We approached the selected, who were gathered together listening to a speech. I couldn’t see who was talking from where I stood, but for once it wasn’t Donovan. This voice was feminine, rich and throaty, and it was vaguely familiar, making me think it was the master female Julietta, with the long platinum hair, who’d spoken that first day.
“…great honor that you’ve been invited,” she was saying. “Forming a matebond with a master is a rare opportunity, and you will be richly rewarded. Do not take this task lightly. Do not squander the chance you’ve been given. Now it’s time for us to head to the Stone of Katu for your blessing by the gods.”
“Can you see any food?” I whispered to Len as everyone started to move. “Their advice to refuel has me a little worried. I haven’t eaten anything for days.”
His lips twitched. “Are you sure about that? I could have sworn—”
Before I could think about how stupid it was to hit the fae again, my fist was slamming against his arm. “Ouch, fuck,” I snarled, shaking out my throbbing hand. It healed in a few seconds as Len laughed, thankfully not wanting to murder me on the spot.
“Let me have a look around for some food,” he told me, expression sobering, though his eyes were still filled with amusement.
“Thank you,” I muttered, clearing my throat to force a smile. “Appreciate it.”
With a wink, he was gone, heading toward the far set of windows with the long table beneath. As I waited and tried not to think about all the “eating” that had happened this morning—thank you fae for bringing that back up—a familiar face popped up in front of me. “Hattie!” I said with a smile.
She threw her arms around me, pulling in for a strong hug. Usually when a vampire or Mera hugged me, it was a somewhat painful experience, but today I felt like my body held up much better against it.
“I’ve been waiting for you all morning,” she said. “Stay right here; I saved a plate for you.”
She hurried off to another set of small tables that I hadn’t noticed until now and grabbed a plate. She was dressed simply today, wearing a plain white button-up shirt, black leather pants, and black flat boots. Her hair was slicked back in a ponytail and her face appeared free of makeup. She honestly looked even more beautiful than she had in her ballgown.
“Here! Eat!” she said, thrusting a plate into my face. My stomach grumbled so loudly that I would have been embarrassed if I wasn’t beyond hungry.
“Thank you,” I murmured, feeling overwhelmed by her caring enough to save me some food. “I was a touch concerned that I might just have to starve for the rest of the day since there wasn’t a lunch on that itinerary.”
She chuckled, perfect, white teeth flashing at me. “We can go for days without food as long as we have blood. They’ve no doubt forgotten that other races need actual food more often.”
And yet I’d been existing on the vampire diet for days now.
Starving, I quickly wolfed down the food, which mainly consisted of bread-like pastries; sartin, their most common fruit with dark red skin and sweet centers; and fragler sticks, my favorite treat from last time. It tasted like dried sticks of syrup.
Len appeared a moment later at my side, a plate of food in his hands.
“No need,” I said, waving him off as I finished the last sticks on my plate. “Hattie saved me some.”
She stepped closer to the fae, her smile even more brilliant, if that was possible. “Figured it was the least I could do since Simone will be at a disadvantage today, no matter what.”
Right, great. Thanks for reminding us all of that.
Len didn’t return her smile, and even though his face was expressionless, I could tell he was unhappy. I’d forgotten his little rule about not eating food he hadn’t checked, but it was Hattie. She didn’t want to be in this selection either.
Done, I dropped the plate on the table, and we headed in the direction of the stairs so we could ascend to the second floor and the Stone of Katu.
“I’m hoping this obstacle course is super hard,” I said as we walked. “I’m not allowed to throw this competition or they’ll kill me, but if I’m honestly eliminated, no one could say anything. I’ll be putting in my full effort and hoping I lose.”
Hattie blinked at me. “You genuinely don’t want to win?”
I snorted. “Genuinely and beyond. This is not my world, and I’m not a fan of arranged matings. If someone wants to be my mate, then I expect them to fight for me. Because I sure as fuck would fight for them.”
The partial lie felt stale on my tongue because I’d already decided to walk away from the one supernatural who’d ever called to my shifter soul: Lucien. To be true to myself, I should be fighting for him, but it had to go both ways.
As I’d said, my mate had to fight for me too, otherwise it was not a real mate bond.
So my plan remained solid.
Hattie let out a deep sigh. “You’re so right about the fighting part. We should do everything in our power to fight for our true mates and let the rest go.”
Her words reminded me that she was in love with the vamp next door, and I sincerely hoped that she would find a way back to him with her family’s blessing.
We reached the long hall and joined the long line of selecteds slowly making their way up to the stone. I really didn’t want to touch it again; my skin felt clammy at the thought since the last time I’d had my throat ripped out.
No doubt I was about to get majorly triggered, but I couldn’t refuse to play my part now. I would give them no reason to kill me.
As we got closer, I observed the master’s platform. It appeared that all of them were in attendance today, and an eleventh chair had been added for Carter.
He was far from the center of power—Lucien and Donovan’s chairs—but he was up there.
Claiming his throne. Silver House.
I’d be happy for him if this claiming wasn’t seriously impacting my damn life.
Bastard better keep his promise of releasing me in the end.
As we stepped closer to the stone, I could feel Lucien’s gaze on me. My body responded like it had been dropped into a pot of warm water. Everything heated inside, my legs grew wobbly, and even though I’d been telling myself not to stare, because a room full of vampires was no place to get hot and bothered, it was impossible not to look his way.
He wore no expression as he relaxed in his chair, long legs out in front, sexy man-spread going on. Damn him. His arms rested on the sides, shoulders filling out the entire back of his fancy-ass chair, with only a few crimson stones peeking out of the sides.
He looked powerful and commanding. Like a king observing his people.
Only he was just observing me.
Having all of his attention was almost too much to handle.
As discretely as possible, I wiped at my forehead, wondering if I was starting to sweat. I didn’t miss the slight smirk playing around his lips.
Stop it! I mouthed at him, trying to breathe calmly.
His smirk grew.
How was it possible that Lucien had fucked me not even an hour ago and already my body was responding like it wanted more.
Needed more.
You have to walk away. You have to walk away.
Maybe if I repeated it enough, I’d fucking remember it.
“You’ve got someone’s attention,” Hattie said in a low voice near my ear.
“I know,” I murmured, finally able to tear my gaze from Lucien. I glanced toward her, only to find she wasn’t looking at Lucien. Her head was turned toward Carter, and sure enough, the other master, whom I’d barely noticed, had his eyes locked on us.
Unlike with Lucien, his position on his chair was rigid and uncomfortable, but there was no denying his focus was all on me.
It was one of my least favorite tropes in books, when the unassuming, plain heroine suddenly had the attention of every desirable male—and female—for absolutely no reason. It wasn’t like I thought of myself as a nothing, or even particularly plain, but there was no good reason for both of these gorgeous, powerful, master vampires to be pursuing me like this.
There was more at play here. Was it simply that I’d broken the rules and touched the stone, triggering a power that’d called to Carter? And in return, Lucien had to feed me his blood, forming this bond between us?
Carter knew nothing about me and my life. Not one damn thing. Lucien, on the other hand, did know me. The real me. I’d let my walls down with him last time, and we’d spent more than a few sleep cycles talking about our lives.
He’d let little bits and pieces slip, mostly events from his time with Shadow and the merry band of assholes, but every now and then, the true heart of Lucien had shone through.
Those nights had been like a dream… the sort of connection I’d always craved.
Hence why I’d never been able to settle for less since.
Carter might not understand it, but no burst of power from a stone would convince me to mate someone. I would always want and demand more.
Always.
