Ana couldn’t believe how quickly words blew up between them. How fast they went from cold to hot. She didn’t remember the last time anyone was this angry with her. Apathetic perhaps, but he was all but spitting venom at her. No, but her father and mother stood up to her like this. Even then, they didn’t become this heated.“How dare you call me a spoilt brat? I’m not spoilt or a brat. I never have been. You embarrassed me out there. That was a meet and greet for the ambassadors. You stomp in and drag me out of there like some wayward child. I’m neither wayward nor a child.” George stepped closer. His eyes didn’t lose the red glow as he spoke. He struggled not to pull in her sweet scent as he neared her. George could look her eye to eye. He felt like he was arguing with an adult and not a wayward child. His eyes struggled now to look down into the low scoop neck of her shirt. At this angle, he could see the tempting curve of her rounded breasts. He could feel hi
George finally seemed to tear himself from their argument and leave her in her apartment. He left threatening, if she disappeared again, he’d lock her in her apartment until she was needed. George didn’t look like he was jesting about any of it, and that was disturbing to Ana, unlike anything else he could say. Her nanny and tutors always threatened to go to her mother or the emperor when they had an issue with her behaviour. Not George though, he expected to deal with her and fix her behaviour himself. Now Ana didn’t know what she would do about this. She still wasn’t sure she even needed him to guard her. After all, she was nothing like her sisters. She could handle herself and knew more than enough to protect herself. There was a lot more than just knowing that you used the pointy end of a sword on your opponent. She’d spent years now studying everything she could about defending herself and others. She did this because she n
George spent hours in the large room with all the bags, boxes, crates, and other weird things. Thankfully, he hadn’t found anything in the way of poison, bombs, or other nasty ways to kill that weren’t marked properly. Adriana had several storage containers which held far too many weapons. She shouldn’t have brought so many. As things were, he would need a room to secure them. He would not let them be stored in the same place she lived. That begged for someone to use one to kill her. He didn’t have a problem with her training, but she should have simplified what she brought with her. George didn’t relish the idea of this next confrontation. Adriana would definitely argue over this. Once things were cleared by him, George made sure the items went into their territory properly. So at the end, there were only a few boxes and crates of weapons that all belonged to Adriana. George wasn’t going to stand for this. He needed to lock th
Ana hated when people did what Maximus did. He assumed she was a fool and wouldn’t see past his words. Maximus assumed Ana was too foolish not to look closely at people or have a single opinion of her own. He interrupted her, making this space more useful to her. That had Ana now sitting in a chair, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair, while she watched Maximus pontificate about how horribly mistreated, he was by that guard. How George threatened him and said he wasn’t worthy of feeling safe in his new home. Or comforted by having his personal items around him. Maximus made George sound like an honorary guard in some corner of the realm that didn’t count for anything. Not the head of her security detail. In Maximus’ narrative, he was the much maligned important official. He saw no purpose for Adriana needing to be protected. Or how he could benefit from her protection. Within a minute of him opening his mouth, Ana could
George carefully avoided celebrating this victory too quickly. But he now sat only a foot away from Ana and now, with her and her baggage in the apartment, it was beginning to smell like her. He found himself enjoying that scent and the scent of his infused scotch a little too much. She was becoming far too much of a distraction. George couldn’t even tell anyone what they spoke about after a while. She spoke, and he listened. The only way this could be better is if they were lying naked in bed together after a hot and heavy round of fucking. That ponytail of hers begged to be used as a leash, as he drilled her from behind. His pants would never fit right again if he kept letting images like that pop into his head. He wanted her, but there was no way they could. The best he could do was keep her alive the best way he knew how, and keep her company like this. No matter how painful it became for him. He’d have to learn to live with blue balls
George was eating dinner as he soaked in the tub. When his phone rang, George reluctantly left the warm water to answer it. As soon as he heard the odd tone in Ana’s voice, he knew there was something important going on. He was confused by Ana’s mention of her lady’s maid running from the apartment. George hurriedly finished his dinner as he dried off and dressed again. He must be wicked because there was no rest for the wicked, and he wasn’t getting any rest. It took him about fifteen minutes to get through everything and back to Ana’s apartment. When he entered, and found her sitting on her bed amid several boxes of her belongings. “In there at the back of the dressing room on the floor. You can’t miss it.” She was drinking as she sat there looking at the open dressing room door with the saddest look on her face. “Alright, why don’t you wait out in the living room while I look around?” George asked her. He did not know what the
The evening turned into early morning. Ana was sure that the sun rose some time ago. Down here in these quarters, there were no windows or anything like that. But her body felt the dragging of the heat. Human’s thought the problem was with the sunlight for vampires. But that wasn’t the case. Sure they couldn’t stand short or long periods in the sun. Their skin was too fragile, but they also lost the ability to take extreme heat or cold. A hot summer day would slow anyone down, but a vampire felt weighed down by the heat. Rest was the best thing. The issue today, of course, was the number of people stomping in and out of Ana’s apartment, bedroom, and dressing room. Nothing was private for her right now. Mary hadn’t been found yet, and we worried she might have tried to leave to return home. Though they’d found no evidence of that, and that concerned Ana to no end. It was well past the noonday meal when Ana could get some rest. She felt like it was almost a waste
Of course, Ana didn’t get a decent sleep before the first ever sitting of the North American Ruling Council. So, for her it was annoying to say the least for her to suffer the cautions inquiries from far too many people. She watched with interest as George went into full work mode. He was silent and listened, only moving when he had to. Ana even overheard several people wondering if he was even breathing. Of course, he was breathing. That was a foolish thought. Vampires didn’t breathe as much, but they breathed. If they didn’t inhale, they wouldn’t be able to speak. It’s a natural bodily function as well. It was just the lack of sleep that put her temper in such a state. Answering questions about the poor dead cat and any thoughts she had about it was pulling her attention off of her job here. She needed to get back to business. Ana knew she could be a professional, but then things went from bad to worse and Ana found herself becoming petty.
Please Note: If you hate the idea of it never happened that way or a cliffhanger ending. Please don’t read past Chapter 153. Ragnar, you can’t do this. I know the timeline is altered and I understand it could have devastating consequences. But we can’t go around using magic to change things back the way they should have been. I’m sure things have changed like this before, and you didn’t do anything then.” “It’s out of my hands. The Dragon Council is sitting right now discussing this issue. I’ve got no say in it beyond my report. If they feel everything that’s happened must be changed, then that’s what will happen. It’s a last resort. But Maximus Lioness isn’t the vampire who should have that name. Something went wrong there, and that’s just one problem with the timeline, as you call it, is wrong. Adriana and George shouldn’t be in the positions they are in. All the things that happened to Adriana weren’t supposed to happen. Her mother shouldn’t be h
North American Ruling Council - Two Weeks Later Ana walked the halls again of the NARC Headquarters, doing her thing. The meetings did not differ from they’d been before. Her plans were falling into place. Her father was pleased and Caun finally could do his original job before easing into his position as a titled royal. The talk around the building didn’t stop with creatures awake at all hours of the day and night. From wild affairs to several battle royale, Ana was busy catching and keeping up with it all. She’d already been requested to assist with preventing a war from breaking out between the Nanaue, a Hawaiian shifter race of sharks, and the Merfolk, mermaids, and mermen. Fun times for all, as there are more than enough sharp teeth and injured pride to go around. This wouldn’t be a simple mediation, and Ana craved the challenge. The Dragon Ambassador did something. Ana suspected magic, because when she retur
Four Days Later - Meeting About the Future Ana woke that evening to find Caun wasn’t beside her, which was odd. When she found him, which took some effort, he was in Tatiana’s night garden exploring it with several of their guards. She had to ask several people to track him down. “Caun, what’s the matter? Why are you here?” “Oh, good evening, love. I was speaking to your father and the attacks on Tatiana came up in our conversation. You were still asleep, and I didn’t want to interrupt you. While we were talking, your father said that no one could tell me how her attackers from the first incident entered here. Since we have several excellent investigators as our guards, I thought we’d take a look around to see if we could find something that could explain how, if not, who did this.”“Oh, good grief I can understand my father not asking me how she pulled this foolishness off, but Caun I’m surprised you didn’t ask me.” That had Caun
Caun stood in line with the last of the guests filing through past him. He’d lost count of the hundreds of hands he shook. There were guards everywhere, and it made him uncomfortable, be he as George, who he still identified as, belonged with them. He kept his eye on his mate and marvelled at how she pretended not to be bored and uncomfortable with the many comments on her unique dress. The side-eye glances and the judgemental glares. It would be a difficult and busy evening. Caun hoped things would get better from here on out. That they’d be busy enough that she wouldn’t be able to brood or her the courtier’s opinion on anything.“So far, so well, this evening. Let’s see how far we can go with no scenes with any of the superficial fools who think they are powerful people.” He whispered this into Ana’s ear. It was a joke, because no matter what he said to Ana, she wouldn’t believe him. She now was a secretly powerful person. “We’ll see the night is sadly still young
Evening of the Celebration of the Life Partner Pairing Adriana thought it was crazy to see the clothing laid out for Caun and her. She’d never seen Caun every in such regalia and her own unique sense of fashion so intricately woven into the more traditional garb of a formal event. Instead of a full-length gown with sashes, ruffles, and silk flowers enveloping it. Ana wore a full dress with a closed slit up the front of the gown. Beneath it, she wore a pair of trousers and boots. Her bodice was a beauty with false draping that allowed her to wear a short, cropped jacket that Matched Caun’s jacket only it was far shorter. It was feminine, but allowed her to show her rank as the Vampiric Ambassador and a soldier within her father’s military. Which pleased her greatly because it meant her skills weren’t a dirty secret or an embarrassment to her father. Ana’s lady’s maid didn’t have a comment or criticism about anything she assisted Ana
Ana could see the sigh of relief at her words in the way her father relaxed and Eva, too. As if even this setting didn’t quite keep her father’s anxiety at bay and Eva somehow shared in it. Could she really be supporting this?Ana couldn’t see how this would be in her best interest to let this happen. If she even pretended to go along with it and encourage it, then Ana could, too. “I am relieved to hear you say this. Eva has been pressuring me to get this done before we celebrate anything because she doesn’t want there to be any miscommunication between us. I admit I agree with her. There’s been too many things keeping me from being fully in your life and now with most of that gone, I hope you will accept my attempts at rectifying that.” Her father stood up at saying this. “Come here. There’s one thing I’ve missed since you could talk.” Ana frowned because she wasn’t sure what he was speaking about and took a step back.
Ana couldn’t help it. When they entered the private well-lit moon garden of the Vampiric Emperor, she had to marvel at the artistry of it’s many curated garden paths. It was like a maze laid out before her and put Tatiana’s garden to shame. Here her father could find a little quiet solitude away from the prying eyes of his courtiers and guards alike and he guarded that privacy as if it were more precious than gold itself. She held onto Caun’s arm as they entered the space and stepped down toward the pathway Edger used to lead them to her father. The gravel that made up the surface of the path crunched softly under their feet as they followed. The sounds of night birds in the trees floated down to them as a few random lightning bugs flitted between the trees, and the space looked like someone had infused it with a sweet healing magic that was full of warmth and gentleness.“I have to say I like your father’s choice of private spaces. Between this and
Edger did return after they’d relaxed a little and changed. Ana still couldn’t help it. When she discovered the clothing, her father had commissioned for her, she’d stopped dead in her tracks in disbelief. Her new lady’s maid gave her a note written in her father’s handwriting which spoke volumes that he’d not dictated it to someone. He’d taken the time to write to her. Ana knew that wasn’t a normal relationship between child and parent, but they weren’t exactly normal people. [Adriana love, this note is to ensure you understand that situations of safety and security forced my hand to do and say things I never wanted to say to my daughter. You aren’t hidden or an embarrassment to me. I am relieved to have proven you are my daughter. Your mother tied my hands when it came to raising you, but I kept eyes on you at all times. Your life partner and you will find I’ve arranged for clothing for you in the tastes you are comfortable in, with a touch of nob
Ana entered the suite first, followed by Caun and finally Edger. A smartly dressed couple stood there waiting for them. They weren’t in the royal livery, though they clearly wore a livery. It wasn’t unusual in the days before Adriana’s birth for other leaders to have their servants in their own livery. There were a few these days, but many were no longer used since the houses no longer existed. “The Emperor took it upon himself to outfit your servants in your personal livery. This is Jacque and Rachel. They will ace as your personal maid and valet.”Ana nodded at them in recognition. These were people her father hired for them, and that was fine. They knew enough not to say anything suspicious in front of them. The pair curtseyed and Ana dismissed them. “We’ll speak later. I’m sure you have plenty to keep you busy. Are my weapons going to be a problem for her Edger?”“No, Princess, she has received training to look after, maintain, and store your weapons appropriately should the need