The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

She staggered, dizzy rom the tracing. Her vision was blurry and she held on to her captor’s arm for a few moments longer, before she could finally see well, then she let him go.

She pointedly ignored his gaze because she knew that if she looked at him, she would probably see eyes full of anger.

When she looked around, she saw that they were in the middle of a forest. Right I the middle of a forest. Was that his intention or had they somehow landed here by mistake?

“What is this place?” She asked when she finally turned to him. “What are we doing here?”

He didn’t answer her, as she had expected. He merely looked at her then looked away, sweeping his eyes across the thick masses of trees as if he was searching for something.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

The path where they were standing was a thin one, as if it had been cleared specifically for just one person to pass through. And he’d traced here, which meant that he had been here before. For what reason? She didn’t know, and she was not sure that she was interested in knowing. She just needed him to get her the hell out of here.

There were so many creatures in the forest that could kill her. She was not an immortal yet and she definitely was not going to expose herself to such kinds of risk.

Not that he would care.

“Answer me, please.” She tried again, but as expected, he ignored her. Well, since he was going to pretend like he couldn’t hear her, she might as well do her own perusal of the forest.

As her eyes swept over the green of the leaves-so very much like his eyes-and a myriad of trees she had never once seen in her life, her mind wandered back to the castle. To the scene she had witnessed through her window.

She’d been sitting on her newly acquires bed, staring at nothing when suddenly, she’d heard an explosion. At first, she didn’t move. Too scared and imagining the worst when she’d heard another one. The second one left after-effects, shaking the ground and even causing her bed to move an inch.

With her heart in her mouth, she’d spied through her window, thinking that an enemy of the vampires had attacked, only for her to see both men and women with magical fires building in their hands and watching with disbelief as they hurled them at the castle walls, destroying and bringing them down.

She hadn’t believed it, until she’d seen one of the men that successfully came into the castle and recognised him as one of her father’s friends. That was when she’d known that her realm had launched an attack on the vampires. Again.

She couldn’t explain how she’d felt. She’d been equal parts excited and terrified. Excited that she would go back to her mother and all would be right with the world, and terrified that she would go back. To the suffering in silence-literally-, darkness, blackmail and the belittling.

It might make her a monster, but she couldn’t help but admit to herself that she was glad her captor had shown up before her father could make it into the room and take her with him. She was simply picking the lesser of two evils.

Although now that she stood in this forest, she wasn’t sure anymore who the lesser of two evils was.

Bran had shown up, riddled with blood and not a single injury or cut on his body. He’d been big and forbidding and a lot terrifying. He’d been all those things and holding two swords in his hands, he’d looked the very definition of a warlock. The vampire warlock.

His expression had screamed danger, and still, she’d found herself getting turned on. Her panties still had a damp spot on them to prove it.

Her eyes fell on him, saw how tense his shoulders were and how pissed off her look. Of course, he was pissed off. His castle had just been attacked-and was probably still under attack this very moment. An attack on a castle was a direct insult to a king, because it was supposed to be the safest and most guarded place in the whole kingdom.

On top of all of that, he’d run from the fight. Not because he was too weak or was scared, but because he’d wanted to keep her from her father. However, it wouldn’t matter to the people. They would probably assume that their king was a weak one and had run from the fight.

On second thought, his people knew him better than to think him weak. He was the very opposite of the word and everyone who knew him, knew that.

“I’m sorry.” She found herself saying. “About everything.”

He looked at her then, his eyes blazing with barely controlled fury. “You’re sorry?”

Her breath hitched. “Yes.”

“Sorry for what exactly?” He asked casually, taking a step towards her.

Her heart jumped in her throat. She looked behind her to see if there was anywhere to go, but all she could see behind her were leaves and trees. Swallowing, she forced her mouth to work. “F-for my father…” He took another step towards her, then another and another. She hurried to continue. “I’m sorry for w-what h-he-”

“Hundreds of my men died today.” His words cut through the air like a whip. Sharp and angry and she almost jumped into the air. “Men with children, families. Do you know that?”

She took a step backwards when he continued to come towards her. She attempted to take another one, but that one took her right into the leaves, so she had to stop. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage as if it wanted to burst out of her chest and land at his boot-clad feet.

“I-I-I know. I’m so sorry.” She tried to tamp down her fear, but there was no way the fear was going anywhere when he was looking at her like that. Like he wanted to rip her limbs apart, piece by piece, and relish every single moment of her torture.

Her blood pressure was at an all-time high and she watched with trepidation as her captor closed the remaining distance between them, until only a silver of space remained. Her breasts pushed against his chest with every bated breath she took. The danger in the air surrounding them, coupled with the heat from the nearness of his big body, had heat stirring low in her belly. Her nipples tightened involuntarily and she swayed on her feet, his body, pulling hers towards his as though they were magnets pulled towards each other.

And just like magnets, whether they liked it or not, they had no choice but to move towards each other.

“Hundreds of my men are dead,” He lowered his head until his was painfully close to hers. “Possibly hundreds more are dying.” He was whispering, his words ghosting across her skin and she was positive that if she tried hard enough, she could feel them and imagine that it was his lips on her skin. “And you tell me you’re sorry?”

She gasped when he lifted his hand to her face and she half expected him to wrap his hand around her neck and kill her right there. Which was why she was completely surprised when he touched her face with the back of his palm and dragged his knuckles softly down her cheek, almost lovingly. Like a caress.

A gentle act, so at odds with the aggressive man she’d come to know.

“What do you suggest I do with your apology, princess?”

Everytime he’d called her princess, it had always sounded mocking and that was exactly why she despised it. Except that now…

The name didn’t sound so mocking now. In fact, it sounded a lot like an endearment that if Maria didn’t know better, she would think he actually meant it.

“Accept it?” It was an absolute miracle that she found her voice.

The expression on his face transformed from a blank mask into a cold, terrifying smile that sent ice skittering down her spine and putting a damper on her aroused body so fast, it almost made her head spin.

“Me, accepting your apology should be the least of your worries right now.” He swiped a hand at our surrounding. “Take a look around, princess, we’re in the middle of a fucking forest filled with all sorts of creatures. Creatures you only hear about in stories, ones you’ve never even seen in your nightmares.”

She swallowed, her eyes darting to the side.

“Your priority should be thinking about how you can survive long enough until we get out of here because, guess what?” He paused, his smile turning into an evil grin. “The next town is at least three days away.”

Then he stepped back, taking his body heat with him. She gulped in much needed air the moment he was finally out of her personal space. Gods, when he was close to her like that, she forgot everything else but him existed.

“Think you can survive in here that long, princess?” He laughed.

His mocking laugh annoyed her far more than she would like to admit. The condescending bastard, turning her on because he knew just what he did to her body, then stepping back when she felt like she would die if he didn’t kiss her that very moment.

Her blood boiled as she lifted her head, “Think you can survive that long, vampire?”

The shocked look on his face probably shouldn’t have made her feel as victorious as she felt, but it did.