Crimson Covenant (Onyx Assassins 1)

“My lord.” The Scotsman’s thick burr came through the intercom.

I grunted my displeasure and leaned a little closer to Lyric, leaving only the barest of inches between my lips and the silk of her hair. Damn, that hair had looked incredible fanned out over my pillow as she’d slept, the contrast of light and dark erotic enough that my sleep had been nearly non-existent.

“Alek,” Lachlan snapped. “I’m well aware you’re in there. We have matters to attend to.”

I sighed, then dropped my hands to Lyric’s shoulders and tugged her gently from the door, willing it open with my mind.

“This had better be damned important,” I said to my second over the human’s head.

Lyric shook off my hands and turned to face him.

“The council is—” Lachlan’s eyes flared wide for a millisecond before he schooled his expression into something glacial, and I knew he’d scented me on her.

Lyric gasped and backed up two steps, straight into my chest. I felt the impact like a branding iron, and the scent of her fear had me growling low at Lachlan.

That earned me a raised eyebrow from my second-in-command. “How about I just wait out here in the hallway while you finish your feed?”

Lyric’s fear skyrocketed, the scent bitter and unwelcome as she stiffened.

“I’m not feeding on her, you jackass. And yes, you can damn well wait outside.” I slammed the door in his face without moving a muscle.

“You are not feeding on me!” Lyric shouted, jumping away from me as soon as the door shut. She fled to the other side of the massive chamber, and I watched with amusement as she selected the fireplace poker from the hearth as her newest weapon.

“Didn’t I just say I wouldn’t feed on you?” I never lied. Just the suggestion was insulting.

“This is just a dream. That’s it. You were knocked unconscious in the parking lot, and this is just a dream,” she whispered to herself, her pupils dilating.

“If that makes you feel better.” I shook my head and opened the doors of the ebony wardrobe with my hands this time, hoping it might help settle her nerves. There wasn’t much I could do about being a six-foot-five vampire with fangs.

“And who was that giant?” She swung the poker toward the door. “That guy was massive! Wait, is he a vampire, too?”

A knot of ugly, insidious…something settled in my gut. “Lachlan is my second-in-command, and I’ll have you know I’m a full two inches taller.”

Calm the fuck down. You sound like a jealous idiot.

I didn’t do jealous. Why would I? There was nothing in this world I wanted and couldn’t have, therefore jealousy was a useless emotion.

Besides, why would I get jealous over a human?

A human you let sleep in your bed.

The thought was more than sobering. Last night, I’d broken two of my rigid, personal rules for the first time in four hundred years. Not only had I brought a woman—a human woman—back to my home, and to my bed, but I’d fed her. Fangs had never pierced my skin, and if I was going to play semantics, they still hadn’t. I’d sliced open my own wrist to save her life for the simple reason that I couldn’t stomach the thought of watching her die. Every cell in my body had screamed at the possibility.

“But he’s a vampire, too, isn’t he?”

“Everyone on this side of the estate is.” I somehow doubted telling her we had humans over in the Domum for feeding would mollify her, so I walked right past Lyric’s warrior stance and into the wardrobe, which had ceased functioning as a piece of furniture about fifty years ago when it became the hidden entrance to both my closet and my private arms room.

Lyric turned to face me.

“Estate…Where am—Wait, what was that about wiping my memory?” She yelled after me, leaning around the entrance, still holding the poker like it was going to help if I decided to change my mind about feeding.

I wouldn’t. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I wasn’t sure I’d stop—she smelled that damn good. In fact, now that scent wrapped around me, infusing every inch of this space with the fragrance I knew would stay long after I did as I’d promised—wiped her memory and left her safe and sound at her little apartment.

As soon as it was safe to do so.

Mine. A dark, primal demand filled my veins at the thought of leaving her anywhere but my bed, my chamber, my estate. Tucked away and safe from the demon who’d hunted her down last night.

“It’s safer for you to lose the memories, trust me.” I slipped my shoulder holster on over my black T-shirt, then opened the top drawer just beneath where a row of my clothes hung, and took out two Glocks, holstering them both. She couldn’t know anything about this world, or the danger that had come calling for her last night wouldn’t stop until she was dead. She wasn’t fucking dying on my watch.