Raven's Blood Read online

Chapter Six

  The meeting definitely took longer than Connor had planned, but he wasn’t terribly surprised. Simon had obviously encouraged some of the others to argue in favor of killing Raven. Connor couldn’t help but wonder if Simon would be making the same argument if Connor had offered to share her. Simon likely would jump at the chance. In some ways, Connor couldn’t blame him. Her blood was like nothing he’d ever tasted. Hours later, he was still feeling a little buzzed from it. He was annoyed at himself for feeling possessive after just one taste. Not that he would have passed her around. He did have some morals.

  What pissed him off most about Simon’s arguments was the fact that he was pretty sure Simon wouldn’t kill Raven, anyway. He’d known Simon most of his life. Si had no problem killing people he saw as a threat, but he was smart enough to know Raven posed very little threat with the collar on. She could kill him and cut his arm off so she could leave with the collar still on. Simon would kill her without hesitation if she did that, but for now, she hadn’t done anything that could be perceived as a threat. Simon was just trying to create problems for Connor and doing a damn good job of it.

  Ian was another story. He was angry and bitter. He hated humans, and Connor was pretty sure Ian really did want to kill Raven. Even though she wasn’t human, Ian likely believed her loyalty to them was just as bad.

  Simon and Ian led the group that wanted Connor to step down as leader of their territory. Ian’s reasons were obvious. He’d lost his wife and daughter, both slaughtered by humans. He wanted to destroy every remaining human settlement as part of his revenge.

  Those following Simon and Ian had their own reasons. Some had reasoning marred by events from their past. Others just had cruel streaks and didn’t like Connor’s rules regarding the treatment of humans, especially slaves. Under the laws governing them, they could keep human slaves for blood. The laws were hazy when it came to how humans were supposed to be treated, leaving it up to the leaders of localities to impose their own standards. Connor had stricter rules, making it nearly impossible to keep a human slave. In fact, there weren’t currently any slaves in his territory. They had plenty of willing donors. He knew in some areas that wasn’t the case and people had to keep slaves to survive.

  Connor still wasn’t sure why Simon had turned on him and sided with Ian, but it was becoming a bigger pain in the ass every day.

  Shelby and Carla had taken the nymph upstairs as the meeting was breaking up. He’d done his best to avoid looking at her as they’d warned him not to leave that room because of the collar’s range. The collar was another huge pain in his ass. Before heading upstairs, he decided to grab a bag of blood from the kitchen, so he extended the collar’s range further. Normally, he wouldn’t need to feed this soon, but he needed to be really full if he was going to resist the temptation of Raven’s blood. Pouring blood into a glass, he drank it cold. Admittedly, blood never tasted as good from a bag, but many human donors were squeamish about the fangs. There were some who donated on a personal level, but Connor tried to steer clear of them. Those donors also tended to want sex.

  After draining the glass, he made his way upstairs to find the nymph in his bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed, wringing her hands. Dressed in a baggy shirt and leggings, her bare feet were tucked under her legs. She looked vulnerable and young, a realization that made him feel like a total prick for being turned on by her.

  With a curse, he grabbed clean boxers and headed into the bathroom to shower. It seemed like a smart idea to relieve some tension before going to bed. Still, his own hand didn’t seem very appealing at the moment. Instead, he cleaned the sweat off his body and then turned off the hot water, hoping a cold shower would take the edge off his arousal.

  After toweling off, he slipped on clean boxers. Normally, he slept naked, but that would probably freak the nymph out.

  She was still in the same position when he returned to the room.

  “Did they convince you to kill me?” she asked calmly.

  Grabbing the phone from the pocket of his discarded pants, he laid on the bed, crossing his legs at his ankles and watched Raven scoot as far as she could to the opposite end of the bed. “Why would I kill such a lovely prize?” he asked even though he felt like an ass for saying it. Clicking an app on his phone, he turned the television on and selected a movie. They were connected to the world through the internet now, so he could watch any show he wanted, but he still preferred really old movies. “I’m not going to kill you, Raven,” he tried to reassure her. “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

  She just stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.

  “I’m tired,” he said.

  “What does that have to do with my bodily functions?” she asked.

  “I’m planning to tie you to the bed before I doze off,” he explained.

  She jumped up from the bed and edged toward the door. Connor made no move to go after her, simply watched her. “Did you think I was going to leave you free to plunge a stake through my heart while I slept?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  She shook her head and sighed. Her shoulders slumped, and he wasn’t sure if the action reflected defeat or her own weariness. “I guess I wouldn’t trust you if the situation was reversed.”

  He let out a humorless laugh. “You don’t trust me, and if the situation was reversed, you’d have killed me.”

  She didn’t deny that fact. “I’m only alive because I’m a good food source.” She sat back down on the bed. “I don’t need to go to the bathroom.”

  He nodded. “Are you going to sleep in that?”

  She shrugged.

  “Then lie down,” he said as he rummaged through one of his drawers until he found the silk scarves. Looping them around her wrists, he secured them to the headboard. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable way to sleep, but he didn’t have any other options. Using the scarves instead of ropes made him feel a little less like a bastard. At least, they wouldn’t cut into her delicate wrists. It also wasn’t the most secure method of tying her up, but he couldn’t bring himself to do worse.

  “Why do I have to share a bed with you?” she asked, obviously on the verge of tears.

  “I only have one bed. I’ll look into getting a room set up for you tomorrow. I need a bed and good locks for the door and window. Once I have a bedroom I can keep you locked in, I won’t have to tie you to the bed.” He wasn’t sure why he had the sudden desire to tease her. “That is, unless you ask me to tie you to my bed.”

  Her gasp made him laugh.

  “Relax and enjoy the movie,” he suggested, pointing to the television. It was a weakness he’d carried over from childhood; he couldn’t sleep without some noise in the room. If it was silent, he spent the entire time alert to every sound and worrying someone was coming to hurt him. Ironically, he now had someone in his bed who probably did want to hurt him.

  He found himself laughing at that thought.

  “What’s so funny?” Raven demanded testily.

  He shook his head. “Not so much funny as ironic. Sweet dreams, Raven. Hope they don’t all involve my death.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said sweetly, “I’m sure some will just involve your castration.”

  He couldn’t help it, he laughed even harder.