Blood Ties (4 page)

“Yours,” she said. Opening her mind, she let
him see her burning need for him and him alone. “No one’s but
yours.”

“And where do you want it, my lovely young
fledgling?”

“Anywhere.” The answer came out without a
thought. She was so desperate for anything he would give her, she
didn’t care where he fucked her as long as he did it.

His eyes blazed with triumph. “You’re mine,
Kira,” he said savagely. “Mine, you understand me? Say it!” Only
when she had repeated it did he release her breasts and ease his
body off hers. “You will move only at my command,” he ordered, and
suddenly her limbs were her own again.

Kira lay there, not daring to move an inch,
not even to dig her fingers into the bed as he trailed a hand down
her body. “So soft,” he whispered, watching his hand as it traced
the curve of her breast, slipped over her belly and down her thigh.
Then he rolled away from her and lay on his back, shoulders propped
against the headboard. “Crawl over here, Kira, and suck me. I want
that hot mouth of yours all over my cock.”

“Oh, yes,” she breathed, her mouth already
watering at the thought.

She rolled to her hands and knees, shaking
from head to toe with the force of her arousal. As she crawled, she
felt the slickness on her thighs, the aching emptiness between
them, and prayed he wouldn’t make her wait much longer. Never in
her life had she needed to come so desperately.

When she was eye-level with his cock, she
wrapped her hand around it and kissed the tip. Her hair slid down
and cascaded to his belly. Orion fisted both hands in her damp
tresses to keep them from hiding the show. Slowly, hotter than ever
with the knowledge that he was watching, holding his breath in
anticipation, Kira parted her lips and took the round head of his
cock into her mouth.

His groan echoed her own as she tasted him,
salty and thick in her mouth. She licked the sweet slit at his tip
before flicking a slow circle around his rim. “Damn, Kira,” he bit
out as she gently squeezed his balls with her other hand, letting
her weight rest on her knees and propping her elbows on his thighs.
His cock jumped in her hand and she sucked gently, slowly working
her hand around his shaft as she rubbed his head against her soft
palate.

Just when she felt his balls draw up and his
hips rock in involuntary little thrusts, Kira changed her rhythm.
Releasing his shaft from her tight fist, she swallowed him, taking
his entire length down her throat until her nose rested against his
skin. His hands tightened in her hair and he panted for breath as
she hummed around him. Sliding back until his entire length was
before her, slick and shining, she tongued his rim before sucking
him deep again.

“Christ!” he cried, throwing his head back as
she fucked him with her mouth, deep and slow, alternating hums with
suction, squeezing and fondling his balls in her palm. Just when
she sensed he was about to come, she released his cock completely
and licked a hot circle around his balls.

His thighs were trembling now as she
concentrated on driving him just as crazy as he’d driven her. One
by one she drew his balls into her mouth, rolling them on her
tongue. Suddenly releasing them to deep-throat him, she didn’t draw
away as his hips thrust wildly against her lips, fucking her mouth
as he finally lost control. Playing with his balls, she felt them
tighten an instant before he groaned aloud and came down her
throat. She moaned with pleasure at the hot taste, the vibration
making him curse and shudder as his thick cock jetted again. Never
stopping her humming, she moved her head up and down in short
pumps, milking him for everything he had. When his thighs and hands
finally went limp, she licked every still-hard inch of him clean,
not wanting to waste a drop.

So hot she thought she could come just from
the sight of his face, Kira kissed his hip and rested her forehead
against his belly. “Did I please you?”

He growled and pounced on her, pinning her to
the bed and kissing her fiercely. She wrapped her arms around him
and returned his passion with all her heart, arching as he pushed
his knee between her thighs, opening wide to let him in. Finally
breaking the kiss just as she became dizzy with lack of oxygen,
Orion tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her to his throat.
“Bite me,” he demanded huskily, and thrust hard as her fangs
penetrated his skin, seating himself to the balls in her slick
pussy as his blood flooded her mouth.

Wanting to scream with the intense pleasure,
Kira suckled the wound on his throat and drowned in sensation.
Bloodlust and ecstasy were one, pain and pleasure and hot, scalding
need, every hard surge of his cock inside her driving her higher
until she couldn’t tell where one orgasm ended and the next began,
wrapping herself around him and meeting every thrust with another
suck at his neck, another electric jolt of pleasure, another
squeeze of her legs around his waist as she drew him back for
more.

When Orion came deep inside her, she threw
her head back and screamed his name to the heavens.

And after she’d finally caught her breath,
still pinned beneath his weight, his cock pulsing deep inside her,
Kira managed to find the strength to turn and kiss his ear. “Thank
you,” she whispered, and gladly slipped into oblivion.

Thank you.

Orion rolled away as Kira fell asleep, every
muscle of his body trembling with the aftermath of his orgasm. Her
words echoed in his ears, haunting him. He couldn’t bear to look at
her.

It did no good. Her image was seared in his
mind whether he looked or not. Her black curls were spread in
magnificent disarray over his pillow, her incredible mouth puffy
from his kisses. The bites at her wrist and on her breasts marked
her as his as surely as a brand. Every inch of her body bore his
scent. The pink scrapes on her soft skin, abraded from his rough
jaw, both thrilled and shamed him. No one could look at her without
knowing he’d taken her, but even those slight injuries made him
wish he’d been more careful with her.

Damn it all, why had he thought his dominant
game would help him keep his emotions at a distance?

He sighed
and propped his elbows on his knees before dropping his head in his
hands. The goddamned problem was that he
had
no emotional distance where she was concerned. He
hadn’t since the day she’d walked into his study and knocked him so
utterly off-balance that he still hadn’t recovered.

The daughter of his former Associate, Kira
had taken her father’s place when the man had been forced to retire
by wounds sustained during the last attempt on Orion’s life. Orion
had known of her from Ulric, a man inordinately proud of his only
child, but had never bothered to meet her or so much as look at her
picture. One human was much like another. One Associate was hardly
distinguishable from the next. Orion hadn’t cared who served him so
long as someone did.

Then Ulric had brought Kira to him, an
ebony-haired goddess in jeans and Tivas. She’d smiled with a
complete lack of awe through the introductions and offered him her
hand before Ulric could stop her or remind her that vampires only
touched humans when absolutely necessary.

Orion had shaken her hand without hesitation,
as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and he
remembered with crystal clarity the thought that went through his
mind in the instant before their fingers touched.

I am in very deep trouble.

He’d wanted her since that instant. It hadn’t
taken much longer than that for him to love her. Everything about
her seduced him. Her easy laugh, the way she teased him until he
joined her. The utter absence of fear in her eyes when she
challenged him--which she did often. The unconsciously sexy sway of
her hips as she walked. The way she nagged him when she thought he
wasn’t taking proper care of himself, as if he hadn’t already
survived four hundred years without her care.

And the explosive, mind-consuming jealousy
he’d fought since the first night she’d arrived at his home wearing
the intimate scent of another man.

Orion closed his eyes and inhaled deeply,
savoring the blended aroma of their sex. Now she smelled of him and
him only, and if he’d felt territorial before, it was nothing
compared to the blinding possessiveness that overrode his logic and
reason now.

Kira was
his. She was
his
. As a human
she’d been safely out of reach, but as a vampire, he could have her
as his mate. He could lead her through the binding ritual and brand
her with something even more lasting than the bites. He could have
her forever and make her love it. It was everything he’d refused to
even dream of.

And this woman he wanted above all others had
led the hunters to his lair and had planned to leave him for a
Nighthawk.

He wanted to roar with fury at the injustice
of it, to demand the silent gods explain themselves. Vampires were
cursed and every vampire knew it. He just hadn’t thought the curse
would be so cruel.

He loved her and he couldn’t have her.
Wouldn’t use her need to keep her. She hadn’t wanted him until her
life depended on it, and may the gods be damned, that wasn’t enough
for him.

He groaned and dragged his fingers through
his hair. The only way to preserve his sanity was to make her
self-sufficient as fast as he could, and then run like hell. He’d
started over before and he could do it again. Would do it again
now.

Gentle fingertips traced down his spine,
jolting him from his thoughts. “Come to bed,” Kira murmured,
caressing his hip. “The dawn’s breaking.”

And even though he cursed his weakness, Orion
couldn’t make himself pass up the pleasure of falling to the bed
beside her and holding her close as she succumbed to the day sleep,
her head on his shoulder.

Orion was already dressed by the time Kira
awakened. She stretched luxuriously, either unconscious or uncaring
that the movement sent the bedding sliding down to her waist and
exposed her soft, luscious breasts to his view.

Determined not to repeat last night’s
mistakes, he turned away and threw a shopping bag at her. “Put that
on,” he said, his voice considerably gruffer than he’d
intended.

“Good morning to you too,” she said, a hint
of humor in her tone. “Wake up on the wrong side of the
coffin?”

Damn it, he couldn’t take her teasing, not
now, but the stinging retort that would wipe the cheer from her
voice didn’t come no matter how he tried to force it out. Giving
up, he merely held his tongue and tried not to imagine her standing
behind him, wearing only her bare skin.

The sooner she hid that gorgeous body under
layers of material, the better.

He heard cloth sliding over skin, the soft
whisper of the zipper. “Where’d you get these jeans? They’re the
perfect size,” she said as she padded around to stand in front of
him. “How’d you know?”

In truth, he’d read it off the tag during one
of the many times he’d stared at her ass, but there was no way she
needed to know that. The Nighthawks had allowed him to send one of
their Associates to shop for Kira that day, outfitting her with
everything from shoes to lingerie. “Lucky guess,” he replied
shortly. He handed her a new pair of shoes and tried not to notice
the cleavage revealed by her new top. “Ready to go?”

“Where are we going?”

“Anywhere the Nighthawks aren’t.”

She shook her head as she slipped her feet
into the clogs. “You never would tell me what you have against
them,” she said. “Vampire secrets and all that. Can I know now, or
do I have to learn the secret handshake first?”

That was a memory he wouldn’t revisit, not
even for her. He turned toward the door. “No. Now if you’re quite
finished, it’s time to move on.”

“Wait.”

He stopped but didn’t face her. “What?”

Kira stepped around him again until she was
between him and the exit. Reaching up with both hands, she pulled
him down and kissed him softly. Her lips, full and lush and
unbearably sweet, were almost the last temptation he could stand.
His fists clenched to keep from hauling her against him and
thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth.

She
pulled away after only a moment. “That’s how I want to start my
evening,” she murmured, then released him and stepped away.
“
Now
I’m ready to go.”

This time it was easy not to reply. He wasn’t
sure his voice was even working.

Kira let Orion lead her from the room they’d
shared with a pang of loss. No matter what happened, she would
never forget the time they’d spent there. Orion’s distance hurt,
but she refused to let that dampen her spirits. He was still with
her and he’d held her all day long. She had time to tease him out
of this rotten mood and reveal the hot lover he hid inside, the
side of him she’d never expected to see.

“Tonight I’ll teach you to feed on your own,”
he said, shattering her thoughts. “With luck you’ll pick it up
quickly. Soon you won’t need me at all.”

She stumbled. Surely he wasn’t serious.
“Orion, I don’t want to feed from anyone else.”

He merely shrugged at the distress in her
tone. “I’m not a buffet,” he replied coldly. “If you want to feed
once I’m gone, you’ll have to learn to take humans.”

That effectively wiped away the high hopes
she’d awoken with. “You planning on going somewhere I can’t
follow?” Her effort at lightness was forced at best, pathetic at
worst. He was really leaving her?

“With any luck,” he growled.

He was to the end of the hall and two steps
down the stairs before he realized she wasn’t behind him. Even in
the dim light, she could see his scowl. “Get a move on,” he
snapped. “We don’t have all night.”