The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (32 page)

“No,” she responded shortly. “He can kiss my
ass!” Adriana said, folding her arms across her chest. “I'll never
suck up to him. Besides,” she looked at her brother again, “did ya
see how he made me look in there to Lawrence? He never does or says
the right thing. Every verbal angle he plays is uttered for his
benefit, never anyone else but his own.” Couldn't Joseph see
that?

Joseph did. But Tony was his second, an
excellent fighter. It didn't matter that his sister couldn't get
along with him. They'd have to reach some kind of mutual
understanding to co-exist. He told her as much.

“Whatever!” Adi responded in a loud voice. “I'll
just avoid his obnoxious carcass and try for civility.” She rolled
her eyes then nailed Joseph with a solid stare. He raised his brows
in question and she plowed forward, changing tactics. “Who is the
feral?”

Joseph sucked in his breath. He had been sworn
to secrecy. “I can't say, Adi. You know that. We've been over it
and over it...”

She interrupted him, “it's for the safety of the
pack... blah, blah. Yeah, whatever. I gotcha. But I want to know
why we would even keep a feral?” Her eyes shifted to his, searching
and a wild idea began to form. It couldn't be... she asked, “Does
he have something to do with Jules?”

It was the barest flicker but Adi caught it,
snapping her fingers. “Tell me!”

Joseph sighed, holding up a palm. “We thought
that if the Rare One needed... encouragement, we could use the
feral.”

Adi scrunched her brows together. That didn't
make sense. Joseph saw her confusion. They stared at each other for
several moments.

“How? How could... he coerce...?” she asked.

Joseph told her. It took almost a half hour and
when he finished only the birds in the trees could be heard in the
deafening silence that his revelation had left behind.

Her slap against his skin rang out, startling
the birds which perched on high branches to exchange the safety of
the trees for that of the sky.

“How could you?” her voice shook with contained
rage.

Joseph felt the sting of her slap and knew he
deserved ten times worse. There was no excuse, he should have
fought harder against it. Now, there was no taking back the
deceit.

Adi's eyes narrowed on him. “Whose idea was
this?”

Joseph didn't answer, his eyes were answer
enough.

Of-fucking-course.

Adrianna stalked off in search of Tony. Joseph
tried to grab her arm to stop her and she tore it away from him,
turning on him like the wolf she was. “Don't touch me! It was
unforgivable.” Her eyes locked onto him without mercy. “Ya know
what? It's good that the Singers took Julia. Maybe somebody can
treat her like a human being instead of something to be
manipulated. We don't deserve her.”

She strode off in search of Tony.

Joseph watched her go, his self-loathing a solid
weight in his body.

In his soul.

****

William

William was hopeful. He clapped the Locator on
his back as he left the kiss with a thank you and the blessing of
their lightwalker, Gabriel. A huge favor as future collateral. It
would hang over the coven's head. But if he could regain Julia...
it would not matter. Their kiss' prosperity and importance would be
solidified forever.

The vampire turned, giving William his steady
regard. “You have the map?”

William nodded and he gave the barest smile of
acknowledgment. “I wish you the best fortune in locating your
Singer.”

They both knew that Julia wasn't just any
Singer. But neither said it openly. They had put their competition
aside for the moment but the possibility of a sister kiss trying
for the Rare One was not beyond the scope of possibility. William
was keen on not forgetting that basic fact.

He closed the door behind him and strode to
where Claire and Gabriel waited. Gabriel looked up as William drew
closer. His finger stabbed the map. “The Singers have powerful
blocking in place from our location. But,” his eyes met William's,
“the Locator was quite sure that this is the general region.” They
all studied the area.

Mountainous and densely wooded.

Perfect cover for retrieval.

By vampire.

William assembled runners. They packed their
gear and went out on their last mission. If they could not retrieve
Julia this time, he knew that his window of opportunity would have
closed to nothing.

Once she was in the womb of the Singers it would
be an impossibility to get to her.

They afforded formidable protection. Something
even his will and determination could not combat.

He imagined she would be important to them as
well. Perhaps not labeled the same way she was with the vampire and
werewolves. Maybe something else entirely?

Julia would be royal amongst their kind, William
contemplated.

Like a queen.

*

the Feral

The feral swept the hair that had fallen
across the face of the female away from her eyes and studied her.
It made a sweet longing like the finest blood rise unbidden within
his wolf form. It was almost enough to make him slide back into his
human shape. But not yet. His strange half-human form was the one
he instinctively realized was best for the distance he needed. Even
now he could feel his kind chasing after them.

After the female. He clutched her tighter to
his body. Soon, he would need to feed and would have to leave her
unconscious and unprotected for a time. He scowled. An outsider
would have noted how comical it made his facial expressions, that
of the wolf, the echo of humanity etched about the edges.

He stood smoothly with the tiny female in
his arms, a sense of rightness and purpose propelling him
naturally. He searched until he was satisfied, finding the perfect
den in which to hide her. He did, tucking her inside the small rock
crevice. He backed away, his hunger a gnawing monster in his belly.
Before he could compromise his strength further by lingering over
her, he fled. In search of prey, which would keep him busy for a
time.

More than he liked.

Julia woke up with darkness all around her
and was chilled to the bone. She had a coat but the damp coolness
of her environment had sunk into her bones and weighed her down.
She put her hands out in an exploratory movement and hit something
solid. All around her Julia could feel the solid weight of
something, smell the earth surrounding her.

She felt like she was in a tomb. Julia
panicked... scraping the confines of the dark space, whimpering in
fear. Before she lost it totally something occurred to her. Julia's
memory slid into place and she remembered what had happened.

The great red werewolf. Actually, his fur
was like wine. Not that it mattered. She closed her eyes tightly.
What was she doing here? Where was he? What had he put her in?

Calm thyself, Julia!

Her lips set in a determined line, Julia
lifted her head as high as she could without hitting the ceiling of
where she lay. Ambient light reached her eyes and she could just
make out her toes like twin hills in the distance. Julia thought
that she may have been stuffed in some kind of hole.

For safekeeping.

She gulped, trying not to think of what that
meant. Maybe a tasty meal for later? Julia shuddered at the
thought. She needed to get the hell out of here! She experimented,
wiggling around and discovered that the only place of escape was
where her feet were. Well... she couldn't move at all. Maybe she
had six inches on all sides.

Didn't matter. She'd never
been more scared since that night,
since
Jason
, her mind spoke, but she wasn't going
to give up yet.

She began to wiggle her butt like an
inchworm, bunching her muscles then scooting forward, inch by inch.
Julia knew when she made headway because she could see better.
Finally, Julia's legs were free of the hold and she was able to
bend her knees and drag her body further, stabbing her heels into
the dirt at her feet and pulling herself out incrementally. In less
than five minutes she was free. Even the dappled sunlight through
the canopy of trees was bright and full of glare after the utter
darkness of the hole she'd been in. Julia turned, squinting, and
looked at where she'd been. It was a narrow slot at the base of a
natural rock formation. Barely more that a crevice.

No one would have ever seen her unless they
knew she was there.

Julia stood and the pins and needles of
returning blood flow almost brought her to her knees. But she
persevered, breathing slowly, in and out. She was tired of
fainting, being kidnapped and told who she was and what she was
going to be.

And do.

Julia was her. And she was going to be
okay.

Julia turned and walked away, casting a
glance behind her as she went. She didn't have the vaguest clue
where she was but she was going. She headed west, where the sun
rode above the mountains. At least she had a direction.

Julia hoped it was not the same one the Were
had used.

****

Homer

The phone buzzed shrilly beside his ear and he
snatched it up, his irritation rising like the tide beyond the
window of the police station. “Truman,” Karl answered in his gruff
voice.

“It's Alexander,” the chief forensic specialist
said.

“Hello! Sing me the tune I like to hear.”

“Okay... well, I don't know if it's what you
want
to hear but it's what I have.”

Confusing but okay
, Karl thought.
“Alright, lay it on me.”

“I've got the sample DNA typed but it's broad
because I can't get a specific on it.”

“Cut the cryptic shit and just give it to me
straight.”

“Canine genome.”

Alright, just like he figured. No big surprise
there. “Okay, wolves then...”

Silence. Karl could almost hear the static on
the normally clear lines.

He cleared his throat.

“Listen... this is going to sound completely
insane.”

Karl waited.

“But the classification is not entirely
accurate.”

“What are you saying, Alexander?”

“I'm saying you've got yourself a new class of
canine here.”

“What... Bigfoot?” Karl gave a short bark of a
laugh.

Alexander didn't laugh. “No. Not Bigfoot.”

“Then what?” This was crazy!

“Something else. Something so different we don't
know where to put it.”

Karl leaned forward, his chair creaking under
his weight. “Okay, give me what you know.”

“Okay, more insanity. Ready?”

“Hell yeah.” Karl tapped his ballpoint on the
desk, listening. When Alexander was finished he whistled low in the
back of his throat, leaning back in his chair and scrubbing his
face. Finally he said, “A guy could lose his reputation over what
you're postulating.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“So... what's the plan?” Karl asked.

“Well, first off, I think the larger question is
what are these things? Listen Truman, meet me back at the scene.
Who knows, with some additional measurements I may have more
answers.”

“Like what?”

“Size, for starters.”

“And?”

“Intelligence.”

They were quiet for a full minute, the line
buzzing between them.

“You're not suggesting these things are the same
ones that tossed that dump are you?”

“I am,” Alexander said.

“Holy shit,” Truman breathed out.

“Yeah.”

*

Cyn

The bus driver looked as the forlorn girl
entered his bus. When she told him where she wanted to go he was
somehow reminded of that waif of a girl a few months back. The one
with the whiskey eyes and phoney black hair dye. He wondered how
she was doing now? His eyes met hers and she answered, “Kent.”

He nodded. “I know just where to take ya.”

“Good,” she said. Turning away, she headed to
the back of his bus. His eye followed her in the rear view mirror.
When he looked at her feet he saw some funky boots. They looked
like hard-core fisherman boots, reaching to her calves. Ugly
suckers, shit-brown in color. Huh... they didn't really seem to go
with the rest of her.

He shifted his eyes back to the road, putting
the great bus into gear, it ground out of park and into first gear,
a plume of exhaust hailing its departure.

Cynthia leaned back, pushing her knees against
the seat in front of her. She let her legs dangle and right before
she closed her eyes, she caught sight of Jules' boots on her feet.
She smiled through her tears.

I'll never forget you, Julia.

After a few moments, Cynthia fell asleep,
exhaustion taking the reins for her, the tears drying on her cheeks
as she slept.

The bus driver drove his route, twice. The same
way he had before, giving the girl time to rest. When he was a
couple blocks away from the women's shelter, he stopped.

This was as good a place as any
, he
thought. He jerked the lever and the bi-fold door opened with a
burst of compressed air.

Cynthia's eyes snapped open and noted she was
the sole person on the bus. Her eyes met those of the bus driver
and she stood, her eyes flicking to his name embroidered on his
uniform,
Alfred
.

When she came to the front she lowered her head
and peeked out the bus door at a building she saw a couple of
blocks away. She could just make out the sign,
Freedom
Affirmed.

She looked back at Alfred. “Where am I?”

His kind eyes remained steady on hers.
“Kent,” he said.

She nodded. “Right, okay.” Cynthia began to
descend the short bus steps as she heard the driver's voice behind
her, “That place up there will give you a couple day's peace.”