Stroke of Midnight - Lara Adrian Page 0,38
Blacktop Cowboys ® Novella
TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian
A Midnight Breed Novella
THE FLAME by Christopher Rice
A Desire Exchange Novella
CARESS OF DARKNESS by Julie Kenner
A Dark Pleasures Novella
Also from Evil Eye Concepts:
TAME ME by J. Kenner
A Stark International Novella
THE SURRENDER GATE By Christopher Rice
A Desire Exchange Novel
SERVICING THE TARGET By Cherise Sinclair
A Masters of the Shadowlands Novel
Bundles:
BUNDLE ONE
Includes:
Forever Wicked by Shayla Black
Crimson Twilight by Heather Graham
Captured in Surrender by Liliana Hart
Silent Bite by Tina Folsom
BUNDLE TWO
Includes:
Dungeon Games by Lexi Blake
Azagoth by Larissa Ione
Need You Now by Lisa Renee Jones
Show My, Baby by Cherise Sinclair
BUNDLE THREE
Includes:
Roped In by Lorelei James
Tempted By Midnight by Lara Adrian
The Flame by Christopher Rice
Caress of Darkness by Julie Kenner
Don’t miss the newest novel in the New York Times best-selling Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian!
BOUND TO DARKNESS
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Chapter 1
Titanium spikes slashed the fighter’s face, spraying blood across the floor of the steel cage and thrilling the crowd of cheering spectators inside the underground fighting arena. Gritty industrial music pounded from the dance club upstairs, bringing the din to a deafening pitch as the long match between the pair of Breed males built toward its finish.
Carys Chase stood near the front, among the throng of avid spectators as Rune’s fist connected with his opponent’s face again. More shouts and applause erupted for the undefeated champion of Boston’s most brutal arena.
The fights were technically illegal, but highly lucrative. And since the outing of the Breed to their terrified human neighbors twenty years ago, there were few sporting events more popular than the outlawed gladiator-style matches pitting a pair of six-and-a-half foot, three-hundred pound vampires against each other in a closed, steel mesh cage.
Blood was essential to Carys and her race, but sometimes it seemed mankind was even more thirsty for it. Especially when the spillage was restricted to members of the Breed.
Although even Carys had to admit that watching a vampire like Rune fight was a thing of beauty. He was dangerous grace and lethal savagery.
And he was hers.
For the past seven weeks—since the night she’d stepped into La Notte with a small group of friends and first saw Rune battling inside the cage—they had been practically inseparable. She had fallen fast and hard and deep, and hadn’t looked back for a second.
Much to her parents’ dismay. They and her twin brother, Aric, had all but forbade her to see Rune, basing their judgment on his profession and reputation alone. They didn’t know him. They didn’t want to know him either, and that hurt. It pissed her off.
Which is why, with a full head of steam and a stubborn streak inherited from both of her parents, Carys had recently moved out of the Chase family Darkhaven and in with her best friend, Jordana Gates.
Leaving home to get her own place hadn’t gone over well, particularly with her father, Sterling Chase. As the commander of the Order’s presence in Boston, he, along with the Order’s founder, Lucan Thorne, and the other district commanders, were the de facto keepers of the peace between the Breed and mankind. No easy task in good times, let alone the precarious ones they lived in now.
Carys understood her father’s concern for her safety and wellbeing. She only wished he could understand that she was a grown woman with her own life to lead.
Even if that life included a Breed male who chose to make his living in the arena.
All around her now, the spectators chanted their champion’s name. “Rune! Rune! Rune!”
Carys joined in, awed by his domination of the fighting ring even as the woman in her cringed every time fists smashed on flesh and bone, regardless of who was on the receiving end. And she could admit, at least to herself, that being in love with him had made her hope for the day he might decide to climb out of the cage for good.
No one had ever beaten Rune—and more than a few had died trying.
He prowled the cage with fluid motion, naked except for the arena uniform of brown leather breeches and fingerless gloves bristling with titanium spikes. The sharp metal ensured every blow was a spectacle of shredding flesh and breaking bone for the pleasure of the crowd.
Also crafted primarily for the entertainment of the sport’s patrons was the U-shaped steel torc around the fighters’ necks. Each combatant had the option of hitting a mercy button inside the cage, which would deliver a debilitating jolt of electricity to his opponent’s collar, halting