Auctioned for Her Blood: The Vampires' Illuminant Book 1

by Mara Leigh

“Ah! What?” My hand is sizzling and the smell of burning hair and flesh fills the room. My knees crumple in pain, but Ryker catches me in his arms before I fall and carries me to the bathroom, cradling me in one arm as he turns on the tap with the other.

  He passes my hand under the cold water, but the burn has already subsided, the sting almost gone, and I watch in awe as the wound fades to nothing.

  We stare into each other’s eyes. Clearly he’s as shocked as I am.

  “Am I…” My chest tightens around a ragged breath. “Am I a vampire now? Because you bit me?”

  He shakes his head. “That’s not how it works. Transitions are dangerous and take days, sometimes weeks. Nothing we did last night would come close to causing that.”

  “Then what’s going on?”

  He carries me back to the bed. “I have no idea.” I slide my hand over a ragged scar on the front of his shoulder, wondering what caused it, but wanting to know so many other things first.

  Turning toward the window, he slides off the bed. “Stay back.” He holds up his hand toward me.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going near that window again.” Even though I miraculously healed, the burn’s pain is seared into my mind—no way did I imagine that—and I never want to feel that kind of agony again.

  Ryker tests the sunlight, first with a flick of his finger, then more boldly placing his entire palm in the path of the light.

  “Holy shit.” Taking hold of the curtain’s edge, he turns back to me. “Get on the other side of the room. Stay away from the light.”

  I don’t need to be told twice, and move to the side of my dresser. After seeing I’m safe, he pulls the curtain a few inches away from the window, and sunlight streams through, bathing his naked body in warm light and redoubling my admiration of his physique. But while his sunbathed body is impressive, it’s the expression of pure joy and wonder on his face that truly captures my attention.

  “The sunlight doesn’t burn?” I ask, and he looks toward me, shaking his head.

  “Why did it burn me?”

  “I don’t know.” Closing his eyes for a moment, he draws a long breath as if he can inhale the sunlight, then he lets the curtain drop and carefully adjusts it so that no more light can peek through.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  Shaking his head, he reaches out his hand as he walks toward me, and I fall against his hard body as his arms envelop me in their power and warmth.

  “I wish I knew.” He kisses the top of my head. “What’s the curtain situation in the living room?”

  “They’re shear.”

  “Aw, then I guess we’re stuck in bed today.” His hand traces down my spine, and my hips shift against him in reaction.

  “I can think of worse ways to spend the day.” My hand explores the solid mound of his ass, a few scars there too.

  He growls, deep in his chest, and then he throws me onto the bed, landing on top of me on all fours.

  I squeal in surprise. Even if he can take sunlight now, he hasn’t lost his unbelievable strength and power.

  We arrange some pillows behind us then he drapes his arm around me as we lean back against he headboard. He pulls the duvet to cover us both and then looks deep into my eyes, and my lips tingle, wanting so badly to kiss him again, but there’s more than just lust in his eyes. He’s looking at me…strangely.

  “What are you?” he asks.

  “What am I?” I frown, not sure whether or not to be offended. “You think this is about…me?” I pull back a bit. He is the one who’s not human. “You’re the one who bit me. Who drank my blood. Twice.”

  “Yeah, but, I’ve bitten…” He shakes his head. “Let’s just say your vein was not my first and nothing like this has happened before.”

  My teeth scrape my lower lip. “But I didn’t do anything…I don’t know…Nothing about this makes sense.”

  “That’s an understatement.” His fingers tease my upper arm, and I snuggle in closer against him as we breathe together, absorbing each other in silence.

  “You said your mother disappeared when you were a kid?” he asks, his voice low.

  I nod against him. “What does that have to do with anything?” Unease creeps inside me, as if part of me already wonders if my mother could be the key to what’s going on. Her magic. Her claims that my blood was special. Something Zuben claims too.

  “Your mother just vanished into thin air? His fingers trail across my collarbone. “What did the police say?”

  I draw a long breath. “I never reported it to the police.”

  “Why?”

  I close my eyes, trying to think clearly—to remember things I’ve tried to forget and have never told anyone.

  “Don’t you trust me?” he asks.

  I open my eyes to find his scrutinizing mine.

  “To be honest.” I bite the inside of my lip. “I don’t know.”

  He turns away from me, and I reach up to coax his gaze back to mine. “I do trust you, Ryker. It’s just…I’ve never talked about my mom or about what happened—not to anyone.”

  He nods, his face full of anticipation as he waits for me to say more.

  “I’m not even positive that I remember what happened. I have these strange nightmares…” Nightmares of another time someone was taken from me. “It’s me I don’t trust. I don’t know which memories are real and which are dreams.”

  “And yet—” His expression is so serious. “In all those years, you heeded your mother’s warning and never went out after dark. She is the one who warned you about that, right?”

  “Yes.”

  He nods. “She knew.” Stroking my arm, he shifts and turns toward me. “Your mother knew you’d be irresistible to vampires. That’s why she wouldn’t let you go out after dark.”

  Ryker pulls up the duvet, tucking it around me with one arm as he leaves the other draped behind me, and I realize that I’m trembling. But it’s not the temperature that’s causing my shaking.

  “My mother…” I pause trying to gather the courage and words. “My mother could do things.”

  “What kind of things?” he asks softly.

  “Magic things. At least magic is the only way I can describe it. She could move objects without touching them, lock the doors and windows so that no key or force could work, and…”

  “And what?”

  “I think she hid our house, the whole farm? It didn’t occur to me at the time, but the house was on a main road, not that far from a small town, and yet we never had visitors. No one even came down our drive, not until…” The trembling intensifies.

  “Until what?”

  “Until the day they came.”

  “Who? Who came?” His voice is filled with urgency, his eyes too. “When? What happened to you?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing happened to me. I was a coward. She told me to hide and I did. I acted on instinct, the way I’d been trained to. If I’d known it was real…” My voice cracks. “I could have saved her.”

  He strokes my back, my hair. “Hey, now. You were a kid. Hush.” He holds me against his chest and the rhythmic thud of his heartbeat penetrates my body, filling me like a calming mantra, and I rub my cheek on his chest, loving the contrast between his solid muscles and the soft hairs there, loving the warmth and the smell of him, like musk and vanilla and rum.

  I want to melt into Ryker, to be absorbed so I never have to live without his comforting arms and body again. Not since my mother disappeared have I felt this seen, this safe, this loved.

  “So your mother.” His fingers trace down my spine. “She was a witch.”

  I raise my head from his chest to be sure he isn’t teasing, but his eyes show no such thing. “A witch?”

  “You said she could do things, magic things.”

  “You’re telling me witches are real too?” I’ll believe anything he tells me right now.

  “Most certainly.” He shrugs. “But I haven’t known many.” A wistful thought drifts into his eyes a
nd he glances away for a moment. “My best guess is that your mother cast some kind of spell on you. A spell that effects vampires and makes them want you.”

  “You mean I’m catnip for vampires?” Suddenly, my heart sinks. Does that explain Ryker’s attraction? Zuben’s too? Disappointment drags me down. They aren’t attracted to me, just my blood.

  “Zuben told me there’s something special about my blood.”

  Ryker’s eyes widen. “Did that asshole drink from you?”

  “No.” I shake my head. “Not like you did.” Desire tugs inside me and I stroke his cheek as my eyes flutter shut for a moment. I wish I could go back in time, just a few minutes to when I thought Ryker wanted me just for me.

  Ryker frowns. “But he did drink from you.”

  Crap. Telling him what Zuben did will only add fuel to his jealousy. “When I first met Zuben.” I look into Ryker’s eyes. “I cut my hand and he…he kissed my palm while it was bleeding. I thought that the cut was superficial. It healed so quickly, but…”

  “Zuben healed your cut with his venom and he had a taste of your blood.”

  I nod.

  Alarm invades Ryker’s face, his entire expression and his body goes rigid, his arms tightening around me. “Does Zuben know where you live?”

  I nod. “He was here.”

  His eyes widen. “In your apartment? When?”

  “Last night. Before you came.”

  “Why?” His brows draw together.

  “To warn me…”

  “Warn you about what?” He shifts and looks down at me. “Listen Ember, you need to be straight with me. This is serious. You’re in grave danger.”

  “Funny, that’s what he said. He came to warn me about you.” My body tenses. What have I done? Moments ago, I trusted Ryker with my body, my life, and now… I shift to get out of the bed.

  His hand lands solidly on my leg, stopping me. “Ember, you aren’t safe here. As soon as it gets dark we have to leave.”

  His normally teasing eyes are so serious, and he seems genuinely concerned. I close my eyes as my mind swims through a swamp of murky contradictions.

  Both Zuben and Ryker claim they want to protect me from the other. Each has made me uncomfortable and scared, but both have also shown kindness and I can’t deny that I’m attracted to them both. If Zuben had won the auction, I would have happily gone out with him instead, and he might even have been the one to take my virginity, although it’s hard to imagine it being as magical as it was with Ryker.

  The two men are so different, one serious and steady, one joking and exciting; both have shown kindness and generosity and both are devastatingly handsome and shockingly interested in me. Although now I wonder if that’s only about my blood.

  I feel like I’ve been transported to a parallel universe I don’t understand, but as I wade through all my thoughts and insecurities, one thing clarifies in my mind.

  “Zuben would never hurt me,” I tell Ryker. “If he wanted to hurt me, he would have already.”

  “It’s not just him I’m worried about.” Ryker shifts on the bed. “I might be a pirate, but Zuben works with some seriously shady vampires. DEFTA is one of the oldest and most powerful vampire syndicate in the new world and—”

  “Syndicate? As in mafia?”

  He shrugs. “Not all vampire syndicates are run like crime organizations. A lot of them are more like corporations or clubs to protect their members, but DEFTA is different.”

  “Different how?”

  “DEFTA’s enemies have a habit of vanishing. Especially over the last seventy or eighty years since the current CEO seized power.” He looks away for a moment. “Now that humans know about vampires, DEFTA’s made deals with the police, they’ve given up vampires who refuse to play by their rules.”

  “And then the police stake these vampires?”

  He nods. “But even setting DEFTA’s responsibility for those murders aside, their so-called business dealings are super shady. Zuben wasn’t lying when he told you I’ve stolen from them, but not more than what’s been taken from me.” Ryker’s brow furrows as if he’s remembering some dark event from his past.

  Then he takes my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “Ember, if Zuben knows what your blood can do… Or worse, if his boss knows, then you are not safe. DEFTA will take you. They’ll use you.”

  He pulls me into a tight embrace. “As soon as the sun sets, I’m taking you away from here. Somewhere no one can find you. I’ll keep you safe.”

  My entire body tenses in his arms. I spent my childhood hidden away and now Ryker wants to trap me again? And worse… “How do I know that you’re not planning to use me too?”

  He leans back from me, hurt flashing in his eyes. But then he shrugs. “You can’t know that, Ember. Not for sure. But since I’ve already drunk your blood, seems I can face sunlight already, so what benefit would there be to my keeping you just for that?”

  “I don’t know…” I swallow hard, wanting to trust him, but I need reassurance. “You could loan me out to your friends, sell my blood.”

  Did my own mother sell my blood? Is that why she took vials of it from me? My gut contracts but I don’t have time to tend to the wounds caused by my mother. I can see on Ryker’s face that I’ve hurt him again.

  But before I can say anything to fix it, his expression goes blank and he leans back and shrugs. “You’re right. You have no reason to trust me. None at all. All I can offer is my word. Guess you’re going to have to roll the dice.”

  Taking my hand, he puts it on his chest and presses it against him, and I swear I can feel the thump of his heart in my palm. “But I swear to you, Ember, I will do everything in my power to protect you—both from Zuben and DEFTA.”

  “But Zuben wants to protect me from you. Are you really a pirate?”

  He grins. “My little dove, I am and have been a lot of things—few of them good. In truth, I am a bad, bad man, bad to the core, but I swear on my life I will keep you safe.”

  Looking into his eyes, every part of me down to my soul wants to trust him—so badly. I’ve already trusted him with my body and with secrets I’ve never shared with anyone.

  “You’re wrong,” I say softly.

  “About what?” His head tips to the side.

  “About being bad.”

  His lips part like he’s about to speak, but I raise my hand.

  “When we met, I thought you were dangerous, but you’re not. You’re sweet and kind and gentle—”

  “Not always.”

  He acts so quickly I don’t feel the movement, but find myself on my back, under him on the bed with his hardness pressed between my parted legs.

  I gasp as my hips rise against him. My body clearly trusts him, even as my mind is unclear.

  “It’s best you know the truth about me.” His expression is dark as he holds himself over me, pinning me down. “Do not have any delusions about me, little dove. I am not a good man. And Zuben was one hundred percent right about one thing. I am dangerous.”

  I suck in a ragged breath, my body responding to the sensual pressure and his overpowering strength. My heart is racing. I’m shocked, but also more turned on than I thought possible. “Maybe I like it.”

  He grinds against me, his erection sliding hard against my mound and dangerously close to my clit.

  “Maybe you like what?” he asks. “Tell me what you like, little dove.”

  “I like…you—” I gasp as his cock slides between my folds and grazes my clit. “Oh, Ryker.”

  “Tell me!” One of his hands encases my breast, and the other moves to my throat. “Tell me what you like.” His expression’s ferocious as he looks into my eyes.

  “The danger.” I gasp, through the grip he has on my throat. “I like your dark side, Ryker. I like the danger.”

  A devilish grin takes over his face, and his fingers scissor my nipple, pinching. I arch up into the pain, the sheer pleasure.

  “Careful what you ask for, little dove,” he grow
ls as he plays with my nipple and strokes against my sex with his hardness. “Because I’m about to show you just how bad I can be.”

  His hips pull away, and then with one hard drive he’s buried inside me. So deep I cry out at the pain, but it quickly turns to pleasure, by body eager to take whatever dangerous things his has on offer.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ryker

  Standing between the parted curtains in Ember’s living room, I marvel at the warmth of the sun on my chest and the colors of the sky as it sets. How long has it been? Three hundred years—more or less? I stopped tracking time.

  And I’d certainly forgotten how direct sunlight feels—the heat of it, without an actual burn. Amazing. And even more amazing, it seems to be Ember who’s given me this gift.

  “Ryker?” her voice calls out from the bedroom, and I draw the curtains shut. “What time is it?”

  “The sun’s not down yet.” I walk to the doorway of her bedroom and pause. “But it will be soon.”

  She nods. “Where will we go?”

  “Another city,” I answer. “I’m thinking Montréal to start.” We can get there easily in a night and I’ve got a place in the Old City where we can stay.

  She pulls up to sit against the headboard, and my dick stiffens at the sight of her full body, a body I’ve enjoyed so many times and in so many ways in the past eighteen hours, I can’t begin to count.

  “I don’t speak any French.” Her bottom teeth worry her lip, and I leap forward, landing straddled over her legs on the bed, my hands on the headboard beside her.

  I thrill at the reactions my quick movements provoke—her gasp, her dilated pupils, her flushed skin and tightened nipples. Reaching down, I press my hand against her sex and tease her.

  “Doesn’t have to be Montréal,” I say as she wiggles under my touch. “We can go anywhere you like. Anywhere we can reach in one night, that is. No time to arrange long distance travel for tonight, but with some planning, we can go anywhere in the world.”

  “What about my job?” she asks softly.

  “Call in,” I suggest. “Do you have some vacation saved up?”

  She nods. “Lots of it. But—”