Four

Kiara’s POV

It was almost midnight and I was restless as hell. The urge to run was crazy, my wolf felt as uncontrollable as it had during my first full moon.

The ball was in high gear, with guests dancing on the floor, bellies full, and drinks flowing through the room. Everyone seemed to be having fun, except me who seemed to be here only in body.

My mind and soul seemed to be miles away in the heart of the forest and my body craved to meet them in earnest. Hands clamped around my shoulders from behind and I let out a squeal.

A familiar masculine laugh came from behind me and my father turned me around and wished me yet another happy birthday with a big hug. I returned his hug weakly, trying to calm my racing heart.

“Thanks, Dad.” I tried to paste on a smile but his laugh died down and he examined my face carefully.

“Hey kiddo, you good?”

I swallowed and nodded then thought better of it. Wouldn’t it be best to just let him know? I’ve always been able to talk about almost anything with him.

Surely this wouldn’t be any different. I opened my mouth to ask if we could go somewhere to talk when my mom appeared at my other side, pulling me by the arm while saying something about greeting some Alphas.

“Behave.” She muttered to me when we approached the first one. “David? Let me introduce you to my daughter Kiara. She’s our dear celebrant for today.” She patted my shoulder and practically shoved me under his nose as if in invitation to sample.

“Kiara, David is the Alpha of the Bronte Pack. They’re the largest pack in the midwest, did you know that?”

Alpha Dave’s boring name matched his personality and after a few minutes, we were off to meet another eligible young Alpha.

It was a good thirty minutes before I managed to escape my mother. I was drained and went to the punch table to get a drink. I was scooping some of the purple liquid into my cup when a hand covered my mouth from behind.

I knew who it was immediately from the scent of spice and blood that wafted up my nose. He backed into the shadows, walking us slowly backward without anyone noticing.

He kept his hand around my mouth but turned us around so that we were both moving with our fronts. Then, he made me move, leading me up different twists and turns with so much purposeful intent that I had to wonder how on earth he knew where to go.

My heart was beating a mile a minute, fear chasing at its heels. I was alarmed but my wolf was particularly excited. Perhaps it was why I didn’t really try to struggle or scream.

We were halfway to my room when he suddenly stopped and moved the hand at the small of my back to my neck. I shuddered, remembering how I’d thought of him when my maids had pinned my hair up.

His lips grazed the skin there now, tongue flicking out to tease my sensitive spot before biting right over that same area. I whimpered and sagged, leaning my whole weight back against him.

“Didn’t I warn you not to dare me, little wolf?” He whispered oh so menacingly. I shuddered but it was not from fear as his tongue flicked at my earlobe.

His low warm, laughter rang in my ear, snapping me to my senses and filling me with self-righteous anger. I tore myself out of his grasp, ashamed of how easy it was and why I hadn’t tried it till now.

His appearance distracted me a bit; salt and pepper hair slicked back off his face, and a fetching black suit wrapped about his tall, muscled frame. He smirked at my staring and I flushed then glared at him. “What the hell are you doing here? You are a VAMPIRE!” I hissed.

“Vampires are not allowed in the manor or on Packlands come to think of it.” He smirked.

“Aw. Isn’t that a bit racist of y’all?” I seethed. “You need to leave!”

“But Princess, I haven’t even dropped your gift yet.” He snaked out a hand and pulled me to him. I gasped, placing my hands on his chest and trying to push away.

Either I didn’t try very hard or he was very strong or both. But we remained pressed together despite my not-so-best efforts. He gave me a smirk that I was ashamed to say I found entirely sexy.

“I just want to wish you a happy birthday.” He murmured before moving his lips over my forehead to my cheeks, skipping my mouth entirely before going back to my neck. I gasped when I felt another nick.

“Don’t you want to see the present I got you?” His hands were sliding lower and lower down my back. I could barely breathe. I shuddered again and he chuckled, so damn sexily. “Do you want to see?"

Yes. I thought. “No.” I moaned.

I was about to tell him to fuck off. I swear I was. I didn’t get the chance to because footsteps came running down the corridor straight towards us. He stepped away from me all of a sudden and readjusted his immaculately cut jacket.

“I will be seeing you later, tigress.” He said.

Behind me, I heard my name and turned to see Caden approaching. When I looked back in front of me, he was gone the faint smell of spice and blood lingering behind.

“Kiara! Your mom’s been looking for you. She says there’s an Alpha’s son you have to meet. I think he’s from a German pack.” I could barely respond struggling as I was with the urge to go after the vampire. My vampire.

A voice insisted that a Vampire could never be mine, but it was not as strong as it ought to be. “Hey, are you okay?” Caden asked, concerned when I didn’t respond to his banter.

I shook my head and leaned into him for support. Carefully, we walked back into the ball.

***

I woke up late the next morning and had to rush through my morning routine to meet up training with my father and some of the warriors in our pack. I put on my all-black ensemble, complete with my full set of weapons, and stepped out.

Despite the fact that I’d slept late last night, I was so tired. Funny enough it wasn’t because of the Party. After Caden dragged me back, I’d feigned a headache, and looking as off as I did, my parents hadn’t argued when I told them I had to go to bed.

I’d turned in at a pretty reasonable time but then I’d stayed up, tossing and turning for hours because thoughts of a certain fang-toothed creature kept me burning long into the night. I cursed myself.

I needed to get a handle on this thing quickly. Some sparring would certainly do me good.

When I got to the training grounds, however, I met only the guards there. I asked where the session was being held today, certain that my father had simply taken them out on a run through a route or something. I could catch up with them if I hurried.

Only for them to inform me that there was no training today and no one else had shown up. I stared. “What do you mean there’s no training today?”

They shared a glance between themselves clearly uncomfortable.

“The Alpha canceled it. Said he would be having a meeting. We thought you knew milady.”

I gaped. In all the years since I gained sentience, my father has never missed even a day of training. What on earth could have been so important to discard his sacred training sessions for?

I sincerely hoped it was not another Alpha with a marriage proposal. I would hurl. After last night, I deserve to be free of marriage hassles for at least a month. Maybe a week.

Thanking the guards for the information, I turned on my heels and marched straight to my father’s office, deciding to see what he was up to. I opened the door without thinking, I was supposed to attend all his meetings anyway so I didn’t see why this would be any different.

His back was to the door so he didn’t see me immediately. His visitor did however and gave me a toothy grin as I did. My father turned to see what he was looking at, eyes so like mine, warming at the sight of me. He waved me over.

“Kiara, Good. You’re here. I was just about to send for you. There’s someone I want you to meet.” He turned to that fang-faced, silver-haired bastard who gave me a polite smile. As if he had no idea who I was at all.

“Ivan this is my daughter Kiara. Kiara, this is Ivan Knight. King of the Vampire Clan here in our city.”

Oh great. So not only was he a blood-sucking prick but he was the ruler of all the blood-sucking pricks in the city.

“Well hello, Kiara. It’s lovely to meet you.” He said politely, the smirk on his lips belying the innocence of the words. I groaned internally; I was so fucked.