Pack Bound: Pack Bound Series Book 1, page 33
After a moment, he shook his head. ‘No. He’s still in the half form.’
‘Is he going to be all right?’
‘Bron is tending to him as we speak.’ He touched her face. ‘Were are strong. He’s going to be okay. We’ll make sure of it.’
Skye breathed out a sigh of relief. She knew what Jason said was true. She could feel River through the twin bond, the pulse of his presence strong like it had been when they were young. ‘You have given me back my brother.’
Jason kissed her tenderly. ‘You got him back yourself.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’ A warm strength filled her as she thought of all she’d become tonight.
‘Let’s get out of here, my love.’
He swung her into his arms and jumped down from the altar.
When he didn’t put her down she said, ‘I can walk.’
‘It’s faster this way.’ Then he began to run out of the cave complex Morrigan and Alfrere had used as their base.
After a few minutes, she spied light that grew larger until they were outside, running into the cold clarity of a cloudy day.
‘Where are we?’ Nothing looked familiar—not the kinds of trees around them or the brown mist-covered hills rising in the distance or the call of the bird that cried out as it startled and flew into the sky above them.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said, slowly to a fast walk. ‘But there’s an ancient Dance—'
‘A Dance?’
‘A stone formation, used by druids and ancient witches and warlocks. It was just beyond where the portal spilled us out, so it’s not Australia.’
Skye shivered suddenly aware they were both naked. ‘I hope nobody is around. We need clothes.’
‘I think you’re perfect the way you are.’
She blushed but reached up to kiss him. ‘So are you. But I’d prefer nobody else see your perfection.’
He chuckled. ‘I don’t think anyone’s around and we can get clothes once we get through the portal.’
She noticed it then, a shimmering pool that hung between two rowan trees in the near distance. Jason seemed to notice as well, picking up his pace once more.
‘Who’s keeping the portal open?’
‘Your grandpa melded with Shelley and helped her to open it. She’s stronger than she thought—I didn’t expect it still to be open.’
‘She’s full of my power now, too.’
He looked down at Skye. ‘You are more than I ever dreamed of. More than I ever wished.’
He came to a stop before the portal, hugging her tight. ‘I love you with everything in me until the end of eternity. You are my heart, my soul, my life. You are mine.’
Despite her need to stand by herself, Skye liked the sound of that. That kind of belonging, it brought strength. She reached up, caressing his face, getting lost once again in the brilliant lightning-shot blue of his eyes. ‘And you are mine, my love.’
Jason swallowed. ‘I’ve been tied to you since I first laid eyes on you. Nothing you could have said or done would have changed that. Even if you had denied the mating, there would never have been anyone else for me. It was you. Always.’
‘As it has always been you, for me.’
Their lips met, tongues tangling, hands running over sensitised skin, making promises, holding to vows, creating a sacred, private rite as the moonlight bathed them in a silver glow. Becoming one. Together. Forever.
Behind them, the portal glowed brightly as it turned from the sickly bilious green to a glowing golden rainbow shot with emerald green and lightning-struck blue, powered now by a love that reached out to touch a whole pack with its joy.
I hope you enjoyed Skye and Jason’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it and that you can’t wait to sink into the next instalment with Bron and River’s story in Moon Bound. Read on for the first 2 chapters.
Before you read on though, I just wanted to let you know that I also have a FREE ebook copy of Witch Bound, a novella set 40 years before Pack Bound, to give to you.
One Fate, one mate, a bond too strong to deny …
Paul Collins, duty-bound Pack Warlock and seer, must marry a strong witch for the good of Pack McVale. But his hidden feelings for his best-friend’s sister, maternal wolf Ivy McVale, make this a more difficult pill to swallow every day. Especially when they begin to mate.
Then Paul has a vision: If they mate, Ivy will die. Desperate, Paul uses his powers to change destiny and make Ivy think she’s always hated him. He can deal with any punishment the Fates make him pay for tampering with destiny, as long as Ivy lives.
After recovering from a bewildering month-long illness, Ivy notices her nemesis, Paul, is tormented by something. And strangely, she is the only one who can feel it. Unable to endure such unhappiness—even if he does call her Poison Ivy—she is determined to help him, no matter the cost. Because Pack McVale cannot survive without him, and curiously, neither can she ...
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If you’re interested in finding out about my other books (I write both paranormal and romantic suspense books) and where you can follow me on social media, then please keep reading. For now, turn the page for the first two chapters of Moon Bound:
MOON BOUND
PACK BOUND SERIES BOOK 2
LEISL LEIGHTON
PROLOGUE
Edinburgh 1502
Morrigan stood on the rise looking down on the village that had once, many years ago, been a sanctuary to her before the Witch Finder had come and turned its people against her and her kind. She’d run, but her sister—heaven damn her—had obviously followed a long cold trail here, seeking to find her.
The panic that had been a clawing cold in her chest when she’d felt Morghanna’s fear days ago, now turned into something hot and bubbling as she saw what they’d done to her sister. The animals that were supposed to protect her were nowhere in evidence.
Her face twisted as the Witch Finder lowered the torch to the kindling surrounding the pyre that was Morghanna’s judgement. The crowd of villagers cheered.
Traitors! Murderers! She would not allow them to do this. They would not murder her beautiful, gentle sister, the woman who’d brought comfort and help to so many.
She lifted her hands and began to incant, drawing power.
‘No Morrigan.’ Morghanna’s voice, carried by the Goddess on the wind, sounded in her ear. ‘The Witch Finder will see you. Do not bring destruction upon yourself. Carry our line through the ages or all I have suffered will have been for nought.’
The power fell away. Morrigan’s hands dropped to her side. Devastation and grief pulled at her. How could she stand by and let this happen to the most beloved person in her life? She might have run away from her sister and a life tied to the Were, might not have seen Morghanna for ten years, but she could never truly turn her back on the only person who had ever had faith in her and had never stopped fighting for her.
Morghanna had been more than her sister. She had been mother after their mother and father had died in a backlash of power, their lives ended in a cruel blaze.
And now, it seemed, her sister’s life was to end in another kind of cruel and unjust blaze. It could have been prevented if only Morghanna had listened.
Morrigan seethed, shouting into the night, ‘I told you this would happen. I warned you no good could come from aligning with those animals.’
‘I know what you said. But I was right too. For many of our kind, the Pact has been a blessing.’
‘How can you defend them?’
‘Morrigan, listen. Not all of them are bad. Just this pack, and not even all of them.’
‘Is that so? Then where are they now? These so-called good Were? They are supposed to protect you, so where are they?’
‘I forced them away, to build a pack of their own where all of our coven can be safe.’
‘And they let you?’
‘They had no choice.’
‘If you love some of them still, then why did you invoke that curse?’
‘I had to. I had to ensure they protect Alistair’s and my—’ Her voice cut off as the flames licked closer.
‘So who is to pay?’
‘Oh, believe me, those responsible will pay. And any others who seek to treat their covens as Iain McCrae and his ilk treated ours. My curse will make certain this happens to no other witch or warlock again.’
Morrigan shook her head. No curse could ever be enough to assuage her grief when her sister was gone. Especially the one her sister had invoked only minutes ago as they bound her to the stake. It would only kill off the pack who had not protected her sister and were therefore responsible for her capture.
It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
‘Please, Morrigan. Listen to me. You are inviting the Darkness to you. Can you not feel it all around you? It is what we have fought off with the Pact. Please, do not allow it entry into your heart. I beg of you not to—’
The words ended on a cry of pain. Morrigan stumbled. Linked as she was to her sister, she could feel the terrifying heat, the smoke burning in her sister’s throat, making each breath an agony. Grief and rage tore through her.
In that moment, the Darkness crept forward, edging into her line of sight. She had long fought its influence, but she didn’t want to fight it any longer. Not if it would help in her revenge. She reached out, inviting it in.
‘No Morrigan. Don’t! Not for me. Never for me.’
‘Only for you,’ she cried as the Darkness touched her outstretched fingers. It curled around her, its touch icy, soothing the burn, whispering along her skin, wrapping around her; a lover’s touch long denied. ‘They will pay for this. Everyone responsible, every man, woman and child taking delight in this horror, will feel each moment of terror and agony you endure.’
‘No, Morrigan. It does not have to be like this.’
‘You are wrong. They sealed their fate the moment they laid hands on you.’
‘Then you give me no choice.’ Morghanna looked up to the heavens and cried out, her voice carrying over the rabble, over the crackle of flames, ‘Please, my Goddess. End this now. Take me as you always promised you would.’ There was no answer and as the flames licked her skin, Morghanna screamed.
‘Our Goddess has failed you,’ Morrigan cried. ‘I will not.’ She lifted her hands, despite her sister’s plea to not bring notice to her magic. The Darkness would protect her.
Before Morrigan could utter a word, light streamed from the heavens, surrounding her sister in a golden glow. Morghanna lifted her head, her face glowing with an expression of such devotion and happiness that Morrigan could see it clearly even from this distance.
It brought an ache to her heart. A longing she’d thought never to feel again.
‘I knew my Goddess would never forsake me,’ Morghanna cried out. Then in Morrigan’s head, Morghanna said, ‘It is not too late for you either my beloved sister to change your path. Fill yourself with the Goddess’ light and love. Do not let the darkness have you.’
Morrigan reached out towards her sister, wanting to experience the bliss Morghanna so obviously felt. As she did, the Darkness hissed, but began to lift from where it twisted around her.
The light around Morghanna brightened, white and pure. Villagers cried out, shielding their eyes. Morrigan stumbled forward as the ropes tying Morghanna to the stake disintegrated to nothing. ‘Sister, don’t leave me!’
Morghanna didn’t seem to hear her. She lifted her hands and cried out to the stars above, ‘Save me.’
Flames exploded, whipping into a tornado that shot up into the sky. Screams sang out on the air as the mob of villagers ran away from the explosion of white-hot heat and flame.
Morrigan shielded her eyes from the flare. The force of the explosion shoved her back. She fell, tumbling up the hill.
Then the wind died, the force dissipated and the light blinked out.
Morrigan gained her feet and spun around, ready to run forward and pull her sister from the dead pyre before the villagers realised what had happened.
She stumbled to a stop.
The pyre was nothing but ash. Morghanna was gone. ‘No!’ She fell to her knees, tearing at her hair, her clothes, rubbing dirt across her skin. Trembling, hot tears poured down her cheeks. She threw her head back and stared up at the sky. ‘Please, Goddess,’ she sobbed. ‘Take me too.’
There was silence. No peace or warmth touched her soul. Just the cool Darkness as it flew back to her, surrounding her once more.
Grief dug its claws in, but not enough to dull the rage burning in her heart. She stood shakily and cried to the sky, ‘You have turned your back on me, my Goddess, so now I finally turn my back on you. Revenge will be mine. This I promise on the ashes of my beloved sister.’
In her mind, a voice pleaded with her not to take this step, but she ignored it, allowing the Darkness to snap out and silence it. She had no time for mercy. There was a job to do.
She stalked towards the village. People ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, their fear and confusion alive in the air, feeding the Darkness inside her. She came to the open square where they had tried to put her sister to death. The Witch Finder still stood there, his shrieks heard above the fearful cries of the people as they ran to find shelter from whatever evil had taken the witch into its fold. He turned to face her as she drew near, jowls wobbling as he spat, ‘Who are you?’
‘Your death.’ She lifted her hands and called power. A fae wind whirled, blowing her hair from her face. Dark clouds bloomed on the horizon. Lightning broke the gloom, crashing into the thatched roof of the church—the place of the trial; the place where they’d damned her sister—and setting it aflame. Another bolt hit the Witch Finder, cutting off his scream as he was lit from within. He fell to the ground, a smoking ruin.
Screams rose on the wind, winding around Morrigan, making the Darkness writhe in delight. She laughed, the sound whipped away on the wind, smothered by the crack of another bolt of lightning. It struck another building. More flames. Pushed by the wind, they flared, leaped to another building and another until the entire village surrounding her was alight.
‘They try to escape,’ the Darkness whispered.
She turned to see people running through the street that led straight into the nearby forest, obviously trying to seek refuge. They would find none. She cried out:
‘Hear my words, make them true
Never stop ‘til vengeance is through.
Three times three times three times three
So I say, so mote it be.’
She lifted her hands, directing her storm towards the forest. Lightning bolts blazed down into the trees until the sky was lit with the false dawn of licking flames and the cries for mercy were silenced.
Then the sky cracked with a rumble of thunder. Rain poured down to dampen the earth and the angry, flesh-seeking flames.
It fell on Morrigan, sizzling on her cold skin. Lifting her face she screamed at the sky, ‘You are too late. They are already gone.’ She could feel it in her heart, the knowledge a balm to her soul. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but she laughed in the face of the power that had dampened her flames. She had taken her revenge.
They were dead and there was no power in the heavens that could bring them back.
Hair plastered to her face, her dress now a sodden, muddy, torn mess, she turned her back on the destruction she’d wrought and stalked out of the village. A smile bloomed on her lips. Yet as she passed out of the village and walked back up the hill she’d run down only minutes ago, the Darkness began to whisper to her.
‘Destroying the villagers hasn’t made a difference. Morghanna is still gone and you are all alone, just as I have been alone these many years.’
Her smile faltered. The Darkness was right. Cold crept into her heart where her sister had always brought such warmth. She was alone.
‘You have lost everything. But you know who is to blame.’
She nodded, her lip curling as she spat, ‘The Were.’
‘Make them pay. All of them. Take back what they stole from you and your people.’
‘Yes. But how will I manage it?’
‘I will help you. Find others who feel the same. Together, we will build a family to fight against those who have hurt us both.’
She hugged her arms around her chest, stroking above her heart where the Darkness rested. She was not alone.
A smile broke out on her face again and, grimly determined, she strode forward into the night, listening to the whispers filling the empty place in her heart.
1
River sat up, the breath exploding from his lungs as he opened his eyes to the semi-dark of the room he’d been given at the McVale Packhouse.
He panted, shook his head, trying to rid himself of the image that had followed him from the nightmare; of Skye calling on moondust, forcing him to change, and in reaction, he wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed.
Exactly as he’d done on their tenth birthday. Except in the nightmare, he wasn’t an enraged and out of his mind 10-year-old Were-boy, he was an adult.
But he would never do that to her now. Never.
Except, that part of him that grew stronger every day. It wanted it. It wanted it more than it wanted anything else.
