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  As eldest, it was Walter’s right to speak first to the King. He deserved as much even without seniority, after I’d attacked him. The worst part was, I knew I’d do it again. There was just something about Hannah that defied reason—something worth protecting.

  Soon Yeke would call for me. And I could think of nothing to say to the King in my defense. We shouldn’t have gone after the girls. That was on Walter. We hadn’t completed our mission, allowing thrall to roam the streets unchecked.

  Leaving a shifter in our territory, and allowing a human witness to survive without being glamoured—that was on me.

  “You’re going to wear holes in the rug,” Charlie said. “Aren’t those colorful Oriental types worth more than everything I own?”

  As if it mattered. But I knew what the young vampire was trying to do. It was the same thing he always did—chat. Give him a hundred years in the coven, and he’d outgrow the need for pointless conversation. If we were lucky.

  “I’m sure it’ll be okay, Bennet,” Charlie said. “We’re fucking immortal. Really, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

  “There are worse fates than death,” I replied. Charlie’s eyes grew wide, as he raked his fingers along his scalp. I could see the gears turning behind his wrinkled brow and tight jaw. Whatever he could possibly imagine, I’d seen Yeke do worse. The bastard took pleasure in the pain of others. The anguished howls of my sire still haunted me, from that night he had been alone with Yeke behind those closed, oak doors.

  Charlie dropped his legs to the floor and sat up. “You mean like torture?” he asked.

  It was easy to forget how naïve a young vamp could be. “You know nothing of our King?” I asked. “What has Walter taught you?”

  The doors opened, and we both turned.

  With his jaw tight, and fire in his dark eyes, Walter stood in the doorway to my fate. For two hundred years, I’d watched his back. Now everything had changed. Because of her.

  “He’s ready for you,” my brother said. His irises flicked from black to deep crimson for only a fraction of a second, betraying the storm just beneath the surface. “Charles.”

  “Hmm? What?” Charlie asked.

  “Come,” Walter said. And his progeny did.

  The vaulted ceiling of the living room was low compared to that above the throne. Upon a dais stood a gaudy armchair plastered with gold embellishments, upholstered in white velvet. And in the seat where my sire’s desk belonged was Yeke Mongke, King of the Chesapeake region.

  The first Master to declare himself ‘King,’ Yeke had lived up to his surname—Great Eternal. The bastard had been around since the Mongol Empire, ruining lives for centuries. I’d only ever met one vampire older than Yeke—my sire. But as the years had changed Tyr, they’d honed Yeke’s ferocity.

  Leather strips crossed the King’s wide, bare chest, attaching worn, metal plates to his shoulders. Black war paint had been forever tattooed across his tanned face long ago. Power radiated from him, demanding obedience. Even after thirty years, being in his presence was difficult. It was what he’d done to Tyr, and the fact that we’d promised our sire we’d keep peace. It was everything about Yeke that made me uneasy, from his battle armor to his perpetual scowl. His dark beard was just as long as the hair on his head, which hung over his shoulders. And the way he sat on the edge of his seat gave the impression that he would dive across the room at any moment to disembowel anyone who displeased him.

  “Bennet Pierce,” Yeke said, his voice deep and grating.

  I nodded, and waited for the charges against me.

  “Your brother has explained the situation,” Mongke said. “The reason the three of you allowed another thrall attack to occur was the discovery of shifters in our territory.”

  “Another attack?” I asked.

  “I ask the questions,” Yeke spat, nostrils flaring. Charlie jumped. I steeled my nerves, and held my emotionless mask on the surface. “Do you or do you not confirm his story?”

  I spared a glance to my brother. Had he really not reported me? Walter’s attention remained fixed on the King, face calm and unaffected. “Of course,” I agreed, unsure of what to say next. “There was a shifter.”

  “And the three of you let the thing walk away?” Yeke asked. “Left a threat roaming my territory?” Charlie inched behind Walter, as if there was a safe haven beyond Yeke’s wrath. If only that were true.

  My instinct was to defend Hannah—to swear she was no threat. Her life may have depended on it. But I had no way to prove her harmless. And I knew better than to outwardly defy the King.

  “Well…” Yeke looked at me expectantly, nostrils flaring. It was difficult to remain still as he seethed, power rolling off of him in waves. “What are you doing here? Get out there and bring me a wolf hide.”

  “Wait,” I said. Think. Think. “There’s no way to know if there is only a single wolf, or a whole pack. Packs are more common. If one wolf could slip by under our noses, what’s to say there’s not a whole army of them out there waiting to take over your kingdom?”

  “Fine,” he said. “Cut the bitch ’til she talks,” Yeke said, shrugging his shoulders. “Then you’ll know if you have more hunting to do.”

  “And if she doesn’t?” I asked. “Shifters can be resilient creatures. She may never talk, and we could be left unprepared. Wouldn’t it be better if-”

  “You’ve made your point, Pierce,” Yeke said, waving me off with a flick of his wrist. “Congratulations, you just volunteered for cub-sitting duty. Watch the wolf and report.”

  That was not the outcome I had intended. But she would live.

  Walter watched me, judging my expression. The flames in his eyes told me our quarrel was not over, though I was grateful that it would be left between the two of us.

  “Oh, and Chapman,” Yeke said to my brother, and leaned back on his throne. “Take your whelp and actually complete your mission.”

  “It shall be done,” Walter replied, with a curt bow.

  The guards, vampires who never spoke and rarely showed signs of life, opened the heavy doors behind us. None were familiar to me. None looked at anyone but the King.

  Before the doors were halfway open, Charlie had pushed his way out of the throne room. If the doors had been opened faster, he may have run.

  Walter and I followed him back to the great room.

  “Can we go now?” Charlie asked Walter. “Please? That guy-”

  “Quiet,” Walter said. And his progeny was silent, though Charlie still shifted his weight between feet like he was itching to bolt.

  “I appreciate the brevity of your report,” I said, as we walked down the hall, toward the backdoor.

  “This isn’t resolved,” Walter replied.

  We stepped out into the cold, dark night, allowing the tension in my shoulders to finally melt away. Charlie sighed, sharing my sentiment.

  “What is it about that guy?” Charlie asked. “He makes my skin crawl. And how are we supposed to figure out which of the vampires is spawning the thrall? I mean why would anyone want to make mindless zombies anyway? It’s like turning someone without taking the time to give them all of the important stuff.”

  “Still,” I said to Walter, ignoring the ramblings of the young vamp.

  “Like the ability to think beyond brains or whatever. Oh, and showers,” Charlie continued, though no one was listening.

  “We’ve lost enough,” Walter said. “I won’t give him my only brother too.”

  I pictured Tyr, bloody and chained as he was dragged from his office when Yeke had taken him away. I could only imagine the hell our sire was forced to endure, lost at the bottom of the sea. The feeling of dread, heartbreak, and fury still remained deep within me, and I wished more than anything that there was something to do to make it right. But Walter, Charlie, and I were all that was left of the Ulfhednar bloodline. With no idea where to look for our sire, we had only to look after each other.

  So why had I jeopardized all of that for
a woman I didn’t know? For soft curves and piercing blue eyes?

  Chapter Five

  Hannah

  Loose-leaf notes laid scattered across my comforter like the soft, florescent pink blanket had fallen victim to a paper-spewing tornado. On a regular day, I would have found it difficult to concentrate on studying redox reactions. Well that, and all things electrochemistry for the upcoming test. My notes seemed to be written in some foreign language, likely hieroglyphics. But this wasn't a regular day. After that night in the alley, focusing on anything else was impossible.

  “You don’t think the blood transfusion screwed it up, do you?” Ashley asked, from her bed on the other side of our tiny room. “ Too much donor blood overriding the vampire genes? I mean, I do look kind of pale. You think I look pale, right?” She kept her gaze locked on the ceiling, unmoving from her corpse-like position on her black bedspread. She held her arms crossed over her chest, and had been that way for the better part of two days.

  If my roommate hadn’t been attacked, I would have believed the whole thing was a nightmare. The attack. The speed. The silence. All of it was unreal. “Yeah,” I replied, “but-”

  “The sunlight’s hurting my eyes. Could you close those blinds?” I did as she asked, then flipped on my bedside light. If the attack had truly happened, then he was real too. Those dark, mocha eyes still watched me in my dreams. Had they really turned red?

  “What happens when I get hungry?” Ashley asked, eyes widening.

  Disappointment would follow this high. No way had she been turned into a vampire.

  “Ashley-”

  “I don’t really want to eat you,” she said, rolling to her side to face me.

  “You won’t.”

  “You’re close by,” she said. “It seems unlikely that I’ll have the sense of mind to go find someone else to drink from once the crazed thirst kicks in. And that could be at any moment now.”

  “Or it might not,” I replied.

  “Of course it will,” Ashley said. “If the wiki was wrong about their hunger, my hunger, then that sexy blond vamp wouldn’t have chowed down on my carotid. I mean, there was no way that wasn’t deep, animalistic thirst. I could feel the life drain away. But don’t worry. I’m sure if I do attack you, you’re the perfect person to put me in check.”

  “Ashley-”

  “It’s the whole paranormal weirdness thing. You’ll be strong enough to make me stop-”

  “Stop.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

  “No. Stop. Stop this thing that you’re doing,” I replied, raising my hand for emphasis.

  Ashley flopped back down onto her mattress, arms spread out beside her. She stared up at the ceiling, and I could hear the disappointment in her voice. “You don’t think I’m really going to turn,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

  I removed the textbook from my lap, and went to my friend’s side. I took her hand, and she sat up beside me, then leaned her head on my shoulder. “I think something horrible happened to you. There was a lot of blood loss,” I said.

  “I know what I saw, what I felt,” she replied.

  “I know. I’m not even saying that the jerk was for sure not a vampire,” I said, feeling guilty for bursting her bubble. “I’m just saying that going from an assault victim to assuming you’ll become a vampire might be a stretch. We should just take this one step at a time.”

  “And when it turns out that I actually am a vampire…”

  “Then I make sure you don’t hurt anyone,” I said. That much I could concede to, though I knew it would never happen. If that guy was a vampire, a big if, he only fed. It seemed unlikely that a transition to undead would be so simple. Ashley had been the one to tell me that it was an exchange. If vampires really existed, some of what she’d read might actually hold merit.

  “Deal,” she said. “I do feel a little hungry.”

  “For food, right?” I asked, hoping this didn’t mean she had decided to try a taste of my shoulder.

  “Chocolate.”

  I smiled. “Best cure for anything. How about fudge brownie?”

  “You read my mind,” Ashley said. She sat up straight, and let me up.

  In what the brochures had called a kitchenette, I grabbed a mug and a spoon. Really, it was a small corner by the door with a mini fridge and the tiniest microwave I’d ever seen. Disappointment had turned to determination a long time ago, when I quickly decided that cooking in the microwave-only corner was just a new challenge. One I accepted.

  Flour, sugar, cocoa. A dash of oil, water, and vanilla. Zap and top with fudge and whipped cream—best comfort food. Ever.

  “I swear I won the lottery,” Ashley said, and graciously accepted the hot mug of savory goodness. “If you weren’t here I’d have to order delivery or leave my bed. And the sub shop’s got nothing on your mug brownies.”

  “Glad you approve,” I replied.

  “So for reals,” Ashley said, folding her legs like a pretzel. “If this is really happening, I’m glamouring Jayden and sinking my teeth right into his tight ass.” She held out both hands as if the football star from her English class was right in front of her. Then she bit the air between her hands.

  “Wow.”

  “I know, right?” Ashley said, then scooped a heaping spoonful of chocolate into her mouth. “It’s so damned perfect. I bet he tastes better than chocolate.”

  “I mean, I didn’t need the visual,” I said, trying to shake the image from my head.

  “Come on,” Ashley laughed, “I’m sure there’s someone you wouldn’t mind having mind control powers over.”

  The only man I could think about was a shadow. He’d appeared from nowhere, yet was too big and broad to be missed. His strong jawline had begged to be licked, hard chest to be touched. His eyes had transformed from warmth to fire, stirring a desire that was unlike me. Just thinking of him heated my skin, reliving the excitement of when he’d touched my hand. And the desire for him to touch so much more.

  “Not that you need any new special powers. They drool all over you already,” Ashley snorted, before shoveling in another heaping spoonful of brownie.

  “Yeah, right,” I replied. I’d had two guys show interest last year. Nothing to write home about. No one I was interested in. Dating made things complicated. And life was complicated enough.

  “Since you never actually go out with anyone, I bet you have your eye on something a bit more forbidden. Like an older man. Professor maybe.” Her smile grew as she tried to peg my type.

  “What?” I tried to calm the heat in my cheeks.

  “Uh, huh,” she said, raising one brow. “You heard me.”

  “If you really turn,” I said, “you should use your powers for good. Only bite the willing.”

  “I see what you’re trying to do there,” she said, waving her spoon in accusation.

  “I bet there’s a whole bunch of hot guys on your forum that would love to be your late night snack,” I said, nodding.

  “I bet you’re right,” Ashley said. “They’d totally flip if someone was for real. And after we met up, they could go on and say I’d actually bitten them.” Then her voice softened and she spoke under her breath. “Instead of just sucked their energy or some crap.”

  “Yeah,” I said, pleased to have redirected her. The last thing I wanted to talk about was the strange man who I’d dreamed about every night. The one that was there when I closed my eyes. The one I was still half-convinced I’d made up. Bennet.

  Chapter Six

  Bennet

  A practice in patience. In life, I’d found it near impossible to remain completely still for more than a few seconds. It had been as if there was always something that needed to be accomplished, no matter how many tasks I had completed. But I had lost that sense of urgency long ago.

  In the time that passed, from my place in the shadows, I contemplated the report that I knew I would need to generate. There was no pack. But proving Hannah’s value was my only cha
nce to save her life. How long could I delay my return to the estate? And what evidence could I offer on her behalf?

  The slam of the building’s heavy metal door signaled the time. Every hour, on the hour, a flock of unremarkable men and women came and went. Like gears of a clock they followed the same paths at exactly the same time, night after night.

  Given the size of the city, it had been easy to find her, to learn her routine. The blonde had cued me to their location, the night I’d first met Hannah. Twelve blocks from the University, carrying a backpack was a sure sign that the women could be found nearby.

  It had only taken a single night of scouring lecture halls and off-campus housing, cafeterias and dormitories before I’d spotted her. From right here. Among the crowd, but not with them, Hannah had worn her dark hair high upon her head in a tight knot. Her neck and collarbones had been exposed to the cool, night breeze. But unlike those around her, she didn’t seem to notice. Her pink lips had shimmered in the harsh fluorescent light that had illuminated the courtyard. And just as I had every night since, I waited for her to emerge once again.

  Until she did. Exactly seven minutes after the metal door slammed into the brick facade, Hannah stepped out of the hundred-year old building. I watched as she skipped down the stone steps, with a pile of books held close to her chest. She looked just as she did every night, in her short, black, leather jacket. Tiny blue shoes adorned her feet; and tight, dark jeans clung to her legs. Only her white shirt fit loosely, cut into a v that exposed her elegant neck. Every night it was as if I was seeing Hannah for the first time. My fangs descended, and I had to fight the draw to her.

  And just like every night, she looked out beyond the crowd, beyond the light’s reach as if she sensed me there. Though she never approached, never quite met my eyes. Instead, she went on her way. But for that one brief moment every night, it was as if she searched for me in the shadows.

  The sounds of the crowd faded off into the distance, leaving only the soft footsteps of the she-wolf. She turned down the brick pathway toward her living quarters. I followed.