Blood Bond

by HELEN HARDT

  Blood Bond Saga

  8

  Helen Hardt

  This book is an original publication of Waterhouse Press.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  * * *

  Copyright © 2018 Waterhouse Press, LLC

  Cover Design by Waterhouse Press

  Cover Photographs: Shutterstock

  * * *

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic format without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Continue the Blood Bond Saga

  Message from Helen Hardt

  Also By Helen Hardt

  About Helen Hardt

  Prologue

  Dante

  I couldn’t help inhaling. Her blood was boiling, forcing itself to the surface of her skin, making her red.

  Red…and delicious.

  Dark chocolate. Blackberries. Tin and copper. Milk and estrogen.

  Then there were the dark-haired ones with light skin—those who, somewhere hundreds of generations ago in their family tree, were descended from a vampire. Their blood was the ultimate concoction, the Champagne of plasma. Bold and tannic yet fruity and divine. Peach, plum, blackberry. Leather, coffee, the darkest of chocolate. Tin, zinc, laced with violet and apple and estrogen. Even the men smelled of traces of milky estrogen.

  And testosterone. From a woman. An angry woman.

  I inhaled again, letting the fragrance infuse me with more need. More ache. More longing. More raw, primal urge.

  The smell of her rage was intoxicating.

  I didn’t need to feed. Not until the next morning. I’d proved earlier that I was learning to control myself when I waited with Erin, waited to feed because I wanted to savor her, feel alive with her.

  But something new rose within me.

  Something foreign.

  Something dangerous.

  Something beyond my shreds of control.

  “Leave,” I said to my father between clenched teeth.

  “Dante,” he said. “I know what you’re feeling. I can’t smell her, but I see what her body is doing, and what it must be doing to you. This isn’t you. You’re stronger than this. You can control yourself. Let me teach you—”

  I bared my fangs to my father’s ghost.

  Control? I’d learned it, found it through my love for Erin. My duty and obligation to see to her needs first, before my own. I’d shown the ultimate control this morning, when I’d taken her and fed from her slowly, evenly.

  I had control. I’d proved it. I had it now, but I’d take what I wanted—what Erin and I both wanted. I drew in a breath. Her musk was already permeating the room.

  I needed her.

  What I didn’t need was a lecture from my father.

  “Leave,” I said again.

  “Don’t do this. Don’t destroy what you’ve—”

  “Get the fuck out of here, damn it. Or watch me take her right here.”

  “I won’t allow you to do this. You won’t do this. Know that I would not leave if I believed it of you.” He disappeared in a flash.

  I inhaled once more, her steamy scent racing through my veins, my muscles, my bones.

  My bare bones.

  Nothing but bones supported me as I stood and grabbed her, snarling.

  “Dante?”

  A soft whimper.

  A frightened whimper.

  An aroused whimper.

  I inhaled. Indignation. Rage. Lust. Racing blood. A potent combination I was powerless to resist.

  “You’re mine, Erin. Mine. And I’m going to take you the way I’m meant to take you. Violently. Forcibly. With you tied up and helpless, begging for me to take your body and your blood.”

  Chapter One

  Erin

  Anger boiled through my veins, turning them into rivers of raging red—rivers I could feel racing through my body, tearing through my heart.

  Blood.

  This was what Dante felt when he touched me. Now I felt it too.

  My body blazed as if on fire. Red gold rushed through me, making me throb, toying with me, and soon I could no longer differentiate between the fury and the raw yearning, the storm and the ache.

  I didn’t want to want him in this moment. In fact, I wanted to hate him for keeping the secret of my ancestry from me, even more so for wanting to take me forcibly. Violently.

  But I didn’t.

  I couldn’t.

  The pulsing between my legs was stronger than it had ever been. My nipples were so hard they could have cut glass. Each follicle on my body tensed, forcing every hair upward. My heart pounded in a distorted rhythm—a jazzy drumbeat that buffeted me both inside and out.

  Always the music when Dante and I were together, only this time the chords were disharmonic and tense…but all the more beautiful, all the more symphonious.

  The peppery scent of my arousal was thick in the air, and as Dante inhaled, its effect on him was more than evident. His lips were firm and red, and his fangs protruded from his gums in sharp points. Fiery amber rimmed his irises, more pronounced than I’d ever seen. His hair was unruly as he shoved his fingers through it, sweat binding strands of it to his cheeks and forehead. The bulge in his jeans grew larger, harder, and he curled his hands into fists.

  I’d never seen him look more frightening.

  I’d never seen him look more magnificent.

  Desire pulsed through me, raw and real.

  He’s insane. I need to tell him to leave. To get the hell away from me.

  But the words didn’t come.

  I didn’t want them to come.

  Instead—

  “You want to tie me up? Take me violently? Show me who’s in charge here? Do it, Dante. Do it now.”

  He was on me in an instant, his tongue devouring my mouth like a sea serpent plunging through ocean waves.

  Shudders racked my body, my heart hammering and my skin tingling. Yes, this was what he felt. I felt it too.

  I wanted it as much as he did.

  I pushed him away and drew in a deep breath. “That all you got?”

  A low growl vibrated from his throat, giving me chills.

  “Tell me you want this,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Tell me, and I’ll give you everything we both ache for.”

  I shivered. Partly from fear—a good fear—a fear that traveled through me at light speed, inflaming me all the way to my bones. Partly from my being so turned on I couldn’t see straight.

  “I already told you,” I said through clenched teeth. “Do it, Dante. Give me everything. Everything you’ve got.”

  In a flash, I was in his arms, being hauled up the stairs to the bedroom.

  “You’re mine, Erin.” He ripped the
clothes from my body with his teeth, until only shreds of fabric remained.

  I stood naked before him, as if I were an offering to a god. A god I wanted to please more than I wanted anything else, including my next breath.

  “All mine. That blood boiling in your arteries right now is mine. This beautiful body is mine. That anger, that gorgeous rage pulsing through you—it makes you smell more divine than ever, look more beautiful than ever. It’s all mine, Erin. All of it. Do you understand me?”

  I nodded. “I understand.”

  He licked his lips. “So pink. So dazzling. Like a rose-colored diamond. Mine. I’ll have you every way. Every way I want to. Gently if I want to. Violently if I want to.”

  I squeezed my thighs together, trying, but failing, to ease the ache between them.

  Violently if I want to.

  Such words shouldn’t make me ache all the more.

  But they did. They so did.

  Was this what it meant to be part vampire? This strong urge, this incessant longing? The attraction I felt for Dante? Was it more than a blood bond?

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him toward me, our mouths meeting in a clash of lips and teeth.

  The kiss was raw and hungry. He took from me with his tongue, and rather than giving him what he sought, I took from him as well. Both of us consuming in a rage of ripe desire.

  A kiss of pure urgency and desperate need.

  A kiss to take what we were each so willing to give.

  Our lips slid against each other’s, our tongues swirling, until I pushed him away once more, struggling to inhale a much-needed breath.

  Dante inhaled as well, both of us panting.

  “You will not push me away again, Erin. Is that clear?”

  Sweat trickled down from my brow, stinging my eyes. Dante’s lips were swollen from the hard kiss, his fangs still elongated and sexy. An ache emerged within me—an ache I didn’t understand at first, but my body did. I nodded timidly and then closed my eyes and turned my head, exposing my neck.

  A low growl.

  But no puncture.

  I opened my eyes.

  “That’s not what I’m hungry for right now.” The amber around his irises glowed hot. “Get on the bed and spread your legs.”

  He’d said he was going to tie me up. Had he changed his mind? Disappointment vibrated through me. “Aren’t you—”

  “Don’t make me repeat myself, Erin.”

  His gruff, commanding tone turned my legs to jelly, and I fell onto the bed, letting my legs fall to each side.

  He knelt down between them, closed his eyes, and inhaled. “Mine,” he growled once more.

  “Yours,” I whispered.

  “I’m going to eat you, Erin. All of you. Suck every bit of honey your body has to offer me. Then I’m going to fuck you so hard and so violently and make you come again and again and again. And when you beg me to stop, I’ll fuck you harder.”

  I groaned softly. “Yes. Please.”

  He clamped his lips onto my labia and sucked.

  I gripped two handfuls of my comforter and arched my back. So good, how he made me feel. So fucking good.

  My nipples strained, so tight and hard. As if reading my mind, Dante reached one hand forward and took a nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tugged.

  “Yes, baby, please,” I breathed.

  More. Give me more. Take me to the highest mountaintop, to the most glorious place in the blue sky.

  I fingered my other nipple, pinching it, while Dante continued his welcome assault on my pussy. His teeth nicked my sensitive flesh, but the tiny prickles only spurred me further into ecstasy, further toward that peak—the peak that I’d come to know only with this man.

  Only with this vampire.

  My rage burned a fiery crimson, and with it, my lust.

  More.

  More.

  More.

  I writhed beneath his touch, my skin prickling and my nerves—

  “Dante! Erin!”

  Chapter Two

  Dante

  No. Not now. Please not now.

  “Dante.” Erin pushed at my head.

  I reluctantly let her go, already missing the scent and taste of her. I licked my lips, relishing in her juices, and then stood. “River.”

  Erin’s tattered clothes lay in pieces all around the room. Damn. I’d shredded them. Shredded them.

  “Go see what he needs,” she said. “I’ll put something…else on.”

  I nodded but couldn’t look away from her. She was still so pink and beautiful. Her carotid artery pulsed visibly in her neck. So enticing. Had I truly refused what she’d offered in favor of a hard fuck? A turbulent fuck? My dick was still granite in my jeans, and my teeth were still long and sharp.

  Time to put that newfound self-control to work. After one more growl.

  Her eyes widened at the snarl, but then she closed them halfway, showing her heavy-lidded arousal.

  Now for the control.

  “Erin, I hope you—”

  “I’m fine, Dante. You know I’d never do anything I didn’t want to do.”

  “I love you.” I stroked her cheek gently, the blood beneath her warm pink skin nearly doing me in. “We’ll definitely finish this later.”

  She smiled. “I love you too.”

  My erection hadn’t gone down much, but at least it was a little more bearable. Seeing my cousin standing in the living room should do the trick. I turned, left the bedroom, and walked downstairs.

  Yup. River was the antidote. But he didn’t look like himself.

  “What is it, Riv? And how did you get in here?”

  “The door was unlocked.”

  Shit. Not too smart, especially with rogue vamps on the loose. I hadn’t been thinking clearly when I took Erin upstairs. Hell, I hadn’t been thinking at all.

  “Dante,” he continued, his voice tight and shaky, “it’s Lucy. She’s gone.”

  Ice chilled my veins. “What?”

  “She’s gone. Somehow she got out of the hospital.”

  “Did she get released?”

  “No. She’s disappeared.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Like the others. Man. I… Shit.” He paced around the small living area.

  “Oh my God. Erin…” This would devastate her. Lucy was her best friend.

  A second later, she walked swiftly down the stairs in a pair of shorts and a tank top, her hair freshly brushed and hanging sleekly over her shoulders.

  I inhaled. Her scent, still so arousing and musky.

  River inhaled as well. Yeah, my fangs were definitely here to stay.

  “Hi, River,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  “Baby…” I began.

  “It’s Lucy,” River said. “I hate to have to tell you this, but I need you guys.”

  “What?” Erin’s voice shook. “Is she okay? Did she need more surgery?”

  “She’s…gone,” he said. “Disappeared from the hospital. Like the others.”

  She clasped her hand to her mouth. “No! Oh my God. Have you called the cops?”

  “He is the cops, baby,” I said.

  “Yeah. Right. But what about…”

  “I went to see her at the hospital, and some blues were there, taking the report,” River said, rubbing his temples. “The department is on it. I tried to call you, Dante, but you didn’t pick up.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear my phone.”

  Had my phone died? I should have heard it. Enhanced vampire hearing and all. On the other hand, I was all ensconced in a tryst with Erin unlike anything I’d ever experienced. He was lucky I’d heard his voice when he walked in the door.

  “It’s okay, man. I just don’t—” He rubbed at his brow, beads of sweat emerging from his pores. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “We’ll figure it out, Riv.”

  Perhaps, then, you’ve read the most important work of all.

  Bea’s words. She’d uttered them right before my f
ather told Erin and me to run. What did they mean? And why did they pop into my mind now? I gave them no further thought, though, because Erin looked absolutely petrified.

  “What if…” Erin’s eyes were wide.

  “What, baby?”

  “What if she shifts? She’s fresh out of surgery. What if her control…”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Riv?”

  “I only know shifters exist, and that they can control their shifting. The moon doesn’t dictate it, as legend would have you believe. But in Lucy’s condition, I don’t know. She obviously shifted back after she got stabbed in the cemetery.” He sank his head into his hands. “We have to find her.”

  “We will.” My libido and teeth had finally leveled off. All it took was my cousin telling me another woman had disappeared—this one who meant so much to both Erin and River.

  “You okay?” I said.

  “I feel so helpless. It’s crazy. We had one date. It’s not like we’re…” He shook his head.

  “How about you, baby?” I said to Erin.

  “Not even slightly. I was angry with her for keeping such a big thing from me. And now I feel shitty about that. But this isn’t about me. This is about Lucy. This just got personal for all of us. We need to figure out what’s going on. Why these women have been disappearing.” She grasped my forearm. “Dante, we have to find her. We have to.”

  “Baby, we will. Somehow. Riv and your brother are cops. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  “Jay.” Erin rubbed her forehead. “I have to tell him. About everything. About you two. About Lucy. About all of it.”

  All of it.