Blood Entangled

by Amber Belldene

  Charming that she could switch from shrewd to chatty on a dime. She was more and more intriguing. Only Zoey had been more of an enigma.

  “I just need to phone my brother, then I’ll place the order.”

  Lucas Bennett awoke with a heart-pounding jolt. Where was he?

  His arms slid across soft sheets, good cotton with a four-figure thread count. Bare ivory walls begged for adornment behind an antique desk with a Tiffany lamp. The bed’s rustic and clunky frame was right out of the Restoration Hardware catalog, if they had a Croatian edition.

  Right. After almost a week staying at the Kaštel Estate Winery, it was still a shock to wake up there. Although he wasn’t technically a prisoner, the charming place had become his holding cell. The vampires didn’t trust him, and he didn’t know what to do with himself since he’d disavowed the Hunters. Only those same damn Hunters knew what to do with him—they wanted him dead.

  A tangle of feelings about Pedro sat heavy in his gut, making him queasy and lethargic. Sympathy, guilt, sorrow, bone deep attraction—he could pick at the knot all day long and fail to unravel one thread. He hadn’t even seen the guy for a week—seven days spent failing to cool his heels. It was a shitty existence, living out of a duffel bag, and only leaving his room to eat. But it wasn’t like he had anything else to do, or any place else to be. Not unless he had a death wish.

  Maras’s household treated him with surprising kindness. Rescuing Pedro had made his Hunter origins forgivable. Thing was, a week in a vampire household had been a course in desensitization therapy. With all the mundane details, the humanity of everyone at Kaštel, both human and vampire, he’d found he had no hate left for the creatures. In fact, he missed Pedro something wicked…Pedro, who surely hated him…

  His absence was proof.

  The muffled ring of his phone sounded, and he followed it to a pair of pants, vibrating where they hung over the desk chair. An unctuous feeling slithered over his skin even before he looked at the screen. The name on the phone confirmed his intuition—Ethan. He hadn’t spoken to his brother since he knocked him unconscious to rescue Pedro from Ethan’s fun-with-tools torture session. Well, this should be interesting.

  He answered the call.

  “Lucas,” Ethan said.

  “Don’t worry. I know the consequences for what I did. We have nothing to talk about.”

  “Is he alive?”

  “What?”

  “Your friend, Pedro—is he alive?”

  Lucas hesitated.

  “I’ll take your silence as a yes. Marasović turned him, then?”

  “No, he didn’t. He’s here recovering. The gunshot wound wasn’t bad. His feet are worse.”

  “You’ve never been able to deceive me. Has he fed from you?”

  This time, Lucas was ready with the lie. “Hell no. I wouldn’t let that happen.”

  “Good. It would be very, very bad if you did.”

  They were silent while Lucas considered his next move. It was worth the risk to get any modicum of information from Ethan. “You think our blood does something to them?”

  “Why would you say that?” Ethan asked.

  Barely there beneath his indifferent tone, Lucas heard Ethan’s desire for the answer.

  “Well, I know you stole Stephen’s book.”

  “It is hardly stealing to make use of Father’s belongings. I am simply curious about our past.”

  At Ethan’s nonchalance, irrational rage threatened to boil up inside of Lucas, but he tamped it down. Besting Ethan would require cool reason. “Yeah, right. Curious. Well, now that I’m here at Kaštel, I’m curious too. I find myself wondering about all those vampires in the book, the ones walking in the daylight. Then you go and insist I shouldn’t feed Pedro…”

  Ethan remained silent, so Lucas pushed once more with his best guess.

  “Makes me think our blood gives them special powers. Sun tolerance, maybe?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” The pitch of Ethan’s rose minutely, but Lucas heard it.

  It wasn’t easy to provoke his brother, but Lucas had honed the skill. You couldn’t go straight at him, or his wall of ice would descend fast. You had to circle, make him come after you instead. “Okay, whatever you say.”

  A thud came through the line as if Ethan had punched a wall. “God damn it, Lucas. If you so much as hint at this to Marasović or your little friend, you could unleash a nightmare. Not just for Hunters, for all humans. Do you understand?”

  “If you think I would tell them, you don’t know me well.”

  “Lucas…” Ethan sighed like a long-suffering brother. “I know you better than you know yourself.”

  Lucas’s chest constricted around his aching heart. Did his brother miss him, or was he doing his pretend-I-have-feelings thing?

  The back of Lucas’s neck prickled, and rubbing it, he turned to see Pedro in the doorway.

  “Well, Ethan, after your demonstration on Pedro in the shed, I can finally say I know you too—I saw the monster you’ve been hiding all these years.”

  “Hmm. Is that what you thought you saw?”

  Lucas’s mind blanked, and everything he’d been sure of vanished. He missed the sense of belonging Ethan had always provided.

  “Make no mistake, Lucas. You chose Pedro over your fellow Hunters. I’m coming for you and you will pay for your betrayal. I’m coming for everyone in that house and no one will survive. Would you kindly relay that message to your host?”

  Lucas’s doubt vaporized. “I don’t think so Ethan. Let him know yourself.”

  His brother’s chilling laughter cut into Lucas’s bones before his phone went silent. He turned it off to guarantee there would be no more friendly calls from his brother.

  Chapter 8

  THE DOOR HUNG OPEN. Pedro approached cautiously and stood just outside. Lucas sat on the edge of the bed, speaking into his cell phone.

  The sight of his long, lean body stole Pedro’s breath. Lucas’s dark hair, falling over his yellow-gold eyes, made Pedro’s fingers curl, wanting to touch.

  Madre de Dios, he would give anything to go back in time to that day in the tasting room when they first met, when they were just two guys who might hook up. But there was no way to erase the trauma of Lucas sauntering into the shed where Hunters held him captive, mouthing an apology and then beating the shit out of him. Or that he’d begged Lucas to kill him while Ethan pulled out his toenails and peeled the skin from his ankles. And somehow the most infuriating part—Lucas’s mercy—he’d betrayed his family to rescue Pedro from certain death.

  Lucas spoke the name Ethan into his phone, and it brought Pedro’s memories to life. Ice crawled from his nail-less toes up his bones and into his heart. The chill reached his brain, and, dizzy, he gripped the doorframe.

  Ending the call, Lucas turned to look at him. His yellow eyes pinned Pedro in place then narrowed above tightly pressed lips. Their stare stretched out further and further.

  “Back to dominate me?” Lucas broke the silence, his words like a whip slicing through the air, a reminder of Pedro’s recent threat to do whatever he wanted to Lucas. And, again, Lucas showed no signs of fear.

  Anger burned the back of Pedro’s throat. “Was that who I think it was?” Could Lucas be spying, even after Ethan had tried to kill him? Inconceivable.

  Lucas’s hands trembled, and sweat formed on his upper lip. “Yes.”

  Pedro gulped back his anger. Man, Ethan had Lucas all shook up. Being that asshole’s brother couldn’t be easy.

  “Did he call you?”

  “Yes. To taunt me, I think. And…” He grew suddenly fascinated by the carpet.

  “And?”

  “And to ask about you.”

  “What about me?” Pedro stepped closer, and the proximity forced Lucas to look up.

  “He guessed that Andre turned you.”

  “Damn.” It was not good for Ethan to know there were more vampires at Kaštel—it might accelerate the Hunters’ return. “And you
just told him he was right?”

  “No, I lied. But I’m a shit liar, at least to Ethan. I’m sorry.” Lucas’s fine lips pinched tighter.

  “Does he know about Zoey?”

  “No.” Lucas’s lips relaxed, approached a smile, even. “I’d like to be the one to tell him she’s a vampire now, just to see the look on his face. For one thing, she can probably kick his ass.”

  “That I would like to see. A dude who gets off on power taken out by a girl.” Surprising laughter bubbled from Pedro’s own chest. He dropped onto the bed next to Lucas, and for a moment, they were friends.

  The moment lasted too long.

  “You look like shit,” Lucas said.

  “I need to feed.”

  “No kidding. Your skin is pulled tight like a bad face lift.”

  Was it that bad? He hadn’t looked in a mirror. Ever since he’d fed from Lucas moments after becoming a vampire, he hated to see the way his formerly blue eyes now mirrored Lucas’s golden ones, and Ethan’s.

  “I need to feed from you. I can’t…with anyone else.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My fangs don’t work. Apparently, whatever’s in your blood has spoiled me for the regular stuff.”

  Lucas’s eyes flashed amber with fear. A fair reaction to the reality Pedro had been avoiding for a week—they were stuck together.

  Lucas stood, inching away from Pedro. “You tried?”

  “Yeah, from Ally and Susan, then a couple hotties we found at a gay bar in Guerneville. No tooth action.”

  Lucas backed up even further. “Shit.”

  Pedro rose and puffed up his chest, wishing he were taller than the Hunter. “I don’t like it either, asshole. It seems to me like you get the better end of the deal. At least you get off on it.”

  Lucas’s sharp gaze narrowed in on Pedro. “Technically, I don’t get off, I just get turned on.” His tone was even, and it melted away some of Pedro’s defenses. Lucas frowned. “This is a problem. I can’t provide enough blood for you by myself.”

  “Maybe you can. I’ve gone more than a week without feeding because there’s something strange about your blood.”

  Lucas chose that moment to study the carpet. Again. “Strange?”

  “Its effects are long-lived. Maybe it’s a Hunter thing. Seems like I only need to feed about once a week. Not too much of a demand on you.”

  With long fingers, Lucas pushed his hair off his forehead. “Of course you can have my blood. I just assumed you were feeding from others. I didn’t rescue you to see you starve.”

  Did he have a secret list of all the things Pedro didn’t want to hear? Like, don’t ever forget I’m your motherfucking savior. “Yeah, well, when I decide I give a shit about being alive, you can tell me why you bothered. In the meantime, lay down and give me your goddamn vein.”

  Not entirely true—last week he’d had a death wish, but he was over it. Even with all his problems, Pedro preferred to be alive. Although he wasn’t going to go thanking Lucas for keeping him that way.

  Lucas climbed onto the bed, following Pedro’s orders without the slightest whiff of obedience. Nice trick—pretty much the same way Pedro responded to Andre’s gruffness. Andre would give Pedro instructions to do precisely what he was already doing, so Pedro would just go about his business, subtly reminding Andre he was his own man all the while.

  Message received—don’t be a jerk—Lucas wanted to help. Pedro chuckled, shaking his head. But still, he couldn’t find his footing, couldn’t decide whether Lucas was his friend or enemy.

  Lucas lay down, the slight angle of his head a clear invitation. Pedro knelt next to him. He would be a goner if he lay down alongside the other man. Up close, Lucas’s scent hit him differently. His smell had cloyed and taunted, lingering in rooms where Lucas had been. But now it was the real, male smell of skin and soap, sweat and breath. And his distinctive Hunter scent was so much more delicious for all the ways it blended with Lucas’s own human essence.

  By pressing Lucas’s shoulder lower, he exposed more of his succulent neck. The skin stretched across tendons, and his pulse fluttered. A pulse under skin was such a delicate thing, like the wings of a hummingbird. Pedro couldn’t help it, he groaned. His fangs—reticent at the necks of several other humans—were out in a flash. His mouth watered and he tongued the pulse point under Lucas’s jaw. At the contact, Lucas let out his own throaty sigh.

  Damn, it was intense, and they were just getting started.

  He slid his teeth into Lucas’s neck and took a long pull of the blood he’d been jonesing for. Almost instantly, his skin softened and loosened, but the cold ache in his bones and the cramp in his gut held fast. He lost all sense of time. There was only Lucas’s warm metallic blood filling his stomach, swallow by swallow. There was only the smell, the taste, of Lucas in his mouth.

  Finally, Pedro grew warm.

  Tingling energy spread from his belly outward, into his hands, his feet, and yes, his cock. Kneeling was good—it meant Lucas couldn’t feel his hard-on.

  Nearly sated, he became aware of Lucas’s shallow breaths. Lucas arched up, creating as much contact as possible; they were almost chest to chest. He dug his fingers into Pedro’s shoulder and gasped.

  Oh yeah, Lucas was definitely rolling.

  Pedro slowed down his swallows on his neck, but he wasn’t ready to break the connection. Maybe it was the other lingering craving, deeper and lower in his belly. He wanted power over Lucas, to show him he wasn’t weak, he was a man—no, more than a man. He was a super-strong badass vampire.

  He pulled blood from the open vein and ran his tongue along the tendon his teeth had latched onto. Lucas shivered. Without warning, he lifted Pedro’s hand, and shoved it against his rigid cock, wrapping Pedro’s hand around him and thrusting.

  Pedro gripped him and took another pull of blood.

  Lucas raised his head and bit onto Pedro’s shoulder. He must want something in his mouth. Pedro had seen that oral arousal when Andre fed—the household women bit their lower lip, or sucked their fingers.

  I could give him something better to—

  No. Time to stop.

  He licked Lucas’s neck, sealing the punctures. The flesh wriggled, knitting back together under his tongue. Man, that was cool.

  Lucas thrust again. He threw back his head, his neck straining as he pumped his hips.

  Pedro wanted him to beg. “Tell me what you want.” He worked Lucas through his jeans, demanding an answer.

  Lucas’s golden eyes were huge and wild with lust. “Skin. Against skin. You. In my mouth.”

  It was exactly what Pedro wanted to hear, and his own cock jumped in agreement. But wouldn’t it be even better to leave Lucas hard up, to walk away and show his control? Only, damn if he didn’t have a vampire-grade hard-on. Apparently his ears and nose weren’t the only things that worked better now.

  “Pedro, please.”

  Madre de Dios. Lucas’s hungry rasp made him tingle all over, the begging better than any orgasm, vampire-grade or not.

  He flung his leg over Lucas, straddling his chest. If he sprung his cock from his pants, Lucas could wrap his lips around it in no time. He kept his left hand on Lucas’s hard length and moved the other to his own fly. With one hand on each of Pedro’s thighs, Lucas looked up and licked his lips. Seeing that red tongue almost changed Pedro’s mind. He bit down on his own, slung his other leg over Lucas, and hopped off the bed.

  Shocked, Lucas looked like a kid whose lollipop had been taken away. But he recovered quickly, and his eyes went sharp in his flushed face. “Feels good to have power over me?”

  Pedro looked away from him and tucked his erection into his jeans.

  “I think you’re making a mistake,” Lucas said.

  “Really? Are you that good at sucking cock?”

  “Good enough. But, from what I’ve heard around the kitchen table, you’re stuck with that hard-on, while I can finish myself off with a few quick strokes.”

&nb
sp; Oh shit. Forgot about that. It was lesson number two for the baby vampire—Sorry, But Now You are Unable to Masturbate. It came right after the first lesson, which Andre called The Things that Kill Us.

  Yes, his epic erection might be an epic problem. But Lucas’s desperate plea made it worth it. Right? “Don’t worry about me. Knowing you’ll be thinking of me when you finish is satisfaction enough.”

  Pedro left, hoping his words were true. He walked into Kos’s office to find him talking into the air. Must be on speakerphone. Andre and Zoey stood around the desk.

  When she glanced at him, he mouthed, “Bel?”

  She nodded.

  “Bel, Pedro’s just joined us, and he’s looking much plumper. Did you finally feed?” Kos asked.

  Pedro reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. “Yeah. I fed. Bel, I’m laying a crisp one hundred dollar bill in Kos’s hand for safekeeping. It’s yours. I lost a bet.”

  “We didn’t make a bet,” Bel said.

  “When you told me the worst part of being a vampire was not being able to…uh, you know. I thought, ‘I’d bet him a million bucks there are worse things.’ Turns out, I was wrong.”

  Kos exploded in laughter.

  Zoey’s mouth gaped, and she stared at Pedro’s bulge, until Andre covered her eyes. “No ogling,” he said.

  Bel coughed. “Keep your money, dude. I didn’t bet you anything.”

  “It’s also not a million dollars. Just take the money and let me eat crow.”

  “Fine. Let’s finish this up so I can get back to the lab.” Bel’s voice crackled over the speaker.

  “Can you start over from the beginning for Pedro’s sake?” Andre asked.

  “Just admit you need him to explain it again,” Zoey said.

  He glowered at her until she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his cheek. Pedro bit his lip to hide a smile. Poor Andre. He had a house full of smartasses on his hands. It was quite a coincidence. Maybe he actually liked it.

  Bel cleared his throat, making the line crackle. “Okay, here’s the simple version. For some reason, there is gold in Blood Vine, and in Hunter blood. I’ve managed to isolate the molecule containing the gold, and now I’m trying to determine what the hell it is.”