Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (12 page)

“You want this.”

Kearn grabbed her wrist, spun her around so quickly her head swirled, and pinned her to the passenger side of his car.

“Do not
ever
do that again.” His voice was dark and low, a rumbling sound that echoed his anger. His grip on her wrist tightened until it hurt.

She didn’t care.

All she could focus on were the red eyes staring into hers and the sharp fangs that showed between his lips when he spoke.

She had been right.

Kearn was a vampire.

Her pulse raced, body trembling, and her knees weakened. She was falling for a vampire. It would have seemed insane if she hadn’t already accepted it on some level. She had known what he was and, although sense had said that she was foolish for still wanting him, her feelings hadn’t changed in the slightest. It scared her, but she was determined to keep moving forwards on the path she was walking, to see where it took her.

She stared up into his red eyes, mesmerised by them, lost in the explosive combinations of feelings running riot through her. She wasn’t sure whether to break free of his grasp or submit to him. Part of her wanted to run away and the rest wanted to run to him, to feel his arms around her and his mouth on hers.

Kearn’s lips parted, revealing his fangs.

Reality check.

Would he bite her?

A spark of fear shot through her blood. Instinct said to escape. She wasn’t ready for this. What had she expected from him? He was a vampire. Vampires bit people. She didn’t want to be just another meal to him.

“Kearn?” she whispered, fearful of jolting him out of whatever thoughts he was lost in as he stared at her in case she prompted him to bite her.

He leaned into her, his body as hard as granite against hers. There was so much anger in his eyes but there was conflict too. Her blood was like a drug to vampires. Did he want it? Was that a bad thing?

He had told her that it was illegal to drink her blood. Would they punish him for tasting it? Was that the reason behind the battle playing out in his eyes?

Kearn bent her hand back and his red eyes shifted to her palm.

“I need to stop this damned cut from bleeding.”

Amber’s eyes shot wide when he licked her palm. She kept still, fascinated by the feel of his tongue stroking her skin. The moment he swallowed, he trembled and leaned more heavily into her. He turned his head to one side and gazed at her chest, breathing hard. The fingers of his other hand curled around her waist, digging in. He licked the cut again, harder this time, pressing his tongue in as though he needed more, and then released her arm. His hand claimed her neck, fingers against the nape sending a shiver down her spine, and he pressed his thumb against her jaw, tilting her head back.

His gaze tracked down her throat and then fell to her breasts.

This wasn’t like him.

He pulled her closer, exhaled on a sigh, and ground his hips against hers. He was hard.

Her blood had this effect on vampires?

He was a different person now—his red eyes unabashedly taking in her body and his grip on her dominant. Gone was the man she had been speaking to a moment ago, replaced by something altogether more sensual and unrestrained.

His eyes narrowed on her throat and he lowered his thumb from her jaw and hooked it into the thick choker. She gasped when he tore it off and threw it to the ground. His hand claimed her neck again, rough and commanding. Her blood thundered through her veins in response, her heart whispering that he was going to bite her if she didn’t do something.

“Kearn?” she whispered.

Before she could ask him if he was alright, his lips were on hers, devouring them in a hungry kiss. He pressed the length of his body into hers and forced his tongue into her mouth. It caressed hers, teasing her teeth and luring her into joining it. She couldn’t stop herself. She kissed him back but failed to match his rough demanding passion. His mouth claimed hers with fierce possession, stealing her breath as their lips parted and met, their tongues tangling and breath mingling. Her pulse raced. A heady sensation of need ignited deep within her. Her tongue traced his teeth, finding no fangs, and she thrilled at the thought that they had been there a moment ago. He moaned and she threaded her fingers into his hair, twisting the silver lengths around them, and held his mouth against hers. It was too divine to surrender and she feared it would end too soon.

He thrust against her again and groaned into her mouth.

Was her blood making him do this, or had it only freed his desire? It had to be the latter. She wanted this to be about her, not her blood.

He slid his hands down to her hips, clutching her against him, and kissed her deeper, until she felt as though she couldn’t breathe, but she wouldn’t give him up. She wanted to drown in him.

Someone called over to them, making lewd suggestions.

Kearn was gone in a heartbeat. Amber slowly opened her eyes, dazed and warm all over. Her gaze sought Kearn. He stood with his back to her, the beam of his car’s headlights on his legs.

Amber went to him and tried to touch his arm but he jerked away from her.

“Leave me.” He took a step forwards. “Get in the damn car and leave me.”

Amber backed away, her stomach heavy with guilt. She hadn’t meant to upset him. The air around him felt colder than ever. It felt as though any chance she’d had of opening his closed off heart had disappeared.

Slipped through her bloodstained fingers.

She got into the car, afraid of upsetting him further by disobeying him this time. Her eyes roamed over his black shirt-clad back and down his arms. His fists trembled at his sides.

It wasn’t just his fists shaking. His shoulders were too. When he had been against her, she had felt him trembling. If she had known her blood would induce such a strong reaction, she wouldn’t have teased him with it.

Kearn raked his fingers over his silver hair and locked them around the back of his head. Why had he told her to leave him alone? Because he didn’t want her?

A chill settled in her at that thought.

She wanted him. It was insane of her to want a vampire, but she did. Deep in her heart, she knew that Kearn wasn’t like the man who had attacked her. He was doing all in his power to protect her. He had to feel something for her. It had to be about more than her blood and his duty.

He tilted his head back, his hands still clutching it, and then lowered it again.

Minutes passed and he still didn’t move.

What was he doing?

Her heart said that she knew exactly what he was doing. He was fighting whatever dark desire she had awoken in him. She touched her bare throat. The way he had torn her choker away, ridding her throat of obstruction, still made her shiver, but not wholly from fear. Part of her had thrilled at the thought he might bite her. There had been visible struggle in his eyes before he had kissed her. Had he forced himself to do that in order to stop himself from sinking his fangs into her neck, satisfying his hunger with her kiss rather than her blood? If he came to her now, would he be a danger to her? Would he want to bite her?

He turned around, walked to the car, and got in. His eyes were green again. Did that mean he was back to normal?

He stared straight ahead. “Do not ever do that again.”

There was no trace of anger in his tone, only a sense of weariness that left her feeling worse than if he had shouted at her. Amber shrank away and leaned against the passenger side door, looking out of it as he drove. The world flew by, all blurred coloured lights and darkness. She sighed and her breath fogged the window. It cleared a few seconds later, the misty patch creeping smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

Kearn didn’t speak.

She wanted to break the oppressive silence but couldn’t find the right words. How did you apologise to a vampire for tipping him over the edge?

How much danger had she really been in?

The kiss had been fantastic but if the man hadn’t disturbed them would it have come with a high price? Would Kearn have bitten her? Drained her dry?

She felt as though she had flicked the latch on Pandora’s Box and flung the lid open without considering the consequences.

“Where do you live?”

Amber blinked her heavy thoughts away. The hard set of Kearn’s eyes couldn’t hide the feelings in them this time.

He didn’t want to ask that question.

Something inside her said that there was a more important one that he couldn’t voice. She felt different again, as she had the night she had tasted the vampire’s blood, only this time she felt out of place and unsatisfied. And worried.

There was an underlying sense of struggle and conflict too, and those were both of the feelings in Kearn’s eyes.

She could feel him.

She almost laughed at herself but there was no other explanation. Somehow, she could feel him.

Was the conflict really about his desire for her blood or something else? Now that the moment had passed, she felt it was about something else, and she knew what it was. It was only natural for him to think it. After all, she had been afraid of the vampire who had attacked her.

Amber directed him to her flat, never taking her eyes off him. She tried to pick out the emotions that didn’t feel as though they were hers. Whenever she had almost figured one out, it winked out of existence. They disappeared at the same rate as they did in Kearn’s eyes, until she felt normal again and his eyes were empty.

He pulled the car to a halt outside her dull brick apartment building in the suburbs of London. His car couldn’t have been more out of place surrounded by the hatchbacks, estates, and occasional four-wheel drive vehicles in the parking lot. None of them cost anywhere near half that of Kearn’s two-seater sports car.

Amber stepped out of the car, resisting the temptation to say that it was a safe neighbourhood and his car would be alright. She didn’t need to explain her life to him or apologise for the way she lived it.

Kearn’s gaze scanned over the uniform rows of small windows on her four-storey building. It wasn’t as impressive as his, but it was how normal people lived in London. He didn’t say anything so she led the way to her flat. It was only when they reached her door that she remembered she didn’t have any keys.

“The super has a spare set of my keys. There’s a chance he might still be awake. Wait here. I’ll go see,” she said but Kearn shook his head.

She expected him to tell her to remain in the hall while he went to the super for her, but he stepped past her and waved his hand over the locks on her door instead. Each clicked. She couldn’t believe her eyes when he turned the handle and her front door swung open.

Amber thanked him with a quick smile, trying to grasp what he had just done.

He could open things with just a wave of his hand. Hey presto! That would be a useful ability when breaking and entering to drink people as they slept soundly in their beds. Could vampires just walk in uninvited?

Her nerves got the better of her and her brain engaged babble mode.

“Do I have to invite you over the threshold?” she said with a giggle that came out sounding more like a hiccup.

“Your blood is invite enough… not just to your home.” Kearn looked so serious that her heart leapt into her throat. She swallowed it back down.

Just what sort of things had she invited him to do? The light bulb in her head pinged on. She could catch a hint of his feelings. Did it work both ways? Could he control her as the other vampire had? The implications of what just a drop of blood could do suddenly seemed infinite.

She pushed the growing list in her head away and stepped into her apartment.

Kearn didn’t follow.

He stood in the cream hall. The serious edge to his eyes hadn’t gone anywhere.

She walked back to him, feeling that he wanted to say something. She felt conflicted again, and anxious.

“Do you fear me now?” He glanced away from her, casting his eyes downwards at the wooden floor in the corridor. “You may remain here if you prefer it.”

He took a step back. She countered it with one towards him.

“No.”

He stared at her, eyes empty and betraying none of the feelings inside her. He needed more than just that one word. He needed to hear her say it.

“You don’t scare me,” she said.

He didn’t look as though he believed her. She wished he would because it was the truth. The fact that he was a vampire didn’t frighten her, not as she had expected it would. He didn’t feel dangerous to her. Being around him was exciting. Even when she saw his fangs and his eyes, he was still the same man to her. He was Kearn—the only thing that felt real in this strange fantasy world and the man who wanted to protect her from the bad guy.

He was her hero.

“We’re partners, remember? We need to catch that man, and until we do, the only place I’ll feel safe is with you.” Her feelings lightened but Kearn’s expression didn’t.

“You are probably safer away from me,” he said and then added in a whisper, “I cannot stop thinking about your blood.”

Her heart missed a beat. His gaze darted to her chest. Of course he would hear it. It wasn’t fear but strange excitement that had made it skip. Did he know that?

Amber held her hand out to him.

“Come in.” She was glad her hand didn’t tremble like the rest of her. “I’m sorry for what I did. I hadn’t expected that sort of reaction.”

He placed his hand into hers. “I apologise too for acting the way I did.”

Amber didn’t say anything. There was no need for him to apologise. The kiss had been amazing and she was glad that it had happened. Some small part of her clung to the hope that her blood wasn’t the only reason he had kissed her. She wanted him to be attracted to her too.

His hand left hers the moment he crossed the threshold of her small flat and she closed the door. Kearn walked along the purple hall to the open door at the end and looked around her living room. There wasn’t much to see. Now that she had been in his place, hers looked tiny. She could probably fit her whole apartment into just his bedroom.

She felt like apologising again so she turned right down the hall and went into her bedroom. She gathered clothes that would make her pretty but not like a slut, and then picked up her old gym bag and dumped it down on her double bed. The bag smelt a bit. A spray with perfume fixed that and she crammed her clothes in, tossing in some toiletries on top. Her whole life fit into a small bag. There was something sad about that.