Book Spotlight: Betrayal Bites by Mandi Casey

Betrayal Bites

by

Mandi Casey

Sydney Sedrick, cursed with the powers of the Selected, is monitored by the vampires and werewolves who covet her abilities to rid the city of one another. Sydney receives a summons to attend the Blood Rites Ball, an Elder vampire ceremony to determine her fate. The Midwestern Werewolf Pack demands her loyalty, while Blake, the heir to the wolf pack, is adamant she is his life-mate, meant to be together, forever. To make matters worse, an insider is betraying the vampires, leaking information to the rogues, who want Sydney dead.

Sighing while I dusted the stone and glass figurines throughout the store, I had hoped the mundane tasks would help distract me from the anticipation of the mailman. Kieran, leader of the local vampire coven, was sending out his invitation to the Blood Rites Ball. The purpose in having the ball was to see who would next be elected to watch over the Selected. Since I am the Selected, there was a lot at stake, considering my life and overall well-being hung in the balance. It was possible whoever my new babysitter was might decide to imprison me.

Not everyone believed the Selected should be allowed to walk around of her own free will. Actually, there were a lot of people, vampires, werewolves, demons, and rogues who felt the Selected should be kept in a gilded cage her entire life, or to be executed. They felt the potential threat of the Selected’s powers was too high.

Needless to say, the upcoming events of the Blood Rites Ball had me on pins and needles. The thought of not being invited had me feeling like a furry lump had taken up permanent residence in my gut. If someone else was going to make decisions with such an impact on my future, I thought it would be nice to have them do it in my presence. Kieran said the ball was planned for tomorrow night. He hadn’t mentioned if he put me on the invite list.

While debating which would be better, to go or not to go, the door chimes jingled, signaling the arrival of either a customer or Dale, the mailman. I turned around with a smile on my face to see who it was. The moment reality struck at what my eyes saw, the smile dropped off my face and pain set into my chest like an icy hand had wrapped itself around my heart and had given it a good squeeze.

Blake, the sexiest man to ever have walked the earth, stood in front of me holding his right arm with his left hand. His chest heaved as he struggled for air. Blake was a werewolf who had extra speedy healing abilities, so whoever or whatever hurt him had to be very strong and very dangerous. The dark red blood staining the front of his shirt and caking the right side of his neck made me nauseous and light-headed.

“Blake!” Running past him to the front door, I threw the deadbolt lock into place. It would be very hard to try and explain it if one of my customers walked in and spotted Blake with blood smeared all over him. I raced back to inspect his wounds. He must have lost a lot of blood. My Selected senses hadn’t alerted me to his presence before he walked through the door as it should have. Usually, they kicked in when a vampire or a werewolf entered a five hundred foot radius around me. That included outside the walls of buildings, and my senses seemed to be growing stronger every day.

Even though Blake bore such serious wounds, I couldn’t help but appreciate his wild dark-brown hair that hung just past his shoulders. Typically Blake didn’t look so disheveled like he did at that moment. Looking toward him from the door, his amber-gold eyes bore into mine. He was in a lot of pain. I could tell by the way he winced as he moved. Sighing in dismay, I watched his backside as he stumbled over to the couch on the far side of the store next to the fireplace. He dropped down, groaning in pain as he landed on the cushion.

It didn’t bother me that his boots had dragged in remnants of the slushy snow covering the streets outside.

Blake had a fine backside.

My center throbbed to by caressed by him.

Where did that come from?

“Sydney, I was attacked by a demon, and not just any demon. She was a Judge.”

“Judge? What’s a Judge?” Could my life get any more bizarre? Not long ago, I discovered that vampires and werewolves existed. Oh, and I found out I was the Selected, which meant everyone wanted me to be on their side because according to some old prophecies, I was destined to be some kind of savior.

Blake groaned in pain, bringing me back to the present. My life was a little overwhelming at times. Blake resituated himself on the couch in such a way to avoid putting pressure on his injured arm and shoulder.

“Please explain to me what you meant by ‘Judge’. I’ve never heard you use that term before.” A chill ran down my back as I gently put my fingertips on the pulse point near his wrist. His heart rate was beating a bit fast, but not too fast.

“Judges are demons assigned to the king of the vampires. They do his bidding, uphold vampire law, and execute punishment to misbehaving bloodsuckers when Kieran and his Knights can’t. Someone owed the vampire king big, so they negotiated the Judges’ contract to be servants of the king.” Blake closed his eyes and took a guarded deep breath.

My mouth dropped open. There were royal vampires? No one ever mentioned that fun fact before, not even Aunt Judith. In all the discussions we’ve had, neither Blake nor Kieran had mentioned them either.

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