"And now, our supply is getting diluted. To be honest, that isn't acceptable." He began to circle me as if I was his prey. "Obviously, you can see the problem we're facing."
I had so many questions. He must have smelled my blood that night he came into the Flying Monkey with his business party. At some point, he had even left me a vampire marble with the ancient symbol of danger etched into it.
Staying here was just encouraging him even more. I turned to head back in the direction of the others, but he appeared right in front of me. This wasn't going to end well. Mason, I need help. I hated to pull him away from his mother, but damn ... I was in a bad spot.
Where the hell are you? His voice was tense.
In the woods. The vampire that was stalking me at the bar is here. He wants my blood. I refused to freak out as I stared calmly into this asshole's eyes. I'm about five minutes away from the house.
I got your scent. His voice was strained.
He must've been shifting into his wolf.
"If you give us what we want, then there will be no further problems." He held out a hand as though he meant it as a peace offering. "After all, I'm the prince."
Right, he had left me a note not too long ago. Prince Nicholas. Even his name made him sound like a douchebag. Another warning growl left my throat.
"I'm taking your growling demeanor as you are not willing to cooperate." He tsked and shook his head. "You'll regret that decision. So, let me be clear on why before you finalize it."
I bared my teeth at him. I didn't give a flying fuck what his reason was. I wasn't going to be his or anyone else’s blood bag.
"I do love your conviction." He chuckled and closed the distance between us, running his fingers through my fur. “It’ll make breaking you that much more fun.”
His touch was cold, an icy caress. I jerked back, but I needed to know what he planned to do. He was so eager and willing to share the information with me. I needed to know what we were up against.
Is he hurting you? Mason linked back to me. I'll be there in another three minutes or so.
"I hear your dog catching up to us." He lifted his finger and moved it from right to left. "You shouldn't have called him. Obviously, you're going to make our relationship challenging and more exhilarating. To be honest, I love a good cat and mouse game."
Yeah, all vampires liked the chase. It's the predator in them, but there was no other alternative.
"I'll be a little nice. I'll give you till tomorrow to consider it." He took a deep breath and nodded his head. "I'm way too fair for my own good. Anyway, as you know, vampires are all over the world just like wolves. I'd hate for some of your packs to start getting attacked."
No, he wouldn't care in the slightest. Both sides would wind up hurt and dead. The only thing he'd regret would be reducing his own army.
"What a disappointment. Darren was wise when it came to these types of dealings, but I can already see vehemence in your eyes. You're going to be more like your father. An idealistic fool who will die too young at the hands of someone more calculative. It'll be a shame. You're very easy on the eyes." He huffed and circled me as he moved back to where he'd first appeared. Suddenly, he vanished from my sight. Before I realized it, he’d grabbed my throat, lifting me in the air.
Fear coursed through my whole body.
“That smell?” He took in a deep breath. “So delectable. It makes your blood that much more appealing.” He brought me closer to his face as his incisors began extending. "What a pity. I'd hoped this conversation would go differently with a prince talking directly to the queen, but it's fine. If you don't show up here tomorrow alone at noon, vampires will declare war on you and all your kind."
By now, I could hear Mason's paws on the ground.
"Remember, right here tomorrow at noon." He emphasized his threat once more. "Or your world is going to get a hell of a lot more complicated." Then, he turned and vanished back to wherever he'd come from.
Why was my blood so valuable to vampires? It didn’t make sense. Though he clearly wanted it for something important. I needed to figure it out and quickly.
Mason crashed on to the scene, his dark black wolf scanning the area for the intruder.
Gone. He just left. I wasn't quite sure what I'd have done if he hadn't been able to get here so fast.
What the hell did he want? Mason ran over to where Nicholas had disappeared.
My blood. It was that simple.
I thought it killed them. Mason's breathing even in that form was rapid. Is he on a suicide mission?
No. Darren and he had some kind of arrangement for royal blood. They must be running low on supply. It shouldn't surprise me that my uncle had worked with vampires. I'd at least hoped that our people were somewhat important in his mind.
You told him hell no, right? Mason trotted over to me and rubbed his face into my neck.
Well, I couldn't really respond with growls and bared teeth, but I think he got the hint. Now, I had another situation I wasn't quite sure how to handle. But he's threatening my packs, all wolves. It's weird how I'd already started thinking of them all as my pack.
We'll figure something out. Mason licked my face and then nodded his head in the direction of the house. Come on, let's go before he comes back.
Yeah, we better. I took off running, and Mason caught up, staying beside me.
It didn't take long before we were close to the edge of the woods. Right as we came to within only a few feet away, Mason tackled me, causing us to roll together the rest of the way out of the woods.
"Elena Hawthorne." Kassie's loud voice yelled my name.
Hell, I hadn't heard that tone since the last time I got in huge trouble back when I was younger. It was when she found out I'd continued to go to the witch behind their backs.
"Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to run out there alone and unsupervised?"
For some reason, this made me giddy as hell. At least, in this exact moment, I felt like the prior me before taking the throne. I needed to get dressed before I could respond to her though.
I ran back into the woods where my clothes were stashed and quickly changed. When I appeared back in the yard, I found Mason, still in wolf form, entering the house. Traitor.
No, I'm coming back. His voice shook with laughter. I ripped my clothes off, trying to get to your stubborn ass as fast as possible, and would rather not be reprimanded by your guardian while completely naked. Besides, I need to tell Dad what happened. He’ll want the pack on extra guard.
Okay, that was fair. "I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to worry you. I just needed to get away for a moment."
"Mona, you know better." Kassie shook her head and lifted both hands in the air.
"She was freaking out. I didn't expect anything to happen. I told her ten minutes tops." Mona sighed as she leaned against the car.
"Did anything happen out there?" Kassie took a few steps closer to me, staring into the woods, making sure we were alone. "Mason ran out of the house like a bat out of hell."
"I ran into a vampire." I tried downplaying it and escaping her wrath, but she snagged my arm. I shouldn’t have let her talk to me this way but I struggled. These two women raised me and it was so hard to treat them like I was over them. They deserved my respect.