Blood Ties by Amelia Elias

patiently for them to follow Ellyra inside. He
showed no sign that he’d even noticed their conversation. Kira
avoided his empty eyes and made sure she didn’t brush against him
as she entered the suite. The scent of his cologne chased her as
Carlo closed the door, letting her know that he remained just a
step behind her.
    So unsettled was Kira that the magnificence
of their suite hardly registered. Ellyra was at the bar, pouring a
glass of something from a decanter that glittered in the way that
only fine crystal can. She held it out to Orion. “You look like you
need this, darling.”
    Trailing
behind him simply because she didn’t know what else to do, she
couldn’t keep herself from scowling as he took the glass without
comment. Darling? What
the hell was that? He bristled like a porcupine whenever Kira tried
to get close to him, yet this woman who’d betrayed him a century
ago called him darling and got
away with it?
    Ellyra turned to her before she could think
of an adequately scathing way to put the vampiress in her place.
“Carlo will provide for you now, young one,” she said. “Use the
master bedroom if you wish. It is the finest of the rooms, and the
walls are thick enough that we won’t have to hear the sounds of
your… feeding.”
    Orion stiffened and glared at Carlo. The
bloodslave took no notice. His eyes were fixed only on Kira, and
she fought not to shudder at the thought of letting the bloodlust
control her as she fed on him. Worse still was the idea of using
sex to keep from losing control of herself, especially if Ellyra
had ulterior motives for offering him.
    Locked away from Orion, anything could
happen. She shuddered at the thought.
    “Tell him to obey me,” she said suddenly,
meeting Ellyra’s coolly amused gaze. “I won’t go anywhere with him
unless he’s in my control, not yours.”
    She smiled. “So distrustful, after what I’ve
done to aid you,” she murmured. “But I would expect no less from
Orion’s progeny.”
    “Not Kira,” Orion interrupted. “Have him
answer to me, Ellyra. Not her.”
    Ellyra’s laugh sounded utterly out of place
in the tense room. “Why not her? Afraid she’ll command him to
perform some sexual act you can’t match? Do you wish to order him
to remain impotent?”
    He glowered, but Kira answered before he
could draw breath. “Unless you’re coming in that room with us, he’d
better obey me,” she snapped. “And if you’re in that room I’m
biting you, not him.”
    Ellyra laughed again. “Go, fledgling,” she
said. “Carlo will do your bidding while you remain in the bedroom.
Once he returns, he is mine again. Do what you will with him so
long as you don’t damage him beyond repair. I have no desire to
train a new bloodslave.”
    “Thank you.” It took all her control to force
the words past her lips. She couldn’t even look at Orion as Carlo
strode to one of the closed doors to open it for her. Dread swamped
her as she remembered their conversation above Club Nighthawk and
she couldn’t stop the plea from coming out. “Don’t leave while I’m
in there, please, Orion?”
    His growl was the only warning she had before
Orion pulled her hard against him and kissed her fiercely. Her
squeak of surprise was muffled against his mouth. Tongue thrusting
deep, branding her with his taste and his passion, she could only
cling to his shoulders as his heat burned her entire body. Her
fangs lengthened and throbbed in time to her racing heartbeat.
Kissing him back with every bit of passion and lust inside her, her
pussy growing wet and her body hungering for his in every way, she
felt the bloodlust roar and writhe inside her. Need, hunger, desire
fused and demanded more.
    “You think of that,” he growled against her
lips when he finally broke the kiss. “You just fucking keep that in
mind, Kira, you understand me?”
    Breathless and burning, all she could do was
nod as she stepped out of his embrace.
    Orion glared at the bloodslave as she