by Amelia Elias
Praise for Blood Ties
This story is well written, suspenseful and sexy. Deceit and danger stand in the way of love, trust and a desire that cannot be denied. Throw in hot, hot sex and blazing lust in the middle of the hell about to descend upon them and it makes for one savory read that will not disappoint in the least. Consider this one a must read.
Charissa, Coffee Time Romance
[A] hot-blooded vampire story jam-packed with passion and danger, Blood Ties starts out with a bang and will keep you on the edge of your set until the very end. Orion and Kira’s sexual encounters are hot enough to melt butter and you will definitely need a fire extinguisher to cool off. Readers will be fascinated by the amazing combination of sensuality and darkness within the plot.
Contessa, Fallen Angel Reviews
Blood Ties
by
Amelia Elias
Copyright 2006-2012 Amelia Elias
Smashwords Edition
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All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or shared in any form, including, but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, or emailing without prior written permission from Amelia Elias.
Chapter One
I’m going to kill him. Slowly, so I can enjoy every second of it.
Blood boiling, every muscle aching with the need for violence, Orion reclined in his high-backed leather chair and waited in silence. It was a skill he’d polished over the years, one that had gained more information for him than interrogation ever had.
He didn’t have to wait long this time.
Kira bit her lip and looked away, cheeks flushing. “Don’t look at me like that, Orion,” she said, still not meeting his eyes. She hadn’t once looked directly at him since she’d walked into his office this evening and dropped her little bombshell.
He still couldn’t believe it, even though he probably should’ve seen it coming a mile away. Kira couldn’t just quit. She was his Associate, his voice and face to the daylight world. She was his lifeline, the keeper of almost every secret he possessed. She knew everything from where he bought his clothes and hid his money to how he stole his sustenance and where he slept hidden from the sun’s rays. As a vampire without the benefit and shelter of a Clan, a loyal Associate was the best and only safety net he possessed.
In short, Kira Jacques was the one mortal that Orion couldn’t let go.
She fidgeted uneasily under his steady gaze. Unwilling to break the silence or the tension, he studied her, taking in every detail and not liking the changes he found. She’d tamed her wild hair tonight, catching the unruly black curls in a neat twist at the nape of her neck. Her usual hip-hugging jeans and T-shirt were replaced by slacks and a silky knit sweater, and her normally-bare feet were hidden in sensible shoes. Nothing could hide that curvy body, but she was sure as hell trying.
Even her face was different. Never one to hide her natural beauty, tonight Kira wore makeup -- base, blush, shadow, the works. Orion could smell them from here. He wondered if she thought putting on her war-paint would prepare her to face him.
Her vivid green eyes flickered his way, meeting his for a bare instant before she blushed and looked past him again. “I know what you’re trying to do,” she said, a hint of steel in her voice now. “I’ve seen you give this same silent treatment to others who displeased you. You can cut it out now. If you’re pissed off, say so, damn it.”
Orion smiled. “Oh, yes, I’m pissed off,” he replied softly. “I’m pissed off that you’ll let someone dictate your life. I’m pissed off that you’ll do whatever that bastard asks just because he doesn’t trust you. And I’m pissed as hell that you expect me to just let you walk away when you know you’re doing the wrong thing.”
That made her look at him. Her eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t know any such thing,” she snapped, raising her chin defiantly. “You don’t know it either. And of course Barrett trusts me! Would he ask me to marry him if he didn’t?”
Hiding his reaction to that was one of the most difficult things Orion had ever done, but he managed it. Just. “A man who trusts his woman does not force her to abandon her responsibilities simply because he put a ring on her finger,” he replied, murmuring when he wanted to shout. His voice could be a weapon, should he decide to use it as such, but everything in him rebelled against manipulating or hurting Kira. “If he trusts you absolutely, why is he insisting that you quit?”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but he could sense the tension in her shoulders. “You’ll be fine,” she said, ignoring his question. “You’ve got plenty of blood stored and I’m certain you’ll find another Associate soon. Contact the Nighthawks and see if they can offer a reference. I’m sure --”
That was the last straw. Kira knew damn well that he couldn’t stand his own kind. Their callous disregard for mortals nauseated him, and his willingness to mingle with his prey only earned their scorn. How dare she so blithely suggest that he simply contact the vampires of the Nighthawk Clan, as if they’d ever offer him anything? Orion’s fangs ached in his mouth as his fury demanded release, but Kira’s cell phone rang in that moment. She hit the button and answered it before he could snarl at her to let it ring.
When he heard the tinny sound of Barrett’s voice, he literally saw red. Orion shoved away from the desk and shot to his feet all in one smooth motion, intending to slap the offensive phone out of her hand and shake her until she saw reason.
“Wait, wait,” Kira said, frowning as Barrett’s voice buzzed urgently through the static on her cellular phone. She moved closer to the window to improve the reception. “Yes, I’m still at work. I’m giving my notice right now, but the loose ends I need to tie up won’t keep me here that much longer. I’ll be home in a half hour or so, all right?”
Barrett’s voice grew louder, enough that Orion could’ve understood him even without his supernatural hearing. “Kira, do as you’re told for once and stay there,” he snapped, his tone more like a scolding parent than a lover. “I told you, the apartment is being fumigated. You can’t get in for at least another hour. Just stay put until I tell you to leave. Got it?”
Even before the man finished speaking, a tickle of dread teased the fine hairs at the back of Orion’s nape. Who fumigated an apartment in the middle of the night, in the dead of winter? Kira opened her mouth to argue with her fiancé as the dread blossomed into a stomach-clenching certainty of impending danger.
It was a feeling he’d learned to never ignore.
“Kira, get away from the window!”
She jumped at Orion’s shout, but he was already in motion. Snagging her around the waist, he tackled her to the floor and shielded her body with his own as gunfire shattered the night. Kira screamed and Orion hissed with fury as the window exploded into a thousand deadly fragments that lacerated his back.
He didn’t even feel the pain of it as he caught the scent of her blood in the rush of cold air. Prying Kira’s phone from her death grip, he heard Barrett’s triumphant laughter. “Burn the vampire and his whore!” Barrett shouted to someone in the background, and Orion’s fangs burst forth with the surge of rage that filled him.
Every one of his suspicions about the man had been right. Barrett had never intended to marry Kira. He’d only used her to find Orion’s lair. And now the bastard had spilled the blood of
the one person on Earth that Orion cared about.
May God have mercy on the man’s soul, because Orion would show none. “You will die slowly for this,” he snarled before shattering the phone with his bare hand.
The gunfire abruptly stopped. The eerie silence was anything but comforting. He knew that the cessation of the bullets only meant something worse was coming.
He didn’t plan to wait around for it to arrive. Orion leapt to his feet, Kira cradled securely in his arms, and dashed out of the den with preternatural speed. She clung to him, her breath coming in quick, terrified gasps. “What’s happening?” she asked, clutching him tightly as he kicked down his bedroom door.
“Your boyfriend is trying to kill us.” He let her feet touch the floor only long enough to shove his bed aside with one hand and yank open the trapdoor hidden beneath it. The smell of stale air and dank earth made her cringe, but Orion didn’t let her back away from the black pit. Pulling her into his arms again, he brushed a kiss over her pale cheek. “Better men have tried and failed, sweetheart. Now hold on tight.”
And he leapt into the darkness before she could reply.
*~*~*
Kira bit her lip to keep from screaming as they plummeted into the blackness. Barrett was really trying to kill them -- and she’d led him right to Orion. How could she have been so blind?
Was she really so desperate for the security of marriage that she’d been fooled so easily by a handsome face and honeyed words? When she thought of the Christmas wedding they’d planned, she felt sick at her own stupidity. Barrett had seemed so… safe, so sane. So much what she wanted, a man who’d never let her down, a man she wouldn’t have to keep secrets from.
A human version of Orion.
They landed hard and she couldn’t stop the cry of pain as the impact jolted her throbbing leg, drowning her spinning thoughts. She wasn’t sure if she’d been shot or cut by the broken glass, but her thigh was on fire with pain and her entire leg was wet.
Adrenaline and terror shot through her veins. She was soaked in blood and stuck at the bottom of a black pit with an infuriated vampire. This couldn’t be good.
Orion didn’t even pause when they hit the ground. She closed her eyes as he sprinted through the darkness, leaving the tiny spot of light the trapdoor let in far behind. Dizzy and disoriented, she fisted her hands in the material of his jacket as he ran. “Where are we going?”
“Cover your ears.”
“Wha --”
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the earth around them and threw Orion off his feet. He rolled as he fell, taking the impact before rolling her beneath him to shield her. She opened her mouth to scream again, but before she could so much as draw a breath, Orion’s fingers dove into her hair.
She caught the glint of fangs in the dark just before his mouth covered hers, hard and possessive, capturing her surprised gasp and turning it into a moan.
His passion was as irresistible as it was unexpected, driving even the pain away in a rush of heat. Terror morphed into desire at the speed of light as hot cream flooded her pussy. His tongue stroked her lips, curled around hers and drew it out to play. She couldn’t resist tracing his fangs with the tip of her tongue and delighted in the deep growl she provoked. When he released her mouth to kiss a hot path across her jaw, Kira finally managed to draw a breath.
The scent of him surrounded her, more intoxicating than whiskey. Her head reeled with desire so strong, it made her feel physically weak. God, next I’ll be fainting like some chick in a romance novel! “Attempted murder really turns you on, doesn’t it?” she gasped, arching beneath him as he cupped her breast.
“You turn me on, Kira,” he growled against her skin. Her nipple hardened in his palm and he shoved her shirt aside, ripping her bra to bare her skin to his hungry mouth. Hot, molten lust shot from her breast to her clit as he suckled and nipped her aching flesh. “I’ve wanted you for years. If I die tonight, I want one taste of you to take with me into oblivion.”
His cock pressed against her belly, thick and hard, as he kissed her again. He ground his hips against hers, but the movement brought his thigh hard against her wound.
He froze at her whimper of pain. “Fuck,” he whispered, drawing back. “You’re injured.”
Her clit throbbed as every cell of her body protested his withdrawal. “So are you,” she said, feeling the wetness of blood on his back.
“My injuries don’t matter.”
His hands ran over her body again, but this time there was nothing passionate about his touch. Her body fired with need anyway as he searched for the wound. “My left thigh,” she said, fighting not to moan as he traced her breasts again.
Both his hands slid up her thigh and stopped when they reached the ragged tear in her slacks. Kira bit her lip to keep from screaming as he probed the wound. “Fuck,” he breathed again, and this time the tension in his tone sent alarm racing down her spine.
The tunnel was totally black to her, but she knew he could see as clearly as if it were high noon. “Is it bad?”
His silence was answer enough. Well, she supposed she didn’t really need to ask that question. The wetness soaking her slacks and pooling in her shoe had already answered it for her. She tried again. “How bad is it?”
“Shh, sweetheart.”
Before she could ask yet again, Orion’s fingers pressed harder and pulled something from the wound. It was all she could do not to scream as a new gush of warmth soaked her leg. “God, what did you just do?” she gasped as raw agony throbbed through her leg. “I don’t think that helped!”
He pressed his palm hard against the wound, but even in the darkness, she could sense his worry. She reached out blindly until she found his shoulder and tried to shake him with a hand that felt much too weak. “Damn it, if you don’t answer me right now --”
He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, silencing her before she could threaten him. “Hush and listen, sweetheart,” he murmured against her mouth. “There’s not much time. Your femoral artery was badly injured by glass and the sliver worked deeper as we ran down here. You’re bleeding to death. Do you understand?”
Her heart froze. Oh, God, surely he was wrong. “No,” she said, refusing to believe it even as the dizziness crashed over her again. This time, she knew it had nothing to do with lust. “No, you’re wrong!”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Kira, love, when it comes to blood, I’m very rarely wrong. You don’t have time to argue with me.”
“I’m not dying!” She couldn’t be dying. She was too young, had too many things to do with her life. Surely one little piece of glass couldn’t end it all!
“You don’t have to die,” Orion said, his voice low and urgent. “I can save you, make you like me. You’ll never have to die. I’ll take care of you, Kira, I swear it, but you have to choose now. Do you die as a mortal, or live as a vampire?”
She knew he was holding pressure as hard as he could, but she still felt the blood seeping from her. She’d read somewhere that a person could bleed to death from their femoral artery in two minutes flat. The knowledge was anything but comforting as the pain faded to almost nothing. White stars burst before her eyes and Kira struggled to focus. This was really happening. She could almost feel her life ebbing away. “It’s so fast,” she whispered.
“Kira!” His voice had a desperate edge. “Choose, damn it. Hurry!”
Her hand fell away from his shoulder and she didn’t have the energy to raise it again. It was terrifying, how quickly her strength faded. She didn’t want to die like this! “Live,” she breathed, wishing she could see his face in the darkness. “I want to live.”
Orion let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as she said what he’d prayed to hear. One slash of his claws was all it took to rip away her slacks before he fastened his mouth to her thigh and drank deeply.
The taste of her blood hit him like a fireball. He growled as lust exploded through his body. Gods
, he’d wanted to taste her for so long, but never once had he imagined it would happen like this. His cock ached like a long, hot coal against his belly, but her fear filled his mind as her blood forged the bond between them.
No, not like this. He would not let her die in fear while he burned with desire.
Orion slid his hand beneath her panties and caressed her mons. The scent and slick feel of the wetness that still lingered from their kiss was enough to drive him out of his mind with the need to get inside her. He slid trembling fingers past her curls, finding her clit and circling it as her responses filled his mind. Her arousal flared to life again even as she faded away, and he plunged two fingers deep inside her. Finding her g-spot as his thumb teased her clit, Orion growled with satisfaction as her pleasure overwhelmed the fear in her mind. He used his powers to heighten her desire and brought her to the peak hard and fast.
She gasped out her orgasm and was still.
At once he pulled away from her thigh and slashed his own wrist with the same piece of glass that had hurt her. Pressing the bleeding cut to her lips, he held her close and urged her to swallow. When a shiver went through her and she suckled his wrist, first gently and then with growing need, he kissed her forehead and murmured comforting words to her, promises she wouldn’t remember when she awoke as a vampire.
But he would remember them, and he would fulfill every single one.
Chapter Two
Hunger.
Kira awoke to a hunger so fierce it seared her veins. She was only vaguely aware of softness beneath her and a warmth surrounding her as fire burst through her body. Somewhere music was playing, a hard, driving beat that matched the pounding of her heart. She hissed in a breath permeated with Orion’s scent and felt as if she could burst into flames. “Orion?” she said, and the word came out sultry and seductive.
