What is it about him that has me in knots? Why is he making me feel things that aren’t possible for me?” She sat down on her bed and sighed, dropping her head between her knees and simply breathing in and out, sadness swamping her. “Soon, soon I will have him off the ship and then I can try to find a balance.” But somehow she knew it would never be found. “Who am I kidding?” she asked herself and fell back on the bed. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She didn’t even know him, she wasn’t supposed to feel for him, at all, but she did. Deeply. Far too deeply.

  Chapter 6

  Waking slowly, it took him a moment to remember where he was and why he was so comfortable, more or less. The bed was very comfortable, but the raging erection stemming from a dream featuring his little shipmate most definitely wasn’t. Rolling to his back, he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Now if only she’d be willing to do something about it,” he muttered darkly as he shifted his eyes to the tented blanket over his groin. The dull throb, his pulse beating in need through the swollen member, was enough to drive any man to do something crazed.