Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (23 page)

Amber gritted her teeth and told herself to move. She had to move. She slowly lifted her left arm, causing her neck to ache on that side, and swept the hair away from his cheek. His eyes closed when her fingers made contact with his jaw and she cupped his right cheek and held it.

His gaze met hers and she smiled with all of the feelings in her heart. Feelings for him. Affection, gratitude, and most of all love. She didn’t fear loving him because she had never met a man like him—wonderful, protective, handsome, and caring. Someone she needed to love.

Someone she needed.

“We need to be more careful,” he whispered and took hold of her hand. She was relieved to have him take the weight of it so she didn’t have to continue to support it. He brought her hand down to his lap but didn’t release it. His fingers toyed with hers, softly stroking them. “If the vampire were to bite you, you would become like him.”

“He’s like you then.” She wondered if Kearn knew that she could feel the anger behind his words.

The jealousy.

She had felt those feelings in him at the ball too. He had hated the duke dancing with her, and he had wanted to kill the man who was after her blood, and it wasn’t because of his duty. She was sure of that, had felt it through their connection. He had wanted to kill the man because he had hurt her. She smiled and Kearn’s expression turned questioning.

“Nothing.” Her cheeks coloured. She wished she felt her usual self. She would have announced that he was jealous and that he wanted her all to himself just to see his reaction. For some reason, she felt shy around him now that she had realised the depth of her feelings for him. It was ridiculous of her to fall for a vampire, a man who would live beyond her and who would only look forty by the time she was seventy.

Unless she became a vampire.

A sliver of a memory surfaced with that thought.

“What is it?” Kearn’s hand tightened around hers. It was warm and strong, and she could sense his desire to protect her. It flowed through her, a tangible thing that she felt she could reach out and touch. She couldn’t so she took her hand from his and touched it instead.

“I had the strangest dream.” She traced the silver marks on his right hand with her fingertips while she struggled to grasp hold of her dream, following the intricate tribal patterns over his fingers to the back of his hand. They were beautiful and she had wanted to do this so many times over the past few days.

They swirled and danced in a way that reflected her mind. No matter how much she tried to recall her dream, it evaded her, but she wouldn’t let it escape. Her eyes roamed up his arm, fingertips tracing a route over the silver marks, following them upwards to his elbow and then over his bicep. When she reached his shoulder at the end of the pattern, her eyes shifted to meet his. His pupils were wide, his lips parted, and the unmistakable fire of passion shone in his eyes. He was watching her closely, his chest slowly rising and falling. His external steadiness hid the turbulent emotions she could feel inside her. Some of them were hers, but most were his, and they backed up the hunger in his eyes. She lowered her hand to his chest. His heart beat against it, as slowly as he had told her, a strong steady drumming on her palm.

She smiled at him when it came back to her. “I dreamed that you were with me, here, and cleaned my neck.”

“I did.” He feathered a caress down her throat and the edges of his irises turned red. “It was not a dream.”

“It had to be… I kissed you… and then I said—”

Kearn stood sharply, his face frozen in darkness. “You must rest. Sleep now. I will be in the other room should you need anything.”

She reached out to him but he walked away, closing the door behind him.

The room felt cold. She held his black jacket over her chest and breathed in the scent of him that lingered on it as she stared at the door.

It hadn’t been a dream.

She had told him to stay with her forever, and it had upset him. Why? He was a vampire. If he felt something for her, surely he would want her to become one too and stay with him?

Wasn’t he falling in love with her?

She laughed internally at her girlish thoughts. She was bait to him.

Foolish Amber.

She was probably muddling up their feelings, thinking that hers were actually his. He hadn’t given her a reason to believe that she was anything to him other than a way of catching his man. The kisses they had shared had been induced by her blood.

But the way he had acted at the ball.

He hadn’t tasted her blood then and he had broken conventions. He had kissed her hand and had lowered himself to her in front of everyone.

And the way he had felt when she had danced with the duke and the other man. The anger and the jealousy.

She hadn’t imagined those feelings.

She sighed and turned her gaze to the ceiling.

Perhaps he was falling for her too, just as she wanted him to, only he was fighting his feelings. If she went into the other room and kissed him, would he kiss her back or would he push her away? Her heart hurt at the thought he might turn her away and treat her as coldly as he had just now.

He hadn’t liked what she had said.

Amber closed her eyes, feeling drowsy, and tried to recall what had happened.

She saw his face again and felt his surprise. And she remembered the kiss that had followed—the sweetness and tenderness that had laced it and made her fall deeper in love with him.

Then he had spoken to her.

His words swam around her head, colliding and refusing to fall into order.

He had touched her face.

She stroked her cheek, mimicking his actions.

He had looked down at her.

She stared at the ceiling.

And he had told her…

To say those words again when their blood wasn’t together.

He hadn’t believed her.

No. She rested her arm across her eyes, shutting out the room.

He had believed her and it had frightened him. Why? She couldn’t remember the way she had felt or what feelings had been in his blood. It wasn’t clear in her head. The ball came back to her. She had heard Kearn’s thoughts as her own. Did he think that she had only voiced his feelings and thoughts?

He was as big an idiot as she was if that was the case.

Amber closed her eyes, a wave of fatigue sweeping over her. Thinking hurt her head and she couldn’t focus, but she tried. She forced herself to think about her blood in the hope of connecting to Kearn’s somehow.

It hadn’t been his feelings that she had voiced.

Those words had been wholly hers.

Sleep beckoned her but she wouldn’t surrender, not until she was sure that he knew.

She wanted to stay with him forever.

CHAPTER 16

K
earn couldn’t remember a time he had felt so grouchy. Sleeping on the couch had put him in a bad mood and having to leave Amber alone in his apartment while he had his blood tested wasn’t helping. He paced across his bedroom and stopped near the side of the bed where Amber had slept. He touched the pillows and drew a deep breath, catching her fragrance in the air. His focus switched to her where she sat in the living room watching the television.

He had heard her this morning before she had fallen asleep. She had forced a connection between them that he hadn’t been able to resist or refuse.

And she had sent that same message to him.

She wanted to be his. Forever.

Part of him doubted her but the rest at least wanted to believe.

She didn’t know what she was asking though. She must have seen the women at the ball who were going through the transition. He didn’t want to put her through so much pain and bring her into his world.

His heart called him a liar.

He couldn’t stop dreaming of her. Not just lustful dreams full of sex and blood either. His dream of her today was slower, nothing more than kissing and tender touches, and he had bitten her again. He always bit her.

His fangs ached to extend. He wanted to bite her now. He wanted to walk out into his living room, pull her into his arms and give her a kiss that was eternal, one that would bind their hearts forever.

He wouldn’t do to her what other Nobles and Lesser Nobles did to those they convinced to go through the transition. They were only interested in increasing the numbers of servants they had.

He was only interested in making Amber his and his alone for eternity.

A voice in his heart contested his desire. The Savernake ruling line never turned humans. Their blood was pure, their family tree filled with only those born to vampire parents, not those turned. It was a matter of pride and principle. Better to marry a purebred Lesser Noble than bring a human into the family, no matter how strong their blood was. Turning humans was something they left to the lower ranks, those who only served the titled vampires in the family and higher ranks.

His senses latched on to Amber, until her blood sparked into life inside him, relaying her feelings to him and filling him with their warmth and contentment.

He didn’t care what his family thought. They had cast him out and no longer ruled him. He was free to do as he pleased, and he wanted to make Amber his. He wanted to be with her forever.

If she became a vampire, he would worship her, cherish her, and would give her everything. She would be his whole world and he would love her until the end of time.

No. Not only if she became a vampire. He would do all of those things for her right now, even though she was human.

He picked up his black shirt from the end of the bed, stepped out of the bedroom, and looked at her. She turned to face him and smiled, pausing with her hands against her rich brown hair.

There was colour in her cheeks now. The evening light of sunset streamed in through the wide bank of windows and warmed her skin. Blue jeans hugged her slender legs and a black flared-sleeved top crossed over her breasts at the front and revealed enough cleavage to make him want to growl. There was something so feminine, so beautiful and alluring, yet so strong about her. It was more than her blood.

She finished tying hair up in a ponytail, exposing her throat. The crepe bandage around it didn’t show any sign of her bleeding.

He dragged his eyes away from it.

Amber stood and walked towards him, her footfalls quiet on the wooden floor. She stopped close to him and he couldn’t bring himself to look at her, not when his irises were close to changing. She hadn’t been afraid in the times he had lost a sliver of control and it had shown in his eyes, but he didn’t want to risk it.

He went to put his black shirt on but halted when she reached out to him. His gaze tracked her hand as it edged towards his right arm. Was she going to touch him again? He swallowed at the thought and anticipation churned his insides, his breathing coming quicker as he waited to see what she would do. He wanted to feel her hand on him again, her warm fingertips caressing his skin, but he wasn’t sure he could take it.

Kearn shivered when her fingers touched his right arm, close to his wrist, and he lowered it, letting his shirt drag on the floor. His gaze darted to her face. She was watching her fingers again, desire widening her pupils and beating in his blood. He kept still, frozen to the spot, only able to watch as she carefully traced each jagged spike and curving spiral on his arm. He felt her slight tremble in her touch and sensed the hint of fear in her. It wasn’t what he was that she was afraid of, it was fear of touching him, excitement and anticipation that matched his own.

The fascination on her face, shining in her eyes, spoke to him, flooded him with a need to tell her to keep going, to do as she pleased with him because he was a slave to her. She could command him with nothing more than a touch or a thought, with only a feeling in her blood.

Warmth spread down his arm and over his chest and back when she reached his upper arm, her progress slowing as she swirled her fingers over his skin, following the silver marks. When she reached the ones that bled over his shoulder and danced down towards his chest, he could barely take it. Hunger swept through him, wildfire that consumed and burned out of control. Her touch drove him to burn and thirst for her, pushed him to his limit.

His eyes met hers and he breathed hard, struggling for control and the strength to resist surrendering to the desire in her eyes and in his blood. He wanted to act on it, needed to drag her into his arms and kiss her again, yearned to have her lips on his and her sweet taste filling his mouth.

Her hazel gaze fell to his mouth and he wet his lips, close to doing as she bid and kissing her. He lowered his mouth towards hers and then shifted course and pressed a kiss to her forehead instead. He lingered there, blood rushing, heart thundering, trembling with the need to have her touch him and kiss him.

Sheer desperation pushed him to give in, to forget his duty and slake his thirst for this woman who had changed his whole world, who was his whole world, but he resisted.

Kearn closed his eyes, breathed in her soft scent, and then stepped back.

“I have to go out,” he said thickly and tugged his shirt on. He lowered his gaze away from her as he buttoned it and tried to get his feelings back under control.

The calm edge to her blood disappeared. Her worry swept through him.

“I will only be outside. I need to meet…” He considered not saying it and then couldn’t help himself. He wanted to see her reaction and feel it in her blood. He wanted to test her. “I need to meet Venator Greystone.”

Amber’s eyes widened and then she went back to the couch, sat down, and started changing television channels.

He had expected a better reaction than her snubbing him. Wasn’t she jealous? He tested her blood with his and smiled inside when he felt it. She was hiding it well.

Kearn took a step forwards, hoping to get her attention. It remained fixed on the television. When he reached the door, he sensed her eyes on him and looked over his shoulder at her.

“Kearn?” She pulled her knees to her chest, holding them there with one arm. Her toes curled.