Chapter 19
nineteen
BLAIR
I was plastered to Damian’s chest with sweat and who knew what else when I eventually woke up.
Despite the discomfort of the sweat, I felt more rested than I’d been in a long time.
Though I wanted to blame that change on feeding from him the night before, I knew it was just having his arms around me like that. The physical contact alone was enough to relax me.
One of his arms was wrapped around my waist, holding me securely against him. His hand was on my back, stroking my skin lightly, and it made me feel so good I wanted to melt. “Good morning, little siren.”
His murmur made my lips curve upward just a little.
“Good morning.” I didn’t lift my head from where it was tucked against him.
“I got a few messages about you trying to leave the Manor while I was sleeping.”
Ah.
Right.
“I didn’t believe my sisters when they said I wasn’t a prisoner. Avery proved it. Your security team didn’t try to stop me. The guy in the parking garage gave me keys.”
His arm tightened around me. “Of course you’re not a prisoner. I just need you to stay safe. With me.”
“Are you going to tell them not to let me go next time?”
“No. I’m going to keep my phone closer if there’s going to be a next time.”
There was no question in his voice, but I didn’t want him to think I was going to be sneaking out or anything. “There won’t be. If I ever want to leave, I’ll let you know.”
I felt his grip loosen a little. “Thank you.”
“Mmhm. But if I’m going to start telling you things like that, you have to tell me all of the important things too.”
“You heard about Porter?”
“Is that the werewolf’s name?”
Damian sighed. “Yeah. He’s an old friend.”
“Why were you meeting with him? And why were you fighting?”
“Porter’s family ran the pack in Mistwood for centuries, up until another alpha challenged his father and killed him. Werewolf law required the challenger to let Porter’s mother and siblings leave, but he killed them too. Porter wasn’t there when all of that happened, but as soon as he heard, he came back to town and tore the new alpha to shreds. Rather than staying to lead the pack like the law indicated he should, he abandoned it. Curtis rose to power instead.”
My eyebrows lifted against Damian’s skin. “So he’s the real alpha?”
“The rightful alpha, yes, but not the real alpha. Curt has hold of the pack’s magic. He’s in charge in every way, he just didn’t fight Porter for the right the way wolves are supposed to.”
“Oh. So you called him in to meet with him because…”
“Because if I kill Curtis, it’ll start a war. But if Porter kills him, it’ll create peace,” he said simply. “All of the other leaders know and trust Porter, too. If we can set him up as the pack’s alpha, all of us can relax our security here at the Manor and focus on our people like we did before Curt came into power.”
“And my sisters would be free.”
“They would still be in some danger as long as they’re unmated, but yes. My vampires could protect them well enough that you could all slip out into the city from time to time without too much risk.”
“So why were you fighting?”
Damian let out an annoyed breath. “He won’t come back for free.”
“What does he want?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I do.”
He pulled me up a little higher on his body, so my forehead pressed harder against his neck. “He wants to mate with a siren. He knows what you are, and that you must have a pod. No amount of money could convince him—he wants one of your sisters.”
My eyes widened. “Seriously? Why?”
“He has demons, and he’s been a lone wolf for a long time. I imagine that his mind has been a dark place since he walked away. Your magic could fix that.”
I let out an unsteady breath. “We can’t give him one of my sisters.”
“I know. I told him that. Hence the fighting.”
“But there’s no other way to convince him to take over for Curtis?”
“No. He made it clear he wouldn’t settle for anything else.”
“Maybe one of them will agree to feed from him once a month or something instead. Do you think he’d take that?”
“It’s unlikely, but if one of them is willing, I could try.”
“I’ll talk to them.”
He kissed my forehead. “I have meetings to get to. Thanks for last night.”
My face warmed at the reminder.
Damn, it had been a good night.
“Mmhm.” I kissed his throat the way he was always kissing mine, and he shuddered. “Don’t like having my teeth so close to your neck?” I teased.
“It’s vulnerable,” Damian admitted. “But not unpleasant.”
I finally slipped off of him, ducking beneath the edge of the canopy as he pressed the button to lift it. “I’ll get my sisters together and come find you after I’ve talked things through with them.”
“Alright.”
I walked toward the shower, knowing I needed to rinse the remaining salt and other bodily fluids from my skin before I did anything else. “You’re following me?” I asked, when I stepped into the shower and realized he was behind me.
“Someone climbed on my cock in the middle of the night. I need a shower too.” His chest met my back as he joined me, reaching past me to turn the water on.
I shivered, tilting my head to the side as he kissed my throat. He took a step beneath the water, moving me with him. His erection was against my lower back, his fingers sliding into my hair and tilting my head further. The water falling over us electrified me, and when his teeth brushed my sensitive skin, it only made me want him more.
“You still want me to bite you every day?” he asked.
“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate.
“You know that means I’m going to fuck you every day.”
“I’m counting on it.”
His chuckle was low and rumbly, his hand slipping between my thighs. I sucked in a breath as he stroked my clit slowly. “Put your hands in my hair, little siren.”
I buried my fingers in the strands, and he grabbed me by my core. I cried out when he lifted me higher, stepping up against the shower’s wall.
Water streamed down my skin as my tits met the cold tiles, and I gasped when he thrust into me roughly.
His teeth cut into my throat, and I was a goner.
The man had me completely and utterly under his control, and I was starting to think I actually liked it.
I knocked on the door to Clementine’s room an hour later, my hair wet from the shower but my body relaxed.
Damian and I missed breakfast, but he texted the kitchen to request a large, early lunch, and no one was about to turn the king down.
“You’re late,” Zora said, pulling the door open and looking me up and down suspiciously. “And calm. Too calm.”
“I’m always calm.” I slipped past her, joining everyone in Clem’s room. My eyes met Avery’s, and though I saw the question in her gaze, I didn’t reply to it.
She’d want to know if I talked to him about the love thing, and I hadn’t. Not because I was afraid, but because… well, it was big.
And just because I could drink it from his emotions didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it.
“I’m always calm after I’ve had morning sex with a gorgeous vampire, too,” Clem said with a wink. She was sitting on her bed with Zora. Avery was in the desk chair, and Izzy was on the floor, her knees to her chest and her arms draped over them.
“I’ve done no such thing.” I sat on the edge of the desk, since there was nowhere else to sit. “But if I had, it would’ve been excellent.”
Zora snorted.
Clem laughed.
Izzy and Avery were both watching me. They’d probably realized that if I was making jokes, it was to lighten the mood before I dropped some unfortunate truths.
“I talked to Damian about the wolf he met with,” I said. “His name is Porter, and apparently, he’s the rightful alpha. He killed the last one, but left afterward. Curtis took over when he was gone.”
Four sets of eyebrows lifted.
“Damian has been trying to convince him to take Curt out, because if a vampire does it, it’s a declaration of war. Damian can’t get involved directly without risking his people, which he won’t do.”
“And we won’t ask him to,” Clem said firmly.
She would sooner walk into Curtis’s arms herself than let him start a war. Clearly, the woman loved vampires. Maybe even more than I did, and I was mated to one.
“No,” I agreed. “He’s been talking to Porter, trying to get him to challenge Curtis so he can take over the pack. But Porter found out that he’s mated to me and put it together that you all exist.”
Izzy’s eyes narrowed.
Avery grimaced.
“He’s not willing to take any other kind of payment now. He wants one of you as his mate, to help him fight the demons in his mind with your magic.”
“Fuck,” Izzy said.
Clem ran a hand through her hair. “That’s not good.”
“He can screw right off,” Zora said.
Avery’s grimace just deepened.
“If you’re willing, I was thinking we could try to offer for one of you to feed from him once a month, or once a week or something. Maybe we could get what we want, and still give him what he wants,” I suggested.
“There’s no way he’ll accept that,” Izzy said. “He would have no guarantee that we’ll keep up our side of the deal. With Curtis dead, he’d lose any bargaining chip he possessed. He won’t take anything except a mate bond.”
“Then we’ll just stay here,” Zora decided. “The vampires can keep us safe, and we like it here. They’re cool. We don’t need to leave the Manor.”
Clem nodded. “It’s not worth one of us giving up our freedom for it.”
Avery agreed. “I’m not willing to mate with someone just so I can leave.”
Everyone looked at Izzy.
Her bottom lip was between her teeth. Usually, she made decisions quickly, and didn’t change her mind about them.
We waited.
Her lip popped free, and familiar certainty settled on her face. “I’ll do it.”
I blinked.
The rest of us did too.
“I can’t be trapped here forever,” she said. “I’m losing my mind. Hale knows Porter, right? Does he trust him?”
I nodded slowly. “All of the leaders do.”
“Then he can’t be that bad. I’ll mate with him. He’ll kill Curtis, and we’ll be free again.”
“That’s insane,” Zora protested. “It’s great here. We have an amazing pool, and the vampires treat us well. Plus, they’re always willing to feed us.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t spend my life trapped in this building with vampires,” Izzy said firmly. “I don’t want to. I won’t.”
“The wolves are worse , not better ,” Clementine argued.
“If he’s not going to treat me like shit, I’ll figure it out. I just can’t stay here forever,” Iz repeated.
“It’s her choice,” Avery said. “If she wants to leave, this is probably her best opportunity to do that. The werewolf alpha will be able to keep her safe, and he’ll buy the rest of us a little more security, too.”
“You guys deserve not to live in fear of Curtis anymore. We all do,” Izzy said, rising to her feet. “Let’s go tell Hale.”
Zora put her hands out. “You should at least think this through a little longer.”
“You know that’s not really my style.” Izzy flashed her a small grin.
Zora sighed, shaking her head. “You’re insane.”
“Maybe a little.”
Worried about the turn of events, I followed Izzy out of Clem’s room. She slipped her hands into the pockets of her ripped, baggy jeans as the door shut behind us.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked her.
“Do you regret mating with Hale?”
The question made me blink.
“If you could go back in time and refuse, would you do it?” she added.
“No,” I admitted. “But all of us would’ve been at Curtis’s mercy if I turned him down.”
“And all of us will be trapped here if I don’t mate with Porter,” Izzy said. “I don’t think I could regret choosing freedom.”
“What if he’s worse than you think?” I asked. “What if you’re not attracted to him? Or his past is more haunting than you expect? Or?—”
“I can handle whatever I need to,” she said firmly. “A little darkness is a small price to pay to save myself from a life of fear. Seeing Curtis dead will make it worth it.”
“It’s your decision. But I’m kind of with Zora about thinking it through a little more.”
“I’ll have time to back out if I want to after seeing what he looks like.”
She didn’t say it, but I knew she wouldn’t back out. When Izzy made her mind up about something, she didn’t change it.
“At least I won’t be the only woman at the kings’ meetings anymore,” I said.
She smiled. “They’ll regret forcing us to be their mates when we steal their thrones.”
I laughed.
Something told me Damian would sit me on his throne himself if I asked him to.