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There was one thing I looked forward to. One thing I longed for. My alpha status.
It was the only thing I didn’t have to strive for. Something that was mine alone and in need of no competition. Or so I thought.
I wondered why Mother had never prepped me for my valuation. After Papa Roux died, I thought for sure I’d be in succession. But typical for all things Dunes, we were packless. Leaderless. Divided. There was not a cleared Dunes Den Leader or Lead Alpha nor had there been one for some time.
No one within five hundred miles of New Orleans had stepped to the plate in more than one hundred years to claim ranks as Den Leader or Lead. Not even Papa Roux. The last I heard; the only eligible Den Leader was a fourteen-year-old boy named Abraham Helsing that I used to babysit. His father died young—mysteriously too young some say, and Abraham isn’t old enough for valuation. He’s still a pup.
My father was ineligible to declare himself because the Peyroux’s are now considered unmarked. I supposed no longer being cursed puts us into some other category.
So there I was, eighteen and ready for the only thing that could’ve been mine; should’ve been mine—the acknowledgement of my alpha status and I was left with absolutely nothing.
Well, not exactly nothing. Mother offered her apologies to me. An apology was not what I wanted.
For me it wasn’t just something to best my sister. It was the last part of me that connected me to the person who I loved most. My father. My Papa Roux. Even though Caressa, another man’s child, somehow became his favorite, he still remained mine. I suppose it was the one thing I alone shared with him. As much as he loved Mother, not even she could appreciate how it feels to shift beneath the moon’s apex or comprehend the tormenting yet exhilarating freedom that comes with broken bones mending to marrow once a month. That alone belonged to us.
And while he was no longer with us, it was the one thing I relished because it made me feel close to him.
So I ran. I ran far and fast into the arms of a man who promised he could help me find what I was looking for. Yes, my actions were deliberate. A part of me wanted to hurt Mother, though she did not warrant my wrath. Perhaps I resented both not being an Altrinion nor an Alpha. Whatever my ire, all I knew is I had to get away.
However, this man was unlike any other. Beautifully dangerous. Seductive. Yet, despite his haunting presence his pull was magnetic, and I was a mere paperclip. Even his words enchanted me. With eyes singed in a fiery hue, bronzed pecan skin, and lips the color of raspberries, everything about this man lured me to a perilous passion I knew would be my reckoning.
But I did not care.
I knew the truth. He was a monster. An Altrinion-Vampire. A progenitor of all Scourge; or what we call mortal-made vampires. Growing up, nightmarish stories followed by his name were known throughout the community of supernaturals. But still, I did not care. He wanted me.
Me. Not Caressa. He was now the one thing that was all mine. The one thing—and person I needn’t share. Or so I thought.
Until I knew better, I let him possess me. Lavish me. Ravish me. Willingly I gave my innocence to him. And he took it. For that I have no regret.
Well, at first, I did. I feared he’d toss me aside once he had his full like the monster I thought him to be. Strangely, I never saw this monstrous beast that I was taught to fear. From him, only kindness was shared between us. Not once did he hurt or threaten me. In fact, he remained a doting gentleman.
While I’d often protest, he had even fought for my honor. If anyone dared treat me with an ounce of discourtesy his retribution would inevitably follow. He was chivalrous. Gallant. That was certainly new territory for me.
For two years we traveled around the world seeking someone who could perform my alpha valuation. I only had until my twenty-first birthday to make my valuation solid. Unfortunately, most were too fearful of his damning reputation that none dared take his request. Still, he tried. He was even working a deal with his brother who he hadn’t seen in over a hundred years to meet an Altrinion Elder who could oversee my rights. He told me it was always his plan to restore the rights to the Dunes wolves among the supernatural order. Meeting me was fate he said.
And I believed him.
Until I didn’t.
My walls of belief all came crashing down last night. Seeing him gorging himself in the blood of young ones sickened my soul as if the cave of my bower closed within me. Yes, I’d seen him drink from mortals before. More than once had I seen him take life from innocents. Truly, that should have been enough for me. Instead, I swallowed down everything I’d been taught of the sanctity of life and gave him a modicum of freedom. And for a moment, it seemed as though he tried to do better. Be better.
As a gesture to me, he often frequented the local Civility Center where he could obtain rations of his fill or even drink from willing donors. I even believed his promise that when we were married, he’d never drink in the house.
Oh how I believed his lies! Each and every lie. I drank it down like mother’s milk.
Until I saw him, indulging in the most depraved way possible! Dozens of lifeless young bodies, none older than twelve, littered like trash and bathed in their own blood across the concrete floor of our flat. There he and his young ward, Cade, and two others indulge with him. But they were not alone.
She was there.
The red head.
The one he said I needn’t fear. The one he said for whom he had no affection.
There she was, barely clothed, straddled across his lap as they both tarnish the young soul in their feverish grip.
And for the first time, I see him for who he truly is. I see the monster.
Velvety thick red skin with the mouth of a dragon, his fangs dig far and wide into the child’s flesh and he is now before me every bit of the monster I thought him to be.
She is no better.
Although she is unlike any Scourge I’ve ever seen, just the sight of her viper-like mouth feasting with such savagery sends a sickening grief to my soul.
It took everything within me not to scream but I had to run. Again.
I ran fast. But not fast enough.
She caught me.
He had always done a good job of keeping her at a distance. Until now. I’m sure she wondered what made a monster like him give any pause to someone like me. A leaderless wolf. Intrigue marred her otherwise sinfully flawless face as she gazed deep into the burrow of my eyes. It was almost like she was looking for something, but her expression proved she did not find what she sought to see. And for that I am grateful.
Thankfully, she was too overcome with her bloodlust to pursue me, so I ran.