Blood Ties Read online

  Arms slid around her as he pulled her close, her back pressing against his bare chest. “Right here, sweetheart.”

  God, if his scent had set her on fire, it was nothing compared to what his voice did to her. His skin felt divine against her back and she rubbed against him like a cat in heat, running both hands over her breasts. His cock pressed against her ass, hot and hard, and in that moment all she wanted was to feel him thrusting deep inside her. “What’s happening to me?” she whispered. “Orion, God, I want --” Her words ended on a moan as she pinched her nipples and pleasure flooded her body.

  His arms shook around her and she realized his hands were clenched into fists. “Ask me,” he whispered, his breath coming just as fast as hers. “Tell me what you want and you’ll have it. Anything.”

  She hooked her leg over his and arched her back, opening herself completely to him. “Fuck me,” she gasped. “I need you!”

  “I’m yours,” he growled in her ear as he moved at last, ramming his thick cock deep inside her. There was no foreplay, but she didn’t want foreplay. She shuddered with pleasure as he took her hard and fast, fingering her clit with one hand as the other played with her breasts, giving her exactly what she needed. She couldn’t stop screaming his name as she came hard, and almost instantly came again.

  Suddenly he stilled, his cock buried deep inside her. She could feel him throbbing and writhed, wanting him to move again. “More,” she cried, her body still burning. “Please --”

  Breathing hard, he raised his wrist to her lips. “Bite me,” he murmured in her ear. “Give in to the bloodlust, baby. Bite me and I’ll give you more. I’ll give you everything.”

  Only then did she feel the strange shape of her new fangs pressing against her lips. Instead of alarming her, his suggestion thrilled her. She was ravenous and dying for a taste of him. Catching his arm with both hands, she licked his pulse, savoring the taste of his skin before biting him.

  Orion hissed in pleasure as she drank from his wrist, and he could no longer be still. His hips surged as he thrust into her hot pussy again and again, and wished he could make this last forever. It was every fantasy he’d ever had, every secret moment of watching her and dreaming of seducing her to his bed. She was everything he’d ever wanted, and he opened his mind to her so she could feel the incredible pleasure she gave him.

  And when he met the pure, sweet lust that filled her mind, he couldn’t resist the need to have another taste of her.

  The instant her blood touched his tongue, he was lost. Sensation overwhelmed them both in an orgasm so intense, stars burst behind his closed eyes.

  Long minutes later, Kira turned in his arms and rested her head against his chest, snuggling against him. “Wow,” she whispered as he cradled her close. “Will it be like that with all my lovers, now that I’m a vampire?”

  His warm lassitude evaporated before a hot surge of jealousy. How the hell could she think of other lovers now? She’d been his since the instant he’d first tasted her and he’d be damned if he’d let her get away. “I’ll kill any man who so much as touches you,” he snarled, tightening his arms around her and bracing for a fight. “Damn it, Kira --”

  She raised her head and silenced him with a kiss. He tried to make it hot and possessive, but her lips gentled his as she yielded rather than resisting. It was a kiss a man could get lost in, and he gave up the fight with a sigh. Gods, Kira. He sent his thoughts through the newly formed bond between them as if it were the most natural thing in the world. How can you say such things and then kiss me like this?

  When she pulled away, she smiled up at him and smoothed the frown from his brow with gentle fingertips. “A woman’s backhanded way of discovering a man’s intentions,” she said, snuggling close again. “And I heartily approve of your reply.”

  He groaned. “Next time, just ask, would you?”

  Kira laughed, then looked around for the first time, touching the crisp white sheets as if just noticing them. Then again, as hot as she’d been when she’d awakened, Orion wasn’t much surprised by that. The erotic memory seared him to the bone.

  The pounding metal beat below them hadn’t slowed. “Where are we?” she asked against his chest.

  “Club Nighthawk.”

  Her head jerked up. The utter disbelief in her eyes almost made him smile.

  Almost.

  “I might be an outsider, but I’m not yet an outcast, and vampires protect their own,” he told her. “As you suggested when you gave your notice, I didn’t really have a choice. The Nighthawks offered us shelter and protection until your transformation was complete.”

  Despite his explanation, she still looked deeply uneasy. “What happened to my clothes?” she asked after a moment.

  He chose to allow the change of subject. “I burned them. They were ruined, and besides, I like you better in jeans than in silk.”

  Kira nodded, but he saw that the fear in her eyes hadn’t lessened before she looked away. “Forgive me for leading Barrett to you,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his shoulder again. “You’re right. I should’ve known better --”

  Barrett.

  The name sliced through Kira’s mind, echoing with Orion’s sudden burst of fury, and even before he shoved her away and swung his legs out of bed, she knew she’d made a mistake. “Fucking right, you should’ve known better,” he snarled, giving her his back. Her tender lover was gone and the lethal vampire was back. If she wasn’t so wary of what she knew he could do, she would’ve mourned the loss.

  “What the hell was wrong with you? The man tells you nothing but lies and you don’t bother to check him out? Was he that goddamn good a fuck?”

  “Not as good as you.” The words were out before she could stop them.

  The muscles of his back knotted as he went rigid. “Damn it, Kira, don’t try that shit with me.”

  She dropped her eyes. “He already knew so much,” she said, picking at the sheet as she tried to explain what she knew he’d never understand or forgive. “He knew all about the Nighthawks, even told me their names. He knew their procedures and their passwords. Orion, he told me he was their Associate! Everything he said made sense. How was I supposed to --”

  He got up and her voice died as she beheld a stunning rear-view that could thaw the most frigid female. His muscles clenched and slid beneath his gold-velvet skin as he crossed the room and pulled on his jeans. “Perhaps,” he said, finally looking at her with ice in his gaze, “you should have mentioned it to me. Did you think of that?”

  Yes, she’d thought of that. She sat up, wrapping the sheet around herself. “He worked for the Nighthawks, Orion.” It was explanation enough.

  Orion hated the Nighthawks with a passion she’d never fully understood.

  He let his head fall back with a harsh sigh. “Yeah. He worked for the Nighthawks.”

  “I didn’t betray you.”

  His laugh was short and bitter. “You betrayed me the moment you went to him,” he gritted out. “You left me for a Nighthawk, Kira. Do you think having my home destroyed by human hunters is somehow worse than having my Associate defect to the goddamn Clan?” When she didn’t answer, he glared at her. “If he hadn’t come after me, do you think the Clan would’ve let me be?”

  “I never told him who you were.”

  Her words only made him shake his head and turn his back again. Kira stood, dragging the sheet behind her, and grabbed his arm. “I said, I never told anyone who you were,” she repeated fiercely. “I’m not utterly stupid. I know you and the Nighthawks have some feud I know nothing about. I never said who I worked for, Orion. I never told Barrett where you --”

  He snarled again. “Never say that name in my presence again,” he snapped, jerking his arm away from her and snatching up a shirt. “Enough of this. Get dressed. We’re getting out of here.” The door slammed behind him a second later, leaving her alone with her remorse and his fury filling her mind.

  At last she sighed and looked around the r
oom. Club Nighthawk -- the very last place she would ever have guessed Orion would bring her. Probably why he chose it, she thought. If Barrett knew as much as she suspected he did, he wouldn’t think to look for them here, at least not at first.

  There was no way Orion would stay under this roof an instant longer than was absolutely necessary, no matter how much more dangerous it would be for them out in the open. She spotted an open door and went through it, the sheet tangling around her legs, sighing with relief as she found a small but perfectly serviceable bathroom with a tiny shower stall in the corner.

  The hot water stung her skin as she scrubbed Orion’s scent from her body. By the time she was done, she wasn’t sure if the anger filling her thoughts was hers or his.

  Damn it all, did he think he was the only one who’d lost something tonight, the only one who’d been betrayed?

  Barrett’s face rose in her mind. The little cleft in his chin. His crystalline blue eyes smiling at her. His sleek blond hair, never out of place. His full lips descending to kiss her. Murmuring words of love.

  Those same lips shouting out the order to burn her, calling her a vampire whore.

  She shut off the water and pounded her fist against the wall, shaking with the force of her heartache and the need to strike out at something, anything. The fury rose hot and fierce as the full extent of his duplicity finally registered. The sharp crack of shattering tile barely penetrated her awareness as she remembered how Barrett had held her, kissed her, all the while planning her murder. In her mind’s eye it was Barrett she struck, Barrett she hurt, and she slammed her fists against the wall again and again and wished she could shred his handsome face.

  ”Kira, stop!”

  Orion’s voice, in her mind as well as her ears, brought her out of her blind rage. She stood in the shower, head down, breathing hard, only now realizing that her feet were buried in a litter of broken tile and plaster. Her fists stung from numerous lacerations. Opening her eyes, she saw the shower was utterly destroyed -- huge holes gouged in the walls, the showerhead bent almost double, the frosted glass door shattered and hanging from one hinge, both faucets snapped cleanly off. Jets of hot and cold water sprayed her, scalding one hip, freezing the other.

  Sweet Christ, had she really done this?

  Orion grabbed the swinging door and yanked it free from its remaining hinge. Broken glass fell to the tile as he dropped it. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath, trying to tamp down the burning fury that still sizzled through her.

  The scent of her own blood, coppery and electric, filled her senses. The bloodlust roared to life again, stealing her rage and replacing it with a need that bordered on madness.

  Orion reached for her and she leapt at him.

  The impact slammed him against the wall. She snapped at his throat, aching for another taste of his blood, but he moved faster. Spinning her away from him and trapping her arms at her sides, he held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. “Easy, baby,” he whispered as she struggled, her new vampiric strength surging through her muscles. Strong as she was, however, he overpowered her as though she were weak as a newborn kitten. “Easy. Control it, Kira. You must master the urge.”

  Master it? She laughed, a sound that had more than a tinge of hysteria to it. This wasn’t a feeling that would bow to reason. Her veins flowed with lava, her body ached, and her fangs throbbed. Why fight it? Even the friction of her body against his as he held her immobile was fuel to the fire. “Give me more,” she demanded, twisting, trying to find a part of him she could bite. “Orion, I need blood!”

  He lifted her off her feet and carried her, still struggling, back into the bedroom. “You’ll have everything you need,” he said, his voice low and soothing. “But not until I know you won’t tear my throat out. Control it, Kira. You must not let the bloodlust rule you, baby. Don’t go feral on me now. Control it!”

  She moaned. “I’m burning,” she cried, writhing in his arms. “Help me!”

  Orion swore, long and vicious, before saying a few words in a language she didn’t recognize. Instantly her muscles went limp. “Be calm,” he said, lowering her to the bed as panic overwhelmed her when her body didn’t obey her commands. “I’ve enthralled you, for your safety as well as mine. It’s not permanent.”

  The cool sheets seared the skin of her back. Kira moaned again, a desperate sound deep in her throat, wanting to reach for Orion and unable to move so much as a finger. “Please,” she whispered as he straightened, terrified he’d leave her like this until the bloodlust receded.

  But he only moved far enough back to strip off his shirt and toss it aside. His jeans went next, revealing his thick cock, throbbing and erect. She licked her lips at the sight of it. His eyes tracked the movement and she saw the pulse throb at his throat.

  The sight only made the fire in her blood burn hotter. The mattress dipped as he sank down beside her, propping himself on his elbow and looking down at her. “I would never leave you to suffer this alone,” he whispered, and she wondered if he’d seen the thought in her eyes or plucked it straight from her mind. “But you must calm yourself, Kira. You can’t let the bloodlust rule you.”

  “It hurts,” she breathed, aching for his touch. Her fangs throbbed in time to her racing pulse. Her stomach cramped and twisted.

  “Shh.” He bent and brushed his lips over her forehead. Just that simple touch almost drove her wild with desire, but no matter how hard she tried to arch her neck and capture his mouth with hers, she remained still beside him. “Shh,” he soothed again. “Let me take care of you. Trust me.”

  Trust him -- when he didn’t trust her at all.

  That thought was swept away when he lifted one stinging, lacerated hand in his. He shook his head at the damage. “The Change has made you strong, baby, but your body is still fragile,” he murmured. “Bloodlust will force you to forget your body’s limitations. That is why you must control it, not the other way around. Are you hearing me?”

  Whatever reply she might’ve made was swallowed by a rush of heat as he bent over her hand and swept his tongue along one of the deep cuts. Their groans blended into one deep sound of need. “You taste so damn good,” he growled, sucking one finger into his mouth and laving it with his tongue.

  Every cut, every scrape, even the tiniest bruise received his full attention. With each sweep of his velvet tongue, the pain yielded to pleasure, and when he finished and stretched her arm high above her head, not one scratch remained.

  And then he started over on her other hand.

  “Orion,” she moaned, her breath coming in little pants, her core hot and wet, aching to be filled by that thick cock. “Oh, God, please!”

  “I’m trying to please you,” he whispered against her skin. “Feel me, Kira. Feel me, not the bloodlust.”

  His thigh slid across her legs, heavy, muscular. The pressure made her want to writhe and wiggle until she could trap his thigh between hers, ride it, feel his hard muscle against her throbbing clit. Simultaneously he nipped the tender pulse at her wrist, taking no more than a sip of her simmering blood before sealing the wound with a flick of his tongue.

  It was enough to heighten the link between them. Kira hissed as the cool weight of his mind slid across hers just as his thigh had trapped her legs. “Feel me,” he repeated, stretching her other arm up beside the first, making her back arch and her breasts jut forward. “Desire me, not my blood. Burn for me.”

  He bent over her, licking a hot path over the swell of her breast and down into the valley over her heart. “You can feed from anyone,” he murmured against her skin. She felt his arousal in her mind, the thrill of tasting her and pressing his cheek to her soft breast. “Want what only I can give you, Kira. Need me.”

  His desire, urgent and spicy, warred with the raging bloodlust. Kissing a path between her breasts and down her belly, ignoring her increasingly frantic pleas for release, for satisfaction, he found the scalded skin of her hip and laved it with his tongue. The sting of the b
urn faded and was replaced by goose bumps. “Crave me,” he whispered, licking his way over her hip and down to her thigh before raising his head to meet her eyes. “Do you feel me now, baby?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. Her body shivered as the pain of the bloodlust battled with the hot need Orion’s touch woke in her. She wanted to scream with frustration at the loss of his mouth on her skin. “God, love, don’t you dare stop!”

  Orion froze for a long moment, just long enough for Kira to realize what she’d said. Suddenly he rolled off the bed and grabbed her knees, pulling her to the edge of the mattress with one hard jerk. She cried out as his cock bumped her thigh and ached to wiggle just the slightest bit to put it where she so desperately wanted it. The paralysis heightened her frustration, while conversely increasing the erotic thrill of every touch. He caught the back of her neck and yanked her upright, supporting her body with that one hand as the other cupped her breast.

  His entire face had changed. No longer soft and tender, Orion was as fierce as she’d ever seen him. “You are at my mercy, Kira,” he growled, his eyes burning with intensity. “You know that, don’t you? I can do anything I want to you now and you can’t fight me.”

  His fingers twisted in her hair and pulled her head to the side, exposing her throat. His tongue trailed a hot path over her pulse. “I could bite you, fuck you, turn you over and bury my cock in that sweet ass.” His words vibrated against her skin and sent her pulse racing. “I could leave you here until the bloodlust subsides on its own, or keep you beside me for all time. I can make you come or keep you from it, fuck you or leave you, hurt you or pleasure you. You don’t tell me what to do, fledgling.” Now his voice was a snarl, punctuated by a sharp nip at her collarbone. “You take what I give you and you say thank you when I’m done. Do you understand me?”

  Chapter Three

  She should have been alarmed. She knew she should be screaming by now, too terrified to breathe, but Kira had never been so turned on in her life. Some deep instinct had always trusted Orion and she knew to the depths of her soul that he wouldn’t hurt her now. He couldn’t hide that he wanted her as badly as she needed him.