Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (44 page)

“Kearn,” she whispered into his ear and kissed it, licking the lobe and tempted to bite it to make him do as she wanted.

He pulled his finger out of her and moved between her legs. The weight of him against her was divine. She wanted to be one with him again, connected in their feelings, their blood, and their bodies.

Kearn moaned when he eased his hard length into her and she joined him, releasing a long sighing groan of satisfaction. He drew back and then slid in again, his pace slow and threatening to drive her as crazy as his finger had.

The connection between them deepened and their feelings became one. It was dizzying to have him like this, to feel everything that he could and know it was a reflection of her own feelings. She loved him more than anything and never wanted to be apart from him. She wanted this to last forever.

Kearn wrapped his arms around her, settling one in the arch of her back to hold her to him, and hooking his other hand over her shoulder. He moved slowly and deeply, and each thrust heightened her feelings and their connection a little more, until she was drowning in a warm hazy sea of bliss and she didn’t care.

Amber kissed along his jaw and found his mouth. She lost herself there, drifting along with him at a slow pace, memorising every moment of being with him. Everything disappeared, melting away until there was only Kearn and nothing else. There was no coming battle. There was no fear of the future. There was only him and this moment, together with her in bliss and love.

Her heartbeat slowed even as her desire rose, her body tightening with need and arousal. She hooked her legs over his hips and he deepened his thrusts, moving slowly into her. She groaned and kissed him. Kearn pulled her close to him and her heart beat hard. It felt as though his had beaten at the same time.

She drew back. He smiled, as though he knew her silent question.

“My heart,” he whispered and kissed her again. It was all the explanation he gave. Did their connection now run so deeply that their bodies were one, their hearts beating in time and their breathing in synchronisation? It was incredible.

Amber drifted away again, lost in the feel of him moving inside her, and the growing tightness in her abdomen. His kisses grew more desperate and she could feel he was as close as she was, reaching for his climax. Amber tensed her body around his and he groaned into her mouth. He thrust deep into her, brushing her sensitive flesh, and she came undone, her body trembling around his. Warmth ran in her veins, sedating her and carrying her away.

Kearn moved slower, deeper, and then stilled and moaned with his climax.

Amber wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him to her, relaxing into the bed with him on top of her, still intimately entwined. He sighed and kissed her lips, her cheek, her throat, before settling his head on the pillow besides hers. His breath caressed her throat, tickling his marks there.

“Sleep a while.” She could feel his fatigue running through her blood. He sighed again. She stroked her fingers through the silver threads of his hair, her focus wholly on him.

She waited for him to protest and leave, but he didn’t. He remained in her arms, his weight heavy but nice against her, and his body acting as her blanket. She would never be cold when he was this close to her.

Amber closed her eyes and tried not to think about what was coming.

She wanted to savour every drop of this moment with him.

She didn’t want it to be their last.

She wouldn’t let it be.

CHAPTER 31

K
earn’s gaze scanned the room for what felt like the millionth time. The three male Venators he had assigned to remain with him stood at the other end of the black reception room, dressed in their black uniforms just as he was. One of them paced near the door to the gallery while the other two stared out of the windows into the dark night. It felt as though the whole house was on edge, awaiting the impending attack but never knowing when it would begin. Amber’s weariness and fear ran in Kearn’s blood, flowing strongly and calling to him. He turned to her, offering a comforting smile when she looked up at from him the gold couch to his right.

His mother sat next to her, holding Amber’s hand, gently chafing it.

He went to Amber and she held her left hand out to him. His mother released her as he took hold of her hand and pulled her into his arms. He held her close, one arm wrapped around her waist as his other hand held her head to his chest. Her fear abated a sliver when he stroked her long brown hair, toying with her ponytail, and he closed his eyes, sending her a wave of reassurance through their bond.

He refused to feel scared, or any amount of fear. He needed to be strong for Amber, so she would sense it in his blood and her own fear would lessen.

Amber drew back, away from him enough that he could look down into her hazel eyes. He grazed the backs of his fingers across her cheek and her eyes closed, and she leaned into his caress. She was beautiful. His Amber. His love. The marks on her throat were visible above the low-slung collar of her black hooded top. He trailed his fingers down to them and stroked the marks, feeling the pronounced bumps. It would be weeks before they had healed and even then they would remains as scars. She would always be his.

She smiled up at him, warmth travelling in her veins and through his, and her feelings lightening. Kearn dipped his head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, oblivious to the five people watching him.

When he pulled back, the three Venators and his parents looked away.

His moment of peace shattered.

The strong smell of vampire blood alerted Kearn to the start of Kyran’s attack. It drifted on the still night air, creeping into the house until it reached him. He faced the dark double doors, his senses scanning the estate grounds.

So far, he could only sense Lesser Nobles. They were easily detectable by their weaker blood.

His eyes narrowed on the doors.

Sometimes he despised Lesser Nobles. They were wretched families with little power of their own and aspirations beyond their reach, attempting to gain the power of Nobles. Tonight the Huntingdon family would learn their place. He would remind them of it personally. They were inferior. Beneath the Nobles. There was a reason his kind ruled. They were superior in every way—breeding, strength, power and sense. A Lesser Noble was no match for them.

His hearing picked up the fight outside. It seemed his father did too because he turned to his mother.

“Come, it is time.” His father took his mother’s arm and led her into the grand reception room beyond the gilt double doors.

Kearn turned to Amber. She smiled but he could feel her nerves rising again. He wished this didn’t have to happen. He didn’t want to fight Kyran, just the thought of it cut him deeply, and he didn’t want Amber to witness such a thing. He wanted things to continue as they had been only a few short hours ago when he had made love to her and slept in her arms. It was all that he longed for.

He signalled to the three male Venators waiting near the tall rectangular windows behind him, silently telling them to remain where they were. He had chosen them because they looked as though they would gladly fight both vampires who had tasted forbidden blood and those that hadn’t, and they were the strongest. They would serve as backup when Kyran showed his face, keeping the other vampires out of his fight.

Amber stood and his attention returned to her. She was still smiling at him with love in her eyes. How could she look at him like that when she knew that he was going to fight his own brother? He wouldn’t be able to look himself in the eye for a long time after tonight, and he wasn’t sure how he would face his parents. Part of him said to allow his father the honour of taking his son’s life, but he couldn’t go through with it. Kyran had chosen to make an enemy of him, even though he knew Kearn had fought the Sovereignty’s decision, and was intent on making him pay. He would harm Amber to achieve it, and then kill their parents before finally attacking him.

Kearn couldn’t allow that.

He would protect his love and his family at all costs.

Amber’s hazel eyes narrowed on his. She had sensed his feelings and wasn’t happy. He pushed thoughts of fighting his brother to the death out of his mind and remembered that he had promised that he would live for her, not die. He would win. His love for Amber would give him the strength he needed to defeat Kyran.

He held his hand out to her and she slipped hers into it. She was quiet as they walked towards the grand reception room where his parents waited.

“You will be safe in here.” He smiled for her and let her sense that he wasn’t lying.

His need to have her and his mother near to him wasn’t the only reason he had brought them here. This was more than a reception room. It was a safe room for his family in case they ever came under attack. The walls were reinforced and windowless, impossible to break through even with Kyran’s strength. There were steel doors set into the wall above the wooden ones, ready to slide into place if his mother pressed a button on the other side. He had given her orders to if something happened. She would protect Amber.

Kearn looked back at the first reception room. Kyran would expect him to bring Amber and their parents here, and he would have to go through him in order to get to them.

The reception room wasn’t ideal for fighting, but the close quarters would aid his side. The power of the Venators, his father, and himself, would be too much for the Lesser Nobles. The only ones that would pose even the slightest threat would be the ruling line of the house, and Kearn suspected that Earl and Countess Huntingdon would soon fall back after leading the attack through the lower guards surrounding the estate. Kyran might have the power to sway the other Lesser Nobles of the Huntingdon bloodline, but the earl and countess wouldn’t be foolish enough to risk themselves against any of the stronger vampires of the Savernake bloodline.

“Do not be afraid,” his father said and Kearn looked his way.

His father was holding his mother close, smoothing her long black hair down the back of her corseted dress. She tilted her head back when his father touched her cheek and smiled up at him. Something told Kearn to look away, and not intrude on this private moment between them, but the sight of his father drew his attention. He had never noticed before just how different his father was around his mother. He no longer looked strong. Kearn could feel the fear in his heart and it matched his own fear for Amber. It was overwhelming, crushing his chest and making him weak.

His mother reached up, swept the long strands of his father’s silver hair from his face, and her smile widened.

“Stay safe.” His father pressed a kiss to her lips.

Kearn did look away now. There was only so much affection a son should see between his parents. His gaze strayed to Amber. His father loved his mother so deeply, and Kearn felt the same about Amber. His heart belonged to her forever. Nothing would change that. He loved her until death and beyond.

“Protect Amber.” Those words leaving his father’s lips surprised him.

His mother nodded and her gaze shifted to Amber. She held her hand out to her.

Amber went to go to her and then stopped. She looked over her shoulder at Kearn, past the waves of her brown hair, her hazel eyes searching his, and then turned back.

He smiled when she kissed him, slowly and deeply, and he held her close, returning the kiss with all of the passion and love he felt for her, reassuring her of his feelings. He wasn’t ashamed of his parents seeing him like this. He loved Amber and he would never shy away from his feelings, no matter who was watching. He had lowered himself to her and kissed her hand in front of all society, and he would do so again at the next ball and the rest after that. Everyone would know that he loved her and that she had won his heart.

She drew back, smiling wide through the fear he could feel in her, and brushed her fingers across his cheek.

“Be careful,” she whispered and her blood said more than that. It told him to fight, and to keep his promise and come back to her.

He intended to.

“Call out to me if anything happens.” He walked her over to his parents. His mother took her hand and started chafing it again in both of hers as though Amber was a child in need of comfort. “Do not open the door.”

Amber nodded.

Kearn stepped back, away from her, and his father walked past him to the door. It was hard for him to leave Amber, even when he had to. He wanted to stay with her. He hesitated a moment, his eyes locked with hers, drinking in the sight of her and the love that he could sense in his blood, and then followed his father.

His father closed the gilt double doors when they were through, stealing Amber from view so he could only feel her in his blood. Her fear increased. He cursed his brother. He didn’t want to fight him. Even after everything Kyran had done to him, Kearn still loved him. He was still his brother.

Kearn walked to the three male Venators and the windows they guarded. He looked out of the one nearest the doors, searching the night for a sign of his enemy. The fighting had reached the house. The smell of blood was stronger now, swamping his senses and calling to his instincts. His fangs extended and his eyes changed, his vision heightening until he could see through the darkness to the fighting. They were near the house, on the drive that lined the front of it.

His fingertips tingled.

Kyran was coming.

He could feel him in his heart, the blood bond they shared as brothers allowing him to glimpse his feelings. He was angry and bent on revenge, his heart dark and cold. Kearn clenched his fists and readied himself. The guards at the house were stronger, able to defeat all but the highest ranking of the Huntingdon bloodline, but the enemy were numerous. Some would get through and he would be waiting for them.

“They are coming.” His father walked to the double doors that led onto the gallery.

Kearn could hear them. The fight was spilling into the house and the noise was loud enough that he was sure even Amber would hear it soon. He tried to keep his feelings calm, knowing that she would be reaching out to him through their connection.