Bloodright

Never-ending hatred…

Shaking from the pain of the wounds, Falon shifted back into her human form.

“Rafa,” she pleaded, touching his bloody muzzle as he came around to her, “don’t do this. I could not bear losing you.”

He snarled and shook his great golden-furred body, blood stinging her skin. She looked past him to the great black wolf that was Lucien, the brother whose own chosen one, a forbidden Slayer, died by Rafael’s righteous hand almost sixteen years ago. And today, Rafael paid the price of the Blood Law for his deed. Falon’s life had been spared, but in sparing it, the counsel gave her to the prodigal son as payment for what his brother had so viciously taken from him.

It was fair in all eyes but hers and Rafael’s. She would never lay with his brother, not when she loved Rafael and not after the pain and suffering she had endured by Lucien’s hand. She would kill him first…

Praise for the novels of Karin Tabke

“An erotica novel with a good plot.”

—
Fresh Fiction

“Tabke masterfully creates sexual tension.”

—
Romantic Times

“I enjoyed this book not just for its eroticism, but for the powerful storytelling.”

—
Romance Junkies

Titles by Karin Tabke

BLOOD LAW

BLOODRIGHT

Anthologies

MEN OUT OF UNIFORM

(with Maya Banks and Sylvia Day)

BLOODRIGHT

KARIN TABKE

HEAT

NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
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England
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Books Ltd.)
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(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
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Penguin Books
(South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2012 by Karin Tabke.

Cover photograph by Claudio Marinesco.

Cover design by Rita Frangie.

Text design by Laura K. Corless.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Heat trade paperback edition / April 2012

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tabke, Karin.

Bloodright / Karin Tabke.—Heat trade pbk. ed.

p. cm.—(A blood moon rising novel; 2)

ISBN: 978-1-101-56884-2

I. Title.

PS3620.A255B58 2012

813′.6—dc23
2011046414

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

To Steven

Table of Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-one

Twenty-two

Twenty-three

Twenty-four

Vulkasin Compound, Sierras, California

THE BLOOD LAW is avenged.

Years after alpha Rafael Vulkasin kills his brother Lucien’s chosen one, the ancient council of the Lycan, the omnipotent Amorak, demands that Rafael honor the Blood Law. The Blood Law can only be avenged with an even exchange. An eye for an eye. The life of Rafael’s chosen one in exchange for the life he took from Lucien.

But Rafael refuses to give his beloved Falon to his vengeful brother, who will destroy her. Rafael pleads to the Amorak to spare Falon’s life.

After a great debate, the council reaches a verdict both brothers as well as Falon agreed in advance to honor. The council could have demanded Falon’s life for the one Rafael took, but because doubt is cast on both brothers’ claims, the council gives Lucien the choice: accept Falon as his own chosen one and treat her with the respect and honor due an alpha’s mate, or surrender Falon to his brother, alive. Revenge never tasted sweeter to Lucien. Lucien chooses to keep Falon as his own. And with his choice, the Lycan nation plummets into chaos.

“I WILL NOT join with him!” Falon shouted, pointing a finger at Lucien, the dark and dangerous brother the council had just given her to. The brother she despised. The brother she would never lay with!

Lucien’s brilliant golden eyes sparked furiously. Hand extended, he strode toward her with the confidence of a man who knew he had won the prize fair and square. “You are mine now. Come to your master.”

Rafael, Lucien’s twin brother, the man Falon loved, snarled as he shifted to wolf and lunged. Lucien shifted and met him in the air, his black wolf snarling just as ferociously as Rafael’s golden wolf. Their two bodies clashed and, as they had years ago, they tore at each other with one purpose: to kill. Only this time, it was Rafael who fought his brother for the life of his mate.

Still shocked at the verdict, Falon’s brain sputtered, unable to react.

Never in her wildest dreams had she expected the verdict that had just been handed down.
Never
would she have agreed to abide by it. This could not be happening! She was supposed to stay with her beloved Rafael. Did the council not hear his truth? Lucien’s mate was a Slayer! It was every Lycan’s bloodright to kill
any
Slayer. And so Rafael had. But they believed Lucien’s lies that she was not, and for his deceit, Falon was being torn from her true love’s arms and forced into his brother’s.

Just as stupefied, her pack, Vulkasin, and Lucien’s pack, Mondragon, stood in dumbfounded silence. Unmoving, Falon stared as the twin wolves viciously tore into each other. Warm blood sprayed across her face and chest. Chunks of fur and flesh flew around her. The cracking sound of breaking bones, punctuated by terrifying snarls. Dear God, they were really going to kill each other!

Falon shifted into a ferocious she-wolf. She would defend her mate to the death. She would
not
live without him. Falon leapt into the vicious fray. She yelped as fangs sunk into her flesh and bones, tearing her apart. Despite their blood frenzy to destroy the other, the brothers broke apart when they realized Falon had entered the fray. Neither wanting to harm her, they backed away. Heads down, ears pinned low, with wary eyes on the other, they circled her maimed body.

Shaking from the pain of the wounds, Falon shifted back into her human form.

“Rafa,” she pleaded, touching his bloody muzzle as he came around to her, “don’t do this. I could not bear losing you.”

He snarled and shook his great golden-furred body, blood stinging her skin. She looked past him to the great black wolf that was Lucien. The brother whose own chosen one, a forbidden Slayer, died by Rafael’s righteous hand almost sixteen years ago. And today, Rafael paid the price of the Blood Law for his deed. Falon’s life had been spared, but in sparing it, the counsel gave her to the prodigal son as payment for what his brother had so viciously taken from him.

It was fair in all eyes but hers and Rafael’s. She would never lay with his brother, not when she loved Rafael and not after the pain and suffering she had endured by Lucien’s hand. She would kill him first.

Falon swallowed hard and looked at the two packs that had drawn into a tight circle around them, and then behind them the other packs that had come in support of each brother. Past them on a raised dais stood the council of the Amorak, the keeper of the wolves. Their grave faces stared unblinking as the blood feud that had been building for over fifteen years played out.

Falon’s heart ached with such pain she could scarce draw a breath. Her lover’s blood smeared her bare chest, mingling with her own, dripping onto her feet, pooling around her toes. Rafael’s great body heaved as he drew ragged breaths. Lucien was in no better shape. If she did not intervene, they would kill each other. For Rafael’s life, she accepted what she must do. Inhaling deeply, Falon held her breath for long seconds, then exhaled.

Rafa, my love, my heart, my soul. Your life is more important to me than all the lives in this world combined. Please, stop this. Let me go. We will be together again. I promise.

He will kill you, Falon, if I do not kill him first!

Rafael leapt over Falon, tackling his brother. And the fight was on again.

Frantic, and desperate for them to stop, naked and bloody, Falon stumbled into Rafael’s office where she knew he kept a loaded handgun in his desk. She grabbed it. She would not stand by and watch her beloved be destroyed. Running back into the great room, Falon shot several rounds into the ceiling.

The shots had no effect on either brother. They continued to fight. Time stopped. In slow motion, Falon watched the wolves tear each other apart, their fangs dripping red with blood, their great chests heaving as they sucked in air.

“You must stop this!” Sharia, the elder Amorak, shrilled, pushing past the council into the crowded floor. Falon shot off another round. When the brothers continued to fight, she put the barrel of the gun to her chest and screamed, “Stop now or there will be nothing to fight over!”