My vow was ridiculous. I couldn't keep her safe twenty-four hours a day. Fuck, I couldn’t even keep myself safe. But I’d get stronger, and I knew Sor had considered leaving before. Maybe we could get out of the Count’s hair and leave together. My thoughts surprised me. I’d never even considered a relationship before I met these two. Christ, I wasn’t even sure I knew whatone was. Not really. And where would we go? I didn’t exactly blend into human society, and I had no particular skills that an employer would want. I didn’t have much of anything to offer such a gentle and kind soul.
Perhaps once the bloodlust settled, and I had control of my vampire side, Connor would accept me—us, into his pack.
Did I even want to go back?
The sinking sensation in my belly was telling. I missed Lina. Maybe I even missed seeing the other Alphas. However, I didn’t miss being in a pack where everyone knew your business, and where I constantly worried about protecting the thousands of shifters and humans under my care. My wolf remained quiet. He was right. I didn’t miss that life at all. I’d never been a pack shifter, even before the prison. I’d fallen into the role of Canadian pack Alpha because it had been necessary at the time. Distance from my role had given me freedom from a life that had become suffocating.
I looked at Sorcha again, and my gut twisted as I stared at her full, soft mouth. I didn’t want to return to my old life. One of the reasons was lying right next to me; the other was not even in the room, but was still taking up far too much of my headspace. It was pointless to even acknowledge how quickly the Count had wormed his way into my head and heart, not when he’d be as likely to stick a dagger in his ancient vampire heart as he would be to start a meaningful relationship with me and Sorcha.
In the distance, I heard voices and cars pulling up, but I had no fear that it was another wave of Bal’s enemies. No, this estate would be locked down tight. Nothing was getting in here tonight, which made me wonder again what those soldiers had risked their lives for in the first place. The ones I’d attacked first had been looking for something. Balthazar knew precisely what it was; it had been in his eyes when he’d instructed Dav to take theprisoners to the dungeons. And something told me the survivors would regret ever setting foot in his lair.
11
Balthazar
My nail slicedthrough the male’s skin, dragging a bloody trail as it split him open from armpit to wrist. He glared at me, hate in his eyes, blood spurting from his deformed nose and mouth as he panted. My men had played with this betraying piece of shit already, but had gotten nothing out of him. His silence wouldn’t last long; not even an Original like him could fight my compulsion. That was one of the reasons all vampires feared me. Even the vampire king would struggle to defy my hold on his mind if I chose to wield it against him.
The cold air in the dungeons caressed my skin, familiar after so many centuries. Even the stench of blood, fear, and hate that filled my nostrils was a strange comfort. None of it was new. In fact, I’d learnt to ignore the rancid smell many centuries ago, especially since torturing my enemies was a common practice. Just like begging for mercy, screams of pain, tears, and the sight of flayed skin and damaged body parts didn’t touch me.
I tilted my head, studying the vampire who hung naked by his wrists from a hook in the ceiling. “You do realise that you’re going to die? It’s just a question of how, and more importantly, when.” I stalked a slow circle around his vulnerable body, enjoying the sound of his heart rate rising. Like most of my prisoners over the years, being circled by a predator terrified him when he was helpless. Little did he know, his nightmare had only just begun. He’d betrayed me. He’d led a squad of Mades right to Sorcha, and he’d helped more invade my home. Being dead was too easy, too immediate, for him. No, he would suffer well first.
“You know, I will kill you quickly if you tell me who was behind this attack and where they are.” I stopped behind him and ran the fingertips of one hand down his spine and over his buttock.
“Fuck you,” he managed to hiss.
“Thank you for the idea. Is that what you’d like? For one, or perhaps more, of my men to fuck you? It wouldn’t be me, of course. I wouldn’t lower myself to your level.” As I knew it would, the bitter scent of fear emanating from him spiked. Supernaturals didn’t discriminate against who they fucked. Still, I had a strong feeling this young vampire hadn’t ever been touched by another male. He flinched as I touched a fingertip to the wrist of his undamaged arm and dragged it slowly down to his elbow. He bucked and screamed, his mind telling him there was pain even though there was none. I’d inflicted enough by shredding the skin of his other arm and thighs, then allowing him to heal before doing it again and again, that he now associated my touch with agony. When he realised he wasn’t being flayed alive, he cursed, his stuttered vitriol and the stench of urine evidence of his utter bone-shaking fear.
“Tell me what I want to hear, young one, and I will end you quickly. Keep your secrets, and your mind will become mine….” Iglanced at Dav, who watched, his eyes dark and soulless. A killer. “Or perhaps his. After all, he deserves retribution since you put his mate in danger with your doomed attack.”
The vampire’s sharp intake of breath and sour spike of terror only made me smile. Davlov had fucked up by employing this betraying piece of shit. But he’d already assigned someone to discover how this young Original had managed to bypass our security checks and attain such a flawless online history. It was disturbing, but not surprising, that Originals like him were working with our enemies to take the Blood Throne. This was not the first, or even the second, war of this kind I had survived. Perhaps a visit to Stefan was warranted to update him on the bloody campaign against us, and the Originals that could potentially dethrone him. Not that he was well enough to fight alongside me, but still, it would only be respectful to brief him face-to-face.
“He won’t talk, you arrogant fucker.”
That upper-class English accent immediately irritated me. Keeping my expression closed, I turned to look at the male who had kidnapped and tortured Shane. He was a vile piece of shit who deserved to exist only in agony. He’d taken a force of Mades and invaded Shane’s town of Hope. He’d been the one to string him up, subjecting him to weeks of blood rape, over and over, until he was so weak, I’d barely been in time to save his life.
Bones shifted in my face and down my spine, and my fangs elongated to a length I usually reserved for battle. It would be satisfying beyond measure to rip his still beating heart from his chest….
“Sir, he’s still useful alive,” Davlov pointed out quietly.
Unfortunately, I knew he was right, though it would have cost my friend to say those words. Victor Hamilton had made Elliot’s life hell. He’d spent years abusing his stepson before ordering him to take on a suicide mission to assassinate me.Davlov wanted to tear Victor’s throat out as much as I did, but I’d already decided Shane would get that privilege. He deserved it. Not only had he been strung up, made helpless and blood raped, his pack alphas, and the people he’d vowed to protect, had died because of this Made and his coven. Victor was so full of hate and thirst for power that he had lost all humanity and become a soulless predator. Perhaps even more so than me. I still had some morals, few though they were. I rolled my head, easing the tension that was building in my neck muscles. “As always, you are correct, Davlov.”
Dav didn’t take his icy gaze off Victor. “Let him watch his spies suffer. Let him listen to their pleading and screams for help. It will help him understand what awaits him on his path to death, and that it will not be over quickly.”
Victor laughed. “Awaits me? You haven’t broken me yet with all your torture and mind games. My coven came for me once. They will again. They are powerful enough to free me, and you know it. You have no idea who’s loyal to you or who is working to destroy you. Not anymore. That’s why you reek of anger and panic. Hurting your pretty piece of human cunt was just a distraction to get you out of the way. And it worked, didn’t it? The powerful Balthazar Rossi got played because he has a weakness. A human weakness.”
I gritted my teeth. His words smarted, but only because they were true. I’d compelled Shane to stay in our room to keep him safe, and then moved like the wind to get to Sorcha. Not for the reasons this piece of shit thought, though. She was a vital part of the plan destiny had to save the vampire race, that was all. Any protective feelings I had for her were because of that—nothing else.
Bullshit, snapped a little voice in my head.
Fuck off, I snapped back.
Yet it had been her sweet scent, like sunshine and flowers, that had guided me right to her. I’d arrived at the same time as my perimeter guards, but it hadn’t been quick enough. Five Mades had surrounded her, taunting her as she tried to fight back. She hadn’t stood a chance at winning. I saw one of them hit her stomach and then her face. Before he’d taken another breath, I’d ripped his arm off, then snapped his neck, but she’d already collapsed to the ground by then. I’d been too late to protect her, which was a grievous failure on my part.
Fury was not an emotion I allowed myself to feel. Neither were other extremes of emotion, but the knowledge that I’d missed an injury that could have killed her made me want to rip apart this young vampire until only bloody pieces of flesh remained.
Within moments, all of the other intruders surrounding her had been dead, other than the one I had strung up. It was obvious that none had been experienced soldiers, merely fledglings with no combat experience. As soon as I’d seen their lack of fighting skills, I knew they'd been a decoy. They probably didn’t even realise they were a sacrifice. They’d been told to go after my human woman. At least they hadn’t known about Shane.
Naked and covered in blood, he’d been magnificent. A pure predator. My blood heated at the memory of his bright eyes staring defiantly at me. How he’d broken my compulsion, I had no idea, but I hadn’t addressed it in front of my men, not even Davlov, whom I trusted with my life. If word got out that not only had Shane survived his bloodlust, but that he was also able to defy my will, every vampire in the kingdom, including the vampire king, would want him, either as a weapon, to study as a lab rat, or to get rid of the threat he posed. I was loyal to Stefan, but that loyalty would be severely tested if he tried to take Shane—and I wasn’t yet ready to show my ultimate hand and submit to destiny’s plan for my future.
