Chapter 0006

Visenya and Cylis rode to the Vampire Kingdom all night. There was no awkward silence to endure since Cylis was eager to get back before sunrise. Visenya may have been given a deadline to meet with Lucian, but Cylis would burst into flames at the first glimmer of sunlight. He rode his horse hard with Visenya following a short distance behind. She wondered how Lucian had managed to secure a faithful subject in only a day, but she knew Cylis would be one of many to come.

They reached their destination just before the sun began to rise, and Cylis rushed straight to the palace doors. Visenya, however, felt awfully reluctant. She had this unnerving feeling in the pit of her stomach and felt her own heart beating wildly in her chest as she approached the entrance of the castle. Looking up, she saw the shadow of a tall figure peering out the window from the highest floor.

She took a huge gulp and walked inside, where Cylis stood waiting for her. He led her up the winding staircase that ascended all the way to the fifth floor. This palace had always given her the creeps with its lack of windows, which were heavily shaded for obvious reasons. The palace was mostly lit by candles and dim lanterns that didn’t offer much illumination against its black-painted walls. Vampires thrived in darkness; they didn’t earn their title as night stalkers for nothing. It only made sense that the Vampire King would prefer his living quarters to be as dark as his blackened heart.

They finally reached the top and walked to the door of the only bedchamber that occupied that floor. Cylis stopped short and stood to the side, letting the wall shield him from the glow that shined through the crack beneath the door.

“You don’t want to keep him waiting,” he remarked, with that same bone-chilling smirk that had made Visenya’s skin crawl just hours before.

She stared at the door for a moment, feeling a small inclination to turn on her heels and flee the scene, but she knew that wasn’t an option. With a forceful resolve, she pushed herself forward, taking hold of the doorknob and spinning it ever so slowly. Cylis bolted down the hall, trying to avoid the sunlight, while Visenya cautiously stepped inside the large room.

The room alone was exquisite, with expensive mahogany furniture lined with golden trim. The only illumination came from the beautiful colors of the sunrise shining through the large, tall window, which seemed to have recently been stripped of all its shades and curtains.

A tall, muscular man stood at the window, peering out. The scent of him invigorated all of Visenya’s senses and nearly turned her to complete mush. She had always been drawn to Lucian since they were kids, as if there were some supernatural force pulling her to him every time they met. She never understood it… until now.

“Lucian…” Her voice wavered as she called out his name.

“You thought you could kill me… like father, like daughter,” he said, his tone chillingly indifferent.

His voice sounded deeper than she remembered. Sensations tingled throughout her body, a heat rising within her. After ten years without a mate, facing Lucian now stirred something primal in her that she had never felt before.

“I didn’t know it was you. You attacked my kingdom.” She replied.

Lucian turned around slowly, allowing Visenya to finally get a good look at him. Suppressing a gasp, she found him as handsome as she remembered, if not more. His striking green eyes caught her attention first, drawing her in despite the tension between them.

His brown hair was softly smoothed back but a bit tousled to the side, which only enhanced his undeniable allure. He was clean-shaven, highlighting his once-boyish features that had now matured in a very appealing way.

Lucian appraised Visenya from head to toe, his gaze lingering on her. He walked up to her, standing just inches away, his large form towering over her. His eyes locked onto her full lips as her big, soulful orbs of golden brown looked up at him with anxious curiosity.

He began to circle her like a vulture does its prey, and for some reason, just looking at her made him even angrier. He didn’t want to admit to himself that time had been good to her. The girl he once knew now stood before him as a voluptuous woman who had filled out in all the right places. Her hair… her hair that she so naively paraded around, was still as long as the list of things that aggravated him about her.

He circled back around and loomed over her, his gaze piercing into her soul. “My reason for attacking your kingdom was justified. You’re lucky I didn’t kill everyone in it.”

“I understand that you are hurting and angry right now…”

“You have no idea what I’m feeling!” He shouted, causing Visenya to flinch at his raised tone. “Don’t you stand there and pretend that you know what I’m going through! What it’s like to wake up and learn that you spent ten years in the ground and your entire race is gone!”

All she could do was let him express his feelings. He was right, after all; she had no idea what he was going through. All of his intense emotions that she had felt the night of the earthquake, and the night that he attacked, were now blocked. Dragons had the ability to close and open that link with their mates, and it was apparent that he had closed it the minute she stepped foot in there.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered sympathetically.

“You’re sorry? Your kind destroys an entire race and all you can say is you’re sorry?”

“I had nothing to do with that, Lucian. I was just a girl. Nobody alive today had prior knowledge of my father’s plans to do what he did, or was aware that he had black zaphynite in his possession. I only assume that he had acted out of fear after the alliance was severed with your father.”

“Which was your fault!” He spat.

“For Goddess’ sake, Lucian, I am not having this decade-old argument with you!”

“A decade to you! It feels like just yesterday to me! And it doesn’t change the fact that if you hadn’t acted like a stuck-up little bitch, none of this would have ever happened!”

Visenya rubbed her fingertips to her temples, chuckling in disbelief. “You are absolutely delusional! It’s like dealing with the child version of you all over again! Ten years have passed, but you’re still the same arrogant, cocky asshole you’ve always been! And what about the fact that you knew… that day you took me to Tarragon Mountain… you knew what we were to one another, didn’t you?!”

“Of course I did, but you were too dense to realize it yourself.”

“You know how these things work with us, and I didn’t have my wolf then!” Visenya exclaimed. “Besides, how could I ever guess that I was mated to a dragon? This has never happened before, and you could have told me… why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it didn’t matter.” Lucian retorted. “I just wanted to have some fun with you. You meant nothing to me, and you mean even less now. I’d never accept a lowly dog as my complement.”

Visenya managed to conceal the effect his words had on her, but inside, they stung like a scorpion’s venom to her heart. Was this what she had waited for? What she had longed for? Him? Her heart shattered, and she felt like a naive fool for ever thinking she could have some fairy tale love like the rest of her kind. Perhaps, if she had married Caspian years ago, she would have known what it was like to be loved by someone worthy.

“And you think you’re just so perfect, don’t you? Some prize to be won? A heaven-sent god that I should get down on my knees and grovel to? Well, you’re terribly mistaken,” Visenya spat out, her voice laced with resentment. “I, Visenya Callisto, reject you, Lucian Damaris, as my mate.”

To her surprise, her declaration fell flat. There was no break in the bond, no sharp pain in her heart at the severance of their connection. She was utterly appalled. A menacing scowl twisted Lucian’s features, causing Visenya to take two steps back.

He followed her, looming over her like a black cloud of death. “Try it again… maybe your Moon Goddess didn’t hear you,” he mocked.

“I, Visenya Callisto, reject you, Lucian Damaris, as my mate.”

Still, nothing.

“I, Visenya Callisto, reject you…!”

Before she could utter another word, Lucian’s backhand struck her with brutal force, sending her hurtling across the room. She landed hard on her back, sliding along the tile floor. For a moment, she lay there, stunned, before a surge of rage overtook her completely.

She sprang to her feet, charging towards him with the fury of a storm. She shifted into her wolf mid-air and crashed into him with bone-jarring ferocity. He seized her neck as they tumbled to the ground, her jaws snapping dangerously close to his face as he tightened his grip around her throat.Even in his natural form, Lucian was unbelievably strong. If he had been anyone else, Visenya would have ripped him to shreds by now. She continued to snap at the air near his throat, desperate to sink her fangs into him.

“Submit!” He demanded.

Visenya was relentless in her pursuit for his blood. He had awakened her feral side the moment he laid his hands on her. She felt the pressure behind her eyes build up as she choked and gagged from the strangulation.

"You will submit, or I will burn your entire kingdom to the ground!" His threat was a chilling promise, leaving no room for negotiation.

Visenya might have been perfectly fine dying in his chokehold as she attempted to mutilate him, but this wasn’t about her. It was about everyone that she vowed to protect. She thought about Synora and would never dream of doing anything that put her sweet little sister in harm’s way.

Immediately, she surrendered and shifted back into her human form. Lucian released his grip on her, and she collapsed to the floor in the fetal position, gasping for air.

He rose to his feet and peered down at her, as she attempted to cover her naked form. “I thought you would have learned by now who the superior race was. This bond can’t be severed by your little Lycan proclamation. We’re bound to one another by dragon law, and the only way out is death.”

He crouched down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back so that she’d look him in the eyes. “I wish your father was alive, because I’d torture him to death and make you watch every second of it. And you… you’re going to live out the rest of your days as my slave. Your reign is no more… today shall mark the end of the Lycan monarchy.”

“You can’t do that!” She protested.

“Who’s going to stop me? You?” Lucian’s voice dripped with disdain. “Perhaps I’ll enslave your entire kingdom too. If I’m not mistaken, I believe I recall your mother being pregnant. That child must be about ten years old by now, am I right? The same age my little brother was… when your father blew him to pieces! How would your little brother or sister fare as slave to the night stalkers?”

“No! Please!” Visenya’s voice trembled with desperation. “I’ll do whatever you want! I’ll be your slave! You can torture me! Take all of your anger out on me, but please… spare my people! I beg of you!”

Visenya sobbed at Lucian’s feet, praying that he would show her people some mercy, if he had any to give. He stepped away without a word as she lay there, weeping on the ground. When he returned, he threw some clothing her way and told her to put them on.

“What is this?” She asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“First rule as a slave: you don’t ask questions. You just do as I say,” Lucian’s voice sliced through the tense, thick air like an icy blade.

Visenya rose to her feet, clutching the clothing over her private parts, as Lucian’s eyes bore into her. Though nudity was nothing new to her as a Lycan, the intensity of his gaze unsettled her. She resisted the urge to ask him to look away, sensing it would only provoke him further. Silently, she donned the scanty undergarments, their coverage barely sufficient to conceal her modesty.

As she struggled into the flimsy top, fastening its ties at the back, she couldn’t shake the feeling of vulnerability. The short skirt felt like a deliberate choice on Lucian’s part, serving as a stark reminder of her subjugation, a prelude to the indignities yet to come.

Lucian approached her with a devilish smirk. “You look good as a slave.”

She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but the fate of her people rested in his hands. “Please, Lucian… spare my people.”

His eyes bore into hers for a moment before they fell upon her breasts. The thin material of her top made her nipples clearly visible. She was only slightly bothered, given that he had seen her completely naked just moments before. Yet, he showed no reaction to her body at all. If there was anything Lucian had mastered, it was his deadened stare that nobody could read.

"I will spare them, but if you ever try to attack me again or escape from this castle, I will make them all pay for your defiance, and they will have only you to blame for it. Is that clear?" Lucian's eyes finally met hers again, locking her in place with the same frozen stare that she had come to know so well.

“Yes, Lucian,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper.

“That’s Master to you, dog,” he stated, his voice laced with derision.

Visenya tightened her eyes shut, hiding the anger that flared inside her from his condescending name-calling.

“Yes… Master.” She said through clenched teeth.

He pulled out a black leather collar from behind his back and placed it around her neck, locking it into place. He tugged slightly at the short chain attached to it, and Visenya could feel the sharp spikes inside the collar begin to protrude. It was quite clear that he was demonstrating to her what the collar was capable of if she were to get out of line.