The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (26 page)

Thanks to the rabid Were and the loner vamp.

Interesting combo, those two.

Brendan scented the area, counting what the odds
were when he hit on a scent he could not identify. Puzzle pieces of
scent recognition sifted through his massive storage banks of finer
scents.

Then he knew.

His gaze fell on Julia. Brendan felt like he'd
been hit between the eyes with a two by four. All thoughts ground
to a screeching halt, sucker-punched.

But he hadn't.

His head swiveled to Jen's. She didn't know.

Brendan said the words, “She's the one.” His
hands trembled with the knowledge.

“What?” Jen shrieked over the noise. They didn't
have time for his melodramatic crap right now. They needed to get
the Singer and get out!

Jen looked into his eyes and grabbed his
forearm. A pathway of emotion flowed between them and her eyes
widened, her head snapping in the direction of the girl in
white.

“No way,” she breathed.

“Way,” Brendan nodded.

“Shit, we needed more back up,” Jen said.

“Yeah,” Brendan agreed. He didn't correct her on
her language.

They moved toward Julia, the rarest of them all.
The one that was prophesied to lead their people to autonomy and
freedom.

The visual of the small girl in white didn't
match the version of fairy tales they'd been raised with.

A powerful Singer would be revealed. A woman.
Their queen.

Brendan gulped, thinking about how many of the
enemy were around them. He would have to bring out the big
guns.

Julia took everything in and then her chest
tightened and she searched the faces even as wolves circled the
great red Were she had been mesmerized by. William came for her as
wolves attempted to restrain him. It was impossible, with the
distraction of the feral wolf, the vamp and then...

Julia saw the pair. A girl with strawberry
blonde hair and freckles and a man with bronze hair and deep brown
eyes, dusky skin that was so striking against the deep red of his
hair. But it wasn't those things that caused her breath to hitch.
She knew what they were instinctively.

Singers.

Like her.

Julia moved toward them. It felt like she was
coming home.

William had a moment's regret that he would need
to dispatch the pair of Singers, obvious relatives of each other.
He stabbed a Were in the middle of its Change and the blood of the
fallen made the marble slick at his feet.

He went for the Singers who had almost reached
Julia. She moved to meet them.

That would be very unfortunate were they to
touch one another.

Julia's eyes widened as she saw William sprint
for the backs of the Singers who advanced in her direction, it
would be seconds and they would meet her. She called out a warning,
loyalties torn. She cared for William but these were her people,
she couldn't let William hurt them.

Brendan scented the vamp and turning casually,
almost too late, he flung his hand out at the soles of the
vampire's feet as he sprinted for them.

His intent was clear. Killing intent.

Fire leaped and drove its heat up the legs of
the vamp. That'd get his full attention. Brendan turned
dismissively, his eyes already searching for the Singer.

Blood Singer royalty.

That's when the feral Were barreled into him,
knocking him off his feet and crashing into one of the marble
columns. There was no give to stone, Brendan realized, his bell
soundly rung.

He lit this dude up too, with the last of his
consciousness.

Nothing happened but he saw the Were fling away,
but not before he scented him.

The recognition of what he was causing Brendan
to halt in surprise, everything else falling away.

It couldn't be.

But it was.

Jen hollered, “Come on! That's the best I can
do... I can't hold that sucker!” She had a hand wrapped on the
Singer's wrist, huge amber-colored eyes in a small oval-shaped face
stared up at him.

Holy hell,
Brendan thought,
maybe it's
love
.

He was drowning in a sea of gold.

“Snap out of it!” Jen shrieked.

Right.

Brendan saw the vamp on fire and the red Were
struggling against ten of his own.

The two wolves who restrained him best were
tracking Brendan with their eyes.

Time to shake and bake.

Joseph broke away from the feral and bounded
after Julia and the two others of her kind. But he was in full wolf
form, his paws slipping on the gore of the marbled surface of the
pavilion. He fell twice, then finally gained purchase. He was
almost upon them when the other Singer flicked her palm at him and
he was thrown backward against one of the pillars of the pavilion.
A fissure formed, running from the impact of Joseph's body and
climbing to the roof.

Julia ran, the manacle of the girl's hand
hurting her wrist. What hurt more was the lone howl from the
pavilion.

It made Julia's heart ache. She clenched her
eyes tight and felt strong arms come around her, picking her up
even as they jogged, the girl's hand releasing her.

She didn't look back. Visions of William on fire
and the red Were struggling to get to her kept swirling in her
head.

Julia didn't know why it mattered. But it
did.

She gazed up into the face of the person who
held her, seeing only a strong jaw and eyes trained straight ahead.
She felt the heat rise from her toes and let it overwhelm her,
consciousness slipping away like a leaf on the wind.

Brendan felt the Singer's weight change as it
went from live to dead weight and grunted with the stress as he
jogged. He was profoundly strong, as all post-puberty Singers were.
But an almost full run with dead weight? Challenging-much.

“Don't fuss, brother,” Jen said, sprinting with
him to keep up, a smile locked into place. “Besides, we've got
company.”

Jen said it like there were some flies that
needed swatting instead of fifteen Were chasing after them.

And gaining.

Brendan redoubled his efforts, sprinting. His
lungs were a burning inferno, begging him to stop. But this was
where it counted. This is what he'd trained for, he wasn't going to
give back this precious cargo. She was the final hope for his
people.

The brush crashed behind them as they reached
their transport. The night's coolness had moved in and he could
scent the exhaust that plumed into the air like a spiral of smoke
before he saw it. Brendan instantly identified it as theirs.

The door was already flung open, Michael
screamed, “They're up your ass!”

Thanks for the clue, braniac!
Brendan
thought.

He reached the open door, slid open to
accommodate the Singer, shoved her into waiting arms and turned, a
downward arc of talons making a breeze next to his face.

Hell! That was close. There was no fighting at
close range unless Brendan had the element of surprise.

He didn't. That was long-gone. A big monster was
coming for him now, half-wolf form, all the dexterity of full human
shape, but the strength and speed of pure wolf form.

He was up shit creek, then Jen was there. Her
face was a sweaty mask as her palm was straight out in front of her
body, her arm plank-stiff.

She held back the first siege of the Were by her
will alone. Her body trembled with the effort, sweat gliding down
her neck and soaking her shirt.

“How long?” Brendan shouted beside her, trying
to light as many on fire as he could. They all got nailed at the
feet. It was a temporary measure at best, he was a Tracker, not a
Pyro. The secondary ability was awesome sometimes. For
deflection.

Like now, when they needed a mondo
distraction.

“Get in!” she hissed.

Okay, hell... so touchy.

He saw around ten more burst out of the woods.
As he got in he grabbed Jen around the waist and hauled her against
him, slamming the door closed. He banged on the drivers seat,
“Go!”

Rafael floored it even as the van rocked with
the first Were hitting the side with enough force to partially lift
the wheels off the trail.

Shit! He looked down at Jen, swiping hair away
from her temple. She was totally spent.

“Can she?” Michael asked, an unconscious Singer
in his lap.

“Nah!” Brendan shouted over the gnashing of
teeth and talons on the exterior of the van, nails on a chalkboard
of metal. “She's totally gassed!”

“Dammit!” Michael laid the Singer on the blanket
at his feet and got busy. Throwing himself in the front seat his
face mired in concentration... and ten vamps appeared in front of
the van.

Rafael had laid on the gas but the wheels were
spinning without purchase. The Were crawling over it like their own
anthill. He hissed in a breath, “What the hell?”

“It's okay, it's me,” Michael said. “Just
drive!”

Rafael did, even as the Were slid off the van to
deal with the perceived threat of their primary enemy.

The Were attacked the vamps even as the van slid
through them like ghosts. Because that's what they were. Michael
had executed his tactical advantage to perfection.

He was one of their best Illusionists.

The van screamed out of the Were stronghold,
spinning up dirt as it roared off. The four Singers and their
treasure, barely hanging on to tenuous liberty.

Singers

Julia felt like she'd been run over by a truck.
A couple of times. She cracked open one eyelid, feeling the heat of
the sunlight before it fell on where she lay. She looked around at
yet another bedroom, her surroundings different than the vampire,
than the Were.

She was in a funky-shaped room. The bed stood in
a portion of room that jutted out, three windows facing the
outside, her headboard against the central one. She rolled over,
gazing outside. She moved a gauzy white curtain aside and sunlight
struck her like a weapon. Julia squinted.

Rolling hills of green carpeted valleys that
kissed a far away forest greeted her stare. It was beautiful. A
small lake or pond shimmered in the distance, swans floating on the
surface like feathered jewels.

Julia sat back on her haunches, her heels
digging into her butt. She looked down at what she was wearing and
was beyond thrilled to see that she was still wearing the white
gown. So... they'd dumped her in a bed with the dress on and the
whole deal.

Perfect.

She swung her feet over the bed and stood on a
wood floor that had planks that were five inches wide and very red
in color. Her gaze swept the room and she noticed two doors. Julia
guessed one led to a bathroom. As she approached them she tried
door number one and turned a crystal knob, faceted like a large
diamond. It turned smoothly, slightly loose in its brass housing
and swung it open.

A tall narrow window with jewel-toned stained
glass let in sunlight broken by the colored patterns in the glass.
The light cast on the floor looked like a shattered rainbow. Julia
spied the commode, a pedestal sink and a sinfully large claw foot
tub.

Awesome.

She used the facilities and caught a glimpse of
herself in the mirror and grimaced. That's when she noticed an army
of trolls had marched through her mouth and longed for a
toothbrush. More than that though, she wanted to know where she
was. For the first time, she was happy to be somewhere new.

These were her people.

Julia had finally come home.

Jen folded her arms across her chest. “You're
not going up there,” she said, hearing Julia walking around, using
the bathroom. Exploring.

Brendan shrugged. “Why not? Don't want me to hog
your find?”

They'd been arguing all morning. Which wasn't
too atypical because she was so goddamned stubborn. Brendan was
busy seething when Michael breezed in.

“Is hotness awake yet?” he asked, rooting around
in the ancient fridge for something to snag. He was so hungry,
Michael was pretty sure that he was digesting his own spine. His
whole head was in the fridge when he heard Jen's reply, “None of
you doofuses need to go hassle her. She's new, we... heck, we
kidnapped her! Maybe she needs time to... I don't know, acclimate
or something?”

Michael jerked his head out of the fridge,
banging it a good one on the top. He grimaced, looking at the dent
there from the other one hundred and twelve times he'd done it.
Huh.

“Listen,” he held up a finger. “We saved her
precious ass so she better be grateful. I say socialization is in
order. And... who'd want to do the Were Bride routine?” Michael
rolled his eyes, gulping juice out of the carton.

Brendan narrowed his eyes on his brother.
“Listen, I got dibs. I did all the hard work. You just poofed some
vamps to distract the Were. I ran with her!” he rolled his eyes at
him.

Brendan's keen sense of smell alerted him too
late.

Julia had appeared in the doorway, the most
forlorn and sad expression he had ever seen covering her face.

Shit.

They all started to talk at once but she stopped
all conversation with, “I'm sorry. I thought that you... that I
was...” she burst into tears. Julia thought that they had wanted to
rescue her from the Were but from the sounds of it they were pissed
to have to deal with her. Someone they had to shuffle around.

Jen glowered at her brothers.

God! They were so inept! And Brendan! He was the
big deal Tracker... he couldn't scent her fast enough to curb his
words?

Idiots. Jen popped off the kitchen stool,
punching Michael as she walked past.

“Hey!” he mock-yelled at her.

Julia looked up, tears shimmering in those eyes.
They were like gold topaz Brendan noted, a little dreamily.