Bound to Blackwood by Sharon Lipman Read Free Book Online Page B

“RUN!” he screamed as his assailant readied his blade.
    Lena didn't run though. Her feet were planted and she couldn't move. She looked down at her feet in confusion. They weren't the feet of a child.
    They were the feet of a warrior clad in black military style boots, which reached midway up her calf. She saw the rest of her outfit and couldn't make sense of it. She was wearing her uniform; black boots, black combats, black utility vest over a black, scoop-necked t-shirt.
    Baffled, she looked back at her father. Only, the man about to lose his life no longer wore the face of Greene, Squire to House Meadows.
    Lena stood open mouthed as she gazed upon a face she knew as well as her own. It was her Keeper. It was Kaden. She screamed.  
    “Lena! Lena! Wake up!”
    She felt strong hands on her shoulders, shaking her. Still, she screamed. The hands moved to cradle her face, trying to sooth her. The voice she heard softened. “Come on, Guardian mine. That's it, open your eyes. You are safe, I promise.”
    Safe? It had just been a dream. Oh God! Thank you! She placed her smaller hand on the one still cradling her face and sighed. She cracked open an eye just to check and her breath raced out of her. Her eyes flew open to meet amber on gold eyes. Oh. My. God. Thorn!  
    “W-what? What's going on?” Goddess, she sounded pathetic as she scrambled up the bed.
    Bed? Where the hell was she and more importantly, why was Thorn Blackwood waking her from a nightmare?  
    “When I went to do check on Kaden, I found you asleep in the chair. I couldn't very well let you stay there so I brought you up here. I didn't know you'd scream the place down though.”
    Lena chose to ignore that. She looked around and saw she was safely ensconced in the guest-room that doubled as her quarters when she was required to stay at HQ. The super-king sized bed rose to around four foot from the ground. The quilts, pillows and cushions, all in functional beige, were no longer neatly arranged on the bed, but instead looked like they'd spent the night with a Tasmanian devil.
    Lena gulped. “Erm, thanks?”
    “You're welcome. Now, I'm going to hit the shower, and then you and I are going to talk. Got it?”
    She couldn't speak. She couldn't form the words even if she knew what to say. She just nodded, clutching the duvet to her like a scared little girl. Thorn was going to have a shower. He wasn't going to use her bathroom, was he? Confusion clouding her mind, she glanced back at him and he shook his head. Panic rose in her chest. She hadn't said that out loud, had she?
    “You are an enigma, Lena.” With that, he swept out into the corridor, taking his long legs and oh-so-perfect arse with him. Lena exhaled slowly. He really did have a perfect arse.
    To her, Thorn Blackwood was the enigma. He was like her own private riddle. He was aloof, domineering, demanding, authoritative, and irritating as hell. All the things Lena hated in a man, not that she'd had much luck with men.
    She'd had the odd on-off relationship, — on for sex, off for everything else — but they never really worked out. She was married to her job and there weren't many men outside of the Order who could handle what that meant. The ones that said they understood were either lying or… well, there wasn't really an “or.”
    Yet, despite his worst qualities, Thorn could also be kind and gentle. Lena was almost wistful when she thought about how his face lit up whenever his sister was in the room. He adored Soraya and was vehemently protective of her.
    Lena wondered what that felt like. She was part of a brotherhood, but it wasn't really the same as having your own kin. Nobody had ever looked at her the way Thorn Blackwood looked at his sister. It left her confused and she didn't like it.
    Inevitably, thoughts of Thorn led to visions of that backside of his. It was enough to make her blush, if Vampires could that was. Not for the first time in her life, she thanked her lucky stars for