Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 65871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
This is perverse, but there is nothing I can do to stop it. I am helpless against his power. The sensation of being penetrated by those needle-sharp teeth is not pleasant. I hiss as I feel him do as he pleases with me, using me, draining me, not caring whether I want to give him what he is taking or not.
Fortunately for me, Dom is not truly hungry. He is simply doing this to prove a point, to make his power over me felt and known. He takes just a mouthful or two. I feel him swallow as he imbibes my essence.
“Drinking you is a delight, dear daughter,” he says. “And an absolute requirement. It is, after all, the only true way to know your mind. Your rebellion gives your blood quite the kick. I can taste my progeny in you. I miss him, you know.”
He relaxes his control on my mind just enough to allow me to respond to his comments. I am like a human puppet in his hands, occasionally given enough free will to do something he finds amusing.
“He was filth, and so are you. Let me go.”
My blood makes his lips red as they turn up in a smirk.
“You aren’t ready. More to the point, he is not ready. You both have lessons to learn in humility and obedience. I do not want the next generation of whelps to be as headstrong as you. No. You will both have to continue to suffer the absence of the other. I hear that is rather painful for a bonded wolf pair.”
But that is the point. He wants to hurt us. He wants to punish us. He wants to turn us into a slave class of paranormal beasts, serving him and his kind, and he wants us to be grateful for the opportunity.
CHAPTER 13
Alexei
Several days go by. Then a week passes. And another week. My mate is not to be found. I put out feelers and scouts throughout Russia and Europe, but there is no word. It is apparent now that the entire point of the attack was to take Anya. The vampire had designs on her and he got what he wanted.
I am trying not to imagine the worst, that she is either dead, or being in some way violated. It is not in my habit to be helpless. But vampires are not like normal men, or even like wolves. If she was in the custody of either of those types of being, I would have her already.
My temper has become uncontrollable. Where I walk, the pack cowers. I do my best to keep myself functional, but an alpha should never lose his mate, and I lost mine so very quickly.
This is the most personally painful and humiliating experience I’ve ever had, and it is turning me into a beast I no longer recognize. I turn often, traveling vast distances by paw to try to catch her scent. I do not catch so much as a hint of her on the breeze. She has not just been taken. It feels as though she has been entirely erased from the planet.
Before meeting Anya, I was aware that I had not yet found my mate, but my daily experiences felt satisfying regardless. I focused on the needs of my pack, and of the businesses I run. There were challenges and victories, friends and enemies. There was sunlight.
All of that is gone. I feel only the night, see only the shadows. All joy has drained from my existence. My every thought is devoted to Anya, to the short days we had with one another and to the future that has been snatched away from me.
I should care that the pack will be left without an heir, but I cannot be persuaded to care about anything. It is not within me to be concerned about anything, including myself.
Even in this deepest despair, there is a sliver of hope. No body has been found, and it is generally considered that my mate is still alive. Sometimes I imagine that I can feel her, connected to me by a long thread that will not snap as long as both of us draw breath.
I will search for her every day of my life, as long or as short as it might be.
My brother and Elena have convinced me to temporarily stop killing vampires. They say my point has been made, and that it is time to see what move the creatures make next. I smell the lust on the both of them when they are in a room together. They are distracted by their own mate bond. I do not begrudge them. If I am to pass away in the effort to reclaim Anya, the pack will be in safe hands with the pair of them.