Finding the Blood Assassin [Lords of the Expanse 3] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Honor James

  Getting to his feet violently, he tore his study apart piece by piece to assuage some of the pain in his head and heart. He’d been ready to tell her what he felt, he’d been ready to let her in fully, and she did this! Tearing one of the shelves from the wall, he snarled in full blood rage at the loss of his female. His mind not seeing yet the truth in her words, the glaring proof she was stolen from him.

  * * * *

  She was trussed up tightly with bands around her ankles and wrists. A rag around her lower face sealed any protest from forming as the lid to the wooden crate she was packed into was sealed and closed. She felt the scream of her child, Raven’s child, felt the scream roar out of the babe and reach out for her father, demanding that he come for them. Her heart sank as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to give birth to their daughter, not with being away from Raven and the blood that their daughter needed.

  Turning her burning bruised and abraded face into the rough straw, she felt the agony of losing her mate and wanted to simply curl up and die.

  * * * *

  Two days later Raven found the note once more, and this time it just sliced through him, the pain cold and the internal weeping painful. Picking it up, he held it gently now, the last of her that he had. Sliding down the wall, he sat staring at it as he fought to get his body back under control. Reading it again, he got stuck on her words and something finally clicked. Scrambling to his feet, he moved to the window and tipped the note into the light, reading it very carefully. “Oh, Jamison,” he whispered softly. She hadn’t left of her own free will, she’d even left him that clue in her words about the silver he’d had her remove.

  Turning, he pressed his forehead to the cool glass and let the rush of relief rip through him before he realized that he’d lost two days. Snapping up his head, his lips curled up in a snarl. He’d lost two days of tracking her. No more. Running from the room, he made it to their bedroom and in moments he was suited up and had weapons on every inch of his body, and his mind was ice cold. He was getting his woman back, and gods help the bastard that got in his way because Raven was going to ensure he met his maker.

  * * * *

  It was dark. She had no idea where she was but that it was dark. She curled closer unto herself, trying to shelter her daughter and assure her that they would be all right, that her daddy would soon find them. She felt the small box she had been cloistered in being moved and bit the gag once more and tried to fight the need to throw up. Vomiting behind a gag was a very bad thing, something she’d learned that very first day. In her mind all she could whisper was, please hurry, Raven.

  * * * *

  Racing through the dark, Raven stopped suddenly, his nose to the wind as he caught the very faintest of scents, but he’d know that scent anywhere. “Jamison,” he breathed out softly to the night. Letting the beast come up further to the surface, he raced toward the scent, tracking it carefully through the night. When he found them he couldn’t see Jamison, but he knew from the sounds of the men, that they had her bundled up somewhere.

  Praying she was safe, he went in low, fast, and just plain mean. Cutting a swath through them, he ended lives, bathed in blood, and was eerily silent the entire time until they all lay dead at his feet. Spinning, he snarled. “Jamison!” he called her name. Her scent was buried under the blood. Moving as the wind shifted, his eyes focused on the crate and he knew true anger. Running to it he broke open the lid and stared down at her scared eyes. “Jamison,” her name was being used as a talisman that it was as he reached in to pick her up carefully.

  She couldn’t feel her arms or legs as he lifted her. He was in a blood rage, but she had never seen a more beautiful sight in all her life. Eyes watered even as she let her face press hard to the side of his neck and the sob escape behind the gag. He was there, he’d come for them, was all she could think even as her vision swirled and the need of their daughter kicked in. Unable to feed and unable to move, she simply rested there in his arms and soaked in the feeling of him once more holding her close.

  Holding her for a long moment Raven finally walked out of the clearing into the woods so she could not see what he’d done. Sitting with her in his lap, he pulled a blade, and very, very carefully, he cut through her bindings. Pulling them all free as gently as he could, he winced at the marks. They’d done them too tightly. Working at the gag next, he had to cut it free as well, unwinding it from her head carefully. “Feed, Jamison,” he whispered, pulling her back to him as he bared his throat. He knew he looked mad and that he was covered in blood, but he could feel her need to feed beating at him like a physical being.

  She didn’t start feeding right away. “I love you, Raven,” she croaked out. “I didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to leave those horrible words for you.” She had tears of blood running down her face when he looked at her. “He told me what to say, he knew of the silver in you, Ra. I’ve never been so happy to see you as I just was. I can’t move my arms, come closer?”

  Shifting her so her face was at his throat, he rubbed at her neck gently. “I know, Jamison, I know, my love,” he whispered. “I’m just sorry I took so long, baby, but please, for you and our child, you need to feed,” he said gently. He shifted to a prone position with her cradled before him, his hands stroking over her body trying to help her get feeling back into her limbs. “Feed, my lady love, please,” he begged her and didn’t care that it came out sounding like the plea it was.

  “I love you,” she whispered just a half a moment before she sank her fang deep into his throat and fed deeply from him for her, for their daughter.

  Groaning at the feel of her mouth pulling on his life’s blood, Raven held her close, his hand moving to lie protectively over their baby. Closing his eyes, he breathed her in and just enjoyed having her in his arms again, even if it was on a blood-soaked battle field. “Never again, my love,” he whispered. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

  When she pulled back, she licked at the puncture wounds and smiled up at him. “I’m hoping that you’re right, Raven, your daughter and I need you. We would never leave you willingly.” She sounded so tired. “Take us home, Ra? Please, before I lose what you just gave to me.”

  Nodding even though he was still processing her first words, he lifted her into his arms and began to move back toward their home. He didn’t stop for a break at any time and just kept moving toward their lands. Cradling her carefully, he let his iron will get them home. It was a much slower trip back than it had been to find her, but soon enough they were home and he carried her straight through and up to their room.

  Moving into the bathing room, he hit the sonic shower with his elbow and walked into it with her fully clothed to lean against the wall. Leaning back against the tiles he fought for just a few more minutes of strength. He’d given her blood every day on the trip back and not taken anything for himself, so he was a lot weaker than he should have been. He’d need to feed as soon as he could, but not until she was settled in their bed.

  She was sleeping restlessly in his arms when she suddenly moved, just a little. “Raven,” she whispered, moving her arms with just the smallest of groans. “Raven, sweetheart, let us down,” she whispered as she brushed his long hair back from his face. “We are home, Ra, we are safe. I just want to strip and go to sleep for a full day. Raven, you need to feed on both food and blood, darling, please. I need you to keep yourself healthy for us.”

  Easing her legs down, he kept his arm around her to keep her close. He just couldn’t let her go yet. He’d have food and blood brought up to their room, but he wasn’t leaving her alone. He couldn’t. He needed to be there. He’d failed to keep her safe once, never again would anyone hurt her or his daughter. “We’re having a daughter?” he asked suddenly, lifting his head to stare at her.

  “Yes, and she’s already Daddy’s little girl. Two days is a long time to do nothing but talk.” There was raw pain in her voice as her eyes began to brim with tears. “I had to keep her occupied to keep her
mind from the fact she was hungry. She knew you would come, I knew you would come. We’d both been adamant about that fact. But now I’m so tired, Ra.” She nuzzled against his chest. “We will eat food later, for now, though, my body needs rest, real rest when I know that we are both safe.”

  Nodding, he leaned in and kissed her. “I know,” he whispered, turning off the shower. Picking her up, he carried her to the bed and, setting her back on her feet, helped her strip before he encouraged her under the sheets. Stripping down himself, he placed the order with the kitchen and then climbed in with her. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her. “I believed the note, Jamison,” he whispered, admitting his crime to her. “For two days I believed that you’d left me and that you’d killed our child.” He felt such horror and shame at having to tell her that, but he couldn’t lie to her. “I’m so sorry, Jamison. I should have had more faith in you, in us,” he whispered.

  She felt as if he had stabbed her with a knife. Hot tears raced down her face as she whispered, “I had thought you just couldn’t find us, Raven. Never had it crossed my mind that you would.” She swallowed hard before she could even think to continue. “Even though I had sworn I would never leave you, you believed in it? You didn’t even think I would be brave enough to tell you myself?”

  He winced visibly and nodded slowly. “All I could see were the words and the pain that tore through me. I was looking for you to take you for a day by the lake,” he said softly. “I wanted to tell you that I loved you, that I wanted to have more with you. All I found was the note, and the pain tore through me and nearly broke my heart. I tore my whole study to pieces in my anger. Which is still in that state since I couldn’t bear to allow anyone in there, not with the chance of disturbing your scent.”

  The hurt was still there, but she whispered, “Say it again, Raven?” Those words so small that she had waited too long for. “Later I will be upset with you for believing in that note, just—” She licked her lips. “Tell me?” She needed them more than he would ever know. They were just words, simple little words, and she knew that actions were far more vocal, but she needed to hear them.

  Lifting his head so she could see his eyes, he touched her cheek lightly. “I love you, Jamison,” he said, whispering the words she’d waited so long to hear. “I love you, my lady wife,” he breathed out with a look of hope and worry on his face.

  She allowed the tears to flow freely and nodded. “And I love you, too, my lord husband.” She leaned in closer to him and at the smallest of spaces from his lips, said, “I am still going to be hurt and upset with you later. You have to make that hurt up to me, Raven. For now though, I’m just too happy that you gave me the words.”

  “I know, love, and I will, I swear this to you. I will do anything you wish to make up my lack of faith in you and your love,” he promised. Kissing her gently, he wiped at her tears with his thumbs ever so gently. “No more tears, please,” he whispered, brushing his lips to her cheeks.

  “I want you again so badly I can almost taste you.” But in all honesty she was far too tired. “Eat, Raven, drink lots of blood because your daughter and I both need it from you.” She paused. “When we wake.” And as much as she wanted to be awake, her eyes slid closed and she slid deeply asleep at the high noon hour.

  Stroking his hands over her body, he didn’t move when the door opened and food and blood were brought into the room. He just watched with predator eyes as the maids set the trays down and moved back out of the room. Once the door was closed, he slipped from the bed, wrapping his woman carefully to keep her warm. Sliding across the room, exhaustion pulling brutally at him, he quickly ate the food, a lot of it, and drank more blood than his body truly needed. Taking another bag because he knew that Jamison and their daughter would need it, he finished that and then went back to them.

  Slipping into the bed, he pushed the covers aside to bare her stomach to his gaze and laid a hand over her flesh. “I know that I’m not what you or your mother need,” he whispered softly. Speaking to the daughter, he might never know if Jamison left him, as was her right, considering how miserably he had failed them both. “But I love you both so much. I don’t know what to do with all of these feelings, baby.” Resting his forehead to the little swell, he closed his eyes. “I just don’t know what to do about anything,” he whispered even as he shifted and began to slide into sleep. He’d been awake too many days in a row and it was catching up to him violently. “Don’t let her leave until I wake, baby girl,” he told his daughter and then fell asleep with his cheek to his wife’s belly. Because that was what Jamison was, his wife. That had been solidified the moment that his seed took root in her womb and he claimed her with the lineage of his House upon her neck as he fed from her.

  It was nearly two days later before she roused enough to move at all. When she did move she felt him lying at her belly and smiled. A hand touched his long, shaggy hair and fingered through the tousled strands. “I love you, Raven,” she whispered and heard her daughter and had to smile. “Raven, you are exactly what she and I need.” She shifted slightly. “Well, one thing.” She moved partially and when his hand reached out and clamped on her leg she leaned in. “Raven, I have to go pee. Please let me go, darling, before I wet our bed.”

  Grumbling under his breath at her, he rolled to his back and freed her. He threw a hand over his eyes, a pout on his lips as he shifted around on the bed. Then he stilled, but she knew that he was paying attention, watching and listening to ensure she was safe.

  She felt better after using the bathroom and curled back into the heat his body offered her and lay her head on his chest. “I’m not ready to get up yet,” she whispered and closed her eyes as she patted his chest. “I’m not hungry yet either. I just want to be here and close to you.”

  Wrapping one of his arms around her, Raven lightly trailed his fingers through her hair before reaching down to pull the blankets higher. “I think I can wait,” he told her softly. “I’m in no hurry to move.” He yawned and threw his other arm over his eyes.

  Her eyes closed once more and a smile crossed her face. “Your daughter is of another mind, however.” She began to nuzzle at his chest lightly. “She’s still hungry, Raven, is it all right?” She would never just bite into him and take what was hers because she had more respect for him than that, more love for him than that.

  Cupping the back of her head, he nodded. “Of course you can, Jamison,” he said softly. “I fed very well before I fell asleep, assuming you would need more. Take all that you wish, love,” he told her. He rolled into her more, giving her more of his body to choose from, his free hand moving up to cup her hip.

  And she did need more, both for herself and for their daughter. She was nuzzling against his chest lightly when she grinned. “Where from, Raven?” Her cheek rubbed against his chest like a kitten asking to be petted. “Where do you want me to feed from? Your neck, chest, or wrist?”

  “Anywhere that you like, Jamison,” he told her softly. “I just like the touch of your lips to my skin. Do as you will with me, I am your ever willing slave.”

  She stilled, his words telling her something important, something from his very heart. Looking up at him she leaned in, brushing her lips to his. When she pulled back she smiled. “I love you, Raven.” Her lips nuzzled now at his neck, and before she could talk herself out of it, she let her single fang slide out and sank it into his neck to begin to feed for their daughter.

  Cupping the back of her head to him, he curled into her and sheltered and protected her body and therefore his daughter’s. Sliding his free hand up and down her back, he realized something but he waited while she fed. He should have noticed earlier, but he’d been so distracted that he’d been less then observant toward her.

  It was far harder for her to feed with only one fang. She had to take twice as much, twice as long, and with as quickly as Raven healed it was even harder because the wound healed before she could take as much as she needed. She didn’t bite him a secon
d time, however. Rather she licked the now healed wound and licked her lips. “I love you, Ra,” she whispered with her eyes sliding closed as she was pulled up close and protectively to his larger body.

  Tipping her chin up, he pressed a thumb to her lower lip. “Open for me please,” he said softly, but it was clearly a command. When she looked at him through sleepy eyes and opened her mouth he ran his thumb over her upper teeth until he obviously found it. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked with a frown at her. Slipping his thumb gently over the gap that was there, he rested his forehead to hers. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jamison?”

  She shrugged and closed her mouth. “You stopped him before he was able to take the second one.” She leaned in closer to him. “They figured I would talk better with fewer teeth. That’s what your mother said to that monster you rescued me from. That if I didn’t have a way to feed myself I would be more apt to give you up. That I would tell her where you were so that she could kill you.” But even then she hadn’t given him up, refused to allow him to be hurt no matter the cost to her.

  “Baby,” he whispered softly as he stroked her cheek, leaning his head to hers and closing his eyes. Reaching deep inside as he settled himself he focused on her and that missing tooth. With his gift, the one that he’d never told another soul about, the one that was completely opposite to his other abilities, he found the root still partially there. Breathing slowly and carefully, he focused on the regeneration of the tooth, constructing it and letting it grow to as it once was before until she had two incisors once more. Sweating heavily from the strain of not having used his “gift” in too many years, he opened his eyes to look into hers, knowing his were full black with a streak of something in them that only happened when he used the controversial gift.