Blood Bound- Book 1 of the Bonded Series- Complete

Chapter 3

“Blood Bound”

2011 © All Rights Reserved

Chapter 3

Leo stood off in shadows of his chambers and studiously watched Shelby sleeping dreamlessly in his bed.  She looked so peaceful in her sleep he mused, like an ethereal angel sent to him from the heavens above.  The scene was rather ironic really, considering who and what he was.  A damned soul with no real hope of a surreal after life.  All he had was the here and now and right now, a beautiful woman lay in his bed, one that he was more than ready to set his claim on.

That thought brought a smile to his lips.  In all of his one hundred and four years of existence he had never thought about claiming a bride until he had fallen upon the broken body of young Shelby Tanner.  That day, something special happened.  Maybe it was the way the moons were aligned perfectly or the world shifted precariously on its axis.  Whatever it was, Leo’s world had been perpetually rocked by that one small helpless child.  

Her blood called out to him like no other.   It sang a Pied Pipers tune that attracted him to no end.  She had become his obsession over the years as he patiently waited for the time to come.  Her twenty first birthday; so that he could bring her to his home and finish what he had started all those years ago.  Bind her to him in every way so that he would never have to live another day without her by his side.  Finally the day had come, she was here.  After eleven torturous years of anticipation and waiting she was home.  

Possessiveness, carnal, and primal instincts all welled up within him as he set his sights on his young bride.  He wanted this woman with a voracious hunger like nothing that he had ever experienced.   He didn’t understand it.  Wasn’t sure that he even wanted to understand it.  This one woman made him feel things that he had never felt before and he liked it.

Leo had a multitude of women in his past, but none were like Shelby.  None of them would even hold a candle to his beautiful bride to be.  They were all a means to an end.  Prey.  He weaved them into his web with his dark magic, used them and spit them out for the weaklings that they were.  

But not his Shelby.  No, she was so very different. She soothed him, calmed the savage beast within.  He had only two meager conversations with her and yet he was certain that she was the one.  The one that he was willing to irrevocably tie himself to as soon as the conversion was complete.  Soon, he reminded himself.  Soon she would wake and all would be right.

Shelby struggled to bring herself back to consciousness.  Even with her eyes closed she knew that she was somewhere unfamiliar.  Not daring to lift her lids she stretched out and  honed her senses to try and take stock of her surroundings.  She was on a bed, a very soft and very big bed.  The sheets felt cool to her touch, silk- expensive sheets.  She heard the soft ticking of a clock somewhere nearby.  It’s monotonous sound rhythmic in nature.  The echo each tick made told her the room she was in was fairly large in size.     

Then it was there.  A recognizable presence.  One she had felt before, one that she somehow knew and it was strangely intimate.

“Your awake my sweet” Leo spoke from his corner of the room.  She had yet to move or open her eyes but he heard the change in her breathing and the rapid increase of her heart beat.  He was well aware that she had awakened.

Shelby froze at the sound of his voice.  His deep sensual voice that seemed to instantly heat her with a warmth that she found oddly disconcerting.  

“Shelby” Leo repeated in a tone that caressed over her skin, “You need not fear me.”

Slowly she opened her eyes to a room that was dimly lit by way of candlelight. The light was low but it worked well enough for her to see that she was no longer in modest apartment.  She had to blink several times in order to focus her eyes more clearly.