Review: Bound In Sin by Cynthia Eden (Bound ~ Vampire/Werewolf Romance 3)

          Title: Bound In Sin

                 (Bound – Vampire/Werewolf 
                  Romance 3)

          Author: Cynthia Eden

          Release Date: January 2, 2012

          Publisher: Self

          Category: Contemporary Erotic 
                           Paranormal Romance

          Type: Digital

          Click Here To Buy NOW!

          Cynthia Eden Website

Blurb:

What's the price of sin?

Human Paige Sloan once loved werewolf Drake Wyler more than life, but then that life was taken away from her. Attacked by vampires, Paige was bitten, and, on a cold, dark night, the life she'd known ended. She was reborn as a vampire--a werewolf's deadliest enemy.

Paige ran from the vampires who attacked her, and she ran away from her lover. She didn't want Drake to know what she'd become, and she didn't want to face the fury of his pack. But a girl can only run for so long until the past catches up with her.

Some sins mark your soul.

When Paige learns that Drake is being targeted for death, she knows that she can't hide in the shadows any longer. She has to return to him, and she will do anything--anything--in order to make sure that he keeps living. The vampires might have destroyed her chance to live and love Drake, but they won't take him. Not over her undead body. She'll slay them all...and maybe, just maybe...she'll even have the chance to sin--one more time--with the werewolf who'd marked her as his mate.

Some sins are worth dying for...

Excerpt:             (from the Cynthia Eden website)

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“I’m being hunted,” she told him in that low, husky voice that made his cock swell even more. He could just see the hint of her fangs behind her red lips. The sight should have repulsed him. It didn’t. “If you don’t help me, I’ll die.”
“You’re already dead.” That knowledge made him feel as if his chest had been ripped open. Since Paige had been human when he’d known her before, she must have been made into a vampire.
A rare few, the purebloods, were actually born as vamps, but the rest of the parasites out there? They’d been turned. They were bled until the point of death, then brought back as a vampire.
Drake would kill the one who’d turned her. He couldn’t wait to hear the vampire’s screams.
“Don’t say that,” Paige snapped at him, then she showed him just how strong she really was. She twisted beneath him and yanked her hands free. A fast roll sent them tumbling across the bed. Then she was on top of him. Her knees straddled his hips, and her hands slammed down against his chest. “I’m as alive as you are!”
Color stained her cheeks. Her breath heaved out. For an instant, they just stared at each other. Then she grabbed his hand and shoved it against her breasts.
“My heart still beats,” she told him and he could feel the frantic beat beneath his hand. That fast beat…and that sweet, plump flesh. Paige was curved in all the right places.
“I breathe,” she told him and he heard the rush of her breath. “I feel. More than you can imagine, all right? So stop treating me like shit!”
Maybe if she’d stop clawing his heart out…
But then, she was doing that just by breathing. Just by being there. Close enough to take…
So take her. The growl was from his beast, one that was never far from the surface these days.
“You want me to protect you.” He held the beast back, barely, because they had a deal to strike. He knew how these bargains worked in the supernatural world. So much could be bartered and exchanged. Flesh. Blood. Sex. Souls.
Sure, humans might be shocked by a deal like this–but then, humans would be shocked to see a man turn into a wolf.
Deal with it.
“You came to me, to my pack,” he said slowly, determined not to let his rage escape, not yet, “because you want us to keep you safe.” And he would. He–
“No.” She shook her head.
Drake frowned. If not for protection, then–
“I want you to kill the bastard after me.” Her fangs seemed to lengthen. “I want you to rip his head off, and I want you to make damn sure that he never rises again.”
Never rises again.
“You’ve got a vampire you want me to fight.” He’d grown used to battling them. In this part of Alaska, where the cold could creep straight to the bone, where darkness could reign for days and days…this part was home to all manner of supernatural beasts.
The ones at the top of the food chain? The wolves…and the vamps who kept trying to fight them for supremacy. A supremacy they weren’t ever getting.
“I’ve got a vampire I want you to behead.” Her breath rushed out. “A vampire named Gabe is the one who made me, he’s–”
Drake’s claws burst from his fingertips and sliced into the bedding. “He’s fucking already dead.” As far as Drake was concerned, the vamp–Gabe–had died the instant he put his fangs in Paige.
Her gaze held his, and he saw the worry there. “Gabe is a pureblood. He’s strong, he’s–”
“No match for an alpha.” Didn’t she get it? He wasn’t the boy she’d left behind. He was a warrior. A monster. A walking nightmare.
Since she’d left him, he’d seen more blood and hell than she could possibly imagine. No, he’d always known the blood and hell…Paige had been the only thing that had been good in his life.
Sweet. Pure.
Then she’d left him, and he’d gone back to the darkness.
She won’t leave again.

Review:

Paige is a vampire … she didn’t used to be, but fate sometimes can be cruel. She was (and still is) in love with Drake, a werewolf who had promised to be her mate. Drake didn’t care that Paige was a human, just that she loved him and did not give a fig that he was a werewolf. But vampires are the hated enemy of werewolves, so when Paige is turned against her own will, she runs, unable to face Drake and the fury of his pack. Ten years later, still on the run from her past and the wicked vamp that changed her, Paige discovers that Drake now has a target on his back. If she wants to save him, she will have to face him again. No more running, no more lies.

Drake has always wondered what happened to Paige that night ten years ago. They were supposed to meet, but she never showed, so he assumes she couldn’t deal with the fact that he was a werewolf, despite their love. What else should he think? So when Paige unexpectedly shows up on his doorstep, all of those unresolved feelings and passion assault him. She is making a claim that she needs protection and he wants answers about what happened to her. But everything comes at a price and if Paige needs Drake’s help, he knows exactly what the price is going to be.

Note: I included the older cover because that was the one it had when I downloaded this book - I have had it in my TBR pile for quite some time.

I read this novella because it was quick and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time. I didn’t realize that it was the middle book of the series until after I had read it. Other than character associations, I don’t know where the book would have picked up; possibly with Paige finding out about the plan to kill Drake, but I cannot be sure. What I am saying is that I had absolutely no issue understanding this book and while it is 3^rd in the series, it could easily have been a standalone. I have to say I am quite intrigued by the idea of a vampire/werewolf relationship. They are so different from one another despite a few similarities. In a world where both species are notorious for their bone-deep hatred, somehow this relationship works. Of course, it helps that Drake is an Alpha and can order his pack to obey his decree or challenge him. With a pack, it would not have worked otherwise to bring a vampire in to the fold under the Alpha’s protection. The two characters obviously cared for one another even after such a long absence. Also appreciated was that it wasn’t a weak story. There was depth and emotion behind the web of lies spun around Drake and Paige; betrayal so intense that everyone is shocked at the revelation. The raw animal attraction between Paige and Drake is palpable and super sexy. One thing is for sure … I will most definitely be continuing with this series and I’d definitely be willing to check out other books written by this author. Lucky me, I actually have one of the other books in this series, so I will be jumping right into it ~ Bound by Blood ~ I’m looking forward to seeing where this series begins with the first book. Overall, definitely recommended for a quick, spicy, paranormal read! 

Kindle version purchased for personal library