Finding
the Blood Assassin
Lords
of the Expanse, Book Three
Siren Allure: Erotic Futuristic Sci-Fi Romance, vampires, HEA
Jamison Montague is tired of being called upon to find
people. Some folks just don’t want to be found. Her newest assignment is a
prime example of that. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a lot of choice in the
matter once she gets a read on her target. But what she ends up being pulled
into may very well end not only her career, but her life.
Together this unlikely pair will have to find a way to get
along, for they will all too soon have to depend on one another for everything.
Not only their survival in a deadly game to which they don’t know the rules,
but for their very future and happiness. As danger starts to close in, as their
opponents are revealed, and as their hearts become involved, they will have to
make the hardest choice of all. Fight for what they want, or give in and give
up.
Excerpt
She was moving with the shadows and light. Something big was
going down on the ship, she just didn’t know what. She looked around and mused,
no, not a ship so much as a planetary vessel. The ship was massive. The outside
of the ship was as large as her father’s estate on her homeworld, but it was
also heavily armored and looked ready to start a war. She had slipped into the
vessel on a ruse, her ship cloaked and attached to the outer hull where she was
able to gain access via a little used junction tube. She wondered only briefly
why someone would steal the man from his home and then realized that it was
because of knowledge. Somehow that came quickly to her even as she rounded
another corner on silent feet and weapon drawn. It had to be because the Lord
Kato was a Vampire Lord of high ranking within the Vampire Alliance. He was
also a Warlord, one who went into battle and therefore knew Alliance secrets.
She paused as she walked and opened all her senses.
Frowning, she felt him more than heard him. She felt his anger, and beyond
that, his pain. She was about to pull back and fall back to her ship when a
large hand, his large hand, snaked out and wrapped around her. She fought all
urges to scream, kick, and bite, but instead melted against him.
He was a wounded animal, feral, and she could feel that from
him. When he asked her the question of who she was, she spoke quietly and
honestly. “I am Jamison Montague. I was sent by your Lady Mother to find you.”
She touched the ring which lay between her breasts on a golden chain and added,
“You know my father, but this is not the time or place. Would you mind terribly
removing your hand from my neck so that we can get out of this hellhole before
the alarms I bypassed are found and tripped?”
He looked down at the ring she touched for the briefest of
moments before snarling softly. Despite, or perhaps because of the pounding of
hunger she could feel rushing through him, he loosened his grip. “One mistake,
one wrong move, and I swear on all that I believe in, you won’t know what hit
you. And,” he spoke, his voice low and harsh as if from long disuse, “you ever
mention my mother again—and I don’t care if you are the ruler of the universe—I
will kill you,” he said, sneering.
She didn’t have to be empathic to be able to see the anger
in his words so she wisely and simply nodded. The anger that all but poured off
of him touching that emotional part of her that housed the fight or flight
desire. “All right, we move with the shadows toward my ship. It is hidden right
now from the radar and view thanks to a very nice experimental cloak that will
be placed on the Warships soon.” How she got such technology was her secret of
course. “No mistakes, no wrong moves. I was sent by her, but as soon as I
touched your ring I knew I needed to come for you.” It was the truth. She felt
it in the very core of her body when she touched that ring that she had to save
him not for his house, but for his sanity.
“Come on.” Again in a whispered sound, she went to move from
him and looked down at the hand he still held to her arm. “You need to let me
go, my lord.”
Staring at her a moment longer, he let his hand drop. “I’m
not a lord,” he muttered. Moved away from her, he began pulling the shadows in
deeper around him as he headed for her ship. He wasn’t very happy about her
news that his mother had sent her to find him. Of all people, he couldn’t
believe the gall of that woman. She couldn’t just be happy fucking with his
formative years, now she had the need to stick her bloody nose where it was
definitely not wanted.
A soft sound had him stopping and waiting until the guard
came by, and in one motion, Raven slit his throat. Catching the body hefted him
up onto a crate, folding him in such a manner to avoid detection for a time.
Glancing back, he glared at the female, a female that shouldn’t be there. No
one should be there for him, as it was against the laws of conduct of the
Alliance if they found out. Well, thankfully, it wouldn’t be his head on the
block.
She understood his anger, the need to kill. Hell, she was in
a killing rage after touching his signet ring and feeling only the smallest
measure of the torture he was put through. It was only two more turns before
they were on her small vessel. Moving quickly, she pointed to the guest room.
“You can bunk in there.” She wasn’t going to tell him he had to leave her
because she damn well knew better, so instead she pulled the pillow from the
copilot’s chair. “Or have a seat. This might be a bumpy ride.” Because she had
to drop the cloak in order to activate the faster-than-light engines and in
that few minutes, they would be blazingly visible and vulnerable.
He eased into the copilot’s seat and settled down gingerly.
“Do what needs to be done,” he snapped at her softly, barely keeping a leash on
his temper. They would be stuck in the small craft for a time together, and she
was glad to see him reining it in. While he could undoubtedly fly it easily, she
knew that he was exhausted, beyond exhausted given the glimpse she’d had into
the hell he’d lived.
She didn’t even think about what she was doing but tugged
out the small cooler drawer and pointed. “I stocked up. Feed before you pass
out,” she said without even looking at him. All her attention was on getting
them ready and out of there. Using the maneuvering thrusters only, she pulled
them away from the massive ship and toward open space. When she saw he hadn’t
touched the blood, she simply held out her arm. “I didn’t poison the blood, but
if you would feel better, drink from the vein.” While she waited on the
countdown before disengaging the cloak, she grabbed a bag of blood herself and
snapped it on her teeth while she waited for him to make his choice.
“Thank you, no,” he murmured, seeming to keep one eye on her
and the other where they were going. Sitting back farther in the chair, he
shifted slightly but stiffly. “Just concentrate on where you are going. I’d
really prefer not to die in a horrifyingly fiery accident.”
Paranormal Romance Author Honor James
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