The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) by Tamara Rose Blodgett

the road ahead of them. He took the turn for the small
stretch of beach where they liked to hang. Only the four of them
knew about it: how to traverse, how to find.
    He squeezed the back of her neck and she felt
the strength of his hands, having always been gentle with her. She
thought of Terrell. They'd been the same hands he had used to
murder their teacher.
    To defend her.
    “Jules, stop thinkin' about what Lily's gonna
do. It'll be fine, you'll see.” He looked at her quickly then
parked the car above the slope that led to the beach.
    The beach lay below, a steep ravine above it,
lined with spruce trees which camouflaged the fire. They didn't
need anything special to get down there but it would be a bad fall
if they didn't watch it. Jason took her carefully by the elbow as
they used the rigid and deeply grooved soles of their boots to
assure their footing as they descended to the rocky beach.
    *
    Vampire
     
    Andrew and Robert paired, as did William and
Pierce. Silently, having worked together as a quad before. They
scented Julia easily. William never went anywhere without his
quarry’s scent. In this case he possessed a scrap of an original
piece of clothing, never laundered. He allowed his runners a deep
whiff before they picked up the faintest scent coming from their
current position.
    “I say one point two-four kilometers,” William
said, lowering his face from its position in the sky.
    Pierce laughed. “So literal, William.”
    William gave him a look and Pierce's amusement
faded.
    He looked at the faces that studied him in turn.
“Follow me.”
    They ran, staying to the border of the
buildings' flanks. The shadows embracing them soundlessly, the
peppering of blood splatter on their garments invisible in the
dark.
     
    *
    before
     
    The dusk lingered in Alaska forever it seemed
like. Summer nights were one long siege of twilight. Julia didn't
mind. The veil of false darkness provided the perfect backdrop for
a sky the color of bruised violet, a sprinkling of the brightest
stars flung about. Venus hanging like a shimmering anchor at the
horizon.
    She had planted her bony butt on a huge piece of
driftwood Kev and Jason had hauled to a safe proximity next to the
blazing inferno.
    Cyn had been naughty and brought champagne.
Julia would have loved to have argued but couldn't.
    After all, they were celebrating her
nuptials.
    Hard as they tried it was inevitable that Lily
would come up in conversation.
    “I'm just sayin', you're not obligated to give a
big defense, Jules,” Cyn said, her legs crossed at the ankles, her
chair rest was Kevin. The wash of the firelight warred with the sun
burning low in the horizon, making a fiery halo around them.
    Julia shrugged. Cyn wouldn't understand. She
felt like she owed Lily. Moving in her eight-year old niece had
never been her goal. Actually, Julia wasn't sure what had been her goal. She'd made it abundantly clear it wasn't having her
brother's daughter to raise.
    As a surprise family.
    Jason kissed the top of her head and she buried
her toes that were encased in woolly socks into the sand now warmed
by the fire. Her XtraTufs were thrown to the side.
    “She's got a point, Jules,” Jason breathed
against her temple.
    “I know she does. But, she did take me in when
my grandma couldn't. She's the only one that could. Beside a foster
family.”
    Cyn shuddered. “That's like goddamned Russian
Roulette.”
    Kev nodded, everyone knew you could get some
shit family. “Yeah, Jules. I heard about some girl that was like
Cinderella in her family. They made her label every scrap of food
like she was gonna steal it or something. Big time lame. They just
wanted the government money every month.”
    “See?” Julia said, looking at Cynthia. “It
could've been worse.”
    Cyn shook her head, her huge hoops catching the
light that swirled around them, a mix of burnt orange from the sky
and fire, mingling together in an eerie wash. “If you say so. I
still think she was a big time