The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (56 page)

They pressed against the flesh of his throat,
just shy of breaking the skin and Tony did a tap out. Lightly
affirming his submissiveness to his Alpha by a finger on his
flank.

Lawrence released him and Tony rubbed his neck
where all those teeth had just been.

Fuck,
Tony thought,
I'll be checking
my drawers for shit later.

“You do not tell me what you will and will not
do. I am Alpha,” Lawrence said from a human face with wolf-gold
eyes, his voice retaining the rasp of his wolf. Lawrence had made
his point. Though Tony wasn't sure if he'd get what he wanted.

Lawrence's eyes were hooded, receding to the
human brown when he said. “Yes. Regardless the cost, bring the Rare
One. Bring me Julia Caldwell. She will be the one that tames the
Feral.” He gave Tony a sharp look.

Tony thought about it, finally shaking his head.
“No. Let Caldwell have her. They will strengthen the pack and by
their closeness I will benefit,” he said, closing his hand into a
huge fist of triumph, he could rectify all inequalities later. He
liked the sound of a wolf harem. That was more his speed. One in
which Lawrence wasn't around to worry about. He kept his
ruminations to himself. Keeping his own council had never hurt
Tony.

“What if our Adrianna does not wish for a mating
with you?” Lawrence asked as if he didn't know that Adi loathed
Tony. “Further, what if Julia Caldwell does not wish to truly be
the spouse of Jason both by the human laws and those of the
pack?”

Tony smiled. “When has that ever mattered?”

“Too true, my second, too true. Our days of
democracy when the females had choice are over. There are too few
for us to mate indiscriminately. Matings must be arranged with
careful deliberation.”

“You're right,” Tony agreed easily, he had
always instinctively understood this.

“I know. That is why I am Alpha,” Lawrence said,
full of his own importance as he gave Tony the subtle reminder of
his station within the pack.

Tony hated that. However, until he could take
him, he must submit. When he and Adi were mated, they would be a
dangerous Alpha pair. Lawrence was without a mate, he would be
weakened by the lack of a partner.

Tony thought he was expert at exploitation.

Tony had learned that there was always someone
better, faster, stronger. In the case of himself, Tony had never
deluded himself on the strength of his intellect. He knew that
Lawrence was smarter.

Sometimes cunning masqueraded as intelligence
being creative.

Tony thought he had that down; it was called
strategy with a chaser of patience.

He would bide his time.

And that time was coming.

Cyn

Cynthia hoisted the small pack on her back and
centered it where it fell neatly between her shoulder blades. Kevin
used to call them weapons of destruction. Tears stung her eyes. It
was these unguarded moments when grief found a home, slamming into
her when she was least prepared, a crashing wave against the
bulkhead that eroded at her spirit, her fortitude.

Then she caught sight of Jason walking toward
her and hardened right up. He put steel into her spine she didn't
know she had. The traitorous prick.

“Hey, Cyn,” he said cautiously, his sandy hair
swinging out of his eyes with a flick of his head.

Cynthia turned away and he sighed, Adrianna
walking up beside the pair, the silence heavy between them, laden
with discord.

Tony entered the open area that was the entrance
to their den, a simple meadow with an outcropping of stones that
looked natural but were, in fact, arranged in an ancient order of
salutation that would signal to other Were a warning, or in the
case of the Northwestern Pack, a welcome.

“Glad to see everyone's getting along,” Tony
chuckled like the asshat he was and Cynthia turned to him, pissed.
He was a colossal dick. Figures she'd have to go with these chumps.
Jason the chameleon and Tony the troll.

Perfect.

She opened her mouth to enlighten him with a
snarky retort and Emmanuel was there. Cynthia's cheeks reddened as
he gave her a steady look. He was different and she didn't know how
but he made her uncomfortable.

“That is not helpful, Anthony,” Manny said,
giving him the look he deserved.

Tony smirked. Whatever irritated people and got
them spun up... well, that was an easy source of amusement to him.
When the pain came at his side he whirled, prepared to backhand the
offender, as was the way of the Were.

It was Adi.

“Hey pal,” she said, a smirk breaking into a
grin, her hand lowering from the covert jab she'd nailed him
with.

Tony's hands curled into his fists, instantly
pissed, the testosterone surge through his body ten times that of a
human male, tempered only by the sure knowledge of his future
ownership of her. All of her. The thought of that eventuality made
his scowl turn to a smile and he let his look speak for him, using
his eyes to undress her, he began at the top of her honey colored
head and lingered on all the parts he'd own.

Adi was not easily embarrassed but after Tony
gave her that smile, chock full of creep with a clear undertone of
lasciviousness she backed away a little, her smile slipping as his
brightened.

That dickwad had something up his sleeve Adi
saw. But what? It spooked her, whatever it was.

“Cut the theatrics,” Manny told the group at
large. “We need to be ready. The drinkers will be. The Singers as
well.” His eyes met those of the patchwork quilt of compatriots. He
looked at Lawrence's Beta, knowing as Alpha he would not have
chosen Anthony, yet Manny was not Alpha. Then he looked at the
Feral, a rare red, Jason. Finally he gazed at the skinny blonde
Singer, her sad eyes held the fire of her spirit and against his
very soul, he was drawn to this one. His soldier's discipline
reasserted itself, remembering the directive from his Alpha, he let
that command that still rung in his ears slide through his mind
again as he looked at Cynthia Adams with barely contained
longing.

He locked down his expression with
difficulty.

“
You must complete this mission, Emmanuel,”
Lawrence's mud brown eyes held his, not a hint of his wolf in
sight.

Emmanuel sighed, he knew that. But, Singers
of enough blood quantum were breedable, mateable. Any wolf with
sufficient Alpha as part of their make-up wished to mate. And mate
with another female wolf or just as well, a Singer. Singers
produced pups that were moonless in some cases. Not bound to Her
Call. Only the weak succumbed to a mixed-blood wolf. Or worse, one
that was full human. Manny shuddered at the thought of choosing
that desperate avenue. A human mating was a dangerous dilution of
the Were. Absolute, permanent; taking the wolf out of the human and
leaving nothing behind.

Perhaps the call of all Singers was similar
but he'd not felt this way with the Rare One who had been captured
and caused the entire den to become salivating madmen. Insane
wolves reigning supreme.

“
I wish to seek a mating with the Singer,
Cynthia Adams,” Manny said, as serious a request as he'd ever
made.

Lawrence gave a small smile and said, almost
to himself, “This is a day for requests, I think.”

“
What?” Emmanuel asked, puzzled.

“
Nevermind, wolf,” Lawrence said, waving a
dismissive hand to his voiced implication. “You will have to fight
for that right. Are you prepared?”

Manny gave a low growl. “Who else desires
her? Tony?” Emmanuel asked in disbelief but already his wolf clawed
for release, the moon but a memory. However, Emmanuel was Alpha
enough to be struck by the emanations of change, even though they
could not occur this far from the moon's fullness. Emmanuel's war
to suppress his wolf showed and Lawrence's lips opened in a
responsive growl of his own which followed Manny's, the challenge
obvious.

Emmanuel struggled with his wolf, it had
never been so difficult as it was now. Where females were involved,
it was a near thing. It was as if his wolf was always right
underneath the surface.

“
No. Tony is interested in someone else
entirely.”

“
Who? The Rare One?” Manny snorted in
disdain. As if a crude wolf like that one should lay a claw on the
likes of the purest of all Singers? He thought not.

Lawrence gave a secret smile and answered,
“No, it is not her he wants.”

Emmanuel opened his mouth, made thick with
his wolf's proximity and Lawrence made a slicing gesture with his
hand, effectively cutting off the question that had hovered on his
lips.

“
It does not concern you. I am just thankful
my right and left wolf do not desire the same female.”

As Manny was, giving his Packmaster a nod of
deference to be so named.

“
I am counting on you to remain neutral until
the successful return of Julia Caldwell.” Lawrence locked gazes
with Emmanuel, hammering his point home with his next statement,
“You will be favored in mating with Cynthia Adams if you but keep
your intentions to yourself.” His Packmaster spread his palms out
at the side of his body. “I have given the same expectations of
protocol to Anthony as well.”

It was settled then, Emmanuel determined.
Cynthia would be his in due time. He must complete this mission,
then he was first in line to be mated with a Singer with potential.
Potential for many things. His nose told him chemistry was the
highest on that list.

Now to seek her and hope that she would
choose him as well.

Cynthia watched the handsome wolf look at
her with neutral speculation and found herself feeling embarrassed,
an alien emotion for Cynthia. So, she reacted like she hadn't been
caught noticing him looking at her.

She shifted her attention to Adi. “Are we
ready?” she asked, effectively dismissing both Jason and Emmanuel
from her thoughts.

And that jerkoff, Tony. Cynthia had already
figured it was in her best interests to keep that chump in her
sights.

Adi nodded slowly, her mind still on Tony
when three other Were approached. One was part of the original Rite
of Luna ceremony. Hardened by soldiering for the Were, he had a
long scar that bisected his face, a cruel pathway that traversed
his eyebrow and came across the bridge of his nose in a jagged
snarl of scarred flesh. It had always looked like a lightning bolt
to Adi.

His name was Buck but they all called him
Slash. When she was a whelpling he'd held her on his lap and told
her of the wars that he'd fought with the male Were and drinkers
while Adi had raptly listened. Never knowing that it was he that
had planted the first seed that became the warrior that grew within
her.

Now, Adi was one of few female wolves that
battled. She was a rare female pureblood Were, she was also a
soldier. However, her days were numbered. She must breed when she
came of age. And that time was drawing near. No matter how much she
avoided it, the signs were there. Too soon for the males to take
notice but it would only be a matter of time. Then she'd choose a
mate.

Or they'd choose one for her.

It always got Adi riled up to think about
it. Not that it mattered. There were quality males in the pack.
Unfortunately, a female couldn't help what she was and because
Adrianna was Alpha, only an Alpha could be her mate. And those were
fewer in number. And what about love? It was discounted in the
packs dwindling numbers, arranged matings favored instead.

As Adi thought on these disturbing
realities, Tony's eyes found hers and she involuntarily scowled at
his skulking ass.

Gawd how she hated him.

He grinned and she flipped him the bird.

“
Adrianna,” Emmanuel began
then silenced her by saying his next comment in a reprimand that
pierced her like a weapon, “what would Joseph wish?”

Cynthia watched the younger girl's face
crumple and she looked at Emmanuel with clear anger radiating out
of every pore, the paleness of her green eyes deepening to emerald
fire.

Emmanuel's heart stuttered to see that anger
directed at him. He hated leading sometimes: you simply could not
please everyone. As a matter of fact, usually there were more
people angered than gratified. He stared at the Singer and she
returned dominant eye contact. He'd moved before he knew it, the
beat of his instinctive need to dominate this female overwhelming.
Manny was nearly lost to it when Adi said into Cynthia's ears.

“
Drop your eyes!”

He was almost on the Singer when those green
eyes fell and the anger and need to subdue her cooled to something
resembling management.

“
Control issues-much?” Tony
sneered and Adi sighed, folding her arms across her
chest.

“
Don't touch her,” Jason
warned Emmanuel and they growled at each other, Emmanuel's ending
in a clear snarl.

“
Don't bother, loser. I didn't
ask for your help,” Cynthia told Jason, her eyes cast to her
feet.

Jason stopped like someone had slapped him
and turned on his heel, walking away from the group but in the
direction of their mission.

Emmanuel took a deep, calming breath,
swaying slightly as her scent undid him further. He needed
distance.

He moved away from her as Tony gave him a
considering look.

Dammit
, Emmanuel
lamented,
that's all he needed, that sadistic wolf to
suspect his feelings or intentions for Cynthia.

Wolves were known for searching for
weakness. Manny did not wish for Tony to know his.

Tony watched the Second to the Packmaster
follow after the red Feral in an unnatural and jerky gait.