PROLOGUE
Then…
VANCE
“If Idun catches you doing this again, she may very well cut it off this time,” I tell Damien through the door, as a woman makes a lot of noise on the other side.
“Damn that devil bitch to hell. I’m done,” he answers back, while a possible second girl cries out like she’s just gotten what she came for.
He laughs and groans, and I roll my eyes, staring out at the rising sun that creates a blush across the horizon.
Damien bounds out of the door in the next instant, pulling his shirt on as he goes. His trousers are barely hanging on his hips.
“You gave it all up for her, and now that you’re damned for all eternity…do you really think she’s just going to let you go?” I ask him idly, tired of hearing this old song-and-dance routine from him. “Isn’t that what you said when you called me a fool for thinking she’d ever let me go.”
“You finally stayed gone. If you can, I can.”
“You’re a sexual deviant who can’t even have an orgasm without killing someone, unless that someone can’t die.” The women in the room giggle as though proving he left them alive, hence the reason he’s insanely agitated.
“I’m getting a handle on it. My necklace is almost enough. Once I work in some chains, I’ll be able to feed without killing, even if I do have to give up my love for the most pleasure a man can experience,” he bites out, his anger barely restrained.
“You keep going back, since Idun’s the only woman you can fully enjoy. I can’t trust that you’ll stay gone, when you crave that flesh so much,” I argue on a tired breath.
“I said I’m done, Vance,” he growls, shoving at my chest as he glares at me. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t even stand to be in the same room with her. I’m feeding just enough to be able to put her under, and then we’ll all go our separate ways.”
“We can’t go our separate ways. The Heads of their homes have to—”
“As much as possible,” he interrupts, waving off my argument.
My eyes dart around our quiet, wooded surroundings just outside the old cabin, before I meet his gaze again. “Arion will have to stand down. If the vampires are blocking Idun, we don’t stand a chance. His nests are too large, and Idun’s den is massive.”
“Because she’s been culling ours while secretly growing hers. I know this. I’m still in. I can convince Arion to stand down if anyone can,” he says very seriously.
“He has to feel like he was a part of this vote and just lost,” I say quietly, looking around again.
“If we involve him in a vote, he’ll think all he’s done is still okay,” he argues. “She shot an arrow through my bloody heart and left me to watch, as her savages shredded my flock. I barely escaped with my own life because she refused to let me feed. Arion watched the entirety of the brutal situation and didn’t lift a hand. No vote. This is not reconcilable.”
“He doesn’t even think for himself, Damien. He’s Idun’s monster. But we need him to stand down.”
He cracks his neck to the side. “That’s a last resort,” he says to me before turning to leave.
“It’s actually our only hope,” I call to his back.
He tenses before he disappears into the woods.
CHAPTER 1
Now…
VIOLET
Chains rattle as Shera finally wakes, groaning before she curses and looks around the small, stone cell we’re in. A narrow set of bars at the front is the only decoration in the depressing room.
“Fuck,” Shera hisses as the chains rattle more. “Where the hell are we?” she adds, her eyes cutting to mine, as something akin to fear flashes in her gaze.
“I’m not really sure, but I think it’s literally underground,” I say, gesturing behind me to where dirt has cracked part of the stone cell and a small weed is growing there.
“Who the hell was that damn wolf? She smelled omega, and I only half-ass fought her because I didn’t expect her to be capable of that,” she says like she wants me to know she’s still a badass and that getting her ass handed to her by an omega wolf was one big misunderstanding.
“She’s pureblood, but I think that means something different to them than it does to everyone else,” I say quietly. “What do pureblood vampires do differently than turned ones?”
“Purebloods are naturally stronger—physically,” she says, really annoying my information gathering skills that I’m using for my own personal conundrum.
Unless my heartrate dips into the danger zone, I can be resilient, but not stronger. Dropping my heartrate to be stronger could…end with me losing myself to my panicky monster, at current.
I’m not calm enough to risk it, and meditation isn’t going to cut it right now.
“They also have severe allergies to sunlight,” Shera continues quietly.
“Based on that formula, these wolves should have severe allergies to silver, right?” I ask as I pat my one-shot knife that stays with me like a small security blanket. “They didn’t check me for weapons.”
I wish my bra wasn’t empty. I didn’t want to risk blowing up the store on accident when I was bending over and stuff.
“They certainly checked me,” Shera grumbles, groaning like her head’s in pain.
“You’re the larger threat,” I say while glancing back at the bars.
“Well, this is a very shitty plan. Everyone knows better than to kidnap a vampire,” Shera growls. “Especially wolves.”
“The planning is actually good,” I tell her as I peer through the bars, staring at the wall in front of me. “It’s the execution that won’t work, because they’re a bunch of omegas fighting all their instincts for the sake power. Not freedom. They already have freedom and take it for granted.”
“How are you awake before I am?” she asks as she makes an effort to try to get comfortable.
“Because I fainted after Abby hit me,” I answer somewhat proudly.
“You fainted?” she asks, sounding disbelieving of the fact I said those words like they’re bragging rights.
“It’s my super power,” I explain absently. “I can faint on command. I just have to focus.”
“Oh, goodie. Arion has chosen a girl who faints when faced with life and death,” she states dryly. “How did I become a target in a wolf mutiny?” she adds on a growl.
“Because these wolves want to get their hands on not just Emit, but the four Head alphas,” I answer, still distracted as I search for any way to escape.
Laughter bubbles out of her like she’s surprised, and I turn to look at her, as her body continues to shake with the force.
“They have four Van Helsing caskets,” I go on, causing her to only laugh harder. “These are the same wolves who attacked en masse not that long ago. I’m not sure why you’re not taking this more seriously.”
Her eyes cut to mine, as she wipes the laughing tears out of them, still chuckling. She sighs and leans her head back, the chains rattling with every subtle action she makes.
“It’s funny because omegas bitch that they die for no purpose. They’re always stepped on during the wars. Well, it’s fucking war between monsters. Shit happens. The irony is that you and I may die for no purpose at all, outside of a non-existent war, because when Arion comes in here, there won’t be a wolf left standing. These stupid fucking naïve wolves will likely kill us just to feel like they’ve somehow wounded the alphas they wanted to bait to their own slaughter.”
“These wolves pinned Damien down. Do you know—”
“Damien hasn’t fed the way he’s needed to in centuries, Violet,” she says very seriously. “An alpha who hasn’t maintained himself still held these wolves off you, and for all you know, he could have killed all of them, even without the other three showing up. You aren’t understanding how unnaturally powerful they are. The betas and omegas? We’re weak impersonations of that power,” she goes on, her eyes narrowing.
She stares at me for a moment, almost as though she’s struggling with how best to make me understand.
“Emit is weak and tortured, hating himself for the innocent, trusting wolves he killed too long ago, but he could still slaughter everything under this roof if he really wanted to. They struggled with Idun because they lacked the proper motivation and concern, and she was a very powerful, very motivated bitch of an alpha I fortunately never had to meet,” she goes on, studying the shackles on her wrists.
I stand and stretch, moving freely through the room, as I listen to her and to the light chatter I can hear. The chatter is distant, as though this hallway stretches on for a while in the left direction. I’m not sure about the right.
“Arion, however, is the one monster among them who genuinely enjoys killing things. He enjoys being really good at being the vampire alpha. Sure, it makes him terrifying to most of us—you’d have to be an idiot not to fear him a healthy amount—but no one fucks with him. Do you know why no one fucks with him?”
“Not really, since people are currently fucking with him, and we’re the bait,” I state as I test the cage bars.
I’d have to let my heartbeat drop dangerously low to do any damage to them. Which is too low to safely turn back from. Theoretically.
“These are some outsiders who think they know how the true world works. They think they’re strong enough to break free from any sort of regulations. They think they can do whatever in the hell they want to do, so long as they get rid of the ones in charge. The alphas are designed to stop that from happening, and trust me when I say Arion takes great joy in his part.”
Thunder rumbles overhead, muffled by the thin layer above us, so I wonder just how close to the surface we are.
“I need to figure a way out of these chains so I can protect us when they figure out this was a horrible idea and try to clean up the mess—the mess being us,” she rambles.
The chains rattle behind me again, as I continue straining to hear anything else.
“Why am I in chains and you’re not?” Shera asks like she’s annoyed, as I begin pacing the room.
I immediately pause my pacing and smile over at her. “Because I fainted and you fought.”
An agitated expression creases her features.
“Guess fainting isn’t such a bad super power after all, is it?” I muse as I glance back out the bars.
I sit down in front of them, ready to wait this out until I can get us out of here.
“This is what you get when you hang out with wolves,” she says very pointedly. “You think I’m a prejudiced bitch, but the fact is, Emit doesn’t leash them and this is always the result.”
“I was attacked by vampires,” I remind her, feeling a case of déjà vu.