“What are you doing? You can’t break those.” The Venator’s words were lost on him.
Amber screamed.
Strength surged through him. His eyes burned red and his fangs sharpened. He roared and lifted his arms, snapping the metal in the cuffs and tearing through the leather.
“Lord Savernake!” The fear in those words satisfied him. He would hear more like it soon. He would murder those fiends for daring to go near his woman.
He was out of the van before Venator Greystone could interfere and was running up the stairs towards his apartment.
Hide, Amber. Hide. He willed her to do it, sent the message through his blood, but none came back. The connection was weakening. The man was fighting him again. He wouldn’t let him have her.
“Kearn!”
He heard her this time. He bolted down the corridor to his apartment and kicked the door in. A man held Amber from behind as she flailed and screamed for her life.
Kearn lost it.
In the blink of an eye, he was behind Amber and tearing the man away. He threw him across the apartment, sending him crashing into the kitchen island and toppling the stools, and then pulled Amber back against his chest and covered her eyes with his left hand.
“Do not look,” he whispered close to her ear, his eyes scanning over the two large men dressed in black, assessing them. They were strong. Worthy opponents. He was stronger. “Do not listen.”
His arm glowed blue. Not a reaction to the two vampires but a reaction to his desire to protect Amber. He couldn’t use it. These men were clean and he had no order to kill them. He would use his own powers this time, and obey his own command.
He would destroy them.
They rushed him but didn’t reach within five feet of him before he raised his arm and sent a telekinetic wave deep into their minds. They stopped dead and he grinned, revealing his fangs, and narrowed his eyes on them. The blue light from his arm brightened until it lit the apartment and their faces. Die. He wanted them to die.
Violence rose within him, black ribbons edged with red that wound around his heart, and he surrendered to his lust to see their blood painting his walls.
He sent a shock into their minds, stronger than any he had dared used before in his lifetime. Their faces twisted in agony and he kept applying the pressure, kept feeding the hatred within him into them. They screamed and clutched at their heads and he tilted his back, looking down on them. Feel the power of a Noble. Know that this is the end.
Kearn closed his hand into a fist, gathering his strength, and then flicked his fingers open.
A shrill cry pierced the night.
The men shattered and exploded.
He quickly raised his hand, palm facing outwards, and formed an invisible bubble around him and Amber. Blood splattered over it so it ran as red as the walls of his apartment and covered the floor in a slick pool that glowed in the light of his arm. He wanted more. A deep sense of dissatisfaction blazed inside him. It had been too easy. He needed more to quench the fire. His eyes dropped to Amber’s throat. He needed her blood.
Kearn breathed hard, struggling to regain control, and held Amber to him. He wouldn’t do that. The blood rolled off the shield around them, revealing the gruesome sight of his apartment, and he let it fade and disappear. He kept his hand firmly over her eyes, pulled her backwards into his bedroom and closed the door before releasing her. The sickening stench of vampire blood crept in under the door. He needed to get Amber out of the apartment. It was bad enough that she would smell the blood and had heard the death cries of the men who had dared to frighten her. He couldn’t let her see what he had done.
He held her at arm’s length, clutching both of her arms, and dipped his head so he could see straight into her eyes. She panted, her racing heart speaking of fear, and shook beneath his hands.
Had she seen anything? He didn’t want her to witness such atrocity.
“You are safe now.” He could almost see her strength leave her, as though it was a tangible thing.
Amber stood there a moment with tears lining her lashes and her face a mask of fear, and then she was against him, her hands pressing into his back and holding him close to her. He hesitated, his fingers flexing as he considered holding her, and then placed his arms around her. It felt so good to have her nestled close to him, safe in his arms, unharmed, that he sighed and pressed a long kiss to her hair. Her body trembled with her sobs, shuddering against his. He stroked her ponytail with one hand, clutched the nape of her neck with his other, holding her against him, and vowed never to leave her alone again, not until this was over, not if he could help it. The man had shown his intent and the lengths he was willing to go to now. Nowhere was safe for them.
Or was it?
“Are you hurt?” He couldn’t smell any blood on her. The only blood he could smell was that of those wretched men and his own cut wrists.
She shook her head but didn’t emerge from his embrace.
“Are you—” He couldn’t bring himself to ask that question. He had done something terrible and he feared that she was shaking because of it, and not just because of the attack on her.
She was afraid of him now.
Amber drew back. Tears shone in her beautiful hazel eyes and stained her cheeks. He didn’t dare move and wipe them away for her. He didn’t want her to fear him.
“You… I was so scared.” Her voice was small and she dropped her gaze away from his. Her hands didn’t relinquish their grip on him and he was thankful for it and the fact that she remained close to him. “You saved me… you must be getting pretty tired of me and my damsel in distress routine.”
He smiled at her although she couldn’t see it. Her damsel in distress routine? She hadn’t chosen to become a victim or thrown herself into the path of the man. She hadn’t asked for any of this to happen to her.
Kearn placed two fingers under her chin and tilted it up. His eyes searched hers. He needed her to say it again. Even though he was a beast, a creature who would shed blood without hesitation or regret, he still had the heart of a man. He still needed to hear the woman he was falling in love with tell him that he hadn’t destroyed their future. He could live with her hating him, would bear that cross when he finally succumbed to his nature and turned her, but he couldn’t live with her fearing him.
Her fingers brushed his cheek. He closed his eyes and then opened them again, wanting to see her feelings when she said it and wanting to feel them in her blood. He needed proof that she wasn’t lying.
“Thank you for saving me, and for protecting me. I don’t know what you did, but you did it for me.” She tiptoed and pressed a kiss to his lips.
It was over before he could respond but it left his senses reeling and his head was full of her again. He took hold of her arm and she frowned when she looked down at his wrist. She turned, released him, and gently caught hold of his arm.
“What happened?” she whispered, her dark eyebrows furrowing with concern, and took hold of his other arm. She held them both in front of her, her gaze scanning over the cuts and the blood, and then looked up into his eyes for an answer to her question.
“I was having my blood tested when I sensed you were in danger. I had to break the restraints.”
The soft warmth in her eyes heated his chest and he frowned when she lowered her mouth and pressed light kisses to his wrists, worshipping them with affection that eased the fear in his heart. She wasn’t afraid of him. She still wanted him.
When she raised her head, there was blood on her lips. He shook at the sight of her and the memory of his vision, and his desire returned, fiercer than ever, burning in his blood and fraying the tethers of his control. He reached out and swept his thumb over her lips, erasing the blood, and they parted. Her breath was warm against his thumb but the way it made him feel couldn’t compare to the hunger that surged through him when she poked her silken pink tongue out and swept it over her lips, capturing the remnants of his blood and touching his thumb in the pro
cess.
Kearn waited with his heart in his throat, expecting her to be disgusted by the taste of his blood and what she had done.
She didn’t retch or spit it out. Instead, she tiptoed again and kissed him, and he could taste himself on her tongue. He pulled her close, tangled his tongue with hers, and unleashed his need for her, pouring it into his kiss so she would feel everything that he was—fear, relief, love—all of it.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his lips and her forehead touched his, the tips of their noses pressing against each other. She stroked his cheek and briefly kissed him again before settling back on her feet.
Kearn wasn’t sure what to say or do. She had tasted his blood and his desire to do the same with hers, to sink his fangs into her throat, was overwhelming. He drew a deep breath and the stench of dead blood filled his senses, tamping down his hunger and reminding him that now wasn’t the time for such things.
“We need to get out of here.” He took hold of her arm and led her to the bed, unwilling to risk leaving her near the door in case she tried to open it.
She might think he was the prince charming to her damsel in distress, but she would think him evil and a monster if she saw the other room. She sat on the bed and placed her hands in her lap. Very behaved. He could sense her curiosity even if she wasn’t showing it. Her blood whispered her deepest desires to him. She wanted to see what he had done in order to protect her.
He went to the bathroom and washed the blood off his hands and wrists, and then licked the cuts to seal them, his senses fixed on Amber the whole time. She kept still but he knew she was looking at the door. He walked into the bedroom and grabbed his gun and holster from the side table, and put it on.
Her gaze followed him now. He shoved some clothes and ammunition into a black holdall that would fit in the space behind the two seats of his car. He placed it beside Amber and then took her clothes and handbag and piled them into the bag on top of his things.
“Where are we going?”
Kearn glanced at her. What he was considering was either a wise move or insanity.
“Down to the car.” He took the bag from the bed and slung it over his shoulder. “You will have to close your eyes again.”
She looked nervous but nodded. Kearn scooped her up into his arms, angling her so she faced his chest as he cradled her. He couldn’t let her walk. She would slip on the blood or would see it on her shoes.
He stared at the door. Nerves twisted his stomach.
Amber looked up at him.
“Promise me you will not look.” He needed to know that she wouldn’t see what he had done, what he was capable of because of her. “And take a deep breath and do not let it go until I tell you.”
“Promise,” she whispered and buried her face in his neck. He heard her breathe in and motioned with his hand, opening the bedroom door.
He was across the apartment in a heartbeat and out of the front door. He shut it behind him, shifting the locks into place, and walked down the hall. When he reached the end he said, “You can breathe now.”
He would need to contact someone to clean his apartment. He knew a man who could take care of it. Once he had Amber somewhere safe, he would see if they were available for an immediate clean up, and would ask them about improved security for the building while he was at it.
Kearn set Amber down when they reached the ground floor and drew his gun. His arm tingled and then blue light shone from the marks on his fingers. He shook it away. The vampires who had attacked him hadn’t taken forbidden blood. The man was playing one hell of a game sending innocent vampires his way. It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t kill anyone who stood between him and his quarry, and who tried to harm Amber.
The blood bank truck door was open and the smell of vampire blood was strong in the air.
Venator Greystone.
He dropped the bag from his shoulder and holstered his gun.
He found her sitting on the floor desperately trying to heal a deep cut on her arm. Blood covered her black jacket sleeve and the metal floor, stark against the silver material and pristine white environment. Her fear tainted the air. Her bloodline was weak enough that she could bleed to death from the right sort of wound.
This one looked right.
He went to mount the metal steps into the truck to help her but stopped when he sensed a shift in Amber’s feelings.
A glance over his shoulder confirmed that she was watching him, her eyes narrowed in a challenge. She hadn’t shown her jealousy earlier but it was painted in neon across her face right now. He wanted to tell her that his helping the Venator meant nothing. There was no reason for Amber to be jealous. He had no interest in the other woman.
Amber’s eyes widened an almost imperceptible amount and he knew she had picked up the message from his blood. She blushed. It was a delightful colour on her. He saw a flash of her on her back beneath him, her cheeks crimson and flushed, her lips parted with staccato breathing and her neck bloodied, marked by two puncture wounds.
The vision faded and he stared at her.
She didn’t take her eyes away from his while she raised her hand to her throat. Her fingers grazed the bandage there.
Kearn turned away, clearing the vision from his mind and closing the connection between them a fraction. Her blood was influencing him too much and he needed to think straight. He stepped into the truck and took the Venator’s arm. She tried to pull away but he didn’t let her go. He tore the sleeve off her black jacket, revealing a long gash down her upper arm. Part of him didn’t want to heal her, not when Amber was watching, waiting for him to make a wrong move like this, but he had to help her. He licked the wound until he was sure that it had stopped bleeding and then grabbed the bandage she held and wrapped it around her arm.
“I apologise, Lord Savernake.” Venator Greystone bowed her head. “Men came after you had left. They were too strong for me. One wore a mask.”
Kearn sensed Amber tense.
“They attempted to kill me. I managed to get one of them.” Venator Greystone tried to stand. Kearn stood and offered his hand. She took it, pulled herself up, and held her arm. “The vial. I had finished testing it when they attacked me. They took the vial. It tested positive.”
Venator Greystone glanced at Amber and then looked back at him. Her green eyes shone with understanding.
“I can see you were only helping the human survive and will report so. I must report what happened though, Lord Savernake.”
Kearn nodded, wishing that she would stop calling him that name because Amber stared at him every time.
“I will file a full report.” He intended to do no such thing. The Sovereignty already knew what had happened and that he would test positive. There was no point in reporting it.
His name was on the screen of the laptop on the white work surface above the cupboards, along with the results of his blood test. It troubled him that they had taken the vial. Did they intend to blackmail him?
If they threatened him, if they wanted Amber in exchange, he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t let them have her. He hoped they were only after the remnant of her blood in his but he couldn’t think why they would need it.
He bowed to Venator Greystone and she lowered her head.
Amber backed down the steps when he approached her and stood on the pavement.
“Where are we going?” The lingering trace of her fear still ran in his veins, tainted by jealousy and a hint of anger.
He stepped down from the truck, his expression pensive.
There was only one place where they might be safe.
It would be almost impossible for the vampire to get Amber while she was there. He would make her stay there while he hunted the man alone. She wouldn’t like it, but he didn’t have a choice. It was too dangerous for her to go with him. He had to keep his promise and protect her.
He was getting ahead of himself.
He had to get them to accept his request first and that wasn’t going to be
easy.
Could sixty years heal the pain he had caused?
Kearn stared at Amber. There was no other way. The man had compromised his apartment and he needed to take her to a safe place. He could only hope they wouldn’t turn him away.
If they refused, it would be the final blow.
He would bear the pain and sever ties with his family forever.
CHAPTER 18
Amber sat in the passenger seat of Kearn’s car. The silence was oppressive but her thoughts weighed so heavily on her that she couldn’t find her voice to break it.
Everything had happened so quickly back at Kearn’s apartment and she was still trying to catch up. She had fallen asleep on the couch and had a fantastic dream about him biting her that had felt incredibly real and then she had awoken to the sound of the door opening. She had fought the two men, all the while calling out for Kearn.
And then she had known he was coming for her.
Amber looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was deep in thought, his silver finger-length hair swept back out of his face to reveal his handsome profile, but that wasn’t the only reason he was quiet. He was worried.
“I knew you were coming for me,” she whispered, afraid to voice it any louder in case he thought she was insane.
“It is my blood.” He glanced at her.
His blood. She touched her lips. Her curiosity had driven her to taste it and she had been surprised to find that it tasted the same as hers did—metallic. She had thought that vampire blood would taste different. Perhaps it was because she had blood like a vampire’s that hers tasted the same.
Did they taste the same to him? He had licked his own blood and even that other Venator’s without taking any pleasure from it. When he licked her blood, it was as though he had tasted something intoxicating and heavenly, and she always had the feeling that he wanted more.
His gaze dropped to her throat and then he fixed it back on the dark road ahead of them.
“Your blood is still with mine. A theory says that it is your blood transmitting back to you from within mine, causing a cycle within us both—a connection,” he said.
Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) Page 20