Blood Bound- Book 1 of the Bonded Series- Complete

Chapter 18

“Blood Bound”

2011 © All Rights Reserved

Chapter 18

     After his failed conversation with Ric, Leo was not in the most formidable of moods.  He had wanted answers and he had yet to get any.  All he could think about was his Brides safety.  There were so many unanswered questions surrounding the shifters attack, the pendant that Shelby wore and the mere fact that he was just now finding out that it made the monster in him scream in frustration.

     He berated himself over and over for missing something as important as a consecration pendant.  He should have sensed it, he thought to himself as he made his way back up the stairs, heading towards his bedroom chambers.  

     He had marked her as his, taking in her very essence from the base of her neck.  The damn pendant was right there and he missed it; all because he was so enthralled with his blonde haired beauty.

     "I was so stupid," he mumbled to himself as he continued to walk down the hollow corridor towards his room.  "I should have known."  But he had been so wrapped up in attending to Shelby's re-birth that the little things he would have normally paid attention to, went to the way side.

     Lifting his hand to the knob on the door, Leo stilled when feminine words drifted on the wind to his ears.   Zoning in, it didn’t take him but a second to realize that Shelby was chanting an escape spell and since she had that damn necklace there would be nothing that he could do about it.

     Anxious, he shoved open the door with brute force, sending it flying across the room, splintering against the wall.  “Wait!” he screamed, holding out his hand to the diminishing figure of his bride. 

     At first he could only stand there, staring at the empty space where Shelby stood only seconds ago.  As the initial shock of what had just happened sank in, the anger and the fear began to grow like twining vines from his toes upward, wrapping around him; gripping him in a nightmare that he wasn’t quite sure how to escape.

     “Damn!” He shouted to the empty walls in the room.  The candles that lined the expansive space flickered with intensity.   He had no idea where his Bride had taken off to and that only added to his list of growing problems.

     Breathing heavily, he could feel his eyes sharpen into tiny slits as the beast in him began to take over.  All that he could process was the need to have his bride, his life partner by his side and she wasn’t here. 

     His eyes swept over the room as he tried to use his bonded connection to hone in on Shelby.  Sweat beaded at his brow as he forced his senses to stretch further and further in his attempts.  When the strain became to much, his knees buckled under the pressure. 

     Leaning over, his hands braced against his legs, he panted for breath.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  Shelby was supposed to be with him for all of eternity; not traipsing off, doing God only knew what.  Too many things could happen to a young fledging like her; even with the consecration necklace wrapped around her neck.  Bad things that he didn’t even want to imagine.  Things that could ultimately take her away from him.