Page 11 of Blood Moon Bound

Before I did something I couldn’t take back.

* * *

I could fucking smell her.

Delphine had been in my home for a week, and it was as if she’d quietly taken ownership of every square foot.

I paced my study.

I’d somewhat successfully avoided her since I brought her home. I’d had no choice, not after what happened the night she drank from me. I’d tried so fucking hard, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t forget the way Delphine had clung to me, clawed at me, going wild from the taste of my blood.

That night, I’d wanted to tear off her soaked panties and drive deep inside her. I’d wanted to mate her and claim her in every way. That was not the plan, though. Not anymore.

I strode to the window and stared out at the first rays of morning sun. I’d spent another night wearing out the fucking carpet in this room, because walking past her bedroom wasn’t something I was sure I could do. I was afraid I’d walk in, climb under the covers with her, and take her. Bite her.

She was born to be mine, but I’d never imagined wanting her the way I did. What the fuck did I want with an innocent little female like that? I wanted Samara back. I wanted revenge against Douglas fucking Albertan, for what he did to her.

Samara had been the complete opposite of Delphine, experienced, sharp-tongued, ruthless. She hadn’t trembled when I’d looked her in the eyes, or shied away in fear and disgust. She’d been perfect for me, the commander of The Five, a ruthless and ugly heartless monster—but fate had other plans for me. They chose someone else. And those evil bitches were probably laughing right now watching me fucking squirm and hide from the tiny, frightened female who had taken over my fucking house without even trying.

Samara and I had met when we were young, both homeless, living on the streets. I became her friend and protector. Over the years our relationship changed. When we found ourselves together, we shared each other’s beds. I’d never demanded or even wanted faithfulness from her, and neither had she from me, because that’s not what we had. Or at least, I believed that’s the way she felt about me.

But Samara had been there for me, had gotten me through some of the hardest times of my life. She’d tended my wounds, slaked my lust, and fed me from her vein when I’d return from war broken and half wild. She held me and listened to the stories, nightmares really, from my time away that I couldn’t flush from my mind until I spoke them aloud.

I couldn’t let Delphine distract me from my goal. Samara was dead, and though I couldn’t prove it, I knew Douglas was behind it. My position, my service to our people didn’t change that killing another vampire without hard evidence, especially one with an uncle sitting on the Vampire Court, would be signing my own death warrant—and those of my brothers, because they wouldn’t stand by and watch me be executed. It was for them that I hadn’t already torn that fucker to pieces. It was for them that I’d bided my time, waiting for my chance to strike.

A memory rushed back, unbidden, of a time when I thought my life could be different.

The night I’d felt Delphine for the first time.

The monster had been driven by instinct, by something I’d never felt before—by the call of its mate. I’d tried to tell myself I just wanted one look at her, then I’d leave, that I wouldn’t declare my intention to claim her—but then I’d seen her, so young, so fragile, so sweet and lovely. So breakable.

Still struggling to find my humanity again after months fighting, the monster had been firmly in charge, which was why I’d let instinct take hold and snuck into the Albertans’ garden. The rapturous look in her eyes while she’d stood among her roses, breathing in their scent, had set off a possessive roar inside me that had been too much to resist. I’d almost snatched her from her stepfather’s garden then.

I’d seen what could happen to young females like her when the enemy got hold of them, and that’s all could see—Delphine bloody and broken. I’d needed her safe.

And there was only one way to make sure of it.

Declare my intention to claim her. I’d been desperate to keep her safe, and knew her family would lock her down, so no harm could come to her, when I did. Then, still under her spell and utterly fucking besotted, I’d ordered rose gardens to be planted all over the grounds of my home.

For some reason, I’d kept it from Samara. I’d finally told her eighteen months ago. She said she was happy for me, but I could tell it bothered her. Not because she wanted me for herself but because she was afraid I’d abandon her like everyone else in her life had. I tried to reassure her that I’d always be there for her, but something changed between us, and I didn’t know how to make it right.

We’d gone to a club that night, the kind that Samara enjoyed, the kind that smelled of sex and was filled with screams of both pleasure and pain. Samara introduced me to a male named Pere. Douglas had been in his entourage, along with several others who’d looked at Samara like she was prey. I hadn’t liked it—and at the time, had no idea Douglas was Delphine’s stepfather.

I’d stayed to make sure Samara was safe, even though I knew she’d been there many times without me and that she could take care of herself. I’d seen the way Douglas had watched her, a look on his face that had unsettled me as Pere had tied Samara up, choked her, whipped her, fucked her. She’d loved it, begging me to join in. I’d turned her down, then I’d carried her home afterward, and she’d drowsily begged me not to leave her before she’d fallen asleep.

That was the last time I’d seen her.

I’d been sent back to the border early that morning, and I hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye. A month later I received word of her death. I found out Samara had been spending a lot more time with Pere and his friends, and that one of them had a private dungeon.

But Samara wasn’t the only female to go missing after spending time with these males. And I’d fucking driven her to it. I’d hurt her, had been careless with her feelings, and she’d worked through them the only way she knew how, at that club, in that dungeon. I’d spoken to some of the regulars there and discovered it was Douglas’s house, and the night of her death, she’d turned him down flat, humiliating him in front of his friends.

That was the last time anyone saw her.

I’d confronted Douglas, threatened him, but I wasn’t at war anymore. I couldn’t just kill my enemy and walk away, and with his uncle on the court, he was untouchable without any real proof of his guilt.

It wasn’t until I’d found out where he lived that I realized it was the same house I’d seen Delphine.

I strode from the window and back. Yes, I’d obviously fucked off the fates somewhere along the way, because I couldn’t see why else they’d do this to me?