He pulled his fingers out of me and licked my juices from them, groaning with satisfaction before he moved forward and leaned down, capturing my mouth again. The taste of my arousal on his lips made me even hungrier. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close. His chest pressed against my breasts and was deliciously warm against my cool skin. I could feel the strong thump thump of his heart. Teasing. Enticing. Drawing me closer and closer. My fangs descended, and I pulled away from his lips.
Our gazes met. His blue eyes so clear, so passionate.
“Feed, Eira.” The words were all I needed to hear. When I first fed from him in the barn, I’d linked him to me from that moment. He hadn’t had a choice. The all-consuming emotional tsunami overtaking me since we’d been together the first time had nothing to do with my feeding directly from his vein and much more to do with the ancient magick in the amulet he’d given me a thousand years ago that had linked our souls. That bond made everything else disappear into the fog of the world. All that mattered right now was that we were together.
Completely.
I bit down on the side of his neck and shivered as the first taste of his sweet blood flowed into my mouth. It was almost as good as Drakonae blood. But in a way it was better, because Killían was connected to me. We belonged together. He was more than just a source of food.
The sustenance he provided filled my soul.
I drank long and deeply, his moans of pleasure and talented hands on my breasts spurring me on. When his heartbeat slowed just the slightest, I pulled away and sealed off the bite with a few drops of my blood. The puncture wounds would fade and disappear in minutes.
“I’ll never tire of that sensation, will I?” he asked, his blue eyes dark and heated with passion.
Shaking my head, a smile drew up my lips as I licked the remnants of his blood from each corner. It was like heaven, love, and lust mixed into the perfect cocktail.
He grabbed my hands and held my wrists in place over my head then let the full weight of his chiseled body press down on mine. Gods, he put any typical human man to shame. The muscles in his shoulders bunched as I flexed my arms. I wouldn’t pull free, but I wasn’t above making him work to keep me where he wanted me.
“I need to feel a different sensation now,” I purred into his ear.
He groaned and shifted lower onto my body, pressing his hips into the cradle of mine. His shaft nudged my opening, but he didn’t enter.
I moaned in frustration and rocked my hips, trying to move things along. Everything ached to be filled. “Please, Killían.”
He thrust hard, making my wish come true, filling me with every inch of his thick, hard, velvet shaft. Again and again, he thrust.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer, matching his rhythm. My arms wrapped around his neck, and I clung to him, kissing along one of his shoulders and then switching to the other.
“Gods, you feel so good. I’ve missed you so much, my precious Eira.”
Words wouldn’t form. I moaned into his mouth as he captured mine for another kiss.
His tongue swept through my mouth as I felt one of his hands slip between us. His thumb found my clit, and then I found bliss.
The room could’ve been on fire, and I wouldn’t have noticed. A tightly wound coil burst inside me. I shattered, and white-hot electricity shot from my core to every nerve ending in my body. My body arched from the bed, lifting his chest as I bit back a scream.
He wrapped his strong arms beneath my shoulders as wave after wave of my climax rolled through me. Then he thrust harder and faster until he growled and stiffened over me. His cock throbbed, and his seed filled my body. The warmth spread through me, and I relished every second of it.
He rolled to the side and left the bed for a moment. I didn’t see where he went and didn’t care.
A few seconds later, he returned with a wet washcloth and cleaned us both before crawling into the bed with me and pulling up the blankets. He snuggled up behind me, spooning. His hand moved from my hip to my breasts, caressing.
A sigh slipped from my lips, and I allowed my eyes to close. I didn’t ever sleep, but sometimes it was nice to just rest.
In this moment, I was happy. The moment didn’t last long before I remembered my friends. I’d be happier still if we all made it in and out of Savannah tomorrow.
Alive.
Chapter 21
EIRA
We reached the outskirts of Savannah and parked the SUVs off the side of the road just west of where the wildlife park used to be. Hopefully no one would find them between now and us returning.
Everything was dark. All the highway lights had been removed over the years. It encouraged civilians to adhere to the curfew. We moved as fast as possible. Jared walked alongside Mikjáll with one of his hands lit like a torch to light the way for Killían, since he was the only one who couldn’t see in the dark.
“We’re sticking near the river, right, Eira?” Jared whispered over his shoulder.
“Yes, if we can keep up this run, we’ll reach downtown in about an hour.” Mikjáll was on point with Jared at the front of the group, and Alek brought up the rear, making sure no un-noticed unit of soldiers had picked up our trail.
We’d entered via a semi-industrial area of the town along the river. I’d hoped it would be less guarded because no one lived there. So far it’d proven to be true. The few guards we had encountered hadn’t been a problem at all for me to silently take out of play. Most of them seemed to travel in pairs. I hadn’t seen any groups so far larger than three.
The Federal building where prisoners were kept was several miles in, closer to the heart of the city.
“The Federal building is on Main. About another half mile,” I said, gesturing around the corner of the building we were leaning against.
Mikjáll had signaled a group of guards was approaching. A big enough unit that I couldn’t take them all out by myself before someone sent up a warning. Alek and Jared were with Mikjáll on the other side of the cross street, leaving Killían and I with Travis and Garrett.
The soldiers passed our cross street, armed to the teeth with automatic rifles. My hand went to the hilt of the sword at my shoulder. Alek whispered, “Go,” and I lunged forward, the others following behind me.
My sword slipped through their bodies easily. Men fell left and right. Killían’s blade did the same, and the few men we hadn’t eliminated were taken out by Travis, Garrett, Alek, and Jared. Mikjáll crossed our paths, touching the lifeless bodies as he passed, turning them to ash.
Sixty seconds later, we were standing in the center of the cross-streets surrounded by bodies. Mikjáll was moving as quickly as possible to burn away the evidence that they’d ever been there. The scent of blackened flesh filled the air as the ashes began to rise into the breeze.
Alek and Jared picked up several of the soldier’s rifles. Following suit, Travis and Garrett each snatched up one before Mikjáll turned all the weapons into puddles of liquid metal on the asphalt.
Jared shook his head. “I have fire to burn, but damn, dragon fire is just…”
“Magick mixed with fire,” Killían answered.
Mikjáll glanced up from the last body with a wicked grin. “This is what I plan to do to that mother-fucking asshole. Except I’m going to just burn off his arms and legs first so he has to feel every second as long as I can draw it out.”
I shuddered and took a step backward. The story of how Mikjáll came to Sanctuary wasn’t a secret, but the young man did his best to stay out of sight and out of mind. According to Diana, Rose had assigned Jared and Alek to mentor and teach him what it was to live in this century.
He seemed to be adjusting to life. It was the revenge brewing in his soul that I worried would cost us lives on this trip. Anyone so consumed by hate was not long for the world. It clouded judgment and made you sloppy until death became inevitable.
We started down the now quiet alley. Killían and I crouched behind a sign as Mi
kjáll and Jared moved a little ahead.
“I’ve been where he is,” Killían whispered. “I’ve been there a long time. If you hadn’t shown up in my barn, nothing would’ve ever changed for me.”
I glanced over, catching my love’s blue gaze. The moon was showing just enough to catch the slightest hint of color in his irises. They sparkled like a star. I knew he had struggled. I knew he wasn’t done struggling, but something that any person who lived as long as we did knew was… life always moves forward. Time was your friend when you experienced loss.
Eventually, the pain lessened. Eventually, you find something else to give meaning to your life. At least, that was what I hoped would’ve happened.
In a thousand years, I’d never been able to feel love again. Never felt as though I could connect with a man the way I’d connected to Killían. Hell, I’d adopted a pack of crazy Lycans that risked their lives to save their kind. The rush of sneaking in and out of the closed Republics of the former United States gave at least a little satisfaction and some feelings of worth. I had a connection with members of the pack that simulated family, which was more than I’d had in centuries.
“I’m not going to rush him. But we have to watch out when we get there. The Masons are family to me. I won’t endanger them because of his vendetta.”
Travis and Garrett scooted closer to us. “You think he’ll lose it when we get there?” Travis whispered.
The men ahead motioned us forward, and I rose, the three men beside me following in tight formation. It was sweet how they protected me, though I was probably the least in need of it.
“I don’t know what to expect. But I’m glad Alek and Jared are here with him. Our priority has to be rescue, not going after and trying to kill Xerxes.”
I heard a gasp to my right and blurred from the group, snapping the neck of a guard who had exited a nearby building and seen us running down the street.
“Eira,” Killían growled under his breath after noticing I was gone.
I took a deep breath of the guard in my arms. He was clean and strong, and his still-warm blood called to my inner beast. A drink would calm my nerves. My fangs descended, and I pierced his neck to drink. The warm liquid poured down my throat and began to burn. Dropping the body, I coughed and gagged, desperately trying to vomit out the blood I’d just taken. I tried to blur, but only moved a few feet back toward the group.
Fucking hell.
My vision swirled, and I fought to see straight. “Killían.” I moaned in pain as the fire spread through my body. What in the fucking Republic had that guy had in his blood?
A few minutes later, the entire group was at my side. I knew one of the Lycans would’ve heard me.
“Eira, what did you do?”
I shook my head. Pointing toward the dead soldier. “There was something in him… poison,” I muttered, coughing up more blood.
“Why did you drink from him?” Killían’s voice rose in decibel.
“Shut it, dude!” Travis hissed. “You’ll attract more attention.”
“I’m a vampire. Blood is kinda my thing, and his smelled really good for a human’s,” I whispered, fighting through the cramping pain in my stomach and the shooting pains now running up and down the length of my arms and legs.
“He was on something chemical,” Mikjáll said, crouching above the dead body of the soldier I’d killed and bitten. “It’s faint, but I smell the difference. It’s sweet-smelling even to me, and I don’t drink blood.”
I nodded weakly.
“It was a trap,” Jared said. “She needs fresh blood to recover.”
“Mine is the most powerful,” Mikjáll answered.
Killían stiffened next to me. “She’s not going to drink from you.” Anger laced his voice, but my consciousness was fading. Whatever they were going to do, it wasn’t happening fast enough.
I used the last bit of strength I had and grabbed Killían, yanking him to the ground with me and sinking my fangs into his neck.
“Holy shit!” Travis jumped.
Killían’s blood brought me out of the encroaching darkness, but his magick wasn’t enough to clear out the chemical. I sealed where I’d bitten and shook my head. The world around me still spun.
“Eira?” Killían’s voice held the question they were all dying to ask.
I shook my head. Unless I could heal myself right now, I was a liability to this mission. “If Mikjáll is willing,” I said, coughing, “I need more.” The pain had dulled to a throb, but I was seeing double of all the men around me and felt like I was on a tilt-a-whirl from an old fairground before the Riots.
“Lean her head backward.” Mikjáll shouldered closer as he withdrew a small dragon steel blade from his belt.
Killían’s hands cradled my head and tipped it backward, which was good because I couldn’t feel which way was up or down.
“Hold her down,” Mikjáll said. “Or the same thing will happen to my arm that just happened to Killían.”
The Lycans beside me chuckled, and I felt their hands wrap around each of my wrists.
The first scent of Mikjáll’s fresh blood made my fangs descend again and a growl rumble from my throat. I jerked against Travis and Garrett and nearly lifted them, along with Killían, upward toward Mikjáll’s bleeding arm.
“Shit,” Garrett snarled.
Mikjáll brought his arm closer, and the blood began to drip into my mouth. Gods, it was good! I breathed deeply and growled again, wrestling against the three men holding me down.
Then two more sets of arms took hold. One set wrapped around my waist from behind me. The other grabbed onto an arm with one of the Lycans. Even Killían wrapped one hand around my ponytail, using the other to keep my mouth steady. If he hadn’t, my head would’ve been swaying every which direction.
More of Mikjáll’s delicious and magick-laden blood poured into my mouth, and energy surged through my body like a lightning strike. My head cleared more with each passing second, and the pain in my limbs and stomach receded. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My body was cleansing itself. It was working.
“She looks like she’s melting,” Travis said, adjusting his iron grip on my wrist.
“It’s working. The poison is coming out.” Killían’s voice soothed me.
A few moments later, I was able to see all of them clearly again. No multiples. No spinning earth sensations.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Mikjáll nodded. “I will always owe you for saving my mother’s life.”
The men around me slowly let go, and Killían took my hand, pulling me to my feet.
“No more biting guards,” Garrett muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No kidding. If the SECR has developed some type of supplement for people to take that makes vampires ill, this could eradicate my kind in the SECR in mere weeks if they are able to keep it quiet.”
“We don’t have time,” Travis said, motioning us forward. “We have some Lycans to rescue.”
At least the tainted blood had a scent. I would be careful to watch for it again. Somehow we had to find a way to pass on the information.
Chapter 22
KILLÍAN
Humans with vampire poison in their blood? Fucking SECR. I hated them before. And now they’d nearly taken Eira from me. If that damned dragon hadn’t been with us for this trip, she could be dead right now.
My hands clenched at my sides, and I gritted my teeth. Something better show up soon that I could kill. I needed to make someone hurt. Rage was my friend. It’d been with me for so many years I hadn’t realized how much of my mind it had occupied.
Eira had calmed me over the last few days. My mind had cleared of the overwhelming addiction to revenge and torturing SECR soldiers.
Now, nearly losing her because of them brought it all out again. Because of something Xerxes was probably behind, I was filled with a rage that came close to rivaling that of the young Drakonae jogging ahead of me. Nothing was worse than losing a mate.
Perhaps a child, but I couldn’t speak of that experience and likely never would.
Mikjáll’s hand raised in front of us, and we all ducked to the ground, hugging the building to try and blend into the shadows. With the ever-present floodlights on each street corner, shadows were becoming harder to find.
My shoulder brushed Eira’s, and her sweet, evergreen scent flooded my nostrils. I took a deep breath, thanking the gods she’d been spared and that the dragon’s blood had worked as a permanent solution to whatever she’d ingested. My focus lasered in on the smoothness of her neck and the smell of her sweet skin. Little wisps of her long black hair had escaped the high ponytail and waved in the soft cold breeze blowing between the buildings.
Of course my brain had switched from wanting to kill the people who poisoned her to wanting to disappear into one of these empty warehouses with her so I could show her how much she meant to me.
The muscles in her arm tensed, and I glanced forward again, tearing my gaze away from the place on her neck I wanted to taste and kiss.
Mikjáll, Jared, and Alek were slinking along the wall toward us.
Eira straightened from her crouched stance. I stood beside her, and the Lycans came forward from where they had been watching the rear.
“What’s wrong?” Eira asked, her voice steady but laced with unease.
“Lycans.” Alek spoke first.
“There are nine heat signatures coming this direction. They are running hard and should be coming around the corner in the next minute or two,” Mikjáll said.
Eira’s eyes grew to saucers. “They got out… but only nine. That means it’s not all of them.
“They are coming down the street one block over. If we stay here, we will be able to watch from this corner as they pass there.” Mikjáll pointed behind us, caddy-corner to the street just east of our position. “Then we can follow behind them to see if they are the people you are looking for.”
“I can smell them now, too,” Eira said, nodding her head. She turned and moved to the very edge of the building and peered around to the lit cross-street where the dragon said they would pass.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 58
