Bound To The Broken Heir

The papers on the table looked plain. Mira Voss stared at the papers, she looked like she thought they would bite her."Sign it," her stepmother said. She did not look up from her tea. "You have done nothing for this family for three years. This is the least you can do.""He is in a wheelchair," Mira said. "His face is ruined. People at the club say his own father cannot look at him.""Then he will be an easy husband." Her stepmother looked up. "He will be thankful for any attention you give him. Thankful men obey and this is a gift, Mira."Mira's hand shook over the pen. She thought about her life: her mother died young, her father married again fast and her stepsisters got tutors and dresses and trips but she got chores and silence. By seventeen she knew she was just a guest in that house. Now she was twenty-two, and she had to pay."What if I don't sign?” Mira asked.Her stepmother gave a stiff cold smile. "Then you will leave with nothing. With no name,no home, and not even mone

Mira held his hand, it was warm and solid, not looking like a man’s hand who had just fought through the night."Where are we going?" she asked."Somewhere only family sees," Adrian said. "You are family now, whether you like it or not."He led her down the stairs, past the east study, past a hallway she had not noticed before, hidden behind a bookshelf that swung open at his touch."You do not have to be afraid," Adrian said, glancing back at her."I am not afraid," Mira lied.He almost smiled at that, because he knew she was afraid.At the bottom of the stairs was a wide room lit by torch light instead of an electric bulb. Mira's breath caught as she saw people here, but a few people. She saw a man with sharp yellow eyes guarding a door, a woman near the far wall and in the center of the room, on a low bed, was a young woman, pale, bandaged, breathing shallowly."Elena," Adrian said, and his voice broke slightly on the name."Your sister?" Mira whispered.He nodded and moved to her

Adrian did not move for a moment. His hands were still clawed, even his shirt still torn, but his eyes had gone very still, like something inside him had shut a door."How long ago?" he asked Helena."Ten minutes, maybe less." Helena's voice shook. "The guard at the safe room is dead, they went in through the vents.""They planned this," Adrian said quietly. "The message, the loud sound, all of it was to pull me away from her.""What do we do?" Mira asked.Adrian looked at her like he had forgotten she was there. "We will do nothing. I will go and you will stay here, with Helena, the guards will be on every door.""You cannot go alone," the man with yellow eyes said, stepping forward. "Not against the whole Draven pack.""I am not going alone. I am going now, before they get far." Adrian's voice left no room for argument. "Marcus, gather six men. We move in five minutes."Marcus nodded and disappeared down the hall, already shouting orders.Mira grabbed Adrian's arm before he could tu

Helena was holding the phone away from her body as if it were a hot coal."He is waiting," she said. and he will not wait long.""Put it on speaker," Adrian instructed."Sir, are you sure?""Do it, Helena."Helena pressed the button. A voice came dripping false calm, with an absolute deep slow.A LONG TIME." Adrian Ashfeld"Say what you called to say, Corin."Straight to business, I heard you had friends over tonight.But you know you did, and your man wrote me a letter."A courtesy," Corin said. "I could've taken the girl too, instead of just warning you, but I didn't."That is a courtesy you call breaking into my house??? Adrian asked."I call it patience, what your father never had too much of. Corin's voice sharpened. One week, Adrian. That's more mercy than what your family ever showed mine.Mira's chest constricted at the term mercy. Adrian’s jaw was hard like a stone cracker.Corin: "You will get nothing from me. "NOT the girl, NOT the territory, and NOT one bloody inch of what

The shot hit the ground inches from Lena's feet."Get down!" Adrian grabbed Mira and pulled her behind the stone gatepost, his whole body curling over hers like a shield.Another shot cracked through the dark, and this one hit Marcus's shoulder. He staggered but did not fall."Marcus!" Mira shouted."I'm fine, Mira, just move." Marcus fired back into the trees, and two of his men scattered toward the treeline, with guns up.Lena was screaming somewhere behind them, still tied and exposed to danger. "Adrian, please, cut me loose." She cried."Stay down." Adrian yelled at her, but she wasn't listening; she was crawling toward the gate, dragging her bound hands through the mud."She's going to get herself killed," Mira said."She might already be the reason we're getting shot at," Adrian said through his teeth.Boooooom!!! There came another shot; this one hit the gatepost right above their heads, sending stone chips flying."They're not trying to kill you," Marcus called out, ducking low