“Blood Bound”


Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved


Chapter 13

It all happened too fast.  Both Leo and Shelby materialized in her apartment and in the blink of an eye, she had been ripped from his arms and he was sucker punched.  That was all it took before Leo saw nothing but red; bright crimson red that completely colored his vision.

His Bride was suddenly flung across the room with such an intensity that he was able to hear the distinct swoosh of her breath as it was knocked out of her lungs.  Before he lunged for the first assailant, Leo shot a fleeting glance in her direction and seen that she was and pinned up against the wall by one of those mangy shifters.  

Coyote, he noticed.  That was what they smelt like, stinking coyote.  

There were about to be dead coyotes now.  When they dared to lay the first finger on his  Shelby, they signed their own death warrant.  It was as simple as that.

He reached for the first culprit and wrapped his hand around it’s wiry neck, squeezing his fingers in such a vice grip that it only took seconds for the coyote to figure out what was going to happen.  It looked into Leo’s eyes and paled when he realized that the vampire in front of him would settle for nothing less than his own death.  

He briefly tried to plead his case but no sound would escape his mouth.  Leo had crushed his larynx and the lights around him were quickly dimming.  Seeing the determination written on Leo’s face, the coyote had no choice but to succumb to his fate.  

He knew his life was coming to an end and he would at least die with some dignity.  He stared Leo directly in his eyes until he couldn’t see him anymore. He struggled once more to drag in a badly needed breath before finally going completely still.

Leo felt no satisfaction when the shifters heart thumped it’s last beat.  Disgusted, he dropped the body to the floor, letting it crumple into a boneless heap.  

Whirling around, he released a ferocious hiss and faced the second of his adversaries.   He inhaled deeply and couldn’t help but to smile when he smelled the fear wafting off him in waves.

He knew.  Oh yeah, the shifter knew all right that death was coming for him too, just like it came for his friend.  His only bargaining chip was the fledgling that he held in his arms.

“Let her go,” Leo growled out.  His voice was rigid and deadly calm.

The coyote’s eyes widened when Leo took an imposing step forward.

“Not yet,” he said with an air of desperateness surrounding him.  “I will let her go only if you let me walk out that door unharmed.”

Leo cocked his head to the side and took another step forward, closing the distance between him and the animal that held his bride.  His eyes flitted to Shelby and he was was taken by slightly by surprise by the fact that he couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking.   He had expected confusion, he expected fear, maybe even tears; what he hadn’t expected was the expressionless mask she was wearing.

Blinking, Leo switched his attention back to the coyote and roared, “You dare to challenge me.” 

The coyote flinched and tightened his grip on his last ditch hope.

“Stay- you stay back from me or she’s a goner man.”  His eyes were wild as he searched the room for all possible exits.

‘When I give the signal, I want you to jump to the side and break out of his arms.  Do you understand me?’  He spoke the words in her mind and watched for her reaction.

‘He’s mine.’  She answered him back stubbornly.

Leo narrowed his eyes at his daring Bride.  ‘Shelby, now is not the time to argue with me.  You will do as I say.  When I say move, I want you to jerk out of his hold and get behind me, that's it.’

She stared back at Leo not giving anything away.  She was tired of being taken advantage of; being the weak little girl while everyone ran rough shot over her life.  First her parents, then the kids at school and now Leo.  

No more she told herself.  No more would she sit idly by and wait for fate to determine her path.  It was time to grab the bull by the horns and run with it.

Leo had gifted her with abnormal strength, incredible speed and a strange sense of power that she couldn’t explain but she could feel it.  She could feel that her strength was more, much more, than the measly guy that held her.  How she didn’t know but she was about to put it all to the test.  Her Knight would just have to get over his little alpha mode and learn how to deal for once.

“I’m warning you man,” the coyote spoke up, pulling Shelby closer to him so that she was shielding him.  “You take another step and I’ll break her in half.”

‘Move.’  He issued the guttural command in her head and leaped at the same time.

Shelby heard his order and didn’t hesitate to act.  She brought up her heel behind her and instantly connected with his groin.  The coyote yelped, releasing his hold on her and she wasted no time in rounding on him and letting her instincts for survival lead her.

She threw out her hand, palm facing out and felt for the first time in her life the way that bone felt as it crushed underneath her hand.  He stumbled back and she stalked forward, kicking out.  Her foot making a forceful impact with his stomach.  

The coyote fell back to the ground and all Shelby could see was red.  She jumped on the coyote and clawed at his face.  The sight of his blood was like a high for her.  It was total intoxication and she wanted to see more. She needed more.  She wanted to bathe in the warm sticky substance that coated her  hands.  

At this point, her body was reacting on it’s own accord as she pummeled his face over and over, salivating with every new drop of blood that spilled.  

His screeches and pleas for mercy landed on deaf ears.  The coyote only wanted the killing blow to finally come but the true nature of the beast had come to the forefront in Shelby.  She wanted him to suffer and suffer he would.  

Leo stood there, completely dumbstruck for the first time in all of his life.  His Bride was tearing this shifter apart with complete ease.  He was in utter awe.  If this had been a human, it would be expected but the fact of the matter was that she was not beating the hell out of a human.  He was a shifter and she was going to town on him.  

Seeing that the shifter was close to death, Leo finally stepped in.  He didn’t want this one to die so quickly.  He actually had planned to question this one before he dispensed of him.  He wanted to know why the shifters were in his Bride’s old apartment in the first place.

He grabbed Shelby and pulled her off of the coyote that had gone still.  She fought him like a wild cat, determined to get back to her prey.  She was all predator now, her true nature making it's presence known.

Lashing out, she managed to claw Leo’s arm.  In it's wake a deep gash appeared that gushed a river of red.  

All Shelby could fathom was the need to kill the one that dared to hold her.  When she was wrenched away from her quarry she wailed in protest.  It was a high pitched noise that sounded so foreign she didn’t even recognize that it was her own voice.

She fought like hell to get back.  She wanted, no she needed more of that rich liquid coating her skin, bathing her body.  She needed to feel the pound of it’s flesh underneath her finger tips.  

'Shelby.'

Her name came as a whisper in her mind but it was though such a haze that she couldn’t comprehend who said it or where it was coming from.  Her hand slashed out and a bitter sweet aroma filled the air.  She suddenly stilled, her eyes zeroing in on Leo’s arm and the sweet nectar that was welling up there.

Leo sensed immediately what had caught Shelby’s attention.  She was in the midst of blood fever and the call of her sire’s blood was too strong of a temptation.  

They were predators, first and foremost-  slaves to their true nature.

Seeing that the coyote was as good as dead, Leo held up his arm to give his Bride the one thing that she wanted.  Without hesitation, she latched onto his arm greedily and started to drink in large gulps.

Leo sat back in the floor, pulling Shelby into his lap while she took from his very life essence. He settled back, and let her drink.  Drinking from your life partner like this was as intimate as two of their kind could get.  

Although he was thoroughly irritated with the encounter that they just had, he couldn’t help but feel him self swell and his pants grow a little tighter.  His Shelby was the epitome of eroticism and even now, she looked like an enchantress siting up on his lap, taking what she desired.

All to soon though, her fever cooled and her pert little mouth left his arm.  He held back the groan that threatned to escape his lips.

Shelby looked up and took in her surroundings, looking dazed and slightly confused.  She went to stand and Leo held her in place until he was sure that she was back to normal.

“What happened?” She asked.  Her voice was sore and scratchy from her angry screams just moments before.

“How are you feeling?” Leo questioned, cupping her chin and pulling her face back to him.

Shelby shook her head.  “Fine,” she said and blinked a few times.  Her vision seemed to be clouded and everything was slightly rimmed in red.  She looked up into the inky black eyes of Leo and asked again, “What happened?”

Leo’s lips were flattened.  He was searching her face for any signs that the blood fever was still there.  Satisfied, he lightened his hold around her but wasn’t quite willing to completely let her go.  He gestured with an inclination of his head in the direction of the lifeless shifter bodies.  “We were attacked,” he told her solemnly.

Shelby’s eyes went wide.  “Attacked?” she repeated, staring over at the first body that Leo had dispensed with.

“Yes,” he confirmed.  “By coyote shifters.”

“But why?” She turned back to Leo and looked at him expectantly.

Leo shrugged his shoulders.  “I don’t know my sweet.  I was going to ask that one,” he said and waved his hand at the bloody shifter that lay crumpled in the corner, “But you-”

“Oh god,” Shelby slapped her hand over her mouth as the memories of what she had done come flooding back to her.  “I did that- I...I killed him......”

She said it as more of a statement rather than a question. A lone tear, slowly tracked down her cheek and the pain that Leo read on her face was enough to do him in.  He still didn’t understand how she was able to overcome him so easily, just being reborn; but she did and that was all that mattered right now.

Breathing out, he pulled her head to his chest and ran his hand along the back of her head, smoothing down her hair.  “It was your only choice.  If you didn’t kill him first then he would have killed you.”

“There’s always a choice.”

He could feel the tension building in her body and read the regret in her mind.

“Not this time, my sweet.  You did what you had to do.”

She choked on a broken sob and the sound pulled at one of his heart strings.  Feeling his own rage build, he made himself a promise right then and there.  He would do anything- whether it be move mountains or walk on water to keep his precious dark angel safe.  Anything.

Not wanting to waste another minute in close proximity of the dead shifters, Leo waved his hand and in the second both he hand his Bride were in his bed.  Snapping his fingers, the room came to life in candle light.  Shelby continued to quietly weep in his arms and Leo had never felt so helpless in his life.  So he did the only thing he knew to do, he held on to her.  He held her close and he held her tight.

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“Why haven’t we heard from the yet?” Ric complained.  He got off of the bed and went to the window, peering out into the darkness of the night.  The deed should be done by now he thought to himself.

Tatiana sat up on the bed, “Their shifters Ric, not necessarily the brightest of the bunch.”  

She stood up from the bed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him.  She laid her chin on his shoulder and sighed.  “Don’t worry baby, she is just a fledgling.  They’ll do the job.  This time tomorrow night your master will be grieving for his loss and I’ll be there to help him through it.  In a few weeks time, we get married and then-”, she stopped leaving the unspoken thought hang in the air.

Ric turned around in her arms and pulled Tatiana even closer to him.  He smiled down at her and kissed her thoroughly.  She eagerly opened her mouth and let him take all that he wanted.  

Breathless, Ric pulled back and added, “Then, we take him out.”

Tatiana grinned, lifting one perfectly manicured blood red finger nail to trace the outline of his lips. “Then we take him out,” she agreed huskily.  “Our plan is foul proof.  Failure is not an option.”