by Shayla Black
Although she didn’t hear him move, she felt the heat of his large body at her spine. “I asked where you think you’re going, Seraphina.”
“Home,” she said. “As soon as possible, I hope.”
She walked back into the wardrobe to retrieve another of the pretty, feminine dresses that Leila had packed for her. Jehan was waiting when she came out. He had placed her bag on the floor, and now he sat on the edge of the bed, his sky blue eyes holding her in an unwavering stare.
Why did he have to look so intense and imposing, so impossible to ignore?
The sight of him waiting there, his handsome face grim with purpose, made her limping heart start to gallop.
She forced herself to move, walking over to pick up her bag and place it on a nearby chair so she could continue filling it. “Shouldn’t you be packing your things too? If we’re lucky, we might be able to get out of here in the next hour or so.”
“I’m not leaving, Seraphina.”
She glanced up at that. She couldn’t help herself.
He stood up and walked over to her. “I’m not going anywhere tonight. Neither are you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her breath caught as he closed the space between them. As always, his presence seemed to suck all of the air out of the room. Right now, it was leeching away some of the resolve she wanted to hold on to so desperately.
“You heard it yourself, Jehan. The handfast is over. We’ve both made good on our obligations to our families, so now we’re free to go.”
He shook his head, his expression sober. “Eight nights, Sera. That’s what we agreed to. I’m holding you to it. I don’t give a damn if the pact terms say you can leave me now. I have four nights left with you, and I mean to claim them.” He reached out and stroked his fingers down the side of her face. “I mean to claim you, Seraphina. As my woman. As my Breedmate.”
“What?” Shock and confusion washed over her. “But I heard you on the phone today. You said you were leaving. That you had decided to go back to Rome. You disregarded me to your commander as if I didn’t matter at all. I heard you—”
His thumb swept over her lips, stilling them. “What you apparently didn’t hear was that I also told Lazaro Archer I had fallen in love with you.”
No, she hadn’t heard that.
And hearing it now sent spirals of joy and relief twisting through every cell in her body.
“You didn’t hear me tell him that I needed to make a place for you in my life. Or that I couldn’t leave the handfast without knowing you were mine.” He caressed her cheek, eyes smoldering with affection and desire. “My life is with the Order, Sera. I can’t give that up.”
“I would never ask that of you, Jehan. I understand that you’re doing something important, something that you’re devoted to. After what we found at the camp, I realize your mission with the Order has probably never been more crucial.”
“No, it hasn’t,” he said. “I can’t leave my duty, but I know you can’t give up yours either. I’m not going to ask you to leave your life behind to be with me in Rome.”
She frowned, grateful that he understood what her work meant to her, yet unsure how their two worlds could mesh as a mated couple.
“That’s why I’ve decided to pull a new team together here in Morocco. After last night, it’s obvious that Opus has a strong presence here, so I’ve been tasked with pursuing those leads here on African soil. I’ll work out the details with Commander Archer when I return to Rome at the end of the week.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t believe what he was doing for her. For them both. For the new bond he meant for them to share.
“Jehan, I don’t know what to say.”
He lifted her chin on the edge of his fingers. “You can start by saying you love me.”
“Yes,” she whispered. Then she said it again with all the elation in her soaring heart. “I love you.”
He drew her close and kissed her, his lips brushing hers with such tenderness she wanted to weep. The next thing she knew, he had her spread beneath him on the bed. As he undressed her, then hurriedly stripped off his own clothing, his dermaglyphs pulsed with all the deep colors of his desire. His cock stood erect and enticing, awakening a powerful hunger in her—for his body, and for his blood.
Jehan clearly knew what she was feeling. His own hungers blazed in his transformed eyes and in every formidable inch of his naked flesh.
His fiery gaze scorched her face as he looked at her in utter devotion.
And need.
So much need, it rocked her.
He lowered himself between her legs and entered her slowly, as he bent to lick a searing path along her jawline, then her neck. “You’re mine, Sera.”
“Yes,” she gasped, arching into his abrading kiss as his fangs tested the tender flesh of her throat. “For the next four nights, I’m yours however you want me, Jehan.”
He glanced up at her, baring those beautiful, sharp tips with his hungry, definitely wicked smile. He gave a slow shake of his head. “Four more nights is only the beginning. Starting now, you’re mine forever.”
She nodded, too swept up in love and desire to form words.
Emotion overwhelmed her as she watched him bite into his wrist to open his veins for her. “Drink from me,” he rasped thickly, bringing the punctures to her parted lips.
Sera fastened her mouth to the wounds and stroked her tongue across the strong tendons of his wrist. His blood called to her, more deeply than she could ever have imagined. She moaned as the first swallow roared through her senses, into her cells. She drank more, reveling in the power of the bond as Jehan’s essence—his life—became part of hers.
And all the while she drank, he rocked within her, creating a pleasure so immense she could hardly bear it.
“You’re mine, Seraphina.” He stared down at her as she fed, as she came on a shattered scream. “Starting tonight, you’re only mine.”
“Yes.”
On a rumble of satisfaction, he drew his wrist to his mouth and sealed the punctures closed with a swipe of his tongue. His blazing eyes were locked on her throat.
Sera brought her arms up around him as he lowered his head to her carotid and licked the fluttering pulse point that beat only for him.
And when her handsome Breed warrior—her eternal love—sank his fangs into her vein and took his first sip, Seraphina smiled.
Because whether she believed in magic or not, tonight she was holding the prince, the fairy tale, and the happily ever after in her arms.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Lara Adrian, discover Tempted by Midnight and Midnight Untamed.
About Lara Adrian
LARA ADRIAN is the New York Times and #1 internationally best-selling author of the Midnight Breed vampire romance series, with nearly 4 million books in print and digital worldwide and translations licensed to more than 20 countries. Her books regularly appear in the top spots of all the major bestseller lists including the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Indiebound, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.
Lara Adrian’s debut title, Kiss of Midnight, was named Borders Books best-selling debut romance of 2007. Later that year, her third title, Midnight Awakening, was named one of Amazon.com’s Top Ten Romances of the Year. Reviewers have called Lara’s books “addictively readable” (Chicago Tribune), “extraordinary” (Fresh Fiction), and “one of the best vampire series on the market” (Romantic Times).
With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, Lara Adrian lives with her husband in New England, surrounded by centuries-old graveyards, hip urban comforts, and the endless inspiration of the broody Atlantic Ocean.
Connect with Lara online:
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Also from Lara Adrian
Midnight Breed Series
A Touch of Midnight (p
requel novella FREE eBook)
Kiss of Midnight
Kiss of Crimson
Midnight Awakening
Midnight Rising
Veil of Midnight
Ashes of Midnight
Shades of Midnight
Taken by Midnight
Deeper Than Midnight
A Taste of Midnight (ebook novella)
Darker After Midnight
The Midnight Breed Series Companion
Edge of Dawn
Marked by Midnight (novella)
Crave the Night
Tempted by Midnight (novella)
Bound to Darkness
Stroke of Midnight
Defy the Dawn
Midnight Untamed
…and more to come!
Also:
The Midnight Breed Series Coloring Book
The 100 Series (billionaire contemporary romance)
For 100 Days
For 100 Nights (forthcoming)
For 100 Reasons (forthcoming)
Masters of Seduction Series
Merciless: House of Gravori
Priceless: House of Ebarron
Phoenix Code Series (with Tina Folsom)
Cut and Run (Books 1 & 2)
Hide and Seek (Books 3 & 4)
Historical Romances
Dragon Chalice Series
Heart of the Hunter (FREE eBook)
Heart of the Flame
Heart of the Dove
Dragon Chalice Boxed Set
Warrior Trilogy
White Lion's Lady (FREE eBook)
Black Lion's Bride
Lady of Valor
Warrior Trilogy Boxed Set
Standalone Titles
Lord of Vengeance
BOUND TO DARKNESS
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Chapter 1
Titanium spikes slashed the fighter’s face, spraying blood across the floor of the steel cage and thrilling the crowd of cheering spectators inside the underground fighting arena. Gritty industrial music pounded from the dance club upstairs, bringing the din to a deafening pitch as the long match between the pair of Breed males built toward its finish.
Carys Chase stood near the front, among the throng of avid spectators as Rune’s fist connected with his opponent’s face again. More shouts and applause erupted for the undefeated champion of Boston’s most brutal arena.
The fights were technically illegal, but highly lucrative. And since the outing of the Breed to their terrified human neighbors twenty years ago, there were few sporting events more popular than the outlawed gladiator-style matches pitting a pair of six-and-a-half foot, three-hundred pound vampires against each other in a closed, steel mesh cage.
Blood was essential to Carys and her race, but sometimes it seemed mankind was even more thirsty for it. Especially when the spillage was restricted to members of the Breed.
Although even Carys had to admit that watching a vampire like Rune fight was a thing of beauty. He was dangerous grace and lethal savagery.
And he was hers.
For the past seven weeks—since the night she’d stepped into La Notte with a small group of friends and first saw Rune battling inside the cage—they had been practically inseparable. She had fallen fast and hard and deep, and hadn’t looked back for a second.
Much to her parents’ dismay. They and her twin brother, Aric, had all but forbade her to see Rune, basing their judgment on his profession and reputation alone. They didn’t know him. They didn’t want to know him either, and that hurt. It pissed her off.
Which is why, with a full head of steam and a stubborn streak inherited from both of her parents, Carys had recently moved out of the Chase family Darkhaven and in with her best friend, Jordana Gates.
Leaving home to get her own place hadn’t gone over well, particularly with her father, Sterling Chase. As the commander of the Order’s presence in Boston, he, along with the Order’s founder, Lucan Thorne, and the other district commanders, were the de facto keepers of the peace between the Breed and mankind. No easy task in good times, let alone the precarious ones they lived in now.
Carys understood her father’s concern for her safety and wellbeing. She only wished he could understand that she was a grown woman with her own life to lead.
Even if that life included a Breed male who chose to make his living in the arena.
All around her now, the spectators chanted their champion’s name. “Rune! Rune! Rune!”
Carys joined in, awed by his domination of the fighting ring even as the woman in her cringed every time fists smashed on flesh and bone, regardless of who was on the receiving end. And she could admit, at least to herself, that being in love with him had made her hope for the day he might decide to climb out of the cage for good.
No one had ever beaten Rune—and more than a few had died trying.
He prowled the cage with fluid motion, naked except for the arena uniform of brown leather breeches and fingerless gloves bristling with titanium spikes. The sharp metal ensured every blow was a spectacle of shredding flesh and breaking bone for the pleasure of the crowd.
Also crafted primarily for the entertainment of the sport’s patrons was the U-shaped steel torc around the fighters’ necks. Each combatant had the option of hitting a mercy button inside the cage, which would deliver a debilitating jolt of electricity to his opponent’s collar, halting the match to afford the weaker fighter a chance to recover before resuming the bout.
Although Rune had been the recipient of countless juicings when he climbed into the ring, he had never stooped to using the mercy button.
Neither did his opponent tonight. Jagger was one of La Notte’s crowd favorites too, a black Breed male whose own record of wins was almost as impressive as Rune’s. The two fighters were friendly outside the arena, but no one would know it to see them now.
Being Breed, Jagger healed from his injuries in seconds. He wheeled on Rune with a deafening roar, plowing forward like a bull on the charge. The contact drove Rune back against the cage. Steel bars groaned, straining under the sudden impact of so much muscle and might. The spectators directly below shrieked and shrank away, but the fight had already moved on.
Now it was Rune on the offense, tossing Jagger’s massive body across the cage.
Game or not, the clash of fists and fangs brought out the savage in just about any Breed male. Jagger got to his feet, his lips peeled back from his sharp teeth on a furious sneer. His dermaglyphs pulsed with violent colors on his dark skin. He rounded on Rune, amber fire blazing from his eyes as he crouched low and prepared to make another bruising charge.
Opposite him in the cage, Rune stood tall, his massive arms at his sides, his stance deceptively relaxed as he and Jagger circled each other.
Rune’s Breed skin markings churned with raging colors too. His midnight-blue eyes crackled with hot sparks as he studied his opponent. Rune’s fangs were enormous, razor-sharp tips gleaming in the dim lights of the arena. But beneath the sweat-dampened fall of his dark brown hair, his rugged, granite-hewn face was an utter, deadly calm.
This was Rune at his most dangerous.
Carys’s breath stilled as Jagger leapt, catapulting and cartwheeling in a blur of furious motion across the ring. One foot came up at Rune’s face like powerful hammer, so fast, Carys could hardly track its motion.
But Rune had. He grabbed Jagger’s ankle and twisted, dropping the fighter to the floor. Jagger recovered in less than an instant, pivoting on his elbow and sweeping Rune’s legs out from under him with another smooth kick.
The move was swift and elegant, but it opened Jagger up for sudden defeat.
Rune went down, but took Jagger with him, tackling him into an impossible hold on the floor of the cage. Jagger struggled to break loose, but Rune’s spiked knuckles kept t
he fighter subdued.
Howls and applause thundered through the arena as the clock counted down on the end of the match, with Rune about to claim yet another win.
As Carys cheered his certain victory, she felt a prickle of awareness on the back of her neck. She glanced behind her toward the back of the club. Two of her father’s Breed warriors had just come inside.
Shit.
Dressed in the Order’s black fatigues, Jax and Eli scanned the massive crowd, ignoring the spectacle inside the cage as they sought to locate her. She was getting used to seeing the Order’s babysitting patrol every night, but that didn’t make it any less annoying.
Maybe her father’s patience had finally reached its end. She knew him well enough not to put it past him to send his warriors out to collect her and eventually bring her home. By force if needed.
Ha. Let them try.
As one of the rare few females of the Breed and a daywalker, Carys was every bit as strong as any male of her kind. Stronger than most, given that her mother, Tavia Chase, was a laboratory-created miracle comprised of half-Ancient and half-Breedmate genetics.
But she didn’t need to resort to physical strength to avoid Jax and Eli. Carys had another ability at her disposal—this one inherited from her father.
As she stood among the crowd near the front of the arena, Carys quieted her mind and focused on her surroundings. Gathering and bending the shadows around her, she concealed herself in plain sight. No one would see her so long as she held the shadows close.
She waited, watching the pair of Order warriors stroll deeper into the club to scan the hundreds of humans and Breed packed inside. Carys drifted deeper into the throng, unseen by anyone. Jax and Eli gave up after a few minutes of searching. Carys smiled from within her magic as she watched them finally leave.
Meanwhile, the match in the cage was over. Rune and Jagger had taken off their metal torcs and gloves. They clapped each other on the shoulder, both mopping the blood and sweat from their faces as the announcer declared the winner.
