Taken by the Vampire King (Vampire Warrior Kings Book 3)

by Laura Kaye

  He returned to the foot of her bed, his gaze penetrating into the very heart of her. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight with urgent grief. “Unlike you, I have no name for it. And there are no medicines to keep it from getting worse. It shouldn’t even be possible, but that doesn’t make it any less real.”

  She nodded, butterflies whipping up a whirlwind in her belly. Suspicion of another sort bloomed. “And you need me because…”

  “Because yours is the first blood in years that has actually provided me any sustenance, and I think you can save my life.”

  Chapter 7

  Kaira’s lovely face paled. She swallowed, hard. “Is my blood why your eyes turned bright blue last night?”

  “I believe so,” he said quietly, watching her every movement, her every reaction.

  “And they’re pale again today because…?”

  Henrik tilted his head, hating that he’d put this on her while she lay recovering in a hospital bed. He hadn’t intended to just come out and tell her, but learning she was sick… He was as struck by the similarity of their situations as he was panicked by the idea that he’d found his salvation only to learn that she might be taken away.

  He couldn’t let that happen. At least, not until he knew more about what her blood might be able to do for him.

  “Because it wasn’t enough. I’ve been afflicted with whatever this is for a very long time.” Sinking into the chair by her bed, he pressed the call button hanging over the railing.

  Jakob pushed through the door almost immediately and bowed his head in a gesture of respect. “My lord?”

  Henrik turned his gaze to Kaira, intrigued by the expression on her face as she observed Jakob. The male was handsome, he supposed. At least, he’d never had a problem finding a woman to bed. No doubt she found him more attractive, and how could he blame her?

  Still, a sharp wave of jealousy sloshed through his gut. He shoved it away. “Kaira, do you have the medicines you need wherever you were staying in Tromsø?”

  Her face fell, as if she were disappointed by this solution to her problem of getting the care she needed. She worried her tongue over a scab on her bottom lip. “Yes. I’m at the Nordic Hotel. Or, was, I guess.”

  Henrik had to look away. Her sadness and resignation made it hard to breathe. And the wet sheen her pink tongue dragged over her lip made his jeans suddenly snug. “Jakob, go to Miss Sorensen’s hotel, pack her belongings and bring everything back here.”

  Kaira sat up. “I have two cameras and lenses in the room safe. The code is 5-2-9-3. Please be careful with them.”

  Jakob nodded. “Of course. Anything else?” His gaze was full of questions Henrik couldn’t yet answer.

  “No, go while you still have the night. It’s going to be tight to get back in time.”

  He smirked. “I’ll make it.”

  The door hadn’t closed behind Jakob when Kaira spoke. “So, what? You want to drink my blood again?” She drew her knees up under the blanket.

  At least her directness saved him the trouble of figuring out how to tell her what needed to happen here. “Yes.” He dragged a hand through his hair. Suddenly, an idea took shape in his mind. As much of a monster as this probably made him, he had to find out how feeding from her fully would impact his malady. But perhaps he could do something for her in return.

  What if she fed from him, too?

  His body snapped to attention, heartbeat pulsing in his fangs, cock hard and aching. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had elicited these reactions. Blood lust and physical lust usually went hand in hand for a vampire, so he hadn’t craved the tight heat of a woman’s body in a very long time.

  Too long.

  “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Because, you know, I’m kinda using this blood over here.”

  The angered heat behind her words did nothing to rein in his physical reactions. He swallowed hard, forcing down his hunger for her blood. And her body. “I know how this sounds, Kaira, and I am sorry. If there was another way…well, there isn’t. I’ve tried everything. I wouldn’t take more than you could afford to lose at one time. I don’t know if your blood will definitively cure me, but I do know without it...I’ve no chance at all.”

  He shook his head, still grappling with his thought of offering her his vein in return.

  Usually, such a privilege was reserved for a vampire’s mate, especially given his rank and station. Not that he’d ever been successful at finding a blood match that might’ve led to his joining with a mate.

  For a single moment, he let himself imagine the immense satisfaction of Kaira’s lips at his throat, her tongue coaxing his blood into her mouth, her body clinging tightly to his.

  His cock punched at the zipper to his jeans and his fangs stretched out against his bottom lip. And that reaction was another consideration. Could he feed her and not make it about sex? He wasn’t even sure it was possible.

  Kaira gasped, her eyes trained on his mouth.

  He almost turned away. But then he thought better of it. It would be good for her to see his true nature now and have the time to wrap her head around it.

  At first, looming panic filled her expression. But then it shifted into what he would’ve sworn was abject fascination. Her respirations quickened, her heart rate thrummed, and the rich scent of her adrenaline filled the air—along with something else.

  Something hotter, sweeter, more feminine.

  She was aroused. By the sight of his fangs.

  He was merely a shadow of the male he’d once been. No delusions about what he looked like here. Was it really possible that someone as beautiful as Kaira could find him attractive?

  “Kaira,” he said in a rasping warning.

  If she didn’t stop looking at him like that, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions. She blinked and licked her lips. Which didn’t help his restraint one damn bit. He pushed onto his feet and braced his hands on each of the bedrails, a predator stalking her, boxing her in.

  “You need to understand how weak my restraint is, kjære.” Dear. The term of endearment was out of his mouth before he’d thought to say it. He pulled away.

  She cupped his cheek in her hand, and her touch was like an anchor. Holding him. Steadying him. “So, you need blood to survive?” Her thumb stroked across the skin under his eye.

  Warm. Soft. Captivating.

  “And my blood might be the only blood that actually…works for you?” She said this softly, like she was trying to work out the problem by talking about it out loud. Still, he nodded.

  The questions unleashed a rising tide of hope. Was she finding her way to being all right with this? And how long had it been since someone had touched him with such gentleness? Momentarily overwhelmed, he couldn’t speak, and he didn’t want to interrupt her thought process anyway. While vampires were capable of ingesting rare meats and spirits, blood provided sustenance like nothing else.

  It was the one thing he couldn’t live without.

  And since Kaira’s blood was the only blood that had nourished him in eons, it seemed like she was the one thing he couldn’t live without.

  Kaira’s gaze dragged from his eyes to her own thumb moving over his flesh, and then she looked lower. She shifted her hand until she cupped his jaw. Her thumb caressed the corner of his lips once, twice.

  Henrik’s heart tripped into a sprint. “Kaira.”

  The next slide of her thumb brushed the surface of his fang.

  He sucked in a breath and every muscle went rigid. Kaira quickly withdrew her hand, but he shook his head. “Touch me. I want you to.”

  A little shakiness traveled through her touch when her hand returned to his face again. His hands fisted on the bedrails, attempting to hold himself in place for whatever exploration she wished to conduct. She began again with his cheek, his jaw, his lip. And then she touched his elongated canine, less tentatively this time, a purposeful drag of her skin against the most visible outward manifestation of what he was.
>
  The sensation lit up his entire central nervous system.

  Adrenaline and arousal poured off her, and her heartbeat fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. Her lips fell open. She swiped her thumb under the point of his fang.

  He wasn’t sure who gasped louder.

  Henrik could already taste her. Given how razor-sharp his teeth were, he already knew.

  She examined her thumb. A thin ribbon of red bloomed on the pad. Her eyes went wide.

  His cock went rock fucking hard.

  The bedrails under his fists creaked and groaned. He couldn’t look away from her intrigued expression, from her breasts heaving under the thin hospital gown, from the smear of her life’s blood turning the air so fragrant he could barely maintain rational thought.

  “If I…let go…I’m going to be…all over you,” he growled. “Get rid of it.”

  She hesitated for only a moment, then sucked her thumb into her mouth.

  What the hell are you doing, Kai? she thought as she sucked at the cut on her thumb. The cut made by his fang. You have no idea what you’re playing with here. He’s not like you.

  She knew that was true, felt it down into her very marrow. Some of it was her own fascination with the man—the vampire—before her. But it also felt like there was an unseen force at work here, too, as if a part of her psyche was being drawn to him against her will.

  Henrik’s big body loomed over her, his muscles so taut they popped under the tight shirt. The whole bed trembled under the strain of his restraint. Trained on her mouth, his eyes glowed and threw off sparks like a pair of spotlighted diamonds. His nostrils flared. He panted and shuddered.

  The dark promise of his words hung in the space between them. I’m going to be all over you.

  It was the most viscerally erotic moment of her life, and they weren’t even touching. Heat roared over Kaira’s skin—heat that had nothing to do with her illness.

  She’d never been more aroused in her life, hadn’t even known her body was capable of feeling this way, nearly vibrating with life and need and want.

  His desire warmed the entire room, beaded her nipples, and dampened her panties. She’d never felt so wanted, not surprising since her illness did little to attract the opposite sex. But it was more than that.

  It wasn’t just that some man desired her, it was that this one did.

  Immortal. Powerful. Royal.

  And she possessed the ability to help him. To be the savior, for once, not the person who needed saved.

  She pulled her thumb from her mouth.

  The sound of cracking plastic exploded from under Henrik’s right hand.

  And then he was on her. Though not the way she expected.

  He grasped her face and planted his mouth on hers. His hands dug into her hair as his big body climbed over hers. He worshipped her with devouring kisses, his hands clutching and holding her with each kiss and withdraw.

  Sexual heat radiated off him and soaked into her depths. A soft growl rumbled in his chest and she longed to feel it against her own. Yet, he kept his weight off her, almost like he was afraid to fully yield to the chemistry pulling them together.

  Kaira’s heart tripped into a sprint, making her gasp for oxygen around his demanding, desperate kisses. His big hands tilted her head and tugged at her hair, and she let herself be guided. Loved it, actually. And when he pushed his tongue into her mouth, dizziness swamped her. His incredible male spice was a thousand times more potent on her tongue. Hunger erupted deep inside her and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He licked into her mouth and groaned and shook, his muscles nearing full-out tremors. What would it be like if he let loose that tremendous restraint? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Or that she could handle it if he did.

  But God the thought of it made her wet.

  Her tongue brushed something hard and unyielding. His fang. She moaned into the kiss and he growled and surged forward, pressing her back into the pillows. His body overflowed the narrow bed and so completely encompassed hers that he was all she knew, all she smelled, all she tasted.

  A warm tingling heat gathered low in her belly and her hips tilted and rocked of their own accord. Her body yearned for friction, for contact, for penetration. The fact that her experience was so limited made these desires new and scary, but no less intense. She whined and whimpered and tugged at his broad shoulders.

  With one strong arm, he shifted their bodies. Kaira didn’t really notice until the next thrust of her hips brought the aching place between her legs up against something warm and hard. She unleashed a strangled moan into the kiss and thrust again. Squeezing her thighs, she realized he’d slid his leg between hers. She rubbed herself against his thigh, alternating between holding her breath and gasping for air as she chased the maddening pressure growing within her core.

  For just a second, her bottom lip pinched and stung where she’d been struck. And then Henrik unleashed an animalistic groan just before a sensation of suction pulled at the small wound made by the Soul Eater—and now accidentally opened again.

  She was bleeding. And he was drinking her blood.

  Fear and arousal shot through her veins in equally shocking amounts, followed by the dragging heat of lust. His thigh pressed more insistently against her, and she could do nothing to resist her grinding need for his touch.

  But now that she’d acknowledged her fear, it escalated, tearing her in two between what her body wanted and what her head thought was right…was safe.

  His lips tugged hers and she caught a flash of brilliant light from his eyes.

  And then blinding white light was all she saw. The orgasm ripped through her in a wave of breath-stealing contractions. She wrenched her head against the pillows, every muscle in her body taut. For a long, exquisite moment, she was floating in the heavens with her auroras, absolutely filled with bliss.

  It wasn’t just physical bliss either. The intimacy of the moment, of their conversation before, it was closer than she’d been with anyone…maybe ever. And, whether it should or not, that meant so much to her.

  But as she fell back to earth, her fear went volcanic. What did I just do?

  Kaira beat on his chest and shoved at his shoulders and pushed with her feet. “No, stop!” she cried. “No!”

  On a growl, Henrik lurched away until he was on his knees above her. His chest heaved. His fangs protruded. And his lips were coated in the dark red of her spilled blood.

  He was darkly masculine. Fiercely gorgeous. Alluringly otherworldly and raw. Like a lion whose animalistic beauty drew you in even though you knew he could end your life in an instant.

  Hunger rolled off him in waves of potent energy that she could feel dancing over her skin. Which was when she knew.

  He was nowhere near sated.

  And it was also when she first allowed herself to really consider what it would be like to be the one to give him everything he needed…

  Chapter 8

  The taste of copper spilled onto her tongue as three men exploded into the room. They grabbed Henrik’s arms and dragged him backward off the bed.

  Henrik unleashed a feral growl. He flailed and fought. The men struggled to contain him and in a coordinated move, slammed him to the floor. All of them on top of him. Pinning him down. Fighting right back.

  Kaira gasped and scrabbled off the bed. “Stop! You’re hurting him!” Granted, she’d freaked out and wanted him off her, but he’s listened to her. He’d stopped. And getting overwhelmed didn’t mean she wanted him roughed up like this.

  Wasn’t he their king? How could they treat him this way?

  They ignored her pleading as Henrik continued to struggle. She grabbed at the closest vampire’s arm. “Please. He didn’t do any—”

  His elbow busted her in the cheek.

  For a second, all she saw were silvery white stars. She groaned and clutched her face, stumbling back from the melee until she sagged against the wall of the small room.

  Warmth spil
led against her palm. Damnit. So stupid. She never should’ve approached them like that.

  Henrik’s roar reverberated off the walls.

  Kaira looked up to find bodies strewn around the king as he jumped to his feet. His breathing was like a freight train, a growl rumbling out on each exhale. Fangs extended and flashing eyes narrowed, he took one step toward her, then another.

  Jakob burst through the door. “What the fuck?” His gaze made quick work of scanning the room. “Henrik, no!” As the others rose to crouches, he lunged for his brother.

  Not again. “Jakob, stop!” She held up the hand not busy covering the new cut she now wore on her cheek. “Leave him alone. They jumped him. He didn’t do anything. Just…give him a minute.”

  Jakob reared back, eyes wary but hands in the air, just as Henrik whirled on him and gnashed his teeth.

  The king’s eyes flashed back to hers and zeroed in on the hand pressed to her cheekbone, the one hopefully offering enough pressure to staunch the bleeding. Kaira’s heart pounded but her gut told her he would keep his word.

  He wouldn’t hurt her.

  Though she’d never seen him like this before. Eyebrows an angry downward slash, fangs so big they were almost animal-like, hair wildly disheveled, shoulders bunched and arms at the ready. He looked somehow bigger and definitely more fierce.

  Henrik shook his head and mumbled under his breath in a language she couldn’t understand. Like he was arguing with himself. Or trying to convince himself. Or praying.

  The other men slowly rose to their full heights.

  Kaira frowned and watched the other vampires. She thought back to the blood on her thumb, how he’d barely been able to resist it. Her blood flowed now, yet none of the others seemed to share Henrik’s struggle.

  Was this part of whatever was wrong with him?

  She didn’t know, but she did know if she didn’t help calm him, the other four vampires were going jump him again. Their bracing muscles, readied stances, and silent communications made that perfectly clear.