Blood-Bonded by Force Read Online Free Page A

burst of red powder shot out of Dev’s locker and splatted against his bare chest and face.
    With a ha-whoop, Gábor fell off his bench.
    Breen clunked his forehead against the locker, his shoulders full-on shaking now.
    “What the hell ?!” Dev snapped.
    “Whoa,” Thomal said. “You look like an Om Rău got the squirts on you, man.” Thomal, Dev’s best friend, had tried to dead-pan that, but his lips were twitching pretty badly.
    “Okay, guys, we need to watch our asses here.” Sedge Stănescu, a better-looking version of the WWF wrestler Hulk Hogan, cracked open his own locker and peeked inside.
    “Nah, the rest of us don’t need to worry.” Arc, the older and slightly taller of the Costache brothers, threw open his locker without incident. “This is just Ãlex using his special effects skills to mess with Jaċken and Dev. His two brothers-in-law.”
    Nỵko made a ah noise of understanding. Ãlex Parthen had bonded with black-haired, sweetheart Vârcolac, Luvera—sister to Dev, who was now vaguely Clifford the Dog looking—a week ago, and Ãlex’s sister Tonĩ Parthen, illustrious co-leader of this refuge underground community called Ţărână, was wife to Frosty the Snowman over there. Guess this was how Ãlex said “howdy” to his relations.
    “I’m going to rip Ãlex’s head off,” Dev snarled.
    Arc looked taken aback. “You can’t do that. This was a prank, Nichita. You have to prank him back.”
    Dev’s eyebrows bunched together.
    Arc frowned. “Didn’t you ever joke around with Luvera when you two were growing up?”
    “She’s a girl .”
    And all but ignored in the Nichita household her whole life. Nỵko pulled on his workout shirt. Kind of wished he’d known that about Luvera. He would’ve made an effort to talk to her more, even though his vow of celibacy generally had him keeping his interactions with the fairer sex on a hi, how’re you doing today? level and not much more.
    Arc turned toward Jaċken and Nỵko. “Didn’t you guys prank each other?”
    Nỵko shrugged. “Not really.” Nỵko, Jaċken, and their younger brother, Shọn, had been born and raised in Oţărât, the neighboring underground town of the demon Om Rău race. Life had been cruddy enough there without them messing with each other.
    “Unbelievable.” Arc rolled his eyes. “Well, we”—he gestured back and forth between himself and Thomal—“used to pull shit on each other all of the time.” A light of amusement brightened in Arc’s eyes as he kept his focus on Thomal. “Remember when I put pink hair dye in your shampoo?”
    Thomal chuckled. “I looked like a punk rocker for a week. Till I got sick of it and shaved my head.”
    Arc and Thomal laughed together in brotherly camaraderie.
    Hmm . Maybe Nỵko should have pranked his brothers.
    A knock interrupted them. “Hey there,” Tonĩ Parthen called out. “May I come in?” The locker room door cracked open. “Everyone decent?”
    When no one protested, Tonĩ stepped all the way inside. She was dressed professionally in brown pants and a silky-looking blue blouse that matched her eyes. The top half of her strawberry blonde hair was tied back, the rest left to drape her shoulders. “Jaċken, I need you to—my God.” Her brows rose into a high arc. “Why do you look like you barely survived a Johnson’s Baby Powder factory mishap?”
    The warriors chortled.
    Jaċken’s voice was brittle with annoyance. “This is your brother’s idea of a damned joke.”
    “Ãlex did this? Uh, oh, you’d better not get it wet, then.”
    “Aw, hell!” Thomal shouted toward the showers. “Nichita!”
    Dev reappeared into the main part of the locker room, the sound of water running behind him. He was naked as the day he was born, except for the twinkle of his trademark gold hoop earring in his left lobe. He spread his arms to show off a soaking wet body now stained with dripping red lava-marks. “What is this stuff, anyway?”
    Another raucous