The Blood King

8: Wicked Blood

OLIVIA...

I WAS VERY warm as I shuffled about the bed to get comfortable. I didn't know just how tired I was until Cedric showed me to the guest room and deposited me there like some errant child on time out. I managed to get a shower to get rid of that morning's events and that was exactly what I needed to get me calm enough to get some sleep. The moment I laid my head on the pillow, I slowly drifted to a dreamless sleep. 

Sleep for the dead, I called it. 

As I stretched and turned over to the other side, I felt that lean warm wall of muscle against me. My eyes flipped open and Rayn was laying next to me. He had one of his legs bent on the knee and one arm over his eyes. He changed his clothes into grey sweatpants and a black T-shirt. His light breathing told me he was sleeping but I couldn't understand how his knee remained stiffly upright like that. 

I didn't hear him enter the room nor felt him when he lied beside me. I wondered if he materialized from the thin air like the way he appeared in my apartment. He was a very mysterious man but I could literally taste the power he had. It was in the air around him and clogged my nostrils with it. It was in the way he spoke and in the way he stared at me. 

I saw the way his eyes moved underneath his eyelids and wondered what he was dreaming about. I didn't want to disturb him because I knew he also needed the rest but I couldn't help wondering how two strangers like us came to be so comfortable around each other. He had his guard down whenever he was with me and I relaxed a little more in his presence. This was a little more than just the blood-bond, I thought. 

Just thinking about the blood-bond made my stomach clench painfully. I hadn't eaten anything since that morning and from the red-orange color I was seeing filtering into the room, I knew it was already dusk and I was super hungry.

Rayn's eyes suddenly snapped open and he turned them to me.

"What would you like to eat?" He asked me softly as he stretched for a moment then his arm went around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I sighed in defeat. I neglected the fact that he could crawl up my mind and catch my thoughts whenever he felt like it. "You were pretending to sleep, weren't you?"

"I was resting...until you woke up and unabashedly started bombarding me with your thoughts." He protested as he nuzzled my neck and breathed in. "You smell heavenly."

I squirmed lightly because I was still sensitive around him, especially after he made the tingling mark on my neck that refused to disappear. "I don't understand how you can be so comfortable with me. What if I killed you in your sleep?"

I felt his smile against my neck. "Then I would have died a happy man." He drew back and his eyes were twinkling with enjoyment. I was in awe to see his face transformed like that. 

I tried to push him away to try and clear my head but Rayn's arm was tightly wrung around me. There was a wanton part of me--a very small one that wanted me to remain in his arms and just allow him to have his way with me but the logical side of me told me not to give in and allow him to make a claim that could leave me in tatters once that arrangement was over and I no longer needed his protection. I had my heart to protect. I had been through enough and it just needed time to heal.

A frown appeared on Rayn's face as he looked down at me pensively. "I don't think you understand the severity of this arrangement, Olivia. A blood-bond can never be broken which means I am not going anywhere any time soon and neither are you."

"What if we get tired of seeing each other's faces and can't stand being around one another?" I asked him softly.

"It will never happen." He assured me, his confidence reviving my hard earned bravado. "Because it is not like a human bond where you can walk away so easily. We, Bloods, mate for life." 

My eyes widened. He was a Blood. What was a Blood? "A Blood?" I echoed.

He nodded softly as he went back to my neck and I felt his hot tongue lave at my skin like a cat. My body roared into life making my skin  crawl deliciously. He couldn't stop having his hands around me and I couldn't stop myself from loving the feeling.

"Mmmh." He agreed and I pushed him back so that I can get him serious about the situation. He sighed in disappointment because I interrupted him from his new favorite place and stared up at me.

"What's a Blood? Is that like--uh--a species of the vampire? I remember asking you about it and you didn't say it in the way that I would understand." I told him showing him just how serious I was. I needed answers because I was five seconds away from losing my mind!

"Vampires are a myth created by the humans to scare naughty little children. The myth might have originated from my species but it is not what we are." Rayn finally started talking when he saw that I wasn't leaving that room without answers.

"So, what are you?" I didn't know why he was beating around the bush for. I already knew there was something peculiar about him and Cedric. They knew things they shouldn't and they did things I couldn't explain. They were always surrounded by an air of mystery and they were just too perfect to be normal. 

The human facade got me the first time and it made me comfortable. Heck, I was comfortable at that very minute because I comforted myself with the lie that was displayed in front of me; perfectly mouthwatering individual with the most incredible eyes and wicked mouth on that side of the world. It was slowly sinking into my brain that humans were not the only ones living on the planet--there was Rayn....

"I am what the ancients called the Enlightened or in current vocabulary, a Blood. It is a branch of humans that was favored by the gods." He smirked at me and I wanted to roll my eyes at his ego but I just couldn't. Not when he was turning my world and every belief I had about life upside down. If I were scientist, it would mean that most of the theories would cancel themselves and I would have to start from scratch of what I really knew about mankind. 

"Favored?" My eyebrows arched up and he chuckled before smoothing the lines that formed on my forehead because of the action.

"Well, we live a lot longer...way longer than you could ever imagine." 

"So, you could be a thousand years old right now?" My eyes widened in surprise. He looked so young.

He gave me a devilish grin and shrugged but didn't answer. Instead, he continued his story. "We are stronger than you, a thousand times over. We are faster and more intelligent than humans. In fact we have technology in our clans that you have never seen before. We would have been the ultimate survivors of this planet."

"You would have been--but you're not and the humans are still thriving. What went wrong?" I asked him, adjusting my weight on my elbows and watched him in awe as if I was seeing Santa Claus after everyone told me that he didn't exist. 

A pensive frown marred his face. "You see, the human blood has different components that draw Bloods to them. We don't live off sucking blood but we can trigger certain components in the human blood in order to sate the hunger. We have affinities for these components and we need them from time to time--"

"So, you suck blood from humans." It was the obvious conclusion. My face went pale as I touched the point where he left a mark on my neck. Was he trying to suck my blood? 

"We need to do it from time to time and it is always from a willing person." He answered.

"You have sucked blood?" I didn't know why I wanted him to confirm that. My heart twisted in my chest and the reason was unknown. Did it matter to me if he sucked someone else's blood? It sounded very intimate, which meant, he might have been intimate--

Before I could continue concocting my shameless conclusions, Rayn rolled over me and pinned my lower body with his. He made sure that I didn't suffocate with his heavy body above me as he pushed a strand of hair from obscuring my face.

"Do you want me to show you how it is done?" He nuzzled my neck and wetness dampened my inner thighs. I could feel the heat that was rising there. My heart beat so hard against my chest, I was surprised Rayn didn't hear it. 

I swallowed hard. "No."

"You see, my bloodline is different from other Bloods. I can evoke any component from you; be it excitement, happiness, fear, arousal..." He leaned in and pulled my lower lip between his teeth and I gasped at the sensual act that sent all sorts of shocks through my body. 

I found myself arching to him, wanting more of this new sensation. This gave him access to my back where he curled his arm around my waist and flushed me against him. He was all hard plains and coiling muscles that retracted and contracted with his movements while I was soft and pliant, molding myself around him.

His eyes turned dark and smoldering as he leaned down against and took my lips into a bone-crushing kiss that had my mind bouncing up and down and my blood gushing through my veins to the point dizziness hit me. He was the master of seduction, his ministrations so wicked that they brought out a side of me I had yet to meet. 

Strangers.

The word came at the back of my head. But that was it--Rayn and I weren't strangers. Well, as far as our souls were concerned, we belonged together. What he was doing to me didn't send me flailing in fear underneath him. My gut feeling was at ease and my body recognized each touch and each feeling as if they were meant to happen at that exact time. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, wanting to feel everything that he was doing to me.

I couldn't get enough of his scent, of his warmth and of his tightly wound body. It felt like a dream because never in a million years would I have thought to have such a man in my life. He was the kind of person that would never turn twice in the streets to look at me if we had met in public. A disturbing thought crept in my head.

Was he only with me because he accidentally blood-bonded with me?

"Stop with the foolish thoughts." He growled against my lips and said. "I am with you because you are my mate. I knew you were mine long before I blood-bonded with you."

"How?" I asked, breathlessly.

"It was written in the stars. You were not in that park accidentally. We didn't meet by mere coincidence. That's how fate works." He assured me as he rubbed my plump lips lightly with a mesmerized look on his face. No one had ever looked at me like that. 

RAYN....

I DOUBTED OLIVIA knew the weight of me finding her and blood-bonding with her. There was nothing more sacred than a mate to a Blood because with the dwindling numbers of the Bloods in the colonies, we needed mates to increase the numbers.

Being a royal Blood made me a target for a lot of women of my species. My bloodline was powerful and having a baby with that blood running in its veins would have supposedly gained the mother a lot of favors from the clan and the royal family. However, with Dominiq sitting on that throne at the moment, the only favor the child and mother would get is death.

Olivia's large eyes looked deep into mine and all sorts of thoughts plagued her mind. What she was thinking was irrelevant and a little silly. Her thoughts were out in the open for me to pick through and know exactly what kind of person she was. For one, I knew the confidence she sometimes displayed was for the moment. She wasn't as confident as she appeared. However, she was very brave because though she felt fear, she made sure it didn't get the best of her. 

Her expression suddenly changed and the name Damon appeared in her thoughts. "You sent Damon away and you never thought twice about how I felt about that? Is he okay? Can I call him and make sure he is home safely?"

Annoying...

I couldn't stop her from worrying about a grown-ass man because I had something to do with her concern. I was sure Damon was alright because I used a very strong push on him and made sure that he didn't remember that day's events. It was for his safety as well as his sanity. People asked a lot of questions for something that they didn't understand. Damon was not like Olivia and if I had it my way, I would have suggested for him to leave Blackstone for good. 

I didn't understand the dark and violent feeling that was uncurling in my gut like a poisonous serpent. I didn't like their closeness but then again they had been together since before I knew Olivia. I understood Olivia's feelings for Damon through her thoughts but I could change that with time and patience--which meant I needed to be patient with her at that moment.

"I sent him away because of his safety and yours. If you want to talk to him, go ahead." Reluctantly, I removed my phone from my pocket and handed it to her. I was startled at the fact that she memorized his number as she dialed up his phone.

The phone called a few times before the thick male voice came through and Olivia's eyes brightened. 

"Damon! Hi..." She quickly settled up, completely ignoring me. 

My ego was wounded. I needed to endure that a little more until there was no one else she thought about other than me. Sighing in defeat, I got up and made my way out, giving her some privacy while I went to get her something to eat. 

I was not surprised to find Cedric loitering around the corridor as if he didn't have anything better to do. I was sure his trust for Olivia had not improved. I couldn't blame him. He was a hound, that was how his genes were wired. Loyalty was earned with the Lycans and once that happened, an unbreakable bond was forged with their allies. It was the reason why Cedric couldn't serve Dominiq. He had forged an unbreakable bond with me from when we were kids. 

That was not the same for Ronan who grew up away from his family. His loyalty to Dominiq who raised him cost him his blood family who were sworn to protect the rightful king and not the throne. Ronan was no outcast to his family but he didn't want to give them the chance to do so. He kept his distance, leaving the unaired concerns lingering in the vagueness of the situation. Sometimes I felt sorry for Cedric because he loved his younger brother and would have loved to connect with him and talk to him but now, whenever he needed someone to talk to, I was his best option and I never could understand what he was going through entirely because I was not like him.

"She needs to feed." I answered his silent question as he looked at me.

He frowned with concerned as he stared at my eyes. "Your eyes...."

My eyebrows snapped up. "What about my eyes?" 

Cedric turned to one of the many mirrors in the corridor and gestured for me to go and see for myself. When I took a look, I was surprised to see them glowing like the moon at night. My heart lurched to my throat. That had never happened to me before. "What the fuck..."

"Is it because you were with Olivia? What did you do?" Cedric questioned me and I was trying my hardest not to panic.

"We did nothing. We were just talking and..." My voice faded when I recalled how amazing her lips felt on mine and how tantalizing her scent was as it filtered into every pore of my body. I was tempted to taste her and I had to fight the hunger and just let her adjust into this new reality. 

"And?" Cedric prompted impatiently. 

I ran my hand through my hair and took a ragged breath as my eyes began to fade. "I kissed her."

"Did you take her blood?" I could see how frustrated Cedric was though he was trying to hide it from me and I understood that he wanted to protect me but the thousand questions were doing nothing for my sudden uneasiness. 

"No....but I wanted to." I told him truthfully. "The urge was nothing like I had ever experienced. The anticipation of it was raw and I felt entranced by wanting it. This has never happened to me before."

"When was the last time you took blood?" Cedric suddenly placed his hand on my forehead and I shook it away with a nervous chuckle. "You could be nearing the hunger and we just don't know it."

"You were there when I took blood two weeks ago, i***t. The hunger doesn't feel like this. This is something different."

Cedric crossed his arms and gave a little nod. "Then I suggest to talk to mother, explain it to her--"

"Not right now. Her health is still very fragile...but I know of someone." I assured him then sighed and said. "Find out why Tamara and Jaylan have returned to Blackstone--and get an informant to do an investigation on the latest body we found. I have a sinking feeling Verik has something to do with it."

Cedric could tell that I had dismissed the talk about my eyes and Olivia and sighed in defeat. He uncrossed his arms and said. "Verik was never stable. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the rogue we are looking for. He was in that forest with Ronan and the other hounds. I felt his presence through Ronan."

One side of my lips quirked up in a smile. "It's been a while since I saw the pup but he's turned out alright."

"He'll turn out alright once I ground his little ass for the betrayal." Cedric grumbled and I chuckled. 

"He will come around on his own. It doesn't take long until Dominiq finally shows his true colors and if Ronan hasn't seen them till now, he is in for a shock." I said then placed my hands in my sweat pants pockets before I frowned pensively. "Verik's promotion is coming soon. I need an invitation to that private party."

Cedric smiled wickedly. "Alright working on it." Then straightened and looked at the closed door behind me before frowning and saying. "I will go get the kitchen to make Olivia something to eat. In the meantime, try and keep your hands off her until we know what is happening to you. I have never seen you like this. You are always the one in control and I am always the one with the raging hormones, when did the roles change?"

"They changed when I found her." I said as I looked at the door and could still hear her speaking to Damon on the other side. 

She sounded happy and that is how I wanted her to always be. Cedric shook his head as he walked away muttering softly to himself. 

Olivia was causing a fire storm within me and I couldn't control the flames. I wondered how long I was going to be able to withstand it before I was completely consumed. The funny thing was that I couldn't wait for that to happen. I loved this new feeling. It was something that I had never felt before and the feeling wasn't so bad. Her chuckles and happiness rang across the door and my heart stuttered in my chest. All the worry that she had for Damon dissipated, leaving behind happiness and assurance. 

There was only thing remaining for me to do...make her completely mine.