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

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  Scott had calmed down enough through her physical assessment that he could ask the question, “Who?”

  Cyrus shrugged. “Does it matter? She's been given blood, regardless of the reason, and it has allowed a blood-share to establish.”

  “Okay, so?” Micheal said, taking a resounding chomp out of the apple he held, the crack of it reverberating in the space. Brendan rolled his eyes.

  “What?” He shrugged. “I'm hungry.”

  Scott glared at him.

  Cyrus grinned, the siblings got along so well, he thought. He continued, “Well, the inherent trouble here is that it's like a homing beacon. The deliverer of said blood, could in theory, find her.”

  “Let him come,” Scott said. “No one will hurt her again,” he said as Julia slept comfortably, his spirit soothed by the worst of her acute agony being gone.

  “It's not about hurting her Scott,” Cyrus' steady gaze locked with Scott's as a dawning horror came over him.

  Jen said, “The third time is the charm, right Cyrus?”

  He nodded.

  “That sucks ass,” Brendan said, stating the obvious.

  Cyrus folded his hands and his head sunk a little.

  They looked at him in silence.

  Finally, he said, “There's more.”

  “Oh, happy day,” Jen said dryly.

  “Do you know if she was,” his eyes searched theirs, “exposed to a Were?”

  “No!” Scott nearly shouted and Julia squirmed on the bed. He knelt by her side and put his hand on her cheek and she nuzzled against it in her sleep, giving a contented sigh and Scott's heart squeezed. When she wasn't awake to fight it, she wanted him.

  She felt the rightness of them.

  “No,” he quietly said again.

  “Well, she has been exposed. She is not Were but she has a blood-binding with a Were.”

  “You can tell all this how?” Brendan asked.

  Cyrus scoffed, “I am a Blood Singer, ya dunce. It is what I do as Healer. The blood tells me its secrets. Nothing is hidden,” he finished in a matter of fact way. It was rudimentary to him.

  It was shocking to the siblings, each for different reasons.

  Here was their precious Queen, prophesied to return to reign on high with an apparent soul-meld to Scott.

  Julia was also bound to a mystery Were and a vampire. A blood bind was a serious thing amongst Singers. What would it mean for a pureblood? A rare Queen?

  Where were these elusive supernaturals now?

  Would they come for her?

  Those questions plagued the group, but none more strongly than Scott.

  Let them come, he thought again.

  They would meet their deaths.

  CHAPTER 3

  Tony walked toward the Feral. He would always be the Feral. It didn't matter fuck on ditty that Lawrence was forcing his integration within the pack.

  Tony would never welcome him. He'd been partially responsible for the loss of the Rare One. Pulling that fucked up episode at the last... strangling her? Why Lawrence had forgiven that stunt was beyond Tony.

  But integrate him he did.

  Tony remembered the conversation exactly.

  “It is our fault that he was turned. Our sister den in Alaska sent the wrong soldier for a sensitive task. He ignored the obvious, tried to kill the Rare One's mate...”

  “Not mate, Packmaster,” Tony corrected neutrally.

  Lawrence inclined his head in acknowledgment. “True, unconsummated but following the laws which govern the humans.”

  “Let us speak plainly,” Tony gave him steady eyes, “she's not been bred to any male. She is mated to no one.”

  Lawrence sighed. “In any event, he was attacked, then before the Were could rectify it by ending him, the vampire came and left that one for dead.”

  “Then we had to come in and save their stupid asses. Their incompetence... argh!” Tony said, fisting his hands. That had been a colossal cluster fuck.

  Their gazes held and Lawrence said, “So you see, my new Alpha, we cannot turn him away, making him rogue, simply because you're uncomfortable with his origins. He was not meant to live. Now he does and he will have a place in the pack. And,” Lawrence lowered his voice, “he faces enough prejudice because of his lineage, he does not need the new Alpha to stir the pot.”

  Yes, Tony thought, the fabled Red. That was also in The Book of Luna.

  “Are you thinking about the Book?” Tony asked.

  “I am.”

  “It is legend,” Tony scoffed, dismissing the tale like he did every tradition of the Were. It was bullshit. He needed to be the biggest and baddest, taking everything that was rightfully his.

  That was pretty much everything he wanted. Case closed. His logic was irrefutable. Tony thought he made a perfect wolf. Their species was all about the strong prevailing.

  He was all about that program.

  Lawrence gave a low growl, filled with menace and Tony's wolf slammed up to the surface. If the moon had been full, he would have burst form right there in the office.

  “It is not legend. It is coming to fruition. The history is now. The legend is becoming, Anthony.”

  Tony had skimmed over every history of the Were he could. He'd bullied his whelpmates into letting him crib notes while his instructors were none the wiser.

  Now he was struggling to have a point of reference.

  Fucking marvelous.

  Lawrence smiled. “Being Alpha is not always about brute force.”

  That was news to Tony, who had had fantastic luck with just that method in the past.

  Lawrence continued, “It is about embracing our history, keeping our traditions and safeguarding our females so that we may continue. You would do well to begin that if you have a hopes of succeeding me one day.”

  Oh yes, Tony had every intention of doing that. And the hell with the history. Fuck chance, fuck hope, you make your own future.

  It was a precept that Tony was ruled by.

  “The Book foretells the Rare One, and how one such as she is drawn to her like a magnet, a perfect puzzle piece finding its mate. It speaks of a red that will come, bound to the Rare One, but sent to save our race. And the Blood Raven.”

  Tony's eyes flicked to his Packmaster's. “Tell me of this raven.”

  “Blood Raven.”

  Tony huffed in impatience.

  Lawrence closed his eyes in a long blink then quoted from the Book. Even Tony recognized the Old Language:

  “He that holds the blood of the Singer and seeks the night by wing, will share the song that binds with the Rare One. The Blood Wolf, a rival of no small means; mingled blood of both running in her veins.”

  Holy hell, Tony thought. It's that damn Red Were and that freakin' vamp that can switch into a raven. Somehow, they threatened the future.

  His future.

  Tony knew how to take care of that. Like he had a million times before.

  Lawrence studied Tony's face as the words soaked in.

  Tony lifted a massive shoulder, toned from years of training. To kill. Tony was very good at that.

  Killing.

  “So?” he asked without expecting an answer.

  Lawrence frowned. Perhaps Tony was not keen enough intellectually to understand the significance? “The book has chronicled the Rare One. She has come. She is connected to the Red. Jason.” His eyes stabbed Tony's. “Further, the vampire who has enough Singer blood to bring on the change? He is somehow bound to her as well.”

  Tony gave him a blank look.

  “She is the key. Julia Caldwell. We acquire her, and set her to be with the Red. Once she is mated, no others will vie for her. She will be ours, a Singer transformed, A Rare One mated to a Red. The circle of blood will be complete.”

  Tony did an internal eye roll. Whatever. He'd see to whatever needed to happen, and get that effing Singer. Heat roiled around underneath his skin just thinking about her escape. He'd been that close to nailing her. At least Joseph was ou
t of the way. He smiled. He'd made that work to his advantage. Hopefully, his part in that would never be discovered.

  “What about those Singers that took Julia?” That was really the only detail that he hadn't ironed out, made sense of. He was undaunted, as usual. He'd just ramrod through everything and have his way.

  Also per usual.

  Lawrence paused for so long Tony opened his mouth to repeat his question again.

  “He has been mentioned in the foretelling as well.”

  That damn book again, Tony thought, seething.

  “It says: There will be one that is a true pairing, borne of the same ilk, traversed by lineage, blood rite and power.”

  “Huh?”

  Tony hated the old language. Just Spit. It. The. Fuck. Out.

  “It means that there is a Singer that is her equal, a male that hails from a blood line that complements hers; a soul-pairing if you will.”

  Now that was a brand of shit he didn't hear very often.

  He played nice for Lawrence though. “Right, so how do we deal with this?”

  “It's simple, you befriend the Red, take a contingent of our finest reconnaissance and reacquire the Rare One.”

  Tony liked that plan, minus a Were.

  A red.

  He'd take care of him like he took care of Joseph: permanently.

  “You can count on me,” Tony said, looking the Packmaster right in the eye. Because, to Tony, it was a reality he believed in. Therefore it was truth.

  The delivery would be different but the results the same.

  That Singer would submit to him. His will. His dominance. He was so not done with that bitch.

  Not by a long shot.

  Lawrence smiled, relieved. It was most excellent that he had an Alpha willing to do the dangerous missions without faltering.

  He just wished that his nose didn't smell the scent of lies in the room. Which of those that he'd spoken were truths were not known to Lawrence but his disquiet deepened.

  He was unsure how safe the rare Red would be on a mission with Tony.

  Lawrence was a fatalist. He would allow destiny to assert itself. Whatever would be, would be the choice of the fates, not his.

  And he had deliberately left the most important scripture from the book out of the retelling to Tony:

  “The Rare One, in a force of blood union, will bring those that seek unity together, as they were meant to be from time immemorial.”

  That was better left to the ignorance that Tony excelled at.

  Jason watched Tony come toward him with wariness. He had treated him like shit when he was holed away in that pen they'd kept him in. Now he was welcome? Yeah, he'd believe that when he saw it.

  Besides, he'd seen what he'd done to the other Alpha in the woods. He thought he'd gotten away with something. A coward's win, at best. Jason, unlike Tony, had been perusing the great hall which held the history of the Were.

  His people now.

  His heart constricted in his chest. His other life was so thoroughly gone. Kev dead. Cyn... God knows where and his Julia... no longer his.

  He stared at the approaching Were and knew he slept amongst enemies. In fact, the only one that had been even vaguely welcoming was that hell-cat, Adi. Jason couldn't help but feel a little protective over her. It's like she antagonized everyone, keeping them at arm's length.

  He was familiar with that modus operandi. It reminded him a little of Jules. She'd kinda done that. After her parents' death, she'd shut down the part of herself that trusts.

  Hopes.

  Jason liked to think that he'd given her back some of what she lost. He knew that if they'd been able to continue on the path they'd chosen, she'd have experienced joy. Release. True happiness.

  Now, she was...? He absently rubbed his chest. Somewhere.

  Tony scented the Red. Dammit, he loathed his ass. He was just different enough in his genetics, his line, that Tony couldn't get a bead on him. He took a deep, calming breath. He needed this pudwhacker. He needed him to come, feel like he was a part of it. Then, when the timing was perfect, he'd bleed him out like so much bad meat. At least, that was the loose plan for now. Tony was nothing if not adaptable.

  Jason felt Tony try to scent something on him and could smell his frustration. Maybe he was just different enough from Tony that there was something that was inhibiting his sense of smell.

  Tony's eyebrows lowered. The Feral's Singer lineage was blocking him. It sucked to be nose-blind, he wasn't used to it and it fouled his mood even more.

  “Listen,” Tony began, raking a hand through dark hair. His brown eyes held no warmth, no expression. Whatever Tony felt never reached those merciless eyes. He was robotic in a way that creeped Jason out.

  “It's been, what, a couple of weeks since the Rare One was taken by the Singers...”

  “Julia,” Jason said in a low voice that was at once soft and filled with authority.

  Tony stared at him. “Yeah. Anyway,” he glared at Jason. “We need to train for reacquisition.”

  Jason's heart leapt in his chest. Then crashed. He spoke carefully, with deliberation, “I do want her with me. But,” he spread his palms out, “because of my confusion... I don't think she'll go anywhere with any of us. And she was here before. She wasn't happy. Adi told me.” Jason hadn't come up with a plan to fix his unfixable blunder. He didn't think force was it though.

  “It doesn't matter. She belongs with us,” Tony said in exasperation, like that bitch Adi had anything to say about it.

  “Jules needs to be where she's safe, happy,” Jason said like it was the most obvious conclusion in the world.

  Tony gave him an incredulous expression. Two heartbeats went by, then about three more, the silence rolling out. “You're a fucking pussy, Feral.”

  Jason reacted before intellect could warn him, his snout bursting out of a face that had been human seconds before, moments before.

  With talons sprung he leapt at Tony.

  Tony met him in a kiss of smacking flesh and they rolled on the ground together. Jason wrapped his taloned fingers with sure finesse around Tony's thick neck, his wolf eyes, spinning wheels of green came within a dizzying inch of Tony's face.

  “I'm not a fucking pussy,” Jason said, his voice sounding like falling gravel. He lifted Tony's head and slammed it on the floor for emphasis, “Don't you see? You selfish prick! I love her!” Jason screamed in Tony's face then stood, his chest heaving, a fine layer of hair like climbing fire sprung from his skin, looking like crimson fuzz.

  “I love her!” he repeated in a low bellow of agony, his palms out by his side, his head thrown back, the many teeth that lined his snout glowing as his words morphed into a mournful howl.

  Tony looked at him from the ground, mesmerized. What wouldn't he do if he could partially change without the moon. That's when that female bitch, Adi, came running in and he smiled. His thoughts turned to depravity on a dime.

  The first thing he'd do was nail her. Oh yeah. He'd force breed her. His smile turned into a grin with the thought of it. With any luck she'd get pregnant with his pups. Life was good.

  Adi screamed into the open barn where Jason spent so much of his time before and skidded to a stop when she saw that dipshit, Tony, sitting on the ground with a stupid grin on his face. There was something creepy about it, she thought, but was distracted from dissecting the idea when she saw Jason's half-wolf, half-human form in front of her.

  “What?!” she yelled at no one and everyone.

  Jason turned that fiery green gaze at her. She watched as he melted back into his human form, the wolf features sliding into the sandy-haired hazel-eyed, six foot two inch guy that she'd come to know. Seeing his half-wolf form had brought back the memories of that day when he'd done the rubber band on her arm. Her fear flared briefly, then receded as Jason gave her a small smile of comfort. It left his face when his gaze shifted to Tony.

  There was an awkward silence. Then Jason ended it. “I'll go.”

 
He stalked out of the training barn, leaving Tony on the floor with that considering smile on his face.

  When Adi turned on her heel and followed Jason out Tony grinned in triumph. It had been handled expertly. Jason was too weak to assert dominance over Tony, but he'd pressed all the right buttons to position the Feral right where he wanted him. Under his thumb.

  Perfection.

  *

  Julia

  Julia awoke, feeling well and perfect. She met deep eyes that were nearly ebony, full of concern and conciliation.

  “Hey,” Scott said softly by way of greeting.

  “Hey,” Julia croaked, her mouth like a desert.

  Scott placed a bendy straw in a cup with a lid, and she gave him a look and he laughed, it was like musical stones (if there were such a thing) and she took that in. There were new feelings awakening in her like a slow trickle. Trusting him, she bent over the straw to sip water that was pure, uncontaminated.

  “Ah,” Julia moaned with pure bliss, the cool water chasing the dry mouth to a distant memory.

  “Good?” Scott asked, a dimple asserting itself next to white teeth, full lips and... Julia blushed. His nearness, coupled with what she knew, was... overwhelming in the extreme.

  “Hey,” he raised a massive palm in mock-truce. “Do you think we can go a minute or two without fighting?”

  Julia didn't really know. She'd give it a shot.

  Her lips quirked up. “I think so,” she said dubiously.

  Scott chuckled and took her hand in his. He was a big guy, Julia noticed, her small hand disappearing in his mammoth one. Scott didn't know he was intimidating. He was just him. Scott was accustomed to his size, taking charge, making things happen. He was a package deal, the physique matching the psyche.

  Scott was at a loss with Julia. This small woman had turned his existence upside down. His anger was spent. Scott was seeing things a little more clearly.

  Julia had been through a lot. She hadn’t had the convenience of a huge ass family at her back or training about who she was from the beginning. The reality had been different for Scott. He'd always known he was a Blood Singer. His role had been laid out perfectly for him, his path absolute. Scott knew what he was and what his life held.