Max turned, his gaze on Emma’s injury. “I’ll move.” The stoic vampire crept up the aisle toward Jordan.
Emma tried to focus on the plush gray seats of the private jet. “Um. Why is everyone squirming? Am I dying?” She lacked the ability to focus. Shock was good. She should be in a lot of pain.
Dage brushed her curls back. “No love, you’re not dying. But you might not like my solution.” His voice softened, while his eyes hardened with purpose.
She tried to roll her eyes, but even that slight movement tugged her stomach into a nauseous swirl. “I am not having sex with you right now, Dage.”
A snort sounded from a few rows up.
Dage grinned, slow and sexy. “Turnabout’s fair play, love.”
“Turnabout?” Why did her head feel so heavy?
“Yes.” A flash of silver sparked. Dage slit the vein in his left wrist. He cupped her head and brought his arm toward her mouth.
“No.” Emma yanked to the side, squirming to get away from him. Oh God, no way. Clarity came with a flash, as did a shrieking pain in her arm.
He held her still, his hand firm. The bloody wrist came at her relentlessly. The wet skin met her lips and she fought a gag, clutching both hands into his arm to push it away. Dage pressed harder, forcing the liquid into her mouth. “Drink Emma, or I’ll plug your nose until you do.”
The king’s strength easily outmatched hers. She opened her mouth to scream, and he took full advantage, shoving more of his wrist inside until her teeth had no choice but to clamp on. Blood dripped down her throat and burned. The thick liquid sizzled like carbonated hot coffee.
A craving for more lit her on fire.
Moaning deep, she sucked with great pulls, her mind spinning with the greatest high imaginable. It was ... heaven. Beyond heaven. Against her will, her jaw slackened. Her body became too heavy to move and her eyelids dropped. She stopped fighting.
Her heartbeat slowed and she barely registered when Dage removed his arm, brushing a gentle kiss to her cheek. “Sleep now, love. You’ll be all better when you awaken.” A soft blanket swished over her, and she snuggled down with a whispered sigh.
She dreamed in color—bright flashes of inspiration and beauty through tunnels of expectation, of history, of the future. Visions flashed into her brain with a rapid staccato—some new, some old.
There was nowhere to hide from one vision that caused her heart to shatter, her mind to scream, her soul to thunder in fury. She’d been asleep for several hours, knowing full well she needed to awaken to keep it from happening. But the darkness won, as always.
The vision opened on a summer dawn, pure sky, a slight tulip-scented breeze with Dage striding toward a white metal building where she worked, a lab of some sorts. She knew without question she was inside. Shadows walked with him, probably his brothers. But this plan, this glimpse into the future was about the king. He looked strong, a smile on his face, those dangerous dimples flashing. Safe.
He nodded, saying something to a shadow as a flash of fire reflected in his eyes. The earth trembled. A cloud of black billowed into the sky where the building had stood.
Death danced around the destruction, and the king fell to his knees. Raw agony ripped across his face, and it was as if Emma could actually see his heart harden and disappear. Gone. Destroyed. His head dropped to his chest.
She came awake with a start, her mouth opened to scream.
“Shh, love, it’s okay.” Dage settled himself more securely around her, his breath whispering against her hair.
Air shot into her lungs and she gulped, trying to quell the rapid beating of her heart. Darkness met her gaze. “Where am I?”
“Colorado. In a residence facility outside Boulder.” He ran a gentle hand over her arm. Her healed arm.
“I slept the whole way? Even from the plane to here?” Her mind spun as she stretched against him. Her body felt fantastic. “Your blood provides a serious whammy.” Too bad her heart ached from the vision.
“Thank you.” He flattened a hand against her tummy. “Tell me about your dream.”
Dread flushed through her. “I don’t remember it.”
“Liar.” The room tilted and she ended up under a vampire. He dropped a gentle kiss on her mouth. “I want to know what frightens you so, love.”
She couldn’t tell him. He’d made no secret of his intent to love and protect her, a path that might destroy him. Past failures already haunted her, and she was a woman who learned from her mistakes. This vision she’d heed. “How is everyone else?”
“Fine.” He settled himself more comfortably at the apex of her legs, and she fought a whimper.
A sudden thought occurred to her. “Why aren’t you reading my mind?”
He lowered his head to run his heated mouth along her neck to nibble on her ear. “You have shields up. Even when you’re asleep.”
Her hands crept down his back to clench his tight ass on their own volition. “Couldn’t you breach my shields?” He’d won their last psychic contest of wills hands down.
“Yes.” His palm spread over a breast before he rolled the nipple between his fingers.
She arched into him, her mind spinning for a moment. “So why didn’t you?”
He pinched and she fought a moan. Then he grasped the back of her thigh and pushed her leg up, opening her for him. “Because I respect your privacy?” His heated palm reached around to clench her hip.
Oh God. “Is that why?”
His hand slid under her ass to squeeze. “No.” He nipped at her jaw until reaching her mouth, sliding his tongue between her lips to tempt her with pure male.
Her head spun when he deepened the kiss and it took a moment to refocus as he began to wander that mouth down to her breasts. “No? What do you mean, no?”
He sighed, raising up until his silver gaze slid through the darkness to pin her in place. “I didn’t breach your mental shields because you’re too fragile right now.”
Fragile? Bullshit. “I’m not fragile.” He needed to learn she was strong enough to protect him, maybe even stand beside him someday. She tried to lower her leg, but his broad hand clasped her thigh and held it in place.
“Yes, you are. You’ve recently been marked and now you’ve been shot. I could damage you if I ripped open your shields.” He sighed. “Though I’d hoped at some point you’d trust me enough to take them down.”
The damn king had a sweetness to him he’d certainly deny. One that she was going to miss. “I’m done talking, Dage.” She reached for him, so full and hard.
He growled low when she took him in hand and began to lightly run her fingernails along his length.
She smiled. “So. Are you going to use this or what?”
Grabbing her hand, he manacled both wrists above her head. “Nice distraction, love. Though I’ve had enough of this bullshit.”
The crass language from the king sent an alert through her system. “Ah, doesn’t duty call? Shouldn’t we get to work?” She tried a tiny struggle, not surprised when he held her in place.
He settled his erection against her core. “The king’s life is about duty, love. You belong to the man.” The nip to her lip nearly stung. “And the man wants to know why you deny what he can feel in your heart.”
She rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to rub against him like a cat in heat. “Talking about yourself in third person is a bad sign, Dage. Nutsville.”
He grinned. “True. Not letting me help is crazy as well. Tell me what you’re running from.”
She couldn’t. Well, she could, but there was no way Dage would allow the visions to alter his life. For once, someone would have to protect the king. And the man.