Primal Kill (The Order of Vampires #5)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

“ T he visions are making me insane!” Darius paced about the cavernous room lit only by the flames of the crackling fire and candles scattered throughout. Lumira’s lithe body, ensconced in snowy silks, stretched across the chaise as she watched him.

“Darling, stop prowling. You’re worrying for nothing. If she’s immortal, you’ll have plenty of time to claim her.” The Luna trailed an inviting hand over the ancient furs that draped to the floor. “Come sit with me. Let me distract you from your doubts.”

Darius studied the beloved Luna, her beauty as familiar and comforting as her scent. Her nurturing nature called to him but was not enough to distract him from more pressing preoccupations like finding his mate.

The visions had him confused and restless, crawling out of his skin with a sense of urgency, while an order from his infuriating brother demanded he stay put. Lumira, understanding more than anyone how bullheaded their Alpha could be, desired to put Darius at ease, but he didn’t want distractions. He wanted to find his mate and claim her so his life could get back to normal.

“Darius, darling, your frustration comes at an unnecessary cost. Come here.”

Lumira was not simply a female of the pack. She was also the mate of his eldest brother, Evander. As mate to the Alpha, she served as Evander’s equal. There could only be one alpha and only one luna.

Despite his body’s urges, his mind was divided, torn between the desire to please the Luna and the need to claim his mate. Drawn by her enchanting invitation, he drifted closer to the chaise. Her white blonde hair draped over the fur temptingly, and his fingers itched to wrap the silken weight around his hands.

Lumira lifted an arm, her dainty nails delicately curling through the air as she beckoned him closer. “Sit with me. I’ll tell you a story, and you can comfort me while your brother’s away on the hunt.”

He should have gone with his pack brothers, but he was too angry to bear Evander’s arrogance. Their infuriating stubbornness had sentenced him to yet another winter without his mate.

“My mate is out there and she’s upset. I sense her fear and worry, but I can’t reach her. She’s distraught, and for what purpose? I’m here and prepared to go to her. If she’s in danger, I could protect her. But the others?—”

“Hush.” She pulled back the silk draped over her legs, revealing a long expanse of lush, ivory flesh. “You’re worked up, and that helps nothing.”

He lowered to the chaise and dragged his hands through his black hair, groaning in frustration. “They should be relieved to have another female.”

“Darius, your brothers are creatures of habit.” Her sharp nails teased the exposed skin around his collar. “They hunt and mate. Right now, with the way things have been, feeding is harder than ever. Technology limits us, and we must make due. We cannot risk others discovering our secrets. You must trust your Alpha and heed his call for patience. Evander knows what is best.”

All of his life, Darius believed that was true. He trusted his family and dutifully followed Evander wherever he led, as did his other brothers, Atticus and Emmerich. But this time was different.

Instinct pulled him in another direction while his loyalty held him here. His inability to stray from the pack left him aching for his mate. Without their approval, he could only endure the agony of knowing she was also suffering. His divided loyalties were tearing him in two.

“If he’d at least let me answer her.” His head pounded .

“You know that’s not how this works.” She raked her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to rest on her full breasts.

She was softening, her milk no longer as fragrant as it had been a week ago. Last spring, when she’d given birth to a small litter, she’d been radiant and full of life. Now, the whelps were able to sleep on their own, and Evander insisted she no longer coddle the pups. Darius sensed she mourned the loss of their constant presence and needed comfort.

She pulled his hand to her chest to cup her breast. He massaged gently through the layers of silk as she combed her fingers through his thick hair. A soft moan slipped past her lips, affirming his touch was a means of calming her discomfort rather than a means to satisfy his carnal needs.

“Winter will come early this year,” she said, voice soft and husky as her warm breath teased. “You can hear the cold approaching when the westward winds whine through the trees, and we can see it in the leaves. Perhaps your mate will be easier to find in the spring.”

“Perhaps.” He hoped that was the case. “When Evander was called to you, did you sense him trying to find you?”

She slouched lower and parted her thighs, lacing her fingers with his and pressing his hand against her apex. “Not at first, but over time we found our mental link. From there our connection only grew. By the time your brother came to me, we were already in love. ”

“So, there was no hesitation on your part?” He harbored fears that his mate would reject him.

“There is no force stronger than a wolf’s imprint. It’s greater than gravity and consumes us until there is no other loyalty besides that to our mate.”

Gravity was a good comparison. But while gravity pushed them into the earth, an imprint pulled him toward his mate. “It’s definitely stronger than gravity.”

“The fact that you’re able to resist the pull tells me it’s still early. Over time, the call will grow until it’s all you can feel. I was anxious for Evander’s claim. Anxious to meet all of you. But he was beyond reason when he finally found me. Ravenous and resolute, as if he held the pressure of all the planets on his shoulders and would not be right until our bodies aligned.”

Darius dutifully lowered to the floor when she nudged him, kneeling at her feet and opening her knees. Aware of what she wanted, he pressed a kiss on her soft flesh and traced his tongue higher.

Lumira’s fingers tightened in his hair, drawing his mouth to her honeyed lips. “Do you know the story of the raven’s red leaf?” She eased back and moaned when he licked inside of her.

“Yes.” He rasped, nuzzling closer. He took his time savoring her rich flavor as he swirled his tongue through her delicate folds.

Stretching her arms overhead, she sighed. “Perhaps you need to hear it again. ”

He moaned in agreement, his focus now on her pleasure.

“You see, when the Norse gods grew tired of man’s wars, they left a gift.” She stroked said gift down his arm. “The pelts were fit for heroes. The gods wanted to end the wars of man. But when the pelts were discovered, it was by a corrupt father and his trusting son, not the brave warriors the gods had hoped for.”

She gasped, rolling her hips, as he closed his lips around her sensitive pearl.

Her legs delicately quivered as she continued the story in a breathy rasp, “The father and son donned the pelts and transformed into wolves. A killing spree ensued. The father, easily intoxicated by power, led the rampage until there seemed no one left. Such greed for power corrupted his mind, and the father eventually attacked the son—his only heir—out of fear that the boy might usurp him as pack leader. But the son got away. Nevertheless, the father’s behavior angered the gods.”

She shuddered through a delicate release. Once the tremors subsided, she guided him from the floor and directed him to the chaise, loosening his belt so she could fist his length. Her slender fingers closed around him, firmly stroking, and he sucked in a deep breath, holding his arms at his side.

“The lethal wound should have killed the son, but the gods took pity on the boy as he lay bleeding on the forest floor, fur matted and whimpering in pain. Desperately, he howled at the heavens for mercy. Unlike the father, the gods saw goodness in his eyes and cause for redemption in his heart.”

Straddling his hips, she lifted and slowly teased his engorged length against her sex. When he reached for her, she caught his wrist in an unbreakable grip, a stern warning flashing in her eyes. He sank back into the chaise, surrendering his control and balling his fists at his side so she might use his body as she pleased.

The Luna belonged to all of them, but their touch must be invited. They must never assume what was in her heart.

“The gods sent a kind raven with a gift,” she said, releasing his muscled arms.

Darius sucked in a sharp breath as she took his length inside of her to the hilt. Slick heat dragged along his shaft, squeezing him like a glove as the tension in his back loosened.

Lumira rode him at a leisurely canter, her hypnotic beauty mesmerizing. No matter how often he saw her this way, her devotion to her personal pleasure always left him in awe. She was a stunning creature, unapologetically confident and graceful in every move.

“When the raven found the boy, it gave him the crimson leaf spelled with the highest powers. The magical leaf could save him, but if he wanted to use the spelled leaf, he first needed to kill his father and undo the gods’ mistake.”

Her lashes lowered as she moaned, her long fingers trailing over her breasts. Folds of silk shifted in an entrancing tease as his gaze fixed on her chest. The peaks of her usually pale, peach nipple flashed engorged and dark, like the inner petals of a rose.

“The son wanted to survive and, therefore, promised whatever the raven asked of him.”

Her self-exploring touch trailed to the long column of her throat. Darius’s vision narrowed on her breasts as his lashes lowered. He ached to hold her hips but would not violate her command unless invited to touch her body.

“The boy was young and naive and didn’t fully understand the laws of nature. The red leaf was made of blood magic, the darkest, most powerful black sorcery drawn from the dead and dying. Blood magick is sewn by the hands of mages and comes at an inescapable cost—only death can pay for life.”

She leaned forward, riding him faster. Her claws extended, slashing through his leather shirt as she gasped in pleasure. Her pale blonde hair formed a curtain that blocked the glow of firelight, and their breath mingled. His fists remained locked at his sides despite the agonizing temptation to steal control from her.

“There was great pain,” she said, exposing his chest and pressing the sharp point of her claw over his heart. “The bird used its beak to pack the wound with the magick red leaf, but the boy screamed and shivered, a great fever taking hold of his senses. When the wound was sealed with a mixture of wine and mud, his bones started to pop and break. Fur became flesh once more, and the son’s body was transformed back into that of a man.”

Darius understood the son’s consequences all too well. The raven’s spell had lasted generations, carried through their lineage, and gifted them with great power and an even greater responsibility.

She ripped the opening of his shirt wider, exposing the smooth flesh of his hard chest and digging her claw into the muscle, exactly where the raven had scored the boy. Darius grunted and gritted his teeth but permitted the pain as she dragged her claw over his flesh, firm enough to raise the skin and leave a mark.

“We are of the magick , Darius. We are the chosen. But we are not the gods. We live and breathe because of their mercy, eternally indebted to them for our lives.” She shouldered out of her gowns. Firelight illuminated the lily-white flesh of her full breasts. “There remains a price for our salvation that must be paid, or we risk angering the gods.”

Her head tipped back, her elongated neck flexing as she bared her fangs. Silver hair shifted behind her shoulders as her human ears transformed into points, softening at the tips with snowy white fur.

Lips parted, she gazed down at him, her tiny fangs poking past the fullness of her lush mouth. “What is the price, Darius? ”

He flexed his hips, shoving his length as deep as possible into her clenched heat. These tedious lessons irritated him. Just once he’d like to have control and take her as he wanted.

Her palm planted firmly on his muscled chest as she gripped his jaw, angling his face so he looked her in the eye. “Answer me.”

His molars locked. “Blood.”

“Yes,” she panted, riding him faster now. “Blood.” Her nail slashed over his chest, opening his flesh exactly where the boy from the story had suffered the lethal wound.

Warmth seeped down his chest and torso, spreading to where their bodies met, trickling onto the sacred furs where ancients’ blood had spilled before.

“Lumira…” His seed rose, and his veins tightened as he pumped his hips harder. He spoke the ritual words she needed to hear, “Will you accept my gift?”

“Yes, Darius,” she moaned his name, rolling her hips as her hands dragged through his blood. “I accept your gift.”

Their bodies arched and tensed. His seed rushed forward, pumping into her sacred womb. She rode out his release, taking the pleasure to a point of torture, never slowing until she milked him dry. Then she leaned forward, drenching her robes as she licked at the blood she’d spilled.

Every point of contact brought a twisted form of ecstasy. His body was hers. He was there to serve her, as were his brothers so that she could produce another litter and replenish their dying line.

The recent cubs had been a blessing. The pups had Evander’s dark hair and piercing white eyes. But they needed another litter to diversify the breed. He was duty-bound to serve her and did so faithfully, yet deep in his heart, Darius knew the next litter would not be of his loins.

The door opened, and Lumira lifted her head, her long silver hair wet at the tips from his blood, her body still anchored to Darius’s as his brother—the Alpha—stepped into the room.

“Darling,” she purred, her welcoming stare set on Evander as his hulking body filled the door. “I’ve missed you.”

Darius’s cock twitched possessively, deep inside her heat. Dogs were loyal, but they were also known to stray, so no shock registered in the Alpha’s face when he found them this way.

No matter how many times Darius or the other brothers of the pack mated with the Luna, the Alpha’s territorial claim on her would not be undone. On the contrary, the intimate moments Darius shared with Lumira only emphasized how much he wanted a mate of his own—but his claim on his mate would never be uniquely his because that was not how the curse worked.

Their line was endangered, and they were duty-bound to share. It was the cost of their survival, the price the father’s son bartered with the raven to maintain the gift bestowed by the gods.

Lumira slid off of Darius’s body, and he sucked in a breath at the sharp sense of detachment. It often ended this way. The Luna took from all of them, as was her duty, but her heart only belonged to Evander.

Darius tucked himself away and righted his clothes, discretely watching the exchange of affection at the door. Lumira pressed her body to Evander’s and kissed him deeply.

The scent of blood and mud clung to his brother’s skin, still fresh from the hunt. Evander’s focus shifted into a narrow glare, pinning Darius in place.

Darius dropped his gaze, unsure if that hard stare was a challenge or a threat or merely his brother’s lingering displeasure over their earlier disagreement.

“You should not indulge him when he avoids his duties,” the Alpha told the Luna, tightening his fist in the tempting hair Darius was never permitted to touch.

She merely purred and nuzzled against her mate. “Be patient with your brother, Evander.”

Although they used the term brothers, their lines were not as closely wound. They each came from different fathers. Their brotherhood was merely the result of belonging to the same pack, a pack that Evander ran.

Releasing Lumira, the Alpha crossed the room to warm his legs by the fire. “This is why you missed the hunt?”

Every instinct told Darius not to snap, though that was exactly what he felt like doing. “I needed time to think.”

“You mean mope.”

“Be gentle with him, Evander. He’s hurting for his mate.” As Lumira lay a delicate hand on the Alpha’s thickly muscled arm, he noticeably calmed. Tucking a silver strand of hair behind her angular ears, he paused to examine the blood that still dampened the tips. “Did you feed?”

“I did.” He brushed a thumb under her lip, and she playfully bit at his finger. “But I’m far from satisfied, my love. Come. Finish what Darius started.”

It had been several days since Darius voiced his concerns for his mate when Evander minimized any sense of urgency and postponed his plans of finding and claiming her. After that explosive confrontation, Darius entertained the idea of breaking from the pack, a thought that earned him the thrashing of a lifetime when his brothers discovered his intentions.

They were one. As such, their thoughts, as well as other things, were often shared regardless of intention. The weight of their broken trust shrouded them now, and Evander watched him with a shrewd, distrustful glare.

“You will have your mate when the time is right, Darius. I look forward to taking my time with her as she learns the ways of our pack.”

Darius inwardly seethed. The intended threat left him panting with territorial rage, but he could not challenge the Alpha .

Yes, his mate would essentially belong to all of them. His brothers would know her intimately. It was their way. More than a custom. Deeper than tradition. Their magick, which traced back to the first gods, relied on keeping their endangered line alive. But he was experiencing difficulty accepting such traditions when he had yet to have her.

She was, after all, his.

“It’s not a threat,” Evander said, easily reading his displeasure. “It’s a promise—one made to the gods, one you will uphold.”

Evander’s forefathers’ ascension had been stolen from the powerful ancestors of the first boy, the son maimed by his father and saved by the spelled red leaf brought by the raven. The sacred pelts, divined of the strongest sorcery, still existed today and were the pack’s greatest treasure. They were duty-bound to the magick , for it was the root of all their power, and without it, their line would die.

Those who challenged the pack in prior generations lost their lives for such treason. Evander’s ancient line could be traced back to 800 AD, to a time when feudalism reigned and upheaval was greatly monitored by the emerging role of the church. But his family was not the first to rule. Authority had come to their pack through force, but power was a boon he would never voluntarily surrender. Therefore, obedience was required when it came to tradition, and Evander would never see it otherwise .

The first boy’s rule lasted nearly two thousand years and was then passed down to his heirs for several generations. His line ruled long before the coming of Christ, the patriarch of Abraham, or the birth of the Buddha. And while power had shifted hands, those sacred vows could never be undone—not without great consequence.

Only during the blood moon could the spell be lifted enough for power to exchange lines, and only at the exact moment when the Earth passed directly between the sun and the moon, causing a brief but total lunar eclipse. In those passing moments, when the blood moon falls under the planet’s darkest shadow and celestial bodies align, astronomical power is at its strongest.

An eclipse was coming. Darius sensed Evander’s grip tightening on the reigns as a precaution to hold onto his power. These were dangerous thoughts Darius should not entertain, no matter how true.

While their rich and detailed history was important, obsession over such matters often triggered suspicions of power shifts. Which was why there could be no secrets among the pack. Evander ensured he understood that last week when he beat him for the mere thought of disobedience.

There was no separating. Survival of their line depended on tribalism that went far deeper than brotherhood. Their power required symbiotic harmony and disunity would not be tolerated.

Just as the Luna was required to take each of Evander’s brothers into her bed, Darius’s mate would be expected to do the same. Such pack loyalty could not be broken. The blood moon was the only way a brother could separate from the clan—but it was more likely for the pack to thin by death.

Should Evander suspect straying or treason, he would not hesitate to end Darius’s life to ensure his reign was secure. Therefore, if Darius wanted to find his mate, he needed Evander’s approval, which was not forthcoming.

“You may go now, Darius. But do not go far.”

Lumira stripped Evander of his leather and weapons, then lowered to her knees, seeing to the Alpha’s pleasure. Unlike the rest of them, Evander was permitted to touch the Luna however he pleased. Her body belonged to him, whereas the rest of the pack was duty-bound to serve the Luna.

Adherence to the Alpha’s command wasn’t necessarily a choice or matter of will. The link of brothers was wound tight at birth. It grew with them, the way tree roots interlocked into one co-dependent system underground.

Darius’s obedience was written into his bones, his soul sewn to the one and only Alpha.

Only when the shadow passed, and he could clearly see his way to his mate, would he be able to go to her. He needed his brothers’ tracking skills to find her, which was why they needed to move in harmony, together, as a pack, regardless of his impatience to leave without them.

Evander cocked his head, and the Luna stilled, her attention shifting from her duties as she looked back at Darius in fear. His unconscious thoughts were going to get him beat again.

“I don’t trust you,” Evander admitted, his sharp gaze penetrating deep into his mind.

Darius couldn’t challenge the Alpha’s intuition because, at the moment, he was having a hard time trusting himself. Rather than respond with empty reassurance, Darius stole one last glimpse of Lumira. “Goodnight, sweet Luna.”

“Goodnight, Darius.” Her gaze softened as she turned her attention back to the alpha.

As he left the cavernous bedroom, the wind whistled against the stone walls. Ancient ironwork sealed every cut window pane in the gaping hall, but this high up in the Scandinavian Alps, the cold could be vicious. The metallic bite in the air promised they would see snow soon.

Winters in the north were treacherous. Those long, cold months were often passed in the castle once the doors became buried by snow and the hinges encased by ice.

The locals knew the folklore, and while some assumed what they were, very few believed the truth. To most, they were a wealthy band of brothers with eccentric tastes for old-world charm.

Their reclusive way of life was a matter of survival. Privacy was paramount to their species. Their kind could live more than two thousand years, which was why they rarely interacted with the townsfolk, only went out at night, and often changed form for hunts.

Darius traveled down the stone stairwell, taking the solid steps two at a time. The booming voices of his other brothers echoed from the great room, and he figured he should check in with them since he missed the hunt.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to join the party,” Emmerich greeted. “You missed a great hunt.” He tossed a warm shank of freshly roasted meat still on the bone at him.

Darius caught it against his blood-stained chest. “Thanks.”

Starved, he took a bite and settled onto the bench seat beside Atticus. A large fire blazed in the cavernous hearth as more meat roasted over the flame.

Emmerich sniffed the air. “I guess it wasn’t a wasted night after all. You smell like the Luna.”

It didn’t surprise him that his brothers could smell Lumira on his skin. Average wolves could scent objects from two thousand paces away and hear up to six miles, but shadow-wolves weren’t average. Their senses went much further, and their possessive nature often got the better of them.

Of course, they recognized the scent of the Luna. The desire to get closer to her was a shared curse the entire pack suffered, and any attention from Lumira was an enviable gift. She was the great light to their shadowed existence.

“Did you get a lecture, little brother,” Emmerich teased. “It smells like it was a good one.”

Atticus chuckled. “She does love to talk.”

Aside from her subservient role with Evander, Darius wasn’t sure what sort of dynamic the Luna shared with the others. He’d only ever witnessed her intimacy with his brothers on the nights of the blood moon, a night when they all shared her at once with the single goal of getting her pregnant.

It was no accident that such a celebration took place on the night the Alpha was most vulnerable. The Luna was an irresistible temptation to all of them. Evander knew this and used her charms to his advantage—the wild, bacchanalian tradition was how his family maintained power for so long.

Darius reached for a dinner roll. “It doesn’t matter. She’s with Evander now.”

“You sound jealous,” Emmerich teased, guzzling back a dark blend of port.

“Not at all. He has every right.”

His brother’s pale eyebrow arched over one eye as he smirked. “You sure about that?”

“Leave him alone, Rick.”

“How ‘bout you shut the fuck up, Atticus.” He turned his shrewd gaze back to Darius. “Lately, you’ve been harboring some dark thoughts. Maybe you need another thrashing to remember your place. ”

“Enough.” Atticus stood and collected his plate, piling it with napkins and bones. “The winds have turned. There will be snow by the end of the month. It’s too dangerous to go look for your mate now, but I’ll go with you as soon as the weather breaks.”

“There’s still time to get out,” Darius argued.

“Out, maybe, but you’ll never make it back in time. You still don’t know where she is.”

Emmerich tossed a cleaned bone onto the pile. “Sounds to me like she doesn’t want to be found.”

“You don’t know that,” Darius challenged, despite his own fears that his brother may be right.

Atticus, the ever-present voice of calm and reason, clamped a staying hand on his shoulder. “Tradition requires the pack to meet her within the first moon phase of your mating. Without us, the imprinting won’t be as strong. Trust that it’s in your best interest—and hers—to wait until we can all be present.”

Because they all intended to claim their rights. “I know what tradition requires.”

“Then you know why we have to wait. Lumira needs more time to recover from the last litter before she can travel. You’ll want her there to answer your female’s questions in case anything goes wrong.”

The females kept them alive during the long winters. Their blood carried healing powers that slowed time, but after giving birth, their offerings were limited .

“If we found my mate, we wouldn’t need to survive on Lumira’s blood alone.”

“Had some human blood tonight.” Emmerich licked his fingers. “She was a fighter.”

“You’re disgusting,” Atticus remarked. “Darius is right. We need to find his mate soon, whoever she is. She belongs with us. We’re indebted to the gods to hunt and protect her so that our line can survive.”

“So fucking dramatic.” Emmerich stood, leaving his pile of bones scattered across the thick slab of granite. “While you two are up all night braiding each other’s hair, I’ll be sleeping soundly in my bed, thinking of how I made that brunette scream.”

As soon as Emmerich left the great hall, Atticus muttered, “He’s an animal.”

“We all are.”