Page 56 of Blood Ties (City of Blood #1)

Elina

“As sweet as this long overdue reunion is, we need to go.” I turn my head toward the voice and Marcus is standing beside Jack. I turn in Bash’s arms, bowing my head slightly to my new king.

“Re Marcus. Thank you so much for coming here, for helping rescue me.” I’m so overwhelmed with how quickly everything has happened. I went from helpless human captive to rescued vampire in only a few hours. My head is swimming with everything I need to absorb and adjust to.

Stepping forward, he takes my trembling hands in his large steady ones. “You are our family now. Let’s go. We didn’t get everyone and I need to hear what has happened.” He gives me a steadying look. “You’re safe.”

None of the men and women surrounding me in the street, the army that came to rescue me, can fathom how impactful those words are, how crucial they are now.

I reach out and grab Bash’s hand as we start the procession back to the cathedral, feeling better than I have in weeks but also terrified that Nicolas is still out there somewhere, ready to regroup and come back for me.

A few hours later, I have told Marcus, Bash, Sarah, and Jack everything that happened in that house.

The fury radiating off of my friends is like a physical presence in the room with us.

The deep well of sadness that I can feel from Bash makes me wish I could shield him from the details, but I know that this information may be valuable later.

Wrapping his arms around me, Bash whispers in my ear, “I will find him and I will rip his heart out for you, if that’s what you need. But I will not allow you to walk around, afraid.” Lying my head on his shoulder, I nod affirmatively.

“Can you take me home?”

“Do you need to feed first?” he asks me, stroking my face gently.

“Just take me home, Sebastien.”

Sweeping me up into his arms, he carries me out of the church, across the courtyard and up the stairs to his loft.

“I hope it’s ok, but Sarah and Ethan have been living here,” he tells me as we enter the apartment.

I hold him tighter. I love this man more than I thought my soul was capable of. Knowing that he has embraced my friends so completely, created a family for us, overwhelms me with emotion. It’s been a very emotional day.

Carrying me directly into his ensuite bathroom, he sets me on my feet and begins to remove my bloody clothes, stiff now that they are dry.

Peeling the camisole over my head, he runs his hands soothingly up and down my arms. Hooking his thumbs into the waistband of my shorts, he pulls them straight down my legs.

Kneeling in front of me, he lays his head against my stomach, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Looking up at me, he implores. “Did he do anything to you? Violate you? Beyond what you told everyone?” His face is almost enough to bring me to my knees next to him.

“Nothing he could have done would ever affect how I feel about you—but I want, more than anything in the world, to wrap myself around you, sink into you, and love you until I pass out. But I won’t do anything you don't feel comfortable with.”

Leaning down, I press my lips to his and try to pour as much of my affection, longing, and love into it as I possibly can.

He stands, never breaking our kiss and wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me to bring my face level with his.

He slides his tongue into my mouth, tasting me, sucking on my tongue in turn.

Cupping the back of my neck, he walks us to the shower, turning the knob.

I can feel his reluctance to break our kiss.

Pulling away from him, I step into the shower under the spray, beginning to clean my red stained skin of the night’s evidence.

Stepping in behind me, Bash molds his body to my flesh, comforting me, soothing my raw edges with his presence.

Taking the washcloth from the rack, he pours my favorite strawberry soap on it and runs it across my skin, starting with my shoulders, down my arms, and around my torso.

I look down and watch the blood swirl down the drain.

My blood, Michael’s blood, the unknown blood from the tumbler.

The worst parts of my nature, disappearing.

Stooping behind me, he lays a gentle kiss at the base of my spine as he rubs the soap and cloth down my legs, lifting each foot and scrubbing it before kissing the arch.

Reaching around he swipes the washcloth between my thighs, rubbing gently my most delicate skin, his fingers pressing into my clit through the washcloth.

The warm water, the rough cloth, and his gentle hands working together to heat my skin and light a fire low in my belly.

Leaning my head back, I moan out loud. Licking the top of my tailbone while he works my clit, wetness flooding my pussy, I arch into him, silently asking for more.

Feeling his worshipping caress makes me feel cherished—not disgusted the way I felt in that house.

Turning me around and sitting me on the shower bench, he kneels in front of me, his thumb finding my wet skin and making firm circles around my clit, while he takes one of my nipples in his mouth.

I lie back exposing more of myself to him.

Pulling the showerhead down from the wall, he adjusts the spray to the pulsing massage and aims it directly at my center while he kisses and sucks my neck, causing a shudder to run through my body.

I move my hips in time with the movements of the sprayer, feeling my orgasm building low and hot.

As I get closer, he slides his fingers inside of me, rubbing and massaging that special spot inside me that makes me squirm.

The warm water pulses against me, pushing me closer to the edge as I revel in the worshipful movements of Bash’s mouth on my skin.

I moan his name, and it feels like a prayer and a plea all at once. My thighs tremble and my stomach flexes as my body prepares to fall into oblivion.

“That’s it, baby, come for me,” he whispers against my neck as I am right on the edge, my skin hypersensitive.

Falling into oblivion, I pulse around his fingers as he sucks, hard, on my pulse point.

“So beautiful when you come for me, so perfect. I’ve missed this so fucking much.

” He continues to murmur against my overheated skin as I slowly come down from the high.

Nothing feels more real than this moment, post orgasm, my body flooded with endorphins, the man I love kneeling in front of me, reverently. This is my home.

We make love until sunrise, rediscovering each other, reshaping what we were into what we are now. Everything has changed, and yet—our love has only deepened. As the first light touches the sky, we collapse into each other, tangled and whole, letting sleep take us away.

I experienced my first moon rise as the new vampire I am, that Sunday night. It’s an unusual feeling, the way the need to rest falls away, as if by magic. Actually, it is by magic. When I sit up, I look over and Bash is sitting crossed-legged, a huge smile on his face.

“What are you smiling at?” I ask him, grinning back.

“It’s so weird rising and seeing you laying there. Usually, you’re up and around well before I am, so it was fun watching you. Although, you sleep a little differently now.” He gathers me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and peppering my face with kisses. I giggle and swat him away.

Sobering, I look into his eyes from my perch on his lap. I grab his face and look at him nose to nose.

“Thank you for coming for me,” I whisper, my breath catching in my throat.

“I will never not come for you, Tesoro. There isn’t a world in which I exist if you don’t.

” He holds me tight against his chest, his own emotion making his chest rise and fall rapidly.

“But, based on what Jack said, you were pretty damn close to rescuing yourself. He said you looked like the angel of death standing in your pajamas, coated from head to toe in blood, fangs out. And I saw your room, where they kept you—the broken door. You were ready to fight for yourself.” He stops for a minute, holding my cheeks and his eyes boring into mine. “I am so fucking proud of you.”

“Can we go to grand-mere tonight? She must be so worried.” I look at him, trepidation in my face. “What will she think of me now?” I gesture to my new vampire body.

Inhaling a wearied breath, he darts his eyes away.

“What is it, Bash? Did something happen to Grand-mere?”

“No.” A giant sigh escapes him. “While you were gone, Sarah and I visited her, you know, to update her. Anyway, she invited me inside.” I feel my eyes widening in surprise.

That was a giant leap of trust. But he looks almost—scared.

“She told us about your mother and Ezekiel. Things she has known from the beginning and should have told you. Sarah is really pissed at her actually.”

“Are you kidding?” I climb out of bed, pissed-off myself.

Grabbing a pair of leggings and another of my signature shirts —‘Ask me about my blood type’—I storm around the room.

“She knew this whole time who I was and what I was going to be?” I resist the urge to put my fist through the wall, knowing the anger is a side effect of my vampire nature. It’s difficult to control.

“I mean,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck, looking concerned, “she definitely knew who you were, but I asked her if she knew what this meant and she genuinely didn’t appear to have any idea what would happen. She thought if you didn’t know it would help you, you would stay a human.”