Page 12 of His Retribution

A never ending stream of nourishment, love, intimacy, and completion.

Never ending until someone decides to end it, because until a vampire mates completely with his fated one, they are at risk still.

Vulnerable.

Breakable.

A target.

They are fragile until mated and anything can happen.

Something I am all too familiar with.

I push up from the chair on a growl. "I will hunt tonight. At least three bucks, I swear it to The Maker herself."

Andrej scowls harder. "Bullshit."

He knows swearing to The Maker means jack shit to me. And he also knows I will only hunt enough warm blooded mammals to keep the bloodlust away, to keep my living corpse functioning a few more days until I have to do it again.

"Come with me if you like. I'm sure your dragon wouldn't mind a little game of cat and mouse. Bring home that mate and growing babe of yours some protein of the leanest variety."

Andrej almost smiles as he nods.

Good.

Now he'll leave me alone, quit riding me about feeding, and hopefully about eating actual food.

I don't need to do that but I used to enjoy human food; enjoyed the flavors and combinations, the way my body pulled nourishment from that as well. It's how I'm damn near as big as Kai despite my genetic makeup that generally calls for long and lean, almost terrestrial bodies.

Nosferatu isn't that far off from what my kind typically looks like.

Although I am an oddity as well, so who knows how I'm actually supposed to look.

My gaze drifts to the door as I hear voices, voices that only my ears can pick up thanks to my senses that are even more finely tuned than a shifter’s.

"We have to tell him," Milos whispers in his native tongue. "He has the right to know."

"I will speak with Andrej first," Kai fires back. "If he thinks we should wait then we will."

Milos growls. "It is only a matter of time before he finds out and what then? How do you propose we handle him once he makes that discovery on his own, my king?"

Ah, sibling rivalry.

Nice to know some things never change.

Their voices grow louder and Andrej looks to the door. Clearly Milos and Kai are about to join us, which means it's almost time for me to disappear back to my cabin until my hunt later. I can only take so much war strategy at a time, my plans for revenge harbor too much space in my head.

"We speak with Andrej first, Henrich as well if needed. If word gets out it may be enough for our dear friend to—" Kai walks into the war room just as I cross my arms against my chest.

"To what, my king? Slip into complete insanity? Finally tip over the edge that I dance around with each passing day?" Obviously they were talking about me, but frankly, I don't give a shit.

I have one purpose in life; technically two, I guess.

Tear out Nero's throat then use his neck to piss in, and free my beautiful blue light so she can come back to me.

Simple.

Nothing else matters but that.