“Yeah, this guy's been allowed a long leash... for years,” Karl emphasized, pacing.
“I say we euthanize him,” Truman said then gave another sharp barking laugh. “Yeah, I like the sound of that guys,” he said and Lawrence gave a growl of warning.
“No Packmaster. I won't keep my yap shut. You chose this criminal as your right hand man. A proven female hater. This mess ultimately falls on your head.”
Lawrence wasn't used to having his flaws laid out before him so handily and went for the throat of his newest wolf.
It took every bit of strength to subdue this Alpha.
Lawrence recognized the mistake he'd made as he bit down on the slightly bigger Were.
Don't bite off more than you can chew.
Karl Truman was going to be a problem. As Jason Caldwell would most likely be.
Now he had females to secure and a rogue Were that had probably, no definitely, lost sight of his objective.
The mistakes were piling up and as Lawrence let go of the cop's throat and those pale orbs of green landed on his face as he saw what lay in them.
The new Packmaster.
And ultimately, his own death.
Brought on by his complacency and arrogance.
They began to walk toward the scent of the Singers and mixed Were; the walk became a trot, then the wolves pressed into the speed of the true wolf, like mixed colored bullets of fur, speeding toward war.
*
Julia & Scott
Julia opened her eyes and was met by Scott's black ones and her insides shifted in tune to his, the rhythm of their heartbeats matching in synchronicity.
He pressed his palm against her cheek and she leaned into the strength there. “I didn't know,” she whispered.
“Me either,” Scott said in a laugh. He pulled her into a small ball on his lap and pushed her head against his chest, his heartbeat reverberating against her face. Scott held her there for a long moment then Julia pulled away.
They laced their hands together and she briefly touched his forehead with her own.
“You had to fully Awaken for us to complete the soul-meld,” Scott said, briefly pulling away and gazing into Julia's eyes. “I thought I was gonna kill Victor.”
Julia burst out laughing. “I don't think it was meant to be...”
“No. And your husband,” Scott growled and Julia put a finger to his lips. “Shh... nothing is the same now,” Julia said, looking down at their knotted hands. “Everything is different now. I mean... I can't help what's happened here.”
“Or how effed up my family is,” Scott said, thinking of his mother trying to poison the woman that was meant for him. The bitch.
Julia unhooked one hand and stroked his cheek, the heat of the contact driving through both of them like a warm sweet fire without end. Scott groaned when the fragile tie that bound them tightened inside his body, chasing his emotions into the depths of Julia, and her eyes widened, his feelings for her laid bare, nothing hidden.
“Don't worry about your mother, or Jason or... whatever else. For the first time, I feel safe.”
Scott wrapped his arms around her. He would protect her with everything he had, everything he was.
Scott would cherish her.
Julia felt the promise flow from him to her, no words were necessary.
Julia decided that it wasn't time to ruin her newfound joy and security with talking about the dream she'd just had.
William and Jason had stepped down, Cynthia had found her and Julia's bond with her new soulmate was solidifying as they sat in each other's arms.
Her dreams didn't come true anyway. Jacqueline's plan of taking over the Regions had failed. Jason and William had saved Julia and given her up. She didn't have to live in fear anymore now that the Circle of the Combatant had closed. Leaving her with Scott.
Julia sunk into the warm comfort of Scott's strong arms, thinking how weird it was that this male she'd fought since the day she met him was the one she now recognized she couldn't live without. Her Awakening had taken care of her lingering doubts. Being with Scott was as natural as drawing breath.
Scott felt Julia relax against him and gathered her small body against his massive one, a warrior's body. Now a king.
Julia shooed away the unease of her dream easily, lulled into a false respite by the proximity of her soulmate. His protection of her formidable.
Yet, not absolute.
As the precognitive warning was ignored and the war closed around the Singer compound with a surety that would have taken her breath away had Julia looked deeply enough, they stayed where they were.
Together and unaware of the danger that neared.
Index:
Blood Singers/talent:
Julia- Queen of the Singers; Telekinetic/telepath
Scott- Royal Singer Blood; Deflector/Combatant
Brendan- Tracker/pyro
Michael- Illusionist
Jen- Telekinetic
Cyrus- Healer
Paul- Negator/amplifier
Angela- Feeler
Marcus- Region One
Jacqueline- Royal Singer Blood; Region Two Leader
Victor- Region Two/Combatant- Boiler
Cynthia Adams/rogue- Healer
Northwestern Were Pack:
Lawrence- Packmaster
Emmanuel “Manny” - Beta to Lawrence
Anthony “Tony” Daniel Laurent- Second to Lawrence
Adrianna “Adi”- Alpha female
Southeastern Were Pack:
David- Packmaster
Alan Greene- Alpha male
Lacey Greene- sister and female Were to Alan
Buck “Slash”- Alpha male
Karl Truman- former Homer detective
Ford- Alpha male/ FBI agent
Southeastern Vampire Kiss:
Merlin- Coven leader
Northwestern Vampire Kiss:
Gabriel- Coven Leader
Claire- Cousin to William
William- Runner/shifter/Singer blood
3/17/13: If you enjoyed this, you might also like my New York Times bestseller: A TERRIBLE LOVE, written under my pen name, Marata Eros....
Read on for the exciting first chapter of BLOOD CHOSEN, book three of The Blood Series....
Blood Chosen
Book Three of The Blood Series
by Tamara Rose Blodgett
Blood Chosen
Book Three of The Blood Series
Copyright 2013 Tamara Rose Blodgett
Smashwords Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved.
Edited by Stephanie T. Lott
Dedication:
My readers, who don't want “easy, uncomplicated, or generic....”
Warning! Contains spoilers.
Character Index:
Blood Singers/talent:
Julia- Queen of the Singers; Telekinetic/telepath
Scott- Royal Singer Blood; Deflector/Combatant
Brendan- Tracker/pyro
Michael- Illusionist
Jen- Telekinetic
&nbs
p; Cyrus- Healer
Paul- Negator/amplifier
Angela- Feeler
Marcus- Region One
Jacqueline- Royal Singer Blood; Region Two Leader
Victor- Region Two/Combatant- Boiler/Flame of Blood
Lucius- Combatant
Cynthia “Cyn” Adams/rogue- Healer
Heidi- Reader
Trevor- Deflector
Northwestern Were Pack:
Lawrence- Packmaster
Emmanuel “Manny” - Beta to Lawrence
Anthony “Tony” Daniel Laurent- Second to Lawrence
Adrianna “Adi”- Alpha female
Southeastern Were Pack:
David- Packmaster
Alan Greene- Alpha male
Lacey Greene- sister and female Were to Alan
Buck “Slash”- Alpha male
Karl Truman- former Homer detective
Ford- Alpha male/ FBI agent
Reagan- Moon Warrior, Daughter of Lacey
Southeastern Vampire Kiss:
Merlin- Coven leader (now deceased)
William- new coven leader
Northwestern Vampire Kiss:
Gabriel- Coven Leader
Claire- Cousin to William
William- Runner/shifter/Singer blood
Unseelie fey:
Queen Darcel- Sidhe
Tharell- mixed Sidhe warrior
Cormack- Sidhe warrior
Domi- Sidhe warrior
Rex- Sidhe
Kiel (key-ale)- dragon shifting Sidhe
Celesta- Sidhe warrior
Delilah- Vampire, third to Julia, half-sister to Scott
FEDS:
Tom Harriet
Tai (tie)Simon
1
Slash/Buck
Buck scented the dawn as it broke the canopy of the trees with columns of light that appeared washed by blood. His claws spit dirt behind him in a spray, racing toward the scent of a female who could never be his.
And another he was tasked to protect.
He was the go-to dog, used for his stealth, and his I don't give a shit attitude.
Slash had nothing to live for, there were no matings on the horizon for him, his face was a ruin from battle and his position of Alpha undermined by Alan Greene. He did not hold it against Greene. It was what it was.
There could be only one successor. It was the way of the Were and their distant cousin, the wolf. Were weren't picky: if Packmaster was what you sought, you must kill to obtain it.
Death didn't bother Slash... but for what? However, want and genetics were two different beasts. The first was intellect; the latter was about biology.
And Buck's biology was asserting itself in one fell swoop of animal preordainment.
His wolf wanted Adrianna, lone Alpha female of the Northwestern den. His wolf didn't give two shits if she was unobtainable or off limits. There were four subspecies of Were: gold, black, gray and red. Buck knew that his grandsire had been a fullblood red. Depending on how one surveyed circumstance, it gave Slash unfortunate proclivities. Wonderful in war, a detriment in interaction within his den. There might be some logic in the natural counter-evolution of the dwindling red Were population. Perhaps nature strove to eradicate that which was self-destructive.
In this case, Slash needed every ounce of red blood he owned. He knew that Tony had taken Cynthia Adams, newly manifested Singer healer and Adi of the Northwestern Pack. That intel was all the motivation Slash needed to pursue their scents.
It could be he wasn't alone as a cross scent moved over his path and his paws punched the ground as he straightened to semi-upright, his flesh and bones bleeding into his half-wolf form.
Slash lifted his snout. Immediately he found the scent of his packmates. And one other, whom he did not recognize.
Slash knew what the unknown Were was in every fiber of his being.
Red.
Like himself. His human-looking brows lowered over a prominent brow ridge, where green eyes spun languidly, with keen intelligence.
And bravery, a common default of that particular variety of wolf. Or stupidity. Slash thought bravery and stupidity were very close railroad ties in his parallel universe.
A faraway scream shattered the stillness of his hesitation in the forest. Slash swiveled toward that unnatural sound in the wood full of creatures.
It was not the sound of an animal but a female.
One who was in peril.
Slash ran, and to the east a small pack of Were ran to intercept him. Lawrence, the Northwestern Packmaster and Karl Truman, who had been turned by David's bite of the Southeastern and brought by the blood of the red wolf that was already part of the fabric of his genetics.
They too had felt the pull of the Were in one area. They veered off their premeditated course to the Region One Singer compound and instead, made their way to the cloistered and mixed group.
*
Cyn
Holy smokes, Cyn thought, watching as the snake in the grass leader, Jacqueline, made her way toward them at the same time as Tony.
Her wary gaze locked with Adi's as Cyn poured her newfound healing energy into the female Were. When the damage made from the telekinetic fall caused by that bitch reversed itself, Cynthia decided right then if they survived this next mess, she was going to hurt them.
Permanently.
Cyn loved Jules, she did. But where Julia was soft and thoughtful, Cyn was decisive and pragmatic. That translated to: don't fuck with me. Or, better: don't mess with anyone I care about. Cyn didn't know where her fierce loyalty stemmed from and understood on some level it was unreasonable.
But things just were what they were, unchangeable like the sun rising and setting.
Cyn stood from her crouch next to Adi, the leaves crunching under her feet. She felt rather than saw Adi stand as well, the fur gone, replaced with features that looked heartbreakingly young in the unforgiving light of dawn. The ethereal colors of pink, orange and red covered them as Adi and Cyn backed away from the advancing pair.
Adi glanced at Tony and Jacqueline as they drew nearer. “Oh... shit sandwich,” she said in a shaky voice. Cyn barked out a laugh brought on by pure adrenaline and nervousness.
Tony got closer, scanning their faces and said, “You bitches are mine.”
Gawd, Cynthia thought, he's like a B-rated movie or something. Some of her dismissal of his lack of intellect must have shown because his brows dropped above his eyes, casting them in shadow and hiding them from the first light of the day.
She thought he was a dumb ass and didn't mind him knowing it. But, Cynthia flicked her eyes at Adi, then her gaze slid to Jacqueline; poisoner of her bestie, and she felt a frown darken her face.
Jacqueline smiled at Cyn but it never reached her eyes. That wench didn't have a legit bone in her body.
“Well, well... what do we have here?” Jacqueline asked like she was inquiring about the weather.
Tony's gaze shifted to her. “Shut up, Singer bitch.”
Jacqueline turned that laser beam of cruelty on Tony and he fell to his knees, hands at his throat. The universal sign for choking was as obvious as if he'd said the words I can't breathe.
Adi and Cyn began to back away. Cyn didn't know Adi's exact thoughts but she figured if psycho one and two wanted to go at it, they could. Without Adi and her in attendance.
Tony plunged to his hands and knees, his fingers clawing at the forest floor.
“Are you going to be a good dog?” Jacqueline asked in a cultured murmur.
Tony's body trembled. To be brought low by a female Singer... or any female was a blow to his considerable ego. But as the oxygen left his body and blackness began to eat at the edges of his consciousness, he gave a nod of his head, very like the tap out so popular in cage fighting.
Survival was paramount to Tony.
When he felt her hand in his hair he cringed, gasping, though there was no breath to relieve him as he hung there-- suspended between consciousness and not. His palms sla
pped the decomposing earth at his sides. The two females he hoped to denigrate were but a dim memory.
Tony was so aware his life hung in the balance.
Jacqueline scratched behind his ear, then petted his head. “There, there... you will do as I say... or die,” she warned softly.
Sweat beaded under Tony's nose and a low mewling sound broke the seal of his lips, robbing him of even more precious oxygen.
“Comply or die,” Jacqueline repeated, her fingers tightening in his hair, jerking his head back with a strength borne of her lineage. Royal blood, mixed with age, gave Jacqueline power she otherwise would not have possessed.
The cords on Tony's neck stood out, his face turning purple. His hands beat the damp earth, fingers involuntarily clenching into the dew-kissed soil. Finally, moving against her brutal hold, he gave another stiff nod.
His eyes met hers, black meeting black and Tony knew... that he'd met a female who matched him. Who was maybe more than he was. Tony hated it. It also made him terribly aroused, violence and sex were inextricably linked inside him. When death swirled around him, instigated by this Singer bitch, he wanted her.
The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) Page 49