Bound by Fate (Moon Bound Series Book 1)

by Mandy Lou Dowson

  “Let me tell you a story. The story of Lissa, Bradley, and Jake.” The last word came out like a swear word, and Beth flinched.

  “I already know this story.”

  “Oh yes, I suppose you must have ferreted it out from someone while you were here. But I’m betting that you don’t know the full story. There is only one person alive today who does. Me.”

  “Tell me your stupid story then, though I don’t see what it has to do with me.” Beth was fighting to stay conscious, now, all thoughts of escape or attack having fled from her once she realized she couldn’t shimmer, not with the drugs in her system, and she couldn’t get the drugs out of her system without shimmering. It was a deadly paradox.

  “Oh by the end of it you’ll see. I promise.” And then Bradley brought his story of betrayal and revenge to life in sickening detail.

  “Lissa was always a bit of a romantic, at heart. And though I tried to make her happy, in my own way, she never really forgot about her other mate, Jake…”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “I swear to you, Bradley, I haven’t spoken more than one entire sentence to Jake since our ceremony. And I have no intentions of doing so.” Lissa broke free from his arms, and stared at him, narrowing her eyes. “But you must give me your word also. I must be the only female for you, as you are the only male for me.”

  “Lissa, you are more than enough woman for me to handle,” he laughed, pulling her back into his arms where she belonged. “There is nothing going on between Lenora and I, but I must see her. For the boy, you understand?”

  “I would never dream of taking you from your son,” she murmured against his chest, the vibrations tickling his sensitive skin. “Some day we will have sons and daughters of our own, and they would surely benefit from having an older brother…” She looked up at him, her eyes so trusting. “There is nothing between you?”

  “Nothing,” he lied. He’d long ago learned to mask his scent so that no one could tell if he was lying or not - it was quite beneficial in his rise to power.

  He took her then, gently at first, but then roughly as he liked it, and she enjoyed that, too, on occasion. For a while Lissa was content to believe his lies, but when he came home late at night – far later than any cub had a right to be still awake – with the scent of Lenora plastered all over his bare flesh, she soon realized how good of a liar Bradley was. It wasn’t long before she’d started taking comfort in somebody else’s arms. Jake’s arms. And Bradley had been too distracted by the women in his own life, and the secrecy by which he lived, that he never even realized what was actually under his own nose until it was too late. For months Lissa had seemed aloof, but Bradley had thought perhaps she was worried about the fact that they hadn’t conceived in any of her heats.

  So he let it go, he gave her space. He gave her so much space that eventually one night he felt his Bond shatter, bringing him to his knees in the arms of his secret lover, Lenora. Instantly knowing who his mate had replaced him with, he went quite mad with rage, flinging Lenora to the floor in his haste. He must find them both and rend them, limb from limb.

  “Lissa!” he screamed, over and over, terrifying all who came across his path. Like a bloodhound, he scented them out, in the middle of their very own midnight picnic by a waterfall. “An idyllic setting for romance,” he bellowed, raining scorn upon them.

  “We knew you’d find us,” Lissa said with a trembling voice. “There was no point in hiding, any longer.”

  They fought, Jake and Bradley, very nearly to the death. Lissa had picked up a large rock when she seen her lover about to be torn apart, and knocked Bradley unconscious with a mighty blow. She might have killed him, if it weren’t for her pity urging her not to.

  By the time Bradley had healed enough to go after them, they were long gone, leaving behind no trace. For months he had tracked down leads - the territory was a huge expanse of land, many hundreds of acres, but finally, there was a sighting. A beautiful blond she-wolf was seen in the furthest reaches of his territory, right on the border between the Tall Grass pack and the Loam Floor pack lands. Enraged at the thought that for all those months they hadn’t even left the territory, but instead had holed up in some remote hills, he took one of his Sheilds with him, his second in command, and eventually tracked them to a dilapidated old cottage sitting on the banks of a river.

  They had been using the river when coming or going so that no scent would lead back to their hovel. But now, being so close, he could smell them. Jake was relatively easy to take down – two on one odds were never in his favor. But the bitch, Lissa had already disappeared. Taking to the river once Bradley and Turosk had been scented as they stood upon the brow of the little hill, and using the river to aid her, she evaded them for a further three days. Living on the run was no life for a female, and she was run ragged by the time they caught up to her, hunting in the neighboring territory.

  Turosk’s blade quickly took her life, and it was all over.

  “When your Alpha, Marcus,” he spat the name. “Found out what had happened in his territory, he initiated a blood feud that has lasted to this very day. For years wolves on both sides have died senselessly. Until he finally agreed to hand you over as part of a peace treaty. Even wars don’t last forever.”

  Beth watched him as he bit his lip in thought. “That bastard killed her so that I couldn’t,” he told Beth now, eyes shimmering with angry lust, thinking about the woman he’d loved, hated and didn’t get to torture. “I said nothing to him at the time, but half way back, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. How dared he? How could he take my revenge from me?”

  Horrified, Beth sat in silence. The tale was quite a bit more graphic and detailed that she’d wanted, and if she’d been frightened of this man before, she was absolutely terrified now.

  “I killed him, of course, for his betrayal, small though it was.” He suddenly smiled. “Nobody has betrayed me since. Nobody until you, that is.”

  “I never–”

  “You lost the fight!” he exploded. “If you had won, why you could have had everything you’d ever dreamed of, but now… He trailed away, lost in thought. “As soon as I found out about you, I knew I had to have you. And for years Marcus denied me. But every wolf has his price, and his was peace. It was all going so perfectly.” His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned into a cruel line.

  “I’m not Lissa,” she whispered. “I don’t deserve this.”

  “Yes you are,” he bellowed, rushing forward and striking her a blow across the cheek that left behind burning welts. “You’re just like her.”

  “I know I resemble her a bit, but–”

  “You have her eyes,” he agreed.

  “I’ve seen others with the same eyes.”

  “No,” he replied with a soft smile. “The only other wolves with silver human-form eyes, are relations of hers. They’re inherited, you know.”

  “What? Please, I just want to go home.” What was he babbling about?

  “Did I forget to mention?” He took a knee before her, lovingly cupping the cheek he’d struck. “That bitch only escaped that night in the cabin because Jake laid down his life for her. For her, and their children.”

  It felt like the world imploded inside Beth’s skull. When they’d found her, she’d been only a tiny thing, scrabbling in a hole beside the bodies of her two brothers. Her mother had been found dead less than a mile from where they’d found her, a large “R” carved into her chest. “R” meaning rogue. They’d never found anyone willing to admit to being her father. She thought of the collars sitting in a drawer in her upstairs bedroom, and suddenly everything seemed to fall into place. Her eyes widened as she met the smug stare of the Alpha.

  “So, now you know. You’re already home, Beth Tall Grass.”

  Beth didn’t know how long she lay on the cold, stone floor. She only knew that Bradley returned twice to her cell. Once, when she’d regained some of her strength – not enough to be a threat, nor even enough to shimmer, but some
– with food and water, and more of his wild ramblings.

  “My son,” he’d told her with an amused smile. “Mourns you dreadfully.”

  “He doesn’t know I’m here?” she’d questioned.

  “Don’t be ridiculous! No one knows you’re here.” And then he’d smiled again, and she’d known that what he would tell her next was not going to be pretty.

  “He knew of you, of course. He was sent to fetch you for me, and imagine my surprise when he’d returned mated to you himself. I can tell you now that I wasn’t one bit happy about that.” He’d growled. “You were always meant for me. But I indulged him, to a point. When it became clear to me that he loved you as much as he feared me, I knew he would give you up.” Grinning, he’d lowered himself to sit beside her companionably. “If only to spare you the pain and madness that breaking a Bond brings with it.”

  She’d shivered, the revelation making her feel sick. Donovan had known who she was all along, and he’d brought her here for his sadistic father to torment. It didn’t matter that he’d fallen in love with her along the way. His original plan stung her to the core.

  Bradley had stroked her forehead tenderly, his venomous whispers echoing in her mind. “He begged me not to hurt you, and now he blames himself for your death.” He’d sighed dramatically, raising himself from the floor. The creak of the door hurt her ears as he cheerfully gave her one last tidbit of information. “But now you’re my little secret.”

  The second time he’d returned with more food and water, and was apparently content just to gaze at her as she lay sprawled in a drugged haze. She was certain that it was the food or water he had used to sedate her, but she was so famished that she didn’t even think of it as she’d devoured every morsel of the meat and vegetable stew and drank every last drop of room temperature water.

  It could have been a day, or it could have been a week. In her jumbled up mind, it could even have been hours. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open. Weakness like she’d never felt before invaded her limbs, making them sluggish and loathe to respond. At one point, she tried to sit up, only to find that the best she could do was flop on to her side. The tears came then, and rarely halted, so that there was a slow, continuous stream of salt water dripping down to dampen the hard floor.

  Memories once again invaded her mind, and she gave herself over to them willingly, for anywhere was better than here, even if it meant living in a figment of her own imagination. She felt as though she were suspended in time, floating amongst the driftwood of her subconscious, a witness to her own mixed-up life. She remembered her Den Father, strong and proud, the day he’d realized she was destined to take her place as a hunter for the pack. She’d been so sure of herself, and of her place in life. She snorted slightly as she remembered thinking how difficult her life had been. If only she’d known how much more difficult it could – and would – get.

  She intentionally turned her thoughts away from such things, and instead chose to think of her parents. She wondered how Lissa had felt, running for her life, or how her father, Jake had felt dying for them all. Had he known the fate that would befall them, perhaps he would have fought a little harder. But that’s not fair, she thought. How can I judge him for falling to Bradley when I’ve gone and done the same thing, albeit in a different way. She was sure now that he intended to slake his desires – both for revenge, and for the desire of a woman she resembled – and then perhaps he would conveniently forget her. Leaving her down here in this dank hole of a place to die, starved and broken and afraid.

  She flinched as the door creaked open an inch, trying to gather herself into a protective ball. There was no way she could resist him, weak as she was, but that didn’t mean she had to roll over and play dead. “Beth?”

  Her muscles complained as she tried to raise her head, but she managed to raise it just enough to see the man outlined in the doorway. “Beth…my God!”

  “Donovan?” she rasped, her throat dry and her lips cracked. Fresh droplets of blood moistened her lips as she tried to smile. “Is it your turn to torment me?”

  “To torm–” He cut off in a stream of expletives, shaking his head violently in denial. “Had I known before now that you were even alive, I would have come sooner.” His face fell. “I thought you were dead. We all did. If I hadn’t seen Father come down here with a tray of food I never would have guessed.”

  His long legs ate the distance between them as he stalked toward her, rage plain on his handsome features. One hand held a water bottle, and the other was busy fisting his dark hair. “Here,” he whispered, swiftly removing the cap and offering her a drink.

  Slowly, she shook her head, her hair falling over her eyes. “I’ve already been drugged enough, thank you.” Her words were slow and slurred, but Donovan understood and his eyes widened.

  “Beth! I would never,” he began, quick to reassure her, but she was having none of it. “I swear to you, I’m here to help.”

  “Help?” she whispered, as the darkness rose up to claim her. “You can’t help me. Nobody can.”

  When she finally opened her eyes again, Donovan was gone. She’d almost convinced herself that he’d been another figment of her drugged imagination when she found the water bottle, snugged tightly between the small of her back and the wall. He’d obviously left that here when he’d surmised what she’d already told him. He couldn’t help her.

  Why would he even try? Guilt, perhaps or some form of rebellion against his psycho dad?

  Feeling somewhat more her usual self – at least her vision remained steady, and her mind was clearer – she twisted herself into a half slouch, half sitting position and drank deeply of the water, replacing the bottle once she’d swallowed half of it. She must hide this. If she was right, and the drugs were in the water Bradley was providing, then this could be her only hope of escape.

  Evidently, Bradley had been to check on her also, and had left another bowl of stew and a pottery mug of warm water. She sniffed dubiously at it, and the food, but could smell no trace of a sedative. If it were anything like the tea she’d made for her Guardian back home, she wouldn’t smell it anyway. This left her in a quandary. If she chose wrongly, she’d end up drugged again, and she desperately needed her mind clear if she were to think of a plan of escape.

  She smiled tightly – the chances of escape seemed so slim to begin with that she thought she must be crazy. Sometimes, a little crazy can go a long way, she thought. If I can just think up a crazy enough plan. Just then, another problem arose. She desperately needed to relieve herself.

  Think, she demanded of herself furiously. Just relax, and think. If she were constantly drugged and chained up, she would be forced to soil herself, and in fact would have no conscious knowledge of doing it. Looking down upon herself, she realized she already had. Grimacing, she accepted the only possible plan of action. She needed to rid herself of that drugged water, but if she were to spill it to the ground, Bradley would know. It was too cold, and the room too bare for it to soak in or dry up. Needs must, she thought.

  First, she took the mug of water and poured it to look like she’d wet herself. And then she did wet herself, tears once again burning in her eyes as shame overwhelmed her. It was her only plan, it was even a good plan, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ashamed of it.

  That accomplished, she ate half the stew, thinking that if the drugs were in the food, rather than the water, she’d still hold on to some of her faculties. After what seemed like a tortuous wait, she was aware that her first instincts were correct. The food was clean. Her lips cracked again as she scooped the rest of the stew into her mouth, using her fingers as a spoon.

  With a full stomach, and some clean water to drink thanks to Donovan, Beth began to feel much stronger. Perhaps not strong enough yet to shimmer. She just hoped time was on her side. Bradley didn’t appear to her the type of man who took his pleasures fast and furious - he seemed more the type to make it as long and drawn out as possible, prolonging his satisfactio
n.

  The door creaked open slowly as Beth lay on her side, breathing deep and evenly. If Bradley even suspected she wasn’t as intoxicated as she was supposed to be, she knew he’d kill her offhand. So she lay there, letting a thin stream of drool escape her slack mouth, as she pretended to be unconscious. The empty water bottle was still concealed between her and the wall, and she just hoped he didn’t take it upon himself to move her.

  “Wake up, bitch,” he roared. “Time to play.”

  He roughly grabbed her arm, shaking it like a dog with a bone, and she moaned, acting as though she were trying to come to, but not quite getting there. “I probably should reduce your dosage,” he said thoughtfully, before letting her arm drop. “I want you alert and terrified when I come to play with you,” he finished in a growl.

  Beth wondered why he didn’t already smell her terror. Even though she tried as hard as she could to keep her pulse steady and slow, it still beat much faster than it should if she were drugged. He seemed so lost in his revenge that he was ignoring blatant warning signs. She cracked her eyes and seen him looming over her, a look of disgust on his face when he noticed her damp clothing. “Not very attractive, my dear. I’ll have to clean you up, first. Maybe that will wake you up a little.” He grinned evilly and rubbed his palms together slowly, the sound making Beth’s ears twitch. “I’ll be right back,” he told her conversationally.

  He left the cell, not bothering to lock the door behind him, and Beth realized this was it, this was her chance, probably her only chance. She’d avoided his drugged water twice now, and though she was far from tip-top condition, she felt sure she could shimmer and run. And that was all she needed to do. Run. If she could get back home before he caught her, she would have the protection of her pack. Wouldn’t she? The idea crossed her mind that they might turn her away, refuse to help her, tell her she wasn’t pack anymore and that her Alpha could do as he pleased with her, but she thrust those thoughts aside. David would help her, if all others refused. She was sure of that much.