Page 23 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

I sense no heartbeat, no breathing sounds. There’s not even a trace of her scent. It’s like her entire presence is erased from the world.

My heightened awareness fails to detect her in the castle compound either. There’s no way she got away so quickly.

“Rhianelle!” I scream without warning. “Where are you?”

Only the birds and buzzing bees answer my roar. Did she fall into a ditch and fucking die? But there’s not a hint of blood.

It makes no sense.

Have I lost my sanity? I know my brain didn’t just make her up. She was definitely there behind the trees.

I saw her.

“Rhianelle!” I try again.

The earlier excitement has turned into a gripping fear.

“Come back,” I mutter breathlessly.

A sense of doom comes crashing down on me, suffocating and heavy. I clench a fist over my chest to calm the damned thing beating there. “Nel, please come back. I need you.”

Something moves in the bushes. A flash of silver hair sprinting past me.

This leisure pace almost feels like a bait. Every once in a while, Rhianelle glances over her shoulder to make sure I don’t lose her trail.

‘Chase me.’

It’s almost as if she’s pulling me back from the despairing shadows, tugging me toward the light.

Once we reach the open field, she stops running.

The little fawn wants to fight? Or has she forfeited her life? She is just standing there, waiting for me like a prey that wants to be eaten.

Throwing my arms around her waist and my body over her, I tackle her to the ground.

Rhianelle tries to wriggle free from my grasp, but I’m too strong for her.

“Svenn,” she gasps as she struggles, her white camisole peeking beneath the dress. Why the fuck does she choose such an innocent color? It makes me angry for no reason.

I’ll devour her whole and leave no crumbs. This need for her is all-consuming. I run my nose over her collarbone to the hollow of her throat, inhaling deeply.

Then I bite.

She releases a small whimper, and just like that she is done for. No, I am done for.

Don’t do this to her.

I hear the beasts in me beg. It’s not them or my thirst that’s been keeping me on edge.

This is something else.

A strange primal instinct that wants me to own her, that wants her to submit.

The bond.

I fucking hate this. My entire body trembles with restraint as I try to shut the damn thing down. I pry my jaw open from her throat. We’re both panting, her chest rising and falling frantically below mine. My teeth leave a mark, but it doesn’t prickle her skin deep enough to draw blood.

The rush from the chase fades and I find myself staring at a pair of lilac eyes.