Finding the Blood Assassin [Lords of the Expanse 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (13 page)

“I just saw her going into your study, my Lord,” the maid said in a quiet tone as she passed along the news. “She had a guest with her, but she seemed to be in a hurry.”

Frowning at her words, Raven thanked her and took off for his study at a quick, not quite running, pace.

* * * *

When he had come to the house, Jamison hadn’t thought to question him at all. He held the royal seal of the highest constable in the area, and so she never thought, even once, to question him or his purpose there.

With tears falling, she wrote the note to Raven while the man held a hand pistol to her head dictating to her. Her hands were shaking as she wrote and prayed her lord husband would realize she’d been made to put words to paper under duress.

I have lied from the very beginning, Raven. I can’t be with a horrible man such as you are, the silver laced in your cock causes me pain each time you take me and simply isn’t worth having you in my bed. You were a novel experience, but now it’s time for me to move on.

She looked up and cried. “Please don’t make me say this,” she whispered. She heard the next part of the note and felt her stomach drop, it was beyond cruel. However, only one good part of it, Raven would know the farce that it was because she had removed the silver from his cock already. Something that this man didn’t know.

Your child is dead, good riddance to the bastard spawn of the devil.

* * * *

Reaching his study, Raven went in and cursed when he couldn’t find her. “Damn it, Jamison, if you’re playing games I’m going to paddle your ass,” he snarled as he turned. She’d been there recently, he could smell her and someone else as well, obviously the guest the maid had mentioned. Shoving a hand through his hair, he turned and, from the corner of his eye, saw something. Frowning, he went to the desk and picked up the piece of paper. A note scratched out on the surface.

What he read cut into him like a blade and had him collapsing into his chair. Pressing a hand to his heart, he reread the note, and then when he literally felt his heart tearing in his chest, he let out an anguished roar. The beast was not pleased and it wanted his mate. If only to rip out her lying faithless heart and bathe in her blood.

Getting to his feet violently, he tore his study apart piece by piece to assuage some of the pain in his head and heart. He’d been ready to tell her what he felt, he’d been ready to let her in fully, and she did this! Tearing one of the shelves from the wall, he snarled in full blood rage at the loss of his female. His mind not seeing yet the truth in her words, the glaring proof she was stolen from him.

* * * *

She was trussed up tightly with bands around her ankles and wrists. A rag around her lower face sealed any protest from forming as the lid to the wooden crate she was packed into was sealed and closed. She felt the scream of her child, Raven’s child, felt the scream roar out of the babe and reach out for her father, demanding that he come for them. Her heart sank as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to give birth to their daughter, not with being away from Raven and the blood that their daughter needed.

Turning her burning bruised and abraded face into the rough straw, she felt the agony of losing her mate and wanted to simply curl up and die.

* * * *

Two days later Raven found the note once more, and this time it just sliced through him, the pain cold and the internal weeping painful. Picking it up, he held it gently now, the last of her that he had. Sliding down the wall, he sat staring at it as he fought to get his body back under control. Reading it again, he got stuck on her words and something finally clicked. Scrambling to his feet, he moved to the window and tipped the note into the light, reading it very carefully. “Oh, Jamison,” he whispered softly. She hadn’t left of her own free will, she’d even left him that clue in her words about the silver he’d had her remove.

Turning, he pressed his forehead to the cool glass and let the rush of relief rip through him before he realized that he’d lost two days. Snapping up his head, his lips curled up in a snarl. He’d lost two days of tracking her. No more. Running from the room, he made it to their bedroom and in moments he was suited up and had weapons on every inch of his body, and his mind was ice cold. He was getting his woman back, and gods help the bastard that got in his way because Raven was going to ensure he met his maker.

* * * *

It was dark. She had no idea where she was but that it was dark. She curled closer unto herself, trying to shelter her daughter and assure her that they would be all right, that her daddy would soon find them. She felt the small box she had been cloistered in being moved and bit the gag once more and tried to fight the need to throw up. Vomiting behind a gag was a very bad thing, something she’d learned that very first day. In her mind all she could whisper was, please hurry, Raven.

* * * *

Racing through the dark, Raven stopped suddenly, his nose to the wind as he caught the very faintest of scents, but he’d know that scent anywhere. “Jamison,” he breathed out softly to the night. Letting the beast come up further to the surface, he raced toward the scent, tracking it carefully through the night. When he found them he couldn’t see Jamison, but he knew from the sounds of the men, that they had her bundled up somewhere.

Praying she was safe, he went in low, fast, and just plain mean. Cutting a swath through them, he ended lives, bathed in blood, and was eerily silent the entire time until they all lay dead at his feet. Spinning, he snarled. “Jamison!” he called her name. Her scent was buried under the blood. Moving as the wind shifted, his eyes focused on the crate and he knew true anger. Running to it he broke open the lid and stared down at her scared eyes. “Jamison,” her name was being used as a talisman that it was as he reached in to pick her up carefully.

She couldn’t feel her arms or legs as he lifted her. He was in a blood rage, but she had never seen a more beautiful sight in all her life. Eyes watered even as she let her face press hard to the side of his neck and the sob escape behind the gag. He was there, he’d come for them, was all she could think even as her vision swirled and the need of their daughter kicked in. Unable to feed and unable to move, she simply rested there in his arms and soaked in the feeling of him once more holding her close.

Holding her for a long moment Raven finally walked out of the clearing into the woods so she could not see what he’d done. Sitting with her in his lap, he pulled a blade, and very, very carefully, he cut through her bindings. Pulling them all free as gently as he could, he winced at the marks. They’d done them too tightly. Working at the gag next, he had to cut it free as well, unwinding it from her head carefully. “Feed, Jamison,” he whispered, pulling her back to him as he bared his throat. He knew he looked mad and that he was covered in blood, but he could feel her need to feed beating at him like a physical being.

She didn’t start feeding right away. “I love you, Raven,” she croaked out. “I didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to leave those horrible words for you.” She had tears of blood running down her face when he looked at her. “He told me what to say, he knew of the silver in you, Ra. I’ve never been so happy to see you as I just was. I can’t move my arms, come closer?”

Shifting her so her face was at his throat, he rubbed at her neck gently. “I know, Jamison, I know, my love,” he whispered. “I’m just sorry I took so long, baby, but please, for you and our child, you need to feed,” he said gently. He shifted to a prone position with her cradled before him, his hands stroking over her body trying to help her get feeling back into her limbs. “Feed, my lady love, please,” he begged her and didn’t care that it came out sounding like the plea it was.

“I love you,” she whispered just a half a moment before she sank her fang deep into his throat and fed deeply from him for her, for their daughter.

Groaning at the feel of her mouth pulling on his life’s blood, Raven held her close, his hand moving to lie protectively over their baby. Closing his eyes, he breathed her in and just enjoyed having her in his arms again, even if it was on a blood-soaked battle field. “Never again, my love,” he whispered. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

When she pulled back, she licked at the puncture wounds and smiled up at him. “I’m hoping that you’re right, Raven, your daughter and I need you. We would never leave you willingly.” She sounded so tired. “Take us home, Ra? Please, before I lose what you just gave to me.”

Nodding even though he was still processing her first words, he lifted her into his arms and began to move back toward their home. He didn’t stop for a break at any time and just kept moving toward their lands. Cradling her carefully, he let his iron will get them home. It was a much slower trip back than it had been to find her, but soon enough they were home and he carried her straight through and up to their room.

Moving into the bathing room, he hit the sonic shower with his elbow and walked into it with her fully clothed to lean against the wall. Leaning back against the tiles he fought for just a few more minutes of strength. He’d given her blood every day on the trip back and not taken anything for himself, so he was a lot weaker than he should have been. He’d need to feed as soon as he could, but not until she was settled in their bed.

She was sleeping restlessly in his arms when she suddenly moved, just a little. “Raven,” she whispered, moving her arms with just the smallest of groans. “Raven, sweetheart, let us down,” she whispered as she brushed his long hair back from his face. “We are home, Ra, we are safe. I just want to strip and go to sleep for a full day. Raven, you need to feed on both food and blood, darling, please. I need you to keep yourself healthy for us.”

Easing her legs down, he kept his arm around her to keep her close. He just couldn’t let her go yet. He’d have food and blood brought up to their room, but he wasn’t leaving her alone. He couldn’t. He needed to be there. He’d failed to keep her safe once, never again would anyone hurt her or his daughter. “We’re having a daughter?” he asked suddenly, lifting his head to stare at her.

“Yes, and she’s already Daddy’s little girl. Two days is a long time to do nothing but talk.” There was raw pain in her voice as her eyes began to brim with tears. “I had to keep her occupied to keep her mind from the fact she was hungry. She knew you would come, I knew you would come. We’d both been adamant about that fact. But now I’m so tired, Ra.” She nuzzled against his chest. “We will eat food later, for now, though, my body needs rest, real rest when I know that we are both safe.”

Nodding, he leaned in and kissed her. “I know,” he whispered, turning off the shower. Picking her up, he carried her to the bed and, setting her back on her feet, helped her strip before he encouraged her under the sheets. Stripping down himself, he placed the order with the kitchen and then climbed in with her. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her. “I believed the note, Jamison,” he whispered, admitting his crime to her. “For two days I believed that you’d left me and that you’d killed our child.” He felt such horror and shame at having to tell her that, but he couldn’t lie to her. “I’m so sorry, Jamison. I should have had more faith in you, in us,” he whispered. 

She felt as if he had stabbed her with a knife. Hot tears raced down her face as she whispered, “I had thought you just couldn’t find us, Raven. Never had it crossed my mind that you would.” She swallowed hard before she could even think to continue. “Even though I had sworn I would never leave you, you believed in it? You didn’t even think I would be brave enough to tell you myself?”

He winced visibly and nodded slowly. “All I could see were the words and the pain that tore through me. I was looking for you to take you for a day by the lake,” he said softly. “I wanted to tell you that I loved you, that I wanted to have more with you. All I found was the note, and the pain tore through me and nearly broke my heart. I tore my whole study to pieces in my anger. Which is still in that state since I couldn’t bear to allow anyone in there, not with the chance of disturbing your scent.”

The hurt was still there, but she whispered, “Say it again, Raven?” Those words so small that she had waited too long for. “Later I will be upset with you for believing in that note, just—” She licked her lips. “Tell me?” She needed them more than he would ever know. They were just words, simple little words, and she knew that actions were far more vocal, but she needed to hear them.

Lifting his head so she could see his eyes, he touched her cheek lightly. “I love you, Jamison,” he said, whispering the words she’d waited so long to hear. “I love you, my lady wife,” he breathed out with a look of hope and worry on his face.

She allowed the tears to flow freely and nodded. “And I love you, too, my lord husband.” She leaned in closer to him and at the smallest of spaces from his lips, said, “I am still going to be hurt and upset with you later. You have to make that hurt up to me, Raven. For now though, I’m just too happy that you gave me the words.”

“I know, love, and I will, I swear this to you. I will do anything you wish to make up my lack of faith in you and your love,” he promised. Kissing her gently, he wiped at her tears with his thumbs ever so gently. “No more tears, please,” he whispered, brushing his lips to her cheeks.