LUCAS
Was there anything more frustrating than the itch of wanting to be anywhere other than where you were? I didn’t think so. I strolled in the garden with my sisters on either side of me, both walking along and chattering about Sorcha’s pet, Thomas, a handsome Frenchman completely in her thrall. They weren’t worried about me, but the two of them seemed to think if I were with them, I’d stay out of trouble. They were wrong.
“Children, I’ve brought home presents,” Father called, his voice teasing and filled with excitement. We turned in the direction of his voice, and my stomach dropped when I saw what his presents were. Humans, all of them stripped to their undergarments. All of them under his influence. All of them bleeding from a single wound to their throats.
“Keep who you catch. The rest will be given to Callum.” My sisters tensed, and Cashel’s eyes darkened as he caught the scent of their blood.
“A hunt.” Callie’s whispered words made my skin crawl.
“Better they are with us than Callum, brother.” Cashel had his hand on my shoulder, calling my attention to him. “They can live as donors instead of dying as his snack for the night.”
Our brother was insatiable. A crazed monster, driven mad by the disease he’d contracted. Even in the early stages, he had to be locked away for the safety of himself and others. Callum would tear these people apart.
“There are seven of them. Five of us, including Father. Two will go to him if they don’t escape.” I knew the disgust in my words would be a point against me in Cashel’s eyes. Another example of my soft human heart.
“Not if they get onto pack lands. We herd them there. Hope the pack intercedes.”
Maybe my brother wasn’t as heartless as he claimed to be.
“And if they cross our borders?”
He smirked and flicked a glance at Sorcha. “Sorcha will get to play with the puppies she always wanted.”
Soft whimpers filled the air from the people in Father’s control. He had them kneeling on the gravel path; the hard pointy stones must’ve been digging into their skin. But they wouldn’t be able to move. Not unless he uttered the word that would release them.
“Children, go. We must give them a head start. It wouldn’t be fair after all if we didn’t.” Father gestured across the lands. “Go now. Gain yourselves new pets, but only after you earn them.”
Callie sighed. “Nothing’s ever easy.” Then she and Sorcha were off in blurs of motion. Cashel followed suit, going in the opposite direction.
Father sighed and stared at me. “Always conflicted. You’re so soft. Just like your whore of a mother.”
I clenched my teeth hard enough they creaked from the pressure. “I don’t need a pet. I have more than enough on my hands with our neighbors.”
“I don’t think you can handle this task. You can’t even take a human as your pet. Everyone else has at least one. I have myself had as many as twenty in my thrall. You can’t even get a stinking shifter on your side.”
“I can. I’m close. She wants me.”
He chuckled. “Then why isn’t she on our side now? Why isn’t she in your grasp?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he stopped me.
“You’re weak. You don’t feed like you should.”
“Just because I don’t kill them doesn’t make me weak.”
“You don’t feed on them at all anymore. Don’t think I don’t smell the animal blood on your breath. You hunt on our lands instead of taking what you should be feeding on. Human blood, Lucas. That’s what we’re meant to live on. It’s what our kind was created to do. You’ll never be strong enough if you don’t claim a pet and feed from their vein.”
“I refuse to play your game, Father.”
He chuckled darkly. “Then perhaps some time in the well will change your mind.”
“No. I won’t be able to continue my work on the Dumond’s little princess if you put me in there.” I had to work to keep the unease from my voice. I wouldn’t go back down there again. Not after the three weeks he’d locked me away for a decade ago. I’d spent day after day curled as small as I could be to keep my body out of the rays of sunlight that came through the strategically placed hole in the covering he’d slid over the top. When he finally let me out, I was ravenous—a wild thing that couldn’t be contained. I tore through an encampment of hunters in minutes, draining them dry. Leaving them as a warning to any of their group who had been lucky enough not to be present. It was the last time I allowed myself to kill a human. If he locked me away again, I’d be a risk to anyone who came near.
“Then go. Prove to me you belong here, that you’re a vampire and not human. Take a pet for yourself. Use him or her as you see fit. Whether as a donor or…something else.”
I bolted, running toward the creek on our property. It was far enough I’d give the humans a fighting chance for freedom, but close enough my father would know I tried. In moments, I caught the scent of one of the humans, heard the thrum of her frantic heartbeats, and smelled the fear in her blood. It stirred my hunger, and my fangs descended as the urge to feed gnawed at my stomach.
A flash of long brown hair and pale skin caught my eye and, before I could stop myself, I was chasing after her. She let out a soft cry of panic and ran faster, but she was no match for me. I was on her tail, trying desperately to push her toward the border of our land. Her foot caught on a tree root, sending her toppling onto the mossy earth below. All the air left her lungs in an audible whoosh, making her eyes widen as she gasped to reclaim her lost breath. I stood over her, staring down at the trembling creature my father wanted me to kill or take as a pet.
“Please, don’t,” she whimpered.
Releasing a low sigh, I held out a hand and waited for her to decide if I would lead her to her freedom or her death. “Come on, I’m not a monster.”
“No, but I am.” Father’s words were sharp and clipped as he appeared behind her and tugged her to him. His fangs were in her throat, lips sealed to her skin as he fed deeply, making it hurt. When he was finished, he dropped her body to the forest floor and stared at me with nothing but disgust in his eyes. “Clean this up. You’re good for nothing more than taking out the rubbish. Weakness is beneath the Blackthorne name. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
I shook my head. “Clean it up yourself, Father. I was planning to use her to our advantage. Compel her to seek the help of the Dumond pack and return with information for us. Now, she’s dead.”
“They wouldn’t have wanted her for anything.”
“Yes, they would. Unlike us, the pack keeps up the pretense of being human. They hire human servants, participate in human activities during the day. She could have gotten a job at the household, given us as much intel as possible.”
He frowned, wiping a drop of blood off his lip. “Perhaps I spoke too harshly. It would seem your humanity can be useful. You think more like a human than any of us. If the Dumonds do as well, our strategy may need to shift.”
“I’ve nearly gotten their princess to trust me. Let me do my job without constant threats. I will ruin them. I swear it.”
Tossing the body of his victim over his shoulder, my father offered me a curt nod. The woman let out a soft sigh and twitched. Still alive, then. Perhaps he’d turn her, or make her a concubine to add to his revolving harem of vampire women. He’d likely finish her off in the house and dispose of her somewhere no one would ever find her. I didn’t want to know.
“Perhaps you should make a visit to your paramour, Lucas. Absence doesn’t always breed fondness. You need to be in her mind at all times. That means making yourself visible. Even in dreams.”
My brow furrowed. “Dreams?”
“How else do you think I seduced your mother? I tasted her blood, twisted her mind with a drop of mine each night, then joined her in her dreams until I could call her to me physically with nothing more than a thought.”
“I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Perhaps not. But have you tried?”
I hated talking about Briar like this. The risk of being overheard, of her finding out about my sinister motives, was too great. I’d lose her before I could truly have her if she found out what my father wanted from me. What I promised him I’d do.
“I’ll try.”
He nodded. “Good lad. Now, find your little wolf and twist until she’s ours.”
BRIAR
The vampires were up to something in the woods. I could hear them running, sense the tension of some kind of activity I didn’t want to know about. But from the screams…God, the screams. I was fairly sure I knew exactly what was happening. I could only hope Lucas wasn’t part of the carnage. There was nothing we could do. We weren’t defending our territory, they weren’t harming us. My father said it. “We mind our own business. If humans get themselves tangled up with the Blackthornes, there’s nothing we can do.”
Father sent out patrols to watch the property line and ensure bloodlust-crazed vampires didn’t cross our borders, while I waited for a clear moment to escape. I needed to get to Lucas and make sure he was all right. But part of me didn’t want to know how much he’d contributed to tonight’s events.
A soft knock had me turning away from my open balcony door. Mother stood with a decanter in one hand and a tray with two cut crystal glasses in the other. “I can’t sleep. I see you can’t either.” She lifted the decanter, which was half-filled with amber liquid. “Nightcap? Your father has joined the patrol to verify the Blackthornes are done with…whatever depravity they claim as sport.”
I wanted to tell her that not all of them were bad. That Lucas still had a big part of him that was human. But she’d never truly understand. Her rules and morals were built on the foundation of pack law. She was unchangeable.
Taking an offered glass, I sat on the soft couch near the fireplace and took a long drink. The bourbon burned my throat but warmed my chest. “Do you really think they’re a danger to us?”
She brought her glass to her lips, but set it down without drinking and stared at me. “They are feral when it comes to hunting. How many humans do you think they kill each week? The sheer amount of bodies that must be buried on that land would fill a graveyard.”
“How do you know?”
“Can’t you sense them? They’re everywhere.”
I frowned. I couldn’t do that. I didn’t know she could. My lips had gone numb while we drank, and there was a gentle tingle building in my fingertips. “I feel…strange.”
“Hush, darling. It’s only the opium Dr. Harker gave me to ease your nerves and help you sleep.”
My eyelids were heavy, leaden things. I just wanted to close them and lie back. Only for a moment. “I’m so tired.”
“Yes, you must be. It’s been a difficult night. Come, let me take you to your bed.”
She grabbed my elbow and helped me up, the effort to move my legs greater than anything I’d experienced in my life. “Nik will come check on you. Lie back and rest. It’ll all look better in the morning.”
I sighed and nodded, but on the inside I was fighting with consciousness, the knowledge that Nik was the last person I wanted in my room flickering in the back of my mind. I drifted to sleep even though I knew I had something I needed to see to. I couldn’t battle the drugs in my system. I’d take care of it in the morning. It couldn’t be that important.
“Briar. Briar.” Lucas’ voice sounded so far away, like he was searching for me through a fog. I blinked open my eyes to find exactly that. I was in a sparse forest with gray trees, bare of leaves, skeletal and ominous. A thick fog curled around their trunks and obscured much of the surroundings.
“Lucas?” I called.
“Briar, walk toward me. Come closer.”
I followed the sound of his voice, my heart pounding as nervous energy took hold of my chest. “Where are you?”
“I’m here,” he whispered, so close I could feel his breath on my nape. His lips brushed my skin, and I spun around to face the man. He was painfully handsome, devastating, really. I hated how I wanted him.
“What is this place?”
He grinned. “Our haven. No one can find us here.”
“But it’s a dream. Isn’t it?”
“Yes. Your dream. But don’t you see? Here, we can have everything we shouldn’t take in the real world. We can be together. Happy.”
He cupped my cheek and pulled me toward him until his lips met mine. I tasted his blood on his tongue, a rich, dark spice that left me wanting more. Then he frowned. “You taste different. What’s happened?”
“My mother. She gave me opium. I was having trouble sleeping.”
He grit his teeth. “They all want to control us. Parents think they know what’s best. They’re wrong.”
“And you think you know better?”
“I think I know you don’t want to be with that Scottish wolf. You would wilt and die in his arms. You belong with me.” He ran his knuckles over my cheekbone and then trailed his thumb over my lower lip. “Of course, this is how my story goes. Star crossed and tragic. It can never be easy.”
I leaned close, needing more of him. “Nothing worth fighting for is easy. Are you going to fight for me?”
“You don’t seem to understand. I’ve already started my fight. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Will you? Tell me, Briar, whose arms are you in right now?”
I jerked awake, my mouth still tasting like Lucas. Warm arms were wrapped around me, holding me tight. A large muscular torso was pressed to my back. And this man didn’t smell like Lucas. This was Nik, uninvited and unwelcome.
I slid out of his grip, head aching and fuzzy after my mother’s experiment with sleeping medicine. Walking slowly to the bathroom, I sighed before I leaned against the sink and stared at pupils that were far too large, skin that had taken on a waxy pallor rather than the cream and roses complexion I’d always sported. I looked sick. This was what came from toying with opium. I swallowed, and the taste of Lucas was renewed. Opening my mouth, I stared inside and saw nothing out of the ordinary. But the back of my neck prickled with apprehension and arousal at the memory of how real it had felt for him to brush his lips over my neck.
My fingers slid over the spot, and I groaned in pleasure. He hadn’t bitten me, but I was still desperately sensitive. “Lucas,” I whispered as my fingers slipped between my legs. I brought myself nearly to climax while shuddering and whimpering with thoughts of him in my head.
A loud banging on the door had me jumping and letting out a soft yelp. Nik burst through the door and stared at me, on high alert. “What’s wrong? I heard you crying.”
My cheeks burned. “Bad dream. I’ll be fine. I think I’ll take a bath.”
“I don’t feel right leaving you.”
“Well, you are certainly not watching me bathe. If you don’t want me to be alone, send my mother up.” He stood his ground, but I wasn’t intimidated. I stared him down. “You had some nerve getting in my bed.”
“Briar—”
“Stand down, Nik. I can bathe alone. I can do many things alone. The least of which is clean myself.”
I slammed the door in his face and gripped the edge of the sink. I didn’t know what had happened in my subconscious, but it felt real. Every moment with Lucas felt like it was meant to be. I was in an impossible situation.