Bound By Blood (Bound #1)(4)
Author: Cynthia Eden

When an alpha talked, you damn wel listened.

Morgan’s racing heartbeat fil ed her ears. He kept staring right at her as he said,

“She’s my mate.”

“Oh, the f**k no!” The instant denial came from Mike. She’d expected that outburst.

What she hadn’t expected—

Jace tore away from her and in an instant, his claws sank into that wolf’s shoulder.

“Oh, the f**k, yes,” he snarled right back. “And if you can’t accept her…” He yanked out his claws as Mike stumbled back.

Wolves are brutal. Another Council warning.

“If you can’t accept her,” Jace continued, “then get out of my pack.”

Pain broke rough lines on Mike’s face. “A vampire? You’re tying to a bloodsucker—”

Now she wanted to claw him. The wolves kept acting like Jace was the one trading down. Dude. Vampire princess.

She toed the dead demon’s body. The blood had reached her boots, and it wouldn’t be coming out of the leather. “They’l destroy you.”

Now it was her voice that captured everyone’s attention.

Mike puffed out his bloody chest. “We did a good job of destroying them.”

Yes, they had. And she was impressed, but she wasn’t planning to show it. “You took out two…” Her gaze swept the room. “With twenty to two odds, I should hope you’d win the match.”

Jace lifted a brow and watched her.

She braced her legs and tried to look al kick-ass. “What are your plans when there are two thousand of them…and stil just twenty of you?”

“Did that bitch just say two thousand?”

“Two damn thousand?”

Shock coated the faces of the shifters. Even Mike looked nervous. Jace didn’t. He just kept watching her, and he kept his claws out.

“You’re being hunted,” she told them. “How many wolves have the demons taken out in the last few weeks?”

They didn’t answer, but she saw the swift glances that passed between the pack members.

“They’re also attacking us,” she said. “For once, the vampires and the werewolves share an enemy.” Now they were al focusing on her with narrowed eyes and tense faces. “If we don’t take these bastards out, believe me, they will destroy us. They’ve got the numbers on their side. They have the power…”

“So what?” Mike demanded. “An al iance?” He fired a fierce stare at Jace. “Is this just some truce ‘til we kick the ass of al —”

“It’s a mating,” Jace said, voice flat. “It’s forever.”

Until death. “A doorway opened between hel and earth, and the demons are slipping right through that door,” Morgan said. More of the hel spawn came through each day.

“So close the damn door!” Mike snapped.

Jace’s fingers stretched as if he were itching to plunge his claws back into the wolf.

Maybe he was.

“We wil ,” Jace said simply. “The wolves and the vampires wil send them back and close the door.”

They had to work together. In order for that doorway to shut, they’d both need to bleed. Only she’d be the one giving up the most blood.

And Jace would be the one to face hel .

Murmurs swept through the bar. The wolves final y seemed to realize just how serious this night was. A vampire wasn’t their prey. Instead, a vampire was becoming their alpha’s mate.

Jace came to her side again. When his hands—stil tipped with those deadly claws

—rose to her throat, Morgan didn’t flinch. He swept back her hair and his knuckles brushed over her skin.

The wolves closed in now, watching, and some—some were already shifting. Mike swore and turned away. He stomped for the door.

“Don’t be afraid,” Jace’s voice, right at her ear. She felt the whisper of his breath on her flesh.

“I’m not.” Her own voice was just as soft as his.

His claws skated down her neck. “Liar.”

Wolf senses. Could he real y smel her fear?

“Have you ever been bitten?” he asked.

So many eyes were on her. She’d known the bite would have to be in public. It was one of the pack rules. Claimings had to be public. Witnesses had to see the bite.

Witnesses—just like in human marriage ceremonies.

Because that’s what a marking was…marriage. When a male wolf bit his female in front of the pack, he claimed her.

I can do this.

It would just help if her knees weren’t shaking.

She gave him the truth, “No.” No one had ever bitten her.

“Good.” Too much satisfaction purred in the one word.

“Don’t forget,” her voice was way too breathless. She wasn’t actual y looking forward to this, was she? “I get my turn later.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Oh, damn.

She titled her head, arching her neck even as she closed her eyes. She wouldn’t look at the others as he did this. She would just close her eyes and pretend that—

That I’m not giving my life to a werewolf.

His lips touched her skin first. She’d expected the bite. The sharp sting of teeth.

Werewolves were supposed to be wild.

No better than animals. That’s what the Council said, that’s what—

His tongue licked her skin, and Morgan lost her breath. Her br**sts tightened even as her body tensed.

She didn’t open her eyes. Don’t want to see them.

He sucked her skin, licked her, but didn’t bite, not yet. His arms surrounded her, his body sheltered her, and he made her wait.

Worse, the bastard made her want.

Because her skin was too sensitive, his lips too wickedly skil ed, and if a vampire had a sweet spot—okay, yes, they al did—it was the neck. Just a few licks there, and she was choking back a moan.

Then she felt the edge of his teeth on her skin.

“Do it,” she told him, desperate.

“You accept me?”

Morgan nodded.

“Say it, Morgan, I need the words. You have to say—”

“I accept you!”

His teeth sank into her. Not her neck, but the curve of her shoulder. The pain was whitehot, pulsing. Then pleasure whipped through her. A wave of pleasure so intense that she cried out and opened her eyes.

And saw a giant, white wolf leaping right at her.

Barely a bride, and already, the groom’s family was gunning for her. Jace lifted his head at her cry and he roared, “Mike!” even as he shoved her back. Then her husband jumped into the air. His bones crunched, popped, and fur broke over his skin.