Hunted Blood: A Love Triangle Vampire Romance (Beautiful Innocence Book 2)

Chapter 8 – Luke

The autumn air is cool and pleasant as I walk down the narrow forest trail. Leaves crunch beneath my boots, and songbirds flit through the rows of oaks spanning in every direction. It’s beautiful out here in nature, untouched by the wrathful grasp of humanity and civilization. It makes me think of my first date with Lorianna when she confessed to me that she used to come out into the woods as a child and dance among the trees but that she hadn’t since she was a child because her dad feared for her safety.

After days of searching for clues, I finally have a solid lead on where Lorianna’s aunts might live. Somewhere on this trail, I’m supposed to find a little yellow house at the end of a lane.

There’s something magical about this forest. The way the light shines off the leaves doesn’t seem quite natural. I pause between two oaks with leaves that are a little too vibrant, and I take a moment to dwell on the tingling sensation that crawls up my spine and makes goosebumps appear on my bare arms.

It’s not just a coincidence: there’s magic in the air.

I don’t have a lot of experience with magic because it’s not within the skillset of most vampire hunters. But in our line of work, we encounter witches frequently and often collaborate with them on vampire hunts because their abilities and resources can make a kill that much more efficient.

The brush of magic floats on through the air, flitting back into the trees. Wherever it came from, it’s not hostile. It must be just a part of the woods out here.

I stuff my hands in my pockets. It’s been a while since I last encountered a witch or any magic at all. Ivan was always much more skeptical of their kind, even if they had done nothing but help vampire hunters over the years. The witch who found me in the orphanage and brought me to work with Ivan, Solairé, was perhaps the only exception.

Over the years, she checked in with me, Ivan, and the Academy about my progress. I don’t know much about her other than she’s a powerful clairvoyant and a well-respected witch in our community; she’d have to be to bend the Academy and Ivan to her will. Her guidance is part of what’s driven me to become the very best at what I do.

I don’t know what she’s seen in my future. Why she expects me to do great things. But she chose me for a reason, and I’m going to live up to whatever that is.

Up ahead, a pointed roof appears between the trees. I swing off the trail and creep low in the brush, quickly but quietly, to a spot where I can get a better look at the structure. My senses tune into every sound, scent, and sight nearby, searching for any sign of a threat, but nothing stands out. At least not yet.

Getting as close as I can while staying behind the thick, gnarled trunks, I crouch behind the tree that gives me the best view of the closest window, peeking into an old-fashioned kitchen. My breath hitches when I see the familiar honey-brown waves of Lorianna’s hair as she moves into view. She’s only wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, but her hair is pinned back and flowing past her shoulders. Her pink, plump lips, her glorious smile, and the glow of life and youth that pops around her at every waking moment make me unable to take my eyes off her.

I sink into the grass and rest my head against the trunk. In an ideal world, Lorianna and I would live in a small country home just like this. I would work somewhere local, perhaps advising a school of vampire hunters and protecting the nearby cities from threats, but I wouldn’t have to travel far, and I’d rarely go a day without seeing Lorianna, who I would make my wife.

I would have that smile every morning and night until the day I die. I could wrap my arms around her waist, or neck, and claim her lips. I could whisk her away from the nastiness of the world and keep her protected in a grove away from all the dangers of vampires. And then, after work, I’d open the door to the scent of freshly baked bread, a home-cooked meal made lovingly by her hands, and our little Loriannas and Lukes clinging to her legs while she tries to finish up cooking.

We would have a family. The family I never had after Aurelius murdered my parents. The family I never had when I was in the orphanage or even after I was put into Ivan’s care.

I would love Lorianna to the heavens and back, and she’d be mine.

Then, at night, after our children were in bed and fast asleep, Lorianna’s wilder side would come out. Her mouth would lock on mine, and she’d moan into my mouth as I kissed her deeper, hungry for every taste of her.

It would be so easy for us to lose ourselves in the intense electric attraction we’ve felt for each other since the moment we first met. Her hands travel to my waistband, eager to make both of us feel amazing. I’d hold her close and protect her in my powerful arms when we made love, everything we’d ever felt for each other out in the open. So full of love every second of every day, it’d be hard to leave her again in the morning.

I have to blink myself out of the vivid fantasy and back to reality. I grit my teeth and adjust the erection that’s grown in my pants, focusing on what’s right in front of me: Lorianna and her aunts.

Somehow, Lorianna gives me all these feelings of security that I’ve never had anywhere else, all wrapped up in this bundle of this beautiful, loving woman with a daring, sexy side. After my mission failed, I could have left Lorianna for good.

But I could never walk away from her.

Despite everything that’s happened, despite everything she must have been told and all the lies that have been fed to her since we last parted, I know the feelings that I have for her and those that she has for me are real. I want her, and I always have, and that was always separate from my job.

There’s still that fear that I’ll tell her everything and she won’t believe me, that she won’t share my feelings.

I just need the chance to show her. To remind her how good we were together before all this bullshit happened.

But I won’t know until I try.

Hot water pelts my back, and steam rises through the shower, enveloping me in the humid blanket. While washing away the exertion of the day, my eyes flutter closed, and my mind goes straight to Lorianna. Beautiful, perfect Lorianna. I could listen to her laugh forever and never tire of her. Not to mention her moans, the little sounds she’d make when she was swept away by my touch and we flew off to another world together. The last time I held her, we were in the family room at her dad’s place, cuddling and kissing on the couch, hands roaming everywhere.

A pulse of heat shudders through me, settling straight into my groin. It only ever takes a second of thinking about Lorianna to get me hard, which gets more and more problematic with each passing day. I want her so damn badly it hurts, but I’ve always wanted to wait until she’s ready for more, too. It’s a complicated balance made even more complicated by the fact that I keep leading us into scenarios where we end up farther apart, not closer together.

With a sigh, I let my hand slide down to wrap around my hard, pulsing length. I let my mind wander back to Lorianna sprawled out beneath me on that couch, panting and staring up at me with pure wanting and lust—like she’s ready for more. Really ready this time.

I let my desires corrupt my mind: Lorianna throws her head back as my fingers work deeper into her soaking core, her thighs trembling around my wrist. Her lips part in a sweet invitation, and I can almost feel the solid press of her against me and the way her soft curves fit into my hands.

“Lorianna, fuck...” I murmur.

A tremor passes over her, and shyly, she tilts her chin up to look directly into my eyes. Her blue-green irises are wide with wanting, silently begging me to make love to her. Heat radiates off her body and beckons me as surely as her whisper-soft words do. I know she’s ready, just like I’m ready—finally.

My mind’s eye paints the picture of her lifting her hips, and I slide my hands around to the small of her back. My hand squeezes tighter around my hardness, and I groan in anticipation of this imaginary Lorianna who’s ready to give herself to me completely. My lips move over hers in hungry sweeps until I’m positioned over her, the tip of my length positioned in front of her damp entrance.

I plant my hands firmly on either side of her hips. My gaze searches hers intently, looking for any signs that she might want me to stop or any momentary hesitation. With a small nod from Lorianna, wordlessly letting me know that she’s good with this decision we made together, my own need takes over and overwhelms me.

Lorianna breathes out shakily as I push ever so slightly into her tight heat. Her eyes go wide as her inner walls spread to welcome me inside—

My vision goes white. I grunt as my climax comes, a prickling rush of pleasure in my thighs and groin. The steam and hot downpour from the shower finally pull me out of the fantasy, and I grit my teeth as I blow my load onto the tiled shower wall. The spattering water quickly washes it away like it was never there.

I take a moment to steady myself and return my mind to reality—it will be better that I’ve satisfied my needs already before I see her again. This way, I won’t so easily forget that she might not trust me right now.

After coming back to the rental owned in the city by the Academy for hunters on missions like mine, I bought Lorianna a bouquet of flowers and some fresh clothes. Now that I’m all cleaned up, I’ll head back to her aunts’ house tonight to see if I can get her alone so we can talk.

Once out of the shower, I check my phone and find it blinking with a new message. My heart leaps at the possibility of it being a message from Lorianna, but I calm myself when I see it’s another check-in from the Academy.

Of course it wasn’t Lorianna. She left her phone behind, and I have it now.

Academy: Status report.

Luke: Ivan Morozov’s body has been successfully extracted from the Monroe residence. I deposited him at the Academy mortuary in Thousand Oaks earlier this morning. Funeral proceedings are initiated according to protocols.

I send the message and finish drying myself off and changing. It was easy to complain about everything he did wrong when he was alive, but now that he’s gone, I miss him. Our journey together wasn’t supposed to end until that fucker Aurelius was put in the ground. As Ivan’s pupil, I was given special privileges away from the iron grip of the Vampire Hunter Academy to which Ivan owed his undying allegiance. Without him, my position with the Academy is flimsy at best.

I’ve trained in the facilities and met plenty of other hunters, but I don’t have rapport with any of the administration. I wasn’t at that point in my training yet. That said, most vampire hunters are raised from birth in the Academy’s confines and have the advantage of a few years of extra training over me compared to those about my age. But despite those fewer years of training, the intensity of my education at Ivan’s side makes me surpass almost all Academy-trained hunters.

Ivan still had so much to teach me, but I have him to thank for who I am today. I don’t need the Academy to know I’m a skilled hunter.

I respect their ranks and the work that they do to support those like me and Ivan, but I’m not going to lie down and become a mindless soldier. I doubt they’ll like that.

So, I don’t know what my future will look like. For all I know, they could send me back upstate to train with all the grunts like Ivan always threatened if I didn’t obey his every command exactly.

But they could also let me continue in Ivan’s footsteps if they think I’m worthy.

Whatever happens now, I will make my own path in life.

After changing, my phone buzzes again.

Academy: You did well with recovering Ivan’s remains.

Academy: We’ve received verification that Gilbert Monroe was declared dead this morning from cardiac arrest. Aurelius pulled the plug on MIG and the company is in shambles. Headlines in the financial world are in an enormous panic as one of the country’s largest investment groups crumbles.

Academy: Despite your failure to eradicate the LA vampire nest, we will allow you an opportunity to right your wrongs. Are you up to the task of proving yourself?

Luke: Always.

Academy: We believe Aurelius fled California, but an agent confirmed last night that Ethelios and Arcien are still active in the city. Eliminate both vampires, and you will inherit Ivan Morozov’s title as Admiral as well as the privileges associated with the rank.

I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach three times.

One, Lorianna’s father is dead.

Two, they’re offering me Ivan’s rank.

Three, Alex is alive? Fuck.

I knew Gilbert Monroe’s demise was likely unavoidable, especially after all this, but I didn’t think Aurelius would make his move so soon. Heart attacks are standard for Aurelius when he doesn’t want to make a lot of noise. I wanted time to prepare Lorianna for this possibility, to be there for her when it finally happened.

My feet start moving on their own, and I hurry to gather my things and the sunflowers for Lorianna. It’s even more important that I get to her now. She’ll need comfort and support more than ever because of her dad… if Alex isn’t already with her.

I growl. Could she already be lost to me? Did this whole fucking disaster push her right into his arms, even if he’s a vampire? She told me they’re just friends, that he works for her dad, but they’ve known each other way longer than us. If he didn’t die like I hoped he had, he most likely spun a story for his benefit to make sure she stays close.

But it’s a trap. It has to be. He’ll feed her right to Aurelius.

Luke: I could not confirm Arcien’s death on the Monroe premises, but what proof is there of his survival?

Instead of receiving a text response, I’m forwarded an image from a security camera above the gate of the Monroe estate. It’s a still of a man with tousled blond hair and a slim but athletic build that I’ve memorized as Lorianna’s math tutor walking out the front door.

The timestamp is from last night.

Ivan earned the Admiral rank in his 40s. I could have it now, at 28—there are only two vampires between me and freedom. After all, shortly after Ivan gained his rank as Admiral, he settled down with his wife to start a family. The family that was taken from him far too soon and sent him down on his path of vengeance that put him in the ground.

If the Academy is truly willing to offer me Ivan’s rank as Admiral, the whole world is about to open up to me. Killing Alex and Enzo won’t be easy, but if I do, all the barriers stopping me and Lorianna from being together will be completely artificial. I will finally be able to make her mine, no restrictions. I just need to buy a bit of time.

Luke: I located Lorianna Monroe, Gilbert’s daughter. I believe the vampires Arcien and Ethelios will come after her to finish the dissolution of the Monroe Investment Group. Permission to engage?

Academy: Granted.