The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

Bran caught Elizabeth around the waist and Maria’s eyes zoned in on that point of contact, wanting to see if the touch was romantic at all, but he simply extricated her from his body and placed her on the ground next to him.

Immediately he dropped her, his eyes shot to Maria’s and she was sure she saw guilt in them, although she wasn’t standing close enough to him to be able to tell properly.

Her insides felt hot and alien, like her body didn’t belong to her anymore. Knowing that the jealously she couldn’t hide even if she tried to was showing on her face, she wove on a glamour of utter calmness. When both Bran and his ex saw her, they would think she had no reaction to them touching.

Her powers came in handy sometimes.

“What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked him, obviously unhappy that Bran was putting her at arms length.

Maria didn’t know whether he had done that simply because she was there and it pissed her off. She hated this, hated not knowing what was going on his head. She hated feeling so insecure and so bloody jealous.

“I’m just coming back from a run,” he told her, his eyes briefly flicking to her before they came back to rest on Maria.

She didn’t know why he kept looking at her like that without coming to her. She would go to him and stake her claim-Maria wasn’t shy and this woman brought out a whole new cavewoman part of her that she didn’t know existed-but she needed him to give her a signal, eye-twitch, anything to show that he actually wanted to be claimed. That Maria was who he wanted, not Elizabeth.

But he just continued to stand there like a fucking ass and he was really beginning to piss her the fuck off.

“Are you stressed?” The imposter asked, gingerly lifting a hand to place on Bran’s cheek and using it to turn his head to the side. “You only run when you’re stressed.”

Oh, was that so?

Maria didn’t know that. In fact, she didn’t even know that Bran went for runs. She remembered that day when he’d come into their room, wearing nothing but pants and a t-shirt slung over his neck, sweaty as all fucks, but she hadn’t had the chance to ask because he’d distracted her pretty quickly with his mouth.

Just how much more about Bran did this woman know that Maria didn’t?

The thought had Maria’s face-her real one-turning sour and she was do thankful that she had her glamour on, else, Elizabeth would be rejoicing over Maria’s bitterness.

Bran leaned back from Elizabeth’s touch and Maria felt a swell of hope at the action. Ouch. That had to have stung, being rejected so openely and in front of another woman for that matter.

Not just another woman-his current lover.

“I’m fine,” Bran grated and put much appreciated space between them. Again, his eyes left Elizabeth’s dissapointed face and came to rest on Maria’s.

Why in the worlds was he staring at her like that? Was he waiting for some sort of permission from his ex-lover before he would come to her?

Or did he not want to come to her at all?

She would leave, but she wanted to see where this would go. Whether Bran would keep on staring at her like they didn’t know each other or whether he would close the distance between them and prove to this woman that whatever the both of them used to have, was gone. In the past. Forever.

Elizabeth, as if just now remembering that Maria was still there-or maybe it was a deliberate act-turned around slowly and her mouth dropped to form a perfect ‘O’. “Oh goodness,” she placed her hand on her chest dramatically. “I almost forgot you were there for a moment.”

One of Maria’s brows lifted and she deliberately didn’t cover that with her glamour. “I’m sure you did.”

Maria could have sworn she saw amusement flicker across Bran’s face, but she couldn’t be sure. Finally, fucking finally, he took one step in her direction and Maria’s heart gave a happy jump in her chest that he was finally coming to her when the goddamn bitch placed her hand on Bran’s chest to halt his movement, successfully distracting him.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“I expected you last night,” the fucking seductress breathed up at him, fluttering her eyelashes and moisturising her lips.

For fucks sake. “You did?” Bran’s obvious confusion should not have made Maria feel as victorious as she did in that moment-as though she had conquered a great battle-but it did.

And also, she was curious. Why would Elizabeth have expected him last night? Did it mean that Bran still hadn’t told her that whatever he had with her was now in the past?

With the way she still acted around him, all touchy and whatnot, it was beginning to become obvious that Bran had not made it clear enough.

Elizabeth pouted prettily and Maria hated to admit it but the woman really was terribly beautiful. “You said you would come to me yesterday. Did you forget?” She threw a pointed glance at Maria-one that Maria responded to with a blank look. “If you did, then maybe you really are as stressed as you look.”

Bran shook his head as realization dawned on him. “Oh… Yeah, I… I said so.” He looked to Maria quickly, his eyes clouding with guilt and shame.

Pain and betrayal shoved their parasitic roots into Maria’s chest and spread out, extending to her hands and legs until they hurt so bad, they could barely hold her up anymore.

So yesterday when he’d come back to their room smelling like his ex, he’d promised her that he was going to go back to her. All that time that he’d spent kissing her and making her feel like she was as important to him as air, he’d known inside him that he would be meeting his ex that same day.

How could he do that to her?

How could he write off what he had with Elizabeth when they were alone, then act differently when she was with them?

And from the tone of Elizabeth’s words, she was definitely referring to something sexual happening between them. What if Bran had implied that to her?

Oh gods.

A sharp pain lanced through her chest as though someone had plunged a sword into her, then twisted it to make sure that they left behind damage. Irreparable damage.

She couldn’t do this. Her glamour could fail her any moment with the kind of pain she was feeling. She had to leave here. She had to get away from them as fast as possible.