Page 1 of Shifters' Fated Summer
Chapter 1
Venom
Vampire venom felt like spinning weightlessly through the clouds I remembered from my childhood. My body ceased to exist, and I drifted. The aches and pains were gone. The musty smell of unwashed bodies, stale air, and molding food vanished. It was bliss.
In less than two months, I would turn twenty and all the rules and limits would fall away. I would never again return to the dingy, dark dorms the blood donors lived in. No more pining for my patron. No more pain as I waited for the next time he could visit me. I would be strong enough to never leave his side.
A few more weeks.
But until then, I was stuck in this pisshole twenty-two hours of the day.
The girl in the bed beside mine whimpered and turned over in her sleep. I ignored her, focusing on my knitting. Gingerly, my fingers counted the stitches my eyes could not make out in the darkness. Candles flickered by the entrance, but their meager light died before making it to our dank corner of the cold, concrete space.
Less than two months, and I would be elevated from my duties as a blood donor to the honored status as a vampire prince’s mate. My heart sped at the thought, breaking my concentration.
A tremor ran down my arms, and I dropped the stitch. “Fuck,” I hissed. I needed my patron. It had been too long, and my body cried out for him, my limbs shaky and my stomach churning. Even my skin felt clammy.
Surely, Evrin would be here any minute. I had to hold out a bit longer. There were no windows in the den, obviously, and the only clock I knew of was the pocket watch Evrin kept on him, but after seven years, my sense of time was impeccable.
Any minute now.
Giving up, I tossed the knitting into the drawer of my side table. The plastic knitting needles clicked against the hairbrush Evrin gave me last year for my birthday.
My back protested as I straightened, leaning forward in anticipation. Evrin was the sole sunshine of my glum existence. I needed him to survive this hell hole. He was my salvation, my protector, and my escape. Without Evrin, the other vampires would feed from me as they wished and every day I would risk being drained.
I refused to glance across the walkway to Stella with her dark bruises under her eyes and sickly pale skin. She was younger than me, and I hoped soon she would catch the eye of a vampire who would claim her as his own and become her patron.
The door swished open. Atall, lean figure was silhouetted in the hallway light. My heart leapt, and I slung my bare feet over the side, shoving off my bed to rush to him.
Evrin’s graceful frame sauntered forward, closing the distance between us. Unable to wait, I threw myself into his cool, solid chest. He wrapped his arms around me, soothing my frayed nerves with his touch.
“Come, my heart, we have a lot to talk about.” He gave that crooked grin that made my heart flip.
Evrin was heartbreakingly handsome with a loose charcoal shirt billowing open to reveal a smooth torso, gleaming a pale ivory in the candlelight. His sleeves were rolled up like the romance heroes in the stack of old books that the BDs passed around in the long hours while our patrons slept.
My own personal hero.
“Yes, please!”
I took Evrin’s open hand, threading our fingers together. He was slightly chilly like he had been outdoors recently. No matter, he would soon be the same temperature as me. We wove through the sea of single beds, most of them empty, and burst into the hallway.
A hulking guard with long, black hair in hundreds of tiny braids watched us as my patron led me down the passage and through a maze of twists and turns through the underground complex. The stone walls crumbled if I ran my fingers along them, but I clung tight to my vampire.
Evrin’s rooms were my favorite place, and I couldn’twait to call them my own. The first time he showed them to me, he asked me to be his intended mate once I turned the age of majority, twenty. That was three years ago. Three long years of dreaming of the beautiful space that would be my home once my vampire claimed me.
His fingers tightened on mine, and I clenched my jaw, smothering a squeak. I was too delicate for him, but he could fix me, make me like him.
The heavy, ornate door scraped as he opened it, ushering me into another world. The dingy, dirty donor spaces of the den were replaced with a sea of dark wood and rich fabrics.
An ancient metal chandelier swayed over our heads, scattering pools of warm light over the intricate wallpaper depicting a lush countryside landscape. His rooms looked to be hundreds of years old, though I knew he was only thirty or so. But as the son of the Vampire Queen, he was elegant and experienced beyond his years.
My heart rate picked up as I stared at my vampire, tracing the stylish sweep of copper hair over his pale face, down to vivid green eyes staring back. Even as he smirked, his pupils dilated, narrowing like a snake’s. With his supernatural senses, he could smell the bloodunder my skin.
Yes, it’s for you.
“My heart,” he said, “I have learned there will be a blood moon a few days after your birthday. It will be a blessing on our mating.”
“It’s fated, then!” I replied, my free hand coming up to cover my parted lips. It felt like the best of luck, and if our mating was truly blessed, nothing could stop it.
