Blood Vow by Karin Tabke Read Free Book Online Page A

her the first time! My honor be damned this time. I won’t lose her again.”
    “So you condemn your brother to death?”
    Lucien stiffened. It was hard enough listening to his bother tell his chosen one he was dumping her for Lucien’s chosen one. Hard enough to keep his mouth shut out of respect while his brother handled his personal business. But when the topic turned to his condemnation, he caught his brother’s hard gaze.
    “That is a matter for the council to decide,” Rafe said.
    “I can’t wait to see how your bitch reacts when they cut off his head,” Anja sneered.
    Lucien snarled, whirling toward Anja. “Be careful who you call bitch.”
    “In light of the circumstances, the council will not sentence Lucien to death. And certainly not now with the impending rising.” Rafe nodded to Lucien. “If they do, then they’ll have more than one pissed off alpha to deal with.”
    “So now you are both above the Blood Law?” Anja sneered.
    “No, Anja,” Rafe patiently explained. “But these are extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary times. As a nation we must stand together to survive.”
    “In that case, Rafael, I will await the council’s decision on whether or not our exchanged mark stands or not.”
    “I don’t need the council’s blessing to terminate our union. It’s over because it never was. Accept it.”
    Smugly Anja held out the leather bag to them. “Whether you like it or not, I am still your chosen one, not your precious Falon.”
    “Keep it,” Lucien said, indicating the bag Anja held. “Falon is close. Her scent stronger.” Even though Fenrir tried to mask it. He looked to Rafe. “Are you ready?”
    “Yes.”
    They shifted, it being understood that Anja would continue to follow in a beta position.
    As they ate up the miles, worry gnawed at Lucien. Not for fear of his life at the hands of the council. It was for Falon he worried. He felt her turmoil, her desperation to be free of the demonic wolf. Her yearning for the safety of his arms
    Falon
, he called,
I’m coming for you!
    Hurry, Lucien!

Six
    FALON STOOD SPEECHLESS. Horrified, yes, but more than that, terrified. She was a
Corbet
. Not just any Corbet, but the daughter of Thomas Corbet, the worst Corbet of all.
    Her recent conversation with Lucien came back to haunt her.
    “What if I was a blood Corbet?”
she had asked.
    “Though it would kill me to do so, I would kill you,”
he answered.
    And of course, she’d understood. Killing a Corbet was what every Lycan lived for. But for Lucien and Rafael, it was more than killing a natural predator. For them it was a personal vendetta.
    And she
was
a blood Corbet.
    And her mother knew! Why had she kept such a terrible secret from her?
    But of course . . .
    Her knees wobbled. Falon sank to the cold ground.
    Layla had kept the secret buried deep because of the Blood Law.
    Lying with a Slayer was strictly forbidden, the penalty immediate death. Her mother would have been executed. And Falon? At the very least, she would have been shunned. But more likely, knowing Lucien’s and Rafael’s bloodlust for anything Corbet, she would have been killed. And they’d kill her now if they knew the truth.
    Dear God! It couldn’t be true! Not Thomas Corbet! Not the evilest of them all, the one who initiated the slaying of Lucien and Rafael’s parents. Her
father
?
    She dropped her head into her hands, violently shaking her head denying Fenrir’s claim.
    “No!” she choked.
    But it all made sense to her now. The night Viktor Salene had tried to take her, he’d told her who she was
.
She’d refused to listen, writing him off as some random crazy guy who liked to dress up like Conan the Barbarian. Instead, she’d ended up in Rafael’s bed. Accepted his mark.
    The signs of her parentage had always been there, but she’d refused to see them. Her innate power, her visions, remembering the ring on her father’s hand. Even her eye color and her build screamed Corbet.
    “He fell in