Page 3 of Heart of Iron
The scent of hot, coppery blood washed over him.
“Blade,” he growled, leaping over the gasping man on the roof and sliding to his knees beside his master.
Blade lifted his head, then collapsed back down.“Bloody… Get it out…’s silver.”He lifted his fingers and flinched as they brushed against the knife hilt.
“Hold still,” Will snapped.A cold ring of sweat beaded on his forehead.The knife was buried to the hilt.He had no idea of the damage it had done, or what would happen if he removed it.
Behind him, the two men helped each other to their feet.Will spared them a glance, but they were trying to get away, now that the advantage had shifted once more to him and Blade.
“Gutted by a human.”Blade laughed incredulously.“Always thought…it’d be one of the Echelon.In the end.”
“Stop your whinin’.”Will wrenched his shirt off, a frisson of icy cold trailing down his spine.Blue bloods were notoriously difficult to kill.That was one reason the French revolution had guillotined their aristocrats.The only other way to stop them was to cut out their heart or cause severe damage to it.He swallowed hard and shoved his shirt around the wound to stop the bleeding.“Nothin’ more’n a scratch.We’ll have you hale in no time.”
Blade met his gaze.His fingers were surprisingly strong when they closed around Will’s.“Swear you’ll look after ’er,” he snarled.“If…if I don’t…”
Will dropped his gaze.“Aye.You know I’ll do it.”He owed Blade his life, no matter what he personally thought of Honoria.“Hold still.You need blood.”
Darkness slithered through Blade’s pale eyes.His head rolled to the side.“Feels…numb…” he murmured.
Panic speared through Will’s gut.“Don’t you dare!”Ripping at the heavy hunting knife he carried, he cradled his friend’s head in his hands.“Here.Have me blood.It’ll help.”
It was short work to slash the vein in his wrist open.He cupped the back of his head and held Blade’s mouth to his wrist.
A moment of hesitation that never used to be there.He knew what Blade was thinking.He’d stopped taking directly from any of his thrall’s veins when Honoria came into his life.Now he drank his blood either from her or cold, out of the icebox.
“Don’t be a fool.She won’t mind,” Will snarled.
That hint of darkness swept through Blade’s irises again.Will’s chest caught.Not in fear.Gods, not that.Anticipation swept through his veins, lighting them on fire.It’d been a long time since he’d been one of Blade’s thralls.He’d not realized how much he missed it.
As Blade’s mouth closed over his wrist, his tongue sliding over the ragged wound, Will collapsed forward onto his hands.A gasp tore from his lips.Feeling flooded through him that he hadn’t felt in years.It had confused him when Blade first took him as a thrall, but it was nothing more than his body’s reaction to the chemicals in his master’s saliva.
But the moment of closeness…
This was all he’d ever have of that.
He ground his teeth and tried to deny the pull.Twice as harsh after three years of abstinence.And just as confusing.
He didn’t feel this way with females.
Or he never had.Until Lena walked into his life.
AndI’mnotthinkin’ of her.Will bit his lip, trying to ignore the flush of pleasure that thought brought.Dark hair, dark eyes, that flirtatious little smile that drove him insane… His groin tightened and he growled, head bowed as the sensation against his wrist increased.
It was over all too quickly.Will collapsed onto his backside, clutching his wrist against his chest.The skin throbbed, still feeling the imprint of Blade’s mouth.Heat flushed through the ragged edges of the knife cut—his loupe virus, rapidly healing the wound.It would be gone by the end of the hour, barely a pink pucker against his swarthy skin.
Blade gasped, drawing his feet up.His eyes blazed with black fire, and he grabbed the handle of the hilt and ground his teeth together.Crying out, he drew it out of his chest and collapsed back on the roof, panting for breath.
The wound was still bleeding, but sluggishly now.With his blood flushing through Blade’s system, there was a strong chance he’d pull through.Verwulfen blood was thrice as potent as a human’s.
“Honoria’ll…kill me…” Blade gasped.
That’s if he survived.Will took one look at the ashen color of his face and looked away swiftly.Damage to the heart was always dangerous.He had to get him back to the warren, where Honoria, with her medical background, might be able to help.
Rigging up a makeshift bandage, he held his coat in place to suppress the bleeding and then tied the ends of his shirt off.“There.That’ll hold until we get you home.”Sliding his arm under Blade’s shoulder, he helped him to sit.
Blade gasped, clutching at his chest.The sight tore another shaft of ice through Will’s gut.Followed by a hot stab of anger.Three years ago Blade would’ve laughed this off.He was no longer standing on the edge of the Fade—when the craving virus finally overtook a blue blood and he turned into something else, something worse—but for a moment, Will didn’t know if that was any better.
“Can you stand?”
