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Jaded Wolf 26
“If you need me, I’ll be at the Pavilion seeing to the investigations. We’ll find out who did this, Derek.”I crossed my arms over my chest. I felt the guilt and shame come over me as Vivienne left me there to brood alone. I couldn’t think of anyone who could be capable of doing this to Sofia other than Lucas. But I had no proof and even if I did, I wasn’t sure that I could do anything about it. Lucas was my brother and no matter how important Sofia had become to me, blood runs thicker than water. SOFIACorrine took her time with me. She tried to make me comfortable, giving me a drink of water, which I truly appreciated, considering how the taste of Derek’s blood was still fresh on my mouth.She took great care in making sure that I wanted to do what she was asking me to do – never pushing or ordering or commanding, which I was certain was exactly what Derek would’ve done had I been left under his care.She gave me a fresh set of clothes to wear. I was so relieved to see that she ha
Last Updated : 2022-10-25Jaded Wolf 27
DEREKI rose to my feet the moment the door swung open. I breathed out a sigh of relief when Sofia’s lovely form stepped out of the room, a tentative smile forming on her face at the sight of me. If only out of sheer relief, I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her right then and there, but I fought the urge to do it in fear of scaring her. So I held back and allowed her to set the pace. I doubt she was aware of the effect she had on me when she walked toward me, grabbed my hand, her thin, dainty fingers intertwining with mine before she lifted my hand and placed a soft kiss over the back of it.I didn’t fully understand why she did it, but I took it as assurance that she still felt safe around me, that she was choosing to trust me.I was both humbled and pressured by the gesture. I stared at her for a moment, taking in the sight of the splash of freckles on her cheeks and the natural red blush on her cheekbones.I let my eyes feast on the delicateness of her facial features, ad
Last Updated : 2022-10-25Jaded Wolf 28
SOFIAThe moment our eyes met, he looked away, almost as if he were embarrassed over something. It was actually… cute – a word I never thought I’d use to describe Derek Novak.As we walked back to the Pavilion, he remained silent, deep in thought, never even looking my way.“You said that you wanted to teach me how to defend myself…” I eventually said, breaking the silence, detesting the wall that seemed to be building up between us.“Yes,” he nodded. He then paused as if to catch himself. “But if you don’t want to…”I frowned. Since when does he care what I want? I decided not to make a fuss over it.“I want to.”The heaviness in our conversation was weighing on me. I wanted to go back to how comfortable and light and casual our interactions were before things took a turn for the worse. Before Lucas happened. I was still shaken, still afraid of what Lucas was capable of, but dwelling on woes really wasn’t one of my strong suits. It was one of Ben’s major influences on me. He never
Last Updated : 2022-10-25Jaded Wolf 1
PROLOGUEInever once imagined that my life would play out the way that it did. To be fair, I guess I could say that life never really unfolds the way we expect it to.I know my father’s didn’t, but I doubt there’s a teenager in the world who could expect her life to play out like mine.I’d just turned seventeen when my life changed completely and irreversibly. It was only one night before that I was thinking of the future, of my dreams and aspirations.I wanted to become a social worker or even a lawyer in hopes of helping others like me who were abandoned by their families. It was my birthday, and at my age, it felt like I had my whole life ahead of me.Granted, I wasn’t so sure that it would be much of a great life, but at least I was certain that I was going to have a life.That following evening, I wasn’t so sure any more. How could I have been when, within the span of twenty four hours, I’d gone from high school senior and certified wallflower to captive of the prince of the larg
Last Updated : 2022-09-30Jaded Wolf 2
My gaze settled on his face.I realized that he was inspecting me just as closely as I was him. His eyes on me suddenly made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable.I gave my father’s advice a second thought, but quickly canceled out all notions of heeding to his counsel when I reminded myself that he stopped caring a long time ago.I straightened to my full height and mustered all the courage I had to keep myself from running away from this stranger.Big mistake.The confident smirk didn’t leave his face for even a moment. “Like what you see?”I frowned, annoyed by his audacity. “A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”He stepped forward, closer to me, and leaned his head toward mine. “Don’t I have the right to be?”He knew he looked good and wasn’t about to act like he didn’t.“Whatever,” was my oh-so-brilliant comeback.My shoulders sagged with defeat as I took a step back, overwhelmed by how close he was. I rolled my eyes and did a one-eighty, not quite in the mood to play whatever game th
Last Updated : 2022-09-30Jaded Wolf 3
I could barely even raise my arms without requiring a considerable amount of effort. I tried to pull against my chains. They were fastened to the wall. I felt straw beneath my bare feet. I ran my hands over my body and felt the soft linen fabric of the white cover-up I pulled over my swimsuit before my untimely walk earlier that evening.I had intended to go for a swim.Yet another one of your brilliant ideas, Sofia. Now you’re locked up in some sort of dungeon wearing your swimsuit and a cover-up that’s nowhere near enough to fend off the biting cold. Genius. Just genius.I gritted my teeth, loathing myself for being so careless about my own safety. I caught myself before I could turn myself into my own personal villain. The severity of the situation hit me full force and I was unable to suppress a shudder. What have I gotten myself into?I’m in a dungeon. The word alone caused alternating images of stories I read about places like the London Tower and the kinds of torture prisoners
Last Updated : 2022-09-30Jaded Wolf 4
His answers sent chills down my spine. “You.”Before I could even let that fully register, fangs protruded from his mouth. He pushed my head to the side, giving him easy access to my neck.It felt like I was in a dream but, as much as I tried to pinch myself awake, there was no escaping it.I was convinced that my greatest fear had come to pass. I’d already gone insane, because at that moment, I was a hundred percent sure that I was about to be eaten alive by a vampire.“Lucas!”I could already feel the sharp edge of his fangs on my skin when a shrill female voice brought me an unexpected reprieve.He growled with frustration and roughly pushed me away, causing my head to jerk back and bump against the concrete wall.I glared every sort of sharp blade imaginable at my captor. So your name is Lucas.He seemed to be reading my mind, because an ugly frown marred his handsome features.“Yes. The name’s Lucas, my sweet innocent. Not that knowing that will do you any good.”“What do you thi
Last Updated : 2022-09-30Jaded Wolf 5
If I thought Lucas could be beautiful, Vivienne was even more stunning to behold. She was a couple of inches shorter than her brother, but had the same dark hair and pale complexion. Her eyes, however, were different. Against the light in the room, her eyes almost looked violet, with hints of deep purple.She was eyeing me warily, as if I was a heavy burden that she had to bear.“Thank you,” I told her, genuinely meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.“Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You’re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only
Last Updated : 2022-09-30
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Jaded Wolf 28
SOFIAThe moment our eyes met, he looked away, almost as if he were embarrassed over something. It was actually… cute – a word I never thought I’d use to describe Derek Novak.As we walked back to the Pavilion, he remained silent, deep in thought, never even looking my way.“You said that you wanted to teach me how to defend myself…” I eventually said, breaking the silence, detesting the wall that seemed to be building up between us.“Yes,” he nodded. He then paused as if to catch himself. “But if you don’t want to…”I frowned. Since when does he care what I want? I decided not to make a fuss over it.“I want to.”The heaviness in our conversation was weighing on me. I wanted to go back to how comfortable and light and casual our interactions were before things took a turn for the worse. Before Lucas happened. I was still shaken, still afraid of what Lucas was capable of, but dwelling on woes really wasn’t one of my strong suits. It was one of Ben’s major influences on me. He never
Jaded Wolf 27
DEREKI rose to my feet the moment the door swung open. I breathed out a sigh of relief when Sofia’s lovely form stepped out of the room, a tentative smile forming on her face at the sight of me. If only out of sheer relief, I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her right then and there, but I fought the urge to do it in fear of scaring her. So I held back and allowed her to set the pace. I doubt she was aware of the effect she had on me when she walked toward me, grabbed my hand, her thin, dainty fingers intertwining with mine before she lifted my hand and placed a soft kiss over the back of it.I didn’t fully understand why she did it, but I took it as assurance that she still felt safe around me, that she was choosing to trust me.I was both humbled and pressured by the gesture. I stared at her for a moment, taking in the sight of the splash of freckles on her cheeks and the natural red blush on her cheekbones.I let my eyes feast on the delicateness of her facial features, ad
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“If you need me, I’ll be at the Pavilion seeing to the investigations. We’ll find out who did this, Derek.”I crossed my arms over my chest. I felt the guilt and shame come over me as Vivienne left me there to brood alone. I couldn’t think of anyone who could be capable of doing this to Sofia other than Lucas. But I had no proof and even if I did, I wasn’t sure that I could do anything about it. Lucas was my brother and no matter how important Sofia had become to me, blood runs thicker than water. SOFIACorrine took her time with me. She tried to make me comfortable, giving me a drink of water, which I truly appreciated, considering how the taste of Derek’s blood was still fresh on my mouth.She took great care in making sure that I wanted to do what she was asking me to do – never pushing or ordering or commanding, which I was certain was exactly what Derek would’ve done had I been left under his care.She gave me a fresh set of clothes to wear. I was so relieved to see that she ha
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“What’s going on? What did you do to her?” Corrine eyed me suspiciously, making it rather clear that she didn’t trust me the way her ancestor, Cora, did.“I didn’t do anything to her,” I replied indignantly, saying the words through gritted teeth. “I found her this way when I checked on her this morning.”“One of the other girls in his harem was found murdered – bled dry – inside her bathroom,” Vivienne added.Corrine kept up her suspicious perusal of me. “And you didn’t do this?”I glared at her, trying to maintain my patience. “Did you not hear me the first time, witch?”“Can you blame me for thinking that you had something to do with this? You took one look at her when you woke up and threw her up a pillar, more than ready to devour her. Who knows what sick things you have in mind to do to her?”“Corrine, he didn’t do this,” Vivienne spoke up knowing that if she didn’t, I might not be able to keep myself from maiming the witch for her insolence.“Well then, who did?” Corrine raised
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SOFIAEverything happened in a blur. I was aware of it all, and yet, I wasn’t. It was almost like everything was happening to another person, and yet it was me. I felt Derek’s strong arms beneath me, carrying me.I heard his conversation with Vivienne before they both decided to take me to see Corrine the witch at the Sanctuary. I saw the agitation on Derek’s face, the intoxicating scent of his natural musk filling my nostrils as I snuggled against him.I was conscious of it all, and yet at the same time, I was stuck in a memory, still reliving every sickening sensation it induced.I was lured to sleep by an enchanting melody and awakened from it by a horrific nightmare.His hand was clamped over my mouth and his full weight was rested on top of me, constricting my breathing. I felt his free hand hike up my thigh and when I flinched, he chuckled vehemently, amused by my weakness.“I will have you someday, Sofia,” he whispered against my ear. “You will bring me so much pleasure and onc
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DEREKShe looked so peaceful, so serene, so innocent as I carried her to her bedroom and laid her on her bed. No other woman – and believe me when I say that I’d been with many – had the same effect that Sofia Claremont had on me. She was fragile and vulnerable, and yet strong and resilient at the same time. She’d only recently entered my life, yet it felt like I’d known her for ages.It was strange the way I felt about how she listened to me and tried to ease my mind after my tempestuous outburst. I was grateful, but at the same time, I was mad at her. Inside the music room, she listened to me give in to my passion for music. She listened until exhaustion and sleep stole her attention away from me. Lying on the cushioned wooden bench inside the music room, she was a feast to behold, with her dress hiking up those long, milky white legs of hers, her locks of red hair cascading down the edge of the bench and her pink lips slightly parting as she breathed. My stomach clenched just looki
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To that, I didn’t know how to respond. I missed Ben so much. There wasn’t a waking moment since I got there that he wasn’t at the back of my mind, that I wasn’t wondering what he was thinking about or how he was dealing with my disappearance. I wondered how many of the humans they took here were separated from loved ones. To my relief, Derek didn’t seem to be interested in a response.“My father was a farmer,” he began. “That’s what we did before we became this. We farmed wheat and grew vegetables. It was a humble existence, but we were happy. Then one night, my father and Lucas were out in the city to trade our goods. Vivienne and I went out for wood. When we returned, our mother was dead, her blood sucked dry.”I swallowed hard as I listened and imagined how that would’ve felt.“Vivienne swore it was a wild beast. They ridiculed me but I knew it was a vampire. I was just thirteen at the time, but I was so sure that a vampire murdered my mother, so I found a way to join the shadow hu
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There was no hesitation on my part. The darkness in me took over. I was beside the woman, pulling her against me with my arms and sinking my teeth into her neck.The taste of fresh blood, pumping through her veins by a living beating heart, was invigorating. I drank, determined to bleed her dry.I kept on telling myself through all those years that I hated being a vampire, but it was who I was and as I drank from this woman, there was no escaping it.I sucked the blood out of my young victim and just as I was about to drink the last drop – the one that would cause her heart to stop beating, a moment of clarity came to me.For reasons I could not understand or even comprehend – and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to – I realized that the whole time I was holding this beautiful stranger in my arms, feeding on her, it felt like I was betraying Sofia.***SOFIAIt was impossible not to know that Derek had already arrived at the penthouse. I and the girls – Gwen, Ashley, Paige, and Rosa – were
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“The prophecy was that your reign alone can provide our kind true sanctuary. The Blood Shade has been a sanctuary for a limited number of our kind, but it isn’t yet a true sanctuary until we either find all vampires a safe haven and manage a way to survive without the need of humans or…”“Or what?” I asked, casting a stern look at my sister.She said the blood-curdling words I knew she would say. “We have to end the shadow hunters once and for all.”“You’re talking about war and bloodshed that we can’t even imagine. How long has it even been since the Shade’s guards have been in actual battle?”All I got from both my brother and sister was silence.We continued our trek through the island, leaving the issue hanging in the air. It weighed heavily on me for the rest of the time I spent with them. To say that I wasn’t burdened by what I was told was a lie. I didn’t understand why I had to stand as the leader. I was younger than a lot of the men there. That they would look to me for guida
