by K Loraine
The cabin was exactly what I’d expected. One main room held the kitchen, dining, and living areas. Exposed beams, dark and rustic, a small kitchen table with a red gingham tablecloth draped over the wood, an ancient television was nestled in the corner of the room with a rabbit ear antenna positioned on top. I’d lived in places like this once upon a time. But it was such a contrast to the splendor of the Blackthorne’s manor house. “If you own this place, why don’t they have nicer things?”
He shook his head. “I don’t interfere in their lives. They know about us. They are prepared to host a vampire in need. But the rest is up to them.”
“Thank you for stopping,” I said.
“It’s my fault you’re here at all. Now it’s my job to give you what you need.”
He opened the door to the right of the small kitchen and revealed a tidy bedroom, but didn’t take me to the bed. Instead, he shoved aside the huge oak bookcase in the corner and revealed a secret panel. “As I said, they are prepared to host us.”
The door opened and Cash led me down a darkened staircase. It was cold and smelled of damp earth and cement. The door closed behind us, sealing us in total darkness and on instinct, my heart began racing.
“It’s all right, little bird. Hold tight to me. We’re nearly there.” His voice was soothing, and I let it wrap around me like a blanket as I did exactly what he told me. Soon, the stairs became level ground, and a soft light appeared at the end of a short hall.
“You do love your secret passageways.”
He chuckled. “We like to lurk in the dark. You never know what kind of mischief you’ll find.”
Then, without warning, he pressed me against the cool wall and kissed me. His lips on mine washed away everything we’d just been through. The kiss was a welcome distraction. A reminder that we had each other. A moan built in my throat as his tongue begged entrance to my mouth.
I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and kissed him just as deep as he did me. I wanted this man in every way. I wanted to bond with him, to be his, and for him to be mine. Strong hands worked their way from my waist down to my hips and then cupped my ass. I groaned against him and he lifted me until I wrapped my thighs around him. The steel length of his erection nestled between my legs, brushing the place I wanted him the most.
“I won’t lie and tell you I wish you’d had time to change clothes before we left,” he murmured, kissing his way down my throat. He toyed with the thin strap of my camisole before rolling his hips. His shaft ground against me through the thin fabric of my silk sleep pants.
“Right now, I wish I didn’t have anything on.”
His teeth grazed my collarbone and he let out a pained noise. “Tonight I’m going to have you. Not because I’m ordered to, but because if I don’t, I might combust.”
My eyes rolled back in my head and I cried out when his fingers slipped under my camisole and brushed my nipple. He backed away from the wall, taking me with him as he opened the door and turned on the lights in the secret vampire shelter. It was nothing more than a cement room with a large bed, but it was all we needed. No windows, no danger.
“We’ll be safe here until we can make a better plan,” he said, his voice rough with need.
I nodded and stared into his endlessly dark irises. “Cashel, I want you.”
“Fuck, yes. I won’t be able to wait for you much longer.”
“Good.”
He laid me across the bed and slid my pants over my hips, down my legs, and off my body before tossing them on the floor. I was already slick and primed for him. I had been nearly every moment we were together since our tryst in the library. Like he was toying with me, he kissed his way up my leg, starting at the inner part of my ankle and working toward my center.
“Cash,” I whined, needing so much more from him.
“I want to make sure you’re ready for me,” he murmured.
“I am. I’m so ready.”
His finger slid up my inner thigh, only to part my slit and sink inside my waiting body. “God, you are.”
“Please,” I whispered.
In one fluid movement, he sat up and pulled his shirt over his head, baring his glorious chest before ridding himself of his pants. Then he knelt on the bed, naked and straining with arousal. His cock jutted forward as if searching for me, glistening at the tip, evidence of his own raging desire. We didn’t speak. He stared at me as though I was his entire world, and I nearly lost myself in his eyes. As he sank inside me, my breath caught, and he faltered, concern flashing across his features. But I bucked my hips and took him all the way into me, moaning at the absolute fullness, the divine pleasure of our bodies joining.
We moved together, hands linked, eyes locked, our love rising and crashing like ocean waves meeting a cliff face. This was different from anything we’d done together. This was pure magic. Something like panic flickered in his eyes as he groaned and grew harder inside me. My orgasm built with each thrust, and soon I was over the edge, clenching around him as I fell. He called my name, his fangs extending as his own release came for him. But just before he spilled himself inside me, he pulled out, coming with a ragged groan of tortured pleasure.
“God, why didn’t we do that sooner?” I asked.
He chuckled, resting his forehead on my shoulder. “Because I was a kidnapping asshole who wanted to eat you?”
“Oh, right. I hated you.”
He traced my breast with the tip of his finger and rolled to his side. “Do you still?”
I frowned. “Hate you?”
“Yes.”
“No. Not even a small bit.”
He pressed a kiss to my shoulder and scooted up the bed until he was able to pull me into his embrace. “That’s good, because somewhere along the line in all this, I fell in love with you.”
My chest tightened and, dammit, my throat closed up. The only other person I ever loved died and left me alone. If I loved Cashel, I could lose him. Instead of uttering the words, I nestled against him and kissed his chest. If it hurt him that I didn’t respond, he never said anything. But he had eternity, maybe he would be able to wait for me to be ready.
22
Olivia
We’d been at the cabin for the last two nights, spending more time than I’d like underground, in hiding. I woke more than once with nightmares of Elias and Callum attacking us. Of the vampire council burning our sanctuary to the ground with us inside. Of them ripping Cashel away from me and chaining him up in silver. He was in danger because of me, because of what he did for me. How could I expect him to live like this?
Today I woke with him soundly sleeping next to me, just like every time, but he was more still, more like a vampire than what I’d witnessed since we arrived. He’d warned me my blood was wearing off. The weight of the sun would make him near dead to the world once it was all out of his system, but he refused to feed again. I needed to replenish my supply, to recover fully before he could take from me.
Brushing his dark hair away from his forehead, I pressed a kiss to his lips and grabbed his discarded shirt off the floor, slipping it over my head. “I love you,” I whispered, testing the words on my lips. They felt real and right. When he woke, I’d tell him the truth about Logan. It was time for him to know why I’d made him think I betrayed him.
I left our bedroom and secured the door behind me, making my way up the cold stone stairs with bare feet. It took a lot of effort, but I managed to put the bookcase back into place before going into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. The sun was high in the sky, shining into the open windows. It was a beautiful day, blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. Picture perfect and the kind of day I’d have spent sitting outside with a book. Except I couldn’t do that now.
The crack of wood breaking had me reaching for the largest kitchen knife I could find. I spun around, facing the door and watched as Logan entered, stake in one hand, dagger in the other.
“Olivia,” he breathed. His chest rose and fell with harsh
gasps as he looked around the small space. “Where is he? Where is the bastard?”
“Logan, what are you doing? Get out of here.”
He strode toward me, gaze intense and angry. “No. I left you with him once, I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Stop it. You don’t need to save me. Cashel got me out of there. I’m free of them.”
“You don’t understand. He’s worse than the rest of them. He’s controlling you and you don’t even know it. Have you let him bite you? Has he given you his blood?”
He stepped closer, setting the stake down on the table before reaching for me. “Logan, you shouldn’t be here.”
“No. You shouldn’t be here. Tell me where he is. I’ll kill him and you’ll be safe.”
I raised the knife in my hand and held it out, a defensive gesture I wasn’t sure would do much good. “You won’t touch him. I am safe. I’m out of that house. Elias Blackthorne is dead.”
“And you think that makes you safe?”
“I’m safer than I was.”
“No.” He laughed, a dark disbelieving sound and he ran a hand through his hair. “You have no idea. He’s got you so twisted you don’t even realize you’re in bed with your mother’s killer.”
My gut churned. “That’s not true.”
“Are you so sure? Elias Blackthorne sent his son to find your mother and when he did, he killed her instead of controlling his hunger. Then he came for you.”
I couldn’t deny it was possible. What Cashel and I had started out of fear. He held me in captivity. He used me for my blood. But he killed his father for me. He saved me. “He…no, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I do. How many times has he controlled your mind without you knowing, Olivia? How many bites with no pain?”
A shiver of fear ran down my spine.
“It should hurt. Every time.”
I thought back to the times Elias stole my blood. The pain had been excruciating. But with Cashel, even something not wrapped in sensuality, like a needle stick, hadn’t hurt. Had he been meddling with my mind all this time? “He…” I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “Cashel, he loves me.”
“Like he loved Eliana?”
“How do you know about her?”
Sadness filled his eyes. “She’s famous in our world. Stolen from the hunter’s camp right out from under their noses. By the end, her mind was so broken by Cashel there was no coming back. Even if they’d managed to get her.” He rested his fingers on mine. “He’s a monster. He can’t love anyone without killing them. Come with me. Leave this behind. We’ll burn this place to the ground and you’ll never have to see another vampire as long as you live.”
I didn’t know what to do. How to process everything he’d just told me. Cashel couldn’t be responsible for my mother’s death. He couldn’t. He loved me. He’d just told me, promised his undying devotion. If he had killed her, I would have known. I would have figured it out. Wouldn’t I?
“I know he has to be hiding here somewhere. I found his car. I found you. Let me help you get free of them.”
“Why?” I asked, tears burning my throat.
“What?”
“Why help me?”
“Because you’re a human. You’re my responsibility. Just like every human around you. That’s what hunters do. We protect our kind from monsters.”
“Cashel isn’t—”
“He is. They all are.”
I jerked back, not wanting him to see the fear in my eyes. “He’s never hurt me.”
“He will. He will ruin you.”
“If I go with you, he will find me. My blood—”
“What if I told you we can fix you? We can make your blood normal, then he won’t want you anymore.”
That hurt. It made my chest ache. I wasn’t ready to admit he might be right. “He’ll always want me.”
“Are you so sure? Why hasn’t he bonded with you yet? If he wants you, he should have made you his and ruined your blood for others. He hasn’t done that.”
Doubt wormed its way into my mind. “He’s waiting.”
“For what? To sell you to the highest bidder. To brainwash you and make you his blood slave. To hold you as his possession and keep you as a prize. Pick one, Olivia. Better yet, pick them all. He used you to take out the one thing in his way. Now he’s the King. He didn’t have to run. He has the blood of the sun. He has the throne. He played you and convinced you to be loyal to him.”
I couldn’t tell him about the cure for sun sickness. That I was the one who could keep the disease from spreading. “He started out that way, but things have changed.”
“No, they haven’t. You’re blinded by him.” His eyes held such pity and I felt like a fool. “He’ll keep getting his hooks in you deeper and deeper until he’s able to take everything you have. Now put down your knife and let me do my damn job.”
Glancing down at my hand, I saw the knife, still extended, shaking, and pointed at him. I dropped the blade and let it clatter on the table between us.
“Go outside.”
Fear blossomed in my belly, working its way through my veins. I couldn’t let him hurt Cash. “No. People live in this house. They’re normal people. You can’t destroy it.”
“If they’re hiding vampires, they’re our enemies.”
“Then I’m your enemy.”
“Maybe you are.” Then he rushed me. Shoulder first, he crashed into my belly and lifted me in a fireman carry. I screamed, kicked and thrashed, but he was stronger. “I should have just done this in the first place.”
23
Cashel
I woke to the uneasy stillness of an empty house. Olivia was gone. I couldn’t hear her heart, sense her, smell her. Racing upstairs, I shoved the bookcase aside and searched the cabin. Nothing. Not a trace of her with the exception of a kitchen knife on the table and a wooden stake on the floor.
She had been taken. A hunter came for her. Or did she go with him willingly? No. She hadn’t said the words, but I knew her feelings for me were stronger than she admitted. This couldn’t have all been a lie. She hadn’t left with me just to run away with Logan. Had she?
My fangs elongated as anger boiled in my blood. I had to get her back. I had to return her to me. She was mine in every way, and no one was going to keep us apart.
I stepped out of the house, ready to give chase, to do what I could to track her. Instead, blinding pain greeted me as a net of silver chain was flung in my face.
Shackles clanked closed around my wrists, and even through the pain, I fought.
“Cashel Blackthorne, you stand accused of treason and will stand trial before the council.”
The End…for now
Volume Two
Blood Traitor
1
Cashel
Searing pain raced through my nerve endings, lighting them on fire with each jolt of the moving car. “Where are you taking me?” I bit out through a throat tight with anguish while attempting to shrug the silver net off my body.
I needed to get away, to get to my little bird before that hunter ruined her. She was mine. He had no claim on her.
No one answered me in the dark. The vehicle moved quickly, flying down the road with such speed only a vampire could be driving. My own kind had come for me. They’d found me. They were going to make me pay for my crimes.
“Answer me, you fucking asshole,” I yelled into the silence.
Still nothing. The scents all around me were clouded by industrial odors of oil and gasoline, steel and rubber. I couldn’t get a good sense of who it was I was dealing with, but from the words I’d heard before I was tossed into the back of this van, I assumed the council had found me. The council who was instrumental in the deaths of so many before me. Executions of all who were found to be traitors to the throne held by the once formidable king, Elias Blackthorne—my father.
I faded in and out of consciousness during the drive, disoriented and miserable. A blinding light
burned in my eyes, jolting me back to reality as I was pulled from the the van and into a courtyard I knew all too well. Hollybrook. We were standing in the executioner’s circle at Hollybrook Estate, home to the vampire council. My stomach curled. They didn’t understand.
“Cashel Blackthorne,” a low voice rumbled. “You stand accused of murder, treason, and treachery upon your own blood. The penalty for these is death. What do you have to say in your defense?”
The silver net was dragged off me, skin going with it in small, sizzling patches. I winced, not allowing myself to cry out as my raw body wanted me to. “My father was mad. Driven insane by the final stages of sun sickness.”
“And yet you didn’t restrain him. You didn’t do anything to help him.”
My eyes grew accustomed to my surroundings, the effect of the silver dwindling with every passing moment. Seven hooded figures stood around me, all holding swords in their gloved hands. I could smell the deadly metal. A single strike of one of those sterling blades would burn straight through me. There would be no coming back from that. “Answer, Blackthorne. Answer for your crimes.”
“I did what I could to save him.”
The figure in front of me shook his head. “I can taste the lie on your tongue. The council is well aware of what you did. You took the blood of the sun for yourself. Killed your father and brother. Planned to take the Blackthorne crown.”
Was he right? Possibly. My father had used me for far too long to get what he wanted. He’d abused Olivia, manipulated me, and there was no telling how far he’d have taken his obsession with breeding her.
“You know nothing,” I spat. My hands balled into fists as anger worked its way to the forefront of my mind.
“Tell us, where is the blood of the sun?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve hidden her away. Taken her from all of us for your own devices.”