Free Blood Reign (#4): Alpha Warriors of the Blood (The Blood Series) by Tamara Rose Blodgett Page A

his lips the color of pigeon's blood rubies, hair like midnight kissed by sky.
    Jacqueline gave a single nod in answer.
    Faerie was a mixed blessing. It lifted the veil of her poisoned life outside of Faerie but cast a glaring light on the misdeeds of her past. In the time of this bittersweet revelation, she accepted Domiatri's offer.
    He leaned near her, attempting to touch the side of her head, and Jacqueline flinched, though he didn’t frighten her .
    “Why do you cringe?” Domi asked. “I mean you no harm. I would never hurt a female.”
    Jacqueline knew this, but she didn't respond. Instead, her gaze sought the floor.
    Domi lifted her chin with his finger. “Tell me.”
    Jacqueline sat up on her knees, chancing a furtive glance behind her. Tony still slept.
    She placed her palms on the muscular planes of his chest and whispered the reason.
    And sometime within the telling, his hands gripped her upper arms.
    When she watched his anger overcame his good reason, he found her mouth, tenderly lifting her to his lap and kissing her as her words of abuse settled in the shadows of his mind.
    “I shall not use you ill, Jacqueline.”
    She nodded and he took her out of the fey prison.
    It was the first of many nights.
    When Tony began to abuse her, she but thought of Domi, and Tony would fall asleep, his lecherous assault broken before it began.
    Domi hadn't taken away what they'd been unaware of, but he disallowed its continuance.
     
    “Do you remember what we spoke of?” Domi asked and Jacqueline cast her eyes to the ground, shutting the memories away.
    “Yes.” Their tender interchanges would be no more once they returned to Faerie. She would carry his child then bear it.
    Then she would be open to breed with other Sidhe.
    Jacqueline did not speak her fear. She had never loved another being in her life. Not her Singer son, Scott.
    Certainly not her vampire daughter, Delilah.
    She had loved only herself.
    But no more. Jacqueline had fallen victim to love.
    She loved the green Sidhe warrior.
    As he looked down at her, she could clearly see it was one-sided.
    Jacqueline straightened. She had much to atone for. It wouldn't be easy, but she wished to apologize for the wrongs she'd committed. Starting with the new Queen, Julia.
     
    *
     
    They were half a day into the journey when Jacqueline noticed Scott's gaze not constantly on her. Only when she was too weak to go on did they stray back.
    Tharell's impatience was evident. Jacqueline would have done anything to keep the robust pace they wished, but she was still in a state of recovery from Tony's constant abuse.
    She'd found eating repugnant.
    Then Domi had come to her two weeks before, and after their discussion and tacit agreement, she had immediately gotten with child. An unexpected development in its immediacy.
    But the damage to her body, surviving Tony’s constant tender care for nearly a month, had about done her in.
    Jacqueline was on the mend, but she understood enough about herself to realize she would be emotionally scarred. Her first encounter with Domi had been so wrought with her fear at lying with a male that she'd witnessed his comprehension as it thinned his face into angry lines.
    Not at her. Tony had made her so afraid to be with another male.
    Domi had been exceedingly tender. Not using himself like a weapon insider her but as a tool for pleasure.
    Jacqueline missed it. Him.
    She showed none of her feelings. If Jacqueline was talented at one thing, it was keeping her expression blank.
    Yet she watched Domi search her face quite thoroughly. Though he'd heard her response, he leaned in close to her, grasping her icy hands and frowning at their temperature.
    “No harm will come to you while I take breath, Jacqueline. You know this.”
    He pulled away, and she nodded. She did know it. He had proven it when he'd arrived barely in time to stop Tony from raping her again.
    Tharell had pulled Domi off Tony. No spot on his body had been free of blood and