Bound to Me

BOUND TO ME

An Original Dark Days Story

JOCELYNN DRAKE

CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Dear Readers,

The Dark Days series has allowed me to take you on an intense journey through a very specific and important period of Mira’s life. Through the pages, there have been tears, bloodshed, and tense laughter as characters learn whom they can and cannot trust. It’s been an amazing roller-coaster ride and I’m glad that you’ve been on it with me.

However, the one request that has come up from readers on a consistent basis is a desire to see more of Mira’s past, particularly her long years with Valerio. What kind of affair could she have had with this man that results in her still wearing his ring after centuries of separation? With this short story, I will endeavor to give you a sneak peek into some of Mira’s distant past. The pre-Danaus years.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful support over the years. Mira, Danaus, and I are honored to have spent this time with you.

Jocelynn Drake

CHAPTER ONE

H
e was going to be such an easy target. I had felt the young lord’s eyes on me all evening, though he had yet to approach me. Among a field of limpid pastels and pale, wilting misses, I stood out in my dark sapphire ball gown, with its tempting glimpse at the swell of my breasts. My red hair was pulled back from my face, but spilled over my shoulders like liquid fire, catching more than a few eyes as I slowly wandered through the ballroom, nodding to one person or another with a somewhat bored smile on my lips. I was waiting for him to finally get up the nerve to close the distance between us. It was only a matter of time.

Call him to you so we can be on to other sport for the evening
, a familiar voice curled through my head.

I smiled as I headed toward the open balcony doors that led down into the extensive gardens behind the Chilton house.
I’ll not rush this hunt just to satisfy your impatience
. And yet, I purposely walked past the lord on my way to the open doorway. I smiled at him, my eyes traveling his length as I passed by, leaving no question as to the invitation that I was dropping at his feet.

Standing on the dark balcony, staring up at the clear field of stars above me, I counted the seconds until I heard someone with a deep voice clear his throat. I bit my lower lip, fighting to keep my expression bland as I turned to find that same gentleman standing just a couple of feet behind me. He was an enticing specimen in his black tails with crisp white neck cloth and shirt. His dark brown hair was unfashionably long, tied back with a bit of black ribbon, marking him as somewhat of a rebel among his class. But then again, he was still in his early twenties. So young.

“Forgive me for bothering you,” he said, bowing his head to me.

I gave an absent wave of my hand while one corner of my mouth crooked a notch higher. “It’s no bother.”

“I saw you earlier this evening and I realized that we’ve never been properly introduced. I am Bradley Stanwick, Lord of Duncaster.”

“I know who you are, your lordship,” I said softly. He took my extended hand and stiffly bowed over it while I dipped into a modest curtsy. Of course I knew who the one and only son of the Earl of Hastings, the heir to the Duncaster fortune and lands was. He had been out and about for a few seasons in London, enjoying the parties, but there was no doubt that he was still many years away from bothering to find a bride.

“Then I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage,” he admitted as he straightened. My gloved fingers slid from his hand, falling back to my side. “I am embarrassed to admit that I’ve questioned several people about you, but no one has been able to tell me your name.”

“It may be because I don’t give it out to just anyone,” I replied with a slight purr. “But since you’ve asked so nicely, I am simply called Mira.”

“But, my lady, surely you don’t mean for me, a total stranger, to call you by your given name?”

I shrugged, turning slightly away from him to look out on the garden again. “I don’t expect you to call me anything. If you wish to speak to me, you may call me Mira, but otherwise you may return to the party.”

“No, I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just that none of the other young ladies . . .”

Looking over my shoulder at him, I smiled. “As you will find, I am not like the mousy little misses that populate the balls and soirees you will be attending this season. I am quite different.”

“I’ve already begun to learn that.”

“Does that bother you?”

Bradley stepped forward and gently took my left hand in his, raising it to his lips. “Not in the least.”

“Very good. Then you can accompany me for a walk through the gardens so that we can get to know one another, without being watched by every gossipmonger in London.”

“I would enjoy that. Would you like for me to wait here for you while you summon your chaperone?”

I wanted to laugh. He was so well bred and mannered. It was almost a shame.
Almost
.

“Are you saying that I need a chaperone with you? The paths are well lit and others are walking through the garden unmolested.”

Bradley bowed to me, a smirk twisting his lips. “Of course you do not. I will be on my best behavior where you are concerned, Lady Mira. Your honor and reputation are safe in my hands.”

Matching his smirk, I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm when he straightened and allowed him to guide me into the garden, where other couples were wandering among the rose bushes and sculpted shrubs as they leaned close in whispered conversations. Torches were set at regular intervals, sending shadows dancing as the wind caused the flames to waver. Beneath my slippers, the small gravel crunched as we progressed toward a darker center of the garden. I purposefully kept the conversation light, leaving a laugh on Bradley’s lips at all times as I very carefully directed him toward a hidden niche within the garden that was blocked from the view of any passersby.

“Lady Mira, we should be careful,” he cautioned as he looked around at his darkened surroundings.

I turned and came to stand directly in front of him. Sliding my right hand up his chest, I captured his chin with my thumb and forefinger and angled his head down toward me. “Worried about your reputation?”

“A bit,” he chuckled, leaning in a little closer so that I could feel his breath dance across my lips.

“If you want, I can take you back to the party now,” I whispered, my lips grazing his.

“Nothing could drag me away from your side at this moment.”

“Be careful, I bite,” I purred.

“I’ll take my chances.” He smiled one last time before leaning in that final bit to press his warm lips against mine. I kissed him back, wrapping both of my arms around his neck as he pulled my lithe body close. I kissed him, gaining a slight moan of surprise as my tongue dipped briefly into his mouth. As his grip on me grew firmer, my lips drifted to the corner of his mouth down to his jaw, tracing a long wet line that had him tilting his head back in pleasure.

Reaching his neck, I ran my tongue over the pulse I found there while placing my hand between his warm flesh and the stiff white collar. My fangs sank deep, causing his body to stiffen for only a second in surprise and pain, before his grip tightened on me even harder. I drank deeply, while he pressed me against the entire length of his body. I could feel his erection through the material of both his pants and my dress, while a deep moan escaped him. If I was going to take his blood for my own survival, the least I could do was give him a little pleasure too.

When I withdrew my fangs from his throat and quickly healed the wound so that not a drop of blood would be found on his pristine white collar, I supported all of Bradley’s weight as he had passed out from blood loss.

“You can come out now,” I said with a bit of a sigh, as I tried to straighten with Bradley slumping over my shoulder.

“You really are old enough now to handle your own messes.” Valerio stood at the narrow entrance to the niche I was hiding in with my unconscious companion. He was a stunning sight, with the moonlight glinting off his blondish-brown hair and Mediterranean blue eyes. He wore a suit similar to Bradley’s, but where the young lord looked stiff, Valerio looked dangerous.

“You could be a gentleman, and help a lady out,” I suggested, winning me only an arched brow. “You
were
the one in a hurry to be on to the next sport.”

Valerio grabbed the young unconscious lord under the arms and carefully dragged him over to another dark section of the garden where a slim young lady lay unconscious, draped over a two-seated bench. As Valerio positioned Bradley so that his back was in one corner, allowing him to sit up, I wandered over to the young woman. She had a plain round face framed by a wealth of brown hair. I suspected that it had been at one time neatly pinned up, but Valerio had made it look as if she had been through quite a tumble in the bushes. I knew better.

I turned toward my companion to ask him about the young woman when I was suddenly swept up in his arms. His tongue plunged into my mouth, taking away the last sweet tastes of Bradley’s blood. His hands roamed my body as I dug my own fingers deep into his hair, kissing him with the same urgency.

“Did you enjoy your evening folly?” Valerio demanded in a rough voice. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he bent me so that he could press kisses to the tops of my breasts, leaving me struggling to think.

“Enjoyable enough, but it was only a taste. You’re still the main course, my dearest.” I pressed my body against his hardened body and smiled. Feeding had lit his fire as well as mine. We needed to be on to the next game: sex or violence or both.

“Then it’s time to be on our way because I have need of you,” he growled in a low voice as he dragged his fangs over one swell of my breast, nearly puncturing the tender flesh. Allowing me to straighten, he pressed one last kiss to my lips and then turned around to our sleeping companions.

“Are you sure about your choice?”

“Am I sure?” I scoffed. “Do you know who this is?” I waved one hand at Bradley in irritation.

“Obviously not,” he replied blandly, as he placed the young woman in a sitting position in Bradley’s lap while wrapping her limp arms around the unconscious man’s neck.

“If you had bothered to go to the opera with me last night, you would have gotten caught up on all the latest London gossip. He’s the only son of the Earl of Hastings; quite wealthy and expected to be attached to an equally titled family in the next few years. Who is this?”

“No one.”

“Valerio,” I chided.

He paused in placing the lord’s hand on the young woman’s thigh to look over his shoulder at me. “Emily Catchenfeld. Daughter of a wealthy shipping merchant. Doesn’t have a single title in her entire family.”

“Forgive me. You are right. She is no one,” I said, bowing my head to him while smiling. Miss Catchenfeld’s family had managed to buy their invitation to the Chilton ball purely by their wealth and wouldn’t have been lucky enough to receive an introduction to someone like Bradley. Too much of a difference in class.

Valerio stepped back to admire his handiwork. He had carefully arranged them like a pair of oversized dolls on the bench so that she was sitting in his lap with her head resting on his chest while her arms were wrapped lightly around his neck. Meanwhile, Bradley had one hand on her lower back and the other on her upper thigh.

“What do you think?”

“Almost.” I stepped forward and gently untied Bradley’s neck cloth and unbuttoned the top couple buttons of his shirt. With her hair loose and in disarray, and his clothes slightly disheveled, there was no question as to what conclusions would be drawn.

Valerio took my hand and kissed the top as I stepped back beside him. “Artful touch,
cara mia
. I believe it’s time for us to be gone, though. There are other things we need to be about.”

“Gone?” I gasped, tightening my grip on his hand. “You mean to leave now before the penultimate moment? Before discovery? This shall be such a delicious scandal. One of our best. Two lives crushed in such an instant and you want to miss their expressions when they finally realize what has happened? Why?”

“Come, my bloodthirsty angel,” Valerio said, hugging me close. “The hour is growing late and I have more entertaining things for us to do tonight. The outcome will either be a duel at dawn with the young lady’s older brother or a hasty marriage by special license. I promise that my valet will gather all the editions of the
Times
for you tomorrow so you will know the outcome of tonight’s entertainment.”

With my palms resting on his thick chest, I stared into his eyes, frowning skeptically. “You have something more entertaining in mind?”

“We shall return to our town house to get you in some men’s attire and then I shall take you to some of the best gaming hells London has to offer. There, we shall endeavor to steal a family fortune or two.”

“Mmmm . . . the town house sounds good,” I purred, leaning in and nibbling on his lower lip before kissing him

“And the gaming hells?”

“Fun as well,” I said with a shrug, my mind more on getting Valerio back to the town house and undressed. “As you wish, we’ll be off.”

Valerio chuckled softly as he pressed a kiss to my nose, undoubtedly reading the thoughts I made no effort to obscure. He tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and started to walk toward the back of the garden when he paused.

“
Cara
, the torches. This loving scene needs a little illumination.”

With a slight wave of my hand, the torches I had extinguished earlier in the evening came to life again with a slow flickering glow before reaching full brilliance again. Controlling fire had been a gift of mine since my human teenage years and I had retained the gift when I had been reborn a nightwalker. While I was despised by most of my kind as the Fire Starter, I was happy to see that Valerio seemed to take my abilities in stride as we traveled Europe in search of entertainment between assignments from the coven.

We had barely gotten away from the scene when I paused in the middle of the path and stared back at the Chilton house. My loving mentor Jabari had taught me to continuously scan the region I was in for potential threats, whether it be from other nightwalkers or from other powerful creatures that hunted my kind. A ripple of power caught my attention. It was warm and pulsing as if the power itself were alive and seeking me out.

“What’s wrong?” Valerio demanded when I stiffened.

“I sense . . . something,” I said, unable to identify what was in the region. It was as if it was calling to me, drawing me in. Lycanthropes had a similar warmth to their energy, but none had ever affected me in such a way. This was no shape-shifter. Beside me, I could feel Valerio’s cool energy sweep out past me and into the surrounding area.

“I sense nothing,” he replied quickly. “We’re alone in the immediate area. I think you just need to get back to the town house for a bit of a rest before our next escapade.”

I continued to stare toward the house. The energy I sensed had faded a bit as if the creature was moving in the opposite direction as me, but still lingered in the area. It was disturbing that Valerio couldn’t sense it, but for now there was nothing I could do about it. There were other, more entertaining things to see and do in London that night. If I encountered the energy the next night, I might pursue it, but for now it was nothing to me.