Blood Vow (Blood Moon Rising) (33 page)

But when he saw her standing on that bluff so rigid and proud, his walls crumbled. This time, his will to survive triumphed over his anguish. He refused to accept that Falon was lost to him forever.

How could he? She was alive! His baby lived in her belly! He had learned from his years separated from Rafael that love can and does conquer all.
If
you are brave enough to put your heart on the line. Falon had taught him that lesson well. He could not,
would
not live without her if he had a choice.

He told her not long ago that there was nothing he would not do for her. And he’d meant it. She was his and he was hers, and as much as he despised Thomas Corbet with every fiber of his being, he loved Falon more.

Lucien shucked his clothes and stuffed them into his backpack then slid his sword across his shoulder. He shifted, his mission to bring his chosen one home, where she belonged. With her family.

* * *

FALON WOKE WITH a start. Petra growled beside her. Grabbing her sword, Falon stood, ready to face her attacker. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Was it Fenrir? Or a rogue pack?

When her eyes focused, she gasped. Standing twenty feet from her was Rafael’s golden wolf. He snarled viciously and took a step toward her. Her skin shivered when she realized the beast was loose and that he had come for one thing: to end this, permanently.

Falon dropped the sword and then extended her hand. “I will not raise a hand against you, Rafa,” she whispered.

He snarled, shaking his great golden head. Taking several steps closer, he snarled louder, his head low, his ears pinned back.

Petra growled beside her, and Falon was touched that the wolf would stand beside her in the presence of such a great and powerful alpha.

“Speak to me, Rafa, before you destroy me.”

He shook his great head.

“After all that we shared? You cannot find it in your heart to speak to me man to woman before you kill me?” Her voice hitched in her throat. “Do you despise me so much?” The tears she could not control. They flowed down her cheeks in streams.

Rafa’s beast snarled so loudly she jumped back a step. To her great relief, he shifted and stood before her, her glorious golden alpha.

“Rafa,” she breathed, reaching out to him. But he stood rigid, and unwavering.

“What do you have to say?” His voice was barely controlled fury. His fists shook at his sides.

“Why are you angry at me?”

He grit his jaw.

When he refused to answer, she continued, “I’m not to blame. And after having this time to think, I don’t feel ashamed. I am who I am, proof that the two bloods can create something good.”

His eyes glittered like molten gold.

“I am proof that hatred isn’t inbred. It’s learned.” She took a step toward him. “
You,
Rafa, taught me to hate Slayers. For
you
I killed them. For
you
I bought into the whole terrible tragedy. But—” She took another step toward him. “It could have gone the other way.” It took every ounce of self-control she had not to touch him. Oh, how she wanted to soothe the angry lines on his face, kiss his stern lips, take him in her arms and promise him all was right in their world if only he would set aside his hatred for her father.

“My father, the Master Slayer, loved my mother, a Lycan healer. I was born of that love. The child in England, my sister, was also born of that love.” She was glad to see the spark of surprise in his golden eyes. “Thomas abandoned me and my mother when I was younger because he could not control the demons inside of him that had been pounded into him from the day he was born. But there was a man inside who wanted to live like you, and I want to live. Freely, with no hatred, no bigotry, no dutiful assassinations. Not constantly looking over our shoulders. And for a while he did. For twenty-four years Thomas Corbet let the world think he was dead. But duty called him back to his roots, and he surfaced and he did what he was bred to do, kill Lycan.”

She pressed her open palm against his chest and felt the lurch of his heart against it. “I want to freely live with you and Luca like my father wanted to live with my mother. Free of hatred, bigotry, and bias. It’s possible if you will look past your hatred, Rafa. It can happen if you open your heart back up to me.”

She moved in closer so that only inches separated them. “I love you for who you are, not because of the blood that runs through your veins. Please afford me the same courtesy.”

“Every time I look at your eyes, I see your father. Every time I think of the child in your belly, I see him with blond hair and onyx eyes!” Rafael said tightly. “But worst of all, every time I look at your hands, I see the blood of my parents staining them.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “I can’t forget what he did! I cannot forgive him.
Ever!
”

“I’m not asking you to forgive him, Rafael! I’m asking that
you don’t blame me
!”

“I—”

“It’s not fair! The sins of the father are not for the child to bear!” She grabbed his shoulders, and shook him. “Don’t you see that? I am my own person. He had no hand in my life! Except providing one single sperm to my mother’s egg. Are you going to throw away a lifetime of happiness because of something neither one of us had control of? Are you so selfish?” She shook him hard like he had her. “Is your hatred and pride going to prevent you from happiness, Rafe? Because it is
you
who is making this choice not me, not the packs, not even the damn council!”

He stood unmoving, defiant. The spark of hope that had flared died. “Is your hatred for my father greater than your love for me?”

He swallowed and for the first time, she saw doubt in his eyes. “I don’t know,” he whispered hoarsely. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, Rafa, let it go. Just set it down and walk away from it. Please. If you don’t it will eat you alive, and that I cannot bear to watch.

“There is one wrong of my father’s I vow to you I will set right, Rafa,” she said softly, touching his hand. “The night of the rising, I will spill as much of my blood on the battleground as it takes and demand the gods raise the ghost walkers. In that perhaps when you think of me you will not think of what my father took from you.”

His hand trembled. Falon moved in closer to him and, because he would not, she wrapped his arm around her waist. Holding his arm there, she slid her free arm around him hugging him to her. “I would give my life so that your heavy heart was lightened even a little bit. I love you that much.”

His arm tightened slightly around her. His heart beat wildly against her cheek, pressed to his chest. “I don’t know if my heart can handle any more, Falon,” he whispered against her hair. “I have suffered enough for ten lifetimes.”

She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “I know you have. Lucien, too. Both of you amaze me because you are so brave. It’s one of the things I love about you most. And while I can’t promise you a rose garden, Rafa, I can promise you no matter what this crazy fucked up world throws at us, with each other we have a much better chance of catching it, then getting hit by it.”

Clasping his face in her hands, she rose up on her toes and kissed him. His arms tightened around her. “I give you my vow, I will never betray you, stop loving you or fighting for you. I will give it to you in blood. I will give it to you in tears. I will give you everything, but please promise me you will not abandon me like my father and mother did. I need you, Rafael Vulkasin, I need you much more than you need me.”

He pressed his forehead to hers and exhaled.

It was a start. She smiled, and nearly fell over from emotion overload.

“Thank you.” She didn’t kiss him or stroke him, or suggest they get intimate. Rafael still had to emotionally process what just happened but while he did—

“Where is Luca? I need to see him.”

“I’m right here, angel face.”

Thirty-two

FALON SMILED AND nearly fainted with relief at Lucien’s voice and his telling endearment. He had come back for her.

He caught her up in his arms, his eyes serious. “I told you there was nothing I would not do for you, and that included not holding you responsible for your father’s deeds.”

“Oh, Luca, thank you!” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love in her heart. She kissed his chin, his cheeks, his nose, his neck.

Happiness filled her so fully that tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t stop smiling through the tears and then, when Rafael touched her shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry,” she lost all control, and crumbled into a pile of emotional mush.

Lucien caught her up in his arms. “We’re going home, baby.”

When they came down to the bottom of the hill, Falon had collected herself enough to slide out of Lucien’s arms. She shifted and, with the wind in her face and her alphas flanking her, she ran happily around them, nipping playfully. Lucien licked her face, while Rafael, still struggling with his emotions, kept his distance. Falon pounced on him, licking his face, encouraging him to let completely go. When he finally did, he raised his head to the moon and howled triumphantly. Lucien joined in and then so did she. Their howls reverberated off the hills across the valley to the sea. They were together again. The power of three.

They took off running for home, each wanting the same thing, each impatient for it.

But when they arrived, Falon stopped at the threshold of their lodge and shifted. “What of the packs?”

She didn’t care what the council thought; she cared what her family thought.

“I can’t speak for them at the moment except to say they were upset,” Lucien said, devouring her with his eyes.

“Okay, fair enough.” She smiled, putting her hands out in the stop position when they made to follow her in and said, “I need a bath first.”

Their hungry eyes blazed but they did not follow her in. Only Petra joined her.

Not much later, clean and comfortable, Falon slid naked into the large bed, luxuriating in the soft furs.

I’m ready,
she called softly.

They nearly knocked over the lodge in their zeal to get to her. Naked and aroused they fell onto the bed on either side of her, and showed her just how much they’d missed her.

Her need to be loved by them was surpassed only by her body’s craving to have them both inside of her at once. To have their hands and lips and tongues touch every part of her. Lucien took her from behind as Rafa slid into her from the front. They filled her to overflowing and in a slow, erotic cadence they gave and took, gentle and passionate, rough and slow, until it was too much, and in a wild manic firestorm of energy crashed together, the velocity of their combined orgasms taking them to a place they would never recover from.

And just like that, still connected, they fell asleep. It was how they awoke, and switching places, Rafa and Luca took her there again. And again, until exhaustion finally shut them down.

Even when they awoke late in the afternoon, the thought of separating, of losing their connection, was difficult. Because now, there were no secrets. Now, they understood that even under the most duress, their love was unshakable, their commitment to each other undeniable, and their power unstoppable. They were united in heart, body, and soul and together there was nothing they could not face and defeat.

The energy that connected them continued to thrum between them when they reluctantly left the bed. It stayed with them as they dressed and exited the tent to face not only their united pack, known again as Vulkasin, but the entire nation that waited outside, wanting to know where the alphas stood with the half Slayer Lycan.

When they emerged, they were met with complete silence. Even the birds that regularly serenaded the area stopping singing. The constant breeze had stilled. The sound of the sea quieted.

Nervous, Falon raised her chin, and raised her hands clasped tightly with Rafael and Lucien’s. Petra stood in front of her, alert and vigilant, her constant companion.

“My loyalty is and has always been to Vulkasin and Mondragon!” she shouted. “Now, I belong to you, the entire nation.” She inhaled. “I will fight beside you during the rising. I will spill my blood on the battleground and with my power return your loved ones to you!”

Cheers pierced the quiet. “I promise you, if the gods refuse to give us victory, I will die with you.” Louder cheers reverberated around them. Emotion choked her throat. Those silly tears welled up in her eyes spilling over. “I carry the heir to Vulkasin.” She caught eyes with the females who stood silent and strong. “As you would for yours, I will fight to the death for my child. But I will not, even for his life, betray any of you.”

If the cheers had been loud before, now they were deafening. Falon nodded unable to speak she was so caught up in the emotion.

“The Slayers are close,” Rafael said. “Fenrir has united with them and schemes of ways to bypass the rising. From this moment forward, never be without your armor or your sword. Be ever vigilant, leave nothing to chance. They will pick us off one by one if they can and they will be hell-bent on getting to Falon, myself, and Lucien. There will be no more privacy. All that we see, all that we do from now until the rising will be seen by all.”

He nodded when there was no rebuttal, not that he expected any. “We move camp to the sea side of the battleground now.”

Several moments later, as they were breaking camp, Falon sought out Talia. She touched her on the shoulder. Startled, the petite beauty turned quickly, and relaxed when she saw Falon. Talia’s purple eyes smiled, and she hugged her friend. “I’m so glad those two asses came around.”

“Thank you, Tal, for looking after me.”

“You’re welcome. I knew it was just a matter of time before those lunkheads realized you’re not responsible for your father, and that they loved you despite your heritage.”

“I didn’t think they would be able to move past it. It’s why I kept the secret.”

“It worked out; that’s all that matters.”

“How is it that the packs don’t have an issue with my Slayer heritage, but Lucien and Rafe did?’