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Twenty-Seven

ALEC

Feelings I never once imagined to exist now own me. Instincts I’d rather tear from my motherfucking throat than return to my bedroom and see her there. Making her my Bride doesn’t mean we have to like one another; eternity living together while being apart sounds fine to me.

Except for the fact she’s my new source of life. My reasoning. Everything preventing me from dropping her in the dungeon where she’ll be safest from anything that can harm her—and thus me—and throwing away the key, forgetting about her presence. That would be the most ideal situation.

No, ideal would be not being mated to her.

Fuck. Me.

I slam my palm into my office door, the wood cracking beneath the force. It snaps open, crashing against the adjacent wall. A physical manifestation of my anger but nothing near enough what I need.

“Nice night?”

Of course she’s fucking here. She’s always here.

“You.” I’m across the room instantly, lifting Freya up from where she’s perched on the edge of my desk, pinning her to the windows behind it by her throat. “This whole time, you knew what she’d be to me.”

“Yep.” In a quick flash, the witch is gone and my palm lands, now empty, against the glass. I whirl, finding Freya behind me before my feet are lifted off the floor and I’m pressed to the spot I had her seconds ago, held by the invisible force of magick. She ticks a brow up and lowers her hand, keeping me in place. “I’ll let you go as long as you don’t try to kill me.”

“I should kill you, you conniving bitch.”

“I think you mean witch.” She shrugs, uncaring about the threat I’ll more than happily deliver. “I had orders to not interfere.”

“Except that’s entirely what you’ve done.”

Another wave of her hand, and my feet thump to the ground. “No less than what I was instructed to. Besides, if I told you she was your Bride, would you have bitten her?”

“Fuck no.” I would have stayed far away. Maybe even sent her back home. Without tasting her, the monster inside would never have discovered its mate, and I’d return to going through my entire life never knowing wiser.

She clasps her hands in front of her. “Exactly why I couldn’t. So ask your questions, because I’m sure you have some.”

“Can it be broken?” The question immediately makes my insides churn, threatening to puke up her blood. The instinctual part of me would prefer to cut off its own head before losing its mate, but the rest of me…I need her gone.

Freya smirks and retakes her seat on top of my desk, propping her feet on my chair. She’s in some ridiculous pair of ripped jeans and flat-bottom shoes I believe are called Converse, if memory serves correctly from the numerous ads I’ve passed about them over the years. Her hair’s a bright green this time, and she fiddles with the ends as she responds.

“Maybe by death, but you know what’ll happen if she dies.”

I’ll perish too. And I’d never be able to be the one to kill her myself.

“Next question.”

“This is the Sinclairs’ doing, isn’t it? It’s the only way a witch could be my Bride.”

“Hm, not sure if I can say…” Freya’s haunting purple eyes flick to my ceiling where she stares for a long moment. “Turns out I can. No, the Sinclairs didn’t do this. Fate did, if you’d believe it. Assisted by something else I can’t say.”

I don’t. Not at all.

“Why?”

“Harlow’s one of the most powerful witches alive, even if she’s unaware of this, and you’re one of the vampire kings. Sounds like a kickass match made to me.”

It isn’t. Not at all.

“I can’t hurt her. That’s why you were never worried. You knew at some point this would all come out, and why you helped me retrieve her that night.”

Her tongue rubs across her teeth as she nods. “Good little vamp putting it all together.”

“It’s also why I can drink her blood, isn’t it? It has nothing to do with my age.” Her blood was made for me and only me. Cure or otherwise, the bond began linking us together from the very beginning, being the reason behind the strange sensations I got around her.

“Man, you’re smart. I see why you’re king.”

“And you’re a smartass. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

She looks up from fiddling with her nails. “Oh, I’m sorry, was answering all your pressing questions not helpful? I’ll go if you have no more.”

I have many more, and yet none of them come to my mind.

How do I break the bond without killing myself?

How do I live with her?

How do I keep her when she wants nothing to do with me?

How do I keep her when a part of me wants nothing to do with her?

She slides off the desk, approaching. “She’s a gift, Alec, so treat her as such. Be smart about this. Your sister is long dead; don’t kill your future by trying to save your past.”

“I’m not trying to save my past, as you put it. I understand Cora is long dead and won’t be returning.”

A sad smile graces her lips. “Thing is, yeah, you are. You’ll never appreciate Harlow as your mate if you don’t move on. Cora wouldn’t want you to throw away what could be between you two.”

“Harlow hates me,” I argue instead of responding to her spiel, her statement about my sister stoking a rage inside me. Cora would want revenge as much as I do.

Would she, though? Cora was a peacekeeper.

“For now. Anyhoo, I should be off. More vampires to torture and all that. More witches to help.”

“What do you do every day?”

“Oh, I’m here and there. Helping my kind when needed. The vampire comment was a joke, so don’t be getting jealous. You’re my only bloodsucking pal.” She pauses, her head ticking to the side, eyes glinting with mischief. “Although, how I hear it, you only suck the blood from one being. The very being who…” She trails off, turning towards the door.

“Who what?” I demand when she doesn’t finish.

She holds up three fingers “Wait. Three…” She lowers a finger. “Two.” Another finger. “One.”

At the end of her countdown, the ground beneath my feet vibrates enough I’d believe it was a hurricane if we were in the general path of one. Centuries of a firm foundation is rattled by a force so deadly, it staggers Freya, her hand catching on the doorframe.

She knew this was coming. “What the fuck was that?”

“That would be your Bride getting her magick back.”