Bound by Blood (Bound #1)(2)

would be dumb enough to invite a vampire here—”

“Your alpha.” Her answer came with a shrug as her gaze lifted back to Jace. Then she inclined her head in the smallest of subservient gestures. Submission. “I was told of your offer, and I’m here to accept.”

Mike’s head swung back toward him. “Jace?” His voice was stronger now. Wolves always healed fast. “What bullshit is she talking about?”

Jace slammed his forehead into Mike’s nose. Bones crunched and blood spurted even as the smaller wolf howled. Then Jace threw the guy against the nearest wall, one that was about fifteen feet away. When Mike crashed, he didn’t get up. Silence. So thick it covered the whole bar. Jace stared at the vamp, trying to keep all emotion from his face. Then, slowly, he closed the remaining space between him and the woman who was going to change everything for him.

He caught her hand and turned her palm over. Hell, yes, the mark was there, cradled inside her left hand. Just like he’d known it would be. A blood-red rose. He stood close enough to see the circle of gold in her eyes. The faint gold that marked her just as her hand did. She was something far more than an ordinary bloodsucker. She was a vampire princess. His key to power, immortality, and she was the perfect weapon that he needed to kick the ass of the demons who’d come to town looking to wipe out his people.

Her lips parted as she stared up at him. He glimpsed her deceptively delicate fangs. And he caught the scent of fear as it swept through her.

She was right to be afraid. Now that she was there, within his grasp, and he’d never let her go.

Never.

“I’m Jace.” He let her see his own fangs. “And you’re mine.” A claim made before all the wolves in the room. From now on, any wolf who touched her would face him—and death. She swallowed and tilted her head back to better meet his stare. “Hello, husband.”

The wolf within growled… Mine.

***

When you were stuck between death and hell, sometimes, you had to turn to big, bad wolf for help.

The door to the small storeroom closed with a soft click behind Morgan LaBeaux, and she tried hard not to tense her shoulders.

Alone. With him. The werewolf’s footsteps padded around the room. She kept her chin up and knew that he’d smell her fear. Dammit, she hated being afraid. But the idea of bonding with this male and staying with him for the rest of her very long life—

hello, fear.

Morgan didn’t fear many things, but every vamp in lower Florida knew it was smart to step cautiously around Jace Vaughn. He hadn’t earned the alpha title by playing nicely. No, he’d earned it by cutting a bloody path through his rivals and leaving their savaged bodies in his wake.

And I get to marry him?

Some days, a bride was just lucky.

“I didn’t think the vamps were going to accept my deal.”

His voice sounded more like a beast’s than a man’s. Deep. Rumbling. He propped his shoulders against the wall in front of her and crossed his powerful arms over his chest. His eyes, so dark they almost looked black, swept over her once more. “A real f*cking princess,”

he muttered as he shook his head. “I’ll be damned.”

Probably. They all would be. That’s why they were monsters. Though she really hadn’t been given much choice since she’d been one of the few vamps actually born to the blood’s call.

She cleared her throat. “At first, the Council didn’t plan to accept your…ah…offer.” The Vampire Council—the strongest vamps in the area—hadn’t exactly been keen on Jace’s plan. But then the game had changed when their guards started showing up dead, courtesy of the demon bastards who’d come to town.

Once upon a time, the supernaturals had all lurked in the shadows, content to exist only in the nightmares of humans. Why take the spotlight? Death and persecution would only follow. The witch trials had taught them all that.

Vampires had never sought attention, still didn’t.

Wolves, yes, they got a little wild and some rumors had been known to circulate about them, but they’d kept fairly quiet over the centuries, too.

But the demons—those *s who were escaping hell in increasing numbers—they weren’t in the mood for quiet. They’d amassed in Miami and were planning one deadly coming out party. But first, they wanted to prove they were the biggest, toughest prey in the night.

So they were eliminating their supernatural competition.

A war was coming. No, it had already started. Vampires versus demons. Demons versus wolves.

The enemy of my enemy…

Is my husband.

“The demons want to wipe us out,” she said. “You want them stopped as much as we do.” He still hadn’t moved. Just stood there with his arms crossed. But at least there was no sign of his claws, not anymore. “You were right. The best way for us to end this battle is to team up.”

He smiled, a half-smile that didn’t lighten his face. It just made him look all the more dangerous.

The guy exuded danger like no one she’d ever seen. Darkly tan, golden skin covered a body hard with muscles. Jace Vaughn towered over her, easily passing sixfoot-three or sixfoot-four. He wasn’t handsome, no, his face was too savage for that. His long, dark mane of hair brushed his shoulders. He had hard, tense features.

Not handsome. But…sexy. Dammit, sexy.