Bound (A Faery Story 1)

problems for Beck. He was going to have to figure out a way to bring

in some steady income because he didn’t want Meg to feel she had to

keep the house. She was a bondmate, not a housewife. He made up

his mind to talk to Dante. Susan Dellacourt had told him she was

always interested in his services. The vampire companies had long-

reaching arms and always had some strange security problem

clogging up the roads of trade. He might be able to make decent

money that way.

In the back of his mind, he knew once word got out that he and

Cian had bonded, the loyalists would come calling. They would offer

him a lot to lead the attempt to reclaim Tir na nÒg . Beck was sure

they would come, and the pressure would be on. He would have a

decision to make, and now it didn’t seem like a clear one.

Once he would have done anything to get the chance to avenge his

father. Was he willing to risk Meg? For the first time since he was

seventeen, it seemed to Beck that he might have a future. It would be

a very different one than he was raised for, but it was his. He could

have a good life with Meg and Cian, and eventually their children. All

of that could be lost if he gambled on taking back his crown.

Beck shook off the dark thoughts. That was a worry for another

day. Today he needed to feed them, and that was all that mattered. He

Bound

111

hoped Cian hadn’t managed to kill all their chickens while he was

busy fading. Beck walked out the back and down to the chicken coop

where he selected a particularly healthy hen and proceeded to

efficiently chop her head off.

The hen was fat and would make a good meal. The day might

have started rough, but if it ended with a full belly and a warm bed,

Beck would call it perfect.