Blood Bound Prequel Read online

  Blood Bound

  A Short Prequel

  J.L. Myers

  Contents

  MORE BOOKS BY J.L. MYERS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Epic Books With Bite – Amelia’s story starts in…

  Connect with J.L. Myers

  About the Author

  MORE BOOKS BY J.L. MYERS

  THE BLOOD BOUND SERIES

  * * *

  What Lies Inside

  Made By Design

  Web Of Lies

  Born To Die

  ~

  OTHER BOOKS

  * * *

  Fallen Angel

  * * *

  Nerve Damage

  Copyright © 2017 by J.L. Myers

  * * *

  The moral right of the author had been asserted.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved

  No part of this literary work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the author J.L. Myers.

  * * *

  Cover art © 2017 J.L. Myers.

  Cover Images © tankist276/depositphotos.com

  © Molodec/depositphotos.com

  * * *

  Visit the Website:

  www.bloodboundnovels.com

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter 1

  “Amelia Athobry-Lamont!”

  Jolted from the dark recesses of my mind, my head snapped up. My long blond tresses cascaded up like a waterfall in reverse as I locked eyes with my teacher. I was in English, my last class for the day. Up front behind her desk, Ms. Little was pissed, her squinty eyes that were as black as her hair needling me through wiry glasses. “Sorry, I…” Heat seared my cheeks, realizing I was now the center of attention. Every pair of eyes in the classroom watched me. I shrank down in my seat and gulped, unable to stop my gaze shooting to the arm of the guy next to me. The arm of the football player I’d been mesmerized by as I watched his pulse blip along the fat vein up his forearm.

  Mr. popularity cleared his throat and shifted his arm.

  I gasped and looked away. I’d done it again. What the hell was I doing? “Sorry. What was the question?”

  Ms. Little snickered. “No question. Only a statement. You and David are paired up for the short story assignment.”

  My heart dropped. Great! Now I was stuck with Mr. Popularity who probably thought I was obsessed with him like one of his groupie followers. All three of which were currently glaring at me like they wanted to stab me.

  The teacher stood and scribbled on the blackboard. When she started to drone on again I barely heard her. A loud thudding had started drumming in my ears. It was growing louder by the second. I couldn’t help myself as I fought to keep my head front and center. My eyes had their own idea and shifted down and to the left. Back to his arm resting on his desk. Boom—boom—boom. “No way,” my voice was a choked whisper. That drumming in my ears was in perfect sync with the throbbing of Mr. Popularity’s vein coursing thick, potent, sweet…

  My mouth watered and I licked my lips.

  A nudge into my other side had me snapping out of it so fast I gave myself whiplash. Dorian, my twin brother, was staring at me. Leaning across the gap between our desks, he tilted his head to one side, his styled dark hair following the movement. “You okay?” he whispered. “What’s going on?”

  I’d somehow forgotten he was even in the same class as me. Which wasn’t too hard to do. He was usually occupied with one of the ‘popular’ girls, flirting and putting his natural charisma to use. Now that fun-loving side of him was gone, replaced by deep concern.

  “Ah…” I cleared my throat and then hunched my shoulders when a few kids turned to give me ‘weirdo alert’ looks. Not that I’d ever fit in before, but if I’d ever thought I had a chance to, that hope doused like they’d just seen me face-plant a giant mud puddle. My tongue tied as that thumping sound returned, growing louder and losing clarity—because it wasn’t solely coming from the guy to my other side. It was like I could hear everyone’s pulse in this enclosed room with its small windows and one closed door. My breath started to come faster and I shook my head. Smells overwhelmed me like I’d just walked through the perfume cloud the groupies always reeked of. Except this wasn’t just their perfume I could smell. Like my nose had suddenly become a smell detector, I picked up each scent individually: perfume, deodorant, body odor, salt from sweat, rank socks in sneakers, hairspray, gel, moisturizers, scented lip gloss, and something else I couldn’t put a name to. It was metallic and tangy. I could almost taste it on my tongue.

  “Amelia, hey.” Dorian touched my arm as the bell rang.

  I leaped upright, snatching my backpack off the back of the seat. Everyone else was up and rushing for the door, so no one really noticed my hasty movements. Except for Dorian. “I’ll—I’ll see you at home.”

  My head spun as I turned to sprint from the room. Dorian snatched my wrist and pulled me back. “What’s going on with you? You’re not catching the bus?”

  The girl he’d been working his magic on for the past few days appeared then. She clutched his arm and smiled wide, flicking her black hair over her shoulder. “You bussing it today?”

  “Ah, yeah.” Dorian didn’t release my arm. “Amelia?”

  I wriggled free and backed away, nearing the open door. “I need some air.” The smell of the girl hanging off of him was suddenly too much, that undefined scent swirling up my nose. “I’m gonna walk home.”

  “But—”

  I escaped through the classroom door before he could stop me again—and hit a sea of moving students rushing to lockers and heading for the main exit. Lungs hitching, I held my breath. My hands came up, fingers plugging my ears. The other kids noticed, they always noticed, and for some reason this felt like it wasn’t the first time they were seeing me behave like this. But even though I felt a pang of déjà vu, I couldn’t make my mind think back clearly. All I knew was that I needed to get out. And fast. The spinning in my head amped up to hurricane speed. Not breathing wasn’t helping, and it along with my plugged ears still didn’t cut off the sounds and smells.

  Oh God, what is happening to me?

  I burst through the main doors, shoving students and a teacher aside as I escaped. The parking lot was packed with teens and moving cars, and I hooked right. Sprinting like I was escaping a fire, I cleared the edge of the redbrick building and the long line of classrooms. Beyond the school sports oval, everything I sprinted past became a blur, houses and cars on busy streets whizzing by until they were just gone. Still, I kept running, my legs aching in a way that somehow felt good and needed. When green rushed past me and the cool Alaskan air chilled my lungs, I finally slowed. Trees surrounded me, tall and skeletal with limbs caked in snow. They reached for the dreary sky as if trying to escape the shadows that skulked all around.

  I shivered. “Guess I’m not in Kansas anymore.” I knew where I had ended up. It was the only place that made sense, the only place close enough to walk to. A place I knew well enough since our house backed onto part of it. Far North Bicentennial Park, a huge reserve of four thousand acres of nature and walking tracks. The sun was a fuzzy orb behind thick clouds. Even though it was below the treetops, it didn’t seem low enough in the sky for the time it should have taken me to run here. And that was
n’t all. Amongst the sounds of blips and tweets from buzzing and scampering birds and insects, there was something else. Something prominent and rhythmic. Something almost hypnotic. That thumping sound was back.

  I wasn’t alone.

  Beyond the mossy tree I was crouched behind was the source of the beating that pounded in my ears. Not my own racing heart from running here. Somehow my heart was steady and even. My breath was normal too. How am I not panting after sprinting for that long? But those abnormalities became a second thought as my sense of smell heightened. Earthy soil, decomposing leaves, ash from a long-ago fire that had recovered with sprouting green, and then something so much stronger. It was metallic and gamey. The smell was similar to what I hadn’t been able to identify in class, but it was different. Distinct. It was coming from…the herd of deer down in the clearing of long grass below.

  My throat was suddenly stripped of moisture. I gulped and bit my lip. My fingers needled the mossy tree, nails biting into the squishy green layer. With no one to stop me I stared, studying each animal one by one, from the buck with its head raised and nostrils testing the air, to the does grazing, and then to their fauns that kept close for safety. Those little one’s hearts beat faster. Their legs were shorter and weaker. “They can’t run as fast.”

  I clapped my hand over my mouth. Why had I said that? Why had I thought that? Breathing faster now and feeling a rush of panic sweep through me, I stood abruptly, twigs and leaves crunching underfoot. The buck heard me and squealed, darting away and taking the rest of his scattering herd with him through the concealing trees. I kept stepping back until underbrush tripped me and I landed on my backpack. The panic refused to recede as I shot up and sprinted away. Tree branches and rough bushes scratched at my jeans and nicked at my bare arms. Tears wetted my cheeks, streaming back into my hair as I ran. My mind was racing, but the words from my lips were certain. “I was staring at them—at Bambis—like I was a mountain lion and they were my prey.”

  Chapter 2

  After walking for over an hour, I still wasn’t home. Eerie mist now surrounded me, weaving through the trees that blocked out the low-lying sun. I began to wonder if I was going in circles when I found a familiar overgrown track. “At least I’m not lost out here,” I muttered to myself as the temperature around me plummeted. It was winter and my breath escaped in white puffs. Patches of snow were everywhere now, and light specks of white floated down as if being released from the gates of skeletal tree claws that laced the darkening sky. But I wasn’t even cold. The wannabe biker jacket in my backpack was still nestled away. I didn’t even have goosebumps. I rubbed my arms, trying to wake my senses up. Nothing happened, which after all the onslaught of smells and sounds earlier was… “Weird.”

  I kept on walking, picking up the pace while trying not to face-plant over hazardous tree roots, short shrubs, and fallen dead trees. A branch snapped nearby and a chill rocketed up my spine.

  Trying not to seem worried, I shot glances around as I continued on. Probably just wildlife or… I tried to rein in my paranoia, but the sensation of eyes on me grew stronger with each quickened step I took.

  A sudden vibration almost made me jump out of my skin. My cell phone. This was the sixth call since school, and I had great odds on guessing who it was. Pulling it from my backpack I fumbled as I answered, feet still walking and eyes still scanning. Even though no ID was displayed, I knew who was on the other line. “Hey, Dorian.”

  “How’d you know it was me?”

  His voice was a mixture of casual and concern, the first put-on to cover the worry he still clearly had after my weirdness earlier. I sighed, forgetting that watched sensation and focusing on the clearing path ahead as I tried to keep my Vans from splashing in puddles. “You’ve called five times since school, and now there’s no caller ID? I’m not dumb, Dorian.”

  He chuckled, but it was at least half forced. “Yeah, I know. Why didn’t you answer?”

  I sighed. Even though we were twins and I trusted Dorian, I felt my tongue tie in my throat. This was only the first question, and I knew there would be more. “I…I just needed some time to myself.” I braced for round two.

  “Right. But where did you go? Where are you now? And what happened earlier?”

  I slowed and stopped, splashing into a freaking puddle! Dirty water sprayed up, soaking one leg of my jeans and staining the white of my shoes. “Shit.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s nothing. Bloody mud,” I muttered under my breath. “I’m on a track in Far North Bicentennial Park and everything is wet and gross. I’ll be home soon.” Possible, if I picked up the pace.

  “So why’d you go there? Amelia, tell me what happened earlier?”

  “Ah…”

  I didn’t know how to blurt out something that made absolutely no sense to me and have him understand. Well, Dorian, I was transfixed by Mr. Popularity’s pulse, and then everyone’s in the classroom. Oh, plus the smell of everyone, including every product they were wearing. So I freaked out and sprinted to the forest without meaning to and stalked a herd of deer—so I could pick out the weakest. Yeah, that would go over well. Not only did it not make sense, it was insane. I sighed again. Dorian was used to my weirdness. He had always tried to help me fit in, but there just seemed to be something standing in my way when it came to almost everyone my age. I had always felt like an outsider, like I was different somehow. Except for when it came to my best friend, Kendrick. But he didn’t go to my school. He was home schooled.

  “Dorian, I…” The pressing weight of someone’s eyes on me stalled my words. I spun in a circle, forgetting about my shoes and the mess I was making of them. No one was there, just trees that shivered in the cold I couldn’t feel. “Look…I, ah…you know how it is.” I decided to make this interrogation end so I could focus on getting home and out of the forest that was getting creepier and creepier as darkness closed in around me. An owl hooted and I jumped. I spoke fast. “I was embarrassed, okay? David noticed me looking at him, and then Ms. Nosey Body pointed it out to the whole class.”

  “Amelia, I don’t think that’s what—”

  “Then don’t,” I interrupted, irritation rising as I faced the way I needed to walk and made my legs move. “Think what you want. I told you what happened. And that’s that. I’m on my way, and I’ll be home soon.”

  I hung up and shoved my phone into my backpack, not missing a step as I stalked on. I knew I was lying to my brother, but to have him so blatantly not believe me hurt. And there it was again, that feeling. Eyes were watching me. I wasn’t alone.

  Breaking into a jog, I was about to take off, to bolt for home, but then that sensation became overwhelming. If this wasn’t paranoia, I wasn’t about to play the victim and act like someone’s prey. I pulled to a halt and crossed my arms over my chest. “Who’s there?” My voice was loud and strong. The strength and lack of fear I projected actually impressed me. And if I was wrong and no one was out there, at least I wouldn’t have an audience to watch me make a fool of myself.

  When no one appeared but that sensation grew, making nausea swell in my stomach, I stood straighter. “Well, come on then, stalker. Or are you too chicken?”

  “Hardly.”

  The smooth velvety voice that responded struck through me like a knife. The pale guy that leaped down from a thick tree was seriously freaking handsome with white-blond hair, epic silvery-blue eyes, and a jawline that would make Cullen fans swoon. Each step as he walked was somehow calculated, and his brightening smile seemed to chase away the shadows.

  “Who the hell are you?” Despite his looks, this guy, even though he didn’t look like a deranged stalker, had been stalking me. He’d been watching and had followed me. And how the hell had he gotten up that tree when there were no lower branches to climb? “What do you want?” I looked at his hands, expecting to find a weapon. There was none, and something deep down told me he wouldn’t need one if his intentions were devious.

  He didn�
��t stop walking, his stunning yet unique eyes scouring my face as if he’d never seen a teenage girl before. I instinctively stepped back—

  My shoe hit a thick tree root that stuck out of the dirt, and the guy moved like lightning, catching my arm to stop my fall. Electricity burned beneath his strong grip and I yelped from the shock of it. Tugging away, he let go as I gained footing and didn’t follow as I put distance between us. “Don’t touch me.”

  I held my tingling arm to my chest. He smiled as he looked from my tense arms and back up at my face. “Your scratches are gone.”

  I frowned and peeked down for a split second, not wanting to take my eyes off this weird stranger who was watching me like a hawk. Then I did a double take. My bare arms were unblemished, free of the small cuts and grazes I’d felt as branches ripped into me when I’d run from the deer. “Impossible,” I whispered.

  “Didn’t you want to know who I was and what I wanted?”

  Remembering I was far from alone, I backed up further, almost certain this guy had been following me for much longer than I had even suspected. If I went for my phone in my backpack would he try to stop me?

  “I’m not here to hurt you.”

  His stunning eyes stared into my own as he said the words, and the panic and fear in me washed away. Something about the way he kept looking at me put me at ease even though I was desperate to stay on edge and alert. Thoughts of getting my phone to call for help fled my mind, and my curiosity took over. “Then why are you here?”