Trained in Blood [Lords of the Expanse 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Honor James

  She nodded with a look of acceptance. “But our son, he will be safe through all of this? The change won’t hurt him?” She was worried for their child obviously.

  Nodding he smiled slightly. “Yes, love, our baby will be just fine. A Vampire in the womb has an extra layer of…” He frowned trying to recall the term. Shaking his head finally he shrugged. “It’s like a suit of armor for the child, but soft and pliable like rubber.” That sounded good. Now she’d never want another child. “I’m saying it all wrong, I know that, but you don’t need to worry. Beyond your womb our son has that extra pocket of protection within even though you are not yet Vampire. It is a natural process of the genes of the Vampire to produce it within the woman for the child’s safety.”

  “As long as he will be all right.” She smiled up at him and touched his lips, needing to just continue to touch him. “I trust you. I was just worried for our baby.” Their baby, their perfect miracle. “I think that I’m ready for this, Titan. Well, I’m as ready as I ever will be I suppose would be the best way to say it.”

  “I will keep you safe and watch over you the whole time you sleep, Violet. No harm will come to you or our son, I swear this on everything I am,” he whispered softly. Kissing her lightly he tipped her chin up and pressed his lips to her throat kissing her softly over her pulse. Licking at her throat he, ever so gently, pressed his teeth into her throat to take her blood.

  The kiss of his teeth into her flesh didn’t make her hurt so much as made her want to weep with need. “I believe you, Titan, always I will believe in you, in us.” Her fingers lightly stroked his chest and shoulder as he fed from her.

  She began to feel dizzy and her mouth went dry. “Love you,” she whispered as her eyes closed and the call of the darkness closed in around her.

  Lifting his head quickly he cut his wrist and pressed it to her mouth. “Drink, Violet,” he whispered against her ear as he held her gently. “Take all you need for our son and for you to step into my world fully,” he said. Kissing her cheek he nibbled on her skin. “I love you, wife, drink and become strong for us all, for you, for our son, for me, and for our future.”

  Her mouth closed over the wound and her body took over. The need from the child and the enzymes from a Vampire pregnancy gave her body all that it needed in order to obtain the needed sustenance for the child. Her gag reflex was gone because of the Vampiric child inside of her, so she drank eagerly, greedily.

  Until the pain began.

  She bowed into Titan, crying out even as she held onto his wrist and sobbed with the pain as it began to blow through her.

  “I know,” he whispered, holding her close to him and lightly rocking her back and forth as he stroked her hair gently. “I know, just focus on me and we’ll get you through this together I swear to you.” He hated that she was in pain, that it was because of him she was in pain.

  She nodded and opened her eyes trying to focus on him, on his face but in the next moment shut them again as she doubled over in clearly visible pain. “Titan,” she cried out even as he wrapped her up close and held her tightly.

  Taking his wrist from her mouth she watched him lick the wound there to close it before pulling her into his arms and rubbing slowly at her back with one hand as he massaged her neck with the other. “I have you, Violet. I’ve got you safe with me, honey,” he said softly.

  And she knew, she knew she would forever be safe with him. “I know.” She clenched her hands on him followed with, “I’m going to be sick.” She was going to throw up, or poop, one of the two or both. “Bathroom, I need the bathroom.” Her body wasn’t responding, so she really hoped his would.

  Tossing the blankets aside Titan lifted her into his arms and raced for the bathing room. Inside he waited for her to tell him where she needed to be or what she needed to do.

  “Sick, going to be sick.” Finally she started to gag and was soon trying to get rid of everything in her stomach, all of the dinner she had the night before, the water, everything. Her body was trying to turn itself inside out and she felt every single burn, every single pain vividly.

  Holding her as she gagged and dry heaved Titan was silent, just kept her hair back from her face and stroked her back. He whispered to her, soothing words of encouragement, and pressed kisses to the back of her neck.

  She was crying and shook her head. “Did I ever tell you I really, really hate being sick?” she asked and slumped against him. Her voice was so quiet, so filled with exhaustion. “I hope that the pregnancy doesn’t give me morning sickness or you and I will talk, mister.”

  Picking her up he took her into the shower for a few minutes to clean her fully and allow her to rest easier. After, he settled them back in their bed and cut his wrist for her again. “Drink a little more, love and then you will sleep,” he told her softly. “We can talk about anything you wish once you wake, Violet,” he whispered against her cheek.

  She took what he offered and appeared ready to sleep even before she finished. Eyes closed she sighed. “Morning sickness and I will brain you,” she grumbled with a smile on her face. “Daddy.”

  Smiling at her words he kissed her temple and covered them both up, tucking her in to keep her warm. “I would even let you,” he murmured though he knew she couldn’t hear him now. “Sleep well, mother of our children,” he whispered and smiled a little wider despite the pain the emotion caused.

  Chapter Eleven

  She woke eighty-seven hours and three minutes later. Her stomach was growling and the roof of her mouth was hurting. “Titan,” she said with a low growl. “I need you.” She could see him. He had his back to her. As he turned to look she saw the bagged blood in his hand and smiled. “Titan?”

  “Hello there,” he said as he moved closer to her and settled at her side. Touching her arm he stroked her skin lightly, sliding his hand up to cup her cheek and tip her head back. “You look marvelous,” he told her with a faint smile setting the bag of blood to one side as he leaned in to kiss her. “How do you feel?” he whispered against her lips.

  “Marvelous.” She leaned in and brushed her lips over his lightly. “Hungry.” When her fangs slid down she jerked in surprise. “What?” She opened her mouth and touched them. “Damn.” She rasped out, “How do I make them go back in?”

  Smiling faintly he shook his head. “Right now you can’t until you feed. As you go you will learn how to retract them and also learn to hold them in or release them as you want. You should feed, love. You and our son both need the sustenance.”

  “All right.” She leaned in closer to him and smiled against his chest. “Only from you though, Titan, only from you.” She licked his chest before placing her mouth over him. “I love you,” she whispered only a moment before she buried her fangs deep into his pectoral muscle and drank deeply of him.

  Gasping slightly he cupped the back of her head and held her close. Groaning he wrapped her in his arms. “You can only take from me, love. It’s part of having a Vampire child. Only the father’s blood will feed you. You can’t use bagged blood. It will only make you ill and if you take another’s blood, even in an emergency you will become lethargic and woozy,” he told her to keep from focusing on how badly his body was throbbing in need of her.

  She rubbed against him and whimpered, a need-filled sound as she fed from him. Her body was wet against his leg, the heat of her desire evident. Then her hand moved to cup him, touch him, and stroke him.

  “Violet,” he moaned softly against her hair as he pressed a kiss to her head. “Gods, love, you can’t do that to me right now,” he told her as he fought to keep from thrusting into her hand. His vision was starting to turn fuzzy around the edges and he knew he was losing the battle with his desires.

  “Need you,” she said against his skin lightly. She was feeding from him but she had slowed it so that it was barely a drop. “Now, need you.” She groaned and rubbed against him hungrily.

  Growling softly at her words he dropped the bag to the bed and, picking her up
, he turned her to lie on the bed and drove into her body. “Feed,” he told her as he braced over her giving her access to where she had been feeding or his throat if she preferred as he pounded into her body.

  Choosing his chest this time she nuzzled, licked, and then bit. Her body was alive and each time he pumped into her deeply she took a deep drink of him. Finally she closed the wounds and let her head fall back so she could watch him, watch the intensity of him as he moved in and out of her.

  Baring her neck to him finally she said, “Feed from me, Titan, mark me, but please I need you.”

  Lowering his head he slid his tongue slowly up her throat and nipped at her flesh, teasing her. He felt her body shift and the needy way she tugged at him but he continued with his teasing even as he kept his rhythm nearly brutal as he took her body. Scraping his teeth down her throat he only struck when she shivered and gave the smallest sound of need, burying his teeth deep and drinking sparingly.

  She gasped even as her body clenched his, a full-body shudder wracking her as she clutched at him. She screamed as she came hard and fast for him. Nails bit into his skin while she tried to pull him closer. “Come with me, Titan, yes!” she shouted roughly while her pussy squeezed him, trying to push him over, to milk his body.

  Snarling deep in his chest he shoved into her and came hard, his body spilling deep into her as he shuddered and jerked, pushing even deeper still. Collapsing over her he carefully pulled his teeth from her throat and licked at the small drops of blood. Panting he rested his head to her shoulder. “I’ll move in a moment,” he whispered softly but he knew he couldn’t right then. His whole body relaxed.

  “Don’t leave me, Ti,” she grumbled at him, rubbing her cheek to his chest. “That was amazing. I now see why you made the comment that you did in the shower.”

  “Not leaving you, Violet, never leaving you,” he told her softly as he held her close. “I told you that you would like it,” he said with a smile, kissing her jaw lightly. When he had a little burst of energy he rolled over onto his back and cradled her close to him as he covered her with a blanket.

  “And you were so right.” She grumbled, “Damn you.” There was a smile in her voice though. “You likely are used to being right, Titan, so don’t rub it in.” She smirked. “You are always welcome to rub other things in me though.” Giving him a purely hot and needy look she shook herself. “Sorry, you’re tired and I’m not helping.”

  “Yes, I am, and no, you are not,” he told her with a half smile, the best he’d likely ever be able to give her. “But this was more than worth all the lost hours of sleep,” he admitted honestly. He hadn’t slept once while she’d been going through her change. He just couldn’t stop worrying that if he did she might not still live when he woke.

  “I have to agree, Titan. Who cares about a little sleeplessness when you can wake up in the arms of the man you love?” She grinned and added, “And that would be you, Titan. You are the man I love and the man whose arms I need to wake in for the rest of my life.”

  “Well, as I was not planning on ever going anywhere without you except for the occasional mission”—like he’d leave her behind—“I think that could be achieved.” All of that was said with a straight face and he was teasing her but he wanted to see if she’d figure it out…or beat him silly.

  It took her several minutes of watching him before she narrowed her eyes. “You won’t leave me behind.” She grinned. “No matter what, you won’t ever leave me behind.” She buffeted his shoulder lightly and shook her head. “Silly man.”

  Kissing her softly he smiled faintly. “No, love, I won’t ever leave you behind, Violet,” he promised softly. “You’d likely get into far too much trouble if I dared to. No.” He shook his head, his lips twitching with amusement. “I will keep you close and under my watchful eye to ensure you do not get into trouble.”

  Now if that wasn’t the truth of everything she didn’t know what would be. “Yes, I do believe that you are right. Without you around to curtail my endeavors I think that I would likely run into all kinds of trouble.” She moved closer to him and smiled up at him.

  Chapter Twelve

  What happened next she wouldn’t recall. It was so sudden and so intense that it had her dropping like a loadstone as she spoke. “She’s giving birth.” She whispered, “There are two babies, boy and girl.” She whispered, “Rare, no Vampire ever had them before and the doctor”—she clenched her hand on him—“he’s taking them. He’s arranging for The Dark Colonel to be parted from his wife and will take all three. The Alliance High Council wants them, study.” She felt her head feeling like it would explode. “The Dark High Lord Colonel, his wife.” She nodded and felt the lights go out as she passed out. It was all disjointed, almost as if she were reliving past, present, and future at once, not something she did ever.

  Catching her as her eyes rolled back Titan cursed darkly and cradled her close to him. He hated what her visions did to her, what they demanded of her, but they were a part of her and one he’d have to accept. He didn’t like that hard fact and it made him feel helpless, not a sensation a Vampire Lord or any man could like. As he held her, her heartbeat the only thing reassuring him that she was just asleep, he let her words replay in his mind. He knew that the Lord Colonel Mauricio was known as “The Dark Colonel,” though no one dared say that to his face. He also knew that his wife was pregnant and, if what Violet had said was true, they had a medical miracle coming into their lives. He had not heard about twins, but he was sure that the Alliance would want that to remain silent, especially if they were going to hurt them. Pressing a kiss to Violet’s cheek he rocked her back and forth. “We will warn them,” he promised as his mind tried to recall just where the Lord Colonel was currently.

  Her eyes opened and her hand moved to curl around his neck. “I don’t know what that was. I felt as if I were in three time frames, past, present, and future.” Levering herself up slightly she pressed her forehead to his neck and breathed. “I do know that someone’s hunting an innocent woman because of a quirk of fate, Titan.” Her hands were shaking, but it seemed as if it was going as quickly as it had come on. “Can we help them?”

  “We will,” he said softly with a promise in his voice. “I am even now trying to recall where the Lord Colonel and his Lady wife currently are. I will get word to them. Andries knows me, well, knows of me rather. I will make sure he understands that he is to be betrayed from the inside.”

  “Thank you, Titan. I know it will likely be hard to convince him, but please, he has to listen to you.” She looked up at him and asked, “Are multiple births really as rare as the vision made me think they were?” And if they were it made her smile because perhaps the Syndicate’s Intelligence wasn’t as complete as they thought it was.

  Nodding he shifted slightly. “There has never been a single multiple birth in the four thousand years that are recorded history of our world. I believe that there may have been one or two before that, but they are mere rumors, and from the rumors the children and mothers died because they could not get the blood needed to keep them alive.”

  “That’s horrible.” She gasped but nodded. “Then I can see why the Alliance would want to have them to study, your, no our, people don’t have a very high pregnancy rate.” In fact Vampire pregnancies were fairly rare, and once a woman birthed one child it was normally a half century or more before they could birth another.

  “No one should be put through the ‘study’ of the Alliance and I know it is not the Vampire half that wants them or her to ‘study,’” he bit out in a wave of visible anger. “The mother will not survive what they do to her and the children will be turned to the Alliance and away from their father if they get their hands on them. Xandra will suffer unbelievable agonies as they take her apart bit by bit to discover what makes her different and her children will be isolated and brainwashed. No Vampire would ever, ever condone that treatment which means it’s the non-Vampire half that wants to ensure we can’t reproduce fas
ter than genetics previously allowed us.”

  “Oh dear.” Violet was horrified by that thought. She couldn’t believe that someone would do something like he was suggesting. “Then yes, we have to help them because if somehow she does hold the key to our people being able to procreate more, shouldn’t she be protected and not harmed?”

  Throwing her a small glare he lightly nipped at her chin. “She should be protected no matter what. She is a female and she is precious to all males. That is why she will be protected. I do not care if she can give us the secret to multiple births. She is a person and will have the full backing of all Vampire Lords to keep her safe. We will need to make it known that if she is harmed that we will institute martial law on our world again. The last time didn’t go well, especially for the non-Vampires. They took the curfews and lack of lawful rights rather personally. I understand where they are coming from there, but when it’s an entire race being targeted some extremes come about.”

  Violet shivered and nodded. “And that would be very bad.” There had been “instruction” on the Vampire martial law time, and it was brutal. “Yes, all women who are mothers should be protected and I know it.” Her hands moved down his body. “Especially since I’m now one of them.”

  “I won’t let you come to harm, Violet,” he said softly as he pulled her closer to him and he just held her for a moment. “I love you and you will not be hurt by anything that may or may not come,” he promised, pressing his lips to hers softly. Nibbling gently at her mouth he let out a sigh. “Our child will be just as safe as you are, my wife. You above all others will be protected.”