Bound by Blood (Bound #1)(15)
There wouldn’t be time to waste. Kill or be killed.
Once Jace finished off all the demons, there would be no stopping that alpha. He’d want total control of the area.
And Devon wasn’t about to bow down to an animal.
“Let me the f*ck go!” The shout from his captive echoed in the lab. His lab. His playroom.
Devon grabbed a scalpel from the table. Its edge gleamed so perfectly in the light. When he’d first started his experiments, Devon had always used his hands. Then he’d realized the others thought he enjoyed the work too much. Because I do.
So now he used the surgical instruments to make it look more…clinical. Still the same. They bleed. I smile.
No one was in the lab but his latest specimen. If Morganna knew that he hadn’t stopped the experiments…
Oh, well, the bitch couldn’t stop him now. No one could.
He crossed to stand in front of the wolf. “You’re going to be very useful to me, Mike.” If Morganna’s strength had increased with a few swallows of wolf’s blood, just how strong would he become if he drained a whole wolf?
Strong enough to fight off the alpha. Strong enough to rule. The wolf glared at Devon. “Go f*ck yourself.”
Devon sliced across the wolf’s throat with his scalpel. Then he caught the flowing blood in a cup.
He wouldn’t dirty his teeth on the wolf’s flesh.
The wolf strained against his chains as his blood poured from his body. Devon smiled.
***
Jace’s men carried in the demon that Morgan had attacked as the wolves pushed inside the vampire stronghold. The guy’s head was twisted and hung at a sagging angle. Not for long, though. A broken neck wouldn’t kill a demon.
But when I take that neck from his body…
Dead demon.
Jace had never been inside the vampire mansion before. He’d stalked outside plenty of times. Come killing close, but never actually walked the hallowed halls. But, yeah, it was as high-priced as he’d figured. Fancy furniture. Marble tiles. Big, glittering chandeliers. Money.
Class.
And…a blood fountain.
He turned away from the fountain and found Morgan staring at him. Even paler than before, but she still met his gaze. Her lips weren’t red now. Instead, they were the lightest shade of pink, and the gold had faded from her eyes.
Took too much.
Her blood and the rush of power that came with it were addictive. He’d have to be more careful with her. Far more careful.
“How long?” Jace asked Louis.
Vampires lined one side of the room. Wolves the other. Jace stood in the middle. Morgan…she waited next to the vamp he’d been itching to slay. The one who touched her far too much. Paul.
“Ten minutes. Maybe five.” Louis shrugged. “Could be sooner. You know they never stay out long.”
Not much time, but… He strode forward and took Morgan’s hand. When he touched her, he caught the deepening of her scent. Not with arousal.
Fear.
Took too much.
Louis had needed to pry her out of Jace’s arms. He clenched his teeth as pain ripped through him.
If Louis hadn’t stopped me… His breath rushed out.
Another debt I owe that wolf.
“We need to be alone.” The blood had dried on her throat. Her wounds were closed already, but dark shadows lined her eyes.
“No, wolf,” this came from the fool who would be her protector. “That’s the last thing you need.”
The wolves shifted, inching forward, and he could feel their aggression level spiking in the room.
Because his aggression level was damn well spiking. “Don’t get between us again.”
But the vampire stepped forward. “I’m not afraid of—”
“Death?” Jace finished silkily. “You sure about that? Because one fine dark night, in an alley that smelled of blood and vomit, you sure seemed afraid to me.” Jace wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened. Vampires were the only ones who were supposed to be able to drink memories.
But when he’d taken Morgan’s blood moments before, he’d seen her life. Seen her transform this one—Paul—even as she cried and whispered her apologies. She hadn’t wanted to make him into a monster, but she hadn’t been able to let him die, not when he’d wanted to live.
“You *—” Paul lunged at Jace with bared fangs.
“Stop.” Morgan’s quiet voice. Her hand touched Paul’s shoulder. The vampire stilled instantly.
Morgan tilted her head back and met Jace’s stare. “How do you know about that night?”
No point lying. Besides, he didn’t want to lie. Not to her. “I drank your memories, princess.”
Instant murmurs of disbelief came from the vampires. Paul shook his head. “No, no way, that can’t happen. Plenty of humans have tasted our blood and seen nothing. ”
“I’m not human.” Jace stated the obvious. “Those rules don’t apply to me.” And in their blood past, all those long centuries of hate that stood between the vampires and werewolves, well, his kind hadn’t wanted to spend time tasting a vampire’s blood. Ripping them apart. Beheading them.
Not sampling the blood supply.
“The game has changed now,” he said as the vampires and wolves eyed each other. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. Behind him, he heard the snap of bones. Jace glanced back. That snap hadn’t come from one of his own shifting. The demon’s neck was popping back into place. Not much longer.