Consumed (Blood Ties Book 9)

“This right here…” Riven looked down at me as he brushed his thumb along my cheek. “Is everything.”

That pang ripped across my chest with his words. There was nothing like the love from this man…so controlling and consuming, one I’d never felt before. To find one like him was almost impossible.

But to find four?

That could only be fate.

“I know,” Thomas murmured, drawing me back to him.

I still straddled his body, his cock now soft inside me. Still, my core pulsed from the work of his tongue. I reached around, unclasping the cuffs one by one, before I reached behind me to his ankles, letting the chain fall away.

“We have to go,” Riven murmured, and lifted his other hand with his cell.

Thomas pushed upwards. “Now?”

Riven gave a nod.

“Do we have a lead?” Thomas asked.

“We have something.” But it was that look in Riven’s eyes that worried me, especially when he turned that careful stare to mine. “We leave in thirty.”

I turned to Thomas the moment Riven headed for the door. I knew my priest had seen it, as well. The glint of fear, and the apprehension in his brother. Riven didn’t do apprehension. He was all fury. All rage. Unleashing everything like a goddamn tornado.

“Is this it?” I asked him.

“I dunno.” He searched my stare. “But it’s something.”

He held my hips as I pushed upwards, while Riven’s heavy steps ricoched along the hall.

“Do you need…can I help?” he asked awkwardly.

I just smiled, reached out, and ruffled his hair. “It’s okay. I got this.”

I bent down, grabbed the cuffs, and took a step before stopping. “You good with the chair?”

There was a chuckle, one I loved hearing before I headed back to Riven’s room and went toward the bathroom. The shower was hissing, the steam already filling up the room.

“There’s a lead,” I said carefully, stepping back into the shower with him.

He scrubbed his hair, sluicing the shampoo from the strands before he lifted his gaze as rivulets of water ran down his forehead to cascade alongside his nose.

“More like a potential lead, or a problem.”

“A problem?”

He washed, scrubbed under his arms, and ran his hands over his chest before he stilled. “Look…just, stay with me or Hunter, okay? You’ll be okay…I promise.” He reached up to cup my face and leaned in, kissing me. “Your cunt looked good on my brother’s face, Trouble. I hope to see it there more often.” Then he dropped his hands and stepped away, leaving me alone in the spray.

I washed again, scrubbing between my legs before I switched the water off. I wasn’t on the pill and thanks to that piece of shit, that dead piece of shit, I could now get pregnant. I would have at least…until my lovers took matters into their own hands. I hadn’t even asked them to do what they did. Still, I went with them, sitting in the waiting room while each of them went in and walked out with legs wide apart twenty minutes later.

We came home that day. I took care of each one as they lay back on their beds with a cold pack nestled against their balls. There was ice cream and smoothies, back rubs and gentle kisses. But that was just over a week ago…and now…now you’d never know they’d had any snip at all.

It was a big thing.

For me.

But not for them.

Drawers closed in the bedroom. I hurried drying once more, but by the time I stepped into the bedroom, he was gone. I grabbed underwear, then pulled on jeans and a t-shirt before socks and my boots. There was something wrong with this. Very wrong.

I headed downstairs, meeting Kane and Thomas in the entrance as Hunter came from the rear of the house with a duffel bag over his shoulder.

The zipper was open, black steel shone from inside. I knew an arsenal when I saw one. “Expecting trouble?

“Always,” Hunter answered, and headed out.

This was strange. I glared at Riven, but he didn’t stay, just headed out after his brother, leaving the rest of us to follow.

“What the hell is going on?” I hissed to Kane.

He stared straight ahead and muttered. “Who the hell knows.”

It looked like I wasn’t the only one left clueless.

We walked out, climbed into Hunter’s Hummer, and yanked the doors closed. My stomach clenched as we left the safety of the compound. Behind these walls, we were safe and the outside world, with all the terror waiting for us, ceased to exist. But I knew more than anyone that the outside world was hunting us and it was only a matter of time before it found exactly where we were.

Kane reached across the seat and grasped my hand. The smile he gave me was quick and careful. I wanted to smile back at him, but I couldn’t, not until I knew what we were dealing with.

Stay with me or Hunter, okay?

Riven was expecting trouble. They both were.

But if it was that dangerous, then why meet at all?

I pushed my spine against the seat, my thoughts returning to my sisters.

That’s why we’d meet.

For them.

In the weeks since the attack at Coulter’s mansion, Vivienne had returned home. She was due to give birth any day now. London and the sons were beside themselves with worry, watching her every second of the day and night. We were racing her body, desperate to find where Hale and that fucking bitch Melody hid behind the rest of the Order’s Sons, to destroy them before my niece and nephew were born into this world.

They deserved a world where they were safe.

A world where they knew nothing but love.

Not this world…not yet, at least.

“Turn here.” Hunter said, drawing my focus.

One glance along the street filled with razor-wire-topped fences, casually lurking armed guards, and massive dogs, and I knew instantly where we were. It was the same compound where they’d brought the other Daughters the day we were taken from the Order.

Hunter’s men lived here. They trained and hunted, scouring the dark web for men like Haelstrom Hale so we could take them out one by one when the Order fell. It was falling now, but with Hale gone, there was no coming back of the Order…the old one or the new.

Headlights splashed along the steel gate. It slowly rolled open. We headed into the compound, but before we could even get out of the four-wheel drive, Ollie, Hunter’s new second-in-command, strode out with a phone in his hand.

“The meeting’s been moved.” He said, handing the phone through the window.

“What the fuck do you mean, moved?” Riven snapped.

“Exactly what he says.” Came the careful male voice on the other end of the line. “Now drive.”

Riven jerked his gaze down to the cell in his hand. The car was silent. Not even a breath…from me, at least.

Daughter?Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

The faint word echoed in my mind. The memory of that night in Coulter’s mansion pushed in. I tried to shake it off, focusing instead on that voice. I knew him…somehow?

“Take Madison south all the way to the Juncture.” Came the stony instruction.

Hunter shoved the Hummer into gear, then punched the accelerator, pulling us back out of the compound and into the street. One hard glare toward Riven, and we shot forward. Silence filled the vehicle. All we had was the throb of the engine and the sound of the tires as we made for the Juncture.

“Take Wilder, then First Street to Prefect North. There’s an alley between the dry cleaners and a closed down accountants, take it.”

Hunter’s jaw flexed. He didn’t like this. None of us did.

But we had no idea what we were here for.

Headlights blurred from the oncoming cars, casting a kaleidoscopic view as we turned. The rain grew harder, pummeling the windshield with heavy drops. I shook my head, glancing at Kane and Thomas. It was too eerie, too similar to that day…the day I’d stepped in front of Riven’s car.

“Here,” came the growl on the other end of the line.

We were turning before I knew it, pulling into the darkness of the alley.

“To the end. I’ll be waiting.”

The Hummer slowed, pulling into the tight space.

“Goddamn fucking games,” Riven muttered as Hunter stopped the four-wheel drive.

The headlights glinted off a steel door at the end of the alley. One that opened…

Hunter climbed out. His hand moved to his side, but Kane and Thomas didn’t move…not even when Riven followed Hunter, climbing out of the car with his gun in his hand.

My focus moved to that door as shadows spilled around a lone male as he stepped out and took a step toward us.

A cold, unforgiving shiver raced through me once more.

I knew instantly who he was.

Daughter?

I shook my head. “No…” I jerked my gaze toward Riven as he moved toward the Son. The one from Coulter’s mansion…the one trained by the Order. “Riven…stop!”

I yanked the handle before lunging out. My pulse was booming as I hit the pavement.

“Riven!” I yelled.

But it was too late.

Headlights filled the alley behind me as the dark sedan pulled in and killed the engine, blocking us in. He was making a mistake here. He was making a deadly mistake.

“It’s okay,” Riven called as the Son stepped forward, those dark eyes moving to me.

But he wasn’t okay.

“Daughter.” The icy tone echoed behind me.

I spun as the rogue Son stepped closer and gripped my arm. His gaze went to the dangerous male standing at the door before turning back to me. “You weren’t thinking about running again, were you?”

My breaths raced.

Panic moved through me as I met the unflinching stare of a killer. He was the one from Coulter’s mansion. The one who’d lifted his foot and tripped the guard as he lunged for me.

“You,” I whispered.

“Me,” he said carefully, lowering his gaze. “I see you have clothes on this time…pity.” He met my stare. “You looked good, bathed in the blood of your enemies.”