Of Blood and Bond: A Curse of Blood Serial (Hartford Cove Book 8) Read online

  OF BLOOD AND BOND

  A CURSE OF BLOOD SERIAL | PART 8

  L. L. FROST

  OF BLOOD AND BOND

  Copyright © 2022 by L.L. Frost

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover design by L.L. Frost

  Book design by L.L. Frost

  Printed in the United States of America.

  First Printing, 2022

  CONTENTS

  The Rowe Sitter

  Feels Like Home

  New Friend Old Friends

  Ruh Roh Rowe

  Blessings Before Freak-Outs

  Dusk Time Talks

  Leashed By The Guts

  Salt the Land

  Safe Space, Jail Place

  Dance Under the Moon

  Of Blood and Bonds

  From the Author

  Also by L.L. Frost

  About the Author

  THE ROWE SITTER

  Come to me, Rowe. My mother’s voice seems to come from all around me, as the cold, ocean water sweeps over my calves.

  Then the tug in my guts changes, and I lurch to the side just as Haut lunges at me from behind. He crashes into an oncoming wave headfirst and flounders as he tries to escape.

  “Stop playing around, Greyson!” I shout as I march down the beach.

  Another howl fills the air.

  Finally, someone who can get the job done right!

  “Tris!” I shriek at the top of my lungs. “Come show Greyson how to save a damsel in distress!”

  Wolf Haut escapes the ocean and sneezes before shaking his head, spraying water all over my scantily covered backside. In just my underwear and chemise, the icy drops freeze against my bare skin.

  “Bad wolf.” I try to swat at him, but my feet keep carrying me farther away.

  Tris howls again, and I throw back my head to howl in return, just in case he doesn’t know exactly where I am. Which, come to think of it, I don’t know where I am, either. I was never allowed to play down by the water on account of not knowing how to swim and my habit of vanishing from adult supervision.

  Logically, I know Hartford Cove is in the opposite direction as the water, but how far does the beach go? If Haut keeps frolicking with the waves instead of getting his soaked ass in gear, will I just walk forever around the entire ocean? Or does it have a definitive end? Will it run into the woods? Do trees grow in the water? Is there a water forest up ahead?

  That path of thoughts sends my pulse racing with panic again, and I shout. “I’m just gonna sit down, since you guys are so slow!”

  And I try. I really do. But my knees refuse to fold and no amount of hip shimmying will change that. I pass a piece of driftwood and grab for a spindly branch that sticks out toward me, but it just breaks off in my fingers.

  Then, wolf Haut lunges in front of me, the moonlight glittering off the water droplets on his fur and making him shimmer like a mirage. He shoves his head against my stomach, knocking the air out of me as my feet leave the ground.

  Definitely not my imagination!

  The star-filled sky fills my vision before I crash to the ground, wheezing as I struggle not to die.

  My lungs refuse to fill with air, but the tug on my guts demands I stand. Come to me, Rowe.

  Wheezing, I push to my feet and try to walk through the space Haut occupies.

  That goes about as well as trying to walk through the door earlier.

  Haut shoves me back down and sits on my hips, using his crushing body weight to stop me from getting back up. My feet shove against the sand, trying without success to keep me moving.

  Tris’s lovable wolfdog face appears above me, his tongue out as he pants.

  “My hero,” I wheeze, reaching up to hug him.

  With a soft whine, he licks my face before stepping out of my embrace to shift back to human. “What the hell, Rowe?”

  “My mom’s dead spirit has possessed my lower half!” I wail, feet still kicking.

  His brows pinch together. “Aren’t all spirits, by default, dead?”

  “Not the time!” I yell up at him.

  Haut, the helpful monster, shoves his cold snout against my stomach, nosing under my chemise to snuffle wetly at my skin. Which tickles like no one’s business.

  Laughing, I shove at his head. “Stop! Why are you doing that?”

  He snorts wet liquid—which I pretend is all saltwater from the ocean—onto my stomach before his head lifts, and he stares off in the direction I was heading.

  “Yes, you look very regal in the moonlight.” I shove at his broad chest. “Now, get off me. You smell like wet dog.”

  Haut ignores me as he looks directly at Tris, chuffs, and plants a massive paw on my chest.

  “What the hell does that mean?” I squeak out, Haut’s claws way too close to my boobs for comfort.

  “I think he wants me to hold you down?” Tris offers.

  Haut’s snout drops to point to Tris’s dangly bits, and his lips peel back in a growl.

  “And he wants me to de-nakedfy myself.” Tris shakes his head. “Why is everyone always telling me to cover my junk when you all run around naked?”

  Haut’s growl grows in volume, and Tris sighs before his form folds in on itself and sprouts fur.

  “Wow, you’re really getting good at that,” I praise. “I bet you’ll be better than Haut soon.”

  Haut bends and growls into my face before licking all the places Tris did earlier. Only after I’m completely saturated in wolfy saliva does he climb off me.

  Immediately, I try to sit up, but Tris pounces on top of me like a good savior, putting all of his weight on my rascally legs to stop them from kidnapping me.

  As soon as Haut’s sure I’m not running off anywhere, he takes off down the beach in the direction I was heading, following some invisible trail only he can see. Or maybe smell? I tentatively sniff the air, and Tris raises his nose to join in.

  All I smell is saltwater and seaweed. I stare up at my friend. “Anything?”

  He shakes his head, the name tag around his neck jingling.

  The cold night air raises goose bumps on my skin, my almost nonexistent clothes doing nothing to keep me warm.

  I pat my chest in invitation. “Give me some of that beautiful fur.”

  Tris shifts around until he sprawls on top of me, his head on my chest and his warm nose under my chin.

  I wrap my arms around his head and scratch his ears. “Crazy night we’re having, huh?”

  The tug in my stomach increases, and I wince.

  Tris whines and wiggles farther up my body to snuffle around my face.

  “I’ll be okay.” I wince again and hug him tighter. “Sing for me?”

  Lifting his head, he howls softly, his volume fluctuating.

  From the direction of the town, more howls join him in an eerie melody. Now, this is real magic. I sigh, relax beneath Tris, and focus on the stars.

  Slowly, the tug in my gut eases, then stops altogether, and my feet stop kicking at the sand.

  As th
e need to follow the summons of my dead mother vanishes, exhaustion sweeps in to take its place.

  “Rowe?” Owen’s voice fills the air. “Rowe, where are you?”

  “More ghosts calling my name,” I sigh.

  Tris stops singing to bark sharply.

  “Shh,” I hiss. “You’ll draw the ghost to us.”

  Too late, though, as I feel the vibration in the sand from feet running toward us.

  A moment later, Owen falls to his knees beside me, panting softly. He reaches out to cup my cold cheek, and his skin feels like it’s on fire. “Oh, honey, what happened?”

  I blink to clear the heavy feeling from my eyelids, though it doesn’t help much. “My mom was calling to me.”

  He smooths back my hair. “Dr. Lopez said you might hallucinate.”

  “It wasn’t a hallucination,” I insist. “My mom’s ghost possessed my legs and tried to walk me into the ocean so the fish could feast on my organs.”

  His touch gentles even more. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “The ocean water on my feet is real, and you know how I feel about going into the ocean.”

  “Come on, let’s get you back inside.” He tries to move Tris off me, but my BFF drops his head next to mine and refuses to move.

  “Haut put him on guard duty,” I tell Owen.

  Owen glances up and down the strip of beach. “Where is he?”

  “Probably in the ocean forest by now,” I surmise since he’s been gone a while.

  “Ocean forest?” Confusion fills Owen’s voice.

  “It was my guess for how the beach ends,” I tell him. “No good? Trees don’t grow in the ocean?”

  “Not here, no.” He settles cross-legged on the sand. “It rises into a mountain farther down, and the beach just vanishes. Hartford cove is in the valley between two mountains. The forest goes in both directions for quite a while. There’s a logging restriction on the area, so we’re safe from being found.”

  “Until the barrier fails,” I mutter.

  “We have time.” Owen glances up at the moon, which is dangerously close to full. “I’ll have to leave tomorrow.”

  “Where do you go?” I ask, unsettled by the fact that Owen has to leave Hartford Cove or risk hurting those around him.

  “Into the mountains to the south.” He points down the coast. “It’s only for three days.”

  I bite my lip before asking, “And Haut goes with you?”

  “Usually.” He glances down the beach in the direction Haut ran off, and his expression looks troubled. “He might not go this time.”

  Because of me. And that will put the whole town in danger. “I can take care of myself for three days.”

  He looks down at me, and though I can’t see his face any longer, I can feel the skepticism oozing off him.

  “What are the odds of my mom trying to possess me again?” I ask.

  When he stays silent, I huff. “Fine, Tris will babysit me. Look at how good he is at sitting on me already.”

  Tris lifts his head a couple inches then flops back down with a chuff.

  “Yes, he’s very good at the sitting,” Owen acknowledges.

  A loud bark comes from down the beach, and a moment later, Haut slides to a stop beside me, spraying sand everywhere.

  I snap my eyes shut, thankful that Tris’s body blocks me from most of it.

  When I open my eyes again, Haut the human crouches on my other side.

  “Hey, did you find any—” I cut off as he unceremoniously shoves Tris to the side. “Hey, be nice—”

  Haut grabs me by one arm and one leg and lifts me across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Which, let me tell you, is not as comfortable as it looks in the movies.

  “Hey!” I slap his broad back, which makes a satisfying noise since he’s naked. “I can walk!”

  “You’ve done enough of that tonight,” he grunts as he strides back toward the house.

  “What did you find?” Owen demands, taking long steps to keep up with Haut.

  “Nothing.” Haut bounces me into a better position, making me squeak like a dog toy. “The spell faded before I got far. I think someone was trying to summon her.”

  “That shouldn’t be possible, right?” Owen glances back at me, where I hang sideways, head pointed toward the sand, and I glare at him for allowing this indignity to continue.

  “It has to be that Bryant guy,” Haut says, making me forget my discomfort as a chill runs through me. “He’s the only one with access to her possessions, right?”

  Owen drops back a step to walk near my head. “Rowe, did you leave behind photographs of yourself in your apartment?”

  I blow out a hard breath to push the hair away from my face. “You’ve seen what we brought. We left everything behind.”

  Haut curses. “This is bad. That means he has pictures, probably a hairbrush, and now he has a witch trying to summon Rowe, and the barrier is too weak to stop him, which means the forgetting spell is weakening, too.”

  I clutch Haut’s side. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that everyone who ever visited Hartford Cove will soon remember exactly how to find us.” His tone turns grim. “Practice time is over. We need the barrier reinforced now.”

  “But…” I sputter hair from my mouth. “I’m not ready.”

  “You have to be.” His hold on me tightens almost painfully. “We don’t have time to wait.”

  FEELS LIKE HOME

  Owen quickens his pace to step in front of Haut. “You can’t force her to perform the ritual now. She doesn’t even know the spell.”

  Haut steps around his Beta. “It’s in English. She can just read it.”

  “What about the other components?” Owen jumps in front of him again. “You’re rushing into this.”

  “Someone just tried to summon Rowe out of Hartford Cove!” Haut roars, his rage filling the air. “If we wait, they could try again, and they might succeed.”

  “So we stick to the original plan,” Owen says in a cool voice, his calm a balance for Haut’s anger. “The withdrawal symptoms aren’t as bad as Dr. Lopez feared. Rowe’s making progress. She’ll memorize the dance, and then she can learn the spell, and we’ll do this the right way.”

  “And if that bastard tries to summon her again?” Haut growls.

  “Then we stop him again.” Owen smiles down at me. “She’s a tiny thing. Sitting on her worked just fine.”

  My head is starting to pound from being slightly upside down, but that doesn’t mean I can’t glare up at him like no one’s business. “I have a lot of thoughts about that last part, Owen Hartford, and as soon as all the blood in my body goes back to where it belongs, I’ll be telling you about them.”

  He grins. “I look forward to it.”

  “Neither of you are taking this seriously enough.” Haut climbs up a sand dune, bouncing me unnecessarily hard and making me squeak some more. “What if I hadn’t woken in time to stop Rowe from walking right out of town?”

  “I think that begs the question of why you were sleeping when you were supposed to be on watch,” Owen murmurs, his gaze focused ahead.

  Since he can probably use his wolfy sense of smell to know what Haut and I were doing in the sanctuary, he’s just antagonizing the Alpha. And since I’m currently at the Alpha’s mercy and taking the brunt of his displeasure, that’s not okay. I punch out at Owen with my free hand, but he deftly steps out of range.

  I try again, fist hitting only air, and hiss with frustration. “Come closer, you coward!”

  Owen ignores me to needle Haut some more. “Maybe you’re not the best one to be watching her, since your mate bond isn’t solidified?”

  A low growl vibrates through my body as Haut snarls. “Watch what you say to me.”

  I force out a laugh. “What are you talking about? We’re super solid.” I pat Haut’s very firm backside. “Solid as a rock.”

  Owen glances down at me, and even in the moonlight, I can see
the pity in his eyes.

  “So, what do you suggest?” Haut snaps. “Tris isn’t good for staying on task, and you’ll be out of commission until after the full moon.”

  “Don’t you mean you’ll both be out of commission?” I wheeze, my head pounding harder, and the shoulder in my stomach beginning to make me feel like I’ll puke.

  And wouldn’t that just be a wonderful end to a horrible evening?

  Owen glances at Haut, who doesn’t respond.

  I pinch his side, though with all that muscle, I don’t get much of a grip. “You’re going with Owen and the others.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” he grunts.

  “It’s too dangerous for you to stay here.” Since pinching wasn’t effective, I smack his bare ass hard enough to make my palm sting. “Be a good Alpha and go!”

  Haut smacks my ass just as hard in retaliation, and I yelp in pain. The shape of his hand stays behind in a fiery, stinging patch on my flesh. Instantly, his broad palm rubs the spot, his fingers slipping beneath my underwear in the process, and despite the chill in the air, the rest of me begins to heat.

  Oh, no. I’m getting turned on after he spanked me. Please don’t say this is a new kink. I don’t like pain.

  Owen clears his throat. “What about the brigade?”

  I yank on Haut’s elbow to get his hand off my ass. “I vote yes for the brigade. Jesse will whip me into shape before you guys return. He’s a good leader.”

  Haut’s hand on my ass tightens, making me yelp again.

  “But not as good a leader as you, I’m sure.” I pat his hip. “Such a good Alpha.”

  “There are three of them, which is two more than you. They’ll be able to guard her twenty-four seven ,” Owen adds as they step into the shadowed backyard of our house. “They’re good people, which you’d know if you interacted more with the townspeople.”