Bound by the Night (Bound #4)(6)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her gaze held his. “You want my blood?”

“I kinda have to get it, in order for us both to keep living.” He kept his face blank. She couldn’t know the real reason why he wanted her blood. That wonderful power boost that he’d get from it. The boost that would make him strong enough to take out Latham.

Because Latham had also been feeding on vamps.

The secret was out in the paranormal world. Thanks to the mating of a few werewolves and vampires, folks had realized that if you wanted a power surge, you had to get very, very intimate with those who’d once been your sworn enemies.

Since Iona had been sleeping during that time of revelation, she didn’t realize just how hot of a commodity her blood had become to the werewolves of the world.

Blood as old as hers, as powerful…and it’s all mine.

Jamie knew his smile had widened. He couldn’t help it. Everything was falling into perfect place for him.

“Liar.” Barely a breath from her. A breath that was full of burning fury. “One bad human doesn’t mean I’m stuck with you. He was probably on drugs. I always hated the taste of drugs in a human’s blood.”

But she wasn’t letting him go, and Jamie wondered if, deep down, she already knew the truth.

Then he caught the scent of blood. Heard the softest tread of footsteps. His head jerked up. His nostrils flared.

Five men. Though not actually men. Not human.

Coming their way.

The same knowledge was in her eyes.

“Company,” he told her as he drew in the scents of the night.

Her head turned to the left, away from the faint lights from the parking lot and toward the darkness of the woods that waited. Her body seemed to tense against his. “Yours?”

“No.” But it was company he’d expected. Just not quite so soon. “Don’t worry,” he told her, as he pushed her behind his body. She went easily enough, probably more from surprise than anything else. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

Five against one. He could handle these odds in his sleep.

Especially since he’d taken some of her blood. Hmmm…maybe he could even consider this as a test run. To see just how much strength her blood would truly give him.

The others were coming in fast now. Time to change. Time to show Iona just who—what—she was dealing with in this battle.

The fire of the change swept through his body. It wasn’t some light, easy shift. It was brutal. As savage as the beast he carried. His bones snapped. His muscles tore and reshaped. Fur seemed to explode along his flesh. He hit the ground, but when his palms slapped against the cement, they were already transforming into the powerful paws of a wolf.

Iona stood behind him, and the fast pants of her breath echoed in his ears.

The werewolves were coming for her. He knew it. Once the spell holding Iona had broken, Latham’s witch would have told him the news. And Latham would have sent out his attack dogs.

Too bad. You can’t have her back.

Their “company” broke from the trees. Two black wolves. Two gray. One white.

Latham’s foot soldiers—wolf soldiers.

Jamie barred his teeth and didn’t wait for them to come lunging at him in an attack. He sprang toward them, more than ready to draw first blood.

***

The sounds of the vicious snarls and howls filled her ears. The waves were crashing close by, and the music still blared from the bar, so the humans probably weren’t even aware of the bloody battle going on so close to their safe little world.

Iona was too aware.

Jamie wasn’t a man any longer. But she knew that, in truth, he’d never been a man. That had just been a surface lie. Werewolves were always more beasts than men.

He was in the form of a big, fierce, black wolf now. A wolf that was easily twice the size of the others he attacked. A wolf that drew blood with his claws and his razor-sharp teeth and seemed to love the savagery of the fight.

No hesitation. No fear.

Two of his enemies were already on the ground.

A third would be out of the battle soon.

It appeared that Jamie was a true werewolf alpha.

Iona turned away from the battle. Alphas had always annoyed her. Maybe because she liked to be the alpha, too.

Whatever. She would leave Jamie’s lying beast to his own ends. He could handle the others—and she could find a human to eat. I’ll prove him wrong.

She just needed more blood. There was still a weakness in her limbs that she couldn’t allow. When she faced Latham—oh, I’ll see you dead soon—she had to be at full strength.

A wolf’s sharp cry pierced the air behind her. For just an instant, she hesitated and looked back. Jamie had taken out the white wolf. The beast was on his side, and she knew the dark shadow spreading on his coat was blood.

Jamie stood over his fallen prey, with his big body heaving. The wolf’s eyes—that same, piercing green—were on her.

I won’t let them hurt you. His words whispered through her mind.

As if she needed his protection. Her chin lifted. She’d walk back into the bar. Find another, non-drugged man to sample, and Jamie could fight his little blood battles.

A familiar scent teased her nose. Iona’s body stiffened.

Then a rumble of thunder broke the air. Jamie—his wolf—staggered back. More thunder rumbled. No, not thunder, a gunshot. Jamie hit the ground.

She was running toward him before she’d even realized what was happening. The other wolves had scattered back, but when they saw her rushing forward, the grey beast tossed his head and howled.

Blood.

And…Iona inhaled deeply, wondering about that other heavy, too thick scent in the air. A scent that was metallic, like…

Jamie was shifting before her. She’d never seen a wolf shift so quickly. Except for one time when her vamp coven had attacked invading wolves with silver. Silver could always force a fast change for a werewolf.

The beast was gone. On the ground, Jamie sprawled as a man. Bullet holes were in his chest. Her eyesight was perfect in the dark, probably even better than his, and Iona saw that he appeared to be bleeding in rivulets of silver.

Liquid silver? Was that the weapon of choice against werewolves these days?

Jamie’s claws drove into his own chest, and he yanked out a handful of silver. A brutal move that had the breath freezing in her lungs. Then he did it again, to the other bullet hole.

“Can’t…get it all…” His voice was barely human. “Liquid…in my blood…”

Yes, it would be. Unlike a solid silver bullet, the liquid silver would pour through him.