T. Grey - Ties That Bind

To everyone who has enjoyed The Bellum Sisters as much as I have.

Thank you to my beta readers who have answered my questions and helped me to perfect this book. Without your help, I wouldn’t be able to do this. Thank you to Regina Wamba for creating such beautiful covers for The Bellum Sister’s books, and to Tomas for helping translate and pronounce some Irish.

Dargen – Demonic assassins

Dreenaru finishama slinah – Demonic for “You feel incredible”

Dreenaru gina slinah – Demonic for “You are incredible”

Frika – Demonic for “fuck”

Haute – Royal shahoulin demons

idumm i – A bottom feeding demon from the deepest layer under the rift. They are aggressive and easily manipulated creatures with poisonous talons.

Krishnoe! – Demonic for “Silence!”

lilit – A demonic term for a succubus.

new moon – The time when a succubus grows into sexual maturity.

prolitare – Non-royal shahoulin demons.

Protector – The male in charge of protecting and caring for a succubus

rift – The division between earth and the nether-realm where demons reside. The rift is guarded by the Atal Warriors.

shahoulin – A breed of demon that lives at the top of the rift. They have unique powers to save and destroy life.

To my youngest daughter,

my sweet and smart Lily,

I bequeath to you our home in Louisiana

and all of my books to be added to your library.

Most importantly,

I deem that on the day of your 29th birthday

in the year of 2012,

that you will be put into the Protection of

the demon Telal Demuzi;

to be protected by,

to facilitate a relationship with,

and to mate and breed with.

This I so order on the 8th of May, 2010.

Signed, dated and ordered at the event of my death.

Sir Francis Jeremiah Bellum

May 8th, 2010

“Go long!”

The football whizzed through the air like a bullet. The group sprinted into action, bodies slamming together, dodging left or right with grunts and laughs.

Lily Bellum sprinted down the makeshift field, Draven only a few feet ahead of her. He turned back to her, his long silver hair blowing behind him, and grinned.

“Don't you do it!” she warned, pumping her legs faster.

His grin split into a shit-eating one and then he turned invisible.

“Fuck. Dammit, I said no powers!”

The football arched through the air slowly drifting down towards the other end of the field. Lily clamped her lips shut and bore through the burn in her muscles. No way was she letting him get that football.

The football stalled about six feet from the ground then moved in his invisible grasp. Now only a floating football ran furiously for the finish line. Lily narrowed her eyes on the floating football and quickly chanted in her mind.

Power surged inside her; warm like sun on her skin, and then her legs took her across the field at an unnatural speed. She closed in on the ball.

“I got you, you bastard.”

The ball stopped for a moment as if he'd turned back to look at her, and then raced off again with a boost of speed like he had NOS strapped to his back. Draven crossed the finish line and reappeared holding the ball and sporting a huge grin.

Lily glared at him and didn't stop running. His eyes widened at her. When she didn't stop charging towards him he took a step back holding his hands out in front of him.

“Now, Lily, it's just a ga—”

Lily slammed into him in a full-on tackle, catching him in the chest and planting his back into the dirt with a satisfying thump. She perched on top of him breathing hard but smiling like a fool.

She tore the football out of his hands as he dragged in wheezing breaths. “My birthday means I win.”

“No fair,” he gasped.

She smiled brightly and hopped off of him. “I stopped playing fair when you used powers.”

Shaking his head, he slowly lumbered to a stand. “You used magic, too. How else did you catch me?”

She ignored the question and merely cocked a brow. “My awesome leg strength of course.”

The rest of the crowd came forward. “Team Lily wins!” Half the team cheered while the other moaned.

“You won because I was on your team,” Willow said. Willow just had her baby the month before, a gorgeous baby girl whom she and Lyonis couldn't decide on a name for, and already her energy was coming back in full force. She had been the rowdiest of the bunch when they started the game. The fierce competitive gleam in her eyes still shone as she propped her hands on her hips.

“Time for presents,” Willow said.

The group milled around the buffet table that held an assortment of meats, cakes, alcohol and, of course, presents. Lily took her seat and ordered everyone to sit in a circle with her.

Chloe grabbed her present off the table first, a wicked grin on her face. Lily took it with a mixture of apprehension and glee. Her sister could be bad when she wanted to.

As Lyonis and Tyrian broke into an argument over fighting tactics, Lily tore into her present. She’d never been very patient with gifts. She’d always felt a certain amount of embarrassment opening gifts in front of others so she found it best just to tear into it and get it done with. She opened the gift and started laughing.

She held up the black lingerie for everyone to see complete with a bustier, garters, and black stockings. The best part was the lettering just underneath the bust which read “bite me” in cursive.

The half-demon, half-vampire Rayn leaned close to her with a sensual smile. “Any time you wish to try that on let me know, lilit .”

“I’ll try it on if you do.” His grin faltered then he started laughing. Turning to Chloe she said, “Why the ‘bite me?’ Not that I don’t appreciate its merit, of course.”

Chloe’s brow pinched forward. “Don’t demons bite or something?”

The crowd burst with laughter. “No darling, just vampires,” Tyrian said. Her sister blushed under her mate’s warm look and shrugged.

“No worries, I love it. I’m sure he’ll still do some biting.”

The next box came from Willow and had a pair of boxing gloves—for fighting the demon, of course—and a snow globe of New Orleans, Louisiana; her favorite city. Draven gave her a dagger that looked so sharp she didn’t bother taking it out of the case lest she make a fool of herself. Not that she normally minded such a thing, but recently, she’d been on edge. Strange dreams, strange feelings which she didn’t know what to make of.

Lucinda, Draven’s new mate, gave her a beautifully made leather-bound book that nearly strained her muscles when she lifted it. Eyes lighting up, she opened the pages to find them blank with paper thicker than normal and painted a cream-color.

Lucinda smiled, pleased at her reaction. “A spell book for whatever you want to use it for. Your potion recipes, for instance. I hope you like it.” She’d changed much since she and Draven had gotten together. No longer did she wear suffocating gowns from the Victorian Age but now wore an array of shorts, skirts, tanks, and flip-flops. Still she spoke quietly in that reserved way—unless she was laughing, then the woman sounded like a horse. Lily thanked her from the bottom of her heart and went to the last gift from her dearest friend, Rosa el Blanco.