Crimson Covenant (Onyx Assassins 1)

How the hell was this happening? No one argued with me. Ever.

“I don’t care. The answer is no. You and danger don’t get to be on the same page, let alone in the same fucking sentence.” I walked over to the bar and poured myself a shot of whiskey, then slammed it back, letting the burn of the liquor slide all the way down my throat to soothe my stomach.

“I want to try!”

“Absolutely not!” I stalked past her, heading for the desk to see if the text was there. It was nothing a good fire couldn’t fix.

“Alek, I can be with you forever! I would be able to give you children—”

I whipped around to face her. “I don’t care about children. I care about you.” Not that the thought of her carrying my youngling wasn’t immensely satisfying, but nothing was worth the risk to her life. Nothing.

“Well, I care about you! Avianna doesn’t want to be queen. If I’m turned, I can give us an heir. We can spend every night of eternity wrapped up in each other.” She reached for me, and I ducked away from her hand.

“Not if you’re dead!” One touch, and I’d be all over her. My instincts roared, telling me to touch and taste. Telling me to claim her again while I still had the chance.

“If you’re the one turning me, I’ll survive!”

“You don’t know that!” I sensed Serge, and glanced his way to see him discreetly shutting the library door to give us privacy for this…whatever this was. A fight? An argument? A battle for her very life? The shutters were next, blocking out the windows so any nobles in residence couldn’t look across the courtyard and see us and start gossiping that the royal house was in disorder. Because that was our life. “Do you know what my life was before you came along?”

That brought her up short.

“It was night after night of feeding, and fighting, and filling the meaningless hours with politics and bureaucracy. You are what gives my life meaning, now. Without you, there’s nothing.” I gestured to both sides of me. “None of this means anything without you. How can you be willing to stake your life off a text from seven hundred years ago? Don’t you think if it was safe, they would have kept doing it?” There was a reason it was forbidden to feed a human.

She paled and glanced away.

That sinking pit in my stomach was back. “Tell me.”

“A nobleman’s daughter died. Her father knew and declared war. The coven…” She swallowed. “They were drugged with something staked out in the sun, according to the scholar that got away.”

“And this is something you want to try?” I ripped my hands through my hair, tugging on the strands. “No, Lyric. No.”

“I’m strong!”

“Strong enough to rip into a human’s neck and feed?” I challenged, seeking any way to get through to her.

Her mouth opened and shut a few times. “You would want me to feed off someone else?”

My vision went thermal for a few heartbeats, then evened back out. Fuck, I couldn’t even think about her feeding from someone else. “No, of course not. I’d feed for the both of us.”

A slow smile spread across her face. “See? It could work.”

“No! Damn it, Lyric, could you be any more stubborn?”

“Sure, I could be you!”

“Well, as long as I’m me, then you’re staying human because I sure as hell won’t turn you. I’m not rolling the dice with your life!”

“Fine!” Her fists clenched, and her pulse skyrocketed, only serving to trigger the predatory part of my nature. If she ran, we were both fucked, because I’d chase. I’d conquer.

I blinked. “You agree?”

“That you won’t turn me?” She scoffed. “Sure. Good thing Avi’s blood is just as pure.”

The world went infrared, and I growled. “She would never disobey me.”

“Maybe not, but Julian said all warrior blood was strong, and I bet if I told your Assassins that turning me would keep you alive, one of them would gladly oblige.”

“Lyric,” I warned, my fangs descending and my entire body preparing to attack the first male who even thought about getting close enough to my mate to turn her.

“And if you’re so angry that I want to save your life, then don’t worry about feeding me. I’m sure any of the guys over in that little feeding room would do just—”

I moved so fast that my mouth finished her sentence, kissing her hard and long, my tongue parting her lips to thrust deep. It wasn’t a sweet kiss, or even a passionate one. It was pure, carnal ownership of my mate, and she knew it.

Thank God she went instantly pliant against me, melting within seconds, or I wasn’t sure what would have happened.

“Alek,” she whimpered against my mouth.

I grabbed her ass and lifted her against me. She wrapped her legs around my waist and kissed me back, her hands tangling in my hair as I found the nearest wall.