Page 20 of Forbidden Wolf

He stood back, and his head canted slightly to the side. “Not at the moment.”

“But I have to stay with my unit until I have served my time.” Twenty years was the minimum term we had to serve frontline in this war. He knew it and I knew it. What he was offering was against our laws.

“Indeed.” His tongue flicked over his bottom lip as he studied me. Castus was tall for a vampire at around six-foot one, slim with black hair that reached his shoulders. His eyes were so dark that the iris appeared black, flashing red when he was angry or upset, like he was right now.

Mum taught me long ago that the best way to deal with situations like this was to act dumb and pretend I didn’t know what they were talking about. It had served me well so far.

“Come, Tasha, I want to show you something.” His hand landed on the base of my spine, guiding me to a room off his main office. The walls were covered in monitors that meant he could view most of the base.

The fact that he could constantly watch us made the hairs at the back of my neck stand to attention. He pressed a button which changed the feed into the room. It was security feed from soldiers, sending images back from a small camera on their lapel. The ground was strewn with dead vampires, their limbs ripped from their bodies.

I gasped and tried to step back but his fingers dug into my flesh. “Our enemy has grown more vicious, not just killing but desecrating the bodies of those it murders in cold blood. I believe your sister is joining our military soon. Such a gentle soul I’m told.”

The noose around my neck began to tighten.

“She arrives in September,” I confirmed.

His finger traced down the side of my neck. “It would be such a pity for one so young and vulnerable to be sent to the frontline, but these are decisions I must make for the greater good.”

No man had touched me sexually since Levi. I’d tried dating in an attempt to forget him, but the kisses felt wrong and wandering hands made me freeze and make excuses to leave. Over time people tended to avoid me and label me with unpleasant names.

“Was there something specific you requested me for?” I asked, turning to stare directly at him. His soul was dark and twisted, nothing positive left in him.

My gifts had developed. I used to sense souls around me in my nightly visits to the forest. Now I was able to perceive auras and people’s intent if I looked at them long enough.

“You are overdue for rotation in the breeding programme.” He tapped a long fingernail on the counter beside him before his dark eyes came up to study me. “You are to report there before your next assignment.”

“And if I am pregnant so far from base?” I asked. Our far away missions were one of the reasons my unit was rarely called into the programme.

His cold smile made the blood in my veins freeze.

“Then you will have to return to base and stay here. I’m sure I can find a position for you.” His tongue flicked along his lower lip again. “In fact, I have a free slot. Report here tomorrow at twenty hundred hours and I will assign you into my rota for breeding.”

There was no way I could refuse, nowhere I could hide. The trap had been set and I was ensnared. “Thank you, Castus.”

Bile crept up the back of my throat in a burning trail at the thought of him touching me. I knew it would happen one day, but as one year stretched into the next, part of me hoped I could avoid it permanently.

“Hey, Tasha.” Sabine caught up with me in the corridor, curiosity blazing in her eyes. “What happened in your meeting?”

A fixed smile appeared on my face because no one could ever know my real emotions and thoughts. “Castus has enrolled me in the breeding programme.”

“But we’re normally away from base for so long…” Her voice trailed off. “Are we all being conscripted into the programme?”

“No idea,” I replied, trying to pretend that it didn’t bother me.

She chewed the side of her cheek. Her and Conor had been ‘secret’ lovers for a while. We weren’t supposed to fraternise in our units, but as she said we were away from base a long time.

Sabine scuttled off, no doubt in search of Conor to discuss what they were going to do if they were assigned to our breeding programme. Vampire fertility had dropped significantly in recent years and normally we were tested to check our cycle before conscription. Castus seemed to have forgone that step for me.

I should consider myself lucky.

It was a pity our vaginas didn’t have teeth to bite unwanted visitors.

I returned to the basic accommodation conscripted soldiers lived in. A small white room that fitted a single bed and a wardrobe. Every room was the same—replaceable just like the soldiers who lived in these tiny spaces. A small box resided in the bottom of my wardrobe with my personal items in it. I possessed little, but my phone was there alongside the crystal Levi had given me so long ago. I knew every curve of that stone because I’d held it most nights to feel nearer to him.

I hated this room and everything it stood for, so as the sun started to rise, I crept out and down into the caves which I’d claimed as my sanctuary not long after I arrived here years ago. No one knew I was here, and I always felt safe here.

Sleep evaded me, so I phoned Kimber to hear her voice. My little sister had blossomed into a rare beauty that Mum and Dad had managed to keep hidden from our coven, especially Castus. He would destroy someone with her purity.

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