by Tamsin Baker
I loved to fight for my castle’s inhabitants, for my people, for vampires.
But the scents… they followed me for days. Filled my daytime sleeps with dreams I couldn’t escape.
I washed my long hair quickly. The tangled knots would present a problem for Nissa, but I was sure she’d sort them out.
When I was finally ready to step out of the shower, I’d scrubbed myself at least twice with soap, from head to toe. I didn’t want any lingering jackal scents following me around when I left to visit my lover after the feast.
I turned off the water, my cheeks flushing with heat at the thought of Marcus. At least I’d be able to disguise the blush beneath my hot skin from the shower when I went out to meet my dresser.
My lover… I sighed. My biggest, most forbidden secret.
I picked up the towel Nissa had left for me and patted down my still damp body.
It was time to don the garb of a Queen, and play the part I’d been born into.
“Ah… wow,” I couldn’t help but say, stupefied as I stepped forward and surveyed the dress Nissa had laid out for me.
“The dressmaker finished it today. For you,” she beamed.
Ah… why?
I stared at the garment before me without enthusiasm.
I couldn’t help myself. It was as sexy and skin tight as one could make a dress, with a sculpted bodice and a neckline that would dip almost to my navel.
My gaze travelled to Nissa, who looked positively excited to put it on me. “All right.” I suppose.
Nissa picked the gown up with gentle reverence and pulled it over my head, tying the laces at the back and tugging things into place.
“Sit, and I’ll do your hair.”
I glanced at myself in the mirror and inhaled sharply. The red dress clung to every curve of I possessed and exposed my belly button in its design.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit… much?” I asked Nissa, hoping she would agree that exposing this amount of my body would not be good for anyone.
Nissa shook her head. “No. You look beautiful, and strong. Just as we want our queen to be.”
I sighed in acceptance and sat upon the chair Nissa directed me to in order for her to be able to deal with my long tresses.
I may be all of those things, but that didn’t mean I needed to highlight it at a feast for a battle I’d just taken part in and killed enemies.
Nissa set about combing through my hair, and I sat dutifully for her. I’d been born to this, so despite the fact that I was comfortable in my role as ruler and protector, part of me ached for the freedom of being any other person.
“Done,” Nissa declared once she’d untangled the mess on top of my head.
“Wonderful. I’m starving.”
I got to my feet and thrust back my shoulders, the only way to wear this dress, lest it fall down around my ankles and expose the whole of me to the kingdom.
Nissa bobbed a curtsey and opened the door for me.
She wouldn’t be at the banquet tonight, as only high-born vampires and the leaders in my army were invited.
That wasn’t my choice, however it was the protocol of my kingdom. I would have invited everyone to eat and feast with us.
I walked along the hallway, the noise from the banquet hall becoming louder with each step I took.
A smile tugged at my lips. Everyone would be in a good mood after our win today. We hadn’t lost many, and the news of our victory would have spread through the kingdom.
Pausing at the door, tightness gripped my chest. I would need to speak tonight, and although I knew it to be a necessity, I found it made me nervous.
I would need to drink as much wine as possible beforehand.
When my parents had been alive, it had been easier. They did most of the official work and I had happily fought alongside them. Supported them. Loved them.
A wave of longing passed through me for the family I had lost. But this was the life we led. It was brutal. Hard, and dangerous.
And with that thought inside my head, I pushed open the doors to the upper echelon of my people.
The loud noise of the room boomed at me, the sound joyous, until they all saw me standing in the doorway.
As one, the group turned in my direction and parted to make a path for me.
My stomach lurched. I didn’t want the party to stop, but I knew how this worked. They wouldn’t start again until I was seated at the head of the room.
I walked slowly, conscious of the way the other vampires were now studying my body.
The astonishment and lust on the male faces surprised me. It was on some of the women’s faces too.
I clenched my teeth and walked on, my head held high. I worked with these men and women, fought beside them. I think some of them forgot I was female sometimes.
Tonight, they would not.
I made my way around the long banquet table set up at the head of the room.
When I sat in my place, relief washed over me. Tonight, I would eat and celebrate.
I picked up my wine glass, filled with a mix our winemakers kept for special occasions. I lifted it to my nose and inhaled.
Human blood, aged with alcohol to make it even more potent.
I took a sip, the taste filling my mouth and saturating my starving senses.
Oh, yes.
I drank some more, the blood flowing down my throat and relieving the ache of battle.
When I looked up, the inhabitants of the room was staring at me. I lifted my goblet to them and shouted, “To victory!”
“Victory!” came the raucous reply and the crowd erupted into the same chaos it had been before I’d arrived.
A flush of intoxication was already flooding my system as I set down the wine glass.
Pride filled me as I surveyed the room. I loved my people, as my parents had before me.
We were almost all pure vampires, born with immortal blood. There were a few converted humans, but they were in the minority, and would never be as strong.
We survived on a high blood diet, although we could tolerate other food. Meat, mostly.
I looked around the banquet tables laden with the wild berries that grew in our forest and the meat of our animals. Deer, beef, lamb. Some of it cooked, mostly not. But always as rare as possible. The flesh would sustain us when we could not obtain a pure source of blood.
Hunting and killing humans was forbidden, so we often needed to seduce them, lure them to the castle, and send them away afterwards with their memories altered. Not my preference, but until we found another way to thrive, there was no other choice.
There was a squeal in the corner and my gaze moved to a group of human women in the throes of the pleasure our feeding brought them. What they were experiencing was very similar to an orgasm.
Heat once again flooded my cheeks.
Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing for them to be a feeding source. They certainly didn’t complain. And as long as the vampires in my kingdom knew when to stop and didn’t kill any of them, it would remain lawful.
I pulled some meat onto my plate and began to eat, my tired body singing with rapture at being fed finally.
Conversation flowed easily with the people around me, as I waited for everyone to get their fill before I addressed them.
This speech had been planned for weeks as we moved forward into the future.
Sound became muted as the mood changed, and people became more intoxicated. On the wine, the human women, and the bliss of victory in battle.
Happier. More settled. Sated.
It was time.
I stood up and lifted my chin, waiting for everyone to turn towards me. They did not disappoint.
I took a breath and began, my voice wavering at the beginning. This was important for us all.
“I know a lot of you realise that we’ve been in discussions regarding how to move our community forward into a better future. For decades there have been talks, but nothing has been done. Until now.”
There was a hushed silence that fell over my people and I grinned as I caught the eye of several key players in this decision.
“We want to find a way to co-exist with the human population better and the time has come, we believe, to make contact.”
There was an interested murmur that rippled around the room, and I pushed forward, not wanting to lose momentum.
“I am going to reach out to the humans, begin peace talks. We believe we should unite with them, for their own good and ours.”
There was another cheer this time, louder.
“So enjoy your night of victory, because come tomorrow I will be searching out the closest human village for discussions with their rulers, and hopefully there will be fruitful futures in it for us all.”
A roar went up around me and I sat back down, satisfied with everyone’s response.
For most of them, I was sure that all they would see and feel were the blood benefits that would come our way with an association and agreement with the nearby human towns.
But for me, it would be more than that.
It would create another ally in this increasingly dangerous world, and a future for my people.
Chapter 2.
After the feast finished and the musicians had wandered away, the rest of the crowd fell into their beds.
And once all was quiet and safe, I snuck back to my room to gather my cloak for travel.
I crept out of the castle through a secret wall my parents had installed for our family in case we needed to escape during a siege. It travelled down a long passageway and through a door that led beyond the castle gates.
By the time I was outside in the cold night air, my skin was warm and my excitement was cresting. I wrapped my cloak around myself tighter, pulled my hood over my head and headed for the forest.
It would take me an hour to walk to the cabin if I was human, but as I pushed some of my vampire speed and strength into my legs, I moved faster and faster,
until I was standing outside a log cabin with smoke billowing from the chimney.
I glanced around, checking to see if anyone would see me entering Marcus’s home, but as usual, there was no one about.
In fact, there wasn’t another house in sight, although the rest of the pack wasn’t far away.
I lifted my leg onto the first step and the front door opened. His delicious scent hit me before I even saw him.
My knees buckled a little, so I grabbed for the railing and hauled myself up the step to greet him at the door.
His deep voice rolled through the air. “Well, hello there, Vampire Queen. I wasn’t sure if you’d come tonight.”
I pushed past the wolf shifter who’d been standing, leaning against the door, looking too sexy for his own good.
He burned with the heat of a fever naturally and spent most of his life walking around in nothing but an old pair of trousers.
Case and point.
It was all he wore at this moment, and I had a particular weakness for his massive shoulders and bulky muscles.
He shut the door and clicked the lock with a decisive move.
I turned back around and threw my cloak off, revealing the gown Nissa had poured me in tonight.
His nostrils flared and his eyes darkened.
He also went preternaturally still.
Which was a bad sign… and a good one, if I wanted to be fucked where I was basically standing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked with a tone of heavy sarcasm. “You don’t like the gown they made for me to wear to the victory celebration?”
Marcus began to stalk forward, taking a wide berth around me and doing a full circle before coming to stand directly in front of me.
My stomach tightened and my breath caught in my chest. I’d never seen him hunt, but I knew it would be a truly amazing sight.
His eyes were almost completely black now, and his skin radiated heat like the sun. Luckily, touching him wasn’t deadly to me or I would have died a hundred times already.
“At least they left you with some dignity. You can’t see your ass crack.”
His smile lifted his full lips and I whacked him on the shoulder.
“I’m their queen!” I threw my head back, laughing, and tossed my long hair around, just how he liked me to.
He grinned this time, his devilish smile making my belly quiver with longing.
“Get on your knees for me then, Vampire Queen.”
My mouth fell open in shock even as his hand came up and pressed on my shoulder. No one had ever spoken to me in such a way.
Damn I loved this man…
I fell to my knees in my hand-made gown and looked up at him, defiance glittering in every part of me.
What was he trying to prove?
Marcus’ rough hands traced my jawline, his fingertips moving over my lips in steady, confident strokes.
He groaned with desire as I caught that finger in my mouth and gently bit him.
“Do they know their queen is on her knees for me? A dirty shifter?” he asked, his tone gentle, but serious at the same time.
I grunted and tried to stand. He knew I hated our forced separation as much as he did. But as I attempted to rise, he pushed a hand on my shoulder to stay down.
I could have gotten up, of course. He was no match for my real strength.
But Marcus was a lone wolf, an Alpha by all rights, and asserting his dominance was a necessary part of this dance.
One, surprisingly, I enjoyed tremendously.
“No. Of course not,” I answered. “Why, you don’t like my dress?”
He groaned as he undid the button on his pants. “I love that dress… and hate that everyone in the kingdom got to see you in it. Your body is mine to enjoy, not theirs.”
He slid the zipper down and the metallic sound made my gaze drop to his waist.
He pulled the fly open and a thick brush of dark hair filled my vision.
My belly tightened.
Damn I wanted him. All of him.
His hands were back on me, pulling my chin up to look at his face.
Why he was playing with me so much tonight when he knew what I needed,
I didn’t know.
Perhaps the dress had aggravated him more than I’d intended it to?
“What do you want, Vampire Queen?”
I swallowed hard, my hands reaching out for his thighs and wrapping around his trousers until I could grip his ass.
“I want you. You know that.”
