Captured (Vampire King Book 2) (8 page)

Ty
shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve seen something like this. If I hadn’t
already known Leeta was human, I would’ve called you all liars.”

Leeta
rose to a sitting position in the bed and smoothed down her tattered shirt with
her hands. “I’ve had plenty of domina blood before, for sickness and injury.
None of it tasted like yours, Brie. And, dear Ambi, when it hit my system, it
flowed through me instantly fixing everything. Even pain I had for years.”

What
Leeta was saying had to be true. Her wrinkles had shifted to new, smooth skin.
Two weeks ago her hair had been gray, now it was brown with waves that fell
down to her waist and draped her shoulders.

“I
feel as young as a ten-year-old,” she said. “It has to be Samuel’s queen’s
blood.”

“Is
it true, Samuel?” Victoria turned to him. “Did your queen taste different than
the other dominas you’ve been with?”

“Victoria!”
Ty warned.

Other dominas.
Rolling my eyes, I chewed the
inside of my cheek, pushing the jealousy back into me.
He’s not mine and he never was. Stop being jealous.

“First
of all, Brie is not my queen,” Samuel growled. “When you address her, say her
name.”

“Okay.
Fine,” Victoria grumbled. “But did she taste the same?”

“No.
Her blood is unlike any of the other dominas I’ve ever had. She also smells
different and makes my body react in unusual ways.”

“How?”
I asked, unable to hide my shock and curiosity. He flashed his eyes to me and
in that instant it was like we were the only two in the room.

Trust me.
Samuel’s voice pierced my mind
and raised my body’s temperature.
You
don’t want me to explain the different ways my body reacts to you.

Victoria
glanced from him to me. “Why did you both immediately become so quiet?”

“He
can mentally communicate with her now,” Ty explained. “Am I right, Samuel?”

Samuel
delivered an image of his mouth feasting on my moistened folds. I gasped out
loud, witnessing his tongue circling my clitoris and then sliding deep into me.
His scent corroded my nostrils. Moaning, I breathed him in, as if he were right
in front of me. And then the image vanished. I scanned the room, realizing
everyone was studying me. I clamped my legs together worried that everyone
could sense how moist I was. I targeted Samuel with my eyes. A satisfied smirk
was plastered on his face.

Don’t do that again!
I roared in my head.

Samuel
sneered. All gazes went to him.
Say
please
, he boomed back. I jumped up from my seat, fled the room, and
stormed over to the campfire. Barely a minute passed before footsteps sounded
behind me. I sat down on the ground in front of the fire.

“I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Samuel appeared at my side and came down
right next to me. “I don’t regret it, especially after seeing you stir on the
couch. But I won’t do that again.”

I
frowned. “Well, if that’s the best apology I’m going to get from you, then I’ll
take it.”

“The
last time I slept with a domina, it was five years ago.” He edged closer to me
so our legs touched and smoothed against each other. “Just in case you were
wondering.”

“How
many dominas were there?” I twisted my index finger around my thumb.

“Too
many to count.”

I
raised my eyebrows and turned to him. “Too many to count?”

“So
many that I eventually had to stop helping dominas escape.” He slung another
log into the fire. “For years I would help dominas get freedom. Once they were
safe and far from the Quiet King, they would turn to me, offering their body,
blood, and heart. But I never wanted their heart, so I only took their bodies
and blood.”

“Did
you ever try and bond with them?” I asked as his hand strayed to my lap and
squeezed my thigh.

“Never.”

“Did
they know you were a prince? Surely they would have seen your leg markings when
you all had sex.”

“No.
I took great care to hide my marks. I slept with most in the pitch-dark of a
tent or hotel room. Others, I didn’t even completely take off my pants for, I
just opened them and pulled my cock out to fill them.” His hands rose to my
auburn hair, tossing it away from my breast.

“Then
you weren’t forced to bond with them like you were with me,” I concluded.
Samuel had been hiding that he was a vampire prince all his life. I discovered
his princely marks. Worried that I would tell others, he bit me and formed a
mental bond. “Maybe if you break our bond, then it won’t be a big deal that I’m
leaving and—”

“No,
Brie.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and rested his hand on my hip. “I
knew I was going to bond with you when I carried you through the sewer tunnels.
That night when you discovered I was a prince, I lied and said we had to force
the bond. I pretty much just seized the opportunity.”

“What?”

He
kissed my cheek and then leaned away. “Are you mad?”

“I
don’t know,” I confessed. “I guess in the end it really doesn’t matter, since
we’re already bonded, but why did you want to bond with me in the first place?
Was it my blood that made you want the bond?”

“I
ask myself that every time I go crazy, thinking of you away from me.” He buried
his head into my neck, sucking on my skin. He lifted his head and pierced me
with his eyes. “God, I hope it’s just your blood that’s making me crazy. Blood
is easy to wean from, but I doubt it. When I close my eyes, it’s not just your
blood that I think of.”

His
lips pressed onto mine. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“Well,
now that you two are overjoyed with love,” Victoria interrupted as she stood
behind us, “maybe now we should figure out what’s going on with your queen’s
blood…I mean Brie’s blood. Clearly that’s why so many guards are out there
searching for her.”

A
sly smile spread across Samuel’s face. “I’ve already thought of a plan.”

Samuel
kept his back to Victoria, shoved his hands into his pants, and readjusted his
length under the material.

“Sorry,”
he whispered to me. “I’d rather that everyone didn’t have to see my arousal.”

“Focus.”
I blushed. “What’s this plan you’ve thought up?”

“Well,
Octavia was the one who brought Brie to me,” Samuel said. “I’m thinking my dear
sister will be the best place to start. Ty, do you think you can round up some
party clothes for us? We’ll have to sneak into one of Octavia’s underground
parties.”

“We
don’t have the money for ball gowns and masks.” Victoria shook her head. “Let’s
just go to her room on the castle grounds.”

“She’ll
be surrounded by guards as well as other princesses and maids,” Samuel said.
“She won’t be able to talk and Brie would have to enter the castle gates to
come with us.”

Victoria
blew out air. “Then let Brie stay here and maybe we can—”

“No!”
Samuel interrupted. “We go to one of Octavia’s parties’ tomorrow night. She’ll
be alone and high enough to spill anything she knows. We also need to send some
men out to Zumaya and make sure Brie’s family is protected. Leeta said they
were traveling north, tracking our scent. If they continue, our scent will
eventually lead them to Zumaya. Let’s have men waiting there to defend the city
enough for the residents to escape.”

“We
don’t have any money. All of that will take wagons full of money,” Victoria
countered.

“But
we do have my blood.” I extended my arm out to them. “We could get a lot for
one vial. I’ll give you as much as you need. Maybe we should only sell it to
vampires for now since it causes a reaction with humans.”

Samuel’s
lips lowered to a frown. “I don’t like using your blood.”

Victoria
and Ty’s faces brightened.

I
shrugged. “This isn’t for you to decide. We need the money.”

“My
human assistant, Quincy, can get the supplies for us while we sleep today,” Ty
offered. “And I know a group of blood pirates that will be more than happy to
rush off to Zumaya for a decent price.”

“Sounds
good then,” Samuel muttered. “Let’s get a vial of Brie’s blood and then get
some rest. We’ll have a big night tomorrow.”

Chapter Six

You’re being ridiculous!
I screamed in my head.
Come and sleep in the bed with me.

I’m fine out here.
Samuel’s voice sounded in my
mind.

I
delivered a vision of me naked with my hands between my thighs and hoped he
witnessed it. Growling ensued outside my door.

Please, Brie. Go to sleep.
His voice seeped into my head,
caressing my body from the inside.

How can I sleep when you do
things like that?

He
didn’t respond. Instead, noise echoed outside the door and then another door
slammed shut.
He must have moved from
sleeping by the campfire and went to the couch in the room Leeta was resting
in.
I yanked his rainbow blanket up over my chest, completely pissed with
him. We only had a few nights remaining before I left. I would have loved to
spend them cuddling next to him. He wanted to wean off of me and although I
understood, I didn’t have to enjoy it.
I
should be welcoming this and trying to get used to sleeping without him too.
I
shut my eyes and inhaled his scent on the pillows.

“I
can’t believe he left you alone.” A deep voice came from above my head.

My
eyes snapped open. Ian hovered over me, hanging upside down from the ceiling.
My heartbeats increased to an erratic pace.

“Please
don’t scream. You’ll want to hear what I have to say.” He flipped down and
landed on the bed right next to me. I bounced a little. Dust floated from him.
I coughed, but didn’t move my hand to cover my mouth. Shaking, I lay there,
frozen and unable to utter a sound.

His
face tilted to the side. “I swear I won’t hurt you.”

“Then
why are you here?” I whispered back.

“That
woman was human, now she’s a vampire.”

“Is
that all you have to say?” I gripped the blanket with my hands and squeezed the
cloth with my fingers.

Samuel!

No
reply came.

Ian
rested next to me and crossed his legs. “Your blood changed the woman?”

Samuel! Ian is in here!

“I
don’t know why Leeta is a vampire.”

Ian
sniffed and then moved his head from side to side. “You’re lying to me. It had
to be your blood.”

“Why?”

“Well,
I didn’t conclude this until after several details.” His skeleton hands rubbed
the gray decaying flesh on his chin. Dust sprinkled down between his fingers.
“Earlier this week, my friends that hang on the ceiling near the exit of the
sewer said that Samuel carried a woman with red hair away.”

“You
already knew I was with him earlier this week. Being that you attacked me.”

“Well,
I wouldn’t say attacked. Rather, my wooing is rustier than it used to be.”

I
rolled my eyes.

He
pointed to the holes above his nose. “As you can see, I have no eyes. I can see
your blood, of course. It’s red and shaped in what I assume to be your body’s
form, but I can’t see what you actually look like. So it was to my surprise
when they told me your hair was red.”

“Because?”

“Because
I know another whose hair was red and her blood could turn humans into other
things, with just one sip. She was killed for her blood.”

My
body stiffened. He had my attention. “Who was she?” I sat up. “What was she?”

“Let
me taste your blood to see if I’m correct.”

I
cringed. “No.”

“Then
it seems we’ll both never know.” He jumped up from the bed, but kept his head
facing me. “Thank you for earlier today; for turning my body in the right
direction. It would have taken me weeks to find it.”

“Ian.
Who was this woman?”

He
blurred to my side of the bed and kneeled. “Why deny me your blood when I could
have taken it a minute ago? In fact, I could take it right now.”

He
touched my neck with his finger. I battled with the urge to scream or run.
Every cell hollered to get away. But vampires fed off fear and with it, he
would come after me with more strength and determination. There was no need to
entice him.

“Tell
me who she was?” My voice wavered a little.

Ian
slipped his fingertip down to my chest. The hard surface of his fingernail
scraped my skin. I shuddered as pleasure came with the pain of the mark.

He
sniffed. “My nephew has chosen well.”

“Remove
your hand.”