Blood Bound- Book 1 of the Bonded Series- Complete

Chapter 33, Part 2

"Blood Bound"

Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved

**Edited By LadyDawn

Chapter 33, Part 2

Leo glanced down at his watch. It was 9:30 and he'd endured about as much as he could take for one evening. This farce of a so called dinner was beginning to grate on his last nerve. He was beyond ready to get this show on the road so he could hold his Shelby in his arms again.

Faking a wide mouthed yawn, he started to stand and turned so that he was staring directly at his mother. "It's getting late," he told her stiffly. It took every fiber of his being to stare at the woman that gave him his very life in the eye and remain cordial when the beast inside of him was demanding her blood for the threat she posed to his new family.

He stepped back from the table and a servant scurried to his side with his coat, ready to push his chair in. "I'm feeling a little on the exhausted side myself. I think I'm going to call it a night."

Isabella forced a smile and gave him a slight nod of the head. "You look tired, son. Taking on a new bride of that human's ilk has obviously done quite a number on you. Why don't you leave her in the Lucidio rooms for the night and head to your own room for a good night's rest? I'll stop by and check in on her before I go to my own rooms for the night."

It was on the tip of his tongue to bar her from going anywhere near his Shelby, but he knew that he had to bide his time until it was right. Out the corner of his eye he saw Alexander standing up, murmuring to Marko what he assumed was an excuse for him to leave the dinner table as well. According to their plan, Victor would be next to leave the table.

Little did his mother know that instead of his newly turned sleeping bride that it would be Alex and Victor waiting in the Lucidio rooms for both her and Ric's arrival? When they walked into those rooms they would undoubtedly be in for quite a surprise to see that Shelby was in fact not there. Since they were part of Leo's family, Alex was under instruction to hold them there until he had finished dealing with Tatiana. It was his responsibility to deliver justice and Leo was determined to do just that.

The Council guards had already been instructed to take custody of Marko the moment that Isabella left the room. He would be held in a confinement cell so that they could make an example of him, showing the night world that the Council would act swiftly in its punishment to any rebel that decided to stand against them.

Alex was careful to assure him the vampire would die and it wouldn't be an easy death by no means. For now, that would be enough. It had to be.

Knowing that Marko was being competently handled, that only left his Tatiana, his mother and Ric. Leo had already decided that he would be the one to end his mother's treasonous life in the Lucidio rooms. He couldn't leave it to chance that she would go after his bride or his son again. He would make her death swift out of respect of which the woman was, the same person that gave him his very life- but that was all he could afford her. Anything less was left to chance and chance wasn't something that he wanted to deal with when it came to the two people that mattered most to him.

Now Ric on the other hand, that was a different story entirely. He had been tenured as a servant to his family for years. Leo had grown up with him, thinking of the vampire as more of a friend than a servant. Ric knew how much Shelby meant to him and has known for years. He was there every time Leo watched Shelby, making sure that she stayed safe until that fateful day.

It was his betrayal that hurt most because he alone knew exactly how deep Leo's feelings ran for the blond haired beauty that carried his blood in her veins. He would pay dearly, he told himself. He would make damn sure that he paid for ever even thinking about harming a single hair on his precious Shelby's head.