Page 114 of Plug and Claim

Kira shrugged. “He’s not treating me badly. Although…” she pressed her lips together. She hardly knew Victoria, and it didn’t seem wise to talk to her about what had gone on in Nathaniel’s room. Then again, it would be good to confide in someone to try and make sense of her emotions. She missed Susie.

Victoria gave her a friendly nudge. “It’s okay, you can tell me, hun. We girls have to stick together. If he’s mistreating you, I’ll kill him myself.”

Kira laughed. “All right.”

“But you’re right, we need privacy.” Victoria raised her voice. “Anyone who isn’t Kira, piss off,” she said, clapping her hands briskly and dismissing the other vampires, who leapt off the rock and dived into the water below.

“You have my full attention,” Victoria smiled, sweeping her dark fringe out of the way. Go.”

“All right, so…” Doing her best to avoid intimate details, Kira recounted the way Nathaniel had made her read about the Revolution. She didn’t mention the spanking, or the bulging toy he’d put in her ass, or the way he’d come inside her and then all over her. Even so, she could tell from the glint in Victoria’s eyes that the vampiress suspected something more had happened than a simple textbook reading.

Victoria rolled her eyes. “Nathaniel is such a hypocrite to make you read about the Revolution.”

“Is he?” Kira could think of many words to describe what Nathaniel had done…cruel was one of them. How dare he rub the fall of the wolf monarchy in her face, and then get off on it? But she couldn’t see how hypocrisy came into it. “It’s part of the school syllabus,” she said, unsure why she was defending Nathaniel.

“Listen, sweetie. Nathaniel might have been there when the Revolution took place, but he is nothing like his father. King Henrikk is…” Victoria grew thoughtful. “Incredible. Powerful. Intelligent. An excellent strategist. I know he’s not popular with the wolves, but we’re lucky to have him as our leader.”

Kira disagreed, but she knew better than to argue or disrespect the King, especially in the presence of a vampire. Life may have been better for the vampires now, but it was far worse for wolves.

“Are you saying Nathaniel isn’t ruthless or cunning?” Kira asked casually.

Victoria tilted her head. “He is, but not like his father. Nathaniel’s a big softie compared to Henrikk.”

Great, thought Kira. It made her reluctant to meet the Vampire King.

“Out of curiosity,” Victoria asked, “Did Nathaniel tell you about what he did at the Revolution? Or what he didn’t do, I should say.”

“No. What was he supposed to do?”

Victoria glanced around and lowered her voice. “He disappointed his father in a big way. Nathaniel was fourteen years old when they stormed Wintermaw Keep, and he went with his father’s men and cornered the Wolf King and his family. It was Nathaniel’s chance to prove himself, his father even gave him the honour of killing the King’s children himself.”

Nausea crept through Kira, and she shifted uncomfortably. She’d never heard the explicit details of what had happened during the Revolution, and she’d certainly never heard it told in such a candid manner.

“And did he?”

“No,” Victoria scowled. “And what’s worse, Nat didn’t kill a single wolf that night. Nobody important, anyway.”

Kira was silent. It made her feel strangely touched to think that there was a point in time that Nathaniel had shown her kin mercy… Even if that was no longer the reality now.

Victoria leant closer. “You mustn’t tell anyone, Kira. It brought his father so much shame, but it’s all in the past now.”

“Yeah, sounds like Nathaniel’s more than made up for that in his adult life,” she snapped.

“Oh, yes,” Victoria continued. “Quite a few, in fact. Traitors, usually. And more recently, there were two distant relations of Bakker’s line right her at the academy that he took care of…Haley and what’s-her-name…Alice.”

“Ana,” Kira corrected.

Victoria snapped her fingers. “Yes! Ana. Now listen, don’t get me wrong, Nathaniel is great, but he failed his father during the Revolution. It may be in the past, but there are many of us who remember. That’s why the King made his ascension to the throne conditional. It will be Nathaniel’s thirtieth birthday soon, that’s the age the Crown Prince traditionally takes his father’s place. But Henrikk will only step down if Nathaniel has claimed Gloria as his bride. Henrikk thinks Gloria will balance Nathaniel out.”

Kira frowned. “How do you know all this?”

Victoria waved dismissively. “I’ve been friends with Nathaniel for a long time, Kira. And I grew up in Wintermaw Keep. My father’s the Royal Treasurer.”

This new information made Kira immensely relieved that she hadn’t criticised Henrikk before.

“You might be a wolf, Kira, but I’m still your friend, and I’ll look out for you.” Victoria gave her a tender smile. “And I know what Nathaniel can be like. If he’s mistreating you at all…”

“Thanks,” Kira said, her attention on Nathaniel, who had finished his swim and emerged from the water.