“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 poured half of the glowing liquid onto the cuff around my left ankle. I watched in awe as the metal hissed and sizzled before it began to melt, disappearing into nothingness like it had never existed.
He repeated the process on my right ankle, his movements precise and methodical. The second cuff melted away just as effortlessly, the potion eating through the metal like it was made of paper. As the last remnants dissolved, a strange lightness washed over me. For the first time in what felt like forever, I was free—no chains, no bindings, no cold metal biting into my skin.
I stretched out my legs, feeling the relief flood through me. It felt surreal, like I could finally move without the constant reminder of my captivity.
Jason pocketed the vial, standing up to his full height as he stared down at me. His stormy gaze softened just a fraction, but his voice remained as sharp as ever. "The tracking device won’t shock you anymore. But we’re not out of danger yet."
Okay.
I nodded, trying to absorb his words while my body still tingled with the aftershocks of freedom. The cuffs, the physical shackles that had been latched onto me for what felt like forever, were finally gone. My wrists still bore the raw, irritated skin where they’d once dug in, a reminder that this freedom was fragile and temporary. But it was there. I could breathe again, even if the weight of the world still pressed down on me.
Yet, I wasn’t stupid. I knew what lay beyond these walls—what waited for us. The shifter army prowling like hungry wolves, the witches scheming from their shadows, and whatever else was thrown into this mix of chaos. The freedom I felt was fleeting, and the deeper threats remained, gnawing at the edge of my awareness.
Still, a part of me couldn’t help but feel a flicker of hope. The cuffs were gone. The chains were broken. Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t as powerless as I’d once thought.
I rolled my shoulders, testing the new sensation of movement without restraint. A grin spread across my face, wild and fierce. "Cool." I looked up at Jason, the ever-stoic vampire. "You did me a favour today. I’ll remember it. Now let’s go. I’m so ready to kick some wolf asses."
Jason’s expression didn’t change; his lips still set in that hard line. “Not yet,” he said grimly, a flicker of something dark passing through his eyes.
I blinked, my grin faltering. “Not yet?” My stomach twisted. “Why the hell not? The cuffs are gone, right? What else could possibly—”
“You have something else inside you,” he interrupted, voice low and edged with warning.
I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. “What the actual fuck does that mean?” I asked, my voice rising in pitch. Panic bloomed in my chest, my mind scrambling to understand what he was talking about. Something else? What else had they done to me?
Jason’s lips quirked into a humourless smirk. “I’ll take it out, but you’ll have to endure pain.”
I bristled, clenching my fists. “Me? huh! I'm not that weak. I'm not—I—I’m not afraid of pain.” I frowned, though my heart raced faster. “I just hope it’s not in my stomach. If they messed with my organs—" Do I still have a kidney? A lung? Heart? Or my intestine?
“It’s not there and why the hell would—um, nevermind, you are one weird woman,” Jason cut me off, his tone steady but somehow still ominous. “Give me your arm.”
I hesitated for a second, then extended my left arm toward him. I’d gotten used to obeying orders, my body reacting before my mind could catch up. But the tension in his voice unnerved me. Was this really happening?
Without a word, Jason grabbed my arm. His grip was firm, and before I could ask what he planned to do, he tore my sleeve open, exposing the pale skin underneath. The cold air bit at my exposed flesh, and I shivered involuntarily.
Then I saw his hand shift. His fingers elongated, sharpening into deadly, blade-like claws. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at them, knowing what was coming. I had no time to brace myself. One of his claws slashed through the skin of my upper arm near the elbow, splitting it open with a swift, precise cut.
A strangled gasp escaped me. Blood spilt from the wound in a hot, steady stream. The pain was sharp, searing, and immediate, but I bit down hard on my lip, refusing to cry out.
"It’ll be over soon," Jason muttered, his voice a little rougher now, almost as if this was hard for him too. He didn’t look at me, his focus entirely on the wound he’d made as he worked his claw deeper, searching. I felt the metal tip scrape against something foreign under my skin, and bile rose in my throat. I clenched my teeth, trying to stay still, every instinct screaming at me to pull away from the pain.
Finally, Jason’s claw hooked onto something small. With a deft flick of his wrist, he pulled it free. My breath hitched as he held it up to the dim light—a quarter-inch nano tracking device, glinting faintly with a malicious sheen.
He flung the tiny device to the ground with a look of pure disgust, his lip curling as though the very sight of it offended him.
I stared at it, the blood still running down my arm, and something deep inside me snapped. The device was so small, so insignificant, yet it had been used to control me, to track me like I was nothing more than a piece of property. White-hot rage bubbled up from my core, my vision blurring as anger overtook me.
“They did this to me,” I hissed, my voice trembling with fury. "Those bastards... they did this to me."
Jason’s gaze softened just slightly, but his expression remained unreadable. “And now it’s gone. But don’t think for a second they’re finished with you.”
I looked up at him, feeling the hot sting of tears pricking the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I had no time for weakness now. My anger was my armour. My pain was my weapon.
“Let them come,” I growled. My voice was steadier now, stronger. “I’ll make them regret ever laying a hand on me.”
Jegh must have implanted it in me when I blacked out. He was all about controlling me ever since I’d unfortunately crossed his path.
Fuck Jegh!
I stomped on the device and ground it to smidgens.
“You’re clean now, Ollivara,” Jason said, his claw slashing open the heel of his palm.
The divine scent of his blood twirled under my nostrils, and my eyes brightened. But fuck, it wasn’t normal that I craved his blood.
“It’s not for you to drink,” he said harshly before holding my arm and dripping his blood into the wound.
Instantly, the gash in my arm sealed. I knew that I could heal fast, but the vampire king’s potent blood helped me regenerate even faster.
I decided I’d stick with him, at least for a while.
I flashed him another grin and was about to thank him, but he turned away, completely ignoring my bright smile, and stepped out of the cell to study the sidewall as if it were more interesting than me.
“Now, let’s get the hell out of here, Ollivara,” he ordered.
"I'm not Ollivara!"
"Whatever!"
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
“I can stand on my own two feet today because I drank from the amazing handsome vampire,” I said, my words cutting through the tension, watching with glee as repulsion rippled across Oldy’s face. The disgust that twisted his features only made me smile wider. His tightly knit control frayed further, and I revelled in it. “Now do you know who he is, Oldy? He’s the fucking vampire king. He could crush you like a little bug between his thumb and forefinger.”I leaned in, my voice lowering to a dangerous whisper, eyes locked on his. “While everyone else let me rot, he came for me.”Oldy’s mouth tightened into a hard line, his jaw clenching as he processed my words, his gaze flicking nervously toward Jason. The weight of my declaration hung heavy in the air between us, and for the first time, the enforcer looked less like a soldier and more like a man caught between fear and duty.“So yeah, I’m going with this good hunk, my superman.” I finished with a grin that was more teeth than joy. Th
My eyes widened, heart racing as I processed the scene. Reinforcements. They’d come for us.Before I could react, Jason’s hand clamped around mine, his grip strong and unyielding. I barely had time to register the touch before I felt my feet lift off the ground again, dangling helplessly as he hoisted me into the air with that same supernatural ease that always made me feel like a doll in his hands. He was moving fast, and there was no mistaking the urgency in his actions. Jason was afraid of losing me—afraid that any moment of hesitation could mean the difference between escape and capture.A sudden rush of air signalled the vampire girl’s arrival. She shot down from the sky like an arrow, landing lightly near the tunnel entrance with a graceful thud that made my heart skip a beat. I hadn’t even noticed her approach until she was right there, just feet away from us. Her dark wings folded neatly behind her as she flashed me a playful grin, her eyes glinting with mischief. She bowed wi