The Blood That Binds Us (The Bound By Blood Series Book 1)

by Erin Mainord

violence has never hidden from daylight.

“Can we skip the foreplay and jump straight to the point, Blackheart?” His lips widen, and he runs his tongue across his top set of teeth in a movement that is pure animal. “I think that’s the first time a woman has ever asked me that.” I may be dressed like a lady, but the look I shoot him is anything but ladylike. “Hm, I suppose they didn’t want to be disappointed so soon.”

“Singard!” I use his full name, partly because I am way too heated to be speaking something as casual as a nickname, and partly because it seemed to piss him off the last time I used it.

“This way, should you tighten the lines of that pretty mouth again, I’ll know you’re about to strike me. Which I’ll remind you, you’ve done three times now. May I suggest we not go for the fourth? I’m not sure how much longer I can cage my temper.” He turns and continues walking towards the stables, and my black leather boots unglue themselves from the path a second later. “Choking me against a wall is caging your temper?”

“I have no desire to be around the atrocities committed here tonight all in the name of some god they attribute their debauchery to.” “Are you worried no one will want to lie with you tonight, Your Grace? It wouldn’t surprise me if you get off bedding the women you intend to wage war against,” I spit. “Do you think about me getting off often?”

“Such a filthy mouth you have. I’m beginning to think you enjoy my hands around your throat, little witch.”

he hit you, and it was like I couldn’t think clearly anymore. In that moment, when he put his hands on you, I didn’t want to change back. I wanted to feel him die in my jaws.”

“You almost did what?” I ask. “Take a lover,” he answers, not missing a beat. “Just to be rid of my thoughts of you, even if it would have been temporary.” “Then why didn’t you?” “Because I feared it would have only made me more ravenous for what I truly crave.”

I kneel before him. Resting my hands on the crossguard, I present myself and my sword to the Black Art. “I pledge to serve you in the battle to come, Your Grace. So long as Legion remains a threat to us, I am your arm to wield.”

Sin stares down at me for a long moment, a mix of respect and… something else on his face. “I accept your pledge and in return, I swear to protect you in the face of battle tomorrow. Now get off the floor—you don’t belong there.” He wraps a large hand around my bicep and pulls me against his chest. My breath catches as he leans forward to brush his lips against my ear. “But if you’re fond of kneeling, I can find a better purpose for it.”

if I call after him, it will break the seal holding in the carnal desires we’ve both been stifling. That would be very, very dangerous. But I’ve always had an affinity for playing with fire. “Do you enjoy the sight of me kneeling before you, Your Grace?”

“If you’re asking if I’ve spilt seed thinking about this pretty little mouth,” he runs his thumb over the swells of my lips, “the answer is yes.”

“Someone could hear us,” I say, looking at the guards chortling with each other as they make their rounds beneath us. “Good, then they’ll know you’re mine. Wren—what a pretty name. Let’s see if you sing like one too.”

“That’s it, take your pleasure.

“If you taste like this every time you come, you’re going to be a very addictive problem, little witch.”

“I am not here with you right now because of any spell. I’m here because I want to be. Something about you sets my soul on fire, Singard, and I’m ready to burn.”

“Now listen very carefully, Wren. I’m going to fuck you with your dagger so that the next time you think of pulling it on me, you’ll remember how I made you come all over it.”

And the worst part about loving him isn’t his need for control or violence. It’s knowing that no matter what he does, or who he hurts, my heart will still burn for him.