Crowned by blood, p.1
Crowned by Blood, page 1
part #3 of Daughter of Cain Series
Crowned By Blood (Daughter of Cain Book 3)
Copyright © Marie Mistry 2023
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products, brands, and/or stores referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorised, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
The right of Marie Mistry to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.
ISBN: 978-1-915066-22-0
www.mariemistry.com
Cover art and design by Melony Paradise of Paradise Designs.
https://www.paradisecoverdesign.com/
Edited by Kaye Kemp Book Polishing
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Crowned by Blood is a Paranormal Reverse Harem novel containing sexual scenes featuring multiple consenting partners over the age of 18. This series is written in British English and contains foul language, dark themes, descriptions of torture, suicide, alcohol, sexual abuse, rough sex, knotting, rimming, teratophilia, primal play, BDSM, violence, and death. There is also reference to infertility and the past suicide of a background character, and the story will explore characters’ ongoing grief relating to that. For a detailed list of warnings please see my website: www.mariemistry.com/triggers
Self-care is important, and I love my readers, so if such subject matter upsets you, please don’t read this book.
This book has been professionally edited, but we’re all human. So, if you spot a typo, please contact Marie directly using the form on her website or any of her social media links. Please don’t report it to Amazon, as this feature can lead to books being taken down. Likewise, if you find a major trigger which isn’t listed, please let Marie know and the list will be updated.
This book is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. That means it is not available, legally, on any platform that is not Amazon. If you’ve downloaded the book from somewhere else, you’re committing book piracy which is seriously not cool and can also lead to the book being taken down.
For everyone who dreams of being chased through the woods by the big bad (sexy) wolf (pack). I got you, babe.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Books By Marie Mistry
About the Author
CHAPTER ONE
SILAS
“Turn around!” Finn demands, clawing at my arm. “Damn it, Silas. We have to go back!”
My hands are white on the steering wheel as I floor the hover van through the winding roads of the Old Country. We lost our pursuers a while ago, but I’m not stopping until we make it to the rendezvous point.
“She’s scared and in pain,” Finn beseeches. “I know Gid was with her, but I’m telling you, something’s gone wrong.”
He could be right. Unfortunately, I have my orders, and they’re to protect him. No matter how much I want to go back, the command of my alpha and my own instinct to keep Finn safe override everything else.
Not that it matters to Finn.
No. He’s going crazy because the pack is in danger. Normally, he’s able to keep a level head at times like this, but—
A figure appears in the middle of the road, and I slam on the brakes. The van’s engine judders, and the seat belt digs painfully into my collarbone as we jolt to a stop.
“Fuck,” I curse, but I’m grinning.
There, in the headlights, is Vane.
Bleeding and limping, but alive. Thank God.
I open the window and stick my head out. “You just scared the shit out of me!”
He doesn’t waste time replying, instead he strides around to the side of the van and opens up the side door.
“Bring him,” he growls over his shoulder at the treeline.
Both Finn and I crane our necks, struggling to see who he’s talking to.
I know for a fact it’s not Evie. The thrall bond tells me she’s still far away—and getting farther by the second.
Frost appears, hauling an unconscious figure over his shoulder as he runs for the open door. When he drops Gideon onto the floor and reaches down to lift his legs inside after him, I gasp, and Finn lets out a pained moan.
The alpha’s shirt has been torn away, exposing four long foaming gouges across his chest. That’s not the worst of it. His throat is a bloodied white and red mess, and his heart is nearly silent. A bare murmur instead of a true beat.
I know what a ghoul victim looks like. We all do.
But all the ghouls were supposed to be under Frost’s control. How the fuck did this happen?
Finn lets out a low whine of unhappiness, his eyes wide and watery at the sight of our alpha so broken and hopeless. Tugging him to me, I wrap him in my arms as Frost leaps into the van, followed quickly by my brother, who slams the door behind them.
“Drive,” Frost orders as Vane lurches for the fridge. “Get us to the rendezvous as fast as you can.”
“What about Evie…?” I protest, grimacing as her pain flares bright in our partial bond for an instant before it mutes again.
I can only imagine what Vane, Draven, and Finn are going through right now.
“She’s alive.” Frost’s eyes go hard. “Gideon might not be if we don’t get him stable.”
“Stable?” I demand. “Frost, that’s a ghoul bite.” A death sentence. “How did this happen? You said you had them under control!”
“I thought I did!” Frost retorts. “Fuck, I’m sorry. You have to believe me: I never felt any of those ghouls until it was too late. It was like they weren’t even there.”
“Imogen.” Vane growls, chucking blood out of his way as he continues his search. “We found her half turned. I bet this was her doing.”
“Imogen screwed us all over,” Finn mumbles, rubbing at his chest.
My brother finishes rummaging through the fridge, withdrawing a small vial of red liquid.
“You want to turn him?” Finn squeaks, incredulous.
“If we don’t, he dies,” Frost retorts.
“Turning him requires killing him,” Finn counters.
“He’s not human,” I point out. “If he lives…”
What will he become? A ghoul-vampire hybrid was unheard of when Frost was turned… hell, even a vampire-lycan is rare. To be a mixture of all three…
“We’ve talked about this,” Vane retorts, unstopping the vial and holding it over the gurgling mess that is Gid’s throat. “We’re willing to take the risk. If you two have objections, speak now.”
I stare at the seizing body of our alpha. I’m not sure this is what he would want. He already hated the loss of rational control that his hyper-fixation caused, and being a hybrid would mean struggling with a whole lot of instinct.
But would he feel more positively about it if the other option was true death?
“What about the fifty-fifty rule?” I splutter.
Half of all hybrids have the strength of both species, while the other half have all of their weaknesses. But if Gideon is turned, he’ll be an amalgamation of all three. If he ended up being one of the ‘failures,’ he might be warped beyond recognition. After all, ordinary ghouls can’t even speak…
“Even if that happens, he’d still be alive,” Vane growls. “Gid’s overcome worse, and we’re not like Cain. We won’t kill him for it.”
I bite my lip and turn to Finn. “What do you think?”
“We don’t have time to argue,” the omega says, dazed. “It’s selfish, but I can’t lose him. I say do it. We’ll deal with whatever happens.”
Gritting my teeth, I give Vane a nod. “Like he said.”
Without hesitation, he pours the contents into the open mess of flesh that is Gideon’s throat.
It’s done. All we can do now is hold our breath.
The healing element of Evie’s blood gets to work immediately. Smooth pink skin blooms into being across his throat, and then seals over the wounds on his chest. That’s where the good news stops. A seco
Now comes the worst part.
Frost summons his claws and punches his fist straight into Gideon’s just-healed chest. His fingers clench within the cavity, crushing the alpha’s heart.
There are only three ways to kill a lycan—four if you count ghouls—wolfsbane, decapitation, and destroying our hearts.
Gideon was already weak. It barely takes a fraction of Frost’s strength to end him. As I feel the pack bonds tremble, then snap, I flash back to an equally awful time when Draven did the same thing to my brother to save him. Gid may not be blood, but I’ve never lived in a world without him.
Until now.
My instincts are howling, mourning the loss of the head of the pack, and an itch begins under my skin.
It’s an itch that will turn to madness without a strong alpha, and the reason rogue lycans are so volatile.
Finn lets out another whine, his instincts too strong for him to ignore. He undoes his belt and crawls into the back, snuggling close to Gid’s cooling corpse.
All of us wait, keeping a silent vigil as Evie’s pain screams at us down the bonds.
Of course. We lost an alpha, but she’s lost a thrall. I can’t even feel half of it—my bond with her is frustratingly incomplete—but Finn and Vane are both white as a sheet.
It’s not permanent, I remind myself. Gid will come back from this. He has to.
The catalyst for turning vampires and ghouls is death. We just have to hope he has enough of Evie’s blood in him to bring him back. Their bond can be reformed. We just have to get our girl back.
“Silas, drive,” Frost orders, wiping Gid’s blood from his hand. “We don’t know who might’ve followed us.”
Tearing my eyes away from our alpha is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. Focusing on the road with Finn’s whimpers of pain coming from behind me is almost impossible.
With every moment that passes, our pack grows quieter and quieter. They’ve moved Gideon to the back of the van, so my small glances behind don’t reveal anything. My gut clenches, but I can’t bring myself to ask the question that haunts my mind.
Is he coming back?
“We’re here,” I mutter, pulling up to the monastery and grimacing when a casual scan of the area fails to reveal any sign of our resident vampire psychopath.
Draven is the only one missing from our group. If he’s not here…
I put thoughts of the vampire’s fate from my mind and turn fully to look into the back.
Gideon is still laid out on the floor, but he’s clearly no longer dead. In the absence of the engine’s noise, his rattling shallow breaths have become the sole noise. Finn remains curled up beside him, his hand on our alpha’s once-again healed chest.
He made it.
Now we just have to find out what that means for Gideon.
The omega looks like he’s asleep, but there’s too much tension in the lines of his body for that to be the case. Frost and Vane are both watching the pair closely, waiting to drag Finn out of the way the second that anything happens.
If Gideon’s got the strengths of all three immortal races, do we have much of a chance of keeping him contained?
We can only hope the two hybrids in the back are enough…
“He’s out cold,” I observe.
“I slept for hours during my transition,” Frost notes. “Maybe this is a good sign.”
A knock on the door startles all of us, and I draw the gun strapped to my thigh and hold it to the door before I recognise the robes.
The monks have come to investigate.
Frost sighs and moves to open the door. When he speaks, it’s in fluent Romanian. Not one of my strongest languages, but I know enough to understand that Frost is letting them know who we are and why we’re here.
The monk looks around, then starts speaking again—too fast for me to follow this time. He waves us towards the small geometric building with both hands. Holy figures are painted in archways across the walls, illuminated by tiny spot lights buried in the ground. It gives the church an eerie, foreboding look, made worse by the lack of lights within.
Vane notices the blank look I’m giving the monk and sighs. “He’s telling us to bring Gid inside,” he murmurs. “They have a hidden cellar which is reinforced, and the caches the resistance has left here are untouched.”
Frost frowns as he considers it, but the second he opens his mouth to answer, the whirring of a rotorcraft fills the air.
“Shit. We were followed.” I throw the van into gear.
Frost shoos the monk back towards the monastery and slams the door shut.
“Hold on, we’re going off road.” I flick the switch on the dash, grinning as the hover drive roars to life beneath me.
I know it’s a life-or-death situation, and our circumstances couldn’t really be worse, but I fucking love this part.
The van narrowly misses a tree as I jerk the wheel left and plunge us into the forest.
“Jesus, Silas!” Vane growls, dragging himself into the seat next to me. “Tree!”
I don’t need the warning. Even though the headlights are off, my immortal vision has no issue picking up on the dense vegetation that’s clogging up the mountainside. Ferns and branches slap against the sides of the van as we pass, and I let out a whoop as we narrowly scrape over a fallen tree.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” my big brother grouches.
“Lighten up,” I retort. “We’re only fleeing for our lives, after all. We’ve done this so many times, we’re basically pros.”
Vane just sighs and rubs at his eyes.
The lighthearted moment is broken when a much louder thump echoes from above us.
“What was that?” Finn asks.
I glance back to check on him, but Frost is already moving towards the door, knife raised and ready. Driving steals my focus away in the next instant, but the door swishes open,
“I missed you too,” Draven snarls.
“Thank fuck,” Frost replies. “Is the chopper your doing?”
“They’ve been on my tail for almost an hour,” the vampire confirms. “We need to lose them before we meet up with Evie, and—”
He cuts off. I glance back again, only to find him clasping a huge battered tome to his chest while staring at Gideon’s unconscious body with fury painted across his features.
“Wake him up,” the vampire demands. “He swore nothing would touch her.”
“He’s healing,” Finn protests. “He was attacked by ghouls.”
“We’re going to find Eve,” Frost promises. “Cain won’t get away with her—”
“He already has! Can’t you feel how he’s torturing her? You don’t understand, she’s the only person alive who can—”
“Not the time!” Vane growls. “Let’s focus on living for the next hour!”
A blast strikes the mountain close to us, and I curse, yanking the wheel hard to the left and sending everyone not strapped in flying.
“Sorry!” I call, stomping on the accelerator and grinning as our downhill dash becomes positively deadly. “I’ll lose them…”
It takes me almost an hour, but eventually I make good on the promise. The noise of the rotor blades fades into the distance as I slow our engines and turn back on myself, heading south.
“Where to?” I ask.
“New York,” Draven says, before Frost can get a word in.
“Gideon is turning,” Finn says. “That’s why she’s hurting so badly. Their bond… it might’ve been partial, but…”
But it’s killing her slowly, having it severed, and Gideon won’t be much better, if Frost’s experience is anything to go by.
