by Kate Bonham
“Mae,” she smiled at me. “Bram here has told me all about your predicament.”
“Can you tell me more about what I am?” I asked her.
“I can,” she said. “I can also help you learn how to control it.”
“That’d be great.”
“It will take time,” she said. “But it’s something I am willing to do.”
“So, I can control it?”
“You will be able to control it and use it against your enemies,” she said, moving around both of us. “You must mean a lot to Bram for him to come here.”
I looked over at Bram. “Why?”
He didn’t want to tell me. Cassia picked up on it and chuckled. “I suppose secrets will be kept. Bram, take her to her room.”
He nodded and took my hand again, and we were moving down the hallways to a large room with a huge bed. A wardrobe was off to the left and large windows overlooking the lake.
“What did you do to her?” I asked him.
“Cassia made me into Nosferatu,” he told me. “I was under her tutelage for a long time, and although she was a good teacher, and she treated me well, most who stay here under her protection end up becoming her lover.”
“Did you?”
“For a time, yeah.”
“She forces you?”
He smirked. “No, never, but you feel as if you should, I guess. Cassia never makes you do something you don’t want to do but if you break the rules, you’re banished. I didn’t break the rules, I asked to leave and was allowed to but I never came back. I never checked in. I hurt her, and that’s why she wanted me to apologize.”
“So why wouldn’t she just tell me that?”
“Because Cassia believes only the person who has lived that life should ever tell someone else about it. She’s not a gossip.”
I still felt as if he wasn’t telling me everything but I ignored it and moved to the bed. “At lest the bed’s big enough for both of us.”
He smirked, but didn’t say anything, which had me on edge. “I have to go and see someone for a little bit. I’ll be back soon. Get some rest.”
“Okay.”
He came over to me and placed a kiss on my forehead before leaving the room. I laid down only to have a strange sensation come over me. Getting up, I decided to go and look out the window. Looking down, I saw movement. Too fast to see it, it was more of a blur but I knew what it was.
Bram.
He was leaving.
Without thinking, I opened the window and ran as fast as I could down to him, catching up to him without issue. Bram stopped.
“How did you know I was leaving?”
“I saw you.”
“Look, Mae, I have to. They won’t stop until they find me. I can’t let them hurt you.”
I stepped up to him, looking into his eyes. “That’s my decision. I choose to be with you, don’t I get a say?”
He put his cold hand on my cheek. “Could you be any more perfect?”
“You can’t leave me. I will just follow you, and you know it.”
“I made a promise,” he said, sadly. “Stay here, please, let Cassia teach you. I’ll need you in the future, at full strength.”
“No.”
“Mae…”
“No, Bram. You stay here with me or I’ll just follow you everywhere, whether it’s into danger or not.”
“God help me, but I love you,” he said to me. It surprised me, but I knew how he felt, because I felt it too. I would never have done this for anyone else, put my life on the line. I would gladly step in front of a bullet for him.
“I love you, too.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll stay with you, but you have to listen to everything Cassia says.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“Then, when it’s time, we can travel the world, running from everyone.”
“Sounds romantic.”
Bram smiled, pulling me to him and kissing me. A girl could get used to having a sexy ass, protective Nosferatu for a boyfriend who could send me into a frenzy with just a kiss.
“Come on, Amber Eyes, we’ve got time before your lessons begin. I’m dying to try out that bed.”
EIGHT
Mae
The sun tingled on my skin as we made our way throughout the market. People yelling out to us to come and look at their merchandise. Most found it annoying, but I found it exhilarating. So many of these people had hand-crafted goods, and this was their lifeline. Bram was hovering over by the fountain, bored out of his mind, and seeking the shade. Although he was considered an Ancient Nosferatu, he still suffered under prolonged sun exposure.
It had been a few months since Bram and I had come to Sweden for Cassia’s help, and slowly, the blonde beauty had been teaching me how to control my urges. Being a half Nosferatu, half Lycanthrope wasn’t easy, and to be honest when they called me a hybrid, I felt like a car, but Bram had been great.
It was hard to believe I had fallen so deeply in love with him after just a few months. He’d been supportive and loving, caring and funny, and sexy as hell. I’d never had any of those things for long in my life before, I wondered when it would end.
The only constant I’d had in my life was my mother’s drinking and my stepfather’s love. There were times when I wished I had found out he was my real father, but after meeting my real father, Hal, just a few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised with how nice he had been.
But, we still hadn’t found who had taken my stepfather Bastien from me. He was out there, waiting for me, somewhere. I held a lot of guilt for that. How could I be here in beautiful Sweden, having a ball and falling head over heels for Bram, when I knew he was out there, maybe even dying.
It was now; I felt the warm embrace of Bram behind me. Had he known I was making myself upset?
“We have to go,” he said, gently in my ear. “Slowly, don’t make a scene.”
My heartrate picked up and I looked up into his beautiful eyes. When they weren’t a bright red, they were a natural hazel color. I could get lost in those gold-speckled green eyes all night long.
“What’s happening?”
“Lycan guards are here,” he said to me, softly, and calmly. “Looks like Blackmaw.”
“Why would they send guards after you here?” I asked, slightly panicked.
“Because I killed their King,” he reminds me, taking my hand and weaving us through the throng of people at the market. Most of whom were human and shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of situation. I held onto his hand, tight, and followed him through the streets and toward the area where Cassia’s mansion was hidden from sight. Only because we knew where it was located would we be able to pass through the veil. I’d loved learning about all the things Nosferatu could do, now that I was one of them.
I could see the clearing up ahead, we were almost safe, but my heart wouldn’t stop beating fast. All I could hear was the blood circulating through my ears, making it hard to hear.
Suddenly, Bram’s hand was ripped from mine. I looked back to see him standing in front of five men dressed in black with a sigil embroidered onto their chest.
“Abram Norwood,” one of them said to him. “You are charged with high treason and the death of our King. You must come with us to London and face your charges.”
Bram looked back to me, calm. “I will come. Mae, go to Cassia’s.”
The guards placed a band around his wrists and he winced in pain.
No… no… this can’t be happening.
I ran for Bram only to be pushed back by a guard. “No, miss, you cannot help him anymore.”
Bram shook his head. I couldn’t reveal who I was, but they couldn’t take him, I couldn’t let them take him.
“It’s okay, Mae. Go to Cassia and tell her.”
They marched off, and I was left in a state of shock. They disappeared from view before I could feel my heart beat again. Tears filled my eyes, making it hard to see.
They’re going to kill him because h
e was protecting me.
No… I won’t let this stand.
I stood up, finding the strength to do so and ran for Cassia’s mansion behind the veil. Cassia was the oldest female Nosferatu in the world, she’d know what to do.
NINE
Mae
I ran through the front doors of Cassia’s mansion in a panic, hightailing it down the hallway toward the baths. Running past many who were frightened by me as I passed them, but I couldn’t stop to reassure them. I couldn’t stop because things were not okay.
Running down the stairwell to the underground level, I pushed open the stained-glass doors and looked for her bright blonde hair. The mosaic wall around her small tub was open, which meant she was available to talk.
I took off over to the tub, catching my breath and trying to make sense of what happened.
“Cassia,” I ran to her, almost tripping and falling in the pool. “We need to help Bram… they took him… please.”
“Whoa there, amber eyes,” she said, relaxing back into the water.
“Why are you relaxing?” I exclaimed, my panic setting in. “We have to get to Bram.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Still, she didn’t make a move to get out of the tub. I could feel my anger rising. “They took him, how could my father order this?”
“He is a King now,” Cassia replied. “It is his duty, as is his right to demand Bram face the penalty for what he has done, no matter whether it was the right thing or not.”
“Bram is your creation. How could you not care about him?”
“I do care,” Cassia spat back. “If he’d never met you, he’d never have been in this situation, would he? However, I cannot aid one in custody of another law. It would break the treaty and we’d all descend into chaos.”
I was horrified, and yet, I knew what she said was right. Since I’d sought sanctuary in her mansion from the Lycans, I had been finding out the laws and the history of my own kind, only I wasn’t just a Lycan, was I? I was a hybrid, half Nosferatu and half Lycanthrope, and from what Cassia has been telling me the few that have existed over the centuries haven’t been good. In fact, none live past their fortieth birthdays and most lose their minds.
It was terrifying, but I knew with Bram by my side that I would be able to overcome what the others couldn’t. Now, my future was bleak and my heart was breaking because the only man who had ever made me feel butterflies was at risk of losing his life… all because he had fallen in love with me.
I was the cause of all of this.
“Fine,” I said through grit teeth. “If you will do nothing, then I will. I’m not scared of breaking a damned treaty. Bram deserves more than that.”
I turned on my heel and ran from the baths, down the long halls and out into the open air. Where the hell did I go to get to London? When we’d arrived, I had been so wrapped up in Bram I had barely even checked out the sights of Sweden. I tried to recall my geography lessons in school so I could navigate my way through the different countries but I had no idea if I was standing East or West.
Damn it.
Was I really alone in this? If Bastien were here, he’d be the first one to tell me what to do next.
Bastien… my stepfather who was the very reason I was running around in Romania when I was saved by Bram. I’d completely stopped looking for him, and now I was the one who was missing and alone.
My own father who I’d never known up until a few months ago was the reason they’d come looking for him. Bram had saved me from a certain death at the hands of my brutal grandfather and now he was being put to death because of it.
It wasn’t fair.
If this was what being a Lycan was all about, there was no way I wanted to be part of it. Damn my mother for falling in love with a Lycan prince.
“Mae.”
I turned to see Cassia making her way out to me, she was in a silky robe, her hair still pinned up in a messy, casual bun.
“What do you want?”
“There is a way you can save him,” she said. “I’d hoped to have taught you everything by now but since time is running out for dear Abram, I’m going to tell you something that could possibly save both your lives.”
“So tell me.”
“You were made by him in a moment of pure passion, yes?”
I nodded.
“And you are Lycan and he is Nosferatu, well, now you are a hybrid but the lore stays the same. Lycans are bonded, it’s a primal emotion when they find their mate. Nosferatu have something similar. It’s called a blood mate. Use it, you have a kind of tracking system in you, you can find him if you focus on his blood.”
“What?”
“You have his blood in you, and you always will. Focus your attention on him, and you will know where to go. It’s an instinct of a blood mate.”
“But—”
I wanted to ask her how to do it, but she moved away, disappearing inside. Closing my eyes, I tried to think of Bram, the night we spent in the cave, the nights in this very castle in every dark nook we could find, swimming in the lake naked which wound up being a very naughty affair—god, why couldn’t I focus on him and not my sex-addled brain?
Taking a ragged breath, I closed my eyes again and focused on his red eyes, that chiseled jawbone, his deep voice, coupled with his compassionate way of speaking. I grew cold, and my skin prickled as I felt damp and hungry. Sounds of people screaming out for food echoed through my ears but they were also distant sounds. I felt a pull in my chest, my feet moving forward of their own will and suddenly I shot open my eyes and I knew exactly where to go.
This was incredible. I knew where Bram was. Somehow, I could feel what Bram was feeling and it wasn’t pleasant. Taking one last deep breath, I ran as fast as I could toward him.
TEN
Bram
Blackmaw Castle
London, UK
My knees hit the ground hard as I felt the guards let me go. I could barely lift my head as I felt my body react to lack of blood. My head hung low, my neck aching for me to lay down but I couldn’t even do that.
“Leave us,” the King’s voice bellowed to the guards. King Hallec as he was now known. In just a few short months he’d been crowned after his father’s death at my hands, and now he made his way down to where I slumped on my knees. The doors behind us closed and I felt the tension in the room change. “Bram, for god’s sake, what did they do to you?”
I moved my arm for him to see the wounds the guards had peppered with elm tree dust so they remained open, my blood slowly trickling from my body. I was dying—slowly, but surely.
“Here,” Hallec said, holding out a cup for me. The coppery tang smell had my fangs extending, and somehow I was able to lift my head a little. Hallec held the back of my head as he poured the thick liquid down my throat. Once the cup was done, it was put down beside me and he moved to wash out the elm dust from my arm wounds. “You need to rest now.”
“Why not just kill me?” I asked him.
“I will find a way to free you, my friend.”
“You must exact the law, you are King now.”
“I will not defy you to our laws, they are barbaric and medieval in nature. Once Orphax is gone back to the Elders, I’ll be able to find a way to release you.”
“No, you will lose your people.”
“And what of Mae?” he replied. “Are you to condemn her to a life of loss?”
Mae.
Just the sound of her name had me wanting to run from this place now. I could feel her using our bond, and I knew what that meant. She was my blood mate, a concept I would have laughed at just months ago when we first met. It also meant she was coming for me.
I didn’t want her to rescue me.
I’d lived long enough, longer than anyone should have on this Earth, and yet, the thought of not having Mae anymore hurt my very soul.
“She is young,” I replied. “She will love again.”
“I think you and I both know that is not the
case here.”
“So I am to rot in your dungeons for eternity?”
“No,” he said. “Give me time, I can find a way. I will not lose you, you saved me once, and you saved my daughter. How could I repay you with death?”
I wanted to say it would be a mercy but I knew the words wouldn’t ring true, not now that I’d met Mae.
“Orphax will never allow it.”
“He doesn’t need to know.”
“He will find out, he’s the goddamn Lycan Elder.”
“And my father was King, now I’m King.”
In that moment, I saw the glint in my friend’s eyes. A glint I’d never seen before. The Blackmaw glint. He was more Blackmaw than I wanted to admit, his kindness and caring ways thwarted by being raised by a brutal father, and uncle. By having his life torn apart when he was forced to give up the love of his life, Mae’s mother Amabelle.
“Now, Bram, I need you to act broken for just a few minutes while I return you to the cell for appearance’s sake.”
Hallec grabbed my arm and pulled me through the doors and down the hall. His children from his wife looked on with smirks on their faces, as I felt my strength begin to return to me, but I had to look worse for wear. It was harder than I thought. We got to the steps of the dungeon and Hallec stood me up.
“It shouldn’t be much longer, he has no need to exact revenge being an Elder. I’ve seen an order for him to return already.”
“Well, I hope it’s soon because Mae is on her way.”
Hallec’s eyes changed. “What?”
“I felt the bond shift a few minutes ago, she’s close.”
“Okay, I’ll keep her at bay, tell her of the plan. You just sit in your cell and act miserable.”
Hallec marched me down the stone steps into the moldy, damp dungeons. Cells lined up against each other, with Lycans sitting in despair, hungry and cold. He moved me to my cell and threw me in there for appearance’s sake, and locked the steel door.
