This woman like Renalda was not my mate. This is another one of Grier’s sick and twisted mental games. He wanted me to rape another woman and get her with child. I was on to him this time. I would not fall victim to him again. This female wouldn't be used and abused. I would not let him force either of us to do that. I turned away from the female and moved to the bed. I climbed under the covers and squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to force myself to remember clearly how I had hurt Renalda. The more I recalled the easier it would be for me to fight Grier and his powers. If I held onto the truth of what happened last time he wouldn’t be able to do it again.
FLASH BACK
I watched as they drug her in kicking and screaming and threw her into the center of the camp. I remember her scent drifting up to me. It was clear she was in heat and the smell of her heat was driving me and every male in the camp wild. Her cat fought for its freedom with wild abandonment. Elder Grier and several other Bastet elders approached me and begged me to consider blood bonding with her. I was the dominant male in this Bastet pride and as such I had the top position of Leo. As a Leo and as a male that was still capable of fathering cubs, I felt as though I could have the pick of the litter and yet the elders wanted me to blood bond with her.
Being capable of having children was a big deal to my people. Prior to them finding Renalda, it was thought there were no female Bastet still capable of producing offspring. The two of us together might have been the last couple capable of producing pure blooded Bastet. However, in order to have children together we either had to be true mates or had to establish a blood bond. Knowing what it would have meant to my people I wouldn’t have minded having sex with her in an attempt to make offspring, but the elders were insistent on a blood bond. Once I blood bonded with her we would be unable to bed other Bastet. I would no longer be able to choose when and with whom I had sex; instead we would be driven by the mating ceremony and her heat.
I remember clearly declining, even going so far as to say terrible things about rape and abuse. How could the even suggest it? These were horrific things that the elders of my people would never allow to happen. Female Bastet are always treasured. A female Bastet still capable of having offspring would have made her even more precious in the eyes of the Bastet people. No elder would want any harm to come to her. I remember Grier saying that he would leave it alone and give us time to get to know each other better without pressure. Then he left to help her to turn into her human form. I turned with the intention of heading towards my home when I heard her cat shriek with pain. By then, Elder Grier must have already put the whammy on me because when I looked down at Renalda’s human form I remember thinking she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
She had the most exquisite characteristics. She was tall for a woman of the Bastet species with a slender waist, long neck and raven black hair. I found myself almost mesmerized by her soft gentle face that had firm supple lips and the largest doe shaped bright blue eyes. I actually thought Renalda had to be my true mate. I felt my heart skip a beat then begin to beat a little faster. My pulse sped and my blood rushed to my face. I smiled and realized I would be a fool not to blood bond with my true mate. I rushed back to my home to shower and prepare for the ceremony. I knew my true mate was perfect for me.
By the time I returned for the ceremony my mate Renalda was cleaned and smelled of fresh wild flowers. She was magnificent. I walked towards the center of the camp where she waited for me to complete the bond. I looked into her crystal blue eyes and felt my pulse quicken with anticipation of the bond. I held the ceremonial knife in my hand and reached forward and made a small shallow cut in Renalda's arm. Then I sliced a long thin one across my own arm. I wanted to be sure that I would bleed enough to create the bond quickly. I leaned in and placed my mouth on my mate’s arm. I carefully lapped up the blood and swallowed. I could feel her fear and wanted to help her so I gently placed my hand on the back of her head and guided her to my arm. The moment Renalda tasted my blood she became confident and immediately accepted me as her mate as well.
Since Renalda was in her heat, she became feisty. I needed to quickly remove her from prying eyes and take her to my home so that we could satisfy her body’s needs. I honestly thought we’d made love multiple times that night. I even somehow believed that she initiated every single one of them. None of that however happened the way I thought it did. In fact, not long after I ruined her and shamed my people her vampire beloved saved her from my clutches. The moment he took her away from me the illusion started to crack and I started to realize that something was wrong. How could a female that had been raised in the wild agree to anything? How did Renalda tell me she wanted me to make love to her? The more I questioned myself the clearer the truth became in my mind. I realized I had been a monster that had tied her up and forced myself brutally on her multiple times.
There had been no mutual pleasure. I raped her and stole her innocence. I deserved to be punished and killed. I had no right to happiness or life. Renalda was an innocent young female Bastet that should have been treasured and loved and I abused her. I allowed a weaker Bastet to enter my mind and control me. I was a Leo and should have been stronger and smarter. I deserve all the pain and suffering I get. Renalda didn't deserve any of it. This time however Grier wouldn’t fool me. I knew better. The woman in front of me was either Renalda again and Grier was somehow tricking me or she was another female that Grier wanted me to ruin. Either way, I would cut off my own body parts before I ever hurt another woman that way.
CHAPTER 3
Laura’s POV
I watched my beloved slam his huge tiger body against the bed frame. Jeremy roared back and slammed into it again. I’m not sure why but I had the strange feeling that this was another attempt at ending his own life. Tiger boy’s death wish confused the heck out of me. I always thought that evil people reveled in their disgusting behavior and had very big survival instincts. If that was the case why did my beloved continually try to kill himself? I could understand if Jeremy had a conscience and was ashamed by what he’d done to Rena, but I knew that wasn’t the case the moment he shifted into his human form and allowed me to see, smell and sense his arousal.
I felt shame and heat move to my cheeks as my beloved stood naked in front of me oozing desire. I was appalled that Jeremy seemed to lack any sense of modesty. Why would the fates pair me with such an awful and disgusting male? Jeremy obviously had no respect for females and couldn’t be trusted outside of a cage. I was about to leave the room and my foul beloved alone, when he did the strangest thing. Jeremy actually started to whimper and cry reminding me of a very scared little boy. Then Jeremy started to mumble out loud about not being used that way again. Then he climbed under the covers and hid like a small frightened child.
I cocked my head to the side and listened intently to Jeremy's strange mutterings. I was somewhat expecting my beloved to pop back out at any minute, but Jeremy continued to stay under the covers and whine and cry about not hurting anyone. I was dismayed when I realized I had been standing stock still for more than an hour listening and watching him. Finally deciding that Jeremy was insane on top of being foul and disgusting I walked back to my own room and flopped down on my bed. I was going to have to decide what to do with him. It was foolish taking Jeremy away with me. Today’s behavior was just another way of god and the fates showing me that my beloved was a lost cause. I should have allowed my uncle Nik to put him and me out of our misery.
I lay down on my bed and decided that I would try to read for a while and get my beloved off my mind. I had to be honest with myself; I simply wasn’t ready to let him go. I couldn’t accept that he was a lost cause. My soul wanted him and well I didn’t really have the strength to fight my soul yet. I grabbed an old paperback of the shelf and flipped it open to the first page. I realized immediately that this was one of my favorite stories by Christine Feehan. Miss Feehan might get just about everything she writes about vampires wrong but she sure does write really goo
d books. Dark Destiny is the story of a vampire and his beloved Destiny. Destiny was turned by an evil vampire and his evilness is in Destiny's blood and eventually she too will become evil. Destiny's beloved wants her bad enough that he is willing to sacrifice everything and even become evil if that's the only way he can be with her. I sat and read the story and couldn’t stop myself from drawing the parallels between the Vampire and Destiny's story and mine and my beloved. The major difference however is Destiny never wanted to be evil; it was the bad vampires fault. My beloved Leo Jeremy was evil because he just was.
I read long into the morning hours and realized that the Leo has been in my care for more than two days and I failed to feed him or even given him water. I knew by any standard that was considered cruel and unusual punishment. I needed to make sure if I was going to force Jeremy to stay alive that I provided his basic necessities. Jeremy's cat was probably pushing six hundred pounds and must require large amounts of food. The more I considered my oversight the more I was overcome with shame and guilt. Thank goodness Jeremy was evil because it looks like I would have been a terrible beloved anyway. I went into the kitchen and piled tons of food on a tray and walked back into the spare bedroom that I'd temporarily converted into a cage. To my surprise my Jeremy was still beneath the covers muttering to himself about mind games and not doing it. I popped open the door and slid the food into the room with him. Then I cleared my throat and called out to him
“Um, Yo, Um tiger boy. I um put some food out here for you. You should eat it. It's been a few days since you ate last. I’m betting you have a big appetite and need the calories to keep healthy.”
I waited for him to emerge from the blankets but Jeremy didn't even poke his head out. Jeremy did become silent however. But he stayed wrapped up like a child hiding from the boogeyman. Something inside of me was becoming restless. I was starting to think that something more than what I knew was going on with my beloved. I called again, this time I tried to sound a little nicer.
“Um, I think it would be a good idea if you came out here and had something to eat. My name is Laura and um technically you are my beloved. How about you come out and tell me what has you so scared? Maybe I can help since I am a big bad hybrid vampire. What do you say?”
I hadn’t really expected Jeremy to reply or even acknowledge my existence. Then I watched as his head popped out of the covers and Jeremy opened his mouth and spoke in a crisp deep voice
“I know this is just another mind game. Leave me alone Grier. I am not going to let you fool me into harming another female. I won’t do it! Just let me die and end this.”
I heard Jeremy's words but the meaning eluded me for just a moment. Then pure hope slammed into me. Maybe just maybe my beloved wasn’t the monster my family and I thought he was. Maybe the whack job that kidnapped the cubs had done something to him and forced him to rape Rena. Maybe my beloved was as much a victim as Rena had been. Jeremy's comments were enough for hope to blossom within me. Hope meant that I needed to figure out a way to get him healthy and find out the truth. I called out to him again praying that if Jeremy heard my words he would believe me enough to get himself out of the bed and at least eat.
“Hey, tiger boy, you really are my beloved. My family and I saved you from that whack job Grier. He’s not here and he can’t hurt you anymore. My brother Liam made sure he can never hurt anyone again. I’ll go back to my room and give you some privacy and time to think about it. But um, just eat so I don’t have to force you okay?”
I waited just long enough to see the bed covers moving before leaving the room. I rushed back to my room and pushed my brother’s number into the phone. Liam answered on the first ring. I told Liam my suspicion about Grier and my beloved and asked him to find out what kind of powers Bastet have. I wanted to know if it’s possible that my beloved was forced to do the things he did to Rena. My brother promised to get me the information and call me back. Liam also promised not to tell my mom, uncle Nik or any other family member where I was. I knew Liam would keep his word. Liam has never lied and I knew he wasn’t going to start anytime soon.
CHAPTER 4
Laura's POV
My tiger boy is one strange creature. My brother Liam believes that Jeremy might have been under some kind of mental manipulation or possibly the victim of a very well done illusion. That being the case I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but Jeremy refuses to even look at me. I took a deep breath and walked back to my room to think about what Liam told me. It seems that Bastet share some of the same skills as vampires. Things like astral projection; which is the power to separate one's spirit from one's body and move around, its something similar to a ghost. My beloved will developed this skill once we complete our blood bond. If he didn't already have the skill that is. All vampires’ and their beloveds have this basic skill.
It seems Bastet excel at illusion manipulation, which is exactly what it sounds like. It is the power to generate illusions that will fool all five senses and a person’s emotions. Vampires have this skill as well but most aren't very good at it doing it on a grand scale. Some of the older more gifted Bastet also excel at memory manipulation. This is basically the ability to control memories. Any normal vampire can do memory manipulation to their blood donors on a short term basis. However according to Liam, a well-developed Bastet can manipulate memories over a longer period of time and can influence multiple people at the same time. As a Leo and a leader of his people, my beloved would also have minimal but effective mental manipulation abilities. Jeremy might even have some ability to do small illusion manipulations. Vampires have the power to modify and control the thoughts, mindsets, and upper brain functions of others for short periods of time. As a Leo my beloved would also have this ability over his Bastet pride. Jeremy could make demands that his pride members would have difficulty denying or breaking. This is very similar to what an Alpha has with his wolf pack.
Thankfully, Bastet however don't have some of the vampires more dangerous powers such as Psionic inundation. Psionic inundation is the ability to overload another person’s mind with a psionic wave. The wave causing pain, memory loss, lack of consciousness, vegetative state and sometimes even death. Since I was born a hybrid part werewolf and part vampire I have some but not all of the vampires’ powers. My powers also have a mind of their own. They work when they want to but not when I want them to. Of course I can astral project, and I have some mental manipulation, and Psychometry which is the power to perceive to the residual information of an object by touching it. Generally speaking however when I need the skills they don't feel like working. My siblings and I have decided it must be a trade off since we've found that we are not just immortal we appear to be invincible. We have none of the limitations that vampires have. It appears that we simply can't be killed.
My bother Liam was first to discover that the rules of killing a vampire just don't apply to him or any of us for that matter. Initially, we thought perhaps it was just Liam but I have unfortunately discovered for myself that I too am immune. Since I am a twin to Linda and Leona I am pretty certain my sisters Linda and Leona are also invincible. It's probably because our mom was created to be a hybrid. She would have been a normal wolf but was converted while she was still in her mother's womb. My siblings and I however were born just as we are. Half wolf, half vampire and one hundred percent invincible.
Technically humans always lose their ability to have babies once they blood bond with a vampire. For some reason even though my mom was born a hybrid and even later blood bonded with a vampire she never became infertile. In fact, she had a total of seven babies with my dad her true wolf mate. Three of the babies were born nothing special, just regular run of the mill Lycan wolves. Nathan, Natalie and Noah lived, loved and died just like every other wolf. Four of us however were born hybrids. As a result myself, my brother Liam and my two sisters Linda and Leona are all similar yet very different than our mom. For starters we are not bothered by the sun. My mom blisters and gets sick from
sunlight. She has even shown some signs that perhaps it could kill her like a traditional vampire. My siblings and I love the sun and revel in its brightness.
My mom can only drink wolf blood. Odd since that would be a death sentence for a vampire. We however can drink any kind of blood, wolf, human, vampire or Bastet. It's all the same to us and none of its poisonous to me or any of my siblings. We are perfectly capable and very happy to consume all types of blood with no negative effects. Even the more traditional ways of killing a vampire such as beheading and heart removal don't apply to me and my hybrid siblings. Both Liam and I have survived having our heads removed and we both had no problem with putting them back on our shoulders and having a complete recovery within moments.
I ran my conversation with Liam through my head one more time. Liam told me the elder is very gifted and thought he might have put the whammy on my beloved and his whole Bastet pride. Then Liam told me about this crazy party my mom' was throwing in Africa. Seems they wanted to celebrate Micah and Rena's joining and the return of the babies. Liam begged me to come and try to make things right with the family. Liam said if we told them of our suspicion most of the family would give my beloved the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to believe Liam but the truth was, my beloved was not responding to reason and bringing Jeremy around my family sure as hell wasn't going to help.
Shredded Bonds, a Blood Ties Novel, Book 4 Page 2
