Alluring Raven

  Our lips crash together, his tongue parting my lips and grazing my fangs. The potent, powerful taste of his blood floods my mouth, making me crave more. I jerk back, completely out of control and tear open his shirt. Not waiting to see his reaction, I dip my head and graze my teeth along his chest, down his stomach, then back upward. When I reach his neck, I prepare to devour his blood again. But then pause, realizing he’s gone very still.

  When I lift my head, worry overpowers my hunger as I catch sight of him; his eyes shut, his lips parted, his skin pale.

  “Rhyland?” I place my palm to his cheek and his eyelids weakly open. “What’s wrong?”

  He shakes his head from side to side, strands of his hair falling across his forehead. “It’s nothing… Keep feeding… Take as much blood as you need.”

  “You look sick. Do you have an ice fever or something?” I line my palm to his forehead. “You don’t feel cold, but… Maybe I should go get Kingsley.” I start to get up, but his hands find my waist, securing me in place.

  “Raven.” He chuckles weakly. “I promise I’m okay. I’m just a little weaker than I normally am because I’ve been using my magic a lot lately.”

  I remember him and Kingsley arguing about that, but still… “You seem extra tired all of a sudden.”

  “I know.” His thumbs slip underneath the hem of my shirt, brushing my sides, and it takes all of my self-control not to shiver. “When you feed on me, you take some of my energy, which normally is fine, but since I haven’t had much in the line of blood for quite a while and with my magic draining so much energy from me…” He wavers. “It just makes things a bit more complicated. But I’m fine. I swear I am and I want you to feed from me.” He skims his thumb along my hipbone, a smile playing at his lips. “In case you haven’t noticed, I do enjoy it. A lot.”

  I’m more than aware of that, by the way he groans every time my fangs graze his skin, how he begs for more, and how his hardness is currently pressing against me.

  Still…

  “Maybe I should just drink normal blood until you can regain your strength.”

  He swiftly shakes his head. “No, please don’t do that. You don’t know how long I’ve waited… How much…” He grimaces. “Besides, the blood Harper can get here sucks. It’s why it’s taking me forever to regain my strength.”

  “Oh.” I bite down on my bottom lip. Don’t ask. Don’t you dare ask. “Who have you been drinking from?” Why can’t I just keep my mouth shut.

  “I’m not. I’m drinking from the bottle.” He bites back an arrogant smile. “It’s nice to know you care, though.”

  I glower at him, but my lips itch to turn upward. “I don’t care. I was just curious.”

  He chuckles, his grip on my hips loosening, his eyelids drifting shut again. He’s so weak and it’s partly my fault for not being okay with him drinking from my vein. And with everything going on, he definitely needs his strength.

  But I don’t think I can go there with him yet—allow him to bite me. Even thinking about it makes my stomach coil with nervousness. And there’s so much I’m in the dark about still. But maybe there’s a way for me to help…

  “If…” I start, chewing on my bottom lip.

  When his eyes roll open, his gaze meeting mine, I look away, my cheeks flushing. Gods, if I can’t even look at him when I say this, how am I supposed to go through with it?

  Sucking in a breath, I force myself to carry his gaze. “If I let you drink my blood—not from the vein,” I quickly add. “But just drink it like how I used to do with you… Will it help you?”

  He twirls a strand of my hair around his fingertip. “It will, but I don’t want you to do that unless you want to.”

  “I want to help you. And I know you need your strength.”

  His pierced lips tilt into a sad smile. “I appreciate the offer, but I could never ask that of you until you’re ready.”

  His words make a growl tickle at the back of my throat. All this tiptoeing around the truth is getting on my nerves. Kingsley was right. Them being censored is beyond irritating.

  “Well, you’re not really asking me, are you? I’m offering.” Then before I can scaredy cat out, I bring my forearm to my fangs and cut the skin open, just like Rhyland has done to his own arm almost every time I fed off him without drinking from his vein.

  His nostrils flare as I position my wrist above his mouth, blood trickling from the wound. I’m putting a lot of trust in him right now not to lose control and sink his fangs into my flesh, which might be a stupid thing to do, considering he’s spent decades and decades lying to me. But I’m not backing out. He needs this. And we—I need him, no matter how hard that is to admit.

  As the first blood droplet drips from the wound and falls onto his lips, he lets out the most needy whimper. Then his lips part and he licks the blood from his lip, his eyes shutting as he releases a savoring moan.

  “You taste so good… It’s been so long… I’ve forgotten how amazing you taste.” With his eyes remaining shut, he elevates his head, seals his lips to my forearm, and slowly starts sucking out the blood while gently holding onto my wrist.

  His tastes are gentle, calculated, careful, and I might like him a little bit in that moment, for not taking advantage of my trust.

  I allow him to drink for a while, wanting him to get all the power he needs, until I become so relaxed, I decide I need to lie down.

  Lowering my head to his chest, I keep my arm above my head so he can feed more. Keeping one hand on my wrist, he places his other hand on my back and traces a path up and down my spine. My eyelids grow heavy, my muscles unwinding to the point where I feel blood high. I just about fall asleep, and may have, if Rhyland didn’t remove his lips from my arm.

  “Are you okay?” He brushes his knuckles across my cheek.

  I bob my head up and down. “I’m okay… I just feel like…” I raise my head to look at him. “Well, like when I had that blood boost.” My brows knit. “Gods, that feels like ages ago, doesn’t it?”

  “Not for me, but probably because I think about it often.” He licks a drop of blood from his lips.

  “Why? Because of that whole I-was-supposed-to-feed-off-of-you-first-thing? Because I’ve fed off you now so it doesn’t seem like it should bother you that much anymore.”

  He takes hold of my hand, turns my palm up, and traces the lines with his fingertip, his gaze tracking his finger. “I wish I could say all the reasons why, but I can’t. Just know that you drinking that blood boost will forever bother me. But it’s my own damn fault….” He sighs.

  “I’m sorry.” No other words come to me, and he seems so miserable right now that I decide a subject change might be good. “On a more positive note, though, you do look better.”

  “Just better?” He pretends to be deeply wounded.

  I hold up my hand, my thumb and my finger a sliver apart. “Yep, just a tiny bit.”

  “You’re a tease.” He places a savoring kiss to my palm. “That’s okay, though. I like you this way.”

  “Like what way?”

  “Like how you used to be.”

  “Hey, you managed to say something about our past.”

  “I know.” A pucker forms between his brows as he strokes my palm. “Sometimes it’s easier to do it and sometimes it’s completely impossible.”

  “I wonder why that—” A sharp pain sears up my throat and I cough, blood splattering across Rhyland’s face.

  He jolts up, gripping onto me, his skin paling again. “Raven, sweetheart, tell me what…”

  His lips continue to move, but I can’t hear him over the ringing in my ears. I reach to touch his face, to grab onto something, but everything bleeds red.

  It’s all I see.

  Blood. Blood. Everywhere. Splattered all over him, all over me, all over the Land of Moonlight.

  All over every single world and creature.

  Rhyland

  Panic is whipping through me as I scoop Raven up in my arms and hurry
out of the room. While blood has stopped spewing from her mouth, she’s unconscious and her skin is ice cold. Again, like with the cracking, I’m unsure what’s going on with her.

  I seriously can’t take this anymore. It’s as if the moment things get slightly calm between us, another obstacle is thrown our way and every damn one affects Raven.

  “Kingsley!” I call out as I rush outside the room.

  When we were transported into the shimmer blob, we had each been assigned a tree room, but I’ve spent most of my time sleeping in the hallway just outside of Raven’s room. I nearly trip over the makeshift bed I set up there, but catch my balance and rush down the hollowed out hallway. I’m usually not clumsy at all, but I’m distracted and panicking. I need to calm the fuck down because losing my shit isn’t going to help anyone. But every time my gaze drops to Raven, slack in my arms, my anxiety soars through the roof.

  “Kingsley.” When I reach his shut door, I storm into his room, the door hitting the wall so hard the bark cracks.

  He’s lying in his bed , staring up at the ceiling, which seems odd—usually he’s always doing something. What’s even more fucking weird is that his eyes are red, as if he’s been crying.

  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him cry before.

  “What the hell?” Kingsley grumbles, bolting upright, his bloodshot eyes narrow on me. But then he takes one look at Raven, limp in my arms, blood staining her face and shirt, and he springs to his feet. “What the fuck happened?”

  “I’m not sure.” I kick the door shut, then gently set Raven down on the bed. “One minute we were talking and the next, she started spitting out blood.” I trace my finger across her cheek. “She’s so cold and still and I can’t wake her up.”

  Kingsley nudges me out of the way, then leans in to examine Raven, his fingers tracing a path along the healing cut on her forearm, the spot I drank her blood from. “What’s the cut from?”

  Part of me doesn’t want to tell him, not because I’m ashamed—no, I’m not even close—but because he’ll get distracted.

  “If you don’t tell me everything, I might not be able to figure out what’s going on.” He doesn’t look at me, his gaze fixed on her.

  He’s right and I know it.

  “Fine. It’s from where I fed from her.”

  His head snaps in my direction, jealousy simmering in his eyes. For a demon of a moment, I want him to feel it, so he’ll know what it felt like that night I saw him kiss Raven. But Raven was right. Our distrust, backstabbing, and hurting each other is what gave the queen an opening to curse us. If we want to win against her, we need to ban together and get over the petty shit that keeps pushing us apart, even though I do question if Kingsley knew about the vial of euphoric dust that night. But that’s not important right now. Raven is—she always is.

  “Not from her vein,” I clarify.

  He gazes skims across my torn shirt and the fresh bite marks on my chest and neck. “And then she fed off of you?”

  I shake my head. “She did that first, then let me drink some blood from her.” I kneel down on the floor beside the bed and brush my fingers across her forehead. “She seemed a little tired after she let me do it, but coherent. Then one minute we were talking and the next…” I swallow hard. “She was spitting out blood and couldn’t talk. Then she passed out and I can’t get her to wake up.” I glance at him. “What do you think is wrong with her?”

  Kingsley shrugs, his brows pulling together. “The only thing that matches her symptoms is that she might’ve had a bad reaction to you drinking her blood. Or it could just be from the cracking.”

  “How can it be a ad reaction? We’re king and queen. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

  “Are you? Because in reality, you—she—wasn’t supposed to be.”

  I grind my teeth. “We don’t know that for sure. We’ve always known that perhaps Fate choosing Nadine was a mistake.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that Raven was supposed to take her place. It only ever happened because of the curse. And she’s never made it to the part where she actually gets crowned as the queen.” He studies Raven with his brows furrowed. “Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

  “That still wouldn’t explain why she had a bad reaction to me drinking her blood,” I bite out. “I’ve drank it before, in our first life. From the vein.”

  “I know.” He casts me a sidelong glance. “I ran into her right after you did it—right after you left her with the fey queen to go dance with Nadine.”

  “Don’t say it like that—like I did it on purpose. I didn’t know the fey queen was there. And I had to dance with Nadine or else everyone would’ve grown suspicious.” I push to my feet, rage burning underneath my skin. “And why are you even bringing this up? We’ve had this stupid conversation a hundred times and it never gets us anywhere.” I start pacing the room. “Right now we should be focusing on her.” I give a pressing look at Raven.

  “I am.” Kingsley returns his gaze to Raven. “I always am. Because it’s my job as her Blood Protector.”

  “Is that the only reason?” I accuse.

  “Of course.” He won’t meet my gaze.

  I swallow down my anger the best that I can and focus on Raven. “You remember in the tent when I said that perhaps this curse wasn’t supposed to end with me and her.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think you’re right.”

  “Even when this happened right after I drank from her?” I give an insinuating look in Raven’s direction.

  He drags his teeth across his lip. “It could have nothing to do with you feeding from her. I already saidit might be the same thing as what caused her to crack apart.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” I sketch my finger along Raven’s temple. Only moments ago, things had been perfect. Well, as perfect as things can be when you’re hiding in a shimmer blob from an army of Created. Now everything feels broken and painful and confusing. I want to go back, want to taste her blood, want to feel her fangs in my skin. But deep down, I know Kingsley might be right. That Raven’s current condition might be because of a bad reaction from me drinking her blood. “How do we find out for sure what’s going on with her?”

  “We wait until—”

  Knocking at the door cuts him off.

  Confused, he crosses the room and throws the door open, his fingers hovering near his holster. When he sees it’s just Harper, he visibly unstiffens.

  “What’s up?” he asks her.

  “I have some good news.” Her gaze glides to Raven and she frowns. “And it might be just in time.” She grows quiet, mulling over something.

  Kingsley motions for her to spit it out. “So what is it?”

  “Oh.” She blinks back at him. “The witch doctor is ready to examine Raven.”

  “Thank the fucking vampires.” Kingsley moves back to the bed and scoops Raven up in his arms.

  I start to protest, but then hesitate. If my feeding from her hurt her, then I need to back off.

  Even though it nearly re-kills me, I let him carry her out of the room, hoping to all the vampire Gods that the witch doctor can help her.

  That whatever happened to her won’t be permitted. Because even if I can’t feed off her blood, I can never lose her.

  Kingsley slips out the door and I start to follow him when an eerie rumble in my chest suddenly rises.

  My chest tautens. “What the hell is that?”

  The most potent rage starts to burn in my veins and for a brief instant, I see red.

  After a few breaths, though, I get the rumble under control. But the feel of it has me unsettled. What if the queen is doing something else to me? Something terrible?

  It’s hard to say for sure, but with everything else happening, I’m worried that yet another obstacle might be coming our way.

  Kingsley

  Rhyland seems a bit off as we make our way down the hallway toward the main floor located in the trunk of the tree. He’s probably freaking out about Raven. He even let me c
arry her without an argument, so yeah, he’s got to be pretty damn distracted.

  As he trails at my heels, he remains silent as we weave back and forth down hallways. This tree is one of the most strangest places I’ve ever been in, which is saying a lot since I once got stuck inside an ogre—it’s a long story.

  The tree is located in the center of the shimmer blob and has different floors built inside it. The bedrooms are located in the branches while the kitchen and living room are on the main floor in the trunk. Slanted hallways create paths to and from each room and branches, vines, and leafs cover just about everything. Most of the furniture is made of wood, along with the doors and walls. And outside? Well, from what I’ve seen, there’s nothing but a world of light, but Harper assures me that just beyond the light are fields, trees, mountains, waterfalls, and a sparkly sky. But I’ll have to take her word for it since I haven’t had a chance to scope out the land yet.

  “Where is she?” I ask Harper as we turn down yet another hallway. “Because I feel like we’ve done a full circle through this tree by now.”

  “Well, technically you can’t do a full circle in the inside of a tree since it’s shaped like a tree. But you can do a full tree.” She tosses me a grin from then quickens her skipping. “And as for the witch doctor, she’s waiting in the basement.”

  “There’s a basement in this place?” I ask astounded. “Wouldn’t that be in the roots?”

  “Yep. All the best tree homes have them. And magic lacing the dirt wall makes the room soundproof and also so that no magic can penetrate it.”

  “So if we do get ambushed while we’re here we should go there.” I make a mental note of that.

  She nods. “But we won’t get ambushed. Shiny would never allow anyone else in here without talking to me about it first.”

  I hope so or else we might not be as safe as we thought. My gaze descends to Raven, lying limply in my arms. Then again, are we even safe now? Because it seems like every time we eliminate one problem another rises, as if the queen’s magic can reach us here. Maybe that’s exactly what’s happening too. I’m not positive, though. And I wasn’t lying when I said that Raven’s current condition might have been caused by a bad reaction to Rhyland drinking her blood. But I have no idea why. I’m hoping the witch doctor can give us some insight to that.