Love Like Blood: (Royal Blood #5) (6 page)

I
smashed
my gun down on the table, thoroughly annoyed.

Mei stood in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest and her long black hair spilling around her shoulders, looking just as pissed off as I was.

One month had passed since Mercy and I walked through the front doors of Section Seven—the black ops outfit that Mei Akiyama had recruited us to work for. It was a covert branch of MI6, and its operations were one hundred percent off book and below the radar.

To put it simply, we didn’t exist, and if we were caught, the government would deny all association with us. It was the most dangerous assignment an agent in Her Majesty’s Service could get.

“Your behavior is unacceptable,” Mei said, glaring at me with nothing short of deadly force.

Mei had been my partner before I was taken by Royal Blood and conditioned to be their hitman. As agents of MI6, we’d both worked to bring down the men who’d turned me into a monster against my will. We’d also been lovers, but that was a past I didn’t remember and feelings I no longer held.

My family had been a part of the service along with me. My brother, Phillip, had followed in my footsteps, and my father, who’d been the director, was long ingrained in the life. Then I’d killed them and my mother as a test of loyalty to my new master. My entire existence was a twisted game of revenge that had been played by Greggor, the leader of Royal Blood, the criminal organization my father had been trying to bring down.

And then there was Mercy Reid. She was the one who caused my conditioning to crack, and she was the one who held me together. With her by my side, I was able to feel again, and most importantly,
love
.

“You knew what I was when you offered this to me, Mei,” I hissed, not impressed that she was telling me off like a naughty child. “You knew I’d take things into my own hands whenever I saw fit.
You saw me in that room
.”

The room where I tore Greggor’s heart out with my bare hands. The room where I let the monster, the monster that would always live within me, devour The Watchman.

“There’s a point where you need to stop shooting all our targets,” she exclaimed. “We needed intel from him, and I can’t hear a dead guy talking, can you?”

“I can tell you right now what his plans were,” I drawled.

“You can tell me all you want, but it’s not solid
evidence
. You are not the jury and executioner, X. We may be black ops, but we still have to abide by certain laws. Evidence and testimony are what put the bad guys away.”

“You’re still hung up on MI6 protocol,” I exclaimed. “We have no protocol here.”

Mei’s lips thinned, and she glared at me. Over the past month, I’d quickly learned that she didn’t like to be proved wrong. Mei Akiyama was always right.

“I’ve been employed as the
cleaner
,” I hissed. “You want me to take this seriously? Then don’t send me out after the trash expecting that I won’t mop it up.”

Mei sighed heavily and shifted her weight to her opposite foot. “You want an assignment?”

“Yeah. One that means something.”

“Fine,” she said. “We want to resume our operation to take out Jacques Lafayette.”

“Lafayette?” I asked with a frown.

Mei had told me that we’d been working on the case before Royal Blood took me nine years ago. Apparently, it had never been closed since I knew he was still running around selling innocent women into sexual slavery. Mercy and I had an opportunity to take him out when we’d gone to Paris for Sykes, but we’d let him go. We didn’t even try.

“Things have changed in the last six weeks, wouldn’t you agree?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

They’d changed beyond recognition. Vaughn, Lorelei, The Watchman, Greggor…
my past
. Everything had changed to the point I didn’t recognize a single thing other than Mercy Reid.

I gave her a look. “So you want Lafayette now.”

“We’ve never been able to pin him down, not legally,” Mei said. “Now we’re off book we’ve got a chance.”

“Can I kill him?” I asked with a roll of my eyes.

“At some point, I assume so, but not before we’ve got enough intelligence to put an end to his entire operation. We don’t want anyone taking up his mantle.”

“Fair enough.”

“Oli—”

“X,” I spat. “My name is X.” I glared at her, hating that she still called me by my real name, the name of the man she used to be in love with, and the man I was never going to be again. Oliver Cassel was the MI6 operative and all-round good guy who’d died at the hands of The Watchman. Dead as in
dead
.

“X,” she said with a grimace. “You’re the only one who’s gotten close enough to Lafayette to pull the trigger. You got close without even trying.”

“Dumb luck,” I drawled. “And Mercy was there, too.”

She glanced away, still uncomfortable at the presence of my one true love. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t just let it go. She was the one who invited Mercy and I to be a part of Section Seven.

“You need to pull her off the bench, Mei,” I said. “You’re wasting her talents.”

“That’s the thing,” she said sheepishly. “Lafayette isn’t the only target.”

I narrowed my eyes, wondering where this was going. I had a good idea, but to what end?

“Greggor’s daughter—”

“No,” I spat.

I didn’t want to hear it. Lorelei was
just like me
. She was a victim of her father’s psychopathic need to rule the underworld. He turned his only daughter into a mindless assassin and
didn’t give a shit
. His own fucking daughter. Vaughn…well, I fucking hated his guts more often than not, but they deserved to be left alone. They deserved to be able to find what I had with Mercy. They’d loved one another before, and they could again. Dragging them into this mess would serve no end other than to torture.

“She has a link to Lafayette,” Mei argued.

“There’s no proof,” I exclaimed. “Greggor might’ve said he’d rescued her from him, but it was only words. Greggor was a manipulative piece of shit, and presenting Lorelei to Vaughn like he did was a game, Mei. You want to trust that what Mercy heard from his fucking lips was true?”

“Regardless of the truth,” she said, her gaze leveled with mine, “Lorelei Lansford is a ticking time bomb. She was just a regular woman before The Watchman took her. She never had the training you did. Her conditioning is unraveling, and the likelihood of her—”

“Going insane and killing everyone?” I interrupted. “She has Vaughn. I know him.”

“He’s a wanted criminal, X. Murder, espionage, arms dealing, drug trafficking, kidnapping. Take your pick.”

“So that’s the mission?” I asked, trying to keep my anger in check. “Find Vaughn, and use him to get to Lorelei. Then use her to get to Lafayette, and then bring all three of them in?”

Mei stared at me blankly. “Yes.”

“Then what? Lock them up in a federal prison for the rest of their lives? Or execute them?” I wasn’t talking about Lafayette anymore. I didn’t give two shits about the man’s fate.

“That’s not up to us to decide.”

“This isn’t what I signed up for!” I shouted.

“You knew exactly what you were in for the moment you walked in here, X. Don’t be a fool.”

I shook my head. She was right. I still had the lone gun mentality hardwired into my brain. Eight years running hits for Royal Blood and a year fighting alongside Mercy to take my life back. I’d been remade into a free agent, and coming in here was harder than I expected. Section Seven might run black ops, but they still had their orders.

But fucked if I was going to let them push me around. I was fucking good at killing, and they needed me more than they needed any other agent on their payroll. Besides, I was still a manipulative asshole with an itchy trigger finger.

“You said it yourself,” I threw at her. “I’m the only one who’s gotten close to Lafayette. I will not make any promises where Lorelei and Vaughn are concerned. And I’m taking Mercy with me.”

She narrowed her eyes, her annoyance as clear as day.

“You will get Lafayette,” I said. “You will get him alive and kicking. You will get your
justice
, but I won’t allow Section Seven to take away Lorelei and Vaughn’s chance at a better life.”

“Moltke won’t like it,” she said.

“Moltke will just have to deal with it.”

Moltke was the director of this shithole outfit and was a hard-ass if I ever met one. Mercy said he was like James Bond on acid with a trigger finger that didn’t quit. All I saw was a calculated man who knew the meaning of the word cold. He was the ultimate agent.

I’d moved through the ranks of MI6 decorated because of my family. He’d made his way under the surface, blowing up half the world in his quest to fight injustice…or whatever he was ordered to do. He’d gone dark the first moment he was able and had never resurfaced.

I was screwed in the head, but Moltke was completely fucked-up.

Mei stared at me, trying to mask her silent deliberation.

“What’s it going to be?” I prodded.

She took a deep breath, completely and utterly pissed off with me.

“Speak to Jackson before you go,” she said, her lips thin. “He’ll give you anything you require for op tech.”

And that was my punishment. No plans, no assistance, no clue other than my own instincts. Pick up your gadgets before you leave, and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

The moment I left the building and started the hunt, Mercy and I would be on our own.

Section Seven had ditched us already.

I
dreamed a lot these days
.

After the things I’d been though, I thought they’d be filled with red. Blood, rage, lust, passion, torture, revenge, murder… They were all things that were very
red
and all things that I’d experienced in the last year.

But my dreams were not red at all. No, they were full of color and beauty, just what I’d always wanted them to be. They were full of Xavier Blood.

Whimpering softly as I woke from sleep, I felt the mattress dip beside me as a heavy body lay at my back. A rough, calloused hand wound its way around my waist, and lips brushed against my nape. Finally, I felt him against my ass, his body the only one I’d recognize without even opening my eyes.

We were in tune with one another to the point our songs intertwined and harmonized in perfect alignment.

“X?” I murmured sleepily, turning toward him.

“Hmm,” he mumbled, his lips pressing against my skin again.

“You’re back early,” I whispered, twisting around to face him.

“It took less time than expected.” He cupped my face in his hand and kissed me on the lips, lingering a moment before pulling away.

Only a month into our new life at black ops central and I already hated when they sent him away from me. X and I worked better together, and I longed for the day when we’d be paired on missions so I’d never have to be apart from him again.

Running my hands over his waist, I pushed his boxers down.

“I missed you,” I muttered.

“I was only gone three days,” he replied, pulling my naked body against his. Right now, I was extremely thankful that I’d gotten used to sleeping in the buff. Easy access and all.

“That’s three days without your cock.”

“
Charming
.”

He began to caress my body with hands that were just as hard as his muscles. They were hands of a master assassin and bore the scars of his work. His skin was rough against mine, but his fingers were dexterous and precise.

Rolling over, he positioned himself on top of me, parting my legs so he could tease me with his already hard cock. His hands moved lower, across my breasts, and ever downward. He lingered on the scars that peppered my stomach, the scars that had been put there by the same man who had given him his.

“Don’t,” I said, drawing his face to mine. “That’s not who I am. It’s not who we are.”

He blinked once, his gaze searching mine as he lowered his lips and kissed me, grinding his cock against my clit.

“Take me,” I murmured, heat beginning to rise in my body.

He guided his cock to my opening and slid into my wetness, driving home with a grunt.

“I missed you,” he said, beginning to move in measured strokes. He drew himself completely out, then back in with a hard thrust, slamming against my clit in the way he knew drove me mad with want.

“
X
.” I clawed at his back and then grasped his ass, trying to force him to stay inside and fuck me until I came.

He buried his cock into me again, and this time, he gave me what I wanted and didn’t stop to tease. He
did
miss me. I knew because he’d given up his favorite pastime of delayed gratification to flat out fuck.

We were a hot mess of hands, moans, dirty sweet nothings, and filthy sounds of fucking until the levee broke, and I came hard, tightening around his cock until I could feel his release pouring into my core.

Afterward, we lay in each other’s arms, the scent of our reunion fuck clinging to our bodies in the darkness.

I couldn’t believe it had been six weeks since I’d been in The Watchman’s clutches. It felt like an age since I’d lived in another kind of darkness.

After returning to the cottage from Bristol, I’d spent a week in bed at X’s insistence, and for the last month since meeting Mei and her employer, Moltke, I’d been assigned to training. Weapons, hand-to-hand combat, interrogation tactics, field training—the kind of training X had given me and then some. After the things I’d been through, it felt like I’d been demoted to kindergarten.

Then there was the full psychological evaluation.

I knew they’d been trying to look for holes after my torture at the hands of The Watchman. If I were them, I’d be worried some of the conditioning had taken hold, but we’d hardly begun when Vaughn and Lorelei had shown up.

Then there was the fact that I’d found my entire family murdered, and had embarked on a vendetta that brought me to X, Royal Blood, and into the orbit of Sebastian Vaughn. Oh, and not to mention I’d snuck into France and was an accessory to torture, willful damage of a city block, guilty of breaking and entering, and revenge murder.

“I want to do something, X,” I said, giving voice to my wayward thoughts. “I’ve been playing along with their training long enough.”

“You’re not—”

“I’ve healed enough,” I complained.

His fingers lightly traced the burn scar on my face that was still a little pink around the edges. It was still as fresh as the day I’d gotten it in his eyes.

Shaking my head, I knocked his hand away. “I’ve passed all their stupid tests and training. I’m sick of being on the bench. It’s not what I signed up for.”

X frowned, glancing away. Rolling over, I crawled over him, burying my hands in his hair. His eyes were averted, which meant he was holding onto something big. Something he was reluctant to tell me.

“You know something,” I declared.

“I asked for you,” he murmured, returning his gaze to mine. “I’m not sure it was such a good idea.”

“Asked what?” I prodded.

“They want us to track Lorelei and Vaughn,” he said. “Then bring them in.”

“No,” I said point-blank.

“I said the same thing to Mei, but the more I think about it, the more I can’t blame them,” he went on. “He’s a wanted terrorist, and she’s an assassin with an unpredictable streak. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“She’s unpredictable because her conditioning is deteriorating,” I spat at him. “You of all people should sympathize.”

“Perhaps, but we come from different backgrounds, Mercy. I was MI6 before. I had training to fall back on. Training that I didn’t know was there but surfaced anyway. Lorelei was just a regular woman. That makes her unpredictable. Things may not work out for her like they did for me.”

“But Vaughn—”

“Isn’t you,” he interrupted. “Their story is different, Mercy. No one can predict their end.”

“No, but you could’ve said the same thing about us.”

He sighed, his hands finding my bare ass. He began caressing my flesh, his eyes holding a hint of sadness in them.

“If we brought them in, they’d be tried as terrorists,” I went on. “Knowing what they’ve been through, they’d be better off as assets. I know we could convince them, X. Vaughn wants a life with Lorelei. He still loves her, at least enough to do whatever it takes to help her overcome this. They’re more valuable in Section Seven’s pockets than rotting in prison.”

X smiled up at me, seemingly proud of my idea to turn them, but then his expression became serious again. “You’re too smart for your own good, but they’re only part of our assignment.”

I cocked my head to the side and waited, wondering where else this could go.

“Lafayette,” X said simply, and it was all he needed to say.

Jacques Lafayette, human trafficker, all-round asshole scum of the earth. The man who’d supposedly bought Lorelei from Sykes once Vaughn believed she was dead. The man Greggor had supposedly saved her from. Then to save Lorelei from herself and the things she’d experienced while in the clutches of a monster, the leader of Royal Blood had her conditioned by The Watchman. It was a completely fucked-up story.

“We use Vaughn and Lorelei to get to Lafayette, and then bring him in,” I said.

X nodded. “I pissed off Mei pretty bad,” he went on. “I flat out refused to bring in Vaughn and Lorelei.”

“But you’re doubting that now?”

“Slightly, but it’s too late to take it back. When we go out, we’re on our own.”

I snorted, rolling off him. “Our first big gig and they’ve already thrown us to the wolves. Assholes.”

“We’ve done much more on our own before. We don’t need Section Seven.”

“No,” I said in agreement. “But by coming to them, we were meant to be a part of something, X. We’re still on the outside looking in.”

X moved beside me. Covering my body with his, he pressed his thigh between my legs.

“Shh,” he murmured, his lips brushing against mine. “Don’t let their hierarchy bullshit get to you, Mercy. This is their test of loyalty. Six weeks ago, we were the bad guys in their eyes. The line might be blurred, but we’re still on the wrong side of it. We have to earn our place.”

I didn’t like that he was right, but I had no other choice than to just go with it. I’d proven myself in training, but I’d yet to show them what I could do out in the field. All Section Seven had to go on were stories and hearsay. Now they needed rock solid proof.

“Right,” I murmured as I felt X hardening up for round two of our fuckfest. “Let’s show these fuckers what we can do.”