Mine
Navigating the reception crowds felt like pushing against an unrelenting tide. There was no room made, no allowances, no warm welcome as there had been within the Southern Hive. Because here, I was human. I was less-than. And I shouldn’t expect any special treatment, despite belonging to Rhazien.
The Northern Hive ballroom was expansive and dark. Between torches, members of the vampire court perched within the natural rock formations, overseeing the debauchery we navigated below. I tried not to linger on any singular part of the scene around me.
Members of the court were openly feasting in the ballroom alcoves. Writhing bodies fornicated against walls and bent over tables. My stomach pitched as I slid my gaze around the room. The sad, unseeing eyes of human slaves stared blankly into oblivion.
Dommik led me past an enormous stone fountain, spilling blood from its tiers, towards his regent, who was in the midst of a bout of eruptive laughter when we reached his side.
“Ah, Rhazien! You were right. They didn’t run away together.
” Rhazien turned as Eryx announced our arrival.
Torch light burned in Rhazien’s green eyes as they quickly assessed us.
His focus flicked across my body. My hair, lips, chest, and hands before relaxing.
My brows pinched slightly as I realized he was scanning me for traces.
I was trying to parse what Eryx meant when he murmured into a golden goblet, “I guess history doesn’t always repeat itself.”
I looked at Dommik who tucked his balled fists behind his back as he bowed slightly and said, “Everyone is capable of change, Your Majesty.”
“Ha!” Eryx laughed, continuing his antagonistic comments. They washed out in my ears as Rhazien claimed my attention.
“My jewel,” Rhazien growled as he reached for me, pulling me into a forceful, public kiss. The already uncomfortable display of affection was only made more so from the sapidity of his mouth. Metallic and hot. Nausea bubbled in my throat as I realized I was tasting someone’s freshly consumed blood.
I tried not to react as we parted. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a scene or offend anyone from this Hive.
“Majesties.” I attempted to curtsy from beneath Rhazien’s restrictive wing and lowered my eyes to hide the creeping betrayal I didn’t feel entitled to. “I trust your meeting went well.”
“So well, my lady.” Eryx sighed, giving Rhazien a wink. “We bit into some really meaty topics.”
Needing to contain my disdain, I pressed my lips into a tight smile. I couldn’t expect him to not participate in diplomatic negotiations. I couldn’t expect him to not feed. But I hadn’t expected this.
A heavy disappointment rooted itself in my gut at my foolishness. Of course he drank blood; he needed it to survive. He’d just never been so blatant or belligerent about it. I ran my eyes over him and I felt like I was seeing him for the first time.
“You look stunning as always.” His breath was hot against my neck. Everything about him, from his posture to the way his hands roamed my bare skin, reminded me more of a man untethered in a brothel than a regent of a kingdom.
“Yes, Lady Reyva. Good enough to…eat,” Eryx concurred.
A poorly timed scream pulled my attention from the unnerving comment.
A young man dressed in tattered cloth was being fed on ten feet away.
Blood poured from his neck, wrist, and inner thigh, where each vampire took their fill.
His glassed eyes were lifted to the ceiling and his mouth, frozen in the shape of his scream, was agape.
“Thank you,” I muttered the delayed response, my discomfort barely concealed beneath the surface of my revealing, backless gown and sweating palms.
“Dommik, it’s good to have you home. You know you’re welcome to return whenever you’re done playing house or whatever it is you do in the south.” Trails of blood stained the long pale neck of the Northern Hive Regent.
“I feel fulfilled in my current post, thank you,” the commander responded, but his focus was elsewhere. He was watching Rhazien, the way he was gripping me—just a little too tight, and too close—and the way I lost balance under the weight of him.
“She smells,” Eryx leaned down and inhaled deeply, clenching his jaw while he savored my aroma, “divine, Rhazien. You’re absolutely sure we cannot sample her?”
I was no better than a prize cow.
Rhazien’s fury erupted, standing chest to chest with Eryx, hissing with fangs in full view. His powerful movement sent me flying backward, but instead of meeting the ground or the body of a nearby stranger, Dommik wrapped me into his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered and I knew he did. In my marrow, I knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.
Get me out of here, I pleaded with my eyes, but he had returned to assessing the exchange between the regents. Dommik guided me behind him, creating a barrier between me and the vampiric exhibition of dominance.
Their behavior was the primal, carnal, predatory nature I’d expected when I’d chosen the Hive instead of the axe. Had I been completely na?ve to the most authentic nature of the vampires I’d lived amongst? Or had they made more accommodations for me than I’d realized?
A heavy fog of doubt and insecurity layered my insides.
Maybe I knew less than I thought.
Or worse.
Maybe I knew nothing at all.
“Message received,” Eryx hissed back through his own fang-filled smile.
“But I am ready for a snack.” He yanked his arm across his chest, revealing a chain clutched in his fist. The metal leash pulled a lethargic, naked woman into view.
Her thin body was covered in dozens of bite marks.
All in various states of healing, all with thin trails of dried blood spreading from the small, circular wounds.
My heart sank. Her cloudy eyes strained to look up at me and went wide as Eryx pushed her matted auburn hair away from her neck before sinking into her.
I knew I couldn’t react. It wasn’t my place. So, I resisted the natural gasp that wanted to escape and instead, without hesitation, reached out for the first hand I could grab. Dommik’s.
The commander pulled me further behind his back, concealing our interlaced fingers between our bodies. A party guest moved past me and pressed my chest into his back. His muscles tensed at the connection.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“It’s fine.” In his own hushed tone, he instructed, “Stay close.”
“Rhazien, have a taste of this one,” Eryx encouraged from the other side of my vampire barrier. “She’s the younger sister of the one we drained earlier.”
Nausea burned in my throat. I needed to re-center myself. I inhaled through my nose, trying to ignore the dank scent of the cave and focus only on the familiar earthy tone of pine from Dommik.
I rested my forehead on his back and he squeezed my hand again as if to say, I’ll protect you.
The swirl of hunger and music and mead and lust flittered around us. Not two days before was Rhazien my calm in the chaos. Now, he was a source of distress.
I was frozen. Unable to run, unable to move. A wave of pain mounted in my lower back.
Not now.
A trickle stopped my heart.
Dawn above, not now.
A nearby vampire sniffed the air and my blood ran cold. Dommik whirled to meet my gaze, fangs jutting into view.
Seriousness coated his features. “Are you…?”
Another vampire twisted their head, searching for the source of fresh blood. Fear and urgency took over my senses as liquid seeped between my legs.
What was the fucking safe word?
“Pray,” I whispered—that wasn’t it. “Prayer. I need to say a prayer.”
Rhazien lifted his head, fresh from his feed. His gaze darted from my position behind Dommik’s broad shoulders and his commander’s ready-to-fight stance.
“Majesties, Lady Reyva is unwell and needs to retire,” Dommik announced to the frenzied regents.
“Humans,” Eryx scoffed, rolling his eyes. “They’re simply not worth the fuss. Honestly, Rhazien, I don’t see why you bother.”
Yes. Yes, let me leave, I thought.
“No. She must stay.” Rhazien reached for me, grabbing my unoccupied hand so quickly, I hadn’t yet let go of Dommik’s. Ligaments in my arm screamed at the stretch from the aggressive motion.
My center was hollow and I hoped Rhazien hadn’t seen. His lip curled, eyes glinting with undiluted fury as Rhazien’s gaze bounced between us.
He hadn’t been the only one to notice our interlaced fingers.
“You’re not as boring as I thought. You do share her, then!” Eryx erupted into laughter, looking to others as they joined in. “I guess old habits die hard or not at all, right, Dommik?”
From the edges of my vision, thirsty vampires crept closer.
I’m going to die tonight, I thought as I struggled for breath.
“She is mine,” Rhazien snapped, crushing my lungs as he squeezed me against him.
While I was grateful for his protection, disgust flared at his petulance.
“Mmmm.” Eryx sent his brows to his hairline in disbelief.
“Ma—jes—ty.” I coughed. Dark orbs fixated on me.
“Mine,” he growled at me through gritted teeth.
It was then I felt something both familiar and strange. Fear. But not a fear I’d experienced before, not for Rhazien. His eyes were so darkened, I could barely make out the green of his irises. His features were stretched and snarling as if accusing me.
This wasn’t the Rhazien I knew.
I lifted my hands to his cheeks, trying to remain calm and keep them from trembling. Every instinct told me to do whatever it took to de-escalate the situation. I rubbed my thumbs against the stubble of his cheeks. “Yes. Yes, my love. I’m yours.”
Love.
I didn’t know if I meant it, but the word settled him. He exhaled through his nose and touched his forehead to mine.
Come back to me, I thought, not taking my eyes off him.
“Mine.” His declaration was sealed with a fevered, metallic kiss.
“Yes.” There was barely enough room to make out the word through our crowded lips.
I was still cradling his face amongst the building mania around us.
A cold sweat broke out across my forehead as the pain of another cramp began to build.
The pressure from my contracting muscles released more blood into my undergarments.
Rhazien’s eyes burst open, a shimmer of familiar green amongst the dark, insatiable hunger. He was in there, somewhere. And he knew I needed to leave. That even in his arms, I wouldn’t be safe.
Through gritted, blood-stained fangs, he said, “You need to retire.”
I released his face, exhaled, and calmly agreed. “I think that would be best.”
“Goodnight.” His lips pressed into mine in a kiss that couldn’t end quickly enough. The fresh, acidic tang of blood on his tongue made me wish I’d chosen the axe. “My love.”
“Majesties.” I quickly curtsied to the regents.
Eryx had joined the search for the fresh blood, but Rhazien intervened, wrapping an arm around Eryx’s broad form and focusing him on a new string of human slaves being dragged into the room.
Without hesitation, Dommik escorted me in the opposite direction as the two regents erupted into laughter over something I’m sure would have made me feel sick.
“Don’t speak. Don’t make eye contact. Just walk.” The commander’s hand claimed the curve just above my waist and ushered me to the nearest exit.
Well dressed guests side-eyed me, some glanced over a second time. Most were admiring or glaring at my companion.
Safety was a mere few feet away when a familiar face blocked our path.
“Now, where are you two off to in such a hurry?” Valta’s fan sent loose tendrils of her light pink wig flying from her angular face.
“Valta, I was hoping to see you,” Dommik cooed, offering his hand and placing his lips atop her pale knuckles. She fanned herself harder at the acknowledgement.
“I was hoping the same—” her flirtatious gaze transformed into a belittling glare as it landed on me “—but that doesn’t answer my question.”
Razor sharp fear pierced me as a trickle of liquid traced my inner thigh.
She performed an uncharacteristic, violent sniff before her eyes went wide. “You’re—”
Valta couldn’t finish the sentence, Dommik’s lips were on hers before she could expose me.
I shifted my weight, uncomfortable at the length and depth and passion of his kiss.
I knew I shouldn’t but I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to be on the other end of that kiss. The mounting pain of a rolling cramp stole my attention from the guilt and jealousy that threatened to take residence in my chest.
She’d melted underneath him, and from his stance over her, he spoke into her mouth, “Now. I need to see Lady Reyva to her chambers.”
“But—” Dommik’s finger halted her protest.
“You’re going to keep this secret for me,” he purred in a way that made me want to send a stake through her heart.
Valta wrapped her lips around the finger, taking it wholly in her mouth and sucking once before releasing it and asking, “And what do I get in return for keeping your delicious little secret?”
He bent down to her ear, side-eyeing me as he whispered, “I’ll do that thing you like.”
“Tonight,” she breathed in insistence. “At least twice.”
“Tonight.” Dommik stood tall, dwarfing the small, horrible, beautiful, vile woman.
She offered her hand to him. “Deal.”
He bent to kiss her knuckles a second time in as many minutes. “Thank you. And, I’m looking forward to it.”
Valta giggled from behind her fan and couldn’t seem to stop as we continued our retreat from the ball.
“Whatever your trick is must be good,” I grumbled, wondering if the hand he’d placed on my back would grow back if I chopped it off.
“I can assure you, it is,” he whispered as we passed through the ballroom doors.
“Gross.” I pushed him away in the safety of the empty hall and lengthened my stride.
“I think what you meant to say was, ‘Thank you, Dommik for whoring yourself out so we could keep it a secret that my body is ACTIVELY bleeding.’”
I stopped mid-stride and he nearly crashed into me.
“Do not put that on me. I did not ask you to do that,” I spat at him.
“Oh, this is absolutely on you. But we aren’t going to fight about it here.”