The Vampire King’s Captive

BRAN

Maria gave me an incredulous look. “You don’t like animals?”

“I didn’t say that.” Bran shoved his hands into the sleeves of his shirt, rolling the material down. “They don’t like me.”

As he left the closet, he caught his reflection in the mirror and couldn’t help but be amazed at how different he looked. He didn’t look different in the sense that his physical appearance had changed-that wasn’t possible since he had frozen into his immortality ages ago. It was his eyes, his expression, the lines of his mouth.

Even though he had a lot going on and he was more stressed than he would be normally, he still looked more relaxed. Younger. His eyes brighter and less shadowed.

And it was all due to Maria’s effect.

“But do you like them at least?” The woman responsible for the lightness with which he now carried himself, asked.

“I feel nothing towards them.”

He heard a gasp, and her voice was curious when she spoke again. “What if I decide to get some as pets?”

Not one but some?

Bran walked out of the closet, running a comb through his damp hair. Maria was sitting cross-legged on the bed and she was wearing something that was both a shirt and shorts in one. She’d told him the name when he’d asked her what it was called, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember it right now.

All he knew was that it was a stretchy material that clung to her body like it was painted on, leaving nothing to the imagination. It hugged her ass so obscenely, Bran had gotten hard at the first sight of it.

“I don’t know. Do animals like you?”

The corners of her lips tilted up in a smile. “They do. And I happen to like them right back.”

Bran shook his head and went over to the dresser to place the comb on it. “That was a stupid question. Of course they love you. Everything does.”

There was a red stain on her cheeks when he turned to face her, and like a moth to a flame, Bran went to her, ignoring, again, his meeting with the messenger.

He was supposed to have told the man to tell Ariti that he was ready to accept the deal but every single fucking time, he took one look at Maria and thought; fuck it, I’ll do it tomorrow. It had been about four days now and if Bran continued like this, he might just not tell Ariti after all.

But what was a man to do? He was being asked to give his mate in exchange for his sister and he didn’t know who to put first.

Duty demanded he put his sister first, but his heart told him to put both. Putting the both of them first wasn’t possible which meant that Bran’s heart was an asshole and he was going to have to lean towards duty.

Still, he was having a hard time bringing himself to do it.

“You’re wrong about that, you know,” Maria said, jolting him out of his thoughts. “Everything doesn’t love me. I remember vividly how much a certain vampire detested me.”

Bran’s steps faltered and shame scalded him, hot and raw. They’d adapted to this new relationship between them so easily that it was so easy to forget about how things used to be between them but sometimes, Bran would ask himself if the topic of their rocky past would ever come up.

Well, his question had been answered now.

Dropping down on the bed next to her, Bran wrapped his fingers around her hand and yanked her forward. Obviously having not expected the move, she fell into him and he caught to him, pressing his chest against hers.

“I’m positive the vampire realised he was being an ass towards the loveliest girl he had ever seen, and changed his ways.”

Warmth and another emotion Bran wasn’t so sure of, shone in her eyes and she slipped a hand around his neck. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Bran answered. “Well, not before he smacked himself for being so bloody oblivious.”

“Did he, really?” Mirth danced in her features and Bran couldn’t fight the urge to drag his thumb over her ample cheeks. Her skin was so soft, so smooth.

Fuck, she was so beautiful, so sexy. She was everything Bran had ever dreamt of and the embodiment of everything he never knew that he needed.

“He didn’t, but he went through hell and that was much worse.”

Maria’s smile turned watery as a breath escaped her lips, her whole body slackening like a deflated balloon. Her lips moved, but she never said the words so Bran didn’t know what they were, then she pulled him down with her grip on his neck and kissed him.

… Just as an explosion rocked the building.

They flew apart from each other in shock. Maria’s eyes were wide as they searched the room as though the cause of the explosion could be in here, then they came back to settle on his face.

“What was that?”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Bran was already thinking, wondering what could have caused that explosion.

It couldn’t be that it was one of the other buildings close to the castle because the explosion had affected the building, shaking it and the tremors still remained even now. There was no way that it wasn’t from the castle.

So if it was from the castle, what could have caused the explosion?

There was one name ringing clear across Bran’s skull and it was none other than Ariti, but he didn’t want to believe it because if it was, then there was no way what was about to happen would end well.

“It’s probably nothing,” he tried to assure Maria but just as he uttered the words, another explosion hit the castle and the bed they were sitting on skidded several inches across the floor.

Fuck.

“That wasn’t nothing,” Maria cried, rising up to kneel on the bed, eyes frantic and a bit scared. The sight of the fear in her eyes roused Bran’s anger and he found himself wanting to end whoever was behind this disturbance for putting that look in her eyes.

“You’re right,” he told her as he rose from the bed. “I’ll go check what’s going on.”

His mating instincts were telling him to protect what was his. They were telling him to keep Maria safe and he would make sure that he did.

Ariti dared to attack his castle for the second time? He had insulted Bran too much and Bran was done letting him get away with it. The sooner they ended this, the better.

And he wasn’t giving Maria away.