Blood Vow by Karin Tabke Read Free Book Online Page B

love with her,” Fenrir sneered as he moved closer. He settled his large body beside her. “When they came to resurrect the ring, I heard it in their voices.” He threw his head back and laughed. “I helped nature take its course. How could I not? I knew between them they would breathe life into my legacy.”
    Falon glared at Fenrir. “What legacy?”
    “My nation will be born when I find the one of two bloods, a female of equal power and pure of heart. I knew Layla would bear Thomas a daughter. I knew she would be beautiful, strong, and intelligent. I knew all I had to do was bide my time and she would be mine.” He smiled malevolently. “And so she is.”
    The two bloods? Not Vulkasin and Mondragon as she thought, but Slayer and Lycan! Oh, no,
please
, make it a lie!
    Falon’s heart crumbled into thousands of tiny pieces. How could she tell Rafa and Luca? How could she bear their contempt? They would be horrified, never want to touch her again. How could she ever look in the mirror again and like what she saw?
    Fenrir moved closer to her, his musky scent cloying. Heat rose in Falon’s cheek. Not embarrassment, but anger. It continued to rise until she was so furious, her limbs shook. She turned on Fenrir, shoving him away from her. Standing as he gathered himself from the tree he had slammed into, Falon walked purposely toward him, her hands out, her hatred bubbling furiously to the surface. Her beast snarled and snapped for release.
    “I will deny it!” she shrieked. “You cannot prove it. And you will not use it against me! I swear by all that is holy and unholy, you wretched excuse for a wolf, if you reveal this to
anyone
, I will rip your black heart out of your chest and feed it to the crows!”
    “You cannot kill me.”
    “I will call upon every soul you destroyed, Fenrir. I will lead an army of ghost walkers against you!”
    His red eyes narrowed. “How do you know of them?”
    “I have my own secrets, Fenrir.”
    “If you knew the secret to resurrect them you would have by now.”
    Was that fear in the mighty wolf’s voice? Falon laughed caustically. “I will call upon them when I need them most.” She moved closer to him. “Has that time come?”
    “Bring me Corbet’s heart, and your secret will die with him.”
    “He lives?” she gasped. Did her mother know?
    Fenrir smiled the gesture obscene. “He is very much alive.”
    Falon looked around as if Corbet were standing in the shadows. “Where is he?”
    “His magic is strong and he hides himself from me.”
    “Why?”
    Fenrir shrugged his large deformed shoulders. “You would have to ask him that.”
    “He is the last person on earth besides you, I would want to converse with.”
    His red eyes flared. “Tread lightly, lovely, my patience only stretches so far.”
    “Mine has already snapped.” Falon shifted as the beast took control of her for the first time in her life. Fenrir had met his match.
    * * *
    RUNNING SIDE BY side, Lucien called to Rafe,
Her scent is stronger!
    The cloying musky scent of the deformed wolf thickened the air around them.
So is Fenrir’s,
Rafael answered.
    As they crashed into the western edge of the Northern Cascades, Lucien caught the scent of blood. Falon’s blood.
    Shit!
Rafael cursed.
She’s down.
    Falon!
Rafe called to her.
    Hurry,
she called back.
    They looked at each other. Her voice was anxious but strong. She sounded angry and upset. Who the fuck wouldn’t?
    They stretched out, the swords rattling along their backs, their mouths agape, their long powerful bodies racing furiously for Falon.
    They ate up the miles. As they came to a thickly forested peak, they abruptly stopped. Panting heavily from a jutting gray rock formation, they looked down into a shallow valley, sheltering a small clearing surrounded by towering western hemlock, Douglas fir, and red cedar. A light dusting of snow covered the rugged edges of the ghostly gray rock formations. And there, pacing along the edge of the glen