At Blade's Edge

  But there was no partner such as his. She was unique in all the world. He sent her a greedy smile, flashing his teeth. She sucked in a breath.

  “Victorianas are not hard to find. You? Well, darling, what a coup it is to have you in my house. Mostly, though? They’re all envious. And who wouldn’t be? You are a magnificent badass bitch who comes to me on a trail of her enemies’ hides.”

  “You just said badass bitch.” Rowan’s lips twitched just a little.

  “Because you are.”

  How he longed to make her understand just how special she was.

  “There’s trouble between your father and your uncles.”

  “What group of more than two Vampires is free of some sort of trouble? You yourself said this to me.”

  “I bet Antonia would have called your dad.”

  Clive barked a laugh. “Do you think so, really? You’ve met my mother. Does it strike you that she would have paused in the middle of something important to call my father?”

  “She’s a kook, yes. But she knows how to do the political wife thing. I just watched her with your uncles. She mainly let your dad do the muscling around. I said cuss words at her. A lot. I’m going to hate doing all the stupid wife-of-the-Scion junk. I don’t skeet shoot.” Rowan shrugged as she halted at the end of her strange list.

  “I didn’t know the last one. I may have to reconsider our marriage now that this has come to light.” Clive wanted to shake her even as he fought a smile. “You did say cuss words at my mother. I’m sure I’ve said curse words in her presence thousands of times. Most of those I learned from her.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said quietly.

  At times he forgot that beneath the armor she wore all the time, she could be soft and vulnerable. An unpardonable lapse on his part.

  He sat her down at the dressing table he’d imagined her at since he’d given Alice orders to have it built.

  It settled him to have her here. She’d chosen him in ways he knew had been excruciatingly difficult for her.

  Clive circled around, grabbing the pearl handled comb to run through her hair. Finally, he met her gaze in the mirror. “I woke up and knew something was wrong. Carey answered my repeated calls at last to say you and David were fine but there’d been a bomb.”

  Clive closed his mouth to hold back the words until he had better control. Now that they’d bonded it was even more difficult when she was doing dangerous things while he rested.

  She was as fragile as he’d ever seen her and he didn’t want her to shatter into a million pieces so he remained careful.

  “I have never in my existence felt as weak and helpless as I did in those moments after he said the word bomb. You were not here. I hadn’t heard back from you though I’d left messages. I knew you’d been hurt but not much else other than that you weren’t dying. Normally, I’d...” He let the sentence stutter to a halt.

  “Normally you’d what?”

  Of course she’d notice the way he’d tried to cut that sentence off. He could fake it, say it was about something else, but this new ground in their relationship needed to be tended. Which meant honesty.

  “Normally the blood bond would enable one of the bonded couple to know if the other was all right. I had enough of yours to know you were alive, but not much more. I’m the failure here. My loss of control led me to say stupid, hasty things in a panic. The sorts of things that hurt the most. I am so very sorry.” He went to his knees in front of her, bowing his head.

  Her surprised gasp brought his attention up to her face. Tears slid over the curve of her cheek to plop on the blue material of her pants at her thigh.

  “People are going to die. That’s the way of it. I’ve lived well over four centuries. I’ve seen generations of humans, Vampires and sorcerers fighting amongst themselves. You are powerful and gifted but you can’t save everyone. That will never be achievable. It’s not even how the balance you serve works. You know that too.”

  “I just wish...” She shook her head. “If wishes were fishes. Blah, blah, blah. I’m tired, that’s all. Tired of failing.”

  “The problem is you’re so exceptional you think being even fabulously successful is a failure.”

  “The threat is still out there!”

  “Part of it isn’t. The part that had dug its claws into Hunter Corp. is gone. You did that. You know it’s magical in origin. You know many things you didn’t before. That’s a success. Hunters are safer, which means they can do their jobs better. I’m not that thrilled about the policing Vampires part of that job, but as this threat looks to affect the Vampire Nation as well as humans, we’ll need to work together.”

  “You’re not annoyed I’m staying with Hunter Corp.?”

  “I rather expected you’d stay in one way or another. They’re part of you. I’m pleased you’ve burned out the infection as it makes you safer too. Next time, please just check in with a text.”

  “You were sleeping until about an hour ago.” She helped up a hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll do my very best to remember such things. But I’m terrible at this stuff. No matter what you say, I am not an expert at the wife game.”

  He shook his head, leaning in to brush his lips over her collarbone.

  “You’re very good at the naked parts. I feel like should I have choices about what you can be good at, I’d spend those points on that. You’re strong, which means you can defend me and our house. I have things to get used to as well.”

  “You haven’t fed today?” She cocked her head as she took him in.

  “I’ve not been up very long as you rightfully point out. I’m fine. Let’s get you settled and eating first. Then I’ll nip out for a bit.”

  Rowan licked her lips and swallowed hard before she tipped her head to the side, exposing her throat. “I’m going to forget to text you. Feed from me to strengthen that bond.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  He went very still, his pupils swallowing nearly all the color in his eyes. That faint glow burned in the background as he took her in.

  “I have never—will never—required that of you. I know what you lived through. I understand.”

  He did.

  That was the part that enabled her to keep talking.

  He’d backed her off the failure ledge and pulled her out of self doubt. Because he understood her. He knew her.

  Knew her. And loved her anyway.

  “That you understand means more to me than I’m ever going to be able to express adequately. Mainly because I’m emotionally broken and sort of feral. Anyway. I will never again let my blood be taken without my consent. Not without a fight. Nor would I choose to let a blood bond create with anyone but you. I used to think I’d always be repulsed by the thought of letting anyone feed from me. And then you came along. I want to do this. It’s not going to make me any better of a wife, mind you, but you’ll know I’m alive, and that’s something I can live with.”

  “I would never simply reach into your head without permission,” he said softly. She knew that. He was old enough to have control and respect her privacy. Mainly. He’d barge in if he thought he had to.

  She could live with that too.

  “There’ll be no hiding your feelings from me.” He held her gaze, wanting, she knew, her full and knowing consent to what was about to happen.

  That wasn’t just important and romantic, it was sexy.

  “I’ll say the same. I’ve had a lot of your blood. Once you take mine, I’ll have the same access you do.”

  He gave her a small smile. “I had recognized that, yes. I am not afraid to be vulnerable to you. Because I trust you to protect me. Far from running the other way because you’re a failure, the way you never give up is what convinces me you’ll do what you promise or die trying. I find the idea of that bond between
us, open and full to be a delicious secret. I know the Rowan that exists for me and me only.”

  She closed her eyes against the emotion of his very Vampire compliment. “Take from me,” Rowan murmured as she bared her throat once more. “My blood is freely given.”

  “I’ll ask you to take mine first.” He kissed her chin. “It’ll help with your wounds. I’ve had an entire bottle of bloodwine so you’ll probably get a bit intoxicated. That should help with the pain a little too.”

  Rowan could be knocked out with certain types of IV administered medications specifically made for the way her metabolism acted.

  But she didn’t want that oblivion. She wanted to feel alive. With Clive’s hands on her, her blood humming through his veins. Rowan would drive all evidence of any other woman’s taste from him.

  She liked that a lot.

  He licked over her throat, avoiding putting any pressure on her injuries. All that power leashed under his skin. Just for her.

  She didn’t need his blood to feel intoxicated. The way he saw her did it. Scary as it was to be vulnerable—to open up the parts of her he could gut if he chose—it also filled her up with something good and strong. Something she’d never known she was without until he’d given it to her.

  Need for him of another sort hummed through her, sizzled over the surface of her skin everywhere his mouth moved.

  “You got drunk and yelled at me in front of the kids,” she teased.

  He snarled as he sliced his wrist open, holding it for her to take. She flicked her gaze up to his and licked up the line of the cut. His blood was extraordinary. Each time she’d taken it before had been out of need to survive.

  This was a different type of survival but no less integral.

  He was dark chocolate and port in front of a fire. Rich and sinful. She drank him up, opening herself to the magic of a Vampire’s blood. Of her Vampire’s blood.

  Singes arced through her like pins and needles. It wasn’t miraculous in the sense that she’d be better in five minutes, but her wounds rightfully should have put her in intensive care and there she was with only broken bones.

  She let go, allowing him to close the skin, arching back as he took her to the bed with so much care she felt as if she were made of spun sugar.

  Certainly she’d felt that brittle earlier, on the verge of fraying into dust.

  Now she was warm and safe. Even if only for a while, things were going to be all right.

  He allowed her to feel the white-hot slice of his incisors before her system flooded with pleasure as he pumped her full of pheromones and other feel good stuff that kept humans coming back for more.

  This pleasure was attuned to her perfectly. He didn’t just take her blood, he sipped at her as if she were the finest wine. He tasted, appreciated, delighted in her.

  A groan slipped from Rowan’s lips as she realized she’d been picking up on what he’d been feeling. Not invasive at all. Sexy. Beautiful.

  He did see her as a warrior queen.

  Clive forced himself to be patient. To taste deeply and slowly. He was sure he’d never have this with her. Had accepted it as part and parcel of who she was. The small tastes had been a gift, again, not expected.

  But this open, full giving of herself to him was meant to be savored. He may never have the chance again, so he’d let himself, and her, drown in the sensation of joining two people the way this sort of blood bond did.

  She even tasted of oranges and clove. Like the smoke on his tongue after whiskey. The heat of her zinged through him, began to root itself in his blood, changing him on a genetic level.

  Far too soon, he licked over the slice he’d made at her neck, healing her. “You’re already injured,” he murmured when he’d noted the confused hurt on her face. Knew that’s what she felt.

  Was shaken to his core that this level of connection had taken hold.

  “I would feed and fuck for hours upon hours, Hunter mine. But tonight is for opening of the way between us. That’s been done. And more.”

  She grabbed the back of his head, urging him closer. He kissed over her bruises, marveling at the way some already lightened.

  “Why put off the fucking part? You’re here now,” she said, writhing beneath him. “Service me.”

  “I’m not entirely certain I can be gentle.” In fact he knew he couldn’t. Seeing her cry had unsettled him. Pricked at the protective instincts she brought out in him like no one and nothing else ever had.

  He’d been the one to make her cry. His careless loss of control had hurt her. She was his finest thing, to not take better care of her was a waste of her perfection.

  That and she was injured. He had no plans to say that out loud because he preferred not to get injured by his cranky wife.

  Wife.

  He blew out a breath, kissing her once again because she was his and he could. Her blood had filled every part of his consciousness, taking up space within him like she did every other part of his life.

  “You’re better than bloodwine,” he murmured, levering himself away from her before he let her talk him into fucking.

  There would be, most definitely. But not right then.

  “I’m a great vintage that way.”

  “Are you pouting?” he teased.

  “Grown women don’t pout.”

  “When they can’t get a little of me, apparently they do.”

  Her face when he made that joke—he’d remember the surprise and then utter joy there.

  “I’m so glad you’re not conceited like all other Vampires. If you’re not going to put your penis into me, I could actually use some dinner.”

  He helped her to her feet. She leaned her weight against him. Not very long, but long enough he knew she did it on purpose.

  “Rowan, before we leave our bedroom.” He stopped her at the door to the hall beyond their suites. “You are not a failure.” He brushed the pad of this thumb over the bruise on her cheek. “If I have to tell you this so many times you finally believe it or kill me for refusing to cease reminding you, I will.”

  “I’m in so far over my head I’ve long since given up seeing the surface again.”

  If he could give her a life free of all the weight she’d carried from birth, he would. But that wasn’t to be.

  “I’m trying to be very careful,” he admitted to her, “because I need to tell you things and I don’t want to scare you away.”

  “I’m not fragile.”

  “Normally, you’d have said that through a clenched jaw, quite possibly punching or kicking me at the same time. Your life force hums against my skin. You’re inside me as no other has, or ever could be. Let yourself see the truth of what I’m telling you.”

  “I don’t want to do this right now.” Her mouth hardened. He had her backed against a wall. Rowan was unpredictable in situations like this one. He quite often left bloody, but sometimes it was from scratches down his back.

  Her attention flared and then tightened on him. “You’re totally thinking about sex right now!”

  “You knew such things before we shared the blood bond.” He risked a brush of his knuckles over her throat where his mouth had been. He hissed as a scalding hot wave of her desire slammed into him.

  “When we finally fuck we’re going to knock out the electricity for five blocks.” Her voice trembled just so slightly.

  “An endless feedback loop of reaction,” he murmured, bending to replace his knuckles with his mouth.

  Rowan snarled a curse. “We were just in bed. Remember that? You made me come out here and then get me all hot and bothered? What sort of sex torture is this?”

  “I didn’t intend this.” He waved a hand between them as he straightened. “I was caught up in it as well, darling Hunter. What is it you say again? Ah, sorry not sorry.” br />
  She snorted a laugh.

  “Where was I? Everything you’ve done since you stomped into my life would have been impossible in the hands of anyone else. You, Rowan, are miraculous. You’re in over your head and you’ve just adapted so you can survive. Survival is not selfish. Survival is necessary. You exist for a purpose and you live it every day. That’s the absolute furthest thing from failure I can imagine. You never quit. I will not tolerate you believing your incredible strength of will and character is anything but the weapon it is.”

  Rowan closed her eyes, leaning forward to rest her head on his chest for long moments.

  “Thanks. For everything. I do suck at being a wife. But I love you. I’m going to do my best, but I’ll screw it up and mostly I’ll do it on purpose because that’s how I roll.”

  He laughed. “Naturally. I love you too. After you eat, I can probably be convinced to service you.”

  Rowan shot him a look over her shoulder as they headed downstairs. “Don’t think I won’t be getting even for all this cockteasing.”

  “Isn’t a cock tease someone who teases the person with the cock? In which case, I’d be a cunt tease.”

  She cackled and flipped him off with her good hand. He smiled at her back, pleased she was feeling better.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Rowan got back downstairs she followed her nose to the kitchen.

  Elisabeth looked Rowan over carefully and then shot one last censorious look to Clive before she indicated the table. “Sit. There’s tea waiting. Roast beef and potatoes for dinner. Your color is better but you need something to stick to your ribs.”

  Rowan did as she’d been ordered as Alice and David came into the room. David ignored Clive completely, approaching to inspect the newly dressed broken bones.

  “I really do think we should get this set at a hospital.” He sat across from her, preparing a cup of tea for her before doing the same for himself and Alice. Clive was left out of this gesture.

  Rowan wanted to intervene and explain to smooth the way between them. Truth was, David and Clive needed to find their own equilibrium. David had marked his territory. Which Clive would consider his and get snippy.