Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen

Meryn Cooper has a reputation, the Allycat of the Eastern Quarter. While during the day she works at a laundry facility, often times she can be found fighting grown men twice her size at an underground fighting ring. She was taught since a young age by Igor, who she almost sees as a father figure, especially since her own father died years ago during the ongoing war with the Siphons. Meryn has to fight, because she is in charge of taking care of her mother whose mental ability is gone, and her little sister, Saela.

When Meryn chooses to fight, often times, her boyfriend of the past year, Lee, is there to support her, and clean her up after the fight. One of these nights, Lee comes over to her home, and he notices her mother is getting worse. While Lee and Meryn talk about it outside, they split ways, and when Meryn goes to check on Saela, she is missing. Meryn begins to panic, as many young girls are getting kidnapped, and not ever seen again. While they search all night Saela is not found. After days of tears, Meryn knows what she needs to do. She joins the kings army, led by Stark Therion, so she can fight, be close to the front to see if that is where she can find her sister. When she tells Lee, he is sad but supportive. He takes her shopping so she is fully prepared and does not have to use dead soldiers things, and tells her some things to expect. Then the next day, she fully enlists.

At her new barracks, she meets a girl named Alessandra, who she becomes friendly with. During an orientation, they discover that they are not going to the front lines, rather they are being entered into the bonding trials, where they will see if they are worthy to bond with a dire wolf. The trial is an Ascent where at the top of an icy mountain, direwolves are waiting to be bonded. Meryn does not bother with getting up there first, she does not want to bond, she just wants to go to the front lines. But, at the beginning, she meets a man named Jonah, who is hurting another girl, so she helps. Thus, gaining two allies, Venna and Izabel, who help her to the top. Once all three manage to get to the top, the wolves are there. Meryn just keeps hoping that none of the wolves will bond with her, but one does. Anassa, who has not bonded in over a hundred years bonds with Meryn turning her hair silver. This also puts her in Therion’s pack. Even though they are bonded, their first test is to make it back down the mountain before nightfall. Anassa will not talk to Meryn, so Meryn has to make it down the mountain by herself, and she does, just in time, even though Anassa does nothing to help her. That night, Meryn decides she does not care about being bonded, or living in the Bonded City; she packs a bag to sneak out to find Saela.

Meryn quickly finds out, she cannot leave the Bonded City, her bond with Anassa is too new, and she cannot spend any time away from her. She is now stuck in the city, and is in training; she is now considered a Rawbond. As Venna and Izabel bring her back, they tell her that in the evening there is to be a ball, something called the Presentation. A time for the royals to see the new recruits, they will be judged and looked on based on their appearances. Many of the bonded are trying to get the kings attention, as they want to be his bed mate. But Meryn sees herself as defective, she is one of the few commoners, or non bonded that have made it through the trial; she is just hoping to get through the night unnoticed.

Meryn’s night unnoticed does not happen, as the prince walks out on the stage, and it is Lee. Her Lee is Prince Killian. She feels betrayed and lied to, even when he secretly hands her a note that says to come find him later that night. Before she can focus on the note, the king announces that the presentation can start, the wolves all start killing off the weak and it is a bloodbath. The one good thing that came from it was Anassa actually protected her, but she still cannot communicate with her.

Back in her room, she feels completely alone and still betrayed. Everyone else is off partying, because apparently sleeping with other bonded can help find their wolves mate. But Meryn sneaks off to go talk to Lee Killian. When she meets him, she tells him she is angry at him, that he should have told her, even the day before. He said it was nice to get to know and fall in love with someone who did not know about his title, and loved him for being him. Killian then calls Meryn the most powerful woman in his kingdom, because she could ask for anything, including his crown, and he would give it to her. Meryn does not care, she tells Killian to leave, and he says he hopes to be able to gain her forgiveness, but would take her understanding. On her way back to her room, she is attacked, but something overcomes her. She ends up brutally killing the man, and she cannot understand why.

The next morning, Stark comes in upset, and wants to know who killed one of their fellow soldiers. Meryn admits it was her, saying it was out of self protection. Stark then explains that their people get tattoos for every person they kill, as they see it as a way to value life. So Stark makes her come up in front of everyone, and gives her a tattoo. Then they continue on to normal training. Anassa is still blocking her thoughts, but they make it through their first training. Then her trainer comes to her, says Meryn now gets a private room, as someone is targeting her; though now she feels like the new room is also putting a target on her.

Meryn continues her lessons begrudgingly. She has mind lessons to keep her thoughts away from Anassa, although she does not have that problem, as Anassa still will not let her in. She has new lessons with a teacher named Aldrich. This lesson is only for her and a boy named Henry, the only two who did not grow up in the Bonded City. During this time she learns several things about the bonded, including more about her pack, Stratego, masters of strategy. She also learns that her city, Sturmfrost, is the only one dealing with Nabbers. Her combat training continues, and since she cannot connect with Anassa, Stark sees her as weak.

After a particularly brutal session, she goes to her room, where Lee is there. Like old times he patches her up, but then she remembers she is supposed to be angry at him, and tells him to leave. She then goes to the twins Izabel and Venna, and asks them for more training.

The next trial is coming, the Voice Trial, to prove that the bonded pair can communicate while in combat. Despite the fact that she is not talking to Anassa, Meryn and Anassa manage to take third place. But one of her teachers tells her that it was a pitiful trial, that everyone could tell they only made it because Anassa would not let Meryn die. He gave Meryn the advice that she needs to come to terms with her new life, otherwise she will die. So Meryn hikes up a mountain to find Anassa, gives her a peace offering. Anassa opens up a little bit, says she still does not trust Meryn, but is glad she is finally willing to try.

Back at her rooms, Meryn receives a note from Killian. It instructs her to take the secret tunnel out of her room to go visit him, he has information on the Nabbers. On her way back, she starts to see some visions, she swears she sees paintings on the wall, hears voices, and so much more. She passes out in the tunnels, and wakes up in Killian’s rooms. She is not sure what happens, but Anassa, who was watching the whole time from her mind, warns her not to say anything to Killian. Killian then reveals that they captured a Nabber. They go to the prison to talk to him. Killian tortures him for information, and he reveals that it is a whole operation, a hooded man pays them to take the children to an abandoned warehouse. From there the children get moved, but he does not know where to. Killian sets up an operation to go take the warehouse down, meanwhile, Meryn kills the Nabber, brutally. That night, she and Killian spend the evening together, Meryn having forgiven him just a bit.

The next morning, Anessa is back to her iron wall of a mind. After a training session, Meryn goes to her to figure out why. Anessa is upset that Meryn blocked her feelings while she was with Killian. Meryn doesn’t understand why Anessa would want to be there for that. It’s also revealed that the trials she is in are created by the wolves and for the wolves, and it is a way to pick off the weak in the pack. The duo make a tentative pack so they can make it through the purging trials, which focus on pack unity.

Meryn continues to have weird nightmares, and now is apparently sleepwalking to the places where her nightmares take place, so when she wakes it still feels very real. These episodes she is having make her feel like her mother, who she has described as mad for the past years. It gets worse when she is training and starts to hear voices and visions are coming for her while she is awake. During one of her episodes she asks Anessa if there is a way to make them stop. She says even if there wasn’t, she wouldn’t tell Meryn because visions can be helpful.

The night before the trial, Meryn realizes she hasn’t fully forgiven Killian yet, so she sneaks off to his room to say “I love you” for the first time since their fight. But once again she is awoken by screaming that only she can hear.

During the purging ceremony, the pack decides to kill their weakest—only one is killed. As she is celebrating that she made it, she has a little celebratory moment with Killian that she thinks no one noticed—until she sees that Stark did. That night Stark arrives in her room to tattoo her, as she was responsible for the death. While he is there, Meryn has him tattoo another one, for the Nabber she killed.

Since the purging trials, all recruits were given a day off. Meryn goes home and realizes that Killian has taken really good care of her mother—so much so that it seems like her mom is back to normal, and her mom agrees, as she hasn’t had visions in a few weeks. While visiting, her mom gives her a necklace. That night, Meryn wears the necklace and a very expensive dress Killian got for her to the ball. Stark at one point asks to dance with her, but is quickly interrupted by Killian who officially lays claim to her. The king approves of his son’s choice, and the two sneak off to his room for a night of fun—where Meryn blocks Anessa out. The next morning when she opens herself for Anessa, all she feels is grief and anger. A pack member was killed, and Anessa had no idea thanks to the blockage Meryn put on her. Her whole pack is upset that Meryn wasn’t there, as it makes her a weak link in their pack. Because of the death, the Sovereign Alpha is brought in; she also happens to be Stark’s mom. When she arrives, she summons Anessa and Meryn. The pack has chosen—Meryn is the new Strategos Alpha. Since she is not fit to lead, Meryn puts Egith in charge at the front lines until she is able to fully take her place.

With her new Alpha title, Stark starts her training, and it’s brutal—but he also has an office full of books that she wants to get her hands on. Her visions continue. She believes that there is something hidden under the arena.

Egith sends Meryn a letter from the front—they believe they found the children. Stark and his wolf (Cratos), and Anessa and Meryn rush off to the front. As she is briefing for what to expect from her first Siphon encounter, she realizes that the face of the king, Lucien Brightbane, looks vaguely familiar. The mission continues but there are no children. They do manage to find a Siphon, and Stark allows Meryn to interrogate him. He gives her nothing, and she tortures then kills him. That night, Stark tattoos her, says he is proud of her; Meryn feels guilt, but she feels pulled toward Stark.

On their way home, Meryn wants to stop to tell her mom that Saela has not been found, but when she gets home the house is empty; her mother has died. Devastated, she goes to Killian to seek comfort, which he gives her, as well as a promise to always protect her and then proposes to her. Anessa, in Meryn’s head, says don’t accept it, but Meryn does anyway. Killian gives her a betrothal bracelet. They hold a funeral for her mother, where her pack comes to support her as well. Then she is given a day to go through her mom’s belongings so the house can be sold. While there, she comes across old journals of her mom’s—Anessa tells Meryn to keep them hidden from the prince but doesn’t say anything else. When she tries to get more answers from Anessa, she stays silent, so Meryn breaks into Stark’s office and steals an old book that has been catching her eye for some time. While breaking in, she encounters Stark, who seems to know something but also refuses to say anything. As Meryn looks at her mom’s journals and the old book, there are a lot of similarities—between a crown, and even some of her visions.

The next trial occurs, the Unity Trial, where in a turn of events, Meryn is forced to kill Henry for the good of the pack. As Henry is being carried away, she realizes his body is going below the arena. So she finds her friend Venna to see if she can find out what’s below the arena. Then Venna comes back to take her to the tunnels below ground, because she has found the kids. Meryn and Saela are reunited. Saela has been in that prison for four months, and the king is the one behind it all. Every so often he will come in and take one or two of the children, and then they are never seen again. Meryn doesn’t have a way to get all the children out safely, so she promises to come back the next night to break them out. Anessa in her head tells her to be careful who she trusts; but the bond is fragile, and the only person she trusts is Killian. So she goes to tell him, and they come up with a plan. The next day during the graduation ceremony, she is to kill the king.

During the graduation ceremony, the king allows one more culling to happen, which means fighting breaks loose, and it gives Meryn the perfect opportunity to kill the king with his own sword. When she touches the sword, she feels power—but it’s ripped away when the king is dead and Killian looks at her and asks why she would kill the king; then proceeds to have the soldiers take her to a prison. When she wakes, she and Anessa are in a prison. Killian visits. He tries to convince Meryn that she has gone mad, just like her mother had, and that the two never talked about killing the king. It makes Meryn feel all sorts of confused, but Anessa is there to help calm her down. She reveals that she is able to talk to her mate; Anessa commands her to talk to her mate and bonded, to find a crown that is under the arena and bring it to her. When Anessa’s mate arrives, it is Cratos and Stark. They give her the crown; the gem in it is the same that is on her mother’s necklace. She puts it on and sees a memory.

Thousands of years ago, the Queen of Sturmfrost was living happily with the wolves; it was a peaceful kingdom. But it quickly turns violent when there is a Siphon attack. The queen sends her youngest baby away with a servant and says she needs to be protected. Then, a Siphon who looks just like Killian arrives—Alistair Brightbane. He claims he has killed her family, then proceeds to kill the queen. Meryn realizes that she is the rightful Queen of Sturmfrost. Anessa has been waiting for years for her, as has Stark.

Now that Meryn has figured everything out, Stark is able to fill in the holes. The Bonded have been under a Siphon blood curse for five hundred years. The crown and the sword together control the human bonds to the direwolves. He also explains that when she first arrived, he did hate her; he has been sworn to protect her line from the beginning, yet when he found her, she was weak and in love with the family that took it away from her. He reveals that he got her a new room, a dress for her, and killed for her, but she was still always with Killian. Even more so, he has been dealing with the bond—the pull that he feels toward her. Anessa has been hiding it from Meryn, but now that Meryn knows, Anessa lets her feel that pull toward Stark, and it is strong. Stark says that he will always be Meryn’s; he is there to serve her and will do anything for his queen.

Meryn comes up with a plan. She will pretend to be mad and have her visions, and request to meet Killian. When she does, he starts to kiss her and tell her it will be okay, but she gets him pinned down and starts to question him. He explains that he always knew Meryn was a long-lost princess, that he forced himself into her life. But then, as he is talking, his eyes go white and a new voice appears—it is Alistair Brightbane, the original killer of her line. His soul transferred into Killian the night before, knowing that the king may die soon. Each new king serves as his vessel. He is the one behind the kids disappearing; he needs to feed on the blood of them. He grabs her by using his shadows, but Stark and both wolves appear, and they give her the crown. Since she has the sword already, her magic awakens. But before she can draw on her magic, it is taken from her. Killian smiles and disappears. Stark realizes it is her betrothal bracelet, but now it won’t come off.

Stark takes Meryn to her sister, and she has to tell her everything. Meryn decides she is going to take the throne and announce herself publicly. She asks Anessa to show the pack and their Bonded everything that happened. But then Saela starts acting rabid and attacks a guard. Stark takes Meryn away, and she realizes that Killian has turned her sister into a Siphon.