Lucie nodded. “I think Derrick and I really need to have a heart-to-heart conversation about what we want and expect out of this relationship. I think it will be better once we lay everything out on the table.” She raised the warm, gooey cookie to her mouth and bit into it. “Oh my gosh, this is sooo good.”
“I know! You would never know they were cooked with human blood.”
Lucie’s eyes widened, and she stopped chewing. She stared at Tonya in shock and even quit breathing for a moment.Eeewww.She was eating human blood and was enjoying it. Her stomach turned at the thought. Sure, she had vampire in her, but she never drank blood. She didn’t have to.
Tonya burst out laughing, tears pooling from her eyes. Her loud laughter filled the air as she waved her hand in front of her. “I’m teasing. You should have seen your face! Hahaha! I’m sure you know that we don’t do the whole blood thing like before. We have our human village, who offer their blood to us since it is our preferred taste, but I’m sure you’ve seen the humans there. They’re happy, and they like being under our protection.Of course, some choose not to drink human blood. As you know, we’ve evolved, and now even eating a rare steak is sufficient for most of us.”
Lucie sighed in relief and grinned. “You really had me for a second. I always make it a point to visit the village. Everyone loves their life there. I think it’s a really nice setup for both of your kinds.” The vampires had a human village right next to their kingdom, secluded from the rest of the world but still with all the modern conveniences. These humans knew about the supernatural world. They weren’t forced to live in the village but chose to because they liked being under vampire protection. They offered their blood up willingly, so why would anyone object?
It made sense to Lucie, since it worked out for both species and was a very civilized way for most vampires to get the blood they craved and needed. They didn’t have to hunt or chase down humans to drink their blood.
She saw that it wasn’t like human-raised cattle. The vampires appreciated and cared for the humans. Some even took them as mates, and if a human wanted to change into a vampire, they obliged them. A bite from a vampire to drink blood was different from a bite to claim your mate, and if a human wanted to become a vampire, they would also need to drink vampire blood in addition to being bitten. This arrangement made sense to her and to them. They all consented, so it was no one’s business to change how it worked.
The two girls laughed and talked about various things. Tonya talked about how when she first met Zach she didn’t know they were mates. The two of them were always at odds in the beginning and competitive with one another, especially since they were both aiming for a spot among the princes’ elite soldiers. One day, he stopped competing with her. He’d even started to go easy on her at times, which really aggravated hersince she thought he was treating her as if she was weak. It wasn’t until a year later when she finally felt the pull that she understood. The relationship immediately fell into place, and they both earned a spot among the prince’s elite.
Talking with Tonya now was just what Lucie needed, though hearing about Tonya and Zach did make her wonder about her and Ryan. She wondered what kind of life they could have had together. She knew then that if she wasn’t promised to Derrick, she would accept Ryan as her mate. Not only was the mate pull strong, but she was also starting to like him as a person. She liked the things she heard about him and how respected he was. It hurt to want something so bad, something she couldn’t have. She realized now, more so after listening to Tonya, how much she really wanted a mate … her mate. How cruel was life that the summer she was to be married she would meet her fated mate? Couldn’t he at least be an asshole so it would be easy to reject him? But all of his actions and reactions had been out of concern for her.
Lucie sighed, but it turned into a big yawn.
“Your body is working overtime trying to heal itself. Would you like to rest?” Tonya looked at Lucie’s tired eyes and could see she was worn down.
“A nap sounds wonderful.”
Tonya carried her up to the bedroom and placed her on the bed. “Get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you periodically. The bathroom is through those doors, and there is a mini fridge against the wall if you need anything. Um … oh, yeah. If you need me before I come to check on you, you’ll need to open the door and call for me. The room is soundproof, so I won’t be able to hear you. I’m sure you wolves have soundproof bedrooms too, since we all have exceptional hearing.”
Lucie felt her anger rise inside her, and she couldn’t control the bitterness in her tone. “Does Ryan have many overnight visitors?”
Tonya cackled. “I think you just froze the room there. A little jealous, huh?” She winked at Lucie, who bit her bottom lip as her cheeks reddened. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell. And that is a normal reaction. But as for your question …” She walked toward the door and looked back at Lucie. “Never.” She gave her a very serious look. “He has never had a visitor or any other woman around him like that. I think he’s a firm believer in the mate bond and its sanctity. Not to make this all harder on you, but he’s been waiting for you. And being a young, attractive, virile vampire male in his prime …” Her eyes met Lucie’s. “He has shown great restraint. I’ll also add this. He has many fans among our kind. There are a lot of females … hell, there are even some males who are interested in him. But he’s never shown them any interest beyond friendship, which really makes this whole situation even more of a shame … Anyway, get some rest.”
Tonya closed the door, and Lucie pulled a blanket around herself as her heart sank. Well, she felt like shit now. In fact, her heart was now hurting more for Ryan than it was for herself. The idea that he was waiting and saving himself for her only to end up being rejected made her stomach churn. He sounded like everything she’d ever wanted in a mate and more. Deep down, a part of her hoped she could be with her mate. Just maybe there was a way it could work out. It was dangerous to think this way. She knew she was only hurting herself more in the long run, but a tiny flame of hope and want ignited inside her as she drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 12
Awoman with dark hair and ivory skin looked over the destruction in front of her. “You’re certain it was only a werewolf and two vampires?” she hissed.
“Yes, Beryl. Those are the only ones that escaped from their cells.”
Beryl scowled as she took in the sight of her deceased dark elves and other followers. She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “What the hell did you guys capture? This isn’t the work of regular wolves and vampires.” Her eyes slowly widened as a realization hit her. “Of course!” Her eyes glowered over the dead bodies. “A normal werewolf couldn’t have done this, but the wolves I’m after could.”
“What about the vampires?”
“Unless it was their nobility or elite, this would be impossible. And you had only the two in captivity, with the wolf being the only new one. No … we don’t have to worry about thevampires.” Beryl raised her finger to her chin as she scowled. “If it was one of the damn Chain werewolves, then they must be on to me.” She looked back at the witch doctor behind her. “We’re going to have to move our timeline up a bit ahead of schedule. I won’t let those damn wolves get the jump on me. I’ve waited too long to take them down.”
She turned away from the scene and stormed away. As she left, she passed a couple of goblins. She pinned her icy gaze on them and growled. “Get this mess cleaned up.”
The Chain family would pay for what they did to her grandmother Meryl. When she was just a child, they killed her grandmother, and she had to remain in hiding as an outsider. She wasn’t welcome among the covens after that and was hunted down. She found a new home among the demon witch doctors.
She had gathered blood from the Werewolf King and Queen in secret, blood that was spilled in the main coven house the night of the attack. She handed this blood over to the witch doctors in order to create something strong enough to take on the Chain family. They took everything from her that night, and because of them, her world was forever changed. If it wasn’t for the potion her grandmother had prepared for her as a precaution, she wouldn’t have been able to escape without being detected. She owed her life to her grandmother and would get justice for her.
Beryl was just a child when she joined the witch doctors. Of course, joining them came at a price. She made a pact with Wicker, the most powerful witch doctor and their leader. Wicker had agreed to take her in and help her out. In exchange, when she died, her soul belonged to him, which he would devour to become even stronger. She was a child when she’d agreed to these terms and didn’t realize the magnitude of her promise. She thought she would be dead anyway, so in the end, it wouldn’t matter. Now that she was older, she realized what type ofagreement she’d actually made. Her soul would live a torturous existence inside Wicker until his death. Only then would the agreement be broken and her soul could finally find peace.
She needed to have strong allies, and the witches had turned their backs on her. They were all eating out of the Werewolf King’s hand now. It was repulsive. She did what she had to do. Who else could be strong enough to help her but the demons? And they would be bitter enough to do it after the demon war, when the Chains and their allies had killed one of their powerful original demons, Mephisto. There would be plenty of demons wanting revenge for this. Being a witch, the witch doctors seemed like the best place to start. She’d made a deal with the devil, but what did she expect from working with demons? What choice did she have?
She could have run back to the covens and cried that she was forced by her grandmother, and they would have accepted her as a poor child who was manipulated. However, she couldn’t let her grandmother down like that. She would avenge her and finish what she started, and that was to destroy the abomination, Freja the dhampir. Well, she was more than that now, and still an abomination. Just like her children. It was disgusting for a high witch’s blood to run through their veins. They must be purged from the world. As for the Werewolf King, Hunter, he sealed his fate the day he took Freja as his mate. She didn’t care about anything else but their destruction.
Wicker had other plans, though. He didn’t want the unity of the werewolves and vampires. Instead, he wanted to pit them against each other by coordinating attacks on werewolves and making it look as though vampires were responsible. And it was going well, until now. They wanted to stir more trouble and provoke a war between the two species, but it looked like they were running out of time. Somehow the Chain family already suspected something. She wondered if they knew it was her.
The dark elves said they’d captured a female werewolf. Which Chain female was she dealing with? Was it Freja or her daughter? In either case, she would try her potion out soon. And if it worked, she would hit the rest of the family with it. It was a powerful potion that had taken almost twenty years to complete. She needed something extra powerful in order to take that family down. The King and Queen of the Werewolves were underestimated before. Somehow, they were able to break a powerful blood potion. She needed to develop something that was even stronger, and that was what the witch doctors had done for her.
