“You need to come back,” Carla said, the quiet words breaking into his thoughts.
“Your pack needs you.”
“And what about you? Do you need me?” Eli asked.
Looking him right in the eye, she said, “Like I need a hole in the head.”
There were so many things that he wanted to say to that. The anger that had initially risen up in the face of her own rage was fading, replaced by a raw, intense knot of regret. “We have a lot we need to talk about, Rey.”
“Like hell we do. All I need is you back on that mountaintop, ready to do battle, and not a damn thing more.”
“You really think we can fight together and not talk about the elephant here in the room with us?”
“I have a few conditions before I agree to let you come home.”
“You came here for me,” he pointed out. “What do you want, Reyes?”
Voice little more than a whisper, she kept her gaze locked on his and said, “I want the bond broken.”
RHYANNON BYRD is an avid longtime fan of romance and the author of more than twenty paranormal and erotic titles. She has been nominated for three RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, including best Shapeshifter Romance, and her books have been translated into nine languages. After having spent years enjoying the glorious sunshine of the American South and Southwest, Rhyannon now lives in the beautiful but often chilly county of Warwickshire in England with her husband and family. For more information on Rhyannon's books and the latest news, you can visit her website at www.rhyannonbyrd.com or find her on Facebook.
Dark Wolf Returning
Rhyannon Byrd
To the awesome readers who have given this series such wonderful support…
This one's for you!
THE BLOODRUNNERS’ LAW
When offspring are born of a union between human and Lycan, the resulting creations may only gain acceptance within their rightful pack by the act of Bloodrunning: the hunting and extermination of rogue Lycans who have taken a desire for human flesh. Thus they prove not only their strength, but their willingness to kill for those they will swear to protect to the death.
The League of Elders will predetermine the Bloodrunners’ required number of kills.
Once said number of kills are efficiently accomplished, only then may the Bloodrunner assume a place among their kin, complete with full rights and privileges.
THE DARK WOLF
A Dark Wolf bloodline is the purest of the Lycan race.
They are the most primal and powerful of their kind. Visceral. Predatory.
Creatures of instinct and hunger.
They are the potential for all things good and evil.
And they will forever act with furious vengeance to protect the ones they love.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
Love sucked. And it hurt. Like a bitch.
Carla Reyes believed this with every fiber of her being, because she’d learned it the hard way. By experience. She bore the internal scars to prove it.
But she wasn’t alone. As far as tales of pain and betrayal and heartbreak went, she knew her specific story wasn’t all that different from what had happened to thousands—make that millions—of other women around the world. At the emotional level, of course. Obviously, the fact that her mother was a werewolf, which made Carla a half-breed, added a certain edge to the situation. As did the fact that the object of her need was a male so completely and utterly alpha wolf, he’d once made other deadly Lycans literally scurry out of his path.
Now, from what she’d heard, he intimidated everyone he came across, no matter their species. Everyone but her, that is. She’d taught herself to feel nothing where Elijah Daniel Drake was concerned. And it had worked for a long time. Until her shields had been blasted to hell and back almost two weeks ago, when she’d been taken prisoner by a rival werewolf pack and overheard their battle plans before making her escape.
Now the time had come for him to make things right. Both for her...and for Eli’s birth pack, the Maryland-based Silvercrest Lycans. Failure wasn’t an option, because failure could mean the death of not only the pack, but also her friends and their loved ones. And her fellow Bloodrunners meant too much to her to sacrifice because of misplaced pride.
As Carla drove into the star-filled night, she was so tired she could almost taste the sweetness of sleep, but refused to give in. For two weeks, she’d had to struggle through injury and fatigue to find him. Tonight, he felt closer—within her reach—and she knew this was it. She was currently making her way across Louisiana, and within a mere matter of days, her search would finally be over.
Then she was going to do what she should have done the moment he’d abandoned her. She was going to end the pain once and for all. Break the connection, like a bone fracturing beneath the force of a brutal, crushing blow.
She was going to make him cut her loose...and be free.
After