Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (41 page)

Tears filled her eyes. She could never refuse him. She wanted to be his and wanted to live out the fairytale he had planned for them, no matter how dark it was.

Kearn drew her closer to him, lightly kissing her throat in a way that spread warmth through her. Her heart floated in her chest. There was so much love in the way he was holding her, kissing her, and in his blood.

“I do not want to hurt you.” He kissed her throat again. His blood backed up his words and Amber wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in the silver threads of his hair and holding him to her. She knew that. And she knew it was going to hurt. But she didn’t care, because he needed this. “I wish I could make it painless… nothing but a scratch on your fingertip… I would… but I cannot, Amber.”

His fingers stroked her throat and he sighed.

“I need to mark your throat. I need everyone to see that my beautiful Amber is mine and mine alone.” He leaned his head on her shoulder and Amber held him, giving him time to say everything that he needed to.

His words touched her deeply. He needed to bite her throat and she wouldn’t have it any other way. If they were going to do this, she wanted it to be as special for him as he needed it to be, and she wanted to do it properly. A bite on her neck seemed most appropriate, and she knew that it meant the most to him. He didn’t want to do things half-heartedly. He had to do it correctly. He needed to.

“I want to wear your marks, Kearn.” She rested her head against his, sighed and flipped his hair around her fingers. Her Noble. When she had first met him, she had never believed he could be so gentle and loving with her. “I want to be yours. I want you to stay with me forever.”

He drew back and looked at her, deep down into her heart through her eyes.

“Say it again.”

She smiled. “Stay with me forever.”

A smile curved his lips and his gaze moved to her throat and then back to hers.

“It is I who should be saying such a thing to you.” He touched her cheek, brushing the backs of his fingers across it. “My beautiful Amber. Will you stay with me forever? You have tamed this Noble… you rule me absolutely… and I will ensure that you want for nothing, and that you will have everything that you deserve.”

“There’s only one thing I want, Kearn. There’s only one thing I desire… you. So I’m offering this to you,” she tilted her chin up to expose her neck and brought his hand down to press against the spot over her heart, “so I might have you forever too, and when I’m like you, I’m going to bite your neck so the world can see that you’re mine and mine alone.”

Kearn dragged her against him and kissed her, stealing her breath with his passion. She tried to keep up as his lips moved roughly over hers, his tongue plundering her mouth, but by the time she was moving with him, not against him, he broke away and was staring into her eyes again.

His were wide and green, full of emotions that made them sparkle in the warm low light of the bedroom.

“I love you,” he whispered.

Amber couldn’t help smiling.

“I love you,” he said again and pulled her back to him, his hands pressing between her shoulder blades. He breathed against her neck. “I love you.”

Amber closed her eyes, sensing his intent in her blood, and tried to relax.

“I love you, forever,” he whispered and then his lips grazed her throat and a sharp pain shot out from where they touched.

She flinched but the pain only lasted a second, giving way to dull throbbing warmth. She felt queasy from the awareness of his fangs in her but suppressed the feeling, not wanting Kearn to sense it in her.

It hurt when he sucked and her head spun. She held him close, tangling her fingers in his hair to show him that she wanted this. The slow speed of his drinking and the gentle way he held her surprised her. She had expected him to act as he had when he had taken her blood and told her that he would bite her but he was so tender instead. Calm washed over her and it no longer hurt when he pulled on her blood. The connection that opened between them when she relaxed was incredible, stronger than it had ever been, and she could clearly feel all of his emotions. It meant so much to him to do this. There was a sense of reverence about his actions, about the way he was holding her and the gentleness of the bite. She could feel the deep awe within him, the happiness and the love.

Amber opened her heart to him, letting him feel everything that she was. She wasn’t afraid of him, or of doing this, not anymore. She loved him and she wanted it too. This didn’t just make him happy, it made her happy too. She didn’t fear stepping into his world and leaving hers behind. It would be just as he had said. She had his heart and his love forever.

And he had hers.

Her head spun again, dizziness making her stomach turn, and she frowned. She didn’t want him to stop drinking, wanted him to have all the blood he needed so he could defeat Kyran and they could be together, but she was growing weak.

Kearn’s fangs left her throat and she mourned their loss and then sighed when he licked her skin. He wrapped his lips back around the bite and suckled slowly. Each drop of blood that he drank increased the connection between them, until she could no longer sense where his feelings ended and hers began. Her head was swimming with them, with the love and tenderness, with the need and desire.

He pressed a kiss to her throat and then licked the marks.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear and Amber smiled through the growing haze in her mind.

Darkness encroached and she tried to fight it, but she was too tired. She opened her eyes, wanting to see him, but they were blurry and she couldn’t make out his face.

Her head spun again.

Amber managed to touch his face before the darkness took her, and whispered, “I love you too.”

CHAPTER 29

K
earn carried Amber towards the open double doors of the main house, cradling her gently in his arms. The twin puncture marks on the left side of her throat were red and sore. He had been as careful as possible but he had still hurt her. She had borne it well, trying to hide her pain from him with her love, but he had sensed it deep within her. He wished that he could have done it without hurting her. He’d had to bite her neck though. He couldn’t have it any other way.

He sensed vampires ahead of him.

What would his parents make of what he had done?

He told himself that he didn’t care what his family thought about him choosing to turn Amber but it didn’t stop the nerves from churning his stomach, eating away at him and increasing his anxiety. He wasn’t sure how people would react to her now that he had begun her transformation into a vampire and he needed to keep her safe now more than ever. She was his to protect and he wouldn’t fail her. Fear laced his blood as he cautiously looked at the lower ranking vampires and guards in the vestibule. They stared at him, and he held Amber closer to him, afraid that someone would try to harm her.

The vampires parted for him and his eyes switched to red when some of them dared to look at Amber. She belonged to him now. His love. His forever.

When he had bitten her, he had felt all of her feelings in his heart. He had felt her love for him and her fear of losing him, and it had made him feel as though he finally had a place where he belonged again. He desired nothing more than to protect her, the woman who was the most precious thing in the world to him, and he loved her more than anything. It honoured him that she had given herself to him and that she wanted to be his.

The connection between them had been so strong, and when she finally became a vampire, that same connection would return, linking them forever as one. They would always be able to feel each other, and she would grow as strong as he was and gain all of his abilities and powers.

Amber stirred, her eyes fluttering open. She looked up at him, the dark circles beneath her eyes concerning him along with the sense of weariness he could feel in her.

He stopped in the gallery that led to the main reception room. Daylight flooded in through the windows to his left, shining on her and making her pale skin glow. Fear threatened to seize his heart but she smiled and his blood felt the strength returning to her. It was a relief to see that he hadn’t taken too much from her and that she would recover.

Kearn smiled for her and a hint of colour touched her cheeks. He would never tire of that reaction. She was beautiful when she blushed for him.

“I am sorry that I hurt you,” he whispered.

She shook her head a fraction. “It didn’t really hurt.”

Her voice was quiet and weak. His concern returned and he held her closer. There was such deep affection in her hazel eyes. She touched his cheek and then her fingers curled around the back of his neck and she lured him down to her. He knew what she wanted.

Kearn raised her and kissed her gently, slowly, and with all the love that he felt for her.

She sighed when he lowered her again and smiled at him, brilliant and wide. He sensed the happiness in her and it stirred his own.

“I could feel you,” she whispered and placed her hand on her chest, resting it over her heart. Her eyes held his. “I already feel different.”

He smiled again. She did feel different. She felt stronger. Her body had begun the transition from human to vampire. Her hand pressed against his chest.

“I can feel you.” She blinked slowly. Her tiredness ran in his veins, a feeling that he couldn’t easily shake. He wanted to tell her to stop talking and to rest, but felt she had to say what she was going to and he had to hear it. “There’s a connection… like a red ribbon tying our hearts.”

Kearn sighed and smiled down at her, absorbing the love in her eyes.

“Uniting our hearts,” he said and her eyes brightened with her smile. “We are one now.”

She frowned. “A master and servant.”

“No.” Kearn shook his head. “Equals… lovers… you will never be inferior to me. My heart is yours, just as the duke said.”

Tears lined her eyes. He wanted to wipe them away for her but she was too weak to stand on her own while he did so.

“Do not cry.”

“I’m not sad,” she whispered and closed her eyes. “I’m happy… and tired.”

“Rest then. You will be strong again soon.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair, and at the same time gave her feelings a slight push, enough to send to her sleep. She rested heavily in his arms but he didn’t feel her weight. She was as light as air to him. His Amber.

Kearn waited until the connection between them became weak and he knew that she was in a deep sleep, and then continued along the hall. There were people in the reception room ahead. He could feel them. Their presence ran deep in his blood. His mother and father.

A maid at the dark double doors opened them for him but didn’t honour him with a curtsey. She didn’t even look at him. If the maid treated him as though he wasn’t welcome, then how would the mistress react?

Kearn walked into the richly furnished room. The memories of playing here with his brother caused even more pain now and this time he couldn’t push them away. He remembered how their mother would chastise them for drawing on the black walls, or for spilling blood on the furniture even though it had been upholstered in lush red then, and not gold as it was now. They had always been causing trouble one way or another.

“Out!” A high female voice shook him out of his thoughts and he stepped back towards the doors when a wave of anger hit him.

His gaze snapped to his mother when she stood, leaving his father sitting alone on the gold couch to the right of the black marble fireplace.

The rage in her dark eyes made Kearn hold Amber closer to him. His mother stalked towards him with intent and he resisted his desire to change. He couldn’t threaten her.

“Leave my house.” She flung her arm towards the doors.

She looked so slight and small in the black corseted dress and he couldn’t remember a time she had felt so weak to him. The initial anger he had felt in her had covered the fear he could now sense, and the hurt. His father must have told her what had happened and why they had to guard the house.

His mother no longer had any children.

She would have banished them both.

Kearn stood his ground, unwilling to leave the safety of the main house when Amber was still recovering. She had to remain here, even if he couldn’t. He would beg his mother for her sake.

His mother stopped a short distance from him, the long sleek locks of her black hair shining in the firelight at her back, her face shadowed. She stared at Amber and then frowned, her delicate features growing dark with it.

Her eyes turned red.

She took a deep breath.

The moment she did, her eyes widened and she hesitantly stepped forwards, her hands dancing around in the air, as though she wasn’t sure what to do. Her gaze didn’t leave Amber and Kearn was tempted to step back again until his father stood, an incredulous look on his face.

“You took her humanity?” His mother’s voice was quiet and trembling.

Kearn nodded and held Amber closer still when his mother took another step forwards.

“She is weak. You took too much blood from her… she is too weak.” The note of panic in her voice surprised Kearn. “You took too much!”

“Kyran took too much,” he countered and moved back a step. His mother looked furious. “I only took a small amount, enough to tie us and to give me the strength to fight Kyran.”

His mother reached out a hand but Kearn moved Amber away from her. He wouldn’t allow anyone near her, not when she was so fragile. He couldn’t trust anyone with her.

“Amber is strong. She will survive.” He didn’t have a chance to move back again.

Before he could take a step, his mother was right beside Amber, her hands fluttering over her, checking her throat and then touching her face. Kearn held the growl inside when he saw how gentle his mother was being and felt her fear deep in his blood. This time it wasn’t fear of Kyran coming for them. It was fear for Amber.

He didn’t understand.

Instinct told him to keep Amber away from his mother but he caught his father’s gaze and saw his smile, and his blood told him to stay still and allow his mother to check Amber.