Crimson Highlander: An Onyx Assassins Novel Read online

  “She was looking at you like dessert,” she muttered as we slowly made our way down the railing. The crowd thickened, and I used my body to shield Valor from view. She was too recognizable for comfort, and the minute someone called her name, the plan was done for. “Is she…the brunette you mentioned?”

  “Jules?” I paused, turning so she could see to either side, but I kept her sheltered from the majority of the party. “No. I use a few humans to feed. Sisters.”

  Valor’s eyes narrowed.

  “And before you ask, no, I don’t fuck them.” I scanned the area slowly, looking for anyone who matched Daphne’s description. The fireworks would start at any moment, and then at least the humans would be distracted by the pretty explosions so we could get a better look at them.

  “You don’t?” Valor leaned back against the railing and peered down the line, her tone going for causal, but there was a tension there, too.

  “Nope. I learned centuries ago that mixing the two was a pain in the ass. Besides, I prefer to fuck blondes,” I teased.

  She stiffened and turned a glare on me.

  “Relax. I’m giving you shit. As for Jules,” I scanned the other direction but didn’t see Daphne that way, either. “She’s a demon. Inter-species relationships are forbidden. Doesn’t mean there aren’t some back-alley hookups, but I’m the king’s second in command. I don’t bend rules.”

  The crowd was moving toward us, everyone angling for the best view of the impending fireworks show, and I palmed Valor’s waist and tugged her close, sheltering her like we were an infatuated couple as I moved us backward, toward the edge of the crowd.

  “But I’m human,” she whispered. “Despite the tiny drop of vampire in my bloodline.”

  Of course, I heard her above the crowd.

  “We’re not in a relationship,” I countered as we moved slowly down the terrace, keeping to the edge of the crowd in the darkened spaces.

  “We’re mated!” she hissed.

  “We’re mates. That’s not the same as being mated.” Just the thought of the act had my slacks fitting too tight. I’d have her under me the first time, her legs hooked around my hips as I drove into her, my cock claiming her at the same time my fangs pierced deep, joining us in every way imaginable. A groan worked its way into my throat, and I swallowed it back down where it belonged.

  The lighting was brighter here, where people milled around the buffet tables, and I hurried us through, tucking Valor under my arm.

  The fireworks started, colors exploding in the sky with thunderous booms to the ooh’s and ah’s of the crowd.

  “I don’t see her,” I muttered as we reached a velvet rope that clearly marked the VIP area.

  Valor climbed right over it. In heels. Damn. I followed, quickly getting ahead of her to block her from view. Her scent was tinged with the bitterness of desperation.

  This area was better lit than others, but most of the crowd was gathered around the edge of the balcony, watching the show.

  “What if she’s not—shit!” Valor stiffened at my side. “That’s Caleb Anderson coming this way!”

  I followed her panicked gaze and saw a lanky twenty-something walking our direction, his arm slung over two different girls. Classy.

  Valor’s hands fisted in my shirt as she tugged me toward the wall.

  All he had to do was look up, and he’d see her—the op would be blown. I could wend us out, but that would break our foremost rule about hiding supernaturals from the human world. The same problem presented itself when it came to picking her up and running for the door. I could move faster than the human eye, but if anyone was glancing our way, they’d sure-as-fuck notice we’d disappeared.

  Valor’s back hit the wall. “Kiss me.”

  “I’m sorry? Didn’t you say that was never happening again?”

  “He’s coming this way! Kiss me!” She laced her fingers behind the back of my neck and rose up, yanking my mouth to hers.

  Surprise faded in exactly a millisecond, and I curled my body around hers, blocking her as much as possible as I sipped at her lips.

  Keep it light.

  Who the fuck was I kidding? This was Valor, and her soft lips parted beneath mine, her tongue licking lightly over the seam of my lips. My control slipped.

  Caleb was still headed this way, his voice growing louder with every step.

  “Fucking kiss me!” Valor whispered.

  I palmed her hip, tucking her in tight against me, cradled her cheek, and did exactly as she asked. My tongue filled her mouth, and I moaned at the sweet taste of her. Perfect.

  There were no preambles, no delicate touches. I tilted her head to adjust our angle and fucked her mouth with long, sensuous strokes of my tongue, rolling my hips into her as my grip tightened on her hip.

  She whimpered, her nails scraping the back of my neck as she arched against me.

  The crowd faded.

  No one else mattered but the female—the woman—in my arms. Her breath was mine, her pleasure my only goal.

  Need exploded between us, the result of denying the demand of our bodies for too long. This wasn’t even about want or gratification, it was primal hunger.

  My hand slid to the curve of her ass, and I squeezed, cursing the fabric of her dress between us.

  “So fucking hot,” one of the human women muttered as they passed by us.

  “Damn,” the other one agreed.

  I growled, low and long. No one was allowed to see the pleasure etched on every line of my Valor’s body. That was mine and mine alone.

  Grasping her ass in both hands, I lifted her against my chest and carried her three steps to the right, then pushed open the door and took her inside, flicking the lock behind us once I shut the door.

  The space was dimly lit and furnished with a loveseat, and a small bar before another door led to a private, VIP entrance to the mezzanine boxes.

  The loveseat was too dangerous, too tempting, so I sat Valor on the edge of the small bar, bringing her to my eye level.

  “How?” She looked around quickly, then shook her head with a smile. “You were here when it was built.” Then her mouth was melded with mine again, and the rest of the world disappeared.

  I tugged her to the edge of the bar, and she gasped as the ridge of my cock rubbed against the seam of her silk shorts. Instead of pulling away, she kissed me deeper, locking her ankles behind my back blatantly rolling her hips over mine.

  “Fuck,” I groaned, nipping at her bottom lip before kissing the edge of her jaw. Her scent roared through me, a mix of excitement and arousal that had me harder than the stone this place was built with.

  “Lachlan.” She arched her neck, exposing her throat, and my mouth watered.

  The instinct to bite, to sink my fangs into her tender flesh and taste her very life force, beat at me relentlessly, but I shoved it aside and sucked gently at her throat, licking and kissing a path downward.

  “Oh God,” she moaned, her hands in my hair, her pulse quickening against my lips.

  “You like that,” I said against her skin, filing the knowledge away.

  “Your mouth…” Her head rolled back, and she sighed as I grazed my fangs down her skin, breathing her in.

  A low laugh rumbled through my chest. “If you were in a dress, my mouth would already be here.” I palmed her pussy through her shorts, and she gasped. “Licking, sucking, fucking you with my tongue until you were screaming my name.”

  “Lachlan.” She melted, her surrender sending lightning down my spine.

  “But I guess you’ll have to settle for this.” I pressed the heel of my hand against the top of her cleft and rubbed. “And this.” My other hand slid into the bodice of her dress and lifted her breast from its confines. Her nipple hardened in the air, the soft pink color beckoning my mouth. “Fucking beautiful.” Then I was done speaking.

  I grazed the bud with my tongue, then sucked her into my mouth, teasing her flesh with my teeth until her whimpers came with every exhale. Once
that breast was flushed and swollen, I gave the same attention to the other, nipping the bud with my fang without drawing blood.

  She reached for my cock.

  I gripped her wrist gently and pulled her away. “That’s how you find yourself on your back, lass.”

  “I need you,” she whispered, her passion-glazed eyes locking with mine.

  Fuck me, she was a sight. Her breasts heavy, her lips parted, her pulse racing beneath that alabaster skin. This woman was built for sin and sex, for temptation and pleasure. I’d been made to give it to her. The answer was simple.

  “Aye,” I agreed, bringing my mouth back to hers. “I know.” Our kiss was open and wet, desire moving between us like an electrical current that only heightened with each stroke of our tongues.

  My hand moved to her thigh, then slid beneath the hem of her shorts, rising along the silken skin until I reached the satin thong I knew would shred with a single graze of my fangs.

  “You’re soaking wet,” I growled against her mouth, running my thumb over the drenched silk covering her entrance.

  “Yes.” She rocked her hips forward and groaned.

  “What do you want, Valor?” I skimmed the edge of her thong with my thumb. Her shorts were too tight to turn my hand how she needed it, but this angle would do.

  “Please,” she murmured, tugging my lower lip with her teeth. “I’m aching.” She licked the line her teeth had nipped, and I nearly lost it.

  I wanted this woman at my neck, wanted my blood inside her, pumping through her heart, her veins. I needed to shred these shorts and feast on her, but I wanted her in my bed with her fiery hair spread out all around her, and her scent saturating my sheets.

  “Do you need me here?” Pushing under her thong, her wetness coated my thumb, and I stroked from her slick entrance up to the swollen nub of her clit.

  “Yes!” Her thighs tightened around my waist, and I gritted my teeth against the demands of my cock. I had hundreds of years of experience, and not once had my control threatened to fly out the fucking window like this.

  “Then tell me, lass,” I cupped the back of her neck and circled my thumb around her clit. “Whatever you want, I’ll give you. All you ever have to do is ask.”

  “I want you to touch me,” she cried. “I can’t breathe around the need!”

  The mating bond was taut, a living, faintly shimmering thing between us, demanding completion and satisfaction. I knew exactly what she meant. My chest was tight, my blood pounding through my veins, my cock throbbing with every heartbeat, demanding I take her, claim her, bind her to me.

  “Valor,” I groaned and sank into her mouth as I stroked her clit. She was so slick and wet. My fangs ached, but I kept them behind my lips as I kissed her, strumming her faster until her breath stuttered and her muscles tightened, locking.

  “Right there,” I broke our kiss, watching her eyes haze and her lips tremble as she clutched at my shoulders. I held her on that edge, memorizing everything about the moment so I could live in it for an eternity, then pushed her right over.

  “Lachlan!” She shook in my arms as the waves of her orgasm took her.

  I’d never seen a more beautiful sight in my life.

  I withdrew my hand after I’d worked her down. She sagged in my arms, her forehead resting against mine.

  “You—” she started.

  “I’m fine,” I countered as the explosions outside the room ended in a booming finale. “I have everything I need.” Lifting my head, I brought my thumb to my lips and licked the taste of her from my skin.

  Fucking hell. She tasted even better than she smelled, all honey and that sweet tang of citrus. I could lick at her all day and never be satisfied.

  Her lips parted as she watched me suck every drop of her from my thumb, and her scent flared again as she stared at my lips with blatant hunger.

  “Thank you so much for coming tonight,” a voice boomed over the loudspeakers.

  Valor tensed in my arms, her gaze flying toward the door.

  “On behalf of Living Pine, I can’t say enough about your generous donations to our cause. Creating a wholesome clean environment free of pollutants, is our only mission.”

  “That’s Kyle,” Valor whispered, lunging out of my arms.

  I caught her and helped her to the floor, then looked through a crack in the door before opening it fully. Everyone’s attention was focused off the terrace and downward.

  Taking Valor’s hand, I quickly walked past the crowd in the VIP area to an empty portion of the balcony, near the north wall.

  “With your help, we can make Edgemont City a shining example in this country!” Kyle stood at a small dais just inside the circular drive of the opera house, flanked by limos.

  He looked exactly like the country club douchebag his social media profile made him out to be. His hair was blonde and styled like a fucking ken doll. All he needed was the ascot.

  “Daphne,” Valor whispered.

  There. At the edge of the door to one of the limousines stood a waif of a girl with long, strawberry blond hair. Her face was sad, her eyes downturned, and her arms were tucked in tight across her chest, like she needed to be held together, and a middle-aged man stood at her side. I filtered through the overwhelming scents of perfume and cologne around me until I singled out a light…was that violets?

  That was Daphne. Now I could track her.

  If I wended behind the car, they’d still see me grab her, and Valor would be left exposed. I was powerful, but I wasn’t wend-two-women-without-a-full-feeding powerful.

  “We have every single one of you to—” Kyle froze as his eyes popped wide in our direction.

  Fuck.

  “Thank!” Kyle finished composing himself quickly and motioning behind him with his hand. “On that note, we’ll leave you to enjoy the party!”

  “No!” Valor shouted as Daphne was shoved into the car, the door slamming shut.

  Daphne’s scent disappeared.

  Fuck my life. There was iron in that car. There was nothing I could do.

  Heads swung in our direction as Valor screamed, and I scooped her into my arms. Her fists beat at my chest as she struggled to free herself, but I strode for the northern staircase as three armed guards raced from the crowd.

  “In here!” Amanda, Julie’s twin called, swinging the door open.

  “You have to get her!” Valor yelled. “Go!”

  “There’s nothing I can do.” I broke into a run as the guards raised their guns. There was no firing back in a situation like this, where there were a hundred witnesses.

  Amanda slammed the door shut behind us as we reached the stairwell.

  “I won’t forget this,” I told her.

  “Better not,” she answered with a grin.

  “We can’t just leave her!” Valor shoved at my chest.

  I banded my arms around her tight. “Close your eyes.”

  The chill of the between bit at my exposed skin as I bent space, and wended us to the courtyard. A second later, grass was beneath my feet, the sound of Hawke’s racing footsteps was in my ears as he rushed toward us, and Valor’s fists still beat furiously against my chest.

  I lowered her carefully to the ground, steadying her even as she railed against me. “She was right there!” she screamed. “You let them take her, and she was right there!”

  “There was iron in the fucking limo, Valor. There was nothing I could do!” The ache in my chest twisted, souring at the disappointment I’d brought her.

  “Because we were too late!” She pushed back out of my arms, fury etched in every line of her face. “We were too late because I got distracted!”

  Hawke slowed to a walk after looking us both over to make sure we weren’t injured.

  “We both got distracted.” Nothing I could say would soothe her, and it was killing me. Daphne had been right there in our grasp, and we’d let her slip right through.

  “Never again!” She jabbed her finger at me. “I don’t want this! I want
my head back! My body back!”

  “I know.” I felt exactly the same but wasn’t about to throw fuel on that fire.

  “Stupid fucking bond!” She shook with rage, pivoting on her heels and walking toward the residence, where Lyric waited at the door.

  “I’m guessing that didn’t go well?” Hawke asked, his face grim.

  “I lost her.” The confession grated against my soul like broken glass.

  “Daphne?”

  “Yeah.” But I had a feeling it wasn’t just Daphne who had slipped away tonight. I’d lost Valor, too, and it hurt more than I was prepared to admit.

  “We have some judgments to carry out if you feel like killing something,” he offered.

  “Let’s go.”

  8

  Valor

  “You’re dropping your shoulder,” Olivia said from across the mat. The training room in the residence had every kind of equipment to put one’s body to the test—including the thick blue mat where we stood. It was perfect for breaking my fall every time I was laid on my ass, which had happened several times today.

  Lyric flashed me an apologetic look as she faced me, hands poised in an attack position.

  “I’m. Human,” I breathed the words, the air tight in my lungs. We’d been training for the last hour at my insistence.

  Sometimes I was an idiot.

  “Yes, you are human, and I don’t care,” Olivia quipped. “You’re dropping your shoulder.”

  I glared at her, but before I could complete the look, she appeared before me. Her delicate fingers dug into the soft flesh where my neck met my shoulder. “Pretend these are fangs,” she said, adding a bit more pressure to emphasize her point.

  Adrenaline burst in my blood, hot and angry and desperate. I thought I’d trained my whole life to fight vampires and other supes, but in reality? The Sons’ regimens were nothing compared to Olivia’s. The difference, though? Olivia wasn’t holding back, wasn’t keeping her kind’s vulnerabilities to herself. She trusted me. Wanted me to be able to hold my own if some hellish scenario happened where the Sons aligned with rogue vamps to destroy us all.

  I shifted my feet and dipped down as quickly as my human body would allow, then rolled out from under her grasp.