The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (7 page)

Jason came up behind Julia and wrapped his arms
around her, the graduation gowns wrapping and mingling together
around their legs. “It's not like she's gonna die. You can come
back and visit her, Jules.”

Julia nodded silently. She understood that. She
did.

But there would be no one, no family to see her
get married, no one to appreciate her husband. Just Lily. And Lily
was bitter. She had gotten saddled with her brother's kid and that
had been a stain on her heart, spreading across that muscle that
throbbed in her body with increasing speed. Until all of it was
covered in resentment.

Jason kissed her temple, his lips hovering above
her skin like butterfly’s wings, fragile but present. She leaned
back against him. He turned her and slowly lifted the gown off, the
rasping of the satin catching on the fine strands of hair that had
escaped the clasp she'd secured it in. He tossed it aside and tore
his gown off, tossing it onto the floor at his feet.

Gathering her in his arms he kissed her,
pressing his lips to hers with heat.

Jason's lips moved over hers with pressure and
longing, combining in a succulent pull. Julia's mouth opened and
her arms slid around his broad shoulders, the muscles bunching as
he pressed her closer. She gave a little moan and he moved them
backward, where they fell softly on her bed. He broke the kiss when
they landed, his elbows braced on either side of her body.

“I can't wait to make you mine, Julia,” he said,
dipping to kiss her temple again. His lips slid from that point,
making a blazing trail down her jaw, then a sideways path to her
mouth.

He lingered there, scooping her long hair from
where it was pinned underneath her, fanning it out behind her.
Jason slid her further on the bed, falling to the side of her. He
cupped her face and pecked her lips again. Searching her face, he
saw the lingering anxiety there. “Lily'll come around, you'll
see.”

“She may not. But, even though she took me in
and saved me from the system, it wasn't her choice.”

Speak of the devil.

Julia heard Lily buzz into the house and start
clanking around in the kitchen. Supper preparation. Julia wasn't
that interested. Eating hadn't been a big priority since Terrell.
She'd never been an emotional eater. When stuff got intense, food
lost its appeal.

“Come on,” Jason kissed her again, then kissed
her once more on that tender spot between her earlobe and her
collarbone. She smiled, a little breathless. She knew some guys
would have been trying to attack the obvious, but not Jason. He
really loved her. He wanted her but he wanted her for the right
reasons.

Jason was the man for her.

But in the end she didn't get him after all.

*

later

Right away Julia knew she should have worn a
puffy over the top of her hoodie. She sighed, stepping out of
Jason's big truck, the lift kit making the whole thing a hike to
get in and out of.

She gave a scoot and a hop and got out before
Jason could meet her on the other side.

He came around and closed the door for her. “You
should have waited for me, I'd get you down,” his lips turned
up.

“I bet you would, pervert!” Julia teased as Cyn
and Kevin walked up.

Kevin smirked, “I hear pervert. Must be Caldwell
here.”

“Thanks for the support, Kev,” Jason said
sarcastically.

He grinned, shrugging. “Welcome.”

Cyn smiled at Julia, taking in the XtraTufs and
hoodie uniform. Cynthia had on her Ugg boots. Stylish to most, ugly
to her.

“Well, I see you are consistent,” Cyn said in
her droll way.

“Don't start, I didn't want to suffer through
any more Unwanted Clothing.”

Cyn rolled her eyes. “I did see you barely
making it through the ceremony. Couldn't you have faked it?”

“Hell no! I didn't like any of the teachers and
after the Terrell thing...” she trailed off then immediately felt
terrible. They'd all been there too and here she was bringing it
up.

“Sorry guys,” Julia mumbled, bowing her head a
little and letting her long hair form a curtain to hide her
expression.

That had been beyond stupid, she could kick her
own ass. Miss Sensitive.

Jason put a finger underneath her chin, tilting
it so their eyes met. “Don't be sorry, Jules. All of us were there.
It was me that killed him,” he said in a low voice. “Ask me if I
feel bad?”

She swallowed, her mouth dry. “Do you feel
bad?”

He shook his head, solemn. “No.”

“Hell, Jules,” Kevin spread his arms away from
his body, wearing a T-shirt that read,
Zombie Bait
, “you
were in that psycho's cross hairs. Caldwell had to do it.”

Cynthia looked at Julia and understood. They'd
been friends for years, she didn't want to feel responsible for any
accidents, especially after her parents.

Especially that. She reached out and put a chunk
of hair behind Jules' ear. “Don't sweat that creeper, Jules. This
wasn't your fault. Your fault that he died. Just because someone
dies when you're around, doesn't mean you have to take the death on
as your fault. That's crap and you know it.” Cyn dipped down a
little until she was eye level with Jules. “Are ya hearin' me?”

“Yeah,” Julia whispered. She was so lucky to
have these guys, unshed tears burnt the back of her eyelids. Tears
were for sissies. She sucked it up, hugging Cyn with one arm and
flung the other around Jason, her hand in the middle of his back.
It was where she could reach him. He cuddled her as they did an
awkward shamble to the bonfire that Kevin had built, the heat
washing over her like a wave of comfort and serenity.

Too brief.

Her peace was too brief.

Seattle

Pierce and William had deemed her ready. Ready
for travel, ready for the final leg of their journey.

They were headed to William's home coven in
Seattle.

Julia was ready too. She only had the smallest
amount of guilt. After all, if Julia was truthful with herself then
she'd have to wallow in it. The memory. Explore it. Reconcile that
it was not William and Pierce who'd killed Jason. That they'd been
too late to stop it from happening.

She would not let sentiment cloud her plan.

The memory began to play out like the nightmare
it was. Julia felt the heat begin at her toes and roar up her body
like she was a lone tree in a forest on fire. Her heart was beating
rapidly, her palms sweating, and her breath coming in great whoops.
She had to calm down.

Now. Before she had a full blown panic attack.
That always got the full attention of the vampires.

She didn't want that.

Ever again.

Julia slowed her breathing, shoving the horrible
memory down in the well of her subconscious. It would come again,
it always did, in the silent and unguarded moments of her
wakefulness. It would surge forward like the tide to shore. She
waited until her hands had only a fine tremble then picked up her
bag.

Turning, she looked one more time at her
temporary home. She sighed, closing the door behind her. Julia
suddenly realized what day it was.

Over a year since her precious Jason had been
ripped from her life. Torn from her soul, leaving it within her
body, shredded.

She moved down the hall, seeing the two runners
who waited so still against the exit.

Waiting for her. Their prize.

But not for long
, Julia thought, covering
her smile with an effort.

She moved forward and they fell into step beside
her, leaving the house behind them forever.

*

Imagine the logistics of traveling with
vampires. If it hadn't been her reality, Julia would have thought
it was funny as hell.

But it wasn't funny.

They had driven up the highway to the Anchorage
Airport, gotten on the plane (the red-eye flight taking on new
meaning) and flown the lonely journey to Seattle.

She had a small window of time in which to
escape them. They were already in the city where the coven was
located. How to shake them before they arrived? Especially when
William's blood was still in her body. Diluted but there, like a
pulse. It would be a navigation tool.

Julia caressed her bag, the hair dye and change
of clothes she had planned hidden inside. She smiled. It might
work, but only if Pierce was the one that was nearby. If it was
William, all hope was lost. She had another lapse of guilt,
thinking back to her conversation with William on the plane.

*

William looked at her and Julia became
interested in her hands. “You seem tense,” he said as a statement.
Pierce looked up at them sharply, then away.

At least they hadn't insisted on sandwiching
her in between the two of them, that would have been awful. Julia
purposely loosened her tense hands and laid them flat on her
thighs. That was all she needed, William detecting something.

She met his eyes, the palest gray, striking
against all that black hair. He gave a little smile and she
realized she'd been staring. Her palms dampened and she resisted
the urge to rub them on her pants. “I am,” she answered honestly,
knowing it would ring of the truth. “I mean, I've been with you for
a year and now, I have to be with a bunch...” she looked around the
tight confines of the airplane, “of you,” she finished in a
whisper.

William's eyes narrowed and Julia didn't
squirm, she wasn't one to just keel over because someone had an
emotional moment. She could hack it. “We have gone over this many
times, Julia. They will welcome you. You shall be safe, protected.
No more running, no more mystery.”

She nodded. Julia knew what he'd said. She
even felt that he believed it. But she'd been there that day on the
beach, she'd seen what it was. How they were with each other,
her.

The Were.

She shuddered, thinking of something
else.

Anything else.

He reached out and placed his hand over hers
and Julia let him. She'd learned early on that her resistance
brought a barrage of questions and concern. It was better to
pretend.

It'd make escape easier.

Turning her hand over, he rubbed a thumb
over the pulse in her wrist, beating frantically like a trapped
bird. His pupils dilated and he licked his bottom lip as her breath
came shorter, his eyes darkening, the gray beginning to disappear
like imagined smoke.

“
William,” Pierce said in a low voice.
William looked across the aisle at him, his brow furrowed. Pierce
looked pointedly at the contact between them and William removed
his hand from hers, the lack of his touch leaving her disturbingly
empty. What was wrong with her? It must be because of her
nervousness with the execution of the plan. She had a stabbing pain
for Jason in that moment. He'd have known what to do. But no more.
Now it was up to her.

Julia had to be her own savior.

William waited until he seemed to get
control of himself then said, “You will see. My home coven will be
a place of respite.”

Fat chance
, Julia
thought.

Before she'd been too weak to think of
escaping. Now, all that time that she had been bereft over the loss
of Jason and the others, was now at the forefront of her mind.
Pressing her forward. Into the unknown.

She was in charge of her own destiny. Not
the vampires. Not the werewolves.

She. Julia.

Only her.

*

escape

They exited before the other passengers,
only
first class for vamps
, she thought sourly. Julia had never
flown first class. Actually, she'd only been on a plane for a
single trip. To fly from her home state, where her parents had been
executed on the highway. She gulped at the memory. She gave herself
a mental push forward as the chaos of the airport swirled around
them, the vampires tracking the people around them.

The cattle.

She turned to William, willing her pulse to
slow. “I need to change and use the restroom,” she lied smoothly,
her pulse sluggish. Why it was cooperating now, when in the plane
it had been fluttering uncontrollably while he'd been touching her?
Julia didn't know, didn't care. She was
that
close to
freedom. She wasn't blowing it for anything.

Pierce waited and William ran his hand through
his inky hair, making it spike. Turning that smoldering intensity
to Julia he said, “Alright, but Pierce will need to stand guard
outside of the bathroom until I can get our comrades here to escort
you to the car.”

Comrades. Translation: vampires.

Julia lifted an eyebrow. Smart of him. He was
going to leave her with good old Pierce while he got a few more of
the vampire crew up here so the precious Blood Singer couldn't get
away.

Real circumspect guys. They thought they were so
smart. Well, the element of surprise was the only thing she had and
she was using it.

“Where am I gonna go?” Julia pointed out.

His eyes narrowed on her and Julia held her
breath. He seemed to really deliberate until Pierce broke the
swollen moment. “Just go. I will stand guard and you will return
with the additional runners.” He rolled his broad shoulders into a
dismissive shrug.

William palmed his chin. “Fine.” He turned to
Pierce. “Be sharp, be vigilant, even now they may be about.”

Julia looked around, expecting gnomes, trolls or
both to pop up around her.

“The werewolves,” Pierce clarified in a low
voice.

True, there was them.

Pierce took her elbow and she walked to the
restroom with him. When she glanced over her shoulder, William's
form was a speck down the choked corridor.

*

Julia threw the bag on the bathroom floor stall,
kicked off her flip flops, and dragged out the skirt, boots and
shirt she'd cropped the night before. It would bare some skin but
she'd take the jacket she had in her arm. She grabbed the box of
black hair dye she'd taken from underneath the sink vanity. She
rushed to the sink and began to chop off her long, ginger-colored
hair to her shoulders.