Page 46 of The Sanguine Selection
I saunter back to my chair and sit with grace, leaning back and crossing my one leg over the opposite knee. “Now, several issues have been brought to my attention. Issues that leave a foul taste in my mouth. And after spending a century buried in a crypt, I must admit, my patience grows thin. Lord Navar, you may begin.”
Navar narrows his eyes on the wolves. “Karynth, you have been summoned today to tell the kings why you thought it unnecessary to call off The Hunt during the Sanguine Selection as is law. To break such a law is punishable by death. As it were, one of your wolves almost fucked the kings’ Blood Slave. Had the Vampire Pride—”
The rest of his words are lost as a rage like I’ve never felt before rises within me. Heat blazes, anger churning in my gut like molten lava. “What do you mean one of your wolves almost fucked my Blood Slave!” I rage, snarling, fingers elongating into claws.
Karynth’s eyes widen as he drops to his knees, hands up in submission. “Sire, I had no idea. She-She wasn’t even yours yet. This happened before The Selection. Right Danigo?”
Danigo cowers under my gaze and lowers his eyes, nodding. “Y—yes sir. But he didn’t work alone. A vampire assisted him.”
I flick my gaze to Navar who stares back calm and cool. “Why am I just learning of this now, Navar?” I can’t keep the anger from my voice, the snarl.
Navar spins to face me, hands clasped on his lap. “My king, you were, shall we say, incapacitated. But fear not, I have handled the situation and secured the males for you.” He shifts his gaze behind me to Jasper. “Jasper, if you will, please locate Brim guarding a carriage outside. Tell him to bring in the prisoners.”
A malicious smile grows on Navar’s face. I try my best to calm my nerves, needing to kill, or drink or fuck, perhaps all three at once to relieve the tension as I sit back in my chair, fingers returning to normal. I drum them along the table top, no one daring to breathe out of turn as we wait for Brim, head of the Vampire Prime, to bring in the accused.
A few moments later a knock raps on the door and in walks Brim, a huge vampire with dark skin and dark eyes. Hulking, his muscles ripple under his uniform, the threads threatening to burst with each movement. Behind him, led by chains pinned to collars around their necks, are a wolf and a vampire, neither of which I know. The thought unsettles me, how different things really are since Marek and I last reigned over the castle, how many strangers roam in our lands now.
Brim tosses them to the ground with a growl, then stands at ease with his hands clasped behind his back.
“On your knees.” I bark out the order, the males scrambling into position but finding it difficult with their hands bound behind their backs. “Identify yourselves,” I grit out, trying and failing to remain calm.
Long, scraggly black hair shrouds the wolf’s face. Tatters of a red leather jacket and dark pants, dirty from either a battle or time in the dungeons cling to his body. And across one eye, a pink scar gleams, fresh and still healing. “I am Badar,” he declares defiantly, raising his chin in spite of his precarious position. Stupid, proud wolf.
I jerk my gaze to the vampire, one of my own, who at least has the decency to look ashamed. “And you, vampire scum?”
Strands of his dark hair have fallen from the leather strap binding it away from his face and he winces as he shifts. I notice the silver on his collar, most uncomfortable for a vampire. “Elias, my lord.”
Lord Navar stands, pushing his chair back and walks over to the prisoners. “Now, who would like to go first and tell our King of your treachery hmm?” When no one volunteers, Navar bends down and cups the wolf’s chin in his hands. “How about you, wolf. And know King Mikhail can scent lies in the air so I would suggest you tell the truth.” Navar tosses Bandar’s head and the wolf falls back but catches himself, a low growl emitting from his throat.
Brim is there in an instant, Bandars grimy hair in one fist, the other hand holding a very sharp knife to the male’s neck, the tip already dripping with blood. “Growl again, and I’ll cut off your fucking tongue,” Brim promises.I like him, I think.
Bandar glares but represses his aggression. “I would never have hunted,sire, if not for the gong. As soon as I heard it, something inside of me shifted and it’s like I couldn’t help but hunt. I assumed since the gong sounded, that the hunt was a go.”
I’m almost shaking with anger. “And how close did you get to fucking what’s mine?”
Bandar swallows hard. “I…I got my dick out, but the Prime caught me before anything happened. I swear, nothing happened.”
“You had her lick your fucking dick!” Elias reveals to Bandar’s horror-stricken face. I almost kill the wolf then.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” I promise the wolf who whines as I turn to the vampire. “Elias,” I hiss, my limbs trembling with fury. “As a vampire of Libarynn, you knew full well that The Hunt is ordered to cease during years when The Sanguine Selection takes place. Yet, not only did you aid a fucking wolf, you also participated in the XXX wolf event.” I lower my voice an octave and step in front of the vampire, crouching down in front of him. “Tell me, Elias, when Bandar was so close to fucking my Blood Slave, what were you doing to her?”
He gulps, averting his gaze to the ground. “I—I was trying to help—”
“Liar!” Bandar shouts. “He was fucking drinking from her, sire!”
Fury turns to rage inside me. “Is this true?” My voice rumbles with the promise of pain. Elias shakes his head as I lift one finger, allowing the claw to burst forth from my skin, then skim the sharp tip down his cheek. I catch a droplet of his blood and bring it to my nose, inhaling deeply.
It’s there, faint, but there,herscent.
Mine…
Red mists my vision and I explode, grabbing Mikhail’s empty chair and breaking it over my thigh. Gripping a shard of the chair’s wooden leg in my hands, I impale it through Elias’s chest, the vampire exploding on impact.
Soaked in the blood of my enemy, I turn to Bandar. “Brim. Hold him.” The large male posts up behind Bandar, securing his upper body so he can’t move. Reaching into my boot, I pull out a very sharp dagger created in the likeness of the Novikov insignia, then reach for the wolf’s pants. I make quick work of the leather as he shrieks, then clasp his dick in my hand. “You tried to rape my slave,” I growl out, almost unable to form words. “You had her mouth on your cock. For that, you die.”
“No!” he hollers as I place my blade at the base of his dick, and slice through. Blood sputters as I hold up the severed appendage and as the wolf bellows in pain, I shove his dick down his throat. I let him choke for a moment, before I take his head between my hands and twist it off of his neck.
I let his blood pour down on me as I raise the severed head above my own, then toss it to the ground staring at Karynth. “Tell your fucking pack what happened here. Tell them what happens to those who fail to submit to my rule, who take what was never theirs. You tell them that I am wrath, that my fury is their fate should they put a claw out of line. You tell them King Mikhail is back and I’m taking no prisoners.”
