The Blood Trilogy

by K Loraine

  He reached for me, but I backed away. “Olivia, please.”

  “I’ll help you. Just like I did before. You can have my blood, but if this ends the way I think it will, my death will be on your hands. I’m willing to sacrifice myself to save Knight, to help Callie, but I’m not fooling myself into thinking I’m doing it because you love me.”

  I turned and strode into the bathroom, closing the door a little too hard. But I had to get away from him before he saw the tears spill down my cheeks. Cashel Blackthorne was skilled in many ways, but his greatest accomplishment was the way he could break my heart.

  14

  Cashel

  “It’s a shame you turned down every date I secured for you, Cashel. You’d look so much more dashing with a beautiful vampire of noble birth on your arm.” Anne’s cool, calculating voice made me cringe on the inside.

  “Well, I’m still a traitor. No self-respecting family would saddle their daughter with me until I prove myself.”

  We stood at the entrance of the ballroom, Anne holding a glittering gold leash that was connected to the matching collar around her latest pet’s throat. This one was a curvaceous woman with long blond hair and big blue eyes. She looked scared or high. It was hard to tell without being able to read her mind.

  “At least you’ll have your pick tonight. There are plenty to dance with. And not having a date will free you up to meet with the heads of the clans. Stockholm arrived only a few moments ago, I see they brought their adopted son. How unfortunate. He and his mate are an affront to the purebred vampire lines of the royal families.”

  “Mattias is a good man. He’s loyal and a strong fighter.”

  “Certainly, but that doesn’t change the fact he was born human.”

  I scanned the crowd, searching for the tall blond vampire and his mate. I found them in the corner chatting with another couple and Lucas. Lucas, who had his arm around my little bird’s waist. Everything came to a standstill as I focused on her. The diamond collar around her neck glistened in the light, but it was the velvet gown she wore that sent me teetering on the edge. Black and form-fitting, the dress left little to the imagination even though her arms were covered in long sleeves. The back was low enough I could almost make out the dimples over her perfect ass. And my brother’s thumb kept rubbing up and down on the base of her spine. A diamond-studded leash wrapped loosely around his knuckles.

  “Cashel, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave our pet with Lucas. There are more important matters at hand.”

  “He’s flaunting her like a prize.”

  “Because she is.”

  “I understand that, but the point is, she’s out in the open. Anyone could snap and tear out her throat in search of her blood. They’d die at my hand, of course, but it wouldn’t bring her back to us.”

  Anne narrowed her eyes and followed my gaze across the room. “You have a point. Perhaps I was rash when I gave her to Lucas.”

  “He’s not as strong as I am. Simply because of the circumstances of his birth.”

  She waved a hand in their direction. “Go, see to her safety.”

  I crossed the room before her last word was completely uttered. As though she sensed me behind her, Olivia shivered and tensed. Lucas turned his head and caught my eye.

  “Brother,” he said. “You’re making my pet uncomfortable.”

  “Am I?”

  Olivia set her gaze on me, expression stony. “Yes.”

  I hated that she thought her life wasn’t important to me. That the last words she’d said before this were filled with doubt. I leaned in and let my lips brush the shell of her ear. “Little bird, I’m going to have to make you a great deal more uncomfortable before I can rectify that situation.”

  “She’s mine tonight, Cashel. Or have you forgotten?” Lucas pulled her against him, his gaze filled with challenge.

  “As interesting as this is,” Mattias said, “my mate and I will take our leave, Your Highness.”

  He looked at me with an amused grin twisting his lips, then bowed and took his woman with him to the other end of the room. It was then I noticed the small swell of her belly. She was carrying his child, and he’d done what a mate should, put her first. Protect her from two vampires about to come to blows. What had I done for the woman I loved? Brought her back to her prison.

  “I need to speak with Olivia,” I grumbled under my breath. “It’s important.”

  Lucas lifted his brows and opened his mouth as though he were going to reply when the music stopped. Anne walked out onto the dance floor in the center of the ballroom with one of her turned vampire lackeys on her arm. Then she glanced at me. “Esteemed clan leaders and family members, I’m grateful you’ve taken it upon yourselves to join us tonight as we celebrate the end of the tyrannical reign of Elias Blackthorne. As you know, his son, Cashel, did the unthinkable and slayed both his father and brother in an act some call treason. I know different. My husband and his son were both mad with sun sickness. A fact he hid well from all of you. Tonight, I take the throne left empty by this act and claim my husband’s bastard children as my own.”

  My skin prickled at her words. We weren’t bastards. Well, by definition, Lucas was, but that didn’t matter. Sorcha stood on the other side of the room, a glass filled with a mixture of wine and blood in her hand, emerald green gown sweeping the floor. Her eyes burned with fury, and when she caught my gaze, I shook my head in warning.

  “Come, children. Join me in the first dance of the evening.” Anne held out her arms and we all reluctantly walked toward her. She gestured to someone on the edge of the crowd and almost instantly Eliana was at my side.

  “Hello, lover. Shall we?” she purred.

  The music began, a swirling waltz I hadn’t danced to in over sixty years. But Eliana placed herself in my arms and we began a turn around the room. All the while, my eyes were trained on my brother and my little bird. His palm on her bare back, his smile as they spoke, and her complete lack of focus on me.

  Lucas leaned in and brushed a soft kiss to her cheek and I nearly came apart with jealousy. He was toying with me, letting me know he could have her if he wanted to. What he didn’t know was that neither of us could truly ever claim Olivia Stewart. She’d given away her heart before she’d stolen mine. Logan may have been dead, but he was still very much alive for her.

  “Why can’t you move past her?” Eliana asked. “Do I have to kill her for you to notice me?”

  “If you harm her, I swear, Eliana—”

  “Oh, look at that, my date has arrived.” Eliana wrenched herself from my hold and dashed from the ballroom in a blur of red skirts and dark hair.

  I took the opening and stalked toward my brother. Tapping him on the shoulder, I stopped them mid-step. “My turn,” I said, not giving an opportunity for either one to protest.

  In one smooth move, I took the chain connecting them and brought her to me. She was exactly where she needed to me, waist cupped by one of my hands, body close to mine. The music swelled to a crescendo, and I led the way around the floor. “You belong here, in my arms. Not Lucas’.”

  “It bothers you that much to see me with him?” Her eyes were filled with challenge.

  “Yes. It bothers me beyond measure. It’s part of my nature, but also, I think there’s more to it.”

  “Such as?”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Not here. Not now.” Then I pulled her close, letting the feel of her skin and the curves of her body overtake me momentarily. “Do you know how delectable you look tonight? If your scent wasn’t cloaked, everyone in this room would be struggling with hunger for you. As it is, every eye is on you for a different reason.”

  “Even yours?”

  “Especially mine. God, little bird, I can’t get you out of my head. I can still feel you, hot and tight, slick with desire for me. I want it again. I need it.”

  Her face reddened, and she looked down, her dark lashes casting a shadow on her cheeks. “You can’t say things
like that to me.”

  “Yes, I fucking can. There’s nothing keeping us from being together.”

  “Except your need to use me for my blood. Oh, and the fact that I’m going to be sold to the highest bidder. Did you forget that part?”

  A chill ran down my spine. “How…who told you?”

  “Sorcha. She’s been exceptionally chatty.”

  “I’m doing everything I can.” She rolled her eyes and pulled out of my hold, but I had the chain attached to her collar. She didn’t get far. “Olivia, stop.”

  “Let go, Cashel. I need a minute to get some air.”

  “I’ll accompany you.”

  She closed her eyes and sighed. “I suppose saying no won’t help.”

  “Not on your life.” I slipped my arm around her waist, and the two of us walked toward the closed French doors. “We’ll go to the garden and settle this.” I needed to explain the depth of what I felt for her and a bit of privacy sounded exactly like what we needed.

  “Fine.”

  The doors swung open as I reached for them, and the world turned on its axis. Eliana stood with a smug smile on her face, her arm loosely draped through the crook of her companion’s. A newly turned vampire by the smell of him. His handsome features sent rage jolting through me and my heart splintered at Olivia’s gasp of surprise.

  Her entire body tensed and she croaked a weak, “Logan?”

  “Hello, Liv. Why am I not surprised to find you here again?”

  Olivia

  My heart leaped at the sight of Logan, but immediately plummeted when he smiled and revealed his brand new set of fangs. “Oh, God,” I said, disbelief welling in my chest. “Logan, what did she do to you?”

  “I saved him from a painful death, of course. Are you saying you wish him dead?” Eliana plastered herself to his side, fingers trailing in his hair. “I’m making myself a harem of sexy hunters. It’s proving to be much more enjoyable than I imagined.”

  “So you give a hunter all the benefits of being a vampire and bring him into the center of our nervous system? Just because he’s been turned, that doesn’t make him an ally.” Cashel eyed me before turning his attention back to Logan. “He still hates us. Now he hates himself as well.”

  “I love a tortured soul.”

  “I’m standing right here,” Logan protested.

  “And you look like hell.” Cashel’s brows pulled together. “What did you do to him, El?”

  “He’s in transition. I’m not sure I want to keep him, honestly. He’s too caught up in his feelings for Olivia.”

  Sorcha joined us, her hard expression revealing nothing. “You turned him? Why didn’t you just kill him?”

  “I have to give Olivia credit, he’s hot. I think I’ll keep him.” Eliana ran a finger over his jaw. “I bet he fucks like a champion.” She turned her gaze on me. “Does he?”

  Cashel’s grip on my waist loosened enough that I knew he was angry. I straightened my shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. “I wouldn’t know. He never fucked me.” Not a complete lie. What we’d done was slow and tender. Sweet. Fuck wasn’t the right word to describe our one time together.

  “Oh, I beg to differ. The things I’ve seen in his head. You made him moan your name more than once that night before he spent himself inside you.” Buzzing in my brain, right between my brows, made me take a step back and bring my fingers to my temples. Pressure like the beginning of a headache built but never crested. Then Eliana narrowed her eyes and strode slowly toward me. “Why can’t I hear you?” she asked.

  Her gaze darted to Cashel, jealousy flashing across her beautiful features. “She’s had your blood. Are you planning on breeding her, then?”

  Logan’s jaw tensed, a muscle on the side ticking with his frustration. “I want her,” he said.

  “You can’t have her, hunter. She’s not yours to claim.” Cashel put himself in front of me, practically vibrating with the pent-up urge to fight. “El, it was stupid of you to bring him here. He’s not even fully turned, and there are humans in the room. It’s like bringing a feral animal into a cage and letting it free.”

  “I can control him,” she said.

  “Can you?”

  Logan’s gaze was locked on me, his eyes dark and deadly. “She’s mine. Give her to me.”

  Eliana giggled and stepped aside just as Logan lunged, reaching for Cashel. My keeper came up against him with little effort, swiping Logan aside like a bothersome fly. I knew the score, the transitioning vampire was weak in comparison to a fully turned or born vampire. Logan was crazed and fighting his soul’s need to depart and his body’s desire to live. His body would win. It would force him to do things he’d never have done as a human. And it would ruin him.

  “If you want to keep him, I suggest you get him out of Cashel’s way.” Sorcha had Logan up against the wall, one knee pressed into his groin while her hand was wrapped around his throat. He fought, but she was powerful.

  “You’re no fun,” Eliana said, pouting.

  “Don’t test me.” Cashel’s reply was a low growl.

  I felt Anne behind us before I turned. Her presence was strong and unsettling. There was more to her than the fact that she was likely centuries old. My blood prickled with pins and needles any time she put her focus on me. “Children, are we disturbing the peace?”

  “Eliana brought a transitioning male to our gathering,” Sorcha said. “I’m keeping him at bay.”

  “Of course she did. I told her to.”

  My stomach turned. This wasn’t good.

  “Why? With so many humans here…we’re putting them at risk. Some of them are mated to the clan members,” Cashel said in a hushed tone.

  “Well, we’ll just have to feed him, now won’t we?” Anne jutted her chin toward Sorcha. “Let him go, Sorcha.” Then she held out her hand, long, blood red, talon-like nails making them appear more like claws. “Come here, Logan,” she said. “Come take your first step into eternity with me.”

  I could see Logan fighting with himself, the light of who he was and the darkness of who he’d have to become flashing across his face. Cashel put me behind him again as Logan passed, but I saw my friend, my confidant, the man I’d let inside my heart, trembling with each step he took. “This will break him,” I whispered to Cashel.

  “He’s already broken. There’s nothing we can do.”

  Anne took Logan’s hand, and the two of them began walking toward the gilt throne on the raised dais at the back of the room. The crowd parted for them in one smooth motion. Then she turned her head and said, “All of you. Join us. This is not something to be missed.”

  The doors closed and locked before we could escape, and two vampire guards stood in front of them, arms crossed, expressions stern.

  The one on the right smirked, his eyes glittering with amusement. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  15

  Cashel

  I gripped Olivia’s hand hard enough I was worried I might hurt her. We were all in danger, locked in this ballroom with a mad queen and, from my assessment earlier, at least fifteen newly turned vampires who were serving as her guards. They lacked the control they needed, and as soon as human blood was spilled, they’d turn this into a massacre.

  I caught sight of Mattias and his mate, Elaine, as we passed. He couldn’t put her at risk and aside from the slight shake of my head, I had no other way of conveying that this was not a safe situation. But his blue gaze widened and he gave a tight nod, pulling his mate close and murmuring in her ear.

  “Cashel,” Olivia whispered, her voice shaky. “What is happening?”

  Anne took her place at the throne, a smile on her lips. “Children, join me. Take your places at my side while we usher in a new era in the Blackthorne legacy.”

  Sorcha and Lucas looked to me, their expressions wary, but I clenched my teeth and took a step forward, pulling Olivia with me.

  “Ah, not her, Cashel. I’m afraid your pet will have to watch with the rest. Until we h
ave need of her.”

  Everything in me screamed that this couldn’t happen. Olivia was a sitting duck if I wasn’t there to protect her. But a firm hand landed on my shoulder, making me snarl in defense until I saw it was Mattias.

  “I’ll guard your mate.”

  Anne laughed. “Look, already the Blackthorne family has support from Stockholm. Thank you, Mattias. Your assistance is appreciated. However, I have something else in mind for our pet.”

  My heart stuttered when two guards approached and grabbed Olivia. Instinct took over, and blind rage controlled my limbs. I would kill them for touching her. She was mine. No one would hurt her. I rushed them with fury burning in my blood, but was stopped by agonizing, searing pain around my chest and arms.

  “That’s enough, Cashel. You’re making a scene.” Anne stepped forward and a woman in a long red gown followed, hand raised and gaze trained on me. “Now, look what you’ve made me do. I never employ Thea’s power in public.”

  Dread coiled in my gut. So, she not only had an army, she had a witch. “Olivia is mine,” I forced through gritted teeth.

  Whispers in the ballroom swirled around us. Unease tainted the air. But Anne waved them off. “Our poor prince has recently fed from the human. His instincts are tied to her fear.” The guards brought Olivia to Anne and she grabbed my little bird by the diamond leash. “Now, join me, children. I won’t say it again.”

  Thea’s magical hold on me disappeared, and the three of us walked up to Anne’s side, taking the places we’d normally had when our father had been alive. It felt wrong, but more than that, I was terrified of what Olivia would have to endure because of me.

  “Witness this, all of you,” she said, gesturing toward Olivia. “I have the loyalty of the Blackthorne heirs and, thanks to Cashel, the blood of the sun is in our grasp once again. But unlike my selfish husband, I will share her powers.” The door opened and servants filed in, each carrying a tray loaded with cordial glasses containing a blood cocktail. “Each of these glasses contains a single drop of our pet’s blood. The magic contained within will allow you one day of immunity from the sun. It is my gift to all who swear allegiance.”