Prologue #2
It was so much more powerful than I’d imagined it would be.
She trembled in the vampire’s arms, her full breasts bouncing just the slightest bit as she tried to break his hold.
Her pale flesh was still slightly pink from the hot water of her shower and her gaze met mine, bright green emeralds glimmering with fear.
The vampire only needed to wrench the silver knife across her throat to end her.
Nothing more than a single flick of the wrist and her life would be over.
I wouldn’t allow that.
My hand dropped back down to my belt, gripping my gun next. I whirled my arm outward and aimed directly at his head. Without hesitation, I fired that gun, catching the man right in between the eyes with a bullet.
A normal bullet wouldn’t pierce a vampire’s skull, but this wasn’t any normal bullet. It was a new development in the weapons world, a sun fire bullet. At its core was a magnesium ribbon. Once it was exposed to oxygen, it would explode with enough light and power to simulate the sun.
A particular weakness of the bloodsucking monsters with pointy teeth.
The bullet penetrated the vampire straight between the eyes and a burst of violent light shattered his skull from within. The explosion was too bright to look at directly, so I chose to look into Ashleigh’s burning gaze instead.
In an instant, I saw fury, humiliation, and most intensely, her wounded pride that I was standing there in front of her, a lowly soldier staring at the alpha’s daughter completely naked.
I could see everything, from the pink peaks of her nipples to the trembling in her thighs.
She breathed in deeply and started, narrowing her eyes in my direction.
Had she caught my scent too?
The arms holding her captive loosened and the body teetered sideways.
She took a step forward, shivering with disgust as the vampire’s headless corpse collapsed to the floor with a sickening crunch.
His blood was spattered all over her face.
She used her palm to try to swipe it away, but it only ended up smearing across her blushing cheek.
Behind me, the rest of my soldiers made quick work of the remaining vampires. None of them had been particularly well equipped with weapons. Not even one of them had a gun or silver bullets. Just silver knives from the look of it.
I shifted back into my human form now that the threat had passed, taking a step toward Ashleigh with wild intent. The wind whipped around me, surrounding me in the deliciousness of her scent and a primal instinct deep inside me awakened.
I wanted to take her there and now.
“Stay back, soldier,” she spat. She knew my name; I was sure of it. She raised her chin haughtily, looking down at me with revulsion as if she was too good for me.
Her defiance only made me want to claim her even more. It also made me want to throw her down on her own bed and teach her a lesson at the end of my cock about who was in charge, only after I marked her pretty little ass with my belt.
I went to take another step toward her, and the door burst open, two dozen members of my pack filing in ahead of Amir. His aristocratic gaze flicked from me to her, taking in my wild state and her very naked one.
Ashleigh looked away from me, breaking the moment as she rushed to grab the towel at her feet. Hurriedly, she wrapped the massive towel around her beautiful body, and I was deeply aggravated at the sudden loss of it, that she hadn’t asked me for permission to cover herself first.
My palm twitched. How would she look when I put her over my knee?
It was as if there was a wild beast that had suddenly emerged from deep inside me.
It wanted to dominate her so completely that she had no choice but to admit that she was mine, that I was the only one who could leave her trembling and satisfied after I was through with her, that I was her destiny and her mate.
“Elijah,” Amir purred, and the powerful judgment of the alpha was upon me.
His stare searched mine, like he was daring me to take another step toward his daughter and for a long moment I considered defying him.
Her scent was still running strong through my veins, an intoxicating sensation that was too intensely potent to ignore.
With every single breath I took, it spiraled, lodging its place so deeply in my soul that I knew I’d never be the same again.
The entire room was tense for several long moments and when I eventually managed to pull my gaze away from Ashleigh, the savage beast inside me quieted only a little.
“Alpha,” I finally managed, but my voice rumbled with need so powerful that even Amir flinched.
Ashleigh gripped the towel tighter, hiding from me as she moved back behind her father. She still held her head impossibly high, looking down at me from her place of royalty at Amir’s side.
“You should be wary of the treaty tomorrow, Amir,” I said gruffly, but I didn’t look at him.
Not even once. My gaze was firmly locked upon the haughty glare that painted my mate’s face.
It was clear that she thought herself too highborn for a man like me, that her father would never approve of me, and that our pairing would be impossible.
Amir was in the process of arranging a highborn marriage for her. I didn’t know the details, but I knew that whatever man he chose for her wouldn’t be the one meant to have her because that man was me.
I took a step toward her, letting myself reach my full height. She was maybe five foot two or five foot three. I towered over her at six foot eight. She might be one hundred thirty-five pounds soaking wet, but she didn’t stand a chance at my three hundred fifty pounds of solid muscle.
As if she sensed the imposing inevitability of her claiming, she maneuvered herself completely behind the wall of her father and his closest guards.
She wouldn’t be able to hide from me. I’d take her eventually.
I took a deep breath, attempting to control my wolf. I drew up to my full height and Ashleigh took another step back until she was fully hidden by the much bigger form of Amir.
He pulled his shoulders back protectively. His gaze was judgmental and threatening. I should submit to him. He was my alpha, but I wanted to do nothing more than shove him aside and take what was mine.
“I’ll take note of your warning, soldier,” Amir replied idly. He looked around at the mess of dead vampires that littered his daughter’s room. “See to it that this is all disposed of by morning,” he continued pointedly.
I nodded once as if I understood my duty, but my gaze never left Ashleigh’s as she rushed out of the room in a nervous hurry.
Her fingers had gone white, she was clutching the towel so tightly.
Her hair was still dripping down her back.
She’d looked back once, wide-eyed and furious, but I couldn’t be certain if it was directed at me or at herself because of her body’s own betrayal.
She shouldn’t respond to me. I was beneath her. She’d looked down on me her whole life from the pretty pedestal that was the position of the alpha’s daughter.
I could read it all over her face.
None of that changed the fact that I could literally smell the sharpness of her arousal dripping between her thighs as she fled. She could deny it all she wanted to, but her body knew her place.
In time, I would teach her what that meant.