Chapter 2 Slave

Dahlia’s Pov

My worst enemy. The man I hated most was my soulmate.

A raw, broken sound escaped me. I shoved against his chest, scrambling backward across the bed. “No. No, no, no, NO!” This time, the effort to get away from him was physically painful. It felt like trying to rip my own arm off. The newly forged bond between us screamed in protest, not wanting me to go anywhere.

He caught me easily, pulling me into his lap, settling me so I was straddling him. The intimate position sent a jolt of confusing, unwanted heat through me.

“You feel it now,” he said, his voice thick with an emotion I couldn’t bear to name. His hands settled on my hips, holding me firmly in place. “Don’t you, my beloved? I have always known. From the first moment I saw you on the battlefield. I knew.”

“But you were human. You were blind to the strings of fate. And we were at war, You wouldn't understand. So I bore it alone.”

“It’s a trick,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “A vampire trick.”

“It is our truth,” he said, his thumb stroking my hipbone through the thin silk of my cloth. “Fate is not always kind, Dahlia. It is often brutal. But it is inevitable. And now you are whole. Now you can understand.”

I shook my head, even as the bond between us throbbed, pulling me toward him like a magnet. The conflict was tearing me in two. I tried to get up, to break the contact, but his hands tightened.

“You need more,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to my mouth. “A newly turned vampire's thirst is deep. The first feeding is not enough”

Before I could protest, he bit down on the inside of his own cheek. Then his hand was behind my neck, pulling me down, and his mouth was on mine, kissing me.

His blood flowed into my mouth. The dual assault of the intimate contact on his lap and his blood shattered my last defenses. A wave of lust crashed over me, hotter and more urgent than the hunger for blood had ever been. The bond between us turned into need.

I melted against him with a moan, my hands fisting in the fabric of his shirt. My hips, moving on their own, rocked against him.

He made a low, satisfied sound into the kiss, a deep groan that vibrated through my entire body. His hands slid from my hips to grab my ass, aligning me more firmly against the hard, unmistakable erection straining against his trousers. He met my frantic rhythm with his own slow, devastating roll of his hips that had me seeing stars.

My world narrowed to the taste of his blood, the feel of his hard body under mine, the intoxicating scent of his skin, and the relentless, building pressure coiling tight and deep in my core. I was lost, a puppet to this cursed bond. Dignity was a distant memory.

I was gasping into his mouth, my fangs nicking his lip, drawing more of his blood as the coil wound tighter, tighter, ready to..

BANG!

A loud crash echoed through the castle.

The spell shattered instantly as I quickly pulled away from him.

The sounds grew louder by the second. I could hear voices and angry shouting.

Cassian sighed, a sound of profound annoyance, and stood, straightening his clothes.

“Stay here,” he commanded, “I’ll find out what happened. Do not leave this room.”

I ignored him. Why should I follow his orders?

He strode through the corridors, and I followed close behind.

Within minutes, we reached a massive hall.

A crowd had gathered.

Vampires filled the room, their attention focused on the center of the commotion.

A vampire held a man by the throat, lifting him off the ground as though preparing to kill him.

I stared at the man in his hand and recognition slammed into me.

I knew him.

Without thinking, I pushed forward.

"Stop!"

My voice echoed through the hall. Every head turned toward me but I barely noticed.

My eyes were fixed on the man hanging from the vampire's grip.

The messy black hair, the familiar scar along his jaw, the stubborn glare despite the danger he was in. My best friend.

"Zayn."

He looked towards me.

For a second, disbelief flashed across his face.

"Dahlia?"

He sounded as shocked as I felt.

He was alive.

Somehow, he survived.

Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly gave out.

"Let him go," I demanded.

The vampire holding him merely sneered.

He was dressed in expensive clothing, every bit the arrogant noble.

"And who exactly are you to give me orders?" he asked.

His grip tightened around Zayn's throat.

"This human belongs to me. The ungrateful thing refused to let me feed from him and has done nothing but struggle since he arrived."

His red eyes narrowed.

"I was just about to put him out of his misery."

My hands clenched into fists.

"I said let him go."

The noble laughed.

Then he dropped Zayn.

He hit the floor hard, gasping for air.

The vampire began walking toward me, looking like he wanted to attack me instead.

Before he could get close, a cold voice cut through the hall.

"Do not take another step towards her.”

The noble froze.

Cassian stood a few feet away, his expression unreadable.

The noble glanced between us.

Then a look of disgust crossed his face.

"So it's true."

His voice dripped with contempt.

"The rumors are true."

Cassian's eyes narrowed.

"Theodore."

The warning in his voice was clear but the noble ignored it.

"You're truly obsessed with a human. You even accepted to be mated to her."

The hall erupted into murmurs.

Theodore shook his head.

"I don't understand it. Out of all the noble vampire women available to you, you chose a human filth. You of all people should know they're food and nothing more."

Rage burned through me. This abomination, this parasite, dared to speak of me, of humans, as filth?

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” I said, stepping forward, putting myself level with Cassian’s shoulder.

“And between us, you’re the walking corpse trying to play at high society. You parade around while your existence is sustained by stealing life from others. You're the definition of filthy, not me.”

A collective, sharp inhale went through the vampire crowd. Theodore’s face went from smug to livid in a heartbeat, his features twisting with inhuman fury. His fangs elongated, a snarl ripping from his throat as he lunged for me.

He never made it.

From the floor, a blur of movement shot upward. Zayn, with the last of his strength drove a stake he seemed to have hidden behind him directly through Theodore’s heart.