Microsoft Word - Jacks-Marcy-The-Werewolf-Love-Slave-and-the-Vampire-Prince.doc (14 page)

Boris was walking with his arm possessively around Vlad’s  shoulder, and for whatever reason, maybe he sensed Andrew looking,  but Vlad turned his head and looked back.

Their eyes met.

There it was. There was the signal that Andrew was looking for, and he felt like an idiot for not having more faith.

It wasn’t like he didn’t think Vlad would do something like this, after all.

I’ll come back for you
, he thought, wishing with all his might that  Vlad was a werewolf and not a vampire so that Andrew’s message would be sent to him through the telepathic link that two mated wolves shared.

Since he couldn’t say it to him, Andrew shifted back into his wolf and ran with everything he had back in the direction of his pack. He would be able to make it back fast now that he didn’t have another

person to worry about. Hopefully James would be happy to see him

and willing to help.

* * * *

Vlad choked a little on gasping breaths when Andrew turned his back on him, shifted into his wolf, and then disappeared through the

trees.

That was it. He was gone forever and Vlad would never see him ever again. He would only remember him by the angry snarl on his face as Vlad told him that he was a coward and didn’t want to leave

98
                          
Marcy Jacks

after all.

Boris’s heavy arm around Vlad’s shoulder felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. It made him hunch over, or maybe he was only doing that because he was still having trouble breathing.

Eventually, Boris grew tired of the noise and pushed him into one of the trees, slamming his elbow into Vlad’s neck until he had no choice but to cease making all noise.

It was hard to cry when you couldn’t breathe.

“You weep for that creature? You should weep for joy that I still take you!”

Vlad couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even take in the smallest of

breaths to answer Boris’s accusation.

As much as he would just like to suffocate, to die just to make the heartbreak end, his body’s natural instinct for air seemed to overpower even his grief, and Vlad struggled against Boris’s bearlike hold.

One of the guards shouted at him. “My lord! You will strangle

him!”

“I am a lord! He is a peasant with nothing! You would dare

choose him over me!”

Vlad developed tunnel vision, and everything Boris said echoed in his ears, as though Boris were screaming from far away. His struggles weakened as the need for air overcame everything else.

Then Vlad dropped to the ground. It took him a couple of seconds to realize what had happened. One of the guards was pouring cool water from a bottle over his lips, while the others fended off Boris, gripping his arms, even as he struggled and raged, until finally the vampire lord threw them off of him with a roar.

The guards seemed satisfied with just making sure that Boris kept his distance for the moment. Vlad was both grateful for their help and angry about it at the same time.

They might be taking orders from Lord Dragunov, but they would never allow him to attack their king’s brother.

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
99

If they really wanted to do anything for Vlad, they should have let him escape with Andrew.

Just thinking about Andrew and the look on his face when Vlad told him those things was enough to make him squeeze his eyes shut against the pain in his chest.

“My lord, you go too far!” one of the guards shouted.

Vlad snapped his eyes open and looked up. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. Stelig.

What in the hell―? Why would he be here unless…

Unless he had told Vlad's brother of his affair with Andrew. That's

how Boris and the others knew to run after them.

“Get out of my way, you simple creature. He belongs to me,”  Boris said, as though he was demanding the rights to a toy figurine  instead of a breathing individual.

Stelig wouldn’t be moved. “Until you marry, he is the king’s to  deal with. You shall not lay a hand on his noble person!”

Vlad had risen to his feet and was just contemplating charging  after Stelig and ripping his throat out when he realized what the other  vampire had said.

Stelig, though Vlad might want to kill him for the betrayal, was  going to make certain that Boris could not make a claim on Vlad until  the night when they joined.

Vlad didn’t have to lay back and allow himself to be raped this  night. He might despise Stelig, but if allowing the other man to live  would bring about that good news, then Vlad wouldn’t complain too  much.

Boris shook with his rage, and then he glared at Vlad. Boris muttered something in Russian and then stormed off, leading their group back to the house.

Stelig approached Vlad. “Are you well, sire?”

Vlad glared at him. “Was it you who poisoned Andrew?”

He looked confused before his eyes lit up with the memory. “The werewolf? Not personally, no, but I was the one to set it in motion. I

100
                         
Marcy Jacks

informed your brother of your betrayal, though he had hoped to keep  it from your betrothed. We had no choice but to tell Boris when it was  discovered that you fled during the early hours of the night.”

“When you checked on Andrew’s room and didn’t find a body,  you mean,” Vlad snapped.

Stelig didn’t even have the decency to look abashed at being  caught. He reached his hand out and took hold of Vlad’s arm instead.

“Come, highness. I have orders to return you safely home.”

Vlad yanked his arm away and stared walking. “I don’t need help  from you.”

“Highness―”

“I said, leave me alone.” If Vlad was going to walk back to his  prison, he was going to do it with no one else holding his hand or  whatever nonsense.

The rest of the guards spared him from having to bite their heads off on the matter as well by letting him walk on his own, though he could always sense their eyes on him, as though they were getting ready should he decide to run away.

They need not worry themselves. Vlad had no one to run to.

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
101

Chapter Thirteen

Andrew didn’t know what to expect when he arrived back on familiar pack land. There were definitely the odd looks here and there from the omegas he’d woken up and the alphas who were patrolling the land, keeping everyone safe from wild and rival werewolves and hunters. None of whom had expected to see him, that much was clear, but no one attacked him either.

At least that meant he wasn’t cast off. He’d sworn loyalty to Vlad, but apparently, swearing loyalty to a mate, and not another alpha werewolf, still made him part of his pack.

Thank God for that.

Isaac was up and awake. He was the only human who lived on pack land, and he also took on alpha duties because of his skills with guns and knives and his extensive knowledge of the inner workings of hunters.

The man ran up to Andrew, looked him up and down under the lamplight that lit up the whole of the pack territory in yellow light, and then said, “You look like shit.”

He felt like it, too. “Please tell me that James is here.”

James was known to stick around a lot more ever since he’d

mated with Corey, but there were still the times when the leading  alpha would do his duty to the pack and go out on patrol. Andrew was  still getting used to being able to smell everyone again, and every  single scent, old and new, of the thirty plus people who lived on the  few acres of land here was overpowering him.

He wouldn’t be able to tell if James was standing right behind him  right now.

102
                         
Marcy Jacks

Isaac took his mind off that little problem. “Yeah, he just got back from patrol ten minutes ago. Can’t you smell him?”

Andrew tried not to let his annoyance show on his face. “I need to see him. Right now.”

Isaac stepped out of his way, his hands raised as though he expected Andrew to bite his head off. “Okay, don’t let me stop you.  Where’ve you been? I thought you went off with a vampire?”

“I did,” Andrew snapped, running across the clearing in the middle of all of the cabins and trailers to James’s house.

Of all the cabins, it was by far the largest and nicest, even with all the renovations to the rest of the houses that Isaac had been paying for with some inheritance from his parents.

Only James, his mate, and the pack’s wise woman lived in there.

He half expected the door to be locked, but it wasn’t, and he let himself inside and ran down the dark hallway, his feet stomping against the brand-new hardwood floors.

Maybe it was the noise that did it, but James barrelled out of his bedroom, as naked as Andrew was, his eyes bright and searching for whoever had intruded upon his home. Andrew had never seen his scarred face appear so ferocious. Not since the day when he received those scars, at any rate.

Light from his bedroom spilled into the dark hallway, and Andrew noted the difference in his alpha’s eyes when James finally noticed that the intruder was a friend, and not some enemy who wanted to kill them. They went from blood-crazed attack mode to relief.

“James,” Andrew said, his voice choking. He hadn’t realized just how much he missed being home, and the fact that James wasn’t immediately barking at him to get out was a blessing that Andrew really needed.

James must’ve seen the relief in Andrew’s eyes, because he held open his arms, and Andrew went into them.

Both fully aware that they were still naked―James must not have bothered to change into anything after he returned from his

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
103

patrol―they kept their embrace short. Their bodies were apart as  much as could be possible, considering they were hugging, and their  arms stayed up high around the shoulders. They slapped each other’s  backs and stepped back, but James kept his hands on Andrew’s arms.

“Where did you go? What happened?”

Andrew could barely gulp back his relief. “I tried speaking with  you, the closer I came to pack territory. I was so scared that I wasn’t a  part of the pack anymore when I couldn’t reach you.”

When Andrew had made the mental call for help as he came  closer, he did fear that his connection to his pack had vanished for  good. Considering he had turned his back on them, he wouldn’t have  been surprised, but he needed his alpha’s help.

Being so close to James right now, however, made everything  inside him feel right again. It was like he’d never left, and he knew  that if he tried speaking to him through the connection that all leading  alphas had with their wolves, that James would hear it and respond.

“What happened?” James asked again, his scarred face worried,  but the deformity made him look like he was frowning. “Where did  you go with that vampire? What did they do to you?”

James must’ve looked down and noticed the still-healing scrapes  and shallow cuts from his brief fight with them out in the woods.

Andrew swallowed. “James, please help me. My mate was just  taken. He’s a vampire. The vampire you saw me in the Hummer with.  He’s some kind of royal and they have him.”

“Wow, you were mated?”

Andrew looked over and saw Corey standing in the doorway.  Unlike his mate, he was actually wearing pajama pants, and staring at  Andrew with something akin to shock.

“Yes, yes, you were right,” James said, already walking down the  hall with Andrew in tow. “You’re in charge of the pack until I get  back, Corey. Now you tell me whatever you can and we’ll do  everything in our power to help.”

Andrew could hardly believe it. “Even though I abandoned the

104
                         
Marcy Jacks

pack?”

James stared him straight in the face. “Andrew, it’s impossible for  you to abandon your pack when you’re out pursuing your mate.  Nature gives you leeway on things like this. Now tell me how many  vampires we’re dealing with and where they are.”

* * * *

When they returned to the property, someone must have called his brother in, because Markus was standing at the gate waiting for him, as were his mother, the Queen Mother Ravinia, and his two other brothers, Ivan and Damion.

All were dressed in their formal attire, but it was Markus’s

expression that Vlad was drawn to. His face was grim and lips pressed  firmly together, hands held behind his back.

If his face didn’t give off the impression of a pissed-off king, then  his dark navy robes with the red trim, silver and gold sword at his hip,  and heavy gold crown on his head definitely did.

Nowadays there wasn’t much purpose to wearing a crown. Only  to formal events such as balls were the crowns and medals and full