His patience snapped.
With a growl of frustration, the Vampire King cupped my cheeks with both hands, his grip bruising, forcing me to meet his gaze. The pressure was sharp and unbearable, making it impossible for me to take another swig from him. I growled in defiance, but my protest was swallowed by his unyielding strength. The fury in his eyes was scorching, and yet, beneath it, there was something darker—something that mirrored my own hunger.
I glared up at him, my lips stained with his blood, my displeasure seething behind my narrowed eyes. The power surged through me, and for a moment, I considered fighting him, breaking free, and taking more—but the weight of his grip and the command in his gaze made me pause.
As soon as he released my cheeks, he shoved me back, his muscles tense, as if barely containing his own urges. I stumbled, regaining my balance, but the shock had passed, and with it came a wave of shame that curled deep in my stomach. The high of the feeding ebbed away, leaving me feeling exposed and raw.
My fangs retreated, the sharpness of them fading as the hunger dulled. It was as if I was waking from a trance, and I hated the vulnerability that came with it. But even in the shame, I couldn’t deny how good I felt—how strong. My limbs tingled with new energy, my senses sharper than before, my body humming with life. I could feel the strength thrumming beneath my skin, coiled and ready to strike. I felt... powerful.
Still, the shame clung to me, refusing to let go. I ran my tongue over my lips, tasting the remnants of his blood, then wiped my mouth with my dirty sleeve, trying to rid myself of the evidence of what I had done. But the taste lingered, and so did the memory of the terror I’d glimpsed in his mind.
It was a reminder. A reminder of what I was. A monster in his eyes. And maybe, just maybe, on my own.
“I—uh, I’m sorry,” I stammered, feeling my face flush with an unfamiliar heat. Apologising wasn’t something that came naturally to me, and the words felt foreign on my tongue, like I was forcing them through clenched teeth. But I owed this vampire an apology, even if it tasted as bitter as poison. I had been rude, relentless in my greed, demanding more of his blood while he had shown me a level of kindness I hadn’t deserved. "I don’t know what got into me. Maybe the vampire in me got hold of me for a moment."
I hesitated, avoiding his piercing gaze, and then forced myself to meet his eyes again. “Now that I’ve apologised to you, sir, we gotta go.”
I tried to push past the awkwardness, desperate to change the subject, to move, to do anything other than stand there drowning in my own guilt. But he didn’t move. Instead, he studied me, his eyes dark and unreadable, like a predator assessing a wounded creature.
“Give it a few seconds,” he advised, his tone low and firm, cutting through my anxiety with the precision of a blade. “My blood is making you feel invincible, and if you act upon it, it’ll endanger us both.”
Invincible.
Really?
Woah.
The word hummed in my veins, vibrating through every fibre of my being. He was right—I did feel invincible, like I could tear through the walls, like the world was too small to contain the power coursing through me. The strength was intoxicating, dangerously so. But his warning pulled me back, grounding me, reminding me of the razor-thin line I was walking.
“There’s a shifter army outside,” he continued, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he could already hear them closing in. “We have a few minutes before they get here.”
My stomach lurched at his words, but the realisation of what he had done hit me harder than the threat waiting beyond the walls. Despite the imminent danger, he had come for me. Not for my blood, not to take anything from me, but to offer his own. He had given me his blood, his strength, when he could’ve left me to fend for myself. And not just any blood—his blood, potent and powerful, electrifying my senses, awakening something within me that I hadn’t even known existed.
I could still feel it—his blood, alive inside me, pulsing with a power that was both alien and familiar. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, filling me with a raw, untapped energy that thrummed beneath my skin, making my muscles coil with readiness, my mind sharpening with clarity.
And the taste... Gods, the taste of him lingered on my tongue, rich and intoxicating. I found myself staring at him, my gaze drifting to his throat, to the pulse beneath his skin, and a longing settled in my chest, deep and insistent. It wasn’t just hunger. It was a desire—dark, primal, and impossible to ignore. I wanted to taste him again. I want him... inside me. Deep. Buried. Inside me.
Jesus, please don't let him read my mind.
But my gaze must have lingered too long on his lips because he growled low and dangerous. “Don’t even think about it.”
What? I'm not planning on kissing him.
Or maybe.
“Don't you dare, woman!”
But his voice snapped me out of my trance, but I couldn’t ignore the heat that rose in his eyes—a flicker of something that matched the desire burning in my own. But it was quickly smothered by the menace that rolled off him, a sharp reminder of who—and what—I was dealing with.
“It was a one-time favour due to the circumstances,” he continued, his voice hard, almost a snarl, as if he were reminding himself as much as he was warning me. The tension in his body was palpable, his muscles coiled tight, and his aura radiated danger. But there was something else there, just beneath the surface—something unspoken that crackled in the air between us.
I swallowed hard, trying to push the hunger down, but it clung to me, clawing at my insides. His blood had awakened something in me, something that wasn’t going to be satisfied with just a taste. But I knew better than to push my luck. I had crossed a line once already, and I wasn’t sure what would happen if I crossed it again.
Still, the temptation lingered, heavy and suffocating.
“What do you think I am?” I barked back, not liking being scoffed at. “I know it was a one-time thing since no one can be that generous! I won’t drink your blood again, even if you beg me! I’m just not that kind of chick.”
What the heck was wrong with this man? Who did he think he was?
“We’ll see,” he said darkly, not believing me at all.
Stop reading my mind, you jerk!
He smirked.
By now I know he can read my mind.
Fuck!
For half a breath, I wondered if I should go with him. He seemed to be hung up on me being this bad Ollivara, yet he’d still come for me. And danger oozed out of his every pore. What if he overpowered me on the road after we left this confinement?
Right. I sounded ridiculous, and I knew it. If this vampire wanted me dead, I’d be dead already. He could have ended me without a second thought. His strength and power were leagues beyond mine at the moment. Still, a dark thought gnawed at the back of my mind, curling around my spine like a snake. What if he needed me for something worse? Something far more sinister than just death?
An image slashed through my mind, cold and brutal: me strapped down to an operating table, my body cut open, my hybrid nature exposed and dissected, my blood drained drop by drop. The witches had nearly done it before—experimenting on me like I was nothing more than a specimen.
I'm a hybrid, after all.
The fact gnawed at me, filling me with dread. My kind was rare, powerful, and unpredictable. I mean, since ancient times, I've been the first in this millennium. I heard a myth about hybrids—half vampire, half wolf—but it was just a myth from a very long time ago. There were people, creatures even, who would do unspeakable things to harness that power. But not him.No. I shook my head, trying to dispel the grotesque witches, forcing myself to focus. This vampire—this dangerous, vicious being standing before me—wouldn’t do that to me. He was lethal, no doubt about that, but he hadn’t betrayed me yet. I’d seen something in his eyes back when he found me, half-dead and surrounded by witches. They were about to slice me open like a lab rat, and he’d stormed in, unleashing hell and tearing them apart with raw, destructive power. His fury had been terrifying, but it hadn’t been directed at me. He’d saved me. He’d killed nearly all of them.I couldn’t forget that.“How did you get in?” I ask
“Will you stop thinking?” Jason purred. His unnatural eyes floated back to mine as I rolled my eyes at him.The vampire king sighed. “Stop thinking, woman!” He said as he opened the via while I blink at it, curiosity buzzing through me. “I can’t sit very straight, but I can be still,” I offer, trying to sound helpful. My body ached from the restraints, but still, I wasn’t in the mood for more scolding.He shot me a look, one that could freeze water in its tracks. “Don’t talk.”I nodded, my lips closed tightly to keep myself from asking whether he knewI was looking at his neck.I bit my lip to stop the retort that nearly slipped out, but it was hard. “I’m sorry that I distracted you,” I added quickly, unable to help myself. “But I have a mouth, and I love chatting. I’m a people person. I need to talk. I can't stop talking when I'm nervous. I…”“Just shut up!” Jason shook his head, his patience clearly wearing thin. With a sharp twist of his wrist, he opened the vial and carefully poure
With my renewed energy, provided by the vampire king’s blood, I shot to my feet. This time, I stood steady as a rock, a sense of strength humming through my bones. The expected vertigo didn’t hit. My vision was sharp, my senses heightened, and the dull ache in my limbs had vanished as though it had never existed.Adrenaline streamed through my veins, making me feel invincible. My heart pounded in sync with this newfound power, each beat echoing the surge of energy coursing through me. But I warned myself not to get ahead of things. That kind of arrogance could easily get me killed in this place, especially considering the dangers lurking beyond these walls.I jogged out of the cell, my legs steady, my breath even, and followed the vampire down the dim, shadowed corridor. His broad form moved with a grace that was almost unnatural, barely making a sound on the stone floor, but there was a tension in his shoulders that I didn’t miss. He was focused, his eyes scanning the darkness as tho
It was close to midnight by the time we had crossed the endless valley, traversed a couple of mountains, and stood at the base of a rusty-red rocky hill.I was spent, but I hadn’t bitched about it. Jason had offered to carry me, but he was very tired too, as he was unable to fully recover from the sun without replenishing his strength by taking in blood.We overlooked a terrain of low bushes and hard red dirt.“That’s the border,” Jason said, looking ahead, then glancing at me to check my state again.“We’re going to make it, sweety pie.” I grinned at him. “Let’s race for the final few miles.”Once we crossed the red terrain and reached the other side, the shifters wouldn’t be able to track us as easily, and they might just give up. As for the witches and other hunters, they wouldn’t be in their element in the western wilderness.“Halt,” Jason called before I sprang, ready to put the past behind me forever.The wind stirred, then stilled, then picked up again.A sheet of red dirt asce
I hadn’t been able to familiarise myself with this compound. None of the shifters were nice enough to offer me a tour. The shifters weren’t a polite species.First, Oldy and his goons had shot me down from the wall of the Shifters Uni, then they drugged me, blindfolded me, and dragged me to this compound.When I woke up, I’d found myself in confined quarters. Then I’d pick a fight with the Alpha’s son and split his lip since I refused to be his mate. While I was riding him, not in a sexual way (no way would I ever let him touch me again), but pounding my fists into his ears,Oldy and his minions shot me with enough drugs to take down a horse.So I’d kissed the ground again, waking up in that special cell. So, no, I wasn’t going to run blindly and then end up where I’d started.“Trust issues?” Jason asked, arching an eyebrow.“I bet you aren’t a regular here,” I said against the wind.“And I don’t plan to be,” he confirmed.“The shifters would wait for hell to freeze over before they l
The shifters thrived on power and control, and I was a pawn in their game—an expendable asset they would use and discard without a second thought. It was clear that any attempts at negotiation would be futile, and I wouldn’t fall into that trap. I had no choice but to brace myself for conflict, to accept that I would need to make an enemy out of the very beings who had taken me captive.But there was a silver lining to this grim scenario. Jason had risked everything to venture into the heart of enemy territory for me, and I would honour that sacrifice. I owed him that much. In a world where loyalty was a rare commodity, I was grateful to have someone willing to fight alongside me, even if it was a vampire I had initially considered my adversary.With Patrick, Diane, and Paris absent, there was no issue of divided loyalty weighing on my conscience. They were my friends, my allies, and I knew they would have my back if they were here, but they weren’t. It was just Jason and me now, and
“So she spied for you in Luther’s ranks?” I asked.I’d learnt from the textbooks and the lectures that Luther was the shifters’ number one enemy. We shifters—before they cast me out—were about to go to war with that vampire and his army.“That’s not your concern,” Jason said, trying to dismiss me again.“It is my fucking concern,” I said. “I’m now involved in all the things you’re involved in. I won’t fly blind, vampire, not even for you.”He shot me an annoyed look, his eyes narrowing in that familiar way that told me I was pushing my luck. His lips pressed into a thin line, and he inhaled slowly, as if trying to hold back a tide of frustration.“This journey will be more difficult than expected,” he muttered, almost to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. It wasn’t meant for me, but I caught it nonetheless. The weight of his words felt heavier than they should have, like there was more beneath them—something that Jason wasn’t sharing, at least not yet.I wasn’t a fool. I had a
The strangest part was that I didn’t even have all my memories. So many pieces of my past were missing, lost in a fog I couldn’t penetrate, yet the rage still simmered. Even without knowing every detail, I knew enough. I knew I’d been wronged and betrayed, and the world deserved to pay for that.What would it feel like to give in completely, to stop pretending I was anything other than what I truly was? A destroyer. A bringer of death.The thought curled around my mind like smoke, intoxicating and poisonous. If I let it, I could burn everything to the ground. Maybe I was meant to.Maybe the dark song wasn’t something to fear. Maybe it was something to embrace.My hand slipped from Jason’s, my desire to terrorise all beings growing strong.“Ollivara! Stop thinking!” Jason warned menacingly.I turned to him, gazing at the broad sword in his other hand, my image reflected in the shiny blade. My left eye had turned pitch-black, and my right glowed red.“Come back to me, Ollivara,” he call