Blood Vow (Blood Moon Rising) Read Online Free Page A

for this lovely Lycan bitch.”
    Lucien looked at his brother. You can’t exchange yourself for her.
    “Ten.”
    I can’t allow her to be tortured by Corbet, either.
    “Nine.”
    The ring flared. Corbet will not be able to kill me, not with the power of the ring.
    “Eight.”
    What if he takes it from you?
    “Seven.”
    I would have to give it to him; he cannot take it.
    “Six.”
    Damn it, Rafa!
    I’ll make the exchange. I owe it to her. You take the packs and go after Falon. I’ll catch up.
    “Five.”
    I’m not leaving you here. He’ll kill you.
    “Four.”
    Go damn it!
    “Three.”
    Rafe!
    “Two.”
    Tell Falon I loved her!
    “One!”
    “I’ll make the exchange, Corbet!” Rafael said, leaping onto the deck.
    Damn you, Rafe!
    Go, Lucien. Now, before it’s too late!
    Ignoring his brother’s command, Lucien swam deeper beneath the dock. The packs followed.
    “Rafael Vulkasin, the mighty alpha whose honor has kept him from true greatness!” Corbet bellowed, his voice reverberating beneath the pilings. “Do you know why you will lose the battle of evermore?”
    Silence.
    Lucien moved farther away from the dock, giving the impression they were leaving.
    “You will lose because you allow your honor to get in the way of what needs to be done.” He laughed. “Take this little Lycan here. Did you really think I would release her?”
    “You have no honor, Corbet,” Rafe snarled.
    “Precisely. It is why I have the power and you and your chosen one are bound in silver chains like hogs going to market.”
    Lucien crawled up a piling fifty yards down from where the Slayers held Rafe and Anja hostage. As the packs gathered around him, he gave them instructions, and they quickly got to work.
    Shifting to wolves, with their jaws, they picked up the poisoned swords they had brought with them by the hilts. And like shadows, Lucien followed by the two sergeants at arms went one way, and the poison-sword-bearing packs back to where they had just came from.
    Stealthily, Lucien made his way to the dockmaster’s shack, rendered the guard unconscious, and snatched the keys for the giant crane midway down the pier and the two semis parked beneath the guard shack.
    Before he slipped from the guard shack, Lucien shifted to human, disarmed the alarms, and tossed keys to Joachim and Anton.
    “Drive the semis full throttle down the pier straight into those bastards,” he whispered.
    As the diesels roared to life, Lucien leapt the entire thirty-yard distance to the large crane operator’s deck. In seconds it roared to life.
    That ring had better have enough power to save your ass, brother, because I’m going to level that deck and everything on it, Lucien warned.
    Manuvering the controls, he unlocked the heavy chain with a one-ton metal hook hanging from the end. In a deadly swath he whipped the heavy hook around, and as it swung dangerously across the deck, crashing into and toppling several containers, the semis barreled directly at the Slayers.
    The bastards scattered as the Mack trucks headed straight toward Rafe and Anja, who were tied together and hanging like a smoked ham from the smaller crane near the metal sword container. As the heavy chain and hook came lumbering around toward them, Lucien roared and leapt from the operator’s seat to the lumberous hook as it wobbled wildly out of control. Grasping the chain for balance, he hunched down as it swung directly toward his brother who struggled to get out of the silver lasso cocooning him and Anja. Just as Lucien reached down to grab him, Rafael burst out of the chains. Grabbing Anja, Rafe leapt high into the air and grabbed the chain above Lucien as it swung backward, then slid down onto the hook beside him.
    Once Rafe was safely out of harm’s way, the remaining pack rose from the darkness and hurled the poison swords at the Slayers as they reestablished their dominance on deck. Within minutes dozens dropped to the concrete, immobile. The packs swarmed on