BLOODBOUND

Chapter Three - The Blood Oath

I stared at the photograph until the words on the back began to blur.

THE BLOODLINE HAS FINALLY AWAKENED.

My mother.

She was standing beside a man I had never seen before, both of them looking directly at the camera.

But that wasn’t what frightened me. It was the mark on my mother’s wrist.

A black crescent surrounded by a thin red line. I had the exact same mark.

I had always thought it was a strange birthmark.My fingers trembled as I touched my wrist.

“Where did you get that?”

I jumped.

Alexander was standing behind me.

I spun around.

“You followed me?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

His jaw tightened.

“Because you’re in danger.”

I laughed nervously.

“You keep saying that, but you won’t tell me why.”

“I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“Then tell me the truth!”

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then his eyes dropped to my wrist.

His expression changed.

“You have it.”

“What?”

“The mark.”

I stepped backward.

“What does it mean?”

Alexander walked toward me slowly.

“It means your mother was part of something she spent her entire life trying to escape.”

“What?”

“The Vale bloodline.”

I frowned.

“Your family?”

He nodded.

“My family.”

The room suddenly felt too small.

“What does my mother have to do with your family?”

Alexander’s expression became darker.

“Everything.”

Before I could ask another question, the lights went out.

The campus fell into darkness. A scream echoed from somewhere down the hallway.

Then another.

Alexander immediately grabbed my hand.

“Stay behind me.”

“What’s happening?”

“Don’t move.”

A loud crash came from the entrance.

Alexander reached inside his jacket. I froze when I saw the gun.

“You have a gun?”

His eyes remained fixed on the doorway.

“I told you I wasn’t just a billionaire.”

The door exploded inward.

Three men rushed into the room.

Alexander moved faster than I could process.

He pulled me behind him as the first shot rang through the air.

I screamed.

Everything happened at once.

Glass shattered.

Students ran.

Someone shouted.

Alexander fought with a terrifying calmness, like he had done this countless times before.

Then one of the men looked directly at me.

His face went pale.

“There she is.”

Alexander stopped.

The man’s eyes locked onto mine.

“The blood heir.”

My heart stopped.

Alexander turned toward me.

For the first time since I’d met him, he looked genuinely terrified.

“Run.”

I couldn’t move.

“Alexander…”

“RUN!”

Another gunshot echoed through the building.

Alexander grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the back exit.

We raced through the dark hallway.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere they can’t reach you.”

“Who are they?”

He didn’t answer.

We reached the parking garage. A black SUV waited with its engine running.

Alexander opened the passenger door.

I stopped.

“No.”

He stared at me.

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand enough.”

I pulled my hand away.

“I don’t know you.”

His expression hardened.

“You don’t know yourself either.”

Silence.

Then he stepped closer.

His voice dropped.

“Your mother made a blood oath with my family twenty-one years ago.”

My breath caught.

“What kind of oath?”

Alexander looked directly into my eyes.

“The kind that binds two bloodlines together.”

He reached for my wrist.

The moment his fingers touched the mark, it burned.

I gasped.

A faint red glow appeared beneath my skin.

Alexander’s face went completely still.

Then his own wrist began to glow.

The same mark.

The same blood-red light.

I stared at him in horror.

“What is happening?”

Alexander looked at our wrists.

Then back at me.

“It has begun.”

“What has begun?”

He stepped closer.

“The blood oath.”

The mark burned brighter.

And somewhere in the distance, a terrifying howl echoed through the night.

Alexander’s eyes lifted toward the darkness.

“They’ve found you.”

I swallowed.

“Who?”

His answer sent a chill through my entire body.

“The people who have been hunting your blood for twenty-one years.”

He opened the SUV door.

“Get in.”

I hesitated.

“Why should I trust you?”

Alexander looked at me for a long moment.

“You shouldn’t.”

Then he pulled out his phone.

The screen showed a photograph.

My photograph.

Taken that morning.

Outside my campus.

Underneath it was a message:

BRING HER TO US BEFORE MIDNIGHT… OR WE KILL EVERYONE SHE LOVES.

My blood ran cold.

Alexander looked at me.

“Now you understand.”

I climbed into the car.

The door slammed shut.

And as the SUV disappeared into the night, I realized something terrifying.

The man I was running away with might be the most dangerous man in the city.

But he was also the only man standing between me…

…and whatever was coming for my blood.