Bound By The Night

April 30, 2012 – Bound Book 4

Description

For the last fifteen years, vampire queen Iona has been dead to the world.  Trapped under the power of a brutal curse, she has been helpless.  A prisoner, locked within her own still body. Then alpha werewolf Jamie O’Connell fights his way to her side.  After defeating the guards that surround her, Jamie gives Iona his blood…and she rises.

The world has changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, and Iona has changed, too. Once known as the Blood Queen because of her dark reputation, she now finds herself longing for the blood of only one man…only he isn’t just a man. She wants the blood of her werewolf—Jamie’s blood.  But Iona doesn’t realize that Jamie has been keeping secrets from her. Very dark, dangerous secrets.  And Iona may have traded one curse for another.

Now that he has Iona, Jamie vows to never let her go. He needs his Blood Queen in order to defeat his enemy, he needs her to make his own beast stronger, and…he just needs her.  Jamie has risked his life to claim Iona, and he won’t let anything break their bond. Not time. Not spells. Not even a wild and reckless vampire queen…

Excerpt

(Unedited Excerpt from BOUND BY THE NIGHT–Author Cynthia Eden–Publication date 04/30/12)

 ***

He was alone with the prey that he’d sought for the last six months.  The instrument of his revenge. 

He lifted his right hand, and his claws slashed across his left wrist. Blood welled, dripped.  Clenching his teeth, Jamie put his hand over the woman’s mouth, and he waited.

The seconds ticked by as his heartbeat thundered in his ears.

And nothing happened.

Jamie lifted his hand.  Blood had smeared over her mouth.  He leaned toward her, and his finger slid under the small crease in her lips. His index finger pushed lightly inside her mouth as he searched for the fangs that should have been there.

Only they weren’t. The woman had perfectly normal, human teeth. No fangs.

He pulled back.  The wound he’d made on his wrist throbbed with a dull ache, but he ignored it. Pain didn’t matter. Never had, to him. Frowning, he put his hand on her chest. Didn’t feel a heartbeat. Despite what humans believed, the hearts of vampires actually did beat.

But her heart was ominously still.

His back teeth ground together. “Maybe you are dead,” he gritted out.

The Blood Queen had been under a spell for the last fifteen years.  A spell, a curse, same damn thing to him.

The blood of a werewolf had put her under—that blood had frozen her body and locked the magic in place.

And the blood of a werewolf was supposed to wake her. Only she wasn’t waking up.

Hell.  So much for his big, secret weapon.  Jamie would just have to find another way to destroy Latham and—

She had golden eyes.  Dark, deep golden eyes.

“I’m not…dead,” she said, her voice a husky purr that actually seemed to roll through him, “but you…are.” Her hand flew up.  The woman was strong—far stronger than he’d expected—and she grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him toward her.

Then her mouth, her very sharp teeth, bit into his throat.

Instead of being afraid, Jamie smiled and let the Blood Queen taste him.

Drink up, baby. It’s your funeral. Because with every drop of blood that she took in these first moments, she was just locking herself to him ever more deeply. Bonding them, body to body, blood to blood, until there would be no escape. Not for either of them.

His claws dug into the sheets as he held his body perfectly still.

Revenge would sure be one bloody bitch.

***