Alpha's Blood

by Renee Rose

  About an hour after sunset, my door clicks. I wait, but no one enters. When I check the door, I find it’s been unlocked remotely. I open it wide and consider the dark hallway.

  Somehow, I know he’s waiting for me. I bet anything there’s a camera on my door, not to mention in my room.

  Before I take a step, I remember what he said last night and sigh inwardly. This is a test. It’s a lot like living in Xavier’s military compound. Everything is a test and any gift comes with a high price. I promised Lucius my submission, and I’m going to give it to him. I’ll be his perfect little pet until the last, when I turn on him and shove my submission so far down his throat he chokes.

  With that savage thought warming my insides, I drop to all fours and crawl.

  Lucius

  I hold my breath as Selene’s white blond head appears. I set aside my tablet with the feed from the security cameras seconds before she rounded the corner. She stood in the doorway of her room so long I was about to go and get her. Then, in a movement so graceful it squeezed my heart--and my cock--she stretched out on her hands and knees. Kneeling for me. Crawling for me. I’ve never been tempted to permanently collar a submissive, but this she-wolf is a perfect mix of defiance and willingness to please. It’s easy to imagine long nights together, her stretched out before me, quivering flesh caressed by firelight, waiting for my bite. She’d be mine. All mine.

  As she crawls closer, hips swaying, her eyes flash up at me. I meet her gaze with brow raised, and she ducks her head, then frowns at her natural reaction to my dominance. For all her insistence that she’s been trained by vampires, she’s not used to being the least dominant predator in the room.

  She’s gnawing her lip. I’ll have to put a stop to that particular habit. The only one who gets to bite her is me.

  I beckon her closer. She crawls well, slinking across the floor like a cat but her back should arch more to best display her face and ass. I’ll have her practice later, as part of her training. It’ll be a pleasure to teach her.

  She settles in front of me, between my feet, her blonde head bowed, hands upturned on her bare thighs. The romper she chose slouches over her bare breasts. When I lean forward, I can see all the way down to her bare nipples.

  “Excellent, pet.” I settle my hand around her neck, enjoying her quiver, and position her on all fours in front of me. I run a hand down her spine, pressing on her lower back until her ass cants upward. “Look at me,” I murmur.

  She blinks at me. Her face is free of makeup and exquisite. The sharp little nose, the bow mouth, the dark lashes sweeping over flushed cheeks. She rocks slightly on her knees, and I get a whiff of her upturned cunt.

  “Enjoying this?” I ask, and she flushes further. How delightful.

  “You’re doing so well. Tell me, what made you crawl for me?”

  She licks her lips before answering. “I thought...you wanted..”

  “I did, pet. I did, and you did it beautifully. But I want to know why you, Selene, why you would choose to crawl for me.”

  “I lost the bet.”

  “Did you?”

  She turns her head so her hair veils her face. I could order her to look at me, but I’ll give her the illusion of privacy. “I guess...I wanted to please you.”

  Truth. I straighten, triumphant. Her scent confirms her desire.

  “Poor, sweet pet. I’ve neglected you all day. Come.” I hold open my arms. Biting her lip, she crawls up onto my lap. I put two fingers against her mouth.

  “Did you enjoy your day?”

  She nods and I take my fingers away. “Speak.”

  “Who were the shifters who visited today?

  Did you like them, pet? I thought they would provide much needed entertainment.”

  “They said they were looking into my pack.”

  “Yes. I want to find them.”

  “Why?”

  “To corroborate your story, of course.” She stiffens in my arms. Aha. “Do you not want

  me to find them?”

  “I...it’s been a long time.”

  “You could return to them, if you wish.”

  She blinks at me. “What?”

  “After this...experience. Once we’ve had our fun. Did you think I’d keep you forever?” I

  prod her, enjoying her wide-eyed expression.

  “You’d let me go?”

  “Why not? You can stay if you wish.” I stroke her rigid back. “There will always be a

  place for you in my club. I’ll take care of you. Or if you want to return to your family, you can.”

  Her head bows and her hair veils her face. “My family is dead.”

  I make a fist behind her back. I’d forgotten. “My apologies,” I say, and mean it. She

  peeps at me from behind the shimmering fall of her hair. “I meant I will return you to your kind,

  if you wish it.”

  She’s biting her lip again, looking past my French double doors, worry knotted on her

  forehead.

  “Relax, pet. I only meant to give you a gift.”

  “A gift,” she echoes.

  “A kindness. After our time together, I will not keep you caged. Wild animals are meant

  to run free.” I brush the hair back from her tense face. “What are you thinking, pet?”

  “I don’t know what to think. I never thought you’d set me free.”

  I set my fingers around her neck, collaring her. “Not yet, pet. First, you earn it.”

  She licks her lips, visibly reigning in her focus. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Come,” I rise with her in my arms. “I’ll show you.”

  I head to the door with Selene stiff in my arms. She always seems uncertain of what to do when I carry her, and I enjoy putting her off balance.

  The guards see me coming and pull open the doors. “Mr. Frangelico,” they greet me and usher me to the limo. I set Selene on the floor of the limo and take my seat. She looks a little dazed, so I snap my fingers and point to a place in front of my seat. She scoots closer and settles into a submissive’s pose gracefully. I sift my fingers through her hair and pull her head to my knee.

  “Relax, pet,” I order. She blows out a breath hard enough to stir her hair, but the tension in her shoulders eases.

  The limo rolls down the street, heading for my business holdings. I had Tucson on my radar for years before I moved in. My stay in Hollywood left me tired and jaded, even for a two thousand-year-old vampire. The production company I founded still pours money into my coffers, but when the time came to fake my death and move on, I was more than happy to find a new town to haunt. LA, for all it’s glamour, feels old. A shrine where virgins sacrifice themselves for fame.

  We pass a movie theater plastered with posters of the latest blockbuster. The starring actress came to stardom through my agency. She was one of my finds. She offered to fuck me for a role, but by I was tired of it all. Tired of the fake tans, the airbrushed photos. The wheeling and dealing and greed that surpasses everything, even desire for human contact. When sex is a tool, a weapon to win a final role, life becomes more hollow than even a jaded vampire can bear. I came to Tucson--retreated is more like it--to find something real. Two bodies, colliding in the night. Untempered, uncalculated passion.

  It’s no use. People look at me and they see my role. Vampire King. Ancient ruler. Even my sired eventually turn on me, try to take my power. Mine is the first face they see when they rise as vampires, and mine is the last. They attack and I kill them. One by one, the stars go out and I am left alone, in the dark.

  “Sir?” A soft voice at my knee. “Are you all right?”

  I’m sighing like a Victorian fop. The men of that era were useless, though a few wrote half decent poetry.

  “I’m fine, pet. Just a little...stressed.”

  Selene blinks up at me, dark lashes framing ocean grey eyes. She isn’t afraid of me, not really. Her wolf seems to accept me. It surged to the fore during the day, when I couldn�
�t protect her.

  Her hair washes over my leg and I finger the silky strands. “Selene,” I say out loud, and lift a lock of hair to my lips. She flushes like I’ve kissed a very personal part of her--which I intend to do. Soon. “Goddess of the moon. Fitting name for a werewolf.”

  She sniffs. “That’s a myth. We don’t have to shift with the moon.”

  “There are many false myths about us. Both our kinds. For one thing, I enjoy garlic.”

  She smiles at that. “The garlic stuffed olives tipped me off. You’re Italian, right?”

  I raise my brow at her direct question.

  “Sorry,” she looks away.

  “No, you’re not,” I chide, tugging her hair. She’s not sorry at all.

  “Is it rude to ask questions about a vampire’s past?”

  “Not rude. Impertinent. You’re lucky I enjoy it. But be careful, pet. Push too far, and I’ll gag that sweet mouth.” Her eyelashes flutter and I sit back. “I spent some centuries in Italy, yes. Turf wars between the city states. Whoring and dining with the Medicis. It grew tiresome, and the church’s increased focus on finding and burning out any evil or witches became uncomfortable. I escaped to the New World, with plenty of wilderness and cover for monsters who hunt at night.”

  “You think you’re a monster?” she whispers to the carpet.

  “I know I am. A creature of hunger and darkness. The older I get, the more my perversions.”

  Her throat convulses. “You hurt people.”

  “I do,” I drawl, deepening my voice. “I enjoy it.” I tug her head back, exposing her neck. “So do you.”

  Her head jerks and I tighten my grip.

  “You deny it?”

  “I don’t like pain.”

  “Not just pain.” I run a finger from the jaw to the soft column of her throat, enjoying her struggle to keep from lashing out. “Pain, pleasure depends on the way the body registers it. Two sides of the same coin. When I whip a sub,” a tremor goes through her at the word whip, “I balance them on a knife’s edge. Suspended over two chasms. One way--immense pain. The other--boundless pleasure.” I hold out my hand and rock it back and forth as she stares. “They never know which way they’ll fall.”

  “So that’s it. You like being in control.”

  “I don’t like it, pet.” I wind her hair around my fist until she’s caught, throat taut, lips quivering, on a white golden leash. “I live for it.”

  The limo coasts to a halt. I hold her in place one, two, three long moments before releasing her. “Shall we?”

  I help her out of the limo and usher her to the club door. The door’s unlocked but no one’s inside, as I instructed. Selene clings to my arm as we walk through the murky coat check area and descend the stairs into the gloom.

  “What is this place?” she asks, voice hushed.

  In answer, I press a hidden panel and flick on the first set of lights. The first part of the room is dedicated to lounging. A backlit bar faces an assortment of low tables and plush armchairs. I wait for Selene’s eyes to adjust and illuminate the second half of the dungeon. Spotlights appear around the vast room, shining on the heavy wooden furniture bolted to the floor. St. Andrew’s crosses, spanking benches, wooden horses, long tables topped with black leather--a well appointed BDSM dungeon. A dom’s paradise. A submissive’s hell and heaven all in one.

  I flip the final switch and entire wall lights up. Selene gasps at the display of hanging floggers, Shibari rope, whips, paddles and canes.

  Her shock is refreshing. Was I ever so innocent? Her head swivels, her wide eyes lit up, taking everything in. Her nipples are sharp points. Not so innocent. At least some part of her is fascinated.

  Excellent.

  “Well, pet.” I touch her hair to awaken her. “What do you think?”

  She blinks. Licks her lips. Says the last thing I’d expect: “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”

  Chapter 5

  Selene

  The vampire king moves behind me, a giant, dark shadow in the this frightening place. His laughter echoes around me, surrounding me like warm blanket, entering my veins. The sound makes me light headed, like a glass of whiskey on an empty stomach. I sway a little and he wraps a large arm around my waist.

  “Welcome to Toxic, pet.”

  “This place...is yours?” I’ve heard of the vampire’s night club and the rumors of what it really is: a BDSM dungeon with a dance club as a cover. Some vampires are sadists, and prefer their victims to be submissive masochists. Sweetbloods, they call them. The blood has more flavor when mixed with endorphins, the body’s response to pain.

  “All you see.”

  “Everything the light touches,” I mutter. A smart mouth is a good way to cover up fear. Lucius laughs again, and keeps chuckling as he moves me forward.

  We’re halfway to the center of the room, where a heavy throne sits on a raised platform, a spotlight showcasing its medieval splendor, when the silence makes sense.

  “There’s no one here.”

  “Of course not,” Lucius purrs in my ear. “You are my most prized possession. I do not want to show you off, not quite yet.”

  I think of the party he’s throwing in a month. “But someday?”

  “Someday.” He moves from me, taking his place on the throne. A king in his kingdom. His natural habitat. “Are you ready to begin your training?”

  Am I? I turn in place, taking extra time to examine the wall of implements. The Wall of Pain. In training, I’ve seen worse, felt worse, but this is different. Private. Sensual. There’s only the two of us here. Lucius, rolling up his shirtsleeves to expose deliciously strong forearms. Me, with my nipples tenting my romper top and my pussy pulsing.

  I’m not scared of the way Lucius might hurt me. I’m scared I might like it.

  Lucius snaps his fingers and I’m over beside him in a flash. Kneeling, head bowed, arms boxed behind my back.

  “Playtime’s over,” he tells me. “When we’re here, you’ll obey my commands or be punished. No excuses, no exceptions. You will call me sir at all times, unless I’ve ordered you not to speak. Understand? You may speak.”

  I swallow. “Yes, sir.”

  “I might wish for you to strip, or crawl. You will obey immediately or suffer the consequences. And, pet, you won’t like the consequences. Do you have any questions?”

  “What are the consequences?” I ask, adding, “Sir?”

  His dark eyes twinkle at me. He’s enjoying this...scene, game, whatever it is. “Disobey and find out.”

  My eyes flick to the Wall of Pain. He leans forward and captures my chin, drawing me back. “Obey me and I’ll reward you. You will love the rewards. You had a taste of them last night.”

  Yep. I’ll never forget those orgasms. I want more.

  “In one month, I will present you to my kingdom. A king’s consort. Everyone will covet you. You’ll perform for them, and earn your freedom.”

  “And this,” he reaches to the side table and opens a drawer, draws out a box. A heavy silver collar lies on a black velvet cushion. Lucius picks it up and diamonds wink at me. “A collar fit for a queen. I intend to train you for my use, and mine alone. You will kneel for no one...but me.”

  Interesting. Xavier’s intel said nothing about him being this possessive with a submissive.

  I open my mouth and wait for the incline of his head giving me permission to speak. “And after the party...sir?”

  “You’ll free to come and go as you please. You’re free to go back to your pack, if you wish. The price of your freedom is your ultimate submission, but after that, you can take the collar and go.”

  I rock back on my heels. He intends to train me, make me want him. I’m a prop in his show of power. If he can get me to do as he commands …

  “And if I want to stay?”

  “There will always be a place for you here. At my side.”

  “As your submissive? Or for you to pass around as you please?”

  “Our arra
ngement has a natural end, but I would continue to take care of you. You would work here. You would only submit to vampires you choose.”

  I tilt my head as if considering it. He thinks he’s going to break down my defenses. I’m going to break down his--and the minute he turns his back, I’ll turn on him. Everything is going according to plan.

  “All right,” I say. “I’m ready.”

  He sweeps a hand out and indicates the Wall of Pain. “Choose.”

  I straighten. Stare at him and heave a breath before getting to my feet. The rows of implements blur as I get close. I grab the one closest to me, a strip of leather with an angled tip attached to a long handle. When I return to Lucius, I kneel and offer it to him, head bowed. The choreography of high protocol makes things easier, especially when I’m steeling myself for a long night.

  Lucius takes the whip and sets it aside before gathering me close.

  “Frightened?”

  I dip my head.

  “Don’t be. I won’t harm you.” His large hands trespass over my body, kneading my shoulders until I melt, finding my resistance, breaking it down. His touch feels good. I both love and hate how I respond to him.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” I blurt.

  “You don’t have to do anything. Just be.”

  “When we’re in a scene, I am aware of everything about you--every movement, every flinch, every quiver. Your role is to be aware of me. I will be your world. My words, your god.” His large hands cup my face and tip my head back to meet his eyes. “Give yourself to me, Selene. I won’t ever let you fall.”

  Lucius

  My pet squirms on my lap, too on edge to sit still. She’s both nervous and curious, a refreshing combination. I set her on her knees on the floor and fasten the collar around her neck. “High protocol,” I tell her and she nods, instantly bowing her head. Her gasp makes me grasp her chin. “What is it, pet?”

  “Do you need me?” She eyes the bulge in my slacks. Afraid? Eager? Her face is a mask a vampire would envy.

  “Not right now, pet,” I tell her. “You must earn it.” Her eyes widen slightly. Nervous. She really is a virgin.