Eternally Bound (The Alliance, Book 1)

by Brenda K. Davies

  With a growl, he jerked his hands apart, tearing the savage’s throat in half and rending its head from its shoulders. The head rolled away before the rays of the sun lit upon it and flames licked over its skull.

  He inhaled a shuddery breath as he struggled to regain control of himself. He’d seen what could happen to a purebred when infuriated or when their mate was in jeopardy, but he’d never experienced it before. He gazed down at the red and black coloring of his skin as he wiped his blood-drenched hands on the ground.

  Despite the fact the Savage was dead and Kadence was safe, the color wouldn’t retreat from his body. Turning, he looked to Kadence again as she gazed at him in wordless wonder. She’d witnessed him at his most brutal and out of control, yet he saw no revulsion in her eyes.

  Scrambling across the ground, she flung herself into his arms. Ronan remained motionless for a second, unwilling to touch her with the putrid blood still on him, but he couldn’t resist holding her. His arms closed around her and he drew her against him.

  “Did he hurt you badly?” he demanded.

  “No, I barely felt anything,” she whispered. “Are you all right?”

  “There isn’t a mark on me.”

  She ran her hand over the front of him. “What is this?”

  “It will fade.”

  “What…?” Her voice trailed off, and she bit her lip as she glanced at the others who were edging closer to them.

  “Purebreds are capable of almost anything when their mate is in trouble,” he told her and looked pointedly at the hunters nearby, making it clear that if they tried anything with her, he would joyfully tear them all apart too.

  Keeping his arms around her, he lifted her from the ground when he rose to face the others. The roof of the warehouse gave way with a loud crack; smoke and flames burst high into the air as bricks crumpled and fell.

  “We have to get out of here before the humans arrive,” he said and focused on Nathan. “We have much to discuss.”

  “We do,” Nathan replied, though he was paler than he had been as he stared at Ronan.

  “I know a place if you’ll follow us.”

  “We will,” Nathan said.

  Kadence buried her face in Ronan’s neck and inhaled his scent. She slid her fingers into his hair when he started walking across the ground with her. Reluctantly, she leaned away to look at him. His eyes still glistened like rubies, but that reddish-black hue was retreating from his face.

  “Why did your skin change like that?” she asked as she ran her fingers over his face. Some of the color remained in his cheeks, but his skin felt no different to her.

  Her words drew his attention to the color seeping out of his hands. “Because the demon part of me was close to the surface,” he replied. “Closer than it’s ever been before. I’ve witnessed it happening to a purebred before, but I’ve never experienced it. When that part of a purebred is unleashed, there is little they can’t do. They can even enter a house uninvited and break the rules that normally govern our kind.”

  “Does it only happen with purebreds?”

  “Yes… well, at least it only used to be purebreds. You are a new entity, so who knows what you might be capable of doing.”

  Her lips flattened as her fingers played with the hair at his nape. “I would do anything to destroy someone who attacked you,” she replied.

  He couldn’t help but smile over the possessive tone of her voice. “I believe you.”

  CHAPTER 44

  Ronan turned on the lights within the closed hotel as he moved through it. Baldric purchased the property in Falmouth for him last month, not for the hotel part of it, but for the fifteen acres of land that came with it, a rarity on Cape Cod and an investment for Ronan. The hotel had closed for the winter months before he’d purchased it.

  Ronan expected to add the property to his collection and forget about it, but they’d been close enough to it today for it to make a good meeting place for now.

  The briny scent of the ocean filled the air as the waves crashed on the shore outside of the boarded-over windows. He kept his arm around Kadence as he walked, not to protect her, but because he needed her calming presence right now. He’d regained most of his control, but it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge again.

  Arriving at the restaurant area, he flicked on the lights and strode over to pull a chair from the top of one of the tables. Dust floated up as he set the chair on the ground and settled Kadence onto it.

  “Will you be sitting?” he asked Nathan.

  “Not unless you are,” he replied.

  Ronan smiled at him as he pulled down two more chairs and placed them on the ground. The others spread out around the room, but didn’t bother to remove the chairs from any of the remaining tables. Ronan hadn’t expected them to.

  “Your injuries from last week have healed well,” Nathan said. “I would have thought the bolt hole from a crossbow would take longer to close.”

  The hunter was brave for digging at him in such a way, or stupid, but he’d come to realize Kadence and her brother were far from stupid. Nathan was trying to learn more about him.

  “I heal faster than most,” Ronan replied. “As it seems, you do too. Broken noses don’t often heal within a week.”

  “Lucky punch,” Nathan replied.

  Ronan chuckled. “Lucky shot from you. The fact you’re her brother made me hesitate in taking you down.”

  Kadence rolled her eyes as the two of them stared at each other. She could practically taste the amped up testosterone on the air. “Yeah, yeah, you both heal fast and are manly men. Could you please move on so we can discuss more important things sometime today?”

  Settling next to Kadence, Ronan rested his hands on the table as he waited for Nathan to sit across from him. Finally, Nathan tore his attention away from Kadence and focused on Ronan again as he settled into the chair across from him.

  “What happened back there, I’ve never seen a vampire do what you did,” Nathan said to him. “What was with the weird skin change?”

  “You’ll probably never see it again,” Ronan replied. “It’s a trait of purebreds only.”

  “And that is what you are?”

  “I am fifth generation purebred, the only one of my kind to ever exist with such breeding and the only who can trace their lineage back to the first demon offspring.”

  “So, you are the leader?” Nathan asked.

  “When I was younger, I was raised to one day be king; I never took that role.”

  “Why not?”

  “Many reasons.”

  “Are the other non-Savage vamps unwilling to follow you?”

  “We would follow him to Hell and back,” Declan said. “You know naught of our history.”

  Nathan clasped his hands before him as he leaned back in his chair. “We apparently don’t know much about you at all. I didn’t know there were such things as turned and purebred vampires, Savages, and well… you.”

  “He looked like a Savage to me earlier,” Logan muttered.

  Ronan didn’t bother to acknowledge him as he remained intent on Nathan. “Almost a thousand years ago, I chose not to become king. It is a decision I will be changing, somewhat. Because they have been so scattered over the years, most vampires don’t know our history either, how we were originally created, or the full extent of what some of us can do. It is time that is rectified. I will not be king, that title died with my father as far as I’m concerned, but from now on, I will work to gather the vampires and lead them.”

  Declan grinned while Saxon, Lucien, and Killean exchanged surprised looks before nodding enthusiastically.

  “Why?” Nathan inquired.

  “With or without the help of the hunters, Joseph must be taken down and what he is doing must be stopped.”

  Ronan didn’t tell him about the Savage attack he’d survived when he’d been younger. They may end up working together against Joseph, but he couldn’t have the hunters knowing about their small purebred num
bers.

  “The Savage that attacked Kadence, he knew you.”

  “He did,” Ronan confirmed. On the half hour drive it had taken to get here, Declan recalled who the Savage was. “He was a purebred who tried to make it through Defender training under Joseph.”

  “What is a Defender?” Nathan inquired.

  “The purebreds who work to keep humans and innocent vampires safe have always been known as Defenders. While he was with us, Joseph worked to train purebred vampires. He also worked with turned vampires and taught them how to differentiate a Savage from another vampire.”

  “How can they tell the difference if the turned ones can’t smell them?”

  “It’s easy enough to look for the signs of a Savage hunting in the area. An increase of missing people reports, unexplained deaths, animal attacks, and such. Then they focus on a Savage’s favorite places to hunt, like bars and clubs. They prefer anywhere a human is more vulnerable and their defenses are lowered. Once the vampire is located, it’s simply a matter of confirming that they are a Savage.”

  “By witnessing the death of a human?” Nathan asked.

  “No,” Ronan replied. “When we feed from humans, we do not enjoy making them suffer. It is usually the opposite, and we seek to give them pleasure, or we shut down their emotions so that they feel nothing.” That was the way he’d fed from others, with no emotional involvement, until Kadence. “Afterward, we change their memories of what occurred. However, a Savage prefers to experience the pain of their victim. They thrive on the fear and agony. It gives them a bigger rush, as does hunting and killing other vampires in such a way. If you come across a vampire whose victim is suffering during the blood taking, then you have come across a Savage.”

  Nathan looked dumbfounded by this revelation. Ronan glanced at the other hunters who were hiding their shock with far less success than Nathan as they gawked at him and exchanged looks.

  “Plus, you now know you can smell the difference too. Remember that before you stake your next vamp,” Ronan continued.

  “I will,” Nathan replied though some of the hunters scowled behind him. “So the vamp who attacked Kadence was one of you?”

  “No, he didn’t successfully make it through the training, and it seems Joseph decided to recruit him to his cause. That Savage was a new edition to Joseph’s collection. He hadn’t killed many, yet. Otherwise, he couldn’t tolerate the sun as well as he did. By next week, he probably would have burst into flames like the others. I’d be willing to bet there are others who have also failed their training and that Joseph is looking to recruit them too.”

  “Others who have been trained to fight by one of your men?” Nathan asked.

  “One of our ex men,” Ronan replied.

  “But Joseph is highly trained, they’re highly trained, and there’s a chance they could have a grudge against all of you.”

  “They could have a grudge against us, but every one of them hates hunters,” Ronan said pointedly.

  “It’s hard not to, you stake happy bastards.” Lucien smirked.

  Ronan shot Lucien a silencing glance before continuing. “They know they can’t take us down, not without a lot of help, and they have no idea where to find us. You, on the other hand, unless you plan on calling off all your hunts until this danger is eradicated, they’ll be able to take you out with far more ease than us.”

  Anger flashed through Nathan’s eyes before he smothered it. “We are stronger and more capable than you think.”

  “Believe me, I know that.” Ronan clasped one of Kadence’s hands within both of his. “But that will get you nowhere if you’re outnumbered by Savages. The more they kill, the more limitations they have on them such as not being able to handle sunlight or cross large bodies of water, but they also grow physically stronger.”

  “Do you really think that Joseph organizing an army is the bigger threat the Savage was talking about, or do you think there is something more out there?”

  “I don’t know,” Ronan admitted. “I can’t think of what else it could be, but Savages are extremely cunning, and they do not want to die. They’ll do everything in their power to eradicate any threat to their lives.”

  “It won’t be easy to convince the elders we should work together, or the other strongholds around the world,” Nathan replied.

  “After last night and this morning, it will be easier,” Asher chimed in. “I know I would prefer not to kill a vampire who isn’t looking to kill me or a human. That whole blood drinking thing is still disgusting, but we all do what we must to survive, and if they’re not hurting someone—”

  “They’re draining the blood of another and changing their memories; there is something wrong with that,” Logan sneered.

  “There is a difference between that and killing, Logan, and you know it,” Asher said.

  “There is,” Nathan agreed.

  “We can continue to work in opposition and possibly all be slaughtered because of that, or we can all work together and destroy the bastard who killed Dad,” Kadence said.

  Nathan quirked an eyebrow at her. Kadence lifted her chin as she waited to be admonished for her language. If they’d been sitting in the stronghold, she would have been, but Nathan didn’t comment on her word choice. She wasn’t his to take care of anymore, and she realized her brother was coming to grips with that.

  Her hand tightened around Ronan’s as she spoke. “Nathan, we can do this together.”

  Nathan leaned back in his seat and rubbed at the black stubble lining his jaw. Dropping his hand down, he leaned forward again. “You will be taking control of the vampires, rising to the position of leader, the one you claim was supposed to be yours,” he said to Ronan.

  “Like you, I was specifically bred and groomed to one day take control of my kind. Unprecedented events detoured my course for a while, but unprecedented events have steered me back onto it.” Lifting Kadence’s hand, he placed a kiss against her knuckles to ensure her brother understood his point.

  “And how will you go about taking control?” Nathan inquired.

  “I will organize them. Most vampires live in peace, but what Joseph is doing is threatening to all our kind and the entire world. For many millennia, only purebreds have been Defenders against the Savages. I was reluctant to bring turned vampires in to become a Defender, reluctant to change our customs, but I realize it has to be done and that living in the past may be the downfall of us all. You will do what you must to protect your kind, and I will do what I must to ensure the same thing, but we are both working toward the same common goal.”

  “And these vampires you aim to bring in and organize, they won’t want to destroy us too?” Nathan asked.

  Killean shifted behind him, his face remained stony, but the gleam in his golden eyes told Ronan he’d happily destroy every hunter in this room and consequences be damned.

  “I’m sure some of them will,” Ronan replied honestly. “Just as some of the hunters you bring in will still prefer to see every vampire dead. Continuing to fight and kill each other is pointless. No matter the resentment and history that is sure to boil forth on both sides, we must find a way to either work together or stay out of each other’s way.”

  “I agree about that,” Nathan said. “But what are we going to do? Go on patrols with each other?”

  “We can start there,” Ronan replied. “And over time work toward more. Perhaps one day, we can train together. It would create some very lethal fighters.”

  “It is a start,” Nathan agreed.

  “And what if one of you turns Savage, what then?” Logan demanded.

  Ronan pierced him with a remorseless stare. “They will be hunted as ruthlessly as any other Savage. Despite our bonds to one another, we all know that is the consequence of turning. Joseph will be located, he will be brought down, and I will be there to do it.”

  “I will be the one to do it.” Nathan’s quietly spoken words were more forceful than if he’d bellowed them to the room.

  R
onan had destroyed the prick who killed his parents; he would not deny another the opportunity for revenge, even if he knew it would bring no relief. “If it works out that way and you are there, then you will be the one to do it, but Joseph will be taken down the first opportunity we have to do so. It is necessary he is destroyed no matter who does it.”

  Nathan’s hands fisted on the table. “Agreed.”

  “I will also be there to see it, if it works that way,” Kadence said.

  Nathan sat back in his seat as he gazed at Ronan in challenge. With that action, Ronan realized Nathan had acknowledged Kadence was now under his protection, but it was clear he didn’t approve of her being anywhere near the fight.

  “Will you inform the other strongholds about the alliance we will be trying to forge here?” Ronan asked Nathan.

  “Not right away. We will see how things play out before bringing them in. They haven’t reported an increase in Savage attacks or missing people from their locations. For now, it seems as if this growing threat is located here in the Northeast.”

  “For now,” Ronan agreed. “I’m sure Joseph will be trying to establish more warehouses throughout the area in an attempt to expand. We will locate the other turned and purebred vamps he’s trained over the years and either bring them in or learn if they’ve also turned Savage.”

  “How do you intend to find them?”

  “We know where some of them are. For the others, we have a friend who may be able to help locate them.”

  “Will this friend be joining in the fight?” Nathan inquired.

  Five months ago, Brian would have happily jumped in to help kill as many Savages as possible, but it was unlikely he would now that he was mated. “He will aid us when he can.”

  “I see. Can he locate Joseph?”

  “Not recently, but he has a couple of times in the past, and so has Kadence and she may be able to do so again.” Nathan’s jaw clenched when he realized Ronan was telling him that he would not keep Kadence out of this. “On our way here, I called Brian and asked him to join us. He should be arriving shortly.”

  CHAPTER 45