Everything in that moment felt right—the way our bodies curved together, the pressure of his lips, and the thrill that ran up my spine as his tongue brushed against mine. All the anger from fighting earlier morphed into passion, and I pulled him closer, never wanting the kiss to end.
Even if he was a wolf—which I still suspected he might be—I didn’t care. Clearly he’d never intended to hurt me. If he had, he would have already. All I cared about was that right now, he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
This was the best thing that had happened to me since being kidnapped to the Vale, and I intended to enjoy every second of it.
Suddenly the back door of the Tavern swung open, and I pulled away from Jake, my heart leaping into my throat at the prospect of one of the other workers barging in on such an intimate moment.
But it wasn’t one of my friends that I saw.
It was vampires.
Five of them, dressed in the sleek black outfits of the vampire guard, their mouths open to bear their fangs.
Jake’s back was toward them—he had no idea that they were vampires and not humans. But he pulled his hood back on, clearly still having something to hide—and started to glance over his shoulder to check on our visitors.
“Don’t,” I said under my breath, keeping my hand in his and stopping him from looking at them.
They had to be here for him. We needed to run.
But what way out was there? My eyes darted around the alley, but we were at a dead end. There were only two ways out—the back door to the Tavern, and the path that led to the street. Both were blocked by vampires. We might be able to climb the wall, but while I was fast, the vampires were faster. It was impossible for humans to outrun vampires.
It was especially impossible for humans to fight them.
We were trapped.
Jake turned around, and I stepped forward to stand in front of him, not wanting the vampires to see his face. Luckily this alleyway was poorly lit, and his hood was drawn so low over his eyes that his features were covered with the shadows.
“Don’t bother trying to escape,” the vampire in front said, his gaze locked on mine. He looked Scandinavian—tall and blond, with light blue eyes.
He was the vampire who had killed my mom. Rage filled my body at the sight of him—I wanted to kill him. But I knew I couldn’t. So I just stood there, hating myself for being so weak. For being so human.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” he continued.” We can’t hurt you, actually—we were ordered not to. So if you’ll just come with us, we can be on our way.”
“Me?” I asked, my voice squeaking.
“You’re Annika, correct?” He watched me, ignoring Jake completely. “You were with the human boy Mike on the day that Camelia chose him for a job at the palace?”
“You know Mike?” I stepped forward, hope surging in my chest at the prospect of hearing news about my friend. “How is he? Is he okay? When will he be back?”
“Your friend is dead,” the vampire behind him spoke. “And if you don’t come with us, you will be too.”
“No.” I shook my head and stepped back, straight into Jake’s arms.
He held me tightly, as if ready to stop me from lashing out.
“He can’t be dead,” I said. “You’re lying.”
“Why would we lie?” The leader glared at the vampire who’d said it, as if mentally telling him to shut up. “My soldier speaks the truth about your friend. But Camelia has instructed us to take you unharmed, so that’s what we’ll do. And you won’t fight us if you know what’s good for you.”
“No,” I said again, my thoughts swirling at a million miles a second. Mike couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be.
Except he could be. Camelia had said he would be back soon. Yet it had been almost a month. He’d made no effort to contact anyone at the Tavern to let us know how he was. He hadn’t even sent a letter.
I think I’d known for a while that he was gone. I just hadn’t wanted to face the truth.
“You’re coming with us.” The leader smiled, revealing the entirety of his fangs.
I wanted to say no—that I wouldn’t go with them. But I knew better. They were five vampires and we were two humans. I might be quick, but I was nowhere near as fast as a vampire.
I was weak and helpless. Just like I’d been a year ago when I’d watched him kill my mom.
As a human in a world of supernaturals, I would always be helpless.
I was going to be taken. Jake was going to be taken.
And there was nothing we could do to stop it.
Jacen
At first I’d assumed the guards were there for me.
If it hadn’t been for Annika, I would have bolted. But I would never leave her alone with those monsters. And if I picked her up and carried her, I wouldn’t be able to outrun them. I was strong, but strong enough to fight off five vampire guards and make sure Annika was safe?
I couldn’t risk her life like that.
I also couldn’t let them take her.
Which left only one viable option.
“Stop.” Magic filled my tone, and I pulled my hood down, staring at each of the vampires. I recognized them all—I’d recognized them the moment they’d walked out of that door.
Their eyes widened when they saw me.
“Prince Jacen.” Daniel gasped, and he and the others pulled themselves together. “What are you…?” He looked back and forth from me to Annika, as if trying to figure out why I was there.
“Prince?” Annika repeated, looking up at me in question.
I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze. I couldn’t imagine how betrayed she must feel.
She deserved answers, but for her safety I first had to deal with the vampires who’d been sent to bring her to the palace.
“Why I’m here doesn’t concern you,” I told Daniel, throwing as much magic into my voice as possible. “Who sent you?”
“Camelia.” He swallowed, and added, “Sir.”
“Why?”
“To fetch the girl.” He glanced at Annika. “Unharmed.”
“Did she say why she needed you to ‘fetch’ Annika?” I asked.
“No, sir.” He shook his head. “She didn’t even know the girl’s name. She just said to find a girl who worked at the Tavern—she gave us her description and said she was friends with a boy named Mike. Once inside, we asked the girl at the bar who fit that description. She said Annika’s name and told us she went this way. She did, however, fail to mention a companion.”
“Tanya,” Annika muttered, her voice laced with hurt.
“She’s only a human,” I told her, meaning it as comfort. “She had to answer the vampires’ questions. It was that or have the answer beaten out of her. She had no choice.”
Annika glared at me and pulled her hand out of mine, her eyes shining with distrust.
I was going to have a lot of groveling to do after I finished saving her life. But for now, I turned back to Daniel, since I needed to get as much information from him as possible to help Annika.
“Do any of you know why Camelia asked for Annika?” I looked at all of the vampires—men who had guarded me and kept me company while I was trapped in the palace—forcing as much compulsion into my voice as possible. Their pupils were all dilated, their stances more relaxed—the magic was working. “Did she give any hint at all?”
“No,” they all repeated.
“Only that she wanted the girl unharmed,” Daniel said again. “Beyond that, we know nothing.”
“Fine,” I said, since this was getting us nowhere, and the more time we lost, the more danger Annika was in. “Avoid returning to Camelia for as long as you’re able. Avoid returning to anyone who knows you’re on this mission. Tell no one that you saw me—or Annika.”
“Understood.” Daniel nodded, and as quickly as a human could blink, he and the other vampires were gone from the alley.
Annika also attempted to run, but I reached for her arm, stopping her.
Did she truly believe she could outrun a vampire?
She glared at me, her eyes filled with challenge. “Let me go,” she commanded. “Prince Jacen.”