Bound By Bloodied Claws

Chapter Two

You liked to bite. In fact, you were very good with your teeth. But being bitten wasn’t so much your thing.

You stood in the middle of Howling Moon, congealing the demon blood getting way too close to your shoes, and knew that you’d have to offer your neck.

The wolves surrounded you. Jace held your hand in a deceptively light grip.

“This is Y/N Y/L/N.” Jace’s voice boomed out and every wolf there stilled.

When an alpha talked, you damn Well listened.

Your racing heartbeat filled your ears. He kept staring right at you as he said,

“She’s my mate.”

“Oh, fuck no!” The instant denial came from Mike. You’d expected that outburst.

What you hadn’t expected—Jace tore away from you and in an instant, his claws sank into that wolf’s shoulder.

“Oh, fuck yes,” he snarled right back. “And if you can’t accept her…” He yanked out his claws as Mike stumbled back.

Wolves are brutal. Another Council warning.

“If you can’t accept her,” Jace continued, “then get the fuck out of my pack.”

Pain broke rough lines on Mike’s face. “A vampire? You’re tying to a bloodsucker—” Now you wanted to claw him. The wolves kept acting like Jace was the one trading down. Dude. Vampire princess.

You toed the dead demon’s body. The blood had reached your shoes, and it wouldn’t be coming out of it later. “They’ll destroy you.”

Now it was your voice that captured everyone’s attention.

Mike puffed out his bloody chest. “We did a good job of destroying them.”

Yes, they had. And you were impressed, but you weren't planning to show it. “You took out two…” Your gaze swept the room. “With twenty to two odds, I should hope you’d win the match.”

Jace lifted a brow and watched you.

You braced your legs and tried to look all kick-ass. “What are your plans when there are two thousand of them…and still just twenty of you?”

“Did that bitch just say two thousand?”

“Two damn thousand?”

Shock coated the faces of the shifters. Even Mike looked nervous. Jace didn’t. He just kept watching you, and he kept his claws out.

“You’re being hunted,” you told them. “How many wolves have the demons taken out in the last few weeks?”

They didn’t answer, but you saw the swift glances that passed between the pack members.

“They’re also attacking us,” you said. “For once, the vampires and the werewolves share an enemy.” Now they were all focusing on you with narrowed eyes and tense faces. “If we don’t take these bastards out, believe me, they will destroy us. They’ve got the numbers on their side. They have the power…”

“So what?” Mike demanded. “An alliance?” He fired a fierce stare at Jace. “Is this just some truce ‘til we kick the ass of all—”“It’s a mating,” Jace said, voice flat. “It’s forever.”

Until death. “A doorway opened between hell and earth, and the demons are slipping right through that door,” You said. More of the hel spawn came through each day.

“So close the damn door!” Mike snapped.

Jace’s fingers stretched as if he were itching to plunge his claws back into the wolf.