Awakened Blood

Awakened Blood FOREVER BOUND SERIES BOOK ONE TALA MOORE EVA KINGSLEY Copyright © 2023 by Tala Moore 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. Contents Adam 1. Kiera 2. Adam 3. Kiera 4. Adam 5. Kiera 6. Adam 7. Kiera 8. Adam 9. Kiera 10. Adam 11. Kiera 12. Adam 13. Kiera 14. Adam Bound Blood FREE Read! Also by Tala Moore and Eva Kingsley About the Authors Adam 1732 BC, CADELL ESTATE Screams and the sound of thrashing and fighting echo off the stone walls of the throne room as two young women are dragged through the brocaded double doors by the Cadell legionnaires. The vampires in their golden armor and plumed red helmets aren’t encumbered by the women, rather they throw them over their shoulders and toss them at the base to the stairs leading to the throne. The great golden chair is where our father presides, myself and my four brothers flanking him. The five of us wear black plated armor with silver embellishment and black velvet capes. Each of us wears a golden circlet on our brows, while our father wears the golden crown of leaves favored by the Romanian aristocracy, his temples growing silver after millennia of life. I glower down at the women huddled together at the base of the dais and spare a glare at my father. My brothers laugh cruelly at them, licking their lips, but it is me that my father looks upon. “A gift…for your name day, Adam. These peasants will be your personal attendants and your source of sustenance.” He stiffens. “Don’t glower at me, Adam, their father sold them. I did not capture them.” I bare my fangs at my father as the women cry out and beg for mercy. “I do not drink from women who are not willing, Father, whether purchased or not. Send them back.” I fold my arms over my chest, finished with the discussion, and the women look up at me with hope in their eyes. I barely look at them. They’re filthy, as if they were dragged through the mud before being presented to me. “If you will not have them, I will take them. My harem runs dry,” Devion quips, taking a step towards the women. With preternatural speed I block his path, appearing no more than a black shadow crossing the room. The women scream and begin to sob uncontrollably. “Your larder runs dry because you drain every woman you take to your rooms after you've had your fill of their carnal pleasures!” The silver blue irises of the Cadell clan flare in Devion’s eyes, and I know mine are doing the same. His lips peel back from his teeth as he hisses in my face and raises a hand tipped with black claws to rip me out of his way, but I toss him across the room to smash on the floor and crack the marble. My father is laughing and the maniacal cackle grates on my nerves. “If you will not have them, why do you protest their usage for the intended purpose?” he calls out. “Adam, my heir, you must eat. You must drain your women and find your Forever Bound. Devion does not shy from this; should he be my successor instead?” My father rests his chin on his hand, staring at me with raw intensity. I can feel Devion closing in behind me, and I prepare to send him flying. Except Corbett snarls, the same hunger filling his face as the smell of human blood permeates the room. I turn to find the younger of the women biting her own wrist savagely, blood spilling between her teeth. “If you’re going to kill me, my Lords, just get it over with. Spare my sister, she is with child. Do not end two lives this day. I sacrifice myself to your thirst!” The young woman, so brave and passionate, raises her arm above her head and we all watch enraptured as the blood trickles down her arm freely. Her other arm is holding her trembling sister, who looks around in terror and clutches her stomach, even though she’s not yet showing. “Two for one? The richest blood I’ve ever had!” Devion roars as he dashes forward like a black mist. His claws dig into the pregnant sister and she screams. The younger sister throws herself at him, trying ineffectually to pull my brother off her sister. Devion just laughs and throws her aside, knocking her unconscious against a pillar. “This won’t hurt for long,” Devion hisses and opens his mouth to bite the screaming sister. I can feel my nails growing into black talons before I’m even moving. I grab Devion by the shoulder, ripping long gouges through his armor with my nails as I throw him off of the woman. His talons claw her shoulder too, leaving a mirror image of wounds on them both. “Mine!” I hiss menacingly, using my body to shield the pregnant woman from my brother. My cloak covers her, and she clings to me for protection. “They are both… mine…” I pant, lifting the pregnant sister and cradling her against my chest. I walk over to her sister, and with one hand, throw the unconscious woman over my shoulder. With a final glare to my father, I carry my charges away from the blood thirsty throne room. “Are you going to kill us?” the pregnant sister asks in a small voice even as she whimpers in fear. “The blood beneath my brother's nails is the last of your blood that will ever be spilled in my care,” I growl quietly, fiercely. I do not look at her, I look straight forward, and leave the Cadell Estate. I will take these women to my country