Bound in Death (Bound #5)(2)

Then she’d bit him. His blood had been the first that she ever tasted.

In turn, Alerac had taken her blood and discovered a rush of power that he’d never anticipated.

Lorcan’s jaw locked. He lunged toward Alerac once more.

Alerac smiled at the bastard.

Aye, my blood, in her.

“He used you, Keira!” Lorcan snarled. Alerac’s blood dripped from the knife gripped in Lorcan’s left hand. “And yet you would give your life for him? Why?” His thundering voice echoed through the chamber.

The other vampires shifted nervously. When Lorcan was this enraged, people died. It was an understood fact.

Everyone there knew the pattern. Lorcan’s love of blood and death was too well documented.

“Why?” Another bellow from Lorcan when Keira didn’t answer quickly enough.

Alerac saw the faint movement of her throat as she swallowed. “Because I love him,” Keira said softly, but with certainty.

Alerac’s smile faded. Keira wasn’t supposed to love him. He wasn’t worthy of her love.

Now it was Lorcan who smiled. He shook his dark head. “You can’t die for him, Keira. You have too much value to us.”

That was right. Alerac eased out the breath that had frozen in his lungs. Keira couldn’t, wouldn’t die. Lorcan could continue his torture tactics, but he wouldn’t be able to hurt Alerac for much longer. Alerac’s pack was coming. They’d be there before— “But you can take his punishment,” Lorcan continued, all of the anger suddenly gone from his voice. Flat and cold, he said, “After all, you were the one to bring him in to our clan. A dog, walking among gods.”

“You’re no god,” Alerac shouted at him. Lorcan was nothing, a blood drinker who lived off the fear he stirred. The werewolves were the truly powerful beings—both man and beast. Power and savagery in one dangerous package. And they didn’t have to feed off others in order to survive.

Lorcan’s dark eyes narrowed. “One hundred years. That’s the penalty for treason in our clan. Imprisonment. Starvation. For one hundred years.”

No, no, that wouldn’t happen to Keira. His men were planning to attack the compound. They’d save Keira long before she suffered even a single night’s pain.

Keira eased closer to Alerac. Her skin seemed to become even paler as she gazed at him. They’d sliced him, cutting into his body with that silver knife for hours, and they’d kept him manacled with silver so that he wouldn’t be able to transform into the body of his wolf.

No transformation meant no healing.

They thought they were making him weak.

They were wrong. He was the alpha of his pack. There was no weakness.

Except her.

Keira’s hand lifted. Her palm brushed against his cheek.

He’d had her under him, in bed, that very night. He’d given in to his need one more time. Made a desperate mistake.

Lorcan had found them.

Now Lorcan thought to make Keira pay?

“Don’t,” Alerac ordered her. The word was a growl from his beast.

Her hand dropped.

Her smile broke the heart that he shouldn’t have. “I won’t let you die.” Her chin lifted. Her bright stare cut toward Lorcan. “I will take the punishment, but you have to promise me that Alerac lives.” Her voice grew louder. All watched her with wide eyes. “No matter what else happens, he lives.”

“Why?” Lorcan’s lips were still twisted into a sly smile. “By the time you are free, he will be long dead.”

Because werewolves weren’t immortal, not like vampires. Not like their sworn enemies.

A battle that had raged for so long.

Blood. Death.

“Swear it, Lorcan,” Keira pushed, her voice even stronger now. “Vow it to me on the blood.”

Lorcan’s gaze returned to Alerac. Smug vampire. “I vow it,” he agreed easily enough.

Keira’s shoulders slumped. She glanced back at Alerac once more. Then she bent before him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and bringing her lips close to his ear. “I know you did not love me,” she whispered, her mouth brushing against him. “But I loved you.” Then she pulled back. Looked deep into his eyes.

The first time he’d seen her, he’d thought she was a dream.

A beautiful, perfect dream—a temptation.

A destruction.

Her lips pressed lightly against his.

“Take her,” Lorcan ordered, voice booming.

Other vampires rushed to obey.

Keira was hauled back.

He stared up at her, desperate. Alerac wanted to tell her that help was coming, it was just hours away. Hours? Or minutes? During the torture, he’d lost track of time, and Alerac wasn’t sure how long it would be before dawn arrived.

But if he told her about the others, then all of the vampires would be alerted to his plan. His men wouldn’t have the element of surprise on their side. He had to protect his pack.

An alpha’s job was always to protect the pack.

Shackles were put around Keira’s wrists.

No.

He leapt to his feet with a roar, ignoring the silver and the vampires who tried to subdue him. The power of his beast beat within him. The sight of Keira, bound, enraged him. Not her. No one could hurt her. No one would hurt her.