by Larissa Ione
Darkness swallowed him at the sudden, unbidden image of Nicole lying with Myne in her bed, her teeth in his throat, his expression etched in pleasure. That was bad enough, but had things gone even further?
Territorial jealousy seared his veins. Myne had now been there for both Bastien and Nicole. It should have been Riker’s privilege to help his son integrate into the clan and help Nicole survive her transformation. He should be grateful; he knew that. But he didn’t think he’d ever get past the fact that Nicole and Myne would be connected forever in a way Riker never would be.
“Hurry up,” Rasha snapped. “You have babies to make.”
Nicole started toward the door, but Riker wasn’t ready for her to leave. He doubted he’d ever be ready.
“Wait.” He lunged against his restraints, and fresh blood streamed down his wrists as the shackles dug into his skin. “Did you do more with him? When he fed you?” He hated himself for asking that. And for sounding like the wrong answer would destroy him.
Nicole pivoted, her body taut as a bowstring. “Again, none of your business. But screw you, Riker, for thinking I’d kiss you after leaving his bed.” She disappeared, leaving him with his regrets, his bad attitude, and the ShadowSpawn bitch.
Rasha entered, her seemingly permanent scowl etching deep grooves in her face. “I have to take you to your chief.”
“I’m staying.”
“For the female?” She snorted. “You’re a fool.” Her to-the-knee fuck-me boots clacked on the pavings as she sauntered over. “I’ll give you until tomorrow.” She stomped on the chain connecting his wrists to the wall, wrenching his shoulders so hard he saw lights behind his eyelids. “And you stay in chains.”
IT TURNED OUT that while being a vampire was generally awesome, what wasn’t awesome was that vampire emotions seemed to be a lot more intense than those of a human. Things that might have been only mildly irritating before now had Nicole struggling not to break objects against the wall. Grant and Katina both had warned her that the adjustment wouldn’t be easy, and if anything, they’d understated the problem.
Because between Riker’s ridiculous show of jealousy and her current situation, Nicole was ready to rip some heads off.
And as a vampire, she had the strength to do it.
“I can’t believe I’m trying to manufacture a fertility treatment with sticks and rocks in a lab that’s little more than a supply closet,” she muttered.
The vampire assigned to assist Nicole, Aylin, shrugged apologetically. “We don’t have much use for science here. My father says science is for weaklings who can’t survive in the real world.”
Nicole shot a glance at the blond female, who, except for her pronounced limp, was nearly identical to her tall, blue-eyed twin sister, Rasha. The similarities ended at their appearance, however. Aylin was quiet and reserved, where Rasha was arrogant, loud, and crude. And she dressed like a streetwalker.
After meeting Kars, the twins’ father and ShadowSpawn’s leader, Nicole understood Rasha’s personality and where it came from. Aylin, on the other hand, was a mystery.
“Do you believe what your father says?” Nicole glanced at Aylin from across the makeshift table constructed of a sheet of plywood lying atop two sawhorses and held steady by massive stones.
Sticks. And. Rocks.
“No.” Aylin fiddled with the buttons on her shirt—red, to match her sneakers. “I think surviving isn’t all about being physically strong. If it was, I would have died a long time ago.”
Nicole couldn’t imagine Aylin being considered weak in any way. She appeared fit and healthy, and she was definitely smart.
“What happened to your leg?” Nicole dumped a tablespoon of habanero pepper powder into the liquid base she’d prepared from items taken from MoonBound’s kitchen, lab, and infirmary. Well, the last two were one and the same, really. “Were you injured?”
“I was born this way.”
Odd. Nicole had never heard of any vampire suffering from a birth defect. In fact, the utter absence of birth defects was under study at several universities worldwide. “Where’s your mother?”
Aylin pushed a bowl of pulverized aspirin to Nicole. “She died during childbirth.”
“I’m sorry,” Nicole said, knowing how inadequate the words were.
Aylin shrugged. “I never knew her. My father doesn’t talk about her much.” Aylin lowered her voice, even though they were alone. “It was kind of a scandal. She was human when he took her from a railroad camp way back in the late 1800s. She was intended to be food, but I guess he became obsessed with her. He turned her into a vampire, and the next time they had sex, he imprinted on her.”
Idly, Nicole reached out and brushed a lock of blond hair away from the flawless porcelain skin of her face. “You must take after her. You look nothing like your father.”
She nodded. “He’s a second-generation vampire from a Comanche tribe. According to him, my great-grandfather was one of the chiefs the raven and crow fought over.”
Nicole barely restrained an eye roll at that. Not only was the legend ridiculous, but Kars’s assertion that he was descended from said legend was beyond ludicrous and brimming with egotism.
“I think he’s full of shit,” Aylin said, and Nicole laughed. She liked this vampire.
Nicole added a teaspoon of the aspirin powder to the fertility concoction. “Your father’s name is odd. What’s it mean?”
“Apparently, my mother couldn’t pronounce his Comanche name, Karshawnewuti, so she shortened it. He won’t let anyone call him anything else now.”
Sounded like Kars had cared about Aylin’s mother in his own sick way.
Aylin craned her neck to peer at the mixture Nicole was stirring. “Is it almost done?”
“I think so.” She just hoped it worked. Her confidence with Riker had been solely for his benefit. Inside, she was so nervous that her intestines were rattling.
If this failed, either Kars would force her to stay until she made good on her promise, or he’d kill her.
She’d kept quiet to Hunter and Myne about Kars threatening her life. And she was definitely not letting Riker in on that little gem.
Aylin fanned herself. “Can you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The moon.” An erotic undercurrent infused Aylin’s husky voice. “It’s almost time to feed.”
Nicole had tried not to think about it. When she’d first arrived with Hunter, Rasha had assured them that a suitable male would be available for her to feed from. At the time, Nicole hadn’t let herself stress over the idea of feeding from a ShadowSpawn male who, no doubt, would be chosen from the vilest of the clan’s warriors.
Now she was starting to stress.
The heat that had been building all day intensified under her skin, and her fangs tingled. Was that part of the moon need? Probably, since her stomach was growling, but she had no desire for food. What she did desire was Riker.
Idiot.
She watched Aylin pace and fidget, and finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She snatched a sheet of paper from the random scattered piles lying around the room.
“Let me show you something.” She waved Aylin over. “It’s called origami.” Although she scarcely had time for this, she showed Aylin how to make a basic flower and a bird.
Aylin’s broad smile made the time-suck worthwhile. Nicole got the impression that smiles were rare around here.
“They’re beautiful,” Aylin said. “Can I try?”
“Go for it.”
Aylin was a quick study. She folded out the bird without any help at all. As Aylin started on a flower, Nicole’s thoughts shifted back to Riker. Had he gone like he was supposed to? The ShadowSpawn bastards had better not have beaten him before they escorted him to Hunter. What they’d already done to him was horrific enough. Nicole had tried to hide her shock at the extent of his injuries, but inside, she’d been fuming.
Even now, just thinking about it, sweat beaded on her forehead, and she couldn’t stop he
r hand from shaking as she mixed and measured twenty equal doses of the liquid medicine into shot glasses.
Nicole wiped her brow and looked over at Aylin. “Will you make sure these are given to the participating females? They should take it fifteen minutes before feeding and intercourse.” She sniffed one of the glasses’ contents and grimaced. “It’s going to taste horrible. And it’ll burn like hell. You guys really need a pill-filling machine.”
Aylin put the finishing touches on her paper flower. It was perfect. Nicole had needed several tries to get that flower right when she’d first learned. “I’ll put in an order.”
Nicole blinked in surprise. “Seriously?”
“No.” One corner of Aylin’s full mouth tipped up in an impish smirk. “My father believes that if we can’t kill it, make it, or steal it, it isn’t worth having. And that includes a sense of humor.” She smirked. “Welcome to life in a clan that follows the way of the raven.”
“The raven?” Nicole frowned. “As in, the crow and the raven story you were talking about?”
“You must be newly turned.” Aylin bumped against the plywood table top, nearly knocking over the shot glasses of pregnancy concoction. “Dammit,” she breathed. “And yes, most clans identify with either the raven or the crow. It’s all total bullshit.” She cast a covert glance at the door. “Not that I’d say that too loudly.”
“What’s the difference?”
“You know the basic story, right? Two chiefs fought, and then a raven and a crow fought over their dying bodies, and their blood mingled, creating the first vampires?” When Nicole nodded, Aylin continued. “Supposedly, the crow betrayed the raven, and when they battled over the chiefs, the raven had to fight dirty. So those who identify with the raven make survival and war against crows a priority over all else. To fight hard, you must live hard. They view followers of the crow to be inferior and soft.” She straightened all the shot glasses into neat rows on the tray. “Some clans have stricter interpretations of the legend than others. ShadowSpawn is what I like to call ravengelical.”
Nicole laughed, although truly, it was no laughing matter. With the apparent exception of Aylin, ShadowSpawn vamps were exactly the kind of vampires that humans were afraid of and that gave the others a bad name.
“I’m guessing that’s another thing you don’t say too loudly?”
“Hell no. As a rule, I try to avoid the whipping post.”
A knot formed in the pit of Nicole’s belly. “Is the whipping post where Riker was . . .” She couldn’t say it. Didn’t need to. Aylin knew, and she nodded.
“He was very brave,” Aylin said. “No matter what they did to him, he didn’t scream.”
Bastards. Desperate to change the subject, she pushed the tray of shot glasses toward Aylin. “Are you going to be taking one?”
“Even if I was allowed to breed,” Aylin said, “I wouldn’t. No child should grow up in this clan.”
“You aren’t allowed to?”
“I’m defective. I was born second, and I have this.” She tapped her right leg. “Only the strongest females and males are allowed to breed.”
Born second? What kind of stupidity was that? Nicole would love to introduce a stake to ShadowSpawn’s leader’s heart. “Can you leave the clan? Go somewhere else?”
“I tried once.” She shuddered as she picked up the tray, making the glasses rattle and clink. “I’m stuck here until my sister is mated. Then I’ll be sent to NightShade’s clan leader.”
“To be his mate?”
“One of many.” Aylin’s disgusted tone told Nicole what the other female thought of the situation.
And Nicole had thought it was bad that her destiny had been planned out. “I’m guessing it’s not by choice?”
“Choice isn’t something a leader’s offspring gets a lot of.”
Nicole understood that more than she wanted to. “What about Rasha? Is she supposed to mate with someone?”
“Since she’s considered to be a valuable prize, my father is being very selective about who he wants her to mate with.”
Rasha was a prize? Nicole felt sorry for whatever poor jackass was going to have to put up with her for the rest of his life.
Aylin inched a little closer. “So . . . what’s your special ability?”
Strange, Nicole had been so busy since becoming a vampire that she hadn’t noticed. “I haven’t found mine yet. What about you?”
Footsteps sounded outside the room, soft sounds Nicole wouldn’t have heard when she was human. Aylin’s voice dropped conspiratorially low.
“I don’t have one, either,” she whispered. “Not really.”
Not really? Nicole didn’t have time to ask more, because the rickety wooden door creaked open, and the leader of the group of males Nicole and Riker had run into in the forest stalked into the room. With the exception of the fur mantle around his shoulders, he didn’t look any different from when she’d seen him before. His clothes were still bloodstained, and he looked like he could use a shower.
“You’re out of time,” Fane said. “Feeding needs to start.” His gaze raked her, and she had to struggle not to gag. No way was she drinking from him.
Her fangs tingled at the thought, because clearly, they didn’t care where the blood came from. Even a shadowy corner of her brain was telling her that food was food and a male was a male. Fortunately, clearer thoughts overrode the others. But how long would that last? As moon fever kicked in, she could be driven to take whatever was available.
“The meds are finished,” she told him. “Aylin was just going to distribute them.”
Fane took one of the shot glasses off the tray and held it out to her. “Drink.”
She couldn’t help recoiling from his filthy hands. What in God’s name was under his long fingernails, anyway? “I don’t need it—”
“Drink,” he repeated, less politely this time. “Do it, or I’ll do it for you.” He bared his pearly white fangs. Figured they’d be the only clean thing on his body. “I want to make sure you aren’t trying to poison anyone.”
“You people are seriously paranoid.” Cursing, she swiped it out of his hand and knocked it back. And yep, it burned. Holy cow, it was as if she’d swallowed a hot lump of coal.
After she finished wheezing, the hunger returned tenfold. The warmth in her throat and belly spread through her entire body, concentrating in her breasts and pelvis.
“Oh, wow,” she whispered. “I don’t know if anyone will get pregnant, but this stuff is going to make them want to try.”
“I’m not servicing a female tonight.” Fane reached out and cupped the back of her neck. “I’ll volunteer my vein and my cock.”
His touch was horrifyingly electric on her nerve endings, sparking all along the fibers like little bursts of ecstasy. But she wasn’t that desperate. She’d never be that desperate.
Please, never be that desperate.
“Release her,” Aylin barked, and although Fane gave her a glare of utter contempt, he obeyed. Obviously, being the chief’s daughter came with perks. “We have a male for her.”
Nicole’s gut clenched. “Who?”
“Your MoonBound male.” Aylin shoved Fane aside, earning another glare. “He refused to leave.”
Nicole’s knees went rubbery with both relief that she wouldn’t be forced to feed from a brutish, unwashed male like Fane and irritation that Riker had remained instead of leaving with Hunter and Myne.
So . . . now what? Oh, she had no problem feeding from Riker, but sex? Sex wouldn’t be a good idea if she hadn’t just taken something that could make her pregnant. Still, her body vibrated with need, and she had serious doubts about how in control she was going to be while feeding. If Fane’s touch had set her off, and she despised him, what would Riker’s do?
“Nicole?” Aylin’s hand came down on her shoulder. “Do you want to go to him? You don’t have to.” She squeezed gently. “But you should know that Rasha has her eye on him.”
“She what?”
“Not because she wants him,” Aylin said in a rush. “She wants to humiliate him.”
A possessive growl rose from deep inside Nicole, from a place she hadn’t even known existed. “And what better way to humiliate an enemy than to take something from him while he’s helpless?”
“Exactly.”
Now she got it. Now she understood why Riker had gotten so jealous at the idea of Nicole feeding from another male. Because right now, jealousy like she’d never experienced before seared her from the inside out. Jealousy, fury, hunger, and lust made for one hell of a potent cocktail, and with a guttural snarl, she rounded on Fane.
“Take me to Riker. Now.”
THE HEADY ODORS of blood and sex reached Riker, even inside the dank chamber where he was still chained. The air hummed with the familiar thrill of an erotic storm as the moon fever took hold of the clan. Riker gritted his teeth, fighting the urges taking over his body and cursing his errant cock. Usually, after he fed Benet, he spent the rest of the night alone, with a bottle of liquor, or out hunting.
Riker was alone, but sans alcohol, and both hands were bound behind his back. Excellent. Another form of ShadowSpawn torture.
And where the hell was Nicole? He knew how difficult the first new moon was on newly turned females, how they couldn’t control their need for blood, how hard it was for them to differentiate between blood hunger and sexual hunger. New vampires were often mindless, feeling as if starvation for both had set in.
The idea that Nicole might be slaking her thirst with a ShadowSpawn male ate into his brain like corrosive acid. He had no one to blame but himself for chasing her away, but he swore he’d find that male and dismantle him. Slowly.
The door opened, and he threw himself against the chains, hoping against hope that they’d break, but nope, the suckers held, and—
His heart skipped a beat. Maybe a hundred.
Nicole stood in the doorway, bathed in light like an angel. An angel with fangs and glittering silver eyes. Wordlessly, she slammed the door shut and came at him with a growl. She hit him full force, knocking him from his knees onto his ass. His spine hit the wall, and the force against his shoulders wrenched them in their sockets.