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

troll in her skirt to ya!”
    She kinda was. But Julia still wanted to
remember Lily in the best light she could and... “She's got all my
stuff too.”
    Cyn's face broke into a grin. “Now that's worth
some suck-up, Jules.”
    They laughed and then Cyn said, “I'm sorry your
grandma isn't here anymore.”
    Julia was too. Summers at her place had been the
only break from the grind of Living with Lily. Grandma had taught
her things she'd never forget.
    “Didn't she have your name?” Kev asked.
    Julia smiled. “Yes, actually, I had her name.”
    Kev shrugged. “That's what I said.” The little
details of things like elders passing on namesakes sailing right
over his head.
    They smiled and made plans for tomorrow. Julia
and Jason would go by her house and see if they could charm their
way in after a hasty elopement and zero communication.
    So not going to happen.
    Cyn broke a mood that had slid far away from
celebratory by jerking the champagne glasses out of her backpack.
Kevin got the champagne out of his beat up cooler, the ice rattling
and clinking.
    Cyn put a cube in each plastic cylinder. The
glasses had been made to looked like cut glass and winked like they
were on fire from the light of the blaze. Julia smiled, Cyn had
thought everything through to the last detail.
    “Nice glasses,” Julia said.
    Cyn smirked. “I know, right? I couldn't let us
be d é class é even
at the beach!” Kevin filled hers to the brim and she plopped a full
strawberry on the top, where it floated like a jewel inside the
glass, the bubbles mesmerizing Julia as they floated in the golden
liquid.
    Everyone's glass fizzing with champagne, they
lifted them as one, four glasses meeting in a clash of celebration.
They took sips, eyeing each other above the rims.
    Cyn did an obscene job of tonguing her
strawberry in full view of Kevin, moving it back and forth in her
mouth, twirling the stem like an provocative handle in her capable
fingers.
    “Come 'er,” he said in a growl, grabbing her
around her slender waist and pressing her against him. He put his
lips to the half of the berry that lay between her teeth, jerking
the stem with his teeth and spitting it on the pebbled beach. He
met his lips with hers, eating the berry as he sucked the kiss
right out of her.
    Cyn groaned and flung her arms around Kev's
neck, the two of them staggering over to their log of driftwood,
oblivious to Jason and Julia as their audience. Kevin threw his arm
behind him so they wouldn't topple, but as they sat down in a heap,
he fell backward on the sand and we laughed at their lust ridden
dance.
    It would have been great if Kevin had not been
on his back with his girlfriend when the werewolf appeared.
    He was horribly vulnerable for what transpired
next.
     
    *
    Vampire
     
    Stealth was the order of the night, as it were.
He eyed the building carefully, taking in the ironic title of the
structure itself: Freedom Affirmed.
    William's lips curled. They wouldn't understand
real freedom if it introduced itself with a handshake.
    He spoke in a voice that could not be heard by
humanity. The decibel level was too high for humans.
    In the distance a stray dog lifted its ears and
whined softly, taking off in the opposite direction of the
disturbing tones of the Unnatural. Canines were instinctual. This
one recognized the threat for what it was and ran in a direction of
safety.
    The other runners whipped their heads in the
dog's direction, responding in like kind. They made their way to
the structure, converging at roughly all four corners. Their
progress was deliberate and insidious. They would not make a
spectacle of their presence.
    William had the barest sense of unease. He hoped
that Julia's abilities continued to lay dormant. If they awoke
during her acquisition, that would change things dramatically.
    It would be very bad for all. Blood Singers were
unpredictable at best. At worst, they were dangerous.
    He hoped that Pierce and the others would heed
his