Chapter 2
Shane
The shifter compound was sizable, but the castle, which Connor had turned into the pack home, wasn’t far from the beach, and I knew it would be unlocked.
The Count had ordered me to stay at the party until he was ready to leave, but the noise, the music, even the lights were too overwhelming, so he could fuck off.
Especially if he was just going to turn his back on me like I wasn’t worth a moment of his fucking time.
I just needed to make it back to my guest room, and then I could collapse into bed.
Yet, as I staggered forward, hunger consumed me, along with the squeezing agony of my guts.
My heart raced, hammering against my ribs so hard it hurt.
Something was wrong. Really wrong. But I had no idea what.
Or I didn’t want to acknowledge what it was.
I couldn’t ask Connor or the others to help because it sure as hell wasn’t anything to do with my shifter side, which meant I was alone in this.
I should have died when those vamps feasted on me.
Hell, part of me wished I had. But I hadn’t.
I vaguely remembered someone forcing my jaw open and blood running onto my tongue and down my throat until I had no choice but to swallow or choke on it.
I’d swallowed, and the strength that had flowed into me had been like a tsunami, a hit of the strongest power I’d ever felt.
I grunted as another wave of pain knocked me to my knees. “Shit, come on, Shane, get your arse up.”
My fingers dug into the sandy earth, the layer I disturbed cool against my burning skin.
Gritting my teeth, I looked up. I didn’t need help.
I could get back to the castle alone. For once, I wished I were going back to my room in Balthazar’s ancient as fuck home.
At least I could hide there. Connor’s compound was not somewhere I wanted to succumb to whatever vampire shite was happening to me and have a pack of alpha shifters witness it.
Pushing up from the ground, I made my feet move one after the other until I’d staggered over the first sand dune.
It was a short victory. My knees buckled again, and I tumbled down the other side, sand getting into my eyes and mouth.
I ended up sprawled on my belly, coughing and choking on the fine grains and dirt.
Rolling onto my back, I lay still, letting the balmy summer air caress my sweat-drenched skin.
I was burning up, heat leaching from my pores.
A moan escaped along with a heavy breath and a cough as I tried to clear the debris from my mouth and throat.
Somehow, I managed to get back on my feet.
Desperate to cool down, I yanked off my shirt and dropped it to the ground.
Shit, I was thirsty! So godsdamned thirsty.
My throat was parched, my lips dry and sticking together.
My vision blurred, sending the shadows of the dunes and grass dancing in strange, elongated patterns.
Fear wasn’t an emotion I allowed myself, not after everything that had happened to me, but this?
Knowing I was becoming a monster that could lose its mind and kill indiscriminately?
Yeah, that scared me. So did the knowledge that I shouldn’t be so thirsty.
I’d only just had a drink, several in fact.
In the distance was a slight hue of light.
The castle wall lights. I fixed them in my vision and stumbled towards the shadow that loomed behind that warm yellow glow.
I could make it. And then what? Something was happening to my body that I didn’t understand and had no idea how to handle.
There was someone who’d know, but I sure as hell wasn’t seeking him out.
Not that I was running from him; I just didn’t need him.
Except, a little voice in my head said, you do.
No, I’d manage. I’d fight my way through this alone, just as I always did.
The thought of asking my captor for help made my top lip curl. I winced. My canines ached…badly.
“Shit,” I muttered, poking at them with my tongue.
It was probably my imagination, but they seemed longer and sharper even though I wasn’t asking my wolf to push through.
Dread curled around my heart at the same time as the sound of a strong heartbeat hit me.
That steady thud exploded in my ears, and I was lost. Hunger and thirst drove me to get to the owner of that sweet sound.
It meant life. If I didn’t reach it, I’d die.
I knew it as surely as I knew my own name.
Hissing, I pushed my wolf to pour strength into my body.
He grumbled, weak himself and having no strength to give me to shift.
I felt a twinge of guilt as I took all he had left to offer.
Pushing that borrowed strength into my legs, I ran.
The wind rushed by my face as the sand dunes and then the gardens blurred.
In front of me was a tall, heavily muscled shadow.
I inhaled then growled. Rawson. My guts squeezed, and every instinct I had pushed me towards the sound of his heartbeat.
My wolf howled, his distress registering, but I refused to listen or let that sound pass my lips in warning to Rawson’s bear.
I was hunting them, and that meant no noise.
Rawson was no longer my friend; he was my means of survival.
I needed his blood. I wanted it. He would taste divine.
I don't know how I knew that. But I did.
There was no hesitation as I sprinted forward, only to collide with a solid wall of muscle.
I was grabbed, spun and slammed up against the wall of the castle before I could process what had happened.
Breath exploded from my lungs at the same time as reality hit me like a punch to the head.
My brain cleared, and it sank in; I’d almost attacked the Alpha of my former pack.
A male who was respected and loved like a brother by my king. What the hell was I thinking?
But that question was moot. Deep down, I knew.
I was a vampire...the same kind of cowardly monster that had hidden in the shadows, kidnapped me, and then blood raped me.
I was becoming one. My heart sank, and for the first time in my life, I felt genuine fear.
I’d stupidly hoped that when I recovered my strength, I’d still be me, a shifter and an alpha.
One who could go home and retake his position as Alpha to the Canadian pack.
I huffed a bitter laugh, my head leaning back against the wall as I shook it.
“Shane. Open your eyes.”
The Count’s voice was demanding yet utterly calm, no sign of the amount of exertion it would have taken to overtake me and stop me from committing a crime that I would never have come back from.
I kept them shut, done with the pain in my body, done with my situation, but most of all, I was done with this asshole up in my face all the time.
“Fuck you, Count.”
A split second passed, and I found myself dangling a foot above the ground with elegant, steel-strong fingers fixed around my throat, squeezing tightly.
“Tsk, tsk, Shane. You should know better than to challenge me.” The Count’s eyes glowed an angry red, but his face was utterly calm.
“No one speaks to me like that. But I suppose you are new, a fledgling who has learnt no control, and has little awareness of the rules of my kind.” He studied me for a moment.
“Or perhaps you do, and you are asking to die?”
It was true. I knew goading him was suicidal, but I didn’t care. Between the agony in my guts, my raging thirst, and the fact I’d nearly attacked a friend, I’d lost my shit.
I was a fucking vampire!
My lungs burned, and I was gasping for air like a landed fish, but that vice-like grip was unrelenting. If I could have laughed, I would have. It didn’t matter if I wanted to live or not; he was going to kill me. Sparks danced behind my closed eyelids, my strength fading fast.
“Do you wish to breathe, to live, fledgling?”
Now that I couldn’t breathe, I suddenly realised how much I wanted to.
I clawed at his hand and nodded, my wolf too weak to help me.
He snarled, pushing feebly against the Count’s power.
My wolf’s panic only heightened my own, and my heart thudded against my chest wall, my head lolling in the Count’s grip.
Balthazar jerked my body, stopping my descent into unconsciousness. “No, you don’t get to take the easy way out of this. You will survive, Shane, but on my terms.”
His words washed through me, the deep resonance of his voice rumbling into my bones. Even as it registered he’d used my name, my strength ebbed, and I couldn’t fight any more. I was weak, and so damned hungry, I couldn’t function…
The Count shook me hard. “Fledgling! Look at your master. I saved your life, which means you’re mine. And right now, I am the only way you will survive.”
I didn’t want to look at him. If I did, I knew I was fucked.
I’d never submitted to anyone in my life.
Not even in that evil fucking place of a prison, where I’d killed my own friends to survive.
I’d never had to rely on anyone, and I’d had enough of relying on this coldhearted bastard.
I was an alpha, not a fucking weakling who gave in to someone willing to throw his power in my face.
I’d fought my way out of every situation that life had hurled at me, but something was happening to my body, to my wolf, and I had no idea how to handle it.
This ancient fucker did. I tried to suck air into my lungs, my body jerking when I couldn’t.
Still, I obstinately refused to look at my captor, unwilling to give in.