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“There we go, Milady. Back on your feet. Are you al—” The male cut off his sentence as she whirled around to face him, lifting one of her blades to rest just beneath his chin.
“Get your hands off me,vampire,” she hissed.
The man’s head tilted back, and he laughed. Mina froze. It was such a warm and surprising sound, that a wave of tingles ran the length of her spine, making the hair on her arms stand up straight, and her nipples strain against the fabric of her shirt.
The body she found herself pressed against was warm and well-muscled. A monster fit to kill, disguised as a man fit to bed.
“Is…everything…okay, Milord?” called the wolf between growls. He was closer than he had been a second ago.
Mina jumped, and ripped herself away from the newcomer, backing into the open space so she could get a better look at them both under the light of the moon.
To her surprise, the wolf was now standing on two legs instead of four, and as she watched his fur and muzzle slipped back into his face, returning it to his human form. Where the wolf had been large and intimidating, the man before her stood just as tall and just as strong. His tan body seemed as if it had been carved from marble, and the dark natural tan of his skin made his white scars across stand out like paint along his bicep and chest…his naked chest.
Mina blinked. He was naked. He had no clothes at all. Pivoting to put him just outside her line of sight, she turned her attention to the vampire. Words tumbled from her lips. “Who are you? What are you doing in these woods? Are you Dracula’s men?”
“Don’t you meanKingDracula? Is that not what your people call him?” The man asked, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. He had yet to step into the light, so all she could make out of his features was that smile, and his strong jaw, marred only by a single scar on the right side.
“That is what the common folk call him, yes, but he’s notmyking, and none of you are welcome here,” she snarled as viciously as she could. “Now go, return to your ceremony, and I will go my own way. No harm has been done. Your king can have his new wife, and I’ll spend the rest of my mortal life praying she finds a way to kill him and rid us of your kind. Just as our people have always prayed. How’s that sound? Good?...Good. Now leave.”
The shifter snorted. “She’s a feisty one.”
“Hush Harker. I do believe we are in the presence of royalty. Aren’t wePrincess Mina?”
Mina’s heart dropped and the man stepped out of the trees. The moon shone across his face, revealing a head of dark black hair, and bright carmel eyes that cut her to the core. The veil fell away from his power, and her feet were rooted to the ground as he approached. That feeling that had rippled through her when she was in his arms warmed her insides once more, and she swallowed hard.
“Keep calm, Princess. I mean you no harm,” he said carefully, his voice crisp with a mild accent she’d never heard before. “We only happened on the two of you by chance. Upon entering the valley, I sensed the beast and thought it best to take care of it before the ceremony.”
“How do you know my name?” She asked, surprised at how steady her voice sounded, despite the current of alarm running through her.
The man stepped forward again…no, Mina, no.He wasn’t a man. He was a vampire. A vampire, and from the power radiating off his body, a very old one at that.
The vampire reached out and lightly drew his knuckles from her temple down along the slope of her cheek and traced the line of her jaw. “I’d know you anywhere. But alas we must retire.”
“Who are you?” She asked, still unable to look away from those eyes.
He chuckled and then a gust of wind and black smoke swept around her. Mina lifted her arm to shield her face, and just as soon as the wind and smoke appeared, it was gone.
“Mina, oh my goodness, are you okay? Mina?” Aria gasped, rushing to her side. “Did they hurt you?”
The princess blinked a few times staring at the space where the man had been in front of her and then shook herself free of the trance. “I’m fine.”
“He didn’t hurt you?” she asked, pulling, and tugging at her clothes, checking for puncture wounds.
“No,” Mina said. “They should’ve killed us, but they didn’t.” The man’s words still rung in her mind;I’d know you anywhere.He’d spoken them with such familiarity, and he’d felt so….
“We should go back to the temple,” Aria whimpered. “Please, Minnie. I’m scared.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “I’ve seen what I needed to see.”
Aria hugged her tight, and then let go of everything but her hand, towing her back to the path that had brought them out into the woods.
The gong rang a second time indicating the end of the ceremony as they reached the staircase that would lead them back into the heart of the village. Aria let go of her hand to skip down ahead of her, but Mina hesitated, looking back in the direction of the tree she’d been hiding in, and the vampire who’d probably saved her life.
She shook her head, his face blazing behind her closed eyes. “Who are you, vampire? Who?”
