Bound by Blood (Bound #1)(13)

He didn’t turn at her cry. He grabbed Louis, stopping his friend before he could change. The heavy metal door swung shut behind the vampires.

The demons were smiling, showing fangs as sharp as a vampire’s.

“Guard the door,” Jace ordered. “Nothing gets to her.” No one. Louis nodded.

“Send them back to hell,” he told his men as his bones began to shift. The change didn’t even hurt, not anymore. All he could think about now was the battle. “In pieces.”

The wolves attacked.

***

“They’re fighting for us,” Devon’s voice trembled. “They’re actually honoring the agreement.”

Morgan paced. She’d quickly changed once she’d entered the compound. No longer overexposed in Jace’s shirt, she now wore jeans, a t-shirt, and her boots. As she paced, the sounds of battle seemed to burn her ears. Howls. Screams. “We need to be out there!”

But Paul shook his head. “The demons came at us in the daylight. They knew we’d be weak.” The sun would set soon, just not soon enough for them.

“They didn’t know we’d have the wolves with us!” Devon was all but crowing. “The bastards can fight and kill each other off, and when night comes, we’ll be stronger than them all.”She was tired of the Council leader’s bullshit. Jace had fed her twice. He had to be weak from that loss, and now he was out there, fighting, while she stayed safe inside?

No.

“What if I’d died this morning?” She’d never forget waking to that blaze. The bastard must have planted one of his bombs. She knew he’d taken out other enemies that way over the years.

Am I an enemy?

“It was merely a test, Morganna. Merely—”

More howls from the wolves and screams from the demons. A demon’s scream sounded like nails ripping down a chalkboard. “What if I’d died? Jace had to pull me from the fire. He could have left me there. I would have burned.”

Devon just stared back at her with his soulless blue eyes. “Then we would have known the plan wasn’t working.”

The big plan. To mix the blood of a vampire and a werewolf. To create a being strong enough to shut the doorway to hell, a being who’d be able to survive the fires of hell long enough to make sure that doorway stayed closed. Forever.

A vampire couldn’t do it on her own. Fire killed vamps too easily. At least, it had before. But today, the fire hadn’t destroyed her. An inferno that should have killed her had only left her with blisters.

“You just need more blood from him,” Devon said with a nod. “More blood, and you’ll be strong enough for the job.”

Paul had moved to peer through the series of spy holes located along the room’s perimeter. “Or he will be.”

Now Devon finally showed emotion. Confusion. “What?”

Paul whistled. “That wolf is cutting right through the demons. Slashing every last one. Never seen anything like this…”

She shoved him aside and stared through the spy hole. Her gaze locked on the wolf, a wolf that was bigger than he had been last night. The giant black beast turned around and Jace’s bright stare flew past her as he snarled.

His teeth and claws were covered with blood.

“He’s not supposed to be that big,” Devon muttered. “I’ve seen him shift before, he’s not—” Devon broke off as he caught her arm and jerked her toward him. “You let him drink from you.”

Her shoulder seemed to burn, and she remembered his bite. “You know the rules of a werewolf mating. He had to drink.”

But Devon started shaking his head. “I didn’t realize…the bastard knew! ”His hands wrapped around her shoulders, and he hauled Morgan off her feet. “Don’t give him anymore blood.” Spittle flew from his mouth.

“What? Look, you know you don’t have to worry about me turning him. Werewolves can’t become vampires.”

The transformation from human to vampire was brutal. The victim had to be near death, a heartbeat away from the afterlife. The vampire had to drain her prey and then force him to drink her own blood.

Only…werewolves had never transformed. Vamps had tried to change a few of them, centuries before, but it hadn’t worked. Their beasts were too strong to die. They couldn’t transform.

Devon had told her that. He’d been the one to “experiment” on those unlucky wolves in the past.

Did Jace know? Did he realize that Devon had captured wolves over the centuries and sliced them apart to see how much pain they could take? To learn how fast they’d regenerate?

Know your enemy. One of Devon’s favorite phrases.

Asshole.

He’d ruled the vampires in this area for too long. But now he wasn’t the strongest vamp in the room.

I am.

Devon didn’t even seem to see her as he said, “They can’t become like us…” His gaze stared at the past. “Fucking animals…should have seen it…didn’t think…” He spun around and his fist slammed into the wall. “They can become more.”

The screams stopped, but the howls didn’t. They grew louder. Wilder. The wolves had won. Vanquished the demons.

“More will come,” Paul said and she knew he was right. The flood of demons wouldn’t stop, not until that doorway was blocked.