Then he crushed her mouth with his own, delving his tongue inside and demanding she open for him.
She did on a frantic whimper with the images he'd conjured floating through her mind. He let one hand go to wrap her nape in a possessive grip, keeping her still, while he plundered her mouth, stroking his tongue deep, giving her a small taste of the beast he planned to unleash. She clenched her free hand in the back of his hair, pulling him closer not pushing away, yearning for more.
"Nikolai," was all she could manage when he scraped his canines down the side of her neck without breaking the skin.
A quiet footfall sounded on the pavement close behind them. Nikolai spun to face the intruder, shielding her with his body. No. Intruders. There was more than one. Sienna caught sight of three men in the royal Legionnaire uniform, silver buttons winking by torchlight.
"Well, well. So sorry to interrupt your late-night feeding, lieutenant."
She knew the voice at once. Sergeant Aleksander Volkov. Nikolai made no reply, watching their movements as the other two moved slowly to flank them. He shifted his body to the left, where the largest of the three vampires had moved in too close.
"Mmm, but she does look like she tastes so sweet." Volkov raised his head, nose in the air, and inhaled a deep breath. "Bloody hell, lieutenant. Her scent. How have you not drained her dry?" he asked on a laugh. "Doesn't she smell sweet, Boris?" he asked the gruff vampire on his right.
"Aye, sergeant."
Nikolai was stone-still, but the tautness of his shoulders and the fists at his sides told her enough.
"Volkov. If you so much as think of her again, I'll rip out your throat before you can blink."
He laughed, the sound sending a sinister shiver up her spine. "Oh, I plan to do more than think about her." His voice dropped low and menacing. "You can be sure of that."
Then the world turned upside down. Sienna was knocked to the pavement by one of the soldier vampires, but Nikolai tore him away from her. She could make out practically nothing, only blurs of action under the moonlight. Snarls, grunts, and growls filled the night. Then a crunch and one of the soldiers lay in the street, unmoving. Nikolai stood over him, heaving deep breaths, blood dripping from his mouth.
The second soldier charged Nikolai in a blur, the one called Boris. A blade left Nikolai's hand and landed in the man's chest. He howled in pain as he twisted onto the cobblestone street.
Out of nowhere, Volkov lifted Sienna with a jerk of her arm. She screamed. At the same time, a sharp burn coiled and leaped in her chest, pushing down her arms toward her hands. Then her body was tossed sideways as Nikolai and Volkov tumbled into the street. Just as quickly, the inner fire snuffed out, leaving a warm knot lodged in her chest. She clutched at the spot, while watching Nikolai and Volkov tumbling away.
The men grappled in a spinning torrent, then one of them flew in the air and hit the cobblestone a block away with a hard thunk. Nikolai stood victorious, though he wasted no time.
He scooped her into his arms and ground out, "Close your eyes and hold on."
No time for questions or protests. She clung to him tightly, locking her arms around his neck, and buried her face against his chest, knowing what was about to come. He ran in vampire speed, the world blurring past until she felt the cold chill of the open air as they breezed away from Lobdell, spinning deeper into the night. Squeezing her eyes shut to keep the nausea of motion sickness at bay, she held on tight, comforted to be in his arms after the dreadful scene a moment before, the strange tingling fire still burning inside her chest. She'd felt the sensation when she'd been threatened before, though she couldn't figure out what it meant. Even so, she knew it was nothing to fear, but rather something she needed to know and understand.
They seemed to run forever. Nikolai refused to stop, even when she whimpered in protest and begged quietly. "I don't feel well. Can we stop?"
"Not yet," came his grating reply, the cold night growing colder as they sped through the dark. "Not until you are safe."
She saw the blur of trees and heard the coo of an owl once, longing for the safety of her woodland. But then they were crossing an open plain, the world spinning. The nausea finally overwhelmed her, and she drifted into the black.
Chapter Eleven
The dark-haired human servant stoked the fire to life, adding three logs to the oversized grate, nodded to Friedrich, then swiftly left the parlor and closed the door behind him.
"Do you trust him?" asked Nikolai with a nod to the door.