Bonded to the Beast

Copyright © 2023 by Sarah Spade All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover by Claire Holt of Luminescence Covers CONTENTS Foreword Prologue 1. Grimoire du Sombra 2. White chalk 3. Hunt 4. In my dreams 5. Home 6. Where am I 7. Un Ungez 8. Water and Fire 9. Kiss 10. Arkoda 11. Kenn-uh-dee 12. Kennedy kills Loki 13. Promise of a tub 14. Nuit 15. Spawn 16. Surprise 17. Sacrifices 18. Lilith saves Loki Epilogue Pre-Order Now Coming Soon Keep in Touch Also by Sarah Spade FOREWORD Thank you for checking out Bonded to the Beast! This is the third book in the Sombra Demons series, a set of interconnected standalones that tell the stories of the human women who stumble upon the Grimoire du Sombra that holds the ‘true love’ spell that summons their mates, and the shadow demons fated to adore them at first sight. If you haven’t read the first two books yet, that’s okay! Each one is designed to be read on its own, in any order, and all you have to know going into this book is that Kennedy—the heroine of Bonded to the Beast—is the bookseller that sold the spellbook to Shannon—the heroine of Mated to the Monster—in the first place. Obsessed with it for reasons she can’t understand (yet), Kennedy is ecstatic when Shannon brings the book by her shop—and that’s where this story begins. Her hero, Loki, is also a bit different from previous Sombra demons. When they first meet, despite his intentions to seduce her and make her his mate, he definitely earns the title of ‘beast’ if only because they can’t communicate and he comes across a bit caveman-like after their initial mating. That’s because he’s not just a demon; he’s fully demonic, lost to the shadow side of this shadow monster. In his head, you see he’s as devoted, possessive, and protective as Malphas and Nox are once he has Kennedy as his mate. It just takes a little time before Kennedy knows that. Written for readers 18+, this book has: mentions of past infidelity (Kennedy’s ex is garbage, and she’s much better off with her beast), the captive romance trope (since Loki kinda steals her without her consent when they can’t communicate), instalove, explicit sex scenes & profanity, and the breeding/pregnancy trope. Touching on that last one, it’s been established in this series that mating on the night of the gold moon basically guarantees that bonded couples will get pregnant—and in this book, like in Santa Claws (the Shannon and Mal holiday novella), the heroine finds that out… and while it’s not a surprise to readers or the hero, it definitely was for both Shannon and Kennedy ;) Enjoy! xoxo, Sarah PROLOGUE LOKI ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Though few will admit it, every Sombra demon fears going fully demonic. It doesn’t happen often. Most of us are too honorable to lose control in a way that makes us no better than the monsters that lurk on the edge of Sombra’s shadows—unless, of course, we become them. Just like I have. The banishment to Nuit should have been enough to stop me in my madness. Being forced from the School of Mages, banished to a small village built on Sombra’s far-flung ash fields, that should have been enough to learn that patience is a virtue. That anything worth having—worth keeping—is also worth waiting for. It was not. It did not. And now, with my hands clasping my aching head, claws digging into my cheeks, both sets of my horns stabbing wildly as even the pain can’t stop me from jerking my head… the madness has taken hold of me. The madness, and the rage. That’s what did it. That’s what made my purple gaze fade to blinding white, my words little more than snarls that barely drown out the pounding in my skull as I lose complete control of the male I once was. The rage made me demonic, while the missing mate I crave drove me wild. It’s all my fault. Even as I stumble from the home I conjured with the promise of my female in mind, I know that the only one I can blame is myself. Sammael warned me that there were some spells a mage should never cast, but I thought I knew better. But I wasn’t thinking like a scholar. I was thinking like a lonely male who was willing to take any risk to find my mate. I don’t know if Sammael guessed that I stole the matefinder spell from the archives in Marvo. My mentor made it clear that, while magic runs our realm, there is only so much it can accomplish. Courtesy of the shadows that make up our second form, we have no control over finding our fated mates. At least, not with Sombran magic. Either my female will find me, or I would have to travel this plane and all the others to search her out. It’s the trade-off the gods gave us. We are immortal, powerful, strong, but we’re tied to one true mate and it’s never easy to find them. I refused to believe that because I was different. Born with a set of double horns, the mark of a powerful demon, I was convinced that my magic would be enough to call her to me. Whether she lived on Sombra or Soleil, a neighboring plane where most Sombra males find their females, I wouldn’t spend another three centuries hoping to chance on my forever. Sammael even admitted that the spell might have worked in ages past. Before Duke Haures closed off our realm from fabled worlds we talk of as if they’re legends, the magic was stronger. Now, the parchment with the spell was a relic