For the Power (For the Blood Book 2) Read online

  “Ahem!”

  Ash broke the kiss, eyes bright beneath inky lashes on lids lowered to half-mast.

  My heart. Oh, my heart …

  His thumb ran across my bottom lip, light and yet possessive, and then he carefully set my feet back on the ground.

  Logan slow clapped. “Well, well, well. Who’d have thought Ash had it in him.”

  “Shut up, Logan,” Jace admonished.

  I straightened my spine and turned to face them. Logan was wearing his habitual cocky expression while Jace just looked plain uncomfortable. But Sage was looking from Ash to me with a narrow-eyed intensity.

  I cleared my throat. “Now that everyone has … eaten, we should get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  I strode from the room, neck hot and scalp prickling. Shit. I’d just made out with a Fang in full view of an unwilling audience, and the only thought going through my head was, when could I do it again?

  Sleep was proving to be elusive and my cabin felt claustrophobic. Maybe a walk would help. The corridors were empty beneath a blanket of silence as I wandered toward the small lounge area. Orange leather sofas and a bright green rug greeted me, as if whoever had decorated the dismal gray space had been desperate to brighten it at all costs, but honestly the combination was sickly and invasive on the senses.

  I parked myself on the sofa, leaned back, and closed my eyes as exhaustion washed over me. My butt was still numb from the long van ride, my body exhausted from the adrenaline of meeting the djinn, and my emotions awry from being fed on by Logan and Jace. Ash … Ash was a different story. For some reason, my body craved his fangs, craved his proximity in a way I’d never experienced with anyone before. It was obvious what was happening. I was falling for the guy, but it was different from the way it had been with Tobias. With my best friend, the falling had been a gradual thing, born more of needing to protect him and keep him safe. He’d become my responsibility and then subsequently wormed his way into my heart. But with Ash, the connection had been there from the start, from the moment he’d first healed me.

  The truth was that my cabin didn’t feel claustrophobic, quite the opposite—it felt empty without Ash.

  This was the last thing I needed. This craving, this distraction. With Tobias, I’d been able to turn it off, push it to the back of my mind and just get on with the task at hand. But then the responsibility of the key had been resting on my shoulders, and now there were several burly shoulders to carry that responsibility with me. It was as if something inside me was awakening. A new hunger, a new awareness, and I wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be denied.

  The sound of boot falls drifted through the open lounge door, and Sage entered the room a moment later carrying two steaming mugs.

  He didn’t look surprised to see me. “I made some hot chocolate.” He held out a mug.

  He’d changed out of his vest and jeans into black combat trousers and a tight black T-shirt that strained across his chest becomingly. Becomingly? Where the hell had that come from?

  I took the mug from him. “How did you know I’d be here?”

  “Oh, Eva, I could track you to the ends of the earth.”

  His words were delivered in an echoing tone that sent a shudder up my spine.

  “Huh?”

  “Joking. Lucky guess.” He lowered himself onto the sofa across from me.

  Damn. For a moment, I’d believed him. “I see you found the stash of regulation wear.”

  He glanced down at himself. “The government seems to like black.”

  “It hides stains well. Although I’m surprised you were able to find anything that fit.”

  He leaned back in his seat, head tilted slightly to the side, rings winking in his earlobes. The mug clutched in his hand looked like a toy, barely a couple of sips for him.

  “I can make them fit,” he said.

  “And how do you do that?”

  His tongue peeked out to touch the corner of his mouth. “I make the carbon atoms in this body expand to fit my djinn form, and I can manipulate the fibers of clothing to fit my form.”

  “So, this is what you really look like?”

  “Do you like what you see, Eva?”

  Did I? I studied him, my mind seriously contemplating the question. His skin was tanned brown, stretched smooth over muscle and sinew, and his face was all broad planes and burning eyes. I didn’t usually find guys with shaved heads attractive, but Sage was a different kind of animal.

  My mouth was suddenly dry, and a scalding hot gulp of hot chocolate had me spluttering all over the place. Sage was out of his chair and patting me on the back in a blink.

  “Shit, sorry.” There was humor in his tone.

  “No, you’re not.” I looked up at him. “You just wanted an excuse to touch me.” The words surprised me, as did my teasing tone. I pressed my lips together. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. Like I said earlier, I don’t flirt.”

  “Or maybe you’ve just never had the freedom to.” His huge hand was still on my back. “You know better than anyone else how short life can be. You’ve been fighting to survive for years, but what’s the point in survival if you never actually live? You need to take your pleasures where you can find them.”

  I shifted so his hand fell away from my back. “It’s a lovely concept. But it’s not how I operate. It isn’t how I was raised.”

  He stepped away with a slow blink. “Yes. I see that, but maybe it’s time for a little re-education.”

  My stomach fluttered. His words spoke of emotional freedom, something I’d always kept on a tight leash because emotions clouded judgment and a slip in judgment could get you killed. But there was a cure, and soon my mission would be complete. My chest tightened. Who would I be without focus? Who would I be without a promise to keep and a world to save?

  Not something that needed to be dwelled on right now.

  I drained my mug and stood. “I should get some sleep.”

  Sage didn’t protest. Instead he settled back into his chair with his beverage. “Sleep well, Eva, and think on my offer.”

  Offer? His offer of re-education? There was no doubt in my mind what that meant. His offer was purely carnal, and damn if it didn’t send a frisson of speculation coursing through my veins.

  I paused at the door. “Why me? There were lots of human females at your camp, and several of them looked more than interested in some re-education.”

  His smile was a slow burn. “Yes, there are, but none like you, Eva.” He shot me a sidelong glance. “I know what I want, and it’s been too long since I came face to face with it.”

  “Even though you think I’m in love with my best friend?”

  He frowned slightly. “Is love finite? Are you saying your heart isn’t big enough to love and be loved by more than one man?”

  What was he saying? “When did re-education become love? Besides, relationships don’t work that way.”

  His tongue teased the inside of his cheek. “Relationships can work any way you want, if you want them enough. Besides, in a world where there are more males than females, us males are going to have to learn to share.” He sipped his drink. “Get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

  I left him to his cryptic words and his tempting smile and headed out of the lounge. It was only when I was halfway down the corridor that I realized he hadn’t responded fully to my question about love.

  Two minutes later, I found myself outside Ash’s cabin staring at the door. My feet hadn’t brought me here in error, I hadn’t been daydreaming. I’d come here because I needed him. Ash, who drew me, captivated me, and made me feel safe. There’d be no sleep tonight without him. Coming here was admitting something, it was building something, but there would be no words, only the beat of his heart against my back when he rolled onto his side and pulled me against his chest, only the sound of his steady breath as I slipped into slumber.

  Sage’s words echoed in my mind, his spiel about time being short
and his assertion that my heart was large enough to love more than one man. Maybe he was right, because despite the way I felt about Tobias, Ash was winding his way into my heart without uttering a word.

  I pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

  Ash was awake, propped up against the headboard, chest bare, book in hand. He looked up as I entered, then went back to reading. I kicked off my boots and then padded over to the bed. A T-shirt, his T-shirt, lay on the bed beside him. His attention was on his book, and so I yanked my top off and slipped his shirt on. It fell to mid-thigh. Last few times we’d slept together, I’d kept my slacks on, but that hadn’t been the most comfortable night’s sleep. Ash was focused on the page, but had his shoulders tightened? I slipped out of the slacks and climbed onto the bed beside him. The sheets were cool against my bare legs as I rolled onto my side and pulled my knees up.

  A moment later, the bed jiggled and then the room was plunged into darkness. Ash’s arm fell across my waist, and he gently pulled me back against his chest. My eyes fluttered closed as he rested his chin on the top of my head. He was curled around me, cocooning me in his heat, no need for a blanket. His hand lay on the bed by my abdomen, and I placed my palm on top of it, splayed my fingers, and then laced them with his. The hitch of his breath was the only indication he was affected by the contact.

  Yes, this was starting something, and I wasn’t one to start stuff I was unable to finish; it was why I’d held back with Tobias despite my feelings, but things were different now. There was hope, real hope, and maybe … maybe it was possible to be selfish, just for once.

  With a sigh, I closed my eyes and allowed his even breath to lull me to sleep.

  Years of light sleeping, of being on the run, had trained me to wake at the drop of a hat, and so when something brushed the back of my neck my body responded by switching on to full alert in a second. Adrenaline flooded my body, readying it for action, and then my surroundings filtered in. Ash’s cabin, his scent. My legs entwined with his, and his hand, warm and calloused, on my upper thigh.

  His breath tickled the back of my neck, skimming over my skin, and that damn adrenaline, needing somewhere to go and something to do, had me pushing back into him.

  He hardened against me and his low moan joined the skim of air at my nape. His hand on my thigh flexed, fingers digging into my flesh slightly.

  Was he awake? God, this felt good. I pushed back again, this time rolling my hips against his crotch. His hand slipped up my thigh and under my shirt to skim the hem of my panties.

  Heat and wetness bloomed, preparing me for his touch, a touch I needed and wanted. I covered his hand with mine, pulling it around to cup me. His breath hitched, and his heartbeat thrummed faster against my back. But then his body tensed around me. Shit. Had I misread this? Had he been asleep?

  My neck heated, and I released his hand. “I’m sorry.” My words were an embarrassed whisper. “I thought—”

  I was flipped onto my back and then Ash covered my body with his, settling between my thighs, his torso hovering over me, braced by powerful arms. His eyes gleamed in the gloom, tracking over my face as if absorbing every tiny detail.

  He saw best in the dark, but what did he see when he looked at me? A woman eager to finally close her eyes and freefall? What was I seeing? A man teetering on the brink of relinquishing control. The knowledge sent a wicked thrill through me.

  “Ash …” I reached up to touch his cheek lightly with my fingertips.

  His eyes fluttered closed briefly, and when he opened them there was a question glaring back at me.

  I dragged my fingers across his lips, my body singing with need, and no, I didn’t want to deny it any longer. “Yes. I want you.”

  His throat bobbed and then he lowered his body onto me inch by inch, pressing me into the mattress. Even with the fabric between us, the heat from his arousal set me on fire, forcing me to push into him, desperate to be closer.

  He let out a low hiss, turning his face to the side as if in pain, but in the next instant my wrists were pinned above me and his mouth was on mine. He claimed me with tongue and lips and fang, hips rolling against me, rubbing and teasing until my gasps and whimpers of need were the only sounds that filled the room. His fangs grazed my neck, tongue laving across my sensitized flesh, but he pulled back, eyes squeezed shut in denial.

  He didn’t want to feed from me. But this was different. This would be a carnal feeding, a sexual act, and fuck, I wanted it. Chest heaving with a tumult of desire, I cupped his face.

  “Take it. I want you to take it.”

  He opened his eyes and locked me in his sights, pupils so large his eyes were almost nothing but obsidian pools.

  “I need you inside me, Ash. In every way.”

  He pressed a hard kiss to my mouth and then reached down and pulled up my shirt. I sat up, and he yanked it over my head, exposing me completely. He sat back on his haunches, taking me in, his bare chest moving rapidly with his excited breath. God, he was beautiful, all taut muscle, velvet skin, and abs.

  He placed a huge hand on my chest, just over my breastbone, fingers splayed across my breasts, and then he pushed me down into the mattress, pinning me.

  What? What was he doing?

  He leaned down to press his mouth to my hip, trailing kisses inward toward my pubic bone. Oh, God. Oh, fuck. Tongue and the scrape of fang, and my mind was ready to shatter when he licked the inside of my thigh, moving up to my femoral artery. Was he? His tongue laved the spot. Yes. He was.

  My hips bucked as his fangs slid into me, body arching as he began to feed, pouring ecstasy into me. My hands cupped the back of his head, torn between tearing him free and urging him to continue, because it was too much—too much sensation, firing up every synapse and heightening every inch of flesh, leaving me throbbing and aching and sobbing with a tangled web of conflicting emotions. And then his coppery mouth was on mine, tongues tangling in a kiss that almost stopped my heart.

  Hands on my thighs, parting me, forcing my knees up as he positioned himself at my entrance.

  “Please …”

  He swallowed my plea and answered it by entering me. We rocked together for a long minute as my body adjusted to him, as I wrapped him in my heat and wetness. He moaned into my mouth as I flexed around him. Mine. This was mine. He pulled back to stare deep into my eyes, and then he began to move, and the world shattered into a million pieces.

  The sound of the shower running drifted out from the bathroom. Ash had left the door ajar, an invitation to join him, and damn, did I want to take him up on that. But we were about to step back into the real world, back to fighting for our lives. Back to the mission, and there was no place for romance outside. Best to rein it in. The bed lay rumpled and used before me, a witness to our passion.

  There’d been barely any sleep. Just soft, lingering kisses; gentle, questing caresses; and a communication that transcended words. Ash had held me for hours as we’d inched toward dawn. He’d taken me again and again, claiming not just my body but also my heart. The bed held the shattered pieces of the wall that Ash had brought down.

  I was no virgin. There’d been one guy three years ago—Justin, blond and blue-eyed. He and his parents had joined Dad, Tobias, and me for a couple of months. We’d lived in a vault at a bank then and things had happened. But it had been fumbling and awkward and painful, an experience I’d pushed to the back of my mind, but Ash had played my body with expert passion, and the part of me that I’d buried, the woman who longed for more than just survival, had awoken.

  Here’s to hoping she didn’t get me killed.

  Ash joined me by the bed. He cupped my shoulders with his large hands, hands that now knew my body intimately.

  I looked up into his face. “This isn’t just a casual thing for me.”

  He nodded.

  “But you need to know that I love Tobias. I have for a while, which should mean that this … what I feel for you shouldn’t be possible, but it is, so …” Sage’s
words filtered through my mind. I offered him half a smile. “I guess I have heart enough to want you both.”

  His grip on my shoulders tightened, and his silver eyes gleamed. He dropped a soft kiss on my forehead and then pressed his nose to my crown and inhaled me.

  My eyes fluttered closed for a moment as I reveled in his acceptance of what I’d said, and then he took my hand in his and led me from the room.

  I guess it was time to get down to business.

  Jace, Logan, and Sage greeted us in the control room. They had a map spread out on a table and were plotting the next leg of our journey. Black combat clothes and kick-the-shit-out-of-you boots made up the ensemble. They looked professional and dangerous, and with their weapons laid on the counter behind them, they looked ready to take on whatever.

  “I’m telling you that route will take us through the Wilds,” Sage said.

  Jace pouted, his blue eyes narrowed as he studied the map. “If we skirt it, we won’t make it to the shack before sundown.”

  “Then we go through it,” Logan said. “Just a quarter of a mile in and we shave three hours off our journey. It’s a no-brainer.”

  “It isn’t safe,” Sage said.

  “Scared?” Logan taunted the djinn.

  Sage looked away, not taking the bait.

  Jace moved back to make room as I stepped up to the table to study the map, but Logan stood his ground. His arm brushed mine, and the muscles in his biceps tensed. Great, he was happy to have physical contact when he was chowing down on me, but a casual brush and he was stiff as a board.

  Jace had plotted our route neatly in red ink, and a blue shaded area marked the Wilds, courtesy of Sage, no doubt. We had three hundred miles to go, which would take around five days on foot with appropriate rest breaks. It was clear that if we took our original route, we wouldn’t make it to our first overnight rest stop before nightfall. A shortcut through the Wilds would shave sixty miles off our journey and get us to our first rest stop before sundown—a place Noah had called The Shack. Noah and the guys had identified safe spots to hole up for the night based on their travels. The Shack was a store in an abandoned service station that they’d used on several occasions. It was off one of the main roads we’d need to follow to get to Kirkstone Pass; after that we were headed to Forest Noir to take refuge with a pack of Claws that Noah had befriended a few years ago.