Chosen by Blood (27 page)

Knox let that sink in, took a deep breath, and then took his seat again. Without a word, he drained his glass, then set it down with a thud. “She’s in heat.”

“Yes,” Felicia said.

Glaring at Mahone, Knox stood. “Why wasn’t I told?”

“It’s a sensitive matter—”

“No shit. A feline isn’t someone who can be counted on for surveillance, intelligence, or recovery. Her nature makes her unstable.”

“That’s not fair,” Felicia protested. “Lucy’s been nothing but stable. She’s having one bad night.”

“With six more likely to follow,” Knox gritted out. “You should have told me.”

“It wasn’t my place,” she said simply, although her eyes begged him to understand.

“What about this mole shit? You in on that, too?”

“No!” Felicia said. “I didn’t know anything about that. Not until you did.”

Knox glanced at Mahone, who nodded. “It’s true. I have no idea—”

“Don’t lie to him,” Felicia hissed.

Mahone flinched back. “Excuse me?”

“Lucy told me about O’Flare.”

Mahone’s facial muscles stiffened.

“I’m not going to like what you have to tell me, am I?”

“No, Knox, you aren’t.” Felicia glared at Mahone. “Lucy saw O’Flare plant the CD that Wraith found.”

“What? But . . . That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he do that?”

“The most obvious reason is to feed us information that Mahone already had.”

“And the less obvious reason?”

“To enable Mahone to test us.”

“Us?” Knox questioned.

“Yes, Knox. Us. Me included. Isn’t that right, Mahone?”

Mahone rubbed the back of his head. “Lucy didn’t tell me she thought the mole was O’Flare. If she had, I wouldn’t have broken several laws to get here so fast.”

“So Felicia’s right? O’Flare’s the one that’s been playing us?”

“He hasn’t been playing you. He followed orders.”

“Because you didn’t trust me to get the job done?” Knox said, his dark expression indicating his displeasure.

“No. Because I wasn’t sure the wraith was stable enough to be part of the team or skilled enough to crack the kind of intelligence that might be thrown at her. Don’t worry. She passed both tests with flying colors.”

“Both . . .” Knox closed his eyes. “Son of a bitch. Both tests. O’Flare’s dream being the first one. The CD being the second.”

“That’s right.”

“So the photos of the Others being transported through the tunnels—”

“Are very real. As is our information that the antidote is most likely in the hands of the North Korean government, in a compound past Pyong-Jong, somewhere between Songnim and Sariwon. The communication I told you about—the one referring to a cure?—we have several double agents in South Korea, former North Korean civilians, screened and recruited by the Agency, who have confirmed the North Korean government has gained the support of Others—vamps who are willing to sacrifice their own kind in order to save themselves.”

Felicia glanced at Knox, who struggled to keep his face impassive. He didn’t like hearing there were vamps willing to sacrifice other vamps for their own agenda, but that was hardly a surprise, either. There was no proof that it involved anyone in his clan, however, and that was what he kept focused on.

“Why?” Felicia demanded. “Why didn’t you give us the information if you had it? You’ve wasted all this time.”

“A few days aren’t a waste of time when forming a new team. Usually, weeks of training are involved. We don’t have that kind of time, but we still needed some assurance that this team was going to be able to function, and that each of its members was going to be able to do what it needed to. If you couldn’t even find the compound in North Korea, I didn’t see any point in sending you there.”

“Why don’t you tell her the truth?” growled Knox. “That in addition to testing Wraith, you needed to test my loyalty. After all, as the leader of the largest vamp clan, who’s to say the North Koreans hadn’t already contacted me in order to barter services in exchange for the antidote. Isn’t that right, Mahone?”

“Any thought of that was dispelled given your obvious efforts to locate the compound in question; if those fears were true, you could have easily led the team there days ago.”

“And then what?” Knox demanded. “Lead them to their deaths? Thus effectively eliminating any desire for Others to work with the U.S. in the future?”

“No,” Felicia protested. “He can’t have believed that. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he have told me . . .” Her words drifted off as she faced Mahone. “Because my loyalty was in question, as well?”

Mahone wouldn’t look at her. “Nothing’s changed except you’ve all proven yourselves worthy of this assignment and capable of completing this mission. Except perhaps Hunt. If you really think he’s more trouble than help, you’re free to make that decision. Personally, I wouldn’t mind sending the were packing.”

Mahone paused. Knox just continued to stare at him, absorbing Felicia’s pain and betrayal into his system and wanting to kill Mahone for hurting her.

“Well?” Mahone breathed out. He cleared his throat. “Do you want him on the team or not?”

“Do I have all the information now, or are there going to be any more surprises?”

“You have all the information you’re entitled to as it pertains to the purpose of this mission. Which, by the way, I need to make crystal clear. The purpose of this mission is to retrieve the antidote,
not
to save Others. If you can accomplish both, fine. But the antidote remains the priority. I’ m assuming you can abide by those terms.”

Knox smiled tightly. “I know my duty to my clan, Mahone. Nothing’s changed in that regard. But if we go on this mission, its purpose will be to retrieve the antidote
and
save Others. One won’t be more important than the other. Not under my leadership.”

Mahone looked down and shook his head. “Fine,” he murmured as he raised his head. “So what about Hunt?”

Knox glanced at Felicia, who nodded imperceptibly. After pausing briefly, he nodded as well. “Hunt stays. For now.”

“I’ve made arrangements for the team to—”

“Were you telling the truth?”

At the female voice, Knox shut his eyes. He turned to face Wraith, wondering if his regret was obvious, a dark cloud hovering over his head.

She stood just inside the room in full regalia, but somehow despite the leather and badass bitch shoes, she looked more vulnerable than she had after seeing the slides.

“O’Flare was testing me this whole time?”

Interestingly, it was Mahone who spoke first. “I’m sorry, Wraith—”

Her expression hardened, becoming so cold that Knox half expected to see ice crystallize on her body. “Is. It. True?” she spat.

“Yes.”

Knox had been waiting for it and that was the only reason he saw it. Then again, the flash of pain came and went so fast, he wasn’t fully confident it had been real. Without another word, Wraith turned and walked away.

“O’Flare is going to have to watch his back,” Felicia said quietly.

“Believe me,” Mahone said, “that won’t be a problem. I wouldn’t have picked him for the job otherwise.”

“Believe you?” Felicia said. “Believe you?” She ran a disgusted gaze up and down Mahone’s body. “I don’t think so. Not ever again.”

“Felicia . . .” Mahone began, but Felicia ignored him and instead turned to Knox.

“I’ll wait up for you.”

He nodded, but she hadn’t hung around to see it. When she was gone, Knox faced Mahone.

The man showed no sign of regret. He didn’t need to.

As Knox had once told him, some things just telegraphed on their own.

“Don’t play one of my team members against another again, Mahone. If you do, you’ll regret it more than you do right now.” With that, he left Mahone standing there.

Teleporting to Felicia’s room, he arrived just in time to see her step out of her panties and unhook her bra.

“Perfect timing,” she said as she walked into his arms.

 

 

Watching Knox as he slept was an opportunity too good to pass up. Perhaps Felicia should have stopped after the first hour, but she couldn’t. Each time she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, she’d open them again, compelled once more to watch the way his chest moved in time with his breaths and the way his lips parted, revealing the tips of his fangs.

Unable to resist, she leaned down, slipped her tongue between his lips, and curled it around first one fang and then the other. She jerked when his fangs grew longer, pricking her.

When she looked up, Knox’s eyes flashed red. “I didn’t mean to wake—”

He raised himself with a smooth movement, turning at the same time so that she was lying on her back and he was above her. “If you’re going to tease something with your mouth and make it grow, can I make some suggestions?”

She gave him her best come-hither stare, then rolled as suddenly as he had, reversing their positions once more. “Definitely,” she said.

He grinned. “Show me what you’ve got,” he challenged, tucking his hands behind his head.

She would, but first she wanted to kiss him again. Gently. Her tongue slipped into his mouth and took its time, savoring every taste and texture. When they were both breathing hard, she pulled away and showered kisses down his throat and over his chest. Then his abdomen. With the tips of her fingers, she caressed his quivering muscles. Then, dipping her hand lower, she cupped him in her hand.

His breath exhaled in a ragged moan of pleasure. She squeezed him tighter, moving her hand up and down the entire length of him. “That feels so good,” he whispered, and she crooned, “I’m going to make it feel even better.” Kneeling above him, she put her face within a hairsbreadth of his cock. When she licked just the tip of him, his hips arched up, begging for more. Her passion spiked along with his. She grasped him with both of her hands this time, running them up and down him like a favorite new toy until his hands clawed at the sheets.

“Please!” The word exploded from him.

“Please what?” His eyes narrowed at her teasing words, and she felt a jolt of sensation between her legs. She felt powerful. Undeniable. As if she and only she could give this vamp what he desperately needed. She squealed when his hands left his head and grabbed, pulling her up to kiss her passionately. Then, with his fingers tangled in her hair, he urged her down his body once more. He wasn’t particularly gentle. Not with his touch and not with his next words.

“Suck me, Felicia. Now.”

She didn’t want gentle. Her gaze shot to his, then back down. Despite his cool command, his dick was fairly vibrating in anticipation. She licked her lips, slowly bent forward, then sucked him into her mouth.

Once again, she took her time. She became reacquainted with his size and shape, as well as what he loved about oral sex. At the same time, she discovered what she loved, too.

Knox loved it when she flattened her tongue just under the tip of his cock, but loved it even more when she swallowed him whole, squeezing as much of him as she could in her throat.

She loved hearing his groans of pleasure and used them to adjust her grip or speed.

Knox loved the slow, rhythmic slide of her mouth, which made him hum and say the sweetest things; he loved when she alternated hard sucks with the slightest hint of teeth, which made him pull her hair and talk nasty.

She loved the fact that she could make him beg and, with her hand gently cupping his balls and her tongue swirling around the length of him, drive him to such a powerful climax that his groans continued long after he’d filled her mouth with cum.

Most of all, she loved that even when he’d spent himself, he was still hard and eager for her. With the taste of him still in her throat, he maneuvered their bodies until she was beneath him. With a powerful thrust, he claimed her, drilling her with the thick stalk of his manhood until she felt full to bursting. The whole time, he kept his gaze on hers and whispered endearments, making certain he penetrated her soul as thoroughly as he penetrated her body. When he’d wrung every last bit of pleasure he could out of her, when she was a limp, exhausted mess begging for succor, she slept. And even then, he penetrated her dreams.

Afterward, she awoke to find him watching her, a slight smile on his face as he caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. With a purr of delight, she nuzzled against him. They stayed like that for several long minutes. Eventually, he stirred.

“You know you can’t go to North Korea with us, don’t you?”

She froze then slowly sat up, tugging the sheet up so it covered her.

He gazed at her solemnly.

“I know,” she answered softly, not surprised at his sigh of relief.

He pulled her back into his arms. “I was afraid you were going to insist on coming. You know I have faith in you, but—”

“But I’m not exactly made for jumping out of planes and crawling through wild terrain in order to infiltrate evil fortresses and rescue prisoners. Yeah, I know. I’m a good agent. Skilled at what I’m trained to do. What I want to do. I don’t regret that I won’t be going into that jungle with you. Except . . .” Her voice broke as she tried to communicate her feelings. She did regret leaving him. She regretted the need for him to go at all.

“I hear you,” he whispered, planting a reassuring kiss on her lips. “And I’ll be back before you even miss me. You’ll go back to D.C.?”

“Actually,” she said slowly, watching him carefully for his reaction, “I’ve talked with Mahone about another possibility. I’d like to go to Oregon.”

Knox stiffened. “To the Dome?”

“Are you okay with that?”

“Why?”

“I’d like to see the kids,” she said. “I haven’t seen them in so long and I—” Felicia gasped when Knox squeezed her so tight she literally had trouble breathing. He laughed, clearly pleased with her suggestion; the sound combined with the expression on his face was startling. Tentatively, she raised her hands and tangled them in his hair, stroking him.