Trained in Blood [Lords of the Expanse 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “I love you as well, my Lady wife,” he murmured, kissing her gently even as he continued to massage her bottom. His hands hadn’t been still once since they had begun or since they’d both flown to the stars. “We should go in for our meal,” he suggested as he licked his lips and let his gaze roam over her face and then down to her breasts bared to the cooling evening air.

  “You’re probably right.” She moved her hands to the ties of her gown and smiled. “Do you want to kiss them before I pack them away?” Seeing indecision on his face she shrugged and packed the girls away. “They feel like they are getting bigger, what do you think?” She still hadn’t moved from him, didn’t want to leave him yet because it felt too good.

  “They are fuller,” he told her softly as he nuzzled the top curves of her breasts as he helped her to finish the ties. “They will continue to get fuller for the next month and then they will fill with what our child needs to grow,” he said as he lifted his face to look into hers.

  “And for some reason that makes me absurdly happy.” Cupping his cheek with her hands she smiled. “You gave me a child, Titan, a little being that depends on me, and on you.” Leaning in she nuzzled against his cheek. “Thank you, Titan, for everything, thank you.”

  “You are more than welcome,” he told her softly. “Just remember that when you give birth to our child and you are not liking me nearly as much.” Letting out a sigh he lifted her up off of him with a groan. “We need to eat,” he told her as he set her back on her feet and stood to tuck his cock back into his pants, much to her dismay.

  “I think I want to be put under hypnosis when our child is born.” She shuddered. “I’ve heard stories about child birth and think that I will want to be one of those weenie women who lets her husband put her in a trance for the children to be born. Yep, that sounds like the right idea to me.”

  “If that is your wish,” he said as he straightened her gown out. “You know I will do anything that you ask, Violet,” he added. Taking her hand he kissed her knuckles lightly. “Come, let’s go and get some food.”

  “I think so, Titan, we will think more of it when we get closer.” Once she was all back to rights she slipped her arm around his arm that he offered and leaned into him with a soft sigh. “You are amazing, Titan.” As they left the little gazebo she grinned. “And we so have to come back here, often.”

  “As often as you wish,” he told her softly, stroking her hand lightly with his fingers. “I’m sure that we will find a great many opportunities to do this. I rather liked the spontaneity of the moment. It was different for me.” He sounded a little stilted and unsure, but his face was relaxed, a good sign.

  “That’s a good thing.” She squeezed his arm and sighed. “It’s nice to be able to just have these moments, don’t you think? To be able to have our own little place to get away from everything?” And to her that was what the little gazebo was.

  Opening the door he ushered her in and followed with a hint of a smile. “We have many such places,” he pointed out. “But I have to admit, I now have a great fondness for the gazebo. And I am sure we will discover many more as well,” he murmured in her ear as they entered the kitchens and were hit with the scents of the foods cooking and being prepared.

  “Of that I am very sure.” She stopped in her tracks and deeply inhaled with a smile. “Oh god.” Her mouth immediately began to water and her stomach growled. “So hungry.” She approached one of the women, leaving Titan standing at the door. “Would you mind terribly if I took a small little plate of whatever that is before dinner?”

  Glancing past the mistress to the Lord, the woman smiled slightly. “Dinner is ready if you’d prefer to sit down and begin now, my Lady,” she said in a quiet tone.

  Moving up behind Violet Titan looked down into her eyes. “Sounds good to me, that way I can do some work afterward and then we can retire early this evening if you wish, my Lady,” he suggested to her.

  “I would like that as well.” She looked to the woman and grinned. “Thank you, for thinking ahead and having dinner ready early.” Again she inhaled. “You are an angel among women if that tastes anywhere near as good as it smells.”

  “We’ll clean up and then be back down, Mavis,” Titan said to the woman as he pulled, literally, Violet away from the kitchen. “Give us ten minutes and we will be right back down,” he told Mavis over his shoulder.

  Violet moved with him and frowned. “I think we will be back in less than ten minutes. I’m a hungry woman, Titan,” she teased him and then danced back away from him. “Come on, love,” she tugged on his hand. “Let’s see if we can make it back in seven minutes instead.”

  “As you say, my Lady wife,” he told her, following behind her at a more sedate pace though he did enjoy the view as she lifted her skirts to climb the stairs quickly. Shaking his head he went up quickly as he wondered if there would ever be a day that she wouldn’t bring joy into his life.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I’m not ready to wake up, Titan. Can’t you tell them that you aren’t going in today?” She had to grin at that fact. It was as if she said the same thing every morning and had for the last two weeks. The stowing her away part was actually far easier than they had even imagined. Slipping past the inspectors had been easier than even Titan had believed. “I think that your child and I both have decided that you’re gonna play hookie.” Her belly was now slightly larger with the swell of their child.

  Titan ran a hand over her hair. “I’m sorry, love, but you need to wake right now,” he told her, his voice carrying urgency. When she opened her eyes to look at him he knew she saw that he was fully clothed and that their room was dark with only the faintest blue lights glowing. Before he could explain…

  “All hands to stations!” blared through the ship before there was a jolt that she recognized as explosive ordnance hitting the shields.

  She rolled out of the bed with wide eyes and fear there. “Titan?” she asked and pulled on his discarded shirt and tugged on his slacks as well and tied the waist band over her big belly. “Titan, what in the world is happening?” She moved to him and placed her hands on his when he reached out to steady her.

  “Remember when I said this was not going to be a fun-and-games mission?” he asked as there was another jolt. “We’re under attack,” he told her quietly. “I need you to get dressed and then one of the guards is going to take you down to the shuttles just in case.” He was not taking chances with her, she recognized that.

  She nodded and stepped into her shoes. Already dressed she came closer to him. “I’m ready, Titan.” The next jolt pitched her into his arms where she hung onto him for a moment. “I love you, Titan, go. We will be safe, love, just take care of yourself and know I can take care of our son and I.”

  Hugging her close to him he kissed her hard and fast even as he was paged to the command deck. “I love you, Violet. Do not let anything happen to you or our son otherwise I will be very unhappy with you.” Kissing her again he stepped back and, taking her arm, led her out to the guard. “Anything happens to her, and your heads will be mounted to my wall,” he warned in a deadly mean tone as he pointed at the two guards. “Be safe, love,” he whispered gently to Violet and then he was gone.

  She moved with the guard from her quarters and toward the lifepod that was already prepped and ready for them, just in case. The floor pitched again and the alarms sounded. Lights flickered and blinked off even as the backups came on. Turning she looked to the guard. “I need a weapon.” Really she didn’t, but if they were going to be boarded she wasn’t going to let anyone close enough to her to possibly hurt her son.

  Sharing a look with the other guard the first pulled his sidearm, checked that it was loaded, and had a round at the ready and then passed it to her without saying a word.

  * * * *

  “What the hell are you doing to my ship?!” Titan demanded as he came onto the command deck, almost catapulted across the space by the last blast hitting their shields.
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  “Syndicate vessel is not taking no for an answer and demanding we stand aside to let them pass. When we denied them again they opened fire. We’ve been drawing them into our space,” the major reported.

  “The ship has crossed the markers, sir!”

  Turning Titan looked at the screens that told him the same. “Then kill that bastard and don’t stop until there is nothing and I do mean nothing left,” he ordered.

  “Fire all tubes!” the major yelled.

  Chapter Seventeen

  She was jostled once more but what got her was when she hit the wall of the hall. Pain exploded in her mind but so, too, did the vision. She saw them boarding and panted. “Tell Titan that they are boarding us.” She gasped. “They brought in a cloaked ship, one of the lower bays.” She was sweating blood and had cut her head open. When the guard didn’t act to move she screamed, “Tell him!”

  * * * *

  “My Lord, we’ve been boarded,” a young lieutenant called across the deck. “They apparently came aboard in a cloaked vessel and…”

  Titan turned from where he was ordering security to the breach. “What?” he demanded, moving across to the man. “What is it?” he asked softly, trying to keep his temper under control.

  “Your Lady wife is in the same bay,” the man whispered in the smallest of voices but had the whole command deck quieting.

  Turning Titan raced out of the command deck and hit the emergency ladders taking them down fast. There was no time for the lifts. Racing down the corridors he raced along as the guards pounded up behind him. Pausing at the doors he signaled them to open them and, damn him, he should have ducked. Gasping he stumbled back and then, spinning slightly, all that he remembered from that moment on was the deck plates coming up to meet his face as he fell face-down.

  Violet was behind the barrels, reloading the weapon and trading off for another. “We should vent the deck.” She only half joked. “If we vent the deck it will shoot them off in…” She stopped when she rose to fire once more. That was when she saw it. She watched as the doors slid open and there stood her husband looking ready to kill.

  There were blasts from rifles, a scuttle of beings, and then silence. Her weapon thrown to the floor she raced for her downed husband and skidded to a stop on her knees before him. “Titan,” she whispered even as she held her hand to the wound on his shoulder. “Titan, don’t you dare die on me. I will hunt you down in the afterlife.”

  “We need to get out of here and to a room, my Lady.” Two of the guards grabbed up their Lord while another helped Violet to her feet. “We’re going to vent this damned floor and get the bastards off our Lord’s ship,” he said as he hustled her to a room they could secure. Inside he connected to the command deck and ordered the blast doors to be blown open and to vent the floor.

  Turning to her the guards hustled Violet from the doors and into the secondary room, shutting the doors once they were past them. A shudder came as the air left the whole floor five minutes after the order, all hands having been evacuated to upper decks.

  Groaning softly Titan struggled to roll over. “Report,” he demanded even though he had no idea where he was or what he’d been doing. He listened with half an ear as he rolled over to his back and then saw Violet. “Vi,” he whispered to her and then seeing the blood on her forehead he was up despite the pressing blackness. Snarling at the guard who immediately dropped his hands he pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right?” he whispered softly as he wavered slightly.

  “Yes.” She pushed at him. “Back on the ground, mister.” She gave angrily, “You nearly gave me a heart attack when you fell and now you’re up again, down!” She growled low. Looking to one of the guards she said, “He needs blood. Do you have bags in here or are you going to offer to feed him?” She couldn’t offer to him. She had lost blood with her head injury and didn’t want to even chance their son. “Come on, people, move.”

  “It’s already closing, love,” he told her, bringing her back to him as he nodded to a guard to find some bags of blood. “Come here, Violet,” he murmured, catching her cheeks in his hands and lightly laving his tongue over her head wound. Slowly and carefully he sealed the wound and pulled back to inspect it. It was closed and it would slowly fade over time. “Come and sit down with me, my Lady wife.” He wasn’t taking no for an answer and just pulled her along with him to a corner, taking the bags of blood from the guard before he slid down to sit.

  “The vision came too late, my Lord, I’m sorry,” she whispered as she snuggled in against him. “I failed you when you needed me most. I’m so sorry. Why did you come down anyway?” she asked suddenly. “They didn’t call for you.”

  “The sensors went off at the unauthorized breach of the outer doors and when we couldn’t figure out why we did a bit of fast deduction,” he told her, setting a bag down and cradling the other. “I have a young lieutenant to promote to the next pay grade I think,” he said. “He told me that it was the bay where you were waiting and I just ran for you yelling for security to meet me there…I think,” he murmured and then with a shrug, stuck the bag in hand to his teeth and drank down the life-giving fluid.

  “The last jolt made me lose my balance and I hit the wall in the corridor outside of the bay.” She spoke quietly even as she watched the men who seemed to be watching them, yet not. “I was slammed with a vision and I screamed for them to call you on the comms but then the door opened and we were in a firefight.” She shuddered. “None of them got out of the bay. The guards killed two of them but first we had been tugged into the bay.” Well she had and the guards came in after her with weapons blazing.

  Dropping the empty bag to the side he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her temple gently. “I wish I’d just gotten there sooner,” he murmured softly as he brushed back some of her hair to see her forehead fully. “I hate that you could have been hurt because the Syndicate is getting too damned cocky for their own good.”

  “They are becoming far more bold than they ever were.” She looked up at him and shook her head. “It’s all right, Titan, it will heal I promise.” She tugged him closer and sighed. “It’s as if they are forgetting just how hard the Vampire Nation can be.” Either that or they knew something that the Vampire Lords didn’t.

  “We may have to remind them,” Titan said with a chill to his voice. “They nearly killed my wife and child. I will hunt all of the bastards down and make each and everyone of them pay for it. I will personally make sure that they all pay for this.”

  “And I will be right there at your side helping.” She knew he was going to try to argue so she simply looked at him and cocked her brow, which made her wince in pain. “Dammit,” she grumbled.

  Kissing her cheek he nuzzled at her soft skin. “When you heal, my Lady wife. Until then you will have to trust me to beat some sense into these moronic humans. When you are well, we will go and find them all and I will let you do as you wish to those that tried to harm you and our child.” It wasn’t just a promise from him to her. It was an oath from a warrior to his soul tie who was as much of a warrior as he was.

  She shivered delightfully and nodded, vengeance cold in her heart. “And I will do just that. No one dares try to harm our child.” There was a brutal honesty to her words. They were spoken so calmly that it showed she was every bit as much a warrior as he. The only difference was she wasn’t born to be a warrior, but had been forced to be one, and she was going to ensure the Syndicate knew just how good she was, before she laid waste to them.

  Kissing her hard, Titan slid his tongue over hers as he held her close. “I love you, Violet,” he whispered against her lips. Pulling back he rubbed his nose to hers briefly and then, picking up the other bag, stuck his teeth through it. Holding her to him he closed his eyes, suddenly looking exhausted before laying his cheek to her hair.

  She adjusted herself so that she was across his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. Soon she was out cold without another word or sound
.

  “My Lord,” the young officer spoke, “it’s early morning on our home world. The Lady is still a new turn and needs rest. We can take her to your rooms so that you can go back to command if you wish?” That reminded Titan that they were still in a battle with the Syndicate ship.

  Lifting a brow at the young man Titan sat holding his gaze until the younger male looked away in discomfort. Young pup thinks to tell me how to conduct business aboard my ship? he thought, shaking his head slightly. When the bag was done he pulled it from his mouth and then lifted Violet in his arms. “Get someone down to the shuttle bay to find out what they can from the ship, tell them to proceed with caution just in case,” he ordered one. The cocky little bastard Titan eyed. “You follow me,” he said. He’d take Violet to their bed and leave the guard with her in the room, the outer room, with the doors to the inner room shut.

  The young guard nodded and his face paled. “Yes, my Lord.” He squeaked. Yes, a grown man, far into his years, squeaked. He did, however, follow on their heels as Titan carried Violet through the ship. Entering their quarters Titan stopped just inside the door. “You will remain stationed on this side of the door and you will not, under any circumstances move from this spot unless the Lady is in direct and immediate bodily harm,” he ordered with a definite bite to his voice. Not waiting for an answer since he knew what it would be, he carried Violet into their rooms and, laying her down, undressed her quickly before tucking her into bed. Kissing her forehead softly he whispered to her and their child before leaving, throwing the guard another warning look. “When she wakes, alert me.”

  “Yes, sir,” the young man said and saluted, a sign of respect and honor. “I will protect her with my life, sir.”

  “Yes, you will,” Titan agreed with a chilly look. Leaving him Titan went to the command deck and getting the status report ordered a full-out attack on the Syndicate ship. He was pissed beyond belief and he wanted someone to die because of it.