Desire by Blood

by Schroeder, Melissa

  Diana gave a watery chuckle. “That is an understatement.”

  Cordelia squeezed Diana’s knee. “You do realize this was not a joke?”

  Diana’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

  “Some men tried to abduct me earlier.”

  “But, how did Alex know?” Then comprehension filled her expression. “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh.”

  “We must do something.”

  “What can we do?” Cordelia asked as she shrugged and pulled her hand away from Diana’s.

  “Do not worry. Nico and Malik will take care of it,” Adelaide said.

  She glanced at her mother-in-law. She had forgotten she was there.

  “What?”

  Adelaide smiled. “Nico. He is over there to give your brother the talking to he deserves.”

  Alarm moved through her. “Adelaide, you mean Malik and Nico went over to the townhouse? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She shrugged. “I thought you knew.”

  “Knew?” Alarm ballooned into panic. “I did not know.”

  She shot up out of the chair but did not get far. Diana grabbed her by the arm.

  “Cordelia, what on earth is going on?”

  “If I am correct, my husband and his friend just went over to our brother’s townhouse to kill him.”

  “Oh, they won’t kill him.” Adelaide corrected. “But he won’t ever try to get someone to abduct you again.”

  She looked at Diana. “He will kill him if we don’t go over there.”

  Diana nodded and stood. “Although, there is a part of me that thinks we need to just leave them to it.”

  She stopped, and Diana ran into her back. She turned and looked at Diana. “No matter what you think of my husband, he is not a killer.”

  Diana looked confused. “You just said you were afraid he would kill Alex.”

  How could she make her sister understand? “Out of anger. Otherwise, he would not think of it. Alex is a horrible person, but he is a peer of the realm. No matter how powerful Gray is, Nico would be in trouble if he were to kill our brother.”

  Diana grabbed her by the hand. “Let’s go.”

  * * * *

  No one answered the door when Nico knocked.

  “He probably fired the staff,” Malik commented. His attention was on the street behind them.

  “More than likely. Cordelia kept the staff on somehow, but Alex probably could not keep up the payments.”

  “How did your wife pay them?”

  Nico knocked again. “What? How did she pay them?”

  Before Malik could answer, the door was pulled open. The man who stood there bore no resemblance to his wife or his sister. His hair was the color of mud, his eyes small and black, and he was short. At least a head shorter than Nico himself. He was disheveled, as if he had just risen from bed, but he was wearing evening clothes. Alex had been drinking for most of his adult life and probably before then. He was bloated, his enormous stomach hanging over his waistband.

  “What do you want?”

  He was not standing that close to Alex, but he could smell the soured liquor on his breath. It was so strong, Nico had to fight the need to step back.

  He squinted at Nico, then looked over his shoulder at Malik. When his gaze came back to meet Nico’s, Nico noticed how glazed Alex’s eyes were. He doubted his brother-in-law had been sober much in the last twenty-four hours.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “Nico Blackburn.”

  He did not introduce Malik. He saw no reason to. “May I come in for a chat?”

  Alex hesitated but finally relented. Nico followed him in, waiting until Malik caught up with them after closing the door. In less than a week, the house had become dirty. He must have gotten rid of the staff immediately after he came to town.

  He led them to the same breakfast area where he had met with Cordelia. There was no fire in the hearth, no warmth.

  “Keep control of your emotions,” Malik said just loud enough for Nico to hear.

  Nico looked at him. “Have I acted out of control?”

  Malik shook his head. “I’ve known you long enough to know you are just waiting.”

  Waiting? Nico wondered what that was supposed to mean. “For what?”

  Alex spoke before Malik could answer. “So, you’re the poor bugger who is attached to our little Scottish bastard?” Alex said.

  Anger shifted through him and sparked into rage. One minute he was telling Malik that he would control himself, and in the next, he was holding his brother-in-law by the neck as Alex clawed at his hands.

  “I would advise you that Nico does not like you using that name,” Malik said calmly.

  Nico had no intention of being calm. “Were you the one behind her abduction?”

  “He cannot speak, Nico,” Malik said.

  With an angry shove, he pushed Alex back into the chair with such force, it almost toppled over.

  “Tell me,” Nico said through gritted teeth.

  “I didn’t think it right,” Alex answered. “She married you, a commoner, without approval of her family.”

  Nico was quickly losing his patience. “Your oldest sister was in attendance, and I myself sent you a note.”

  “I did not approve,” Alex huffed out as he leaned over to grab a bottle of brandy. “As the brother, I should have been contacted for approval.”

  “And so you decided to have your sister abducted to get money from me?” Nico suspected the man was crazy.

  Alex snorted. “Good lot that did me. She has been a blight on our family since the day she was born. Must be the Scottish blood coursing through her. Cursed she is.”

  “I think you might want to rethink your opinion on your sister, Alex,” Malik said.

  Her brother blinked, looked up at Malik and sneered. “I do not have to answer to the likes of you.”

  Malik glanced at Nico. “Do what you want.”

  “I hope you got her unsoiled.” Alex sneered. “With her mother’s blood, I cannot say I would be surprised if she wasn’t.”

  That pushed Nico over the edge. The bastard drank and whored his sisters’ money away, and he sat there passing judgment on her. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and took hold of the bastard’s collar again. The crack of Alex’s nose beneath Nico’s fingers was loud and satisfying. He kept hitting Alex, until he felt someone tugging on his arm. Through the haze of anger that clouded his vision, he heard his wife’s voice.

  “Nico, please stop, you are going to kill him.”

  He turned, still holding Alex by the collar. “What?”

  He was trying to come to terms that his wife was there when she yanked on his arm.

  “Please, stop.”

  Nico shook his head, trying to clear it. She released his arm and then cupped his face in her hands.

  “Let’s go.”

  He released Alex, who dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Alex was coughing and sputtering, gasping for a good bit of air.

  “I will have you arrested by God.”

  Cordelia released Nico and looked around him at her brother.

  “You even think of saying anything about my husband to the authorities, I will let everyone you owe money to know that you are in town.”

  His eyes widened.

  “That’s right. I will also let it be known that you have nothing to your name.”

  With that she turned around. “Let’s go home.”

  He noticed for the first time that Diana was in the room. “Come, Malik, Diana, let’s do as Cordelia says.”

  They settled in the carriage. No one said a thing for a few awkward moments.

  Diana broke the silence. “Well, things do seem to happen around you, Cordelia.”

  “Diana, I do not think my wife needs to hear that right now.”

  Diana looked at him. “Of course.”

  Cordelia felt the need to defend her sister. “Don’t berate her, Nico. Diana was just trying to help. She was never
good at silences.”

  Diana gave her a thankful smile. “True.”

  “Would you like us to drop you off at your townhouse, Diana?” Nico asked.

  Diana smiled. “That would be wonderful. I do believe I will stay in tonight.”

  “No, come with us. We are not going to do anything, and we can have dinner. You too, Malik.” Nico offered. He sensed Cordelia’s study, but he did not look at her.

  “That sounds wonderful. Thank you,” Diana said.

  Malik answered with a low growl.

  Cordelia leaned back in her seat, wondering what her husband was up to.

  * * * *

  Dinner had been a test of his wills, Nico thought. Cordelia had held her head high, not once letting on to anyone else that she was close to falling apart. As he followed her up the staircase, he wondered just who the woman he married was.

  It was an odd thought considering the intimacies they had shared over the last few days. Still, there was a lot to her that he didn’t know. When she reached the door, she reached for the knob at the same time he did. His hand landed on hers. She bowed her head.

  “I can open doors for myself, Nico.”

  It was an odd statement. “Of course you can, but it doesn’t make you weak to accept help.”

  She nodded and said nothing else. Nico opened the door and waited for her to step into her room. He followed her, shutting the door behind him.

  "Did my brother say anything horrible?"

  He wondered at the tone, but he answered. "No. Nothing I did not know before."

  She looked at him over her shoulder. Most people would say it was a coy gesture, but he saw the earnest look on her face.

  "So he said horrible things you already knew?"

  "Why are you worried about what he said?"

  She shrugged and sighed, walking over to the window. "My brother is not a nice man."

  "No, but London is littered with men like him."

  'Yes, and they think they have a right to everything."

  "Is there something else I should know about your brother?"

  She shook her head but did not look at him. "Knowing what a bastard he is should be enough."

  He sensed there were things, things she would never reveal to him, and it made him so tired. So bloody tired. They couldn't truly know each other while they were in London. With the case hanging over him, he couldn't concentrate on her and her needs.

  "What he is has no reflection on you."

  "I always thought it odd that he acted as a bastard when the rest of us were bastards in the truest of ways."

  "Your brother has no character."

  She shook her head. "A loveless marriage. My father had to marry, and he wooed my mother. Her family was rich as Croesus and had money to spare. So, he married her. Then he ruined her life."

  Nico did not know what to say to his wife to comfort her. He couldn’t imagine what her life must have been like as a child.

  Her voice had grown very quiet. "I wonder what would have happened if she had never met him. If she had a life that was worth living."

  His heart broke at the sadness he heard in her voice. She wasn't a woman given to melancholy, not that he knew of. But being confronted by her brother and his actions might be a little too much for her.

  "Cordelia—"

  "He paid them, didn't he? My own brother hired the men who tried to abduct me?"

  He could lie, but she needed to know the truth. "Yes."

  She dropped her head against the window.

  "It is no reflection on you."

  She turned to him then, and he could see the unshed tears in her eyes. "How can you say that? I share blood with him. If someone in your family did that, what would you think?"

  Tears spilled over. "I tried. For a very long time, I tried to fit into the Collingsworth household, but by the time I was seven, I understood. I would never be accepted. By him, by my father. And the worst of it? Being considered a bastard. I would never try what he tried today."

  Of course she wouldn't. Cordelia did not take the easy way out.

  "And, to bring Diana in on it. That is lower than I thought he would go."

  "Then why did you protect him when you got to his house?"

  She frowned at him, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What?"

  "You pulled me off him."

  She rolled her eyes. "It had nothing to do with him and everything to do with you.”

  He needed to know. Did she think him a monster? He would not blame her. She had been thrust into an unknown world where everything she thought was true wasn’t.

  “Did you think I would kill him? That I am like the Mades who are running the streets?”

  “What are you talking about?” Confusion was plain on Cordelia’s face.

  “I worried that you thought I could not control myself.”

  “Of course you couldn’t. You were ready to kill him.”

  “I can control my temper.”

  “No you cannot.”

  Frustration boiled over. “I am not an animal.”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes, I know that.”

  “Then why did you stop me?”

  “Because, I did not want my husband to go to jail for killing my brother. I might not have wanted to get married, but I definitely do not want my husband in prison.”

  Something close to relief rushed through him. The fact she sounded so irritated told him she was telling the truth. He reached for her, pulling her into his arms. He needed her so much. More than he would admit to even himself.

  She came to him easily, tilting her head back and offering her lips up to him. He wanted to taste…to tease...to conquer. It wasn’t about that, not this time. This time was to show her just how much he cherished her.

  He kissed her slowly, biting at her lips. She hummed and closed her eyes. The sound of her approval washed through him. Had he ever worried about another woman accepting him? He did not think so. But this woman, he desired her in a way that was not normal.

  If he thought more about it, he might worry, but instead he wanted to show her what she meant to him.

  He kissed a path down her neck. Drawing in the scent of her and the sweet smell of her blood, he shuddered. He had been feeding for hundreds of years, but he could not remember ever needing someone this much. He licked her pulse point, then grazed her neck with his teeth. She shivered and moaned. Carriers had the need to provide nourishment to their mates. It was primal. Cordelia probably didn’t even know what was compelling her.

  He broke her skin and vein, drawing a little of her blood into his mouth. The taste of her essence danced over his taste buds. His inner beast roared to life, demanding he take more. It took all his control to fight it back. This was about Cordelia.

  He pulled back and watched as her lashes fluttered, then she opened her eyes. He bent and picked her up.

  “Nico,” she said, but did not finish. He did not let her. He swooped in for a kiss, trying to pour every bit of his hunger for her into it.

  He walked her to the bed and set her on her feet. Cupping her face, he kissed her again. Then, he slipped behind her and undid the buttons down her back. As he pushed the fabric apart, he encountered bare skin. He sighed and sent a prayer to his maker for giving him such a wonderful wife. Her flesh was smooth as porcelain. Unable to resist, he touched his mouth to the back of her neck. Slowly, he moved his way down her delicate spine, pulling her dress down as he went. Soon she was completely naked. He laid her on the bed and joined her.

  “Nico?” He could hear the question. What was he doing? If he told her, she would never believe him. So, he showed her.

  He bent his head and tasted her then—licking and nipping her flesh until he lost himself in her soft curves and scented skin. When he set his mouth on her sex, the flavor of her desire shot through him. His teeth were actually throbbing, aching with the need to feed. It only took moments before she was gasping his name, her body shivering with her release.

  By the
time he made his way back up her body, he was consumed with a hunger only she could satisfy. When he reached to undo his trousers, he realized his hands were shaking.

  He made quick work of his own clothes and joined her on the bed. He entered her in one hard thrust, and she moaned his name. Waiting was not an option. Every primal urge was pushing him to feed. He continued to thrust inside her as he punctured her skin, sinking into her vein and drawing her sweet blood out. It rushed through him as he continued to thrust inside of her. The sensation of reaching his orgasm while drinking from her had his head spinning. He pulled his fangs from her throat, licking over the punctures to ensure they would heal properly, then he collapsed on top of her.

  She lay beneath him, the scent of her still filling his senses. With great effort, he lifted his head and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed, her flesh dewy, and she was smiling.

  “Don’t ever assume that I look at you through your relations.”

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. A long moment passed as she studied Nico. Then she cupped his face with one hand and gave him a sweet, slow kiss.

  “Thank you.”

  He had thought she might say something else, but for now, it was enough.

  * * * *

  “I hate this bloody place,” Saint said. Malik glanced at him but dismissed him again. Saint wasn’t happy unless he was complaining. It was something that Malik had learned well over the last week.

  He could not blame his friend, though. This hell was one of the worst he had ever been inside. It was nice enough, had all the things most of the ton wanted in their hells. But, the debauchery went beyond what either he or Saint liked. Malik had certain tastes, but this place definitely lean toward the extreme.

  “So you talked to Lady Diana,” Saint asked. “Is she like her sister?”

  He didn’t like the tone in Saint’s voice. “Yes, and no, she is nothing like her sister.”

  “Hmm, she is quite beautiful, but she has not mated. Odd.” Saint’s mouth formed a faint smile.

  “I have a feeling that Diana still does not know what she is,” Malik answered.

  There was a beat of silence. “So she has no idea that she is a Carrier?”

  He asked it so loud, a few people glanced at them. “Keep it down, Saint. No, she does not know, and for that matter, Cordelia did not until she married. Since Diana has said that she will never marry again, I don’t think it is of much importance.”