Blood Bound: A Paranormal Romance (Fire & Ice Book 1)

by Idella Breen

  “If you know my grandmother and my mother did you know me before yesterday?” Snow wanted to know.

  Cait sighed as she gave into her wolf and claimed the spot next to Snow on the love-seat. “Yes, you could say that. I met you only a few days after you had been born. It was one of the promises I had made to Lidia before you were born.”

  “What promises?”

  “There were a few that I can’t tell you, but the one that deals directly with you was that I would protect you when the time came.”

  “What do you mean? Did you know you would imprint on her?” Gwen asked.

  “No! Of course, I didn’t. That was as much a surprise to me as it was to everyone else. Honestly, I don’t know the full details of what Lidia knew. She was mysterious like that. She only ever gave a person enough information they needed to carry out their missions. I just remember that day. I was still lost. I went to Lidia for guidance. What she gave me helped me a little bit, but what she made me promise bound me to Snow.

  She only told me at the time that I should live my life normally, but that a day would come when my path would cross her granddaughters, and at that time I would fulfill my promise to protect Snow even at the cost of my own life. That’s all she told me. Your grandmother and I had a complicated relationship, but she always had the upper hand, and I trusted she always had my best interest at heart. That was the problem with ancient vampires like her. They always knew more than they let on, and they always knew more than you wanted them to.”

  Snow mulled all of this over. Exactly how old was the werewolf sitting next to her? Her grandmother was really old. So old, she had said she lost count centuries ago, and couldn’t answer the question when Snow asked her on the woman’s deathbed. Her grandmother had died when Snow was thirteen. Suddenly, the memory of a hot summer day with the old woman surfaced and the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something filled her. She let the feeling of nostalgia wash over her as she remembered.

  Snow was ten and sat next to her grandmother out in the garden of their mansion. The woman always looked happy, and always exuded warmth and love, even though she was usually cold to the touch. Her mother said Snow had gotten her ability to freeze things from her grandmother, and the woman had recently begun to teach the small child how to control it. Occasionally, she would freeze things unintentionally.

  “How are you, Snow?” Lidia asked.

  “I’m good Gran.” Snow grinned showing off her missing tooth. “The tooth fairy came last night and gave me five dollars.”

  Lidia chuckled. “ That’s good. I’m glad.”

  The two sat in silence for a moment. Snow loved her grandmother, but sometimes she never knew what to say to her. She always felt like she could say anything, but that she didn’t need to say anything at all.

  Lidia suddenly chuckled and Snow looked up at her. “Do you want me to tell you a story Snow?”

  “Okay.”

  Lidia cleared her throat and looked out unseeingly into the garden. “Once upon a time, there was a brave warrior.”

  “What was his name?” The little girl interrupted.

  Lidia smiled down at her. “Her name was Cait Fallon. Now try not to interrupt and let me tell the story. You can ask all your questions at the end.”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. Now where was I?”

  “Cait!” The girl suggested.

  “Ah, yes, Cait. Cait Fallon was a strong warrior, but she was missing something.”

  “What Gran?”

  Lidia chuckled. “Cait was missing her heart.”

  Snow gasped. “Her heart?”

  “That’s right.”

  “But how does she breath?”

  Lidia smiled. “Well, she had a real heart in her chest, but she was missing the heart in her soul.”

  Snow nodded sagely. “Oh, okay.”

  Lidia continued. “One day a man appeared, and promised her he could give her what she needed, but at a price.”

  “What was that?”

  “He asked that she give him her wolf, but only for a day.”

  “Wolf?”

  Lidia nodded. “Cait was a werewolf. Do you know what that is?”

  “Like Wolfgang.”

  “Well, Wolfgang is our pet, and he is just a dog. Cait is a werewolf. She’s a lot bigger than Wolfgang.”

  “How big?”

  Lidia looked around and glanced back at the mansion before she hummed. “Well, do you remember Uncle’s Max’s monster truck?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She’s about that big.”

  Snow’s eyes widened. “That’s really big.”

  Lidia smiled. “Indeed. Cait thought over this offer for a few days and returned to the man offering him her wolf for one day.”

  “What happened next?”

  Lidia gave a sad smile. “The man used her wolf to hurt the people she loved the most.”

  Snow’s face fell. “Why Gran?”

  “That’s a story for another time. Right now, I’m telling you the story of Cait.”

  “Okay.”

  “When Cait got her wolf back she was very sad, and to make it worse the man had lied to her, and couldn’t give her what she wanted most.”

  “Her heart?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And one day a woman appeared to Cait and offered her something.”

  “Oh no.”

  “No, this woman was a kind woman and wanted to help Cait.”

  “What did she do?”

  “She offered Cait, a job as her personal bodyguard. Cait couldn’t refuse the offer because of who the woman was and slowly but surely Cait healed.”

  “Then what?”

  “The woman had a vision one night and called Cait to her bedside. She made the werewolf make several promises, but the most important one was to protect a little girl that was going to be born in a few days.”

  “A little girl? Like me?”

  “Just like you.” Lidia accented it by poking Snow’s nose. The little girl giggled.

  “Why?”

  “Because this little girl would be very important to Cait as well as many other people.”

  “What was her name?”

  “That’s a secret.”

  “Aw.”

  “Don’t worry one day you will know. Just be patient.”

  “Okay.”

  “Cait made the promise, and left to carry out the other promises, but not until she had seen the little girl's birth.”

  “Was Cait still sad?”

  Lidia was surprised for a moment before she smiled. “Yes, Cait was still very sad, but she was stronger than ever before after carrying of the promises of the woman.”

  “Then what?”

  “For the rest, you will have to wait and find out.”

  “Aw, why can’t you just tell me now?”

  “Because the rest hasn’t happened yet and not even I can tell the future. I will tell you one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The little girl would help Cait find her heart.”

  “Her real one?”

  “Yes, Snow. Her real one. And that would heal Cait’s pain so she wouldn’t be sad anymore.”

  “I want to make Cait happy too. Can I be her friend?”

  Lidia smiled as she stroked Snow’s hair. “I hope you will one day, Snow. I hope you will.”

  ***

  Snow gasped and stared at Cait as if she was seeing her for the first time. “You’re Cait Fallon!”

  The werewolf nodded slowly, worried that the girl had regressed during their conversation. “I think we’ve established that.”

  “No, what I mean is that you’re the Cait Fallon that my grandmother was always telling me stories about.”

  “Stories?” Gwen asked.

  Snow nodded as her features suddenly saddened. The memories of all the sad stories, that she had thought of as fairy tales of a strong and brave female werewolf, whom she had always secretly been rooti
ng for, that her grandmother told her as a small child. They were of how the werewolf would fight evil for the kind old woman who had saved her. The endings were always sad, but her grandmother would always remind Snow of that same story she had told to her on that hot summer day in the garden, and the girl would hope, and pray that the werewolf would one day find her heart.

  As a little girl, she hadn’t really understood what her grandmother meant by the werewolf missing her heart. All she really understood was that the woman was sad and lonely and was missing something important. Even as she sat next to the redhead and gazed into her electric blue eyes, which were the windows into her soul, she could see the ever-present ache of loneliness. It reminded her of her own desire as a child to meet the werewolf of her stories, and give her a big hug.

  “You’re really Cait Fallon.”

  “What kind of stories did your grandmother tell you exactly? That woman had a way of making my life sound more heroic than it really was.”

  “But they were true, weren’t they? You’ve been through so much.” Snow felt her own heart ache as she spoke.

  “I don’t know what she told you, but I assure you I was far from heroic. For a time I was more like Lidia’s personal soldier.”

  “What kind of things did she have you do?” Gwen asked.

  Cait shrugged. “She usually sent me on missions of keeping the peace between the monsters and humans. I would find myself breaking up fights of ogres, trying to tear the heads off of annoying humans, or dark bloods using both monsters, and humans as their play things.” Cait shuddered. “Those were never pleasant.”

  “But the stories-“

  “I’m just me Snow. I’m nobody special. Not like you. I’m just a werewolf that has lived a long time and seen a lot, but I’m not a hero in any way.”

  Snow frowned. She was seeing a side of Cait that she knew she would never like. The self-pitying side of a century old werewolf who had made mistakes she didn’t think she could right, no matter how many good things she did.

  “I’ll believe what I want to and I believe in the stories my gran told me as a child.”

  Cait sighed and stood. “Well, I’m not your boss nor do I control you, but I ask that you take what Lidia said with a grain of salt. She was a master storyteller and had a way about it that always made an average tale an epic adventure. So, how about that movie?”

  Gwen stood up from the sofa she had sunk into and picked up the stack of Red Boxes that she had rented for the night, as well as the snacks she had brought over. “Who wants popcorn?”

  Chapter 5

  Snow had fallen asleep against Cait sometime after the second chick flick, and the werewolf had moved the girl to her bedroom before going out on the balcony. Cait breathed deeply and let the cool night air surround her, clearing her mind of the memories that had surfaced from the earlier conversation. She sighed when she heard Gwen follow her out.

  “You can’t change the seed that her grandmother planted no matter how hard you try. I would just give up and accept it.” Gwen leaned her back against the rail and smiled at Cait.

  “Lidia was alway planting seeds like that.”

  “I was told stories about you as well. Epic tales of honor and valor. I know most probably aren’t true, but it doesn’t stop the butterflies I get in your presence. I hate to say it, but I have some serious hero worship when if comes to people like you and Lidia.”

  Cait sighed. “Let’s just get one thing straight. I’m not a hero. I never was, and I never will be. I’m the farthest thing from it. If I had to say I was anything, then I’m a curse.”

  “Why do you do that?”

  “What?”

  “Pity yourself like that? It’s always in your scent. Your apathy. Has anyone ever told you that you smell like a thunderstorm? Powerful, wild, dangerous, but also sad and lonely.”

  Cait gazed out into the starless night. She missed the stars. “You don’t know me well enough to demand those answers.”

  “Do you ever let anyone it Cait?”

  “I used to. Sometimes. Maybe Lidia was the last one I ever will, and that’s only because I owed her a great debt that I don’t think I can ever repay. Why she trusted her granddaughter to me, I’ll never know, but sometimes I think she made a mistake. Snow has many bodyguards and many people that would lay down their lives for her. She doesn’t need someone like me.”

  “What? She doesn’t need someone who would devote their eternity to her? I’ll tell you this from what little experience I’ve had in my short life in comparison to yours. A werewolf’s imprint is eternal. I don’t mean that you devote yourself to Snow once and it’s over. I don’t know how old either of your souls are, but you both seem very old to me. So I feel like I can say this with confidence. You may have imprinted on her as a werewolf, but she is still your soulmate. You are two halves of one soul. Your souls have been seeking each other out lifetime after lifetime. Death after death. You have both been searching for one another. Whether you like it or not, you are her forever. You would never betray her because it would be like betraying yourself.

  You think she would be better off with someone else? I can guarantee no one else could offer her the same devotion that her soulmate can. Lidia may have planted the seeds, but I feel like maybe she anticipated your imprint. Maybe what they said about her knowing the future was true. But at the end of the day, you have to make the decision to be there and protect Snow when she needs you most. Whether that is as a lover or a friend you two need to decide together but you know you will be there for her no matter what. You’re her werewolf Cait. Start acting like it.”

  Gwen shoved off of the rail, moved to the sliding door, and slipped back into the apartment to get some sleep. Cait let Gwen’s words wash over her. The woman might be a few centuries younger than her, but her words rang true. Cait sighed before standing straight. She couldn’t deny the bond she had with Snow and truth be told she didn’t want to. It was painful to try. For the both of them. To answer Gwen’s earlier question, yes, she had been told she smelled like a thunderstorm. By Lidia. The ancient vampire had told her that when they first met, and she had pulled her bloody, bruised and broken, from the corpses of her kinsmen.

  The corpses she had created through her own desire to stop the thunderstorm that had plagued her ever since her birth. Most had believed her scent turned that way after the massacre and chalked it up to pity, but the truth was that Cait had always smelt like a thunderstorm. Her mother had worried about it and had the medicine men of their clan look into it. The only answer they could come up with Cait never really understood. The medicine men, as well as the clan elders, had told them that Cait had been born without heart. Her parents seemed to understand what the elders were saying, but no one ever explained it to her. All she knew was that as she aged and matured it was done with a great sadness that never seemed to leave her. It made the other children fear her. They said she smelt dangerous and strange. She could always smell the fear coming off them like a stink.

  Her father had taken it upon himself to teach her what she would have normally learned from her peers. How to interact with other's, soft skills, how to fight, and so on? He refused to have a weak alpha, as she was set to take over the clan, despite the complaints of the elders. They would say a wolf with no heart was dangerous. That she would be the death of the clan should she lead it. She proved them right when she only meant to find a cure. She had indeed killed them all. Cait suddenly felt very tired. She rubbed her eyes and with one last glance at the sky, retreated into the warmth of the apartment.

  ***

  Snow woke to the heavenly smell of bacon. Her stomach growled loudly, and the smell drew her from the bed, and into the kitchen where she found Gwen at the stove, and Cait leaning against the countertop making coffee. The two women had been speaking softly but stopped when Snow entered the kitchen. Cait smiled. “Morning Snow.”

  “Morning.”

  “Told you the bacon would do it. Works like a charm.” G
wen was way too cheery in the morning, Snow quickly decided, as she made her way to the kitchen table. It was just big enough for three people to sit at.

  “Coffee or orange juice?”

  “Juice? When did I get juice? Actually, when did I get bacon? I haven’t shopped since moving here.”

  “You can thank Cait for that. She was up before even me and went shopping for us.”

  Snow smiled. “Thanks.”

  “It was nothing.” She said as she filled a glass with orange juice and set it in front of the girl.

  “So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Gwen asked as she made up a plate of eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and toast, before setting it down in front of Snow. The brunette immediately dug in.

  Cait smiled and turned to Gwen. They had both already eaten.

  “I was planning on getting some grading done. I’m a little behind on my work. I’ll need to go back to my apartment.”

  “Oh, well, you do have a real job. So it can’t be helped.”

  Snow paused between mouthfuls. “What do you do Gwen?”

  “Me? I’m a professional omega. I oversee mating rituals, childbirths, inner clan disputes, you know, the works.” She said as she took the seat across from Snow. The girl was already done eating and was chugging down her juice.

  Cait asked. “I didn’t know omegas were so busy.”

  “Yeah well, werewolves have a temper problem as I’m sure you're aware of. They need someone to keep their human sides in control. Otherwise, more growling than talking happens, with the occasional bite.”

  “Sounds dangerous.” Snow said as she moved to place her plate in the sink. Cait took it from her and washed the dish before sitting down at the table next to Snow.

  “So I take it you have clan duties today?” Cait asked.

  “You’d guessed right. My schedule is packed this whole weekend.”

  “Will you still be able to come over in the evenings and stay the night?” Snow asked.

  “Why? Want your werewolf close by every night?” Gwen grinned as Snow blushed.

  “I just like having Cait and you around.”

  “I’m sure you like have one of us around.” Gwen chuckled as she stood.