Kings and Sirens (The Blood Falls Book 2)

I couldn’t sleep. I let the breeze gently rock my hammock, willing sleep to come, but it didn’t. I watched the sway of the trees, listened to the bugs buzz, my bunkmates snore or moan. After hours of trying I gave up and flicked my light on. My mind was too busy trying to sort and process too many things.

Atsila.

The Salishan.

The Darkness.

I had a reason to be restless, I was just annoyed by it. The warm beer on my nightstand calmed me a little and the book provided some distraction, but my mind kept wandering back to the Salishan hut. The smell.

There was something there that my mind wouldn’t let go…I just didn’t know what.

“Can’t sleep?” A tired sounding Atsila whispered from his hammock.

“Nope.”

“Must be pretty bad if you’re not so exhausted you can’t keep your eyes open.”

My hammock rocked harder as a gust whistled through the trees. “You’re one to talk.”

He chuckled softly. “I had fun yesterday.”

I held my breath because…was Atsila voluntarily acknowledging we slept together?

“In the showers, I mean.”

I smiled at his awkward clarification. “I had a feeling that’s what you meant.”

“And the night before.”

My heart stuttered for a moment. Yes, Atsila, the once and future King, was openly speaking about enjoying himself with me.

“In the archives.”

This time I let out a soft chuckle. “Yes. I knew what you meant.”

I heard rustling and a grunt, and then Atsila stood over me. “Let me in.”

In…my hammock?

“I don’t want to wake the others.”

Okay then. I scooted over and braced as the hammock tilted and sagged lower under his heavy weight. Then his body was beside mine, his arms around me, tucking me in the way he wanted me. We faced each other. His arm under my head, my legs between his, his other arm on my hip. “This is a surprise.”

“You’re awake. I’m awake. Everyone else is asleep,” he whispered. “It’s called being courteous.”

“We could move to the dining tables and whisper over there. You didn’t need to come spoon me in my hammock.” The warmth of his large body felt good against my skin. His scent made me dizzy.

“We’re not spooning. I’d have to flip you around if you wanted to spoon.” His eyes danced as he teased.

“Why does it have to be me? Why don’t you turn around?”

His eyebrows shot up. “You be the big spoon?”

I couldn’t help but to smile back. “I do see the irony.” As I was half his size, even if I spooned him from behind I’d never be the big spoon.

“Besides. I don’t particularly want to talk.”

I froze, held my breath, got a little drunk in the way he looked at me with a combination of heat and need. “Well then. What is it you had in mind? Cuddling each other to sleep?” While I wanted something more physical to satisfy the wet growing between my legs, I’d take a cuddle buddy. No looking that gift horse in the mouth.

“Not cuddling.” He paused. Swallowed long and hard. Licked his luscious lips. “I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. And…I like you, Leena. I can’t pretend I don’t.”

“What about your promise?”

His features froze. Became stone. “I’m not saying anything about my promise. But I know some things now that I didn’t know before. My House is in trouble and you’re here helping us in ways I couldn’t predict. Thank you for that.”

I felt a little guilty that I snuck away, but I kept that to myself.

“You make me feel good. I hope I make you feel good.”

“You do.”

He smiled again. “I enjoy being near you.”

Oh…this was turning into a confession. Warmth filled me up like a little campfire had been lit in my chest. “I enjoy being near you too.”

“I will not make you promises I cannot keep. But I also refuse to hurt you. So I want to be honest.” He struggled through the words. his hand massaging my hip as he spoke. “I want to be with you. I can’t fight it any longer. Don’t want to. For as long as it makes sense.” He swallowed again and met my gaze. “I want you to drink from me.”

Oh… damn. “You’re sure this isn’t the eclipse talking?”

“Oh, the eclipse is definitely talking. But, not like you think.” The hammock swayed in the breeze as Atsila massaged my hip. “I’m not out of my mind. I know exactly what I’m doing. The eclipse is just making it so I can’t bury my desires. It’s making me confront everything.”

Well, that was better than waiting an eternity. It was definitely better than mercy sex under a nearly full moon. “And what is it that you desire?”

“You.” Our gazes locked and I couldn’t breathe. Like taking a full breath would put too much space between us, so I held it instead. His hand began to travel over my body. The curve of my waist, the peak of my shoulder, down my arm and over my thigh. “You’re a tiny little thing. You’re Wren. There are practical things about this that simply do not make sense.”

“I think we proved otherwise at the archives.”

A pleased smile curved his lips. “Perhaps that’s also what convinced me. I can’t pretend it won’t work. It has. It will again.” His giant hands slid up my belly to cup my breasts. “I don’t know what draws me to you, only that it does.”

“The Plane works in mysterious ways.”

“You’re Wren, and yet you feel like part of my family.”

“Not like a sister I hope.” I jabbed his solid chest playfully.

He grimaced. “No. Not like a sister at all. Like…”

Like a lover. He’d come a long way for someone who refused to budge on promises and family obligations. I wouldn’t make him say this, too. I hooked my leg over his. “Like this?”

“Yes,” he growled appreciatively. “Like this.”

“Why is drinking so intimate to the Heida?” For the rest of the samhain it was like soda or wine. A little bit of a treat, but something one might have every day. There were different levels of drinking. Friendly drinking was social. Shared in groups. It made everyone feel good and increased our connectivity.

But then there was intimate drinking. The kind shared with a sexual partner. It was significantly more intense and resulted in incredible orgasms, along with many other side benefits.

“We’re slightly different, as you’ve already noticed. The numbing effect isn’t as strong.”

My tingling nipples reminded me of the novelty of having Atsila’s mouth on my nipples and being able to feel it. “Why is that?”

“Have you seen us? We’re giant beasts who enjoy a little pain. It’s been weakening in our line for generations.”

“What else?” The more we swayed while touching and petting, the hotter I got.

“We live alone most of the year. We still need blood to survive, but we’ve adapted, and this is one of the effects. I suppose it’s both a social and biological change that work together, but by focusing drinking on the most powerful situations, we’re able to get the most out of it, able to make it last longer.”

So the adaptation came with their social isolation and the festivals are part of what make sure they survive. “Do some Heida live with someone, or is everyone always alone?”

With the back of his hand and knuckles, he teased my throat and collarbone, the tips of my nipples through my shirt. “Mates with children often live together. Sometimes lovers can’t let go. It happens.”

“What about when someone marries an outsider?”

“Then they live together. It comes with the vows, I think.” His hand descended between my legs and massaged.

I sucked in a deep breath and arched backward, thrusting my hips forward for more friction. Somewhere in the distance a bird screeched and began to sing a night song. The wind rustled through the trees overhead. It was dark. Just Atsila and me in a cocoon.

“Do you need promises from me?” he whispered against my ear as he pressed kisses to the sensitive skin.

I writhed against his hand. “What kinds of promises? Aren’t the ones you’ve already made complicated enough?”

I felt him smile. “True. But that isn’t the same. What do you want from me, Leena? I’m serious.”

To not have obligations hanging over our heads. To be free to figure this out without pressure. Things I couldn’t make true. So instead I tried for something easier. His eyes twinkled in the dim lights, his face practically part of my own as the sides of the hammock pressed our bodies closer and closer. “Live in the moment. Don’t think about what comes next.”

“I don’t know if I can. I’m not made that way.”

I ran my palm over the stubble on his jaw. “I know that. But try anyway.”

“That’s all?” He devoured my mouth in the dirtiest way.

I gasped for air. “That’s all I need.”

He frowned, leaned back a little, cocked his head as he thought. “Perhaps I’m the one who needs promises. Huh.”

He was adorable when he was confused. “And what promises do you need from me?” I liked the way his stubble scraped at the skin of my hand.

“No, not promises from you. Promises I need to make to us both.” He blinked away his thoughts and focused on me again. The change made my skin tingle from head to toe. “I don’t know what the future holds, but this is special to me. I will protect you, not out of obligation but out of bond. Out of…”

Love. He couldn’t say love.

“And I will have you, and only you, drink from me.” He finished with a nod. The nervous energy washed away. “Take from me, my siren.” He bent his head away, offering me his neck.

A sign of ultimate submission from a Heida male.

It sent a thrill through me to know he was mine. My mouth ached and my fangs tingled, my entire body roaring to life as I scraped them along his skin, rough and salty, bared only to me. I let my tongue trail along his vein, feeling the blood pumping just beneath the surface.

Atsila held himself very still, his breath shallow in anticipation. I didn’t mean to tease him, but I suspected that’s how he felt, coiled tight beside me. No, I was savoring this very special moment. Taking in every detail, every beat of his heart. His body was hard under my hands as I balanced against him in the hammock. One minute we were two bodies pressed together. The next, an electric jolt passed from my lips to his skin as I sank into his vein and then drew his blood into my mouth. It was hot and sweet and laced with so much power it made my toes curl and my eyes roll back in my head.

He sighed with relief and sank into me, holding me tight against him. The power of his Heida blood flooded my veins like fire. My skin heated, my breasts grew heavy, my core throbbed. I ground against him as I sucked and sucked.

And Atsila, well, he moaned softly as I took from him, growing hard against my stomach, but remaining otherwise very still.

Until I licked away and offered myself in return.

His eyes were wild but not terrifyingly so. It was lust and need. He moved with the grace of someone who’d spent many nights in a hammock. Suddenly he was on his back. I straddled his hips as the hammock swayed beneath us. His cock throbbed between my legs and given the heady combination of blood in my system and cosmic alignment, I moved with my own wild abandon, gripping him at his thick base so I could take him inside me.

It took several slow strokes, but then he slid in. Not far. Just enough to give us some relief. He stretched me wide and I had to fight to keep my moans from waking everyone around us.

“That’s right,” he whispered. “Nice and slow.” He drank me in with hooded eyes, his hands soft on my hips. The hammock did half of the work.

From here I could look around at the darkness. Other hammocks swayed gently in the breeze, others rocked like ours. Candles flickered here and there in the lanterns above each station. An owl hooted.

I pulled my blouse over my head and dropped it on the ground. Atsila growled quietly in the back of his throat, his hands sliding up my sides to cup and weigh them in his hands. Tonight I wouldn’t play tricks with his mind. He offered himself to me and I would return the favor. No teasing. No games.

What he saw was me. The real me. He probably didn’t know it—hell I barely understood it myself—but this was important. I was rarely serious long enough to simply be myself in bed. I always went straight to teasing, to the games. It was fun…but it was also easy to hide behind. To keep from feeling too much or letting things get too personal.

But I wanted Atsila to have that part of me. Maybe one day I’d explain it. But not now.

His cock spread me wide, stretching me to the point of pain. With each throb it swelled to fill me completely. I felt every ridge, every vein. He cupped my ass in his big palm while his other hand came to my back, bending me forward. I placed my hand on his bicep and balanced against his shoulder for leverage. Atsila took it as invitation to play with my nipple. Tonguing it until it became hard, then sucking with soft moans that vibrated into my skin.

It felt so good I moved faster, searching for friction, wanting his cock to fill me and press against all the best places.

“You are so soft,” he murmured, hands roaming, lips taking. “I like it, by the way.”

I didn’t know what that meant and I didn’t have time to dwell on it. All I cared about was riding Atsila’s cock. I wanted to do it all night long. If there was an option to stay here forever inside our cocoon, I’d probably take it. Every time he spread me and sank deep inside, a rush hit me. A little dose of feel-good chemicals that lit up my brain and relaxed my body. When his tongue circled my nipple it was like flying and when he nibbled or clamped, I was a rocket headed to space.

Our orgasms came in turns, but I was never satisfied and he was always hard. I finally understood why Daisy and Kuruk could disappear down at the lake for hours only to come back and fall asleep fucking in the hammock.

It wasn’t enough. There was never enough.

Atsila strained beneath me as another orgasm hit. His muscles all went rigid and his head tipped back, neck muscles flexing, shoulder rolling, biceps flexing. He gasped for air when it was over, a dreamy look coming over his features.

“That’s right. Ride me all night long. I’m not going anywhere.” With his eyes closed his fingers worked me over, finding both my clits and rubbing them hot and swollen. I would have sworn he was dozing off except that his hands never stopped moving.

“Get down here,” he murmured, using his hands to urge me forward.

I bent until my breasts crushed against his chest. He smiled and exposed my neck. My toes curled in anticipation. After all my years of drinking this time would be different. He licked but the numbing didn’t come. He scraped his fangs along my skin. Normally I’d barely be able to feel it, thanks to the numbing agent, but now I felt almost all of it.

The anticipation took my breath away.

And then he struck. Fast but gentle. Pain shot through me but was quickly dulled by pleasure. My inner muscles clenched in response. My core squeezed him tight and all those feel-good chemicals doubled and tripled. His powerful Heida blood was fire and power in my veins.

An orgasm rocketed down my spine and spread out through my body like an explosion. An orgasm to beat all orgasms. His cock felt like granite as I rode it frantically. Wave after wave as he sucked, spurring one orgasm on to the next.

I collapsed when he finally licked away. It was like running a full marathon and finally reaching the finish line. Every muscle turned to liquid. My mind drowned in ecstasy.

Atsila turned me away, becoming the big spoon as he surrounded me. “Now we sleep, Siren.” He nuzzled my ear and neck, sighing with relief.