Bound By Blood Novels & Stories

“Yeah, well, can you blame a man for trying?” “Not really, no.” He raked a hand through his hair, the beginnings of frustration tugging at his voice. “Look, you know I don't condone what happened to her, but she was literally bred to be a Moretti wife. That’s her place. You’re just going to have to accept that. I’m pretty sure she has. She's had time to breathe, to think. He has too. But they’re bound to be together.” Bound. Like shackles. Like a goddamn sentence.

"I vow to stand with you, to challenge you when you need it, to support you always. To be your partner in all things—in strength and in weakness, in joy and in sorrow. To choose you, every day, from this moment until my last breath." Tyler's eyes are suspiciously bright. Elder Castellano produces two silver daggers from within his robes. They're ceremonial—ornate handles, sharp blades that gleam in the sunlight. "The blood bond," he intones. "Symbol of the permanent joining. What is bound in blood cannot be broken save by death itself." Tyler takes one dagger. I take the other. The blade is cold against my palm. We each make a small cut. Tyler's heals almost instantly—supernatural recovery a

Chapter 1: Blood Debt The warehouse smelled like rust and death. Luca Rossi stood over the body, chest rising slow and steady, the only sound in the sudden silence. Marco Vitale’s eyes stared up at the cracked ceiling, vacant now, blood pooling dark and thick beneath his head. One clean shot—center mass—then two more to be sure. Message delivered. Luca wiped his hands on a rag one of his men handed him, though the blood had already dried under his nails. He didn’t flinch. He never did.

“There’s more you’re not saying.” I sat on the edge of the bed. “The Council gave me a blood oath when they made me heir. I never told you what it meant.” She frowned. “An oath to kill me if the bond failed.” “No,” I said. “An oath to bind you if it ever breaks.” Her breath caught. “Bind me how?” “With my blood.” I looked at my hand, the faint scar across my palm from the night I swore it. “If the bond fractures, the oath pulls you back to me. It was supposed to be protection, but now it feels like a chain.”

His knees hit the floor. The impact barely registered. “I—I think…” Nyxar sounded terrified. And that frightens Draven more than the pain. “What?” he demands through clenched teeth. “What. Do. You. Mean. You think?” “If you had doubts before…” The wolf’s voice cracks. Another surge of agony rips through them both. Draven screams. The sound echoes through the office. Then Nyxar whispers. “It’s the bond.” Everything inside Draven went cold. No. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Because mate bonds didn’t do this.

Bound to me by every luxury and every promise I’ve ever made. The thought of her walking into that new office tomorrow, stepping out into the world as a CEO, sent a jolt of possessiveness through me that bordered on pain. I would let her have it, I would give her the empire she wanted but I would also be the one standing at the gates. I would be the one vetting every person who dared to look at her, every hand that dared to reach for hers. She was a Moretti by blood, a Montclair by law, but she was mine by right.

I really didn't get shot. Yet the pain was still there, deep beneath my ribs, as if the bullet had passed through me instead of him. I forced myself upright. The parking lot was strangely quiet now. I crawled toward the edge of the building and cautiously looked around the corner. The men in dark suits were still there. They were carrying the boy. His body hung between them, completely limp. I watched as they loaded him into a black van. My stomach twisted. They weren't treating him like a person, they were handling him like a sack of mazes.

Ziyun'er's cut him off with a curse, "So his patients would have to be his slaves? Bondage for all eternity?!" Blood Oaths are one of the oldest spells in the magical world of mages and sorcerers. Performing a Blood Oath is similar to magical contracts that bind one's Life Source. Both are unbreakable oaths that if broken, would result in imminent death. But Blood Oaths are more complex and potent magical contracts of the two.

"What in the hell is a blood bind?" Grayson turned to me with a pinched look on his face. "Exactly what the name implies. You must have made a deal with this...this man here and sealed it in blood. Now your blood is bound to his until the agreement is fulfilled. Think back Jo, did you ever sign anything with your blood? He would have brought someone in who drew up the papers and then you had to drop your blood on it instead of a regular signature." Grayson moved closer to me and crouched in front of me before holding my hands. "Please tell me, Jo, what did he cajole you into?"

Once I recognized you as my lifemate, my first thought was to punish you for leaving me in torment, then bind you to me for eternity. There was no apology, only a waiting. She sensed danger, but she did not back down. "How did you bind me to you?" The exchange of our blood. Her heart slammed painfully. "What does that mean, exactly?" The blood bond is strong. I am in your mind, as you are in mine. It is impossible for us to lie to one another. I feel your emotions and know your thoughts as you do mine. She shook her head in denial. "That may be true for you, but not for me. I feel your pain at times, but I never know your thoughts."