Blood Rites: (Royal Blood #3) (14 page)

“
Fuck,
Lorelei
,” he moaned loudly. “Your mouth…suck
me.”

I’d never been with a man who'd spoken to me
like that. I’d always been treated like a lady, sex had been
straightforward and pleasurable, but never dirty. Sex with Vaughn
was, for lack of a better word, filthy and I loved it. I loved it
so much I had absolutely no problem being on my knees and sucking
his cock.

I began to move faster, bobbing
up and down, sucking and licking, as he thrust into my mouth again
and again. He was using me to get off, but knowing the sounds he
made were because of me, made it totally worth it.

Boldly, I let go of his thighs
and cupped his balls in one hand while I curled the other around
the base of his cock and squeezed.

“Fuck,” Vaughn exclaimed. “I’m close.”

It was a warning, but I didn’t care. I
wanted to take him over the edge and beyond. I’d fucking
swallow.

I clamped my lips around him harder,
sucking, and when the first of his release began to rise, I bared
my teeth. Vaughn’s hands left my hair and he groaned, coming hard
into my mouth, coating my throat with his pleasure, and still, I
didn’t stop. I sucked him mercilessly, coaxing his orgasm on and on
until his whole body quivered with the exertion.

I bet he’d never been sucked like that
before.

Glancing up as I let his cock slip from
between my lips, I saw he’d braced himself against the wall of the
shower, his palms flat against the tiles. His chest heaved and his
eyes…his eyes were full of fire and satisfaction.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” he
asked through a heavy breath. I opened my mouth, but he said,
“Actually, I don’t want to know.”

Leaning down, he curled his hands underneath
my arms and hauled me upright and covered my mouth with his.

“I take it back,” he whispered and my heart
began to beat double-time.

“Take what back?”

“What I said yesterday about not being
exclusive.”

“You do?” I whispered as he reached for the
body wash.

Vaughn nodded. “I want to give you
everything.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I
kissed him softly. I was fine with it. More than, actually.

We didn’t need words after that. I let him
wash me from head to toe before he turned the shower off and dried
me with a huge white towel, taking care of my needs before his
own.

We dressed in his bedroom, which consisted
of me picking up my clothes from where he’d flung them on the floor
the night before.

“When I get back tonight we can have a nice
dinner and talk,” I said, shimmying into my dress.

“What do you prefer?” he asked with a grin,
stepping forward to help me zip up.

“Hm…” I thought about it for a moment.

“Anything you like.”

“Donuts and popcorn,” I declared.

He laughed, spinning me around. “You’re not
serious.”

I screwed up my nose. “Only a
little bit. That could be dessert.”

“How about I surprise you?”

“
Deal.” I liked this Vaughn very
much. Domesticated, carefree, playful…the orchestrated, refined,
mogul was nowhere in sight. I had a feeling that I was seeing the
real man.

I stepped into my shoes and went for my
phone and purse.

“Don’t be too long,” he said, not attempting
to hide the worry in his voice.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” I said,
placing a chaste kiss on his lips. “And Hawkes will be with me the
whole time. I’m sure I’ll be needing another shower when I get
back.”

A lazy grin pulled at Vaughn’s lips. “One
can never be too clean.”

“Miss Lansford.”

I smiled at Hawkes as he held
the door open to a sleek, black sedan parked out the front of
Vaughn’s house in Bloomsbury. I glanced back at the man himself,
who was leaning against the doorframe, watching me with a sly smile
on his lips.

Shaking my head, I slid into
the back of the car and the door closed. As we drove away, I waved,
already missing Vaughn way more than was sane for a two week long
relationship. Especially one with as many drama laden secrets as
ours.

I turned my attention to the
road ahead, my gaze crossing Hawkes in the driver’s seat. I
couldn’t see his expression from the back, but I’m sure it was all
kinds of burly and impassive. He seemed just as professional as his
boss was.

“Have you known Vaughn long?” I asked,
wondering if the beefy bodyguard would give me the inside
scoop.

Hawkes glanced at me in the mirror, then
back to the road. “A long time, Miss Lansford.”

I wondered how far I could push it. “Do you
trust him?”

“Yes.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes.”

I frowned. So, not talking then.

“He doesn’t lie, Miss Lansford.”

Yeah, I got it. “He just doesn’t tell the
entire truth.”

He shook his head slightly, but didn’t
reply. Vaughn obviously commanded a great deal of respect from the
man and from overhearing my father talk over the years, I knew it
was a great quality to have.

Hawkes pulled the car up out the front of my
apartment and turned the engine off. I didn’t need much, just my
work laptop, toiletries and some clothes. I’d be out in twenty
minutes, then Hawkes would come to the gallery with me. It’d be
okay. Vaughn said it would be okay.

Hawkes was tough stuff, apparently.

I went to open the door, but it
was locked. Glancing up at Hawkes he nodded, his gaze connecting
with mine in the rearvision mirror.

“Please wait in the car, Miss Lansford. I
will escort you inside.”

“Is it really that bad?” I asked, my brows
knitting together in a frown.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” he
replied.

“Who are they? The men who threatened
Vaughn?”

Hawkes glanced away. “That’s not for me to
say, Miss Lansford.”

“But—”

“I’ve been advised to use lethal force and I
will be by your side at all times.”

Lethal force
. It was bad then.

Hawkes slid out of the car and
rounded the hood before opening my door. Stepping out, I glanced up
and down the street, suddenly feeling exposed. It didn’t seem real
while I was with Vaughn, but now…I was on edge, the seriousness of
my predicament sinking into every pore. I was in the shit, big
time. I should be mad with Vaughn, I should be ripping him to
shreds or calling the cops, but I was trusting him, falling for
him…
loving
him
.

You’re bloody crazy,
Lorelei
, I
thought.
Absolutely bloody bananas
.

“I will enter the house first, Miss
Lansford.” Hawkes held out his hand for my keys and I dropped them
into his palm. “Please stay close.”

I nodded and followed him to the door. As he
placed the key into the lock, there was a loud squeal of types and
I spun with a gasp as two black sedans pulled up and armed men
swarmed out onto the footpath.

I was frozen to the spot, shaking like a
leaf, heart pounding. That’s when Hawkes stepped in front of me and
drew his gun from the holster at his side. Were these the men
Vaughn was trying to protect me from?

The sound of multiple guns
cocking brought me to life and I turned, making a run for the door.
My fingers fumbled with the key, trying to turn it so I could
escape inside. There was no other way to go but in and find a way
out the other side. Fuck, were they going to kidnap me?
Kill
me
? What
about Hawkes? My fingers slipped, the keys falling from the lock
and clattering to the ground.

That’s when a loud bang ripped
through the air as a gun went off and I turned just in time to see
Hawkes jerk and fall to his knees. They’d shot him,
they’d shot
him
…

“
Hawkes!” I shrieked as
something dark was yanked down over my face. I thrashed, trying to
kick and punch anything that came within striking distance, but it
was futile. Arms held me tight as I was hauled through the air and
tossed down onto something hard. There was the sound of a car door
closing and boots thumping on the ground outside.

I tried to rip the hood from over my head,
but I was pinned down by another set of hands. They’d kidnapped me!
Hawkes could be dead…bleeding out on the footpath…

“Let me go!” I yelled, my heart thundering.
“I’ll kill you!”

There was a sharp pinch as a needle
punctured my arm and I kicked out, my feet connecting with nothing
but air. I was pulled upwards and held tightly against someone’s
chest, arms around me, pinning my limbs in place. I struggled at
first, but my movements became sluggish and I was disoriented by
the darkness.

Vaughn
…

As the drugs took hold, I slackened, my
limbs feeling like air.

Vaughn, where are you?
Vaughn
…

I was going to die, wasn’t I? This was it.
This was how it was going to end. I wasn’t going to die of old age
in the arms of my husband, I was going to kick the bucket in the
back of some psychopath’s van.

I tried to hold on, but consciousness wasn’t
in my control, and I slipped away into darkness.

It wasn’t until that moment,
when everything went quiet, the moment right before I slipped away,
that I realized the men hadn’t uttered a single word.

Sixteen

Vaughn

Hawkes was meant to contact me the moment
they arrived at the gallery, but it was ten past nine and
nothing.

I paced back and forth across
my office, from the bookcase to the window, my anxiety levels
rising.
I
should’ve gone with her.

My phone began to ring and I sighed in
relief. Sinking into the chair, I picked it up. “Hawkes?”

“Vaughn.” He sounded breathless and
panicked. I jerked out of the chair, standing tall.

“What’s happened?” I barked.

“I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t. They
shot me…”

“
Fuck
,” I roared, pacing back and forth, my heart beating
painfully. I drew in a deep breath. “Were you wearing your
vest?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see who they were?” I didn’t have
to ask that question, I already knew, but I wanted faces, names, a
list to execute.

“Necromancers. They were gone before I could
drag myself to the car… I didn't have a chance at following
them.”

“Lorelei?”

“They hooded her and threw her in the back
of a car. She’s gone…”

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
I began pacing
again, running my hand over my face.

“Sir…”

I waited, not trusting myself
not to say something I’d later regret.

“I’m sorry. I failed you.”

My jaw tensed. “Come back to the house. When
we get Sykes’ demands we will paint the streets with his blood.” I
disconnected the call and tossed the phone on the desk.

Caring for her, loving her and knowing that
Sykes had taken her to fuck knows where…it was doing dangerous
things to my temper.

What was I going to do? I could wait for
Sykes’ terms, negotiate her release, or I could go right for the
jugular. Kill him before he could even think about touching her.
Assassins didn’t exactly grow on trees. Who did I know… There was
one man who might be willing to get me what I wanted for the right
price. Xavier Blood.

They said he was just another lackey in
Royal Blood’s army of biker thugs, but he had a dark reputation. He
was cold, calculating and much too intelligent to be running with
those dumb fucks. On the few occasions I’d met him, he’d struck me
as the type of man who was capable of absolutely anything. He had
to be something else…something more. It was no secret that they had
their own hitman, an assassin of high ability…a ghost. Many
suspected, but nobody but a handful knew of his true identity.

To me, it was clear. Xavier Blood was Royal
Blood’s weapon of choice.

I dialed the number and a moment later, he
answered.

“Blood.”

“It’s Vaughn.”

Silence. “What do you want?”
That’s the thing I liked about X. He got to the point with no
piss-farting about and in my current state, I needed the
point.

“I want Sykes dead and you're going to do it
for me.”

“In what world is that a good idea?” he
asked.

“C’mon,” I hissed, “I’m smart enough to know
who you are, X.”

“Do I have to do something about that?” The
threat was clear in his voice.

“He has something of mine and I want it
back.”