CHAPTER 74
FRANKIE
∞
I can’t fucking breathe. Wren’s face goes pale, and his eyes widen as he stares at the woman beside me. Her long blonde hair settles on my shoulders. I claw at her hand, but her grip is vicious and tightens further around my throat.
“I figured I would see you eventually, pet. How have you been?”
Wren’s entire body is vibrating. His face contorts into anger and his fangs slip out as he takes a step towards us. Adrian moves around him towards us.
“Kneel!”
She roars.
Wren stumbles at the sound of her voice, and then his knees are slamming into the ground. His face contorts, pain clear on his features as his chest moves rapidly.
What the fuck was that?
Wren kneels for no one…well, except me. One word was all it took to make him submit. The woman laughs next to me, and the sound scrapes at my eardrums.
“Charlotte,”
he grits out. He gasps out a breath and his hands slam into the ground next.
Charlotte?
No. This is Wren’s sire. The one who turned him centuries ago against his will. The one who’s bloodline is slowly dying through the cities. What the fuck is she doing here? Why is she with Adrian? What the fuck is going on?
“Why are you here?”
Wren snarls.
“I’m here to take back what is rightfully mine!”
She screams, tossing me towards Adrian. He grips my arms behind my back and kicks at the back of my knees, dropping me to the ground.
“There’s no sense in fighting,”
he hisses at my ear. “You may be a vampire now, but you’re still young and I’m fucking stronger than you.”
Charlotte walks towards Wren and he shivers when she places her hand on his head. “It’s a shame you went ahead and turned another one. I can smell you all over her.”
“Charlotte, what are you fucking doing here?”
He grits out. He looks like he’s struggling just being near her, and I can’t figure out what’s happening.
She grips his jaw hard and forces his face up. “You will fucking respect your sire,”
she growls.
Wren looks like he’s choking on his own air. “Yes…my Queen,” he sobs.
“Much better,”
she sneers, ripping her hand away from him.
Does she have control over Wren’s actions because she sired him? Does Wren have that type of control over me? Anger pulses through me at the way she’s treating him, and I fight against Adrian’s hold on me.
“Wren!”
I scream. “Snap out of it!”
My face is on the floor and my ears are ringing. I feel completely disoriented and blink away the tears forming in my eyes. I struggle to lift my face up to see Charlotte looming over me, rage and disgust clear on her face. Her bright blue eyes, shining with fury. She fucking hit me.
“You shall not speak to him. He is no longer yours. No…he was never yours.”
She turns back to face Wren, and I feel Adrian’s knee settle into my back, pinning me to the ground. “As for you,”
she says as she grips Wren’s hair and rips his head back hard. “You have something I want.”
“And what’s that exactly?”
He says quietly.
“Power.”
The smile that spreads across her face has me recoiling. It’s completely sinister and filled with malice. “You should have never been made King. That seat was rightfully mine and Aiden knew that. That insolent fool doesn’t even care about the hierarchy.”
“I don’t understand,”
Wren says confused.
“Did you never wonder why he took such interest in you and why he picked you as the next King?”
“He…he said it was because I was a pureblood and I…I proved myself to be worthy of the title.”
She tilts her head back and laughs, shoving Wren back. “Well, that’s partially true. You’re not just a pureblood, you’re part of his line. Aiden was my sire. The rightful heir should have been me!”
Her anger radiates through the room, and I feel Adrian shudder behind me.
“Now I have to take my place by force. I hated the idea of having to kill everyone within the bloodline, but I couldn’t risk someone trying to usurp my throne.”
“Alex,”
Wren sobs.
“Yes. He was always meant to die. It just took longer than I intended.”
She turns her head to look at Adrian still on top of me and rolls her eyes. “He must have been quite good in bed to keep Adrian entertained enough to let him live as long as he did.”
Wren’s eyes move to Adrian, and I shudder at the look on his face. He’s going to kill him. He’s trapped within whatever trick Charlotte is using on him, but I can feel the anger boil around him, like a volcano ready to erupt.
“Why are you helping her,”
I mumble against the floor. “Wren’s been good to you. He’s given you everything you could possibly need to succeed.”
I feel him lean in closer to my ear. “I want more. I want true power, and I would never have gotten that with my loyalties to your precious Wren.”
Charlotte shifts herself towards something that’s on top of the kitchen counter and pulls a long glistening golden sword from a sheathe. Panic batters in my chest as she walks back towards Wren with it tightly gripped in her hand.
“Fight back!”
I scream. “Wren! You have to fight!”
Tears blur my vision as he settles his gaze on mine. The look of sadness on his face and the tears welling in his eyes as his chest moves rapidly from the panicked breaths he’s trying to settle, tears at my heart.
“I can’t,”
he sobs. Her sire control has him completely locked down and she’s going to make me watch as she kills him. She settles the blade against his neck, and he gives me a sad smile. “I love you, Francesca Denali.”