Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series)

by Heaton, Felicity

  “I took care of her. The Sovereignty commanded it and I could not have her interfering in my fight against Kyran.” Kearn drove fast through the gates of the estate and out onto a quiet road.

  Amber didn’t recognise her surroundings. She had been unconscious for the whole journey to the Huntingdon estate. It surprised her when they had only been driving a short time and they reached a road that she recognised. They had driven along it when heading to his family’s estate from London.

  “The Huntingdons live close to you?”

  Kearn nodded. Minutes later, they were heading through the heavily guarded gates of the Savernake estate.

  “What’s going on?” Amber looked around her at all of the people in the grounds. Some of them had silver hair and wore a uniform like Kearn’s black and silver clothing. More Venators. Could they trust these ones?

  “We are on alert. Kyran intends to kill Archduke Pendragon and any of Pendragon blood who stands in his way, and then destroy the house of Savernake to seize power.”

  She gasped. He would kill his own parents and family? Kyran had never struck her as that sort of man. He had always been smiling and had always been proud of his family. She couldn’t imagine him wanting to kill everyone like that.

  “He wants me to pay for what I did to him, and he wants mother and father to pay for exiling him. Archduke Pendragon refused to buy your blood and help him, so now he will pay too.”

  “He wants it that badly? Can he even fight the archduke? You said he was power—”

  “Believe me,” Kearn interjected, “right now, Kyran could take on the Sovereignty themselves and win.”

  He was that powerful?

  “It’s my blood isn’t it?” She touched her neck. “Kyran took a lot from me. Enough that he gained the true effects.”

  Kearn nodded and pulled the car to a halt outside the lodge. He gripped the steering wheel and his hard expression softened, the corners of his lips tugging into the barest of smiles.

  “I can defeat him.”

  Amber ran her fingers over the cut on her throat. “If you have my blood too.”

  He nodded again. Her hand fell from her neck and rested in her lap.

  “I do not just want your blood, Amber… I… I want you too,” Kearn whispered, an ardent look filling his green eyes.

  Her heart skipped a beat and then pounded hard against her ribs. She could only think of one reason why Kearn had stopped at the lodge rather than going to the main house. He was going to bite her now before anything else happened.

  She touched her throat again, her fingers trembling against it. Kearn’s gaze fell there and his eyes turned red. Intense need flowed through her. His feelings. He couldn’t fight it anymore. His hunger and need were so strong that she couldn’t deny him. This was how she had expected it to feel—thrilling, deep and incredible.

  “I need to know that you are mine, Amber, and mine alone… forever.” He reached across and touched her face. His fingers trembled against her cheek and she was tempted to close her eyes but kept looking into his, seeing everything her blood was telling her reflected in them. “Say you will be mine.”

  Amber placed her hand over his and flattened his palm against her cheek. “I will always be yours.”

  He closed his eyes and she felt his relief deep in her heart, and his happiness.

  “I will give all that I can to make you strong enough to defeat Kyran.”

  His eyes opened to reveal the shock she felt in her blood. The surprise receded, leaving warm feelings in its place. She meant what she had said. She would give him everything if he needed it to survive the coming fight. She didn’t want to lose him.

  He left the car and rounded it to her side, opening the door for her. Amber stepped out and into his waiting arms, settling herself close to him and looking up at his face. The silver threads of his hair fell forwards when he looked down at her, his eyes vivid red and full of hunger.

  “Are you certain about this?” he whispered and touched her cheek again. He pushed his fingers back, through the tangled lengths of her ponytail, and then ran them down her throat. “You will be weakened by my taking your blood but I will keep you safe. I will protect you this time. Do you trust me?”

  Amber nodded and touched his shoulder. “I am, and I do. I’m not afraid… because… I love you.”

  Kearn frowned, pulled her close, and kissed her hard. It was a struggle to breathe with his grip on her so tight but she kissed him back, her lips playing against his, revealing all of the passion and desire, and the need that she felt for him.

  She had meant what she had said that night.

  She wanted to be his forever. She wasn’t afraid.

  He broke away, swept her into his arms and carried her into the lodge.

  CHAPTER 28

  Amber sat on the end of the bed, trying to read Kearn’s feelings in his blood but her own nerves drowned them out. Kearn removed his black military-style jacket and sat beside her, his eyes firmly fixed on hers. She smiled but it faltered when he touched her knee. Was she really ready to do this?

  The implications frightened her. She was going to leave her world behind, her family, her friends, and become a vampire, but she loved Kearn and knew that he felt the same way. He needed her love and her by his side, and he would have them forever.

  Her nerves melted away, taking her rising fear with them, when she felt every feeling that was in his green eyes—love, need, devotion. He had never bitten a human before, had never made anyone into a vampire, and the emotions in her blood said that this meant something and that something was the world.

  Amber reached around the back of her head and cleared the hair from the left side of her neck. When she tilted her chin up, offering her throat to Kearn, his eyes shifted there and turned red, but none of the feelings in them disappeared. Even in this state, they showed his love for her and how deeply this affected him.

  His eyes met hers briefly and then he pulled her into his arms, settling her on his lap. Any feeling of self-consciousness she had from sitting on his thighs disappeared when he pressed a kiss to her throat. Her awareness of the world became an awareness of only Kearn. Where his hands touched her back, how delicious his arms felt around her, and the feel of his soft breathing against her throat, all of it stole her attention until there was only them, in an endless void, together and about to become that way forever.

  “Do not fear me,” Kearn whispered on her throat and leaned his cheek against hers. She closed her eyes and savoured the feel of their skin touching. “Do not fear this, Amber. My heart is yours until the end of time, beyond forever, and I will worship you endlessly and never stop loving you.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She could never refuse him. She wanted to be his and wanted to live out the fairytale he had planned for them, no matter how dark it was.

  Kearn drew her closer to him, lightly kissing her throat in a way that spread warmth through her. Her heart floated in her chest. There was so much love in the way he was holding her, kissing her, and in his blood.

  “I do not want to hurt you.” He kissed her throat again. His blood backed up his words and Amber wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in the silver threads of his hair and holding him to her. She knew that. And she knew it was going to hurt. But she didn’t care, because he needed this. “I wish I could make it painless… nothing but a scratch on your fingertip… I would… but I cannot, Amber.”

  His fingers stroked her throat and he sighed.

  “I need to mark your throat. I need everyone to see that my beautiful Amber is mine and mine alone.” He leaned his head on her shoulder and Amber held him, giving him time to say everything that he needed to.

  His words touched her deeply. He needed to bite her throat and she wouldn’t have it any other way. If they were going to do this, she wanted it to be as special for him as he needed it to be, and she wanted to do it properly. A bite on her neck seemed most appropriate, and she knew that it meant the most to him.
He didn’t want to do things half-heartedly. He had to do it correctly. He needed to.

  “I want to wear your marks, Kearn.” She rested her head against his, sighed and flipped his hair around her fingers. Her Noble. When she had first met him, she had never believed he could be so gentle and loving with her. “I want to be yours. I want you to stay with me forever.”

  He drew back and looked at her, deep down into her heart through her eyes.

  “Say it again.”

  She smiled. “Stay with me forever.”

  A smile curved his lips and his gaze moved to her throat and then back to hers.

  “It is I who should be saying such a thing to you.” He touched her cheek, brushing the backs of his fingers across it. “My beautiful Amber. Will you stay with me forever? You have tamed this Noble… you rule me absolutely… and I will ensure that you want for nothing, and that you will have everything that you deserve.”

  “There’s only one thing I want, Kearn. There’s only one thing I desire… you. So I’m offering this to you,” she tilted her chin up to expose her neck and brought his hand down to press against the spot over her heart, “so I might have you forever too, and when I’m like you, I’m going to bite your neck so the world can see that you’re mine and mine alone.”

  Kearn dragged her against him and kissed her, stealing her breath with his passion. She tried to keep up as his lips moved roughly over hers, his tongue plundering her mouth, but by the time she was moving with him, not against him, he broke away and was staring into her eyes again.

  His were wide and green, full of emotions that made them sparkle in the warm low light of the bedroom.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  Amber couldn’t help smiling.

  “I love you,” he said again and pulled her back to him, his hands pressing between her shoulder blades. He breathed against her neck. “I love you.”

  Amber closed her eyes, sensing his intent in her blood, and tried to relax.

  “I love you, forever,” he whispered and then his lips grazed her throat and a sharp pain shot out from where they touched.

  She flinched but the pain only lasted a second, giving way to dull throbbing warmth. She felt queasy from the awareness of his fangs in her but suppressed the feeling, not wanting Kearn to sense it in her.

  It hurt when he sucked and her head spun. She held him close, tangling her fingers in his hair to show him that she wanted this. The slow speed of his drinking and the gentle way he held her surprised her. She had expected him to act as he had when he had taken her blood and told her that he would bite her but he was so tender instead. Calm washed over her and it no longer hurt when he pulled on her blood. The connection that opened between them when she relaxed was incredible, stronger than it had ever been, and she could clearly feel all of his emotions. It meant so much to him to do this. There was a sense of reverence about his actions, about the way he was holding her and the gentleness of the bite. She could feel the deep awe within him, the happiness and the love.

  Amber opened her heart to him, letting him feel everything that she was. She wasn’t afraid of him, or of doing this, not anymore. She loved him and she wanted it too. This didn’t just make him happy, it made her happy too. She didn’t fear stepping into his world and leaving hers behind. It would be just as he had said. She had his heart and his love forever.

  And he had hers.

  Her head spun again, dizziness making her stomach turn, and she frowned. She didn’t want him to stop drinking, wanted him to have all the blood he needed so he could defeat Kyran and they could be together, but she was growing weak.

  Kearn’s fangs left her throat and she mourned their loss and then sighed when he licked her skin. He wrapped his lips back around the bite and suckled slowly. Each drop of blood that he drank increased the connection between them, until she could no longer sense where his feelings ended and hers began. Her head was swimming with them, with the love and tenderness, with the need and desire.

  He pressed a kiss to her throat and then licked the marks.

  “I love you,” he whispered into her ear and Amber smiled through the growing haze in her mind.

  Darkness encroached and she tried to fight it, but she was too tired. She opened her eyes, wanting to see him, but they were blurry and she couldn’t make out his face.

  Her head spun again.

  Amber managed to touch his face before the darkness took her, and whispered, “I love you too.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Kearn carried Amber towards the open double doors of the main house, cradling her gently in his arms. The twin puncture marks on the left side of her throat were red and sore. He had been as careful as possible but he had still hurt her. She had borne it well, trying to hide her pain from him with her love, but he had sensed it deep within her. He wished that he could have done it without hurting her. He’d had to bite her neck though. He couldn’t have it any other way.

  He sensed vampires ahead of him.

  What would his parents make of what he had done?

  He told himself that he didn’t care what his family thought about him choosing to turn Amber but it didn’t stop the nerves from churning his stomach, eating away at him and increasing his anxiety. He wasn’t sure how people would react to her now that he had begun her transformation into a vampire and he needed to keep her safe now more than ever. She was his to protect and he wouldn’t fail her. Fear laced his blood as he cautiously looked at the lower ranking vampires and guards in the vestibule. They stared at him, and he held Amber closer to him, afraid that someone would try to harm her.

  The vampires parted for him and his eyes switched to red when some of them dared to look at Amber. She belonged to him now. His love. His forever.

  When he had bitten her, he had felt all of her feelings in his heart. He had felt her love for him and her fear of losing him, and it had made him feel as though he finally had a place where he belonged again. He desired nothing more than to protect her, the woman who was the most precious thing in the world to him, and he loved her more than anything. It honoured him that she had given herself to him and that she wanted to be his.

  The connection between them had been so strong, and when she finally became a vampire, that same connection would return, linking them forever as one. They would always be able to feel each other, and she would grow as strong as he was and gain all of his abilities and powers.

  Amber stirred, her eyes fluttering open. She looked up at him, the dark circles beneath her eyes concerning him along with the sense of weariness he could feel in her.

  He stopped in the gallery that led to the main reception room. Daylight flooded in through the windows to his left, shining on her and making her pale skin glow. Fear threatened to seize his heart but she smiled and his blood felt the strength returning to her. It was a relief to see that he hadn’t taken too much from her and that she would recover.

  Kearn smiled for her and a hint of colour touched her cheeks. He would never tire of that reaction. She was beautiful when she blushed for him.

  “I am sorry that I hurt you,” he whispered.

  She shook her head a fraction. “It didn’t really hurt.”

  Her voice was quiet and weak. His concern returned and he held her closer. There was such deep affection in her hazel eyes. She touched his cheek and then her fingers curled around the back of his neck and she lured him down to her. He knew what she wanted.

  Kearn raised her and kissed her gently, slowly, and with all the love that he felt for her.

  She sighed when he lowered her again and smiled at him, brilliant and wide. He sensed the happiness in her and it stirred his own.

  “I could feel you,” she whispered and placed her hand on her chest, resting it over her heart. Her eyes held his. “I already feel different.”

  He smiled again. She did feel different. She felt stronger. Her body had begun the transition from human to vampire. Her hand pressed against his chest.

  “I c
an feel you.” She blinked slowly. Her tiredness ran in his veins, a feeling that he couldn’t easily shake. He wanted to tell her to stop talking and to rest, but felt she had to say what she was going to and he had to hear it. “There’s a connection… like a red ribbon tying our hearts.”

  Kearn sighed and smiled down at her, absorbing the love in her eyes.

  “Uniting our hearts,” he said and her eyes brightened with her smile. “We are one now.”

  She frowned. “A master and servant.”

  “No.” Kearn shook his head. “Equals… lovers… you will never be inferior to me. My heart is yours, just as the duke said.”

  Tears lined her eyes. He wanted to wipe them away for her but she was too weak to stand on her own while he did so.

  “Do not cry.”

  “I’m not sad,” she whispered and closed her eyes. “I’m happy… and tired.”

  “Rest then. You will be strong again soon.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair, and at the same time gave her feelings a slight push, enough to send to her sleep. She rested heavily in his arms but he didn’t feel her weight. She was as light as air to him. His Amber.

  Kearn waited until the connection between them became weak and he knew that she was in a deep sleep, and then continued along the hall. There were people in the reception room ahead. He could feel them. Their presence ran deep in his blood. His mother and father.

  A maid at the dark double doors opened them for him but didn’t honour him with a curtsey. She didn’t even look at him. If the maid treated him as though he wasn’t welcome, then how would the mistress react?

  Kearn walked into the richly furnished room. The memories of playing here with his brother caused even more pain now and this time he couldn’t push them away. He remembered how their mother would chastise them for drawing on the black walls, or for spilling blood on the furniture even though it had been upholstered in lush red then, and not gold as it was now. They had always been causing trouble one way or another.