Blood Bonds (18 page)

“I don’t mind it.” Farley’s hand touched the back of her head and petted her soaking wet hair.

In a species burdened with vanity, she had a hard time believing that.

“It’s different because this is a
mark
. It shows I
Belong
. It’s a badge of honor.”

She looked up at Farley. “How are you doing that?”

“What?”

“Reading my thoughts.”

“I’m your Marked.” He licked her cheek. “It’s part of the job description. Knowing what you
need
.” He licked the corners of her eyes. “Marks are supposed to take care of
To Whom They Belong.
”

“But you’re reading my thoughts.”

He nodded and ran his tongue across her lips. “Only this close. Only when we touch like this. I couldn’t hear you when you were in the kitchen.” He nibbled her lip. “Open for me, Haley.” She parted her lips and his tongue slipped inside.

Farley made a pleased sound like he just tasted something wonderful. The metaphysical lines between them hummed and Haley gasped. It never did that. Not before she fed him temporal fluid.

“That was before.” Farley’s words brushed her lips. “Now I
Belong
to you...” His tongue plunged into her mouth and his hands slid down her back, pressing her against him. Fingertips pushed between her shoulder blades and at the base of her spine, hitting both
ulysiss
glands at the same time. Haley couldn’t contain the cry rising in her throat.

Farley caught it with his mouth, growling. “There’s more than one way to make heat.” He smiled, flashing fangs.

Haley put her hands on his cheeks and made him look at her. Part of her was terrified that what he was doing was because of the Marks, not because he wanted to. How could he want to be around her after Medan used him like that?

“Have I ever not wanted you? The Mark has nothing to do with how I feel.” Farley licked her cheek. “Always have felt.” Again. “Always will.”

They had been sharing their bodies for decades. But something had changed.

Farley snarled and pushed her under him. “The only difference between now and then is this.” He tilted his head to his shoulder. Haley’s gaze went to the scar nestled against his collar bone. “You feel now what I’ve always felt.”

“You don’t regret it?” She kept her eyes on the scar. Farley had learned to enjoy Human ideals of individualism. Haley never treated him as a lesser. Outside the Dens he was safe to speak his mind. But she couldn’t look, because looking at him might tell her something she didn’t want to know.

“Oh, I have regrets.” Her eyes moved against her will. Farley tasted her mouth. “I regret you didn’t do it sooner.” His hand slid down Haley’s side. “I want to do this again, later, the right way.” Fingers pushed into her lower back and a hand tightened on her thigh. Heat welled between her legs, hotter than the scalding water that pelted her skin. “But I can’t wait and neither can you.” Farley rubbed himself against her and hissed. “God of Man, Haley, I can feel your every
need
.” He pushed her legs wider, hitched her upward and buried himself with one hard push. Haley was on fire, and he wasn’t even moving yet.

Sex between them was always good. Nothing about Farley was spectacular or unique, but they fit together like puzzle pieces. A lot of the pleasure was just in the comfort, but now that he was
marked
every touch was magnified.

Farley shuddered and his breath blew against her skin on a pant. “Christ, I don’t know if I can do this.”

Haley slid her hands down his back and dug her fingers into his hips, keeping him where he was. “Don’t you dare stop!”

Farley laughed against her shoulder, but it was a desperate sound. He pulled back slowly and came forward again. It was like a thousand pleasure points pricked her skin. Farley’s knee slipped against the bottom of the tub, and a cry escaped his lip. Even accidental movement was too much to bear. Haley arched her back, taking him deeper, forcing him to move. It felt so good. It was painful, but she couldn’t let him quit.

“Roll me,” Farley said.

“I’ll hurt you.” More like kill him. Haley felt like a hatchling with very little control. Any other time she might have risked it, but now she didn’t trust herself. Her metaphysical energy was simply too wild.

Farley shook his head. “No, no you won’t. I can do this if I’m in the
Rise
. You
need
this. I can feel it.” His breath burst against her neck. “Please, Haley...”

This was why Males died for those who
marked
them. Self-preservation was abandoned at the door. Haley wasn’t about to let him be that way. A mindless, willing Kin.

“Farley?” In spite of her body screaming for more, her voice was calm. He looked at her, brown eyes swimming in gold. She stroked his chin with her thumb. “Give me your mouth.” He obeyed and she brushed his lips with her own. “Open for me.” She petted his back until his muscles began to relax. “That’s it...”

Farley growled. “If you just--” Haley cut him off by covering his mouth with hers. “Roll me.”

“I can’t do that and you know it. If I kill you, how are you going to live up to your promise to do this right the next time? Later, there will be more touching.” Her words came out muffled against his mouth. “There will be more biting.” She pulled him against her, using her legs. “Licking.” Her voice trembled.

Farley ran his tongue across her cheek and slid to her ear. “Let’s not forget...” His lips latched onto her lobe and pulled with a wet sucking sound. She laughed and he moved. The new metaphysical lines between them were like a cramped muscle that didn’t want to move. But it had to. Even if it hurt.

It didn’t take long for Farley to quicken his pace. Haley clung to him as he pushed into her. His hands gripped her hips and jacked her higher. The angle hit her deep, made her gasp, and he barked against her neck, trying to hold back until that moment right before release where she could Roll him without tearing his metaphysical energy apart.

Heat spread across his lower back and down his thighs. Haley could feel it through every inch of skin that touched her.

“Please, now, please.” The muscles in his neck stood out and his grip tightened until it hurt. Haley’s Female instincts reveled in the pain she caused him. She knew she could hold him there at that brink and never let him cross. He would fuck her until his hearts exploded if she wanted it.

The fight to reign in what Haley’s instincts demanded of her was a familiar one. A strange sort of comfort.

But stronger than her primal urges was knowledge of what Farley felt. He would die for her. He would surrender anything she wanted. And what made her value that were the Human instilled concerns she’d
impressed
from her Mother.

Haley threw out her preternatural-self, heat flaring until water hissed. The metaphysical lines binding her body in Human form intertwined with the energy that was Farley’s. She entered him and it was his turn to cry out. His body tensed against hers until his spine bowed. His teeth sank into her neck, a reflexive reaction, and she reached inside with those invisible lines, pulling at the core of what gave him life.

Farley thrust with desperation and the orgasm took them both. It wasn’t over. She spun him down, drawing everything he was straight through her, into her, moving herself inside his mind, through his thoughts. He screamed, releasing his grip on her neck. His body spasmed, crushing her against the back of the tub while he kicked.

Farley collapsed against her, chest heaving. He’d be out for a while. It was the same way with Deshi. Even when they were both with her at the same time.

Haley hit the nozzle with her foot, cutting off the water. She lay there for a while holding his unconscious body, his weight a welcome and familiar comfort.

Oddly enough, everything felt perfect.

And for some messed up reason, that bothered the hell out of her.

When she pushed Farley over, he flopped like a broken doll. And that made her think of broken bones, scars, and bruises. She touched his shoulder and arm. The Roll had healed everything except for the
mark.
Too bad the Roll couldn’t erase the fact those terrible things had ever happened.

Haley climbed out of the tub, grabbed a towel and dried off. She wrapped Farley up and carried him to her bed.

Heat was no longer a problem. Both of them burned, almost feverish. Another side effect of the Roll, being so focused. Haley put a pillow under his head and pulled the sheet over both of them. She adjusted her positioning so she had her head on his shoulder and their legs were intertwined. This way she could listen to him breathe, feel his hearts, smell his scent.

Her fingers danced along his neck and played with his hair, stroking the short red tufts. The ends were beginning to curl. He’d have to cut it again soon or risk looking like
Howdy Doody
.

That thought made her smile. He’d been okay with his curls until that show had gotten popular in the late forties.

Not to mention his obsession with zoot suits.

Haley laughed out loud. Farley’s pinstripes, and his fedoras, had been the talk of the office back then.

Of course, in the twenties...

She stopped herself and stared at him.

A hundred years and she’d never known how he felt. How he really felt.

Love is a Human emotion
.

Then what sent her into the Hive after him? What made her break a dozen or more Bureau rules, risking everything she’d worked for?

It was something and it was powerful. Haley could feel it burning in her chest, making her body ache. The strange thing was she didn’t want it to stop. The end of it was a fate worse than death.

Colonel Dobson stared at that monster of a Male Kin called Niles Fury.

To him, Kin didn’t have names, they just called themselves something. Parents gave their children names. Kin chose theirs, or they were given to them by the Humans they terrorized.

Christ, that son-of-a-bitch was huge.

There weren’t many things that scared Dobson, and he wasn’t about to admit this thing scared him either, but it did do something. Like make his balls draw up into his stomach and his mouth go dry.

They’d lost an Alchemist moving the beast from the trauma room to the holding cell under the lab. Goddamned dragon moved too quick. One minute he’d been down and the next he was eating that bastard’s throat out.

He should have been dead. The Male, not the Alchemist. The lab lackeys cracked his chest and restarted his hearts with the defibrillator.

Twice.

And yet here he was, thirty-five feet below, in a concrete cylinder forty feet across. At least three inches of woven steel acted as a net between the viewing chamber and the top of the cell. Separating the rooms were an additional eighteen inches of fortified polymer, capable of taking a direct hit from mortar fire.

The devil himself couldn’t have gotten out.

And Dobson still didn’t feel safe.

All the damn thing did was pace. Wall to wall, back and forth. Every muscle in his body rolling and surging. It moved, not like a Human being, but the thing it was. Liquid. Deadly.

Niles stopped and his head tilted up. Dobson frowned. If he had a way to poke out the fucker’s eyes, he’d be blind. Damn things would probably grow back. The Kin pulled up his lip and flashed long teeth. Scales rippled across his chest and arms.

Those Alchemists were going to have to do something about that. Their
oisis
pins didn’t seem to affect him like it did the others, not even the Queens. It confirmed Dobson’s feelings about the thing below. It was destruction waiting to happen. That meant there was only one thing to do about that. Find out how to control it.

His cell rang and he checked the number.

Speaking of Devils,
she
was on line four.

Dobson let it ring because it would piss her off. He liked pissing her off. It was a thing of beauty. Right before it clicked to voice mail he answered. “And what do you want?”

Silence. He knew she was there. He could hear her breathing. Or more precisely the breathing of the thing she talked through.

Kinda hard to dial those little numbers with big nasty claws.

The imagery made him grin.

“I am disappointed in you, colonel. I arrange to have the package delivered to your feet and you are not there to accept it.”

It was Dobson’s turn to take his time in answering. He reached inside his inner pocket, pulled out one of his cheap stand-in cigars, and stuck it in his mouth. “Look, if we’re going to work together on this, you’ve got to stop trying to run the show.”

“Oh, but colonel, I do run the show.” She laughed, and it was an abnormal sound. “You have Texas because of me. You have Niles Fury because of me. And you almost had her ... because of me.”

Bitch.
Dobson was going to enjoy watching the Queen die. Maybe he’d call her up and put it on speaker phone. Record it. Too bad there wasn’t a way to TiVo the event. That’s the kind of thing a man would like to sit down to at night when he’s giving himself a little hand action.

He said, “Well, it didn’t work out. Now what?”

“You can tell me ‘thank you’.”

Man, he hated these games. “May I ask for what?”

“You may ask.”

Silence.
Shit. Goddamn it.
“Okay, what do I owe the thanks for?”

“You have another chance.”

Okay, now he was getting pissed off. He turned away from the viewing window because the Male was giving him the creeps. “A chance for what?”

The Female’s voice lowered with a hiss. It sounded weird coming out of a Human mouth, pushed by Human vocal cords. Even in bipedal shapes, Kin still had a range of pitch and tone that Humans couldn’t duplicate. “Haley was in the Dens. I do believe that qualifies as extreme violations?”

An odd kind of giddiness built in Dobson’s gut. “Tell me.”

“Farley was ... how shall we put it ... detained? According to my sources, Haley was denied clearance.”

Of course she would be denied clearance. The Bureau was not about to risk her going into the Dens and never coming out. Queen dragons were known for their ability to be very persuasive either by scaring you to death or fucking with your head.