by Talyn Scott
“I sense you shivering in your bathrobe.” They were still wearing their lounge attire. And if they were under different circumstances, he’d have her at the best boutiques to buy her anything she might need. “Come here and take my shirt.”
“Won’t help,” she whispered but he could hear her perfectly. “I’m covered in blood.”
At least, she wasn’t crying. He could not tolerate tears from her, not from his Bride. Especially if he could not wrap his arms around her gorgeous curves and comfort her. But he knew by her scent, that she was pretty much in shock. Seeing winged creatures would do that to a human.
“How’s your throat?”
“Considering an overgrown, cat-calling bat tried to bite me and then you…” Her bare foot skated across what sounded like fallen pottery, some of the broken pieces crunching beneath her sole. “Dammit.”
Swallowing against the scorching need for blood, for the very sustenance his body required to survive, he tried to breathe through his nose as a fresh waft of her blood filled the air.
He tilted his face, speaking to where he knew she stood in the shadows. “Stay put.” From her adrenalin spike, his irises were glowing just enough to scare the ever-loving shit out of her. But fighting their glow proved too taxing on his exhausted body.
“I’ll deal with it.” She stepped out a ways, half of her face still obscured in the shadows. “Just surface scratches.”
But even half of her was a sight to behold, his Bride, his Nevesta standing so near he could curl her scent over his tongue and taste a slice of heaven.
His eyes flicked to the curvature of her full hips, his fingers itching to press into her flesh. From there he would kiss and bite her until she came on his tongue, while screaming his name. “I’d feel better if I checked for myself.”
Scarlett nodded her assent. However, it took her a few tries to ask the question at the forefront of her thoughts. “Do you refer to yourselves as vampires?”
“Yes, I am vampire,” he answered more directly.
Her werewolf blue eyes flicked to a cracked window, narrowing in contemplation, where someone had taped up cardboard to keep out the cold.
Did Scarlett think she could get away from him? His fangs pulsated ruthlessly at the thought of her even trying to leave, for even considering such a stupid notion. Never would he give her up. Never would he let her go. Just let her try to get away from him! Even after only consuming a sip of her blood to mist her here, Sage could still track her easily. And after he found her? Look out Scarlett.
Yeah, she would find herself staring down his most lethal, most primitive form: a fully released, fully pissed off, Vampyr Vojak. Just the thought of pinning Scarlett beneath him after a long chase made his cock rage and elongate, even thickening with what was left of his body’s blood.
When they came toe-to-toe, to her credit, she didn’t look away but held his predatory gaze. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted her by the waist and sat her on a double-stacked crate. Even though she made that desperate sound in the back of her throat again, she didn’t move when he lowered to one knee and gently slid his fingertip across her bloody sole.
“That’s it, Scarlett?” Sage protracted a claw, and, right on cue, she flinched. But he continued as if it were an everyday occurrence, to have him pick out her glass with a claw. “No more questions for me?”
She stared at him hard, only wincing a time or two when he dug out a particularly deep shard. “What was that thing with wings?”
“Vun was also vampire.”
One of her eyebrows hiked up. “Was?”
“I killed him.”
She started chewing her bottom lip, sucking at it first, then working her front teeth over the reddened flesh. He nearly jumped up on that crate and parted her thighs, to nibble and suck on her lower lips in the same way. “In my world, humans go to jail for killing other humans.”
“He was going to take you.” Releasing her foot, he stood in front of her, the double stacked crates nearly brought them to eye level. “I couldn’t let that happen.”
“I understand that logic; he wasn’t going to let me go. But that doesn’t answer my question, because I don’t know the laws by which you abide.” Her sharp teeth sank deeper into her lip and his seed revived up, readying to stake a claim. One day soon, he thought, she would bite him, too. Once he made her his vampiress, that is. “Are you in trouble now?”
“You sound like Roman, an attorney.”
“I’m a paralegal.”
Sage nodded. “Bestra would also visit me, when he came to see you on Captiva Island.”
“He’s tied up in all of this mess, isn’t he?”
“In a way, yes.”
“Then answer my question.”
“What question?” he continued to evade.
She batted away his hands when he tried to help her down. It was comical really, how she flushed. He guessed her weight to top one fifty max, and her height roughly five feet eight. Sage stood six feet seven, his weight almost three hundred pounds. So why would she consider him too weak to lift her, when he’d just offed a vampire far larger than he was?
She managed to jump down, almost catching her bathrobe on the crate. “The authorities of your kind, are they coming after you?”
“In North America, I am a Vampyr Vojak, a warrior who is considered one of the authorities.” He’d spotted a bathroom beneath a staircase going to a residential loft, and urged her that way. If the pipes weren’t frozen, he could get the shower running. “But even though I had a reason, I killed one of our prince’s hunters, called a Lovec.”
“Lovec, yes I heard that part.”
“When they travel with one another, sometimes in a flock, we refer to them in plural: Lovci.”
“So if this Lovec belonged to your prince?” She left that thought hanging, her mind working the details.
“No one really gets away with killing an officer from the monarchy, unless the Lovec has turned rogue.”
She swiped at her temple with the back of her hand, displaying that delicate vein on her inner wrist he loved. How it toyed with him! His fangs throbbed for another taste, for a scant drop. “I take it, rogue in your world is considered a lawbreaker.”
“Yes.”
“What he did to me, wasn’t considered an act of lawlessness?”
“To me and my brothers-n-arms, yes. To Prince Volos and his monarchy, he gives freer reign to Lovci and Gryphs - winged cousins of Lovci who guard the Dynasty Empire.”
“Your prince allows women to be manhandled and taken at will?” She looked like she was going to throw up. “I can’t believe that.”
“Prince Volos would kill anyone who hurt a female,” he corrected. “But he allows his Lovci to hunt females called Donors. They are born from mixed blood.”
“Mixed blood?”
“Humans who, somewhere along the line, descend from one or several factions. These Donors have specific blood required by Dynasty Vampyrs, because those particular vampires can feed from no other.”
She brought her hand to her throat, thinking. “What happens if they do feed from others?”
“If the Dynasty Vampyr is a pureblood, his bite is toxic. Plus, he cannot survive on any other blood but that of a Donor.”
She leaned against the wall. “So these Donors are hot property.”
His Nevesta’s intelligence fueled his pride in her. “Rare and precious,” he agreed. “Unfortunately, Donor blood is rapturously addictive to any vampire who isn’t of the Dynasty.”
“A living, breathing drug,” Scarlett said with sad disdain.
Sage placed his hand above her head, and leaned in. “So when a Lovec, or any other vampire, goes rogue and sells captured Donors on the black market, their blood brings in more money than any human drug cartel could possibly imagine.”
“So, on the other side, how does your prince handle these Donors?”
“He allows them to be hunted, without physical harm,” Sage explained. “When they ar
e captured, they’re kept in gilded cages like pampered pets. They are left wanting for nothing — ”
“But their freedom,” she cut in harshly.
“Exactly.” He had to tell her the truth. Roman was going to do it anyway, and at least she would understand they were nothing like Volos or any rogue. “This is why Roman and I work behind the lines of our jobs.”
“You’re double agents?” she shook her head “That terminology doesn’t sound right.”
“Humans would call us mercenaries.” Carefully, he brought his opposite hand over her head, both of his palms flat on the wall behind her. Getting her used to a closer proximity between them. “Our problem with the word mercenaries is that we never keep the money we’re given and always work for good, never taking any missions below ethical reproach.”
Her lips lifted, almost smiling. “You’re helping the Donors, aren’t you?”
“The ones fallen prey to the rogues, yes. My commander has also begun to help those within the monarchy, working an exchange program with Volos. It’s slow going but provides Donor alternation, so men and women can move back and forth between the human realm and the monarchy’s realm.”
“So they can fly out of their gilded cages on occasion,” she pieced it together. “It’s still sad and sick, all of it.”
“It is, but would you expect every Donor to come willingly?”
“Are you saying your race will become extinct without them?”
That was exactly what he was saying. He nodded slowly, letting it all sink in.
“So you can drink from, whom?”
“Any creature or human, but I stay away from Donor blood for obvious reasons,” Sage spoke freely, wanting her to know him. “Though my commander’s wife is a Donor and he has no issue with her blood, probably because of their bond.”
“Must she work in that exchange program?”
“Yes, Isladora was instrumental in starting the whole thing. She’s like an ambassador for her kind, though Volos won’t allow Donors to become their own faction.”
She shook her head. “So they have absolutely no say in their lives.”
“Pretty much.”
A line formed between her eyebrows. “You tasted me when you brought me here.”
“You are not a Donor,” he reassured her. “But - ”
“I’m not human, either.” He eyes grew glassy, a few tears collecting on her lashes. “Is that what you want to tell me? Save your breath,” she said on a mirthless laugh. “I’ve always felt different inside, even moved differently from others.”
“Why didn’t you talk to Bestra about it?”
“I didn’t want to hurt him,” she filled in. “I always blamed everything on my adoption, because I never knew my real parents. And Bestra? If there’s anyone who doesn’t fit the human mold, it’s my brother.” She hiked her shoulders, let them drop. “I just never managed to put my finger on his weirdness.”
“To your defense, most people wouldn’t think their weird brother was a vampire.”
She actually smiled at that, then it slipped as fast as it came. “So, I’m a little bit vampire and a whole lot human?” she inquired of her genetics.
“More like,” he paused, searching her eyes to see if she could really handle this, “a little bit werewolf and a whole lot human.” The shock humans were so famous for was sticking with her, keeping her eerily calm.
“Werewolves exist, too?”
“Don’t look like that,” he scolded with a laugh. “They don’t turn into furry wolves, exactly.”
“Then what do they do?”
“Have lots of crazy sex, with as many partners as they can find. Until they meet their one fated female, that is.”
“And then what?”
“They share her with all her mates.”
Her eyes widened, but he caught an essence of her arousal and it set fire to his balls. “Gives you something to think about, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said on a rough swallow, “it really does.”
Chapter 13
“Scarlett!” Roman walked from room to room, leaving nothing unturned in the uproar of his penthouse. “Scarlett!”
“As you can see, we had a slight problem today,” Motka said as he misted in the study, finding Roman staring over his getaway hatch. “Scarlett found Sage. But she’s okay, he misted her out of here.”
“I’ve been here for thirty minutes, and you’re just now popping back in to tell me this, like an afterthought?” Roman thought he would lose his mind. “I’m on the penthouse, and my windows blown out!”
“Wait, it gets better.” Motka handed over papers, briefing Roman thoroughly on Edik and Vun, and their unfortunate threats.
Though he’d just fed, the heat of fresh blood warming him from the inside out, Roman’s body turned completely cold at the thought of Sage dealing with Edik. It was like losing Elissa all over again. “How are we going to stop him? I know nothing of this werewolf taking Edik’s supposed female. And I’m not about to hand a female over to Edik, anyway.”
“I agree, but one of two things will happen.” Motka gave him a look. “One, some or all of us are going down; two, Edik is bluffing.”
“Whatever happens, we need to present a case for Volos’ court. That is, if he even entertains such a thing.” Mostly, if mercenaries or rogues were brought to the attention of court, Volos killed them with great fanfare, setting an example for the rest of his monarchy. He’d never known the prince to conduct a hearing, though.
“Oh,” Motka added, “I forgot to tell you that Sage found his Bride today.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I wish.”
“After all this nonsense went down today, does Scarlett know what Sage is, or what we are?”
Motka shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t explain anything, but considering Sage bared his fangs and claws while avowing to mark her, she doesn’t suspect he’s human. And that was all before the Lovci showed up.”
This was beyond a nightmare. This was Roman looking up from the bottom. “I was going to explain everything to Scarlett, during this visit.”
“I know.” Motka knotted a thick scarf around his throat. “I also know how much you love Scarlett. Hell, I cannot recall the last time you even touched another female.” He buttoned his coat. “I don’t understand your restraint. But if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”
“A love I will suffer.” Roman readjusted the small bookshelf and rug, hiding his escape passage. “Sage will try and take Scarlett from me, not that I exactly have her.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You’ll see.” Roman leaned against the desk, tossing the evidence Edik left inside his satchel. “Since you are a pure blood of the monarchy, you never have to worry about vampire hierarchy.”
“There are stations within the Dynasty Empire that I will never achieve,” Motka corrected. “Most of our royal placements are decided by birth, not from Prince Volos giving us any earned rank.”
“But if you found your chosen bride, what are the chances another Dynasty Vampyr, one of higher ranking, would find that same female and claim her from beneath you?”
Motka stayed silent.
“That’s what I thought.” Roman stared at his feet a moment. “I may have attained enviable wealth and prestige in the human world, even partly in the vampire world, but I’m no Vampyr Vojak.”
“Sage considers you family. I’ve heard of vampires sharing their Brides in the way of werwolves, if only to better protect the females.” Motka shrugged. “Sage is a warrior, as you pointed out, and I also understand he’s second to the commanding Vojak of North America.”
“Yes.”
“Even without Edik’s threats or Sage’s mercenary missions, Sage’s Vojak work is dangerous, to say the least,” Motka continued. “And he must be away from home for lengthy amounts of time, given that he pursued a criminal all the way to Russia. There’s a case in there for you, Roman. State it with Sage. Mak
e him see the benefits of sharing Scarlett.”
“Spoken like a true attorney.”
Motka’s lip curled. “Spoken like the best attorney. Now, hunt Sage by your blood and do as you’re told.” He started misting away. “I’m catching a plane. Bestra needs my help. While traveling, I’ll try to figure out this Edik catastrophe.”
“Obliged, Motka.”
Pulling from his senses, hunting his blood within a five mile radius. Roman easily picked up on Sage, and started misting to his location.
“Do you think Roman’s okay?”
“Yes.” Sage stared down at Scarlett. “Though I’m sure he’s worried sick over you.”
“I love him.”
“I figured as much,” he said, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her cheek.
“Then why do I feel… ” Like I want both of you, she wanted to finish but couldn’t.
“Not ready to ask me, or completely changed your mind?”
“Neither one, I merely think I need to calm down first.” Though her body was arguing. “That Lovec rattled me more than I realized.”
“Stay calm.” Sage tugged her inside the bathroom, his sheer size swallowing all available space within the tight confines. He glanced around at the gray cabinets and white tile, inhaling deeply while cocking his head as though concentrating on something far away. “We should be okay here for the night. Only humans are near,” he explained, refocusing on her. Those brilliant eyes moved up and down her body, not leering but contemplating. “Get cleaned up.”
Maybe she shouldn’t ask but… “What are you thinking?”
“I’ll let you know when it’s worth sharing.”
“We’re not out of the woods by a long shot, are we?” Scarlett uncurled her hands from her front pockets and grimaced at the sight of dried blood beneath her fingernails.
“Let me worry about it.”
“That’s it? All you have to say is let you worry about it? I’m not some — ”