She seemed… soft. Another American queen who wouldn’t be able to stand against the old queens. Too young. Too ignorant. Too… safe.
Standing, she gave me a lingering look, a bit of a frown on her lips. As if she had serious reservations about me, too. She refilled her coffee cup but didn’t return to the table. “Do we have any plans today?”
The queen. Asking her Blood. What they were doing. I caught myself before I could shake my head.
“You should rest today, my queen,” the big alpha said, his eyes narrowed with concern, even though he’d been the one killed—by her—this morning.
I stood and followed her to the next room with her other Blood, my mind whirling.
Shara picked up an old book on the table, but didn’t sit down. She didn’t say anything, but her alpha glanced at the other two and they disappeared a moment. He sat in the corner of the sofa with his leg up on the cushion, and she settled into his embrace, leaning back against him. The other young Blood tucked them in with a blanket and the knight brought a phone to her.
Guillaume de Payne. Even I had heard of him. That he served at her side definitely made me reconsider her potential stature. She’d managed to call him as Blood when he hadn’t served a queen in a hundred years.
Scanning her messages, she jerked upright. “There’s a man here asking to speak to the queen. At least he doesn’t know my name.”
“Is he Blood?” Alrik asked.
She closed her eyes, and goose bumps dotted my arms. I felt the brush of her mind sweeping through me like a ghostly phantom.
“No. Well, I don’t think so.” She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “I don’t feel him, but I don’t feel you, either Xin.”
She didn’t feel me. I didn’t know what she meant.
My skin prickled harder and I scented her magic rising. I went down to my knees, submitting to whatever test she wanted to run me through. The more power she displayed, the more I’d be convinced I should be here, rather than finding the New Orleans queen to rate her power. Or perhaps I should have followed rumors of the other queen to Mexico…
A wave of energy slammed into me. I shuddered with bliss, my fangs aching. Sweet power. She had plenty of magic to spare. But power wasn’t enough to hold court in America, let alone establish herself against the Triune. Power wouldn’t be enough to hold me, either.
“Let me in,” she whispered aloud. “Or I cannot allow you to stay.”
I opened my eyes, meeting her gaze. “I don’t know what you mean, my queen.”
“Rik burns like Vesuvius, a volcano ready to erupt at a moment’s notice. I can see him with my eyes closed. Daire prowls in my mind like his warcat, his fur winding around me even if I’m not touching him. All I have to do is think of G and I hear his horse hooves thundering in the night. I heard him before he swore his oaths and gave me his blood. But you…” She didn’t rise or move, but I felt that brush again, as if she touched me. “I feel nothing. I can see you kneeling here, but I can’t feel you at all. Did another queen send you to me?”
“No, my queen. Wu Tien dissolved her bond and returned to China.”
“Are you a thrall?”
Taken aback, I fought to keep my face smooth, my tone normal. “Of course not. You would know.”
“Would I?” She asked Rik over her shoulder.
“Yes. You felt Greyson, and he didn’t feel like us.”
She gave me another long look of consideration. “He’s so good at hiding, though. Maybe he’s a thrall and is just trying to get close to me.”
Now the big alpha gave me a suspicious look, his shoulders tensing. One gigantic arm curved around his queen, keeping her close to the protection of his body. “One or two human victims, maybe. Any more than that and he’d have a taint, a stench on him.”
The gnawing hole in my midsection expanded. Urgency tightened inside me like a bow, but I didn’t know why. “I’m not a thrall. If you wish to sample my blood first—”
“I won’t taste someone I don’t trust. I learned that lesson already.”
I had no idea what she meant. If she wasn’t willing to share her blood with me, then it was a waste of time for me to stay. I didn’t want to be a sib, even if one of these Blood were willing to feed me. I tried to go to the door. I really did. I would just leave. New Orleans wasn’t that far away. If that queen wasn’t interested…
My body would not move. An inch. Panic welled within me, as if the walls were slowly moving in, trapping me. Was she holding me here? Or was it someone else? Her goddess? I’d never felt like this before. Like I would rip apart if I didn’t stay here. Right here. With her.
The younger feline Blood suddenly jerked to attention like someone had stuck a knife in his back. “It’s Kendall.”
The big alpha growled and squeezed her so hard against him that she squirmed in his grip. “Fuck.”
15
Shara
Rik squeezed me so hard my ribs creaked. “Kendall who?”
He loosened his grip enough for me to breathe, but kept me tight against him. Even squeezing me harder between his thighs, as if he’d just enfold me with his entire body. “Skye.”
His former queen. Daire had a guilty, panicked look on his face and he quivered as if he had fever chills. “He’s asking. He wants. Fuck.”
Alarm shrilled through me. I pulled free of Rik—actually he more moved with me, still pressed against me as I stood—and reached up to cup Daire’s face in my palms. I closed my eyes and felt for his bond.
His fur bristled instead of flowed, his beast all teeth and claws and terror. Instead of rumbling a purr of pleasure, the warcat hissed a warning and curled away from me.
Protecting me.
From what?
“Kendall was our sib,” Rik said. “He’s a lower Blood, but we both have a blood bond with him.”
Have. Not had.
Sweat beaded on Daire’s upper lip. I reached deeper inside him again, ignoring his warcat’s snarl. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I touched his bond again, looking for anything new or different. He felt the same to me, our bond strong and sure. But underneath it… There was a shadow. It was like walking into your dark bedroom as a kid, and feeling the certainty that something was watching you. Waiting for you to crawl into bed. In fact, it was under the bed. Creepy eyes staring out at you. A claw ready to snag your ankle as you ran and jumped for the bed.
“He’s in you,” I whispered.
Daire whimpered and gave a short, jerky nod.
The implications were staggering. After nearly contaminating myself with Marne’s blood, I’d known it could be dangerous. I just hadn’t realized that even sibs had blood bonds that connected back to the queen. That anyone who’d ever fed my Blood prior to them coming to me would still have a bond unless they were dead. I’d assumed my bond took over, or wiped them out.
We shared our thoughts and feelings through that bond. I could talk to them without anyone knowing. Like Xin, and my doubts about why he was here. I could give them orders…
My heart raced. “Can he command you?”
“He’s trying,” Rik said, his tone grim. “Or Keisha’s trying through him.”
“Can they get to you?”
“Never. I’m alpha. He can’t touch me.”
But he could touch Daire. I looked deeply into his eyes and hardened my bond inside him. I glistened like hard, cold steel. “I’m your queen, Daire. You’re mine. You’re stronger now, remember? My power is yours. They can’t touch you.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “But he’s still in me, and I don’t want to fail you again.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants to talk to you.” His trembling settled a bit, his voice stronger. “He swears he means you no harm.”
G snorted. “I would not take it as a solemn oath, my queen. From what I can sense, he’s barely more than a pup, a bit older than our Daire. His honor won’t mean much to him.”
Our Daire. It made him stand taller, more assur
ed, though his eyes still had a haunted look to them. He knew the monster was under the bed better than all of us. Even if we were all there with him.
“Okay. Here’s our options as I see it.” I paused a moment, letting every alternative light up in my mind, playing it out like a movie. “I’m pretty sure I could burn him out of Daire.”
He nodded hard. “Yes, please. I want him out.”
Xin took a step closer, making Rik rumble out a warning. “I don’t believe that’s possible, my queen.”
I tipped my head to the side, running through exactly how I’d do it. I already had a bond with Daire. I’d give him more blood, watch the way my magic flowed into him, and then I’d light up that fucker that was hiding under my bond. I’d burn him out just like I’d done to Greyson.
G whistled softly. “That might just do it, my queen. Though it’ll probably hurt like hell and you might have to do some serious healing for him when you’re done.”
“It’d be worth it,” Daire said. “Even if I burn too. I know you can heal me.”
Xin’s shoulders were tight, his face drawn, looking from G to me and back again. “What? How?”
For the moment, I was very glad I didn’t have a bond with him yet. He was acting so strange. Even when G had first come to me, and I’d been so worried that he might try and kill Rik, I had still felt him. I’d heard his hoofbeats. I’d seen him on the tapestry that rolled through my mind.
Xin was still a blank. Even with him standing so closely.
“I won’t accept him as Blood, if that’s what he’s offering. Not happening. I refuse to give Keisha Skye eyes and ears into my nest once we move. So we can send him away now, without even talking to him. Or I can talk to him politely and send him away with some vague political correctness to ensure Keisha doesn’t try for us yet until we’re stronger. Or…” I hesitated, not quite sure what my Blood would think. “We can kill him outright.”
Xin’s head whipped around and he stared at me intently. I definitely had his attention. Maybe he was thinking about whether I’d kill him too.
Rik’s bond didn’t waver in the slightest. Rock hard, steady, and sure. And yeah, pretty fucking proud of me. :My fearless queen.:
Aloud, he said, “There would be ramifications. He’s not a high or close Blood, but Keisha would not take his loss lightly, especially when she sent him to you.”
The fucking arrogance. To send a Blood to me as if I couldn’t get my own. Or I’d be too stupid to know that she’d have a hook in me, then. Or maybe it was all a ruse and they intended to wipe us out now before I could gain enough power to stake my territory. That I’d allow them to waltz in without hesitation… or worse, be too scared to fight. No fucking way. “If she thinks that she can send someone into my house and hurt one of my Blood, then fuck the ramifications. I’ll light him up before he can step foot in my door.”
G moved slightly, like he was going to flick a piece of lint off his shoulder. And a knife gleamed in his hand. “I can chop off his head.”
“Or I can use my gift and kill him before he even knows he’s in danger,” Xin said, his voice tight and sharp with… desperation. At least that’s what it sounded like to me.
Was he so desperate to win a spot at my side? Or desperate that he prove himself so he could get closer… for some nefarious reason?
:No way to know unless you taste his blood.: Rik whispered in my head. :Then he will have no secrets from you.:
:Or I might give him, or some other queen, a foothold into my mind. Is that what Kendall wants?:
:Very likely.:
:Not fucking happening.:
I looked at each of my Blood, and then Xin. I had to decide about him. I didn’t like that he was an unknown while we were facing an external threat.
He came closer and dropped to his knees before me, his palms on his thighs. On the surface, he looked relaxed and calm, but I sensed a sharpness around him, like the whisper-soft sound of a blade being drawn from one of G’s hiding places.
“Burn me up if you must, my queen. Or poison me with your cobra. Whatever you must do to assure yourself that I’m worthy of becoming your Blood. I’ll do it.”
I didn’t take his words lightly. He’d seen what I’d done to Rik this morning. Just the thought of doing it again nauseated me. I looked at Daire first, assessing how he was holding up. I didn’t want to waste time with Xin if we had to get rid of Kendall sooner than later. “Can he hear or see what you do? Or can Keisha see through him?”
Daire’s eyes widened and his head tipped slightly, as if he was listening. “No. I don’t think so.”
But we couldn’t be sure. “G, I want you close, but out of sight. I’m going to assume they know about Daire and Rik, since they were in the Skye court. But I’d rather them not know how many Blood I have, or who they are.”
G bowed low and headed for the kitchen. “If you need me, I’ll come like the wind.”
I looked at Xin, still not sure about him. I didn’t feel anything when I looked at him. Would that change once we had a bond? Or was I just not attracted to him? I didn’t think I could bear this distance with a Blood. Not after having Daire and Rik, and now G, so tightly interwoven with me. Their hunger, their desire. Did Xin feel anything at all when he looked at me? I couldn’t tell.
But I didn’t want to ask, either, for fear that would make me look weak and desperate in his eyes too.
He turned his head aside, offering me his throat.
I stared at him. My hunger definitely stirred. But I’d almost tasted that human’s blood too. G had helped me understand the significance of offering throat. Xin was willing. He came of his own free will.
Rik slid his arm around me and turned me toward him. “I’ll be the first to feel your new fangs, my queen. Then you can decide about him.”
I didn’t remind him that he’d already felt my cobra’s fangs. Because I’d hurt him badly. Cupping the back of my head, he drew me close, cradling me against him. His skin like hot velvet against my face. His smoke and hot iron scent twisting like a knife through my stomach. My mouth ached and I felt the fangs descending. It made me shiver, goose bumps racing down my arms. My nerves screamed with sensation. I wanted my skin against his, every inch of me tight against him. Even better if his cock was deep inside me too.
He let out a low groan and tipped his hips more firmly against me, lifting me more fully against his erection.
I tried to be gentle. I wanted to be tender after hurting him this morning as the cobra. But once I opened my mouth and air hit those fangs, I couldn’t wait. I slammed my fangs deep into his throat. The rush of hot, rich blood made me shudder against him, my heart exploding with adrenaline.
I was inside him. I’d finally claimed him. He was mine and mine alone. His blood poured into me, stirring my hunger. Power surged through me, coursing through our shared bonds. As alpha, he always had an extra kick that the other Blood didn’t have, but this time…
Maybe it was the venom I’d pumped him with this morning, but I couldn’t get enough. He tasted downright decadent, and the power…
It’d never been like this.
The floor rattled beneath my feet. The chandelier tinkled above us. And the power surged higher with no end in sight.
I stood in the center of a molten volcano. Lava pulsed and glowed all around me. Through me. Heavy, thick, sweet power. It stroked inside me, filling me impossibly full. And every swallow of Rik’s blood brought me closer to climax.
Just from feeding.
I tried to pull back a little and contain the pleasure soaring through me, but my alpha would have none of that. My pleasure was in reach and he wanted it. Badly. He hauled me up harder against him, drawing my thighs around his waist.
With his dick pressed against my core, I couldn’t hold back my pleasure. Climax poured through me, lighting up our bonds like a fireworks factory accident.
Rik groaned, his big hands kneading my ass.
If we didn’t have an audience, both inside
and outside waiting to talk to me, I probably would have pushed him down on the couch and had my wicked way with him.
Reluctantly, he let me slide back down to my feet. :Anytime, my queen.:
Daire bumped my thigh with his head, but didn’t otherwise touch me. He’d gone to his knees beside Xin, who stared at me like he’d seen a ghost. At least that was my first thought. His face was pale and drawn, his hands gripping his thighs so fiercely the veins stood out in grim relief on his forearms and the backs of his hands.
Yet he said nothing.
With power flooding my system, I focused on him and cupped his face in my hands. I couldn’t sink into him like Daire, not without a bond, but surely all this power had to be good for something. Touching him made my fangs ache. They were still distended and I didn’t know how to hold my mouth without stabbing myself. Blood dripped down my sweater since I couldn’t close my lips very well.
Closing my eyes, I focused my other senses on him. It took me a moment to block out the roaring volcano and the rumbling, purring warcat who were so near. Again, it was almost like searching for an absence, rather than his presence. A bit like Greyson, when he’d tried to hide from me, but Xin was different. He wasn’t trying to hide. He was right here, his jaws working beneath my hand, his body shimmering with barely suppressed violence.
Holding my breath, I let my mind touch that silent absence. It—he—resisted a moment, like a bubble that I had to push through. A shadowy fog that lingered at dawn, waiting for the sunlight to grow fierce enough to penetrate. He wasn’t actively blocking me—he just needed… It was close…
Falling. Like I’d thrown myself off the Empire State Building. I clutched his face harder, holding on to that physical reference. Winds rushed through me, making my eyes water. My stomach felt like it’d slipped up into my throat with the sickening drop. He wasn’t dark or tainted, though. Just so far removed from his exterior that it took leaping off the metaphorical skyscraper to find him.
Finding his emotions was like crashing through a glass ceiling. Splinters cut through me. I read his doubt. Whether I’d be able and willing to use his thirst for deadly strategy, the quiet slice of a blade, the whisper of steel. His gift made him invisible. Literally. He’d lived unseen and unknown for centuries, slipping through Blood and guards, human and Aima, always in search of his queen’s quarry. He’d loved the hunt. He didn’t want to lose that.
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