Viktoria’s POV
I was shocked when he burst out laughing. I was being serious and he was laughing at me!
“I’m so fucking glad that you think my family dying is funny!” I screamed and stormed off. I had no idea where I was going, just as long as it was away from him, but he caught up to me, unfortunately.
“I’m sorry, Viktoria.” He grabbed the sides of my arms and turned me to look at him. “You are right. I shouldn’t have laughed, but you haven’t given me a chance to explain anything. We are actually peaceful people.” I looked away. I didn’t want to look into his eyes and see that he was telling the truth. I didn’t want to believe him.
“Could have fooled me.” I huffed and he sighed.
“Okay, so I kidnapped you, but have I hurt you in any way?” He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and I realized for the first time how incredibly warm his skin was. It was the complete opposite of my family. They were all cold. I shook my head as I looked into his eyes. “Well, then? Don’t you think you at least owe me the opportunity to explain?” He was frowning and it didn’t look good on that beautiful face. How on earth could beasts have such beautiful faces?! “Come on. I have something to show you.” He hooked my arm in his and we walked back inside.
Turning into the first door, I gasped. The entire room felt like home! The walls were covered in paintings and tapestries of wars where the beasts were fighting right beside the vampires and, sadly, vampires were fighting each other. The art was exquisite and I wasn’t surprised when Fynn explained that it all came from the castle. Apparently, it was thrown out centuries ago and the beasts somehow got their hands on it. As we moved through the room, I saw books that looked very old and Fynn explained that those books contained what he called “the true history of what happened”. I wasn’t so sure about that. I would have loved to just curl up and read through all of them, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to show him that I was interested in their history. I knew what the history books said! I believed in what my teachers taught us. These beasts could have written anything in there. Made up some sort of …
“Careful!” Fynn caught me just as I was about to fall flat on my damn face. I was so busy thinking that I wasn’t looking where I was going and I tripped over something! A shock ran through my entire body as I tried to push him away. Angry at myself for being so damn stupid. “I know you won’t believe me now, but in time, I’m sure you will see the truth for yourself.” I couldn’t stop the sarcastic little giggle from escaping and he looked amused. After our little stroll through history, he took me to a room in the back and I nearly burst out laughing again.
“Am I going to be locked away and forgotten?” It wasn’t very funny, I know. My teachers were always telling me not to try and make jokes but he actually laughed!
“I will never be able to forget you.” He winked. “But I will be locking your door for the night and there will be a guard for your own safety."
“See! I was right!” I huffed. The room was beautiful. Rustic and not to my taste, but beautiful. “I am your prisoner!” He didn’t say anything as he closed the door and I heard it lock. I looked around the room and noticed two doors. Quickly rushing over to find an escape, I found a closet and a bathroom. I checked the windows, but they had bars in front of them. There was no way out. I decided that I needed a shower and was surprised to find clean clothes in the closet in my size. Although, I shouldn’t have been surprised since he told me they knew everything about me. It was clear from the satin nightshirt and pants.
When I looked into the mirror, I noticed the embroidery on the lapel! “VR” Seriously! I told them I wasn’t a damn royal! That just showed you! They knew absolutely nothing about the vampires and dhampirs. Only male vampires were royal! It was such an insult in my mind, that I quickly took off the shirt and tried to look for something to undo the “R” but there was nothing in the room. I ended up scratching at it with my nail until I finally got it off. I left the “V” behind because I liked it. Putting my shirt back on, I made myself comfortable in bed, thinking I would probably be up all night.
I was wondering about the castle and what could be happening there tonight. The vampires would wake to yet another attack on the wall, but as long as none of them were hurt, it wouldn’t be a problem for them. I wondered if my father would even ask about me. Would he even realize I was gone? I yawned and soon after I was asleep.
Victor’s POV
“WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DAUGHTER?!” I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been notified the second she was taken!
“Brother, she’s just a dhampir.” Dimitri laughed as he bit into one of the young women who was holding out her neck so willingly. I watched as a smile started to form on her face and it made me nauseous to think that he could eat at a time like this.
“She’s also the only heir to the throne, my dear son.” My mother walked into the dining room and kissed both my cheeks before going to greet my brother. She couldn’t resist using each opportunity to remind my brother that he still hadn’t produced a son.
“SHE’S NOT A VAMPIRE!” He hissed and my mother rolled her eyes. This exchange between them was so damn old that I didn’t even want to talk about it anymore.
“Yes, my darling boy, but she might one day produce one which at this moment means she is the only heir to the throne.” My mother waved her favourite blood bag closer and I stormed out of the dining room just in time to meet up with my father.
“You don’t have to say it.” He held up his hand as we made our way to the security office. “She has to be found and brought back safely.” He hissed. Viktoria might just be a dhampir, but she had not yet reached the age of twenty-one. There was an ancient prophecy that said a royal daughter would shift at the age of twenty-one and for the past eighteen years we had all been hoping it was Viktoria. At least, my parents and I had. If a female vampire had been born and not created, it would have far-reaching repercussions for our kind.
We would for the first time be able to think of the possibility of finding love in our own ranks. We wouldn’t have to keep concubines to breed. It opened the doors to so many possibilities. The human female wasn’t built to carry a vampire baby. If Viktoria turned on her twenty-first birthday, she might be the first female vampire who could have a vampire child.
Fynn’s POV
A vampire daughter as my mate. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The elders weren’t going to be happy when I told them. If I told them. If I took her as my mate. My mind was all over the place as I tried to figure this out. One thing was clear. She didn’t feel the bond like I did. We knew that vampires didn’t have destined mates as we did, but I had always thought it was just because they couldn’t produce female vampires.
Their chemistry always fascinated me and I would have loved to get some blood samples from Viktoria, but it was too soon to start prodding her for blood! I needed to figure out how I was going to keep my hands off her first. My beast side was howling to just grab her and make her mine! Nobody knew that I put the guard at her door to keep her safe from me, and it had to stay that way until I could figure out how I was going to deal with this.
Would she even be affected if I rejected her? Since she couldn’t feel the bond.
“AAHHHH!” I screamed in frustration and my Beta stormed through the door.
“Alpha?” He frowned.
“I’m fine.” I sighed. “What is it?” He wouldn’t be hanging around outside my door for no reason.
“They are here!” We were expecting the vampire guards to come for their princess and they were here a lot faster than anticipated.
There was a part of the kingdom that very few of its people knew about…“We are here for the dhampir you took prisoner.” The vampire’s eyes shone bright red as he demanded the return of princess Viktoria. His instructions were to wipe out the entire pack if they needed to, but he knew better. The beasts might have evolved over the past two hundred years, but in the process, their numbers have also grown. They knew how to strategize and hide these numbers and he wouldn’t be surprised if they were ready for this.“I don’t know what you are talking about.” The voice was that of the grandson of the last Alpha the vampire had to deal with. He could smell the familiar scent and sighed. Why hadn’t they chosen a new bloodline to lead them yet? They were instructed to do so. After that, this one's father tried to storm the castle and lost the battle. Literally! He was killed in the attack.&ldqu
Viktoria’s POVFlashback“You aren’t as clever as you think, Vicky!” Belinda shouted in class and I sighed. She knew how much I hated that nickname, and that was why she always used it! I could never understand why she hated me so much, but she hated me and she didn’t care who saw it. My mom once explained that it was because of who my father was, but I didn’t even know him! I never saw him. Belinda walked over with her arms crossed and was probably about to say something or do something really cruel when the nun walked in and cleared her throat. It always amazed me how Belinda could change from the really awful ugly girl to innocent incarnated in a split second when someone else was around and she quickly explained that she was just helping me with a math problem.I had made the mistake of telling her that she had her history facts wrong, and I knew that later at recess I would pay dearly for that. I knew by now not to cross her! Why did I even open my damn mouth? Because she was wro
Victor’s POVI watched the wolf approach and sighed. He was the spitting image of his father. As he shifted into human form, I could see more of his mother in him. I couldn’t help the sudden urge to tell the young man to cover up and that I hoped he didn’t walk around naked in front of my daughter, but I held back. I was about to break all royal protocol but I didn’t give a damn!“Where is my daughter?” I hissed. I didn’t even know if she would recognize me, but that didn’t matter. I had to see for myself that she was okay.“She’s safe.” The young man crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “The king and I have an agreement and as long as you bloodsuckers stay off my land, she will remain safe.” He was arrogant to the point where I would actually enjoy draining him! But the ancient made sure that vampires couldn’t feed
Viktoria’s POVI scanned the books, and I wanted to be careful with them as they didn’t look fake old. They were really old. As I pulled one off the shelf and I felt the texture of the cover, I dropped it on the floor! A shiver ran down my spine as I looked at the book. The cover was made out of skin, not leather! It wasn’t human, and it wasn’t an animal. I couldn’t place what kind it was, but it was definitely skin! I carefully picked it up and shivered as I put it back. I would have to be more careful and was lucky that the book didn’t tear or get damaged. No longer able to slip my finger over the backs of the books for fear I might touch something else I didn’t want to know about, I tried to read some of the titles, but I could see these books had been handled a lot.I wondered where they would have been stored in the library and who would have spent so much time reading them. I found one that had to do with the history of the first beast and made sure the cover was animal before I
Viktoria’s POVAn incredible pain struck my heart as I uttered the words, but I fought it off so as not to show any weaknesses. I needed to stand my ground and demand that he take me back, but a smile started to form on his lips.“I’m sorry princess. We still have a lot to show you before you can leave, and in my opinion, you won’t want to leave once you’ve seen everything.” He gripped me behind my elbow and led me back inside. The dark wood used to build this place reminded me of our dungeons. The soft light inside makes it feel warmer than the dungeons thought. If I wasn’t here under these circumstances, I would probably have liked it, but all it did at the moment was make me miss home even more! I wasn’t even going to tell him to stop calling me princess since he seemed to enjoy infuriating me.We walked back into the library and he handed me the blanket before almost shoving me back into the seat. Taking the seat next to me, he opened the book I was reading before and started to r
Viktoria’s POVClearly, Fynn didn’t understand when I told him to take me home! I wanted to go back to the castle. To the people I knew and the truths, I was taught.Flashback“Today, your lives will change. You are no longer the children from the convent. You are now the dhampir in training.” I watched our fearless leader as she walked up and down the front of our platoon. My mother had told me so much about her that I almost felt as if I knew her myself. She wasn’t just our teacher. She was also there when our parents joined the dhampir. My mother had tears in her eyes whenever she talked about her days here, but I knew that my father chose her as his concubine, which took her out of the running to become a dhampir. Without telling me too many of the details, my mother explained that she was his only concubine and spent a month in the castle until they we
Viktoria’s POVI woke up feeling a little disorientated, but it didn’t take me long to recognize the room I was in. If I was at the castle, I would probably have met my father by now. I had no idea if he would actually know who I was, but a girl could hope, couldn’t she? I always carried a very small hope that he wanted to meet me just as much as I wanted to meet him even if he was the prince second in line to the throne. That was what I worked so hard for after all. Not the only reason, but still one of the bigger ones. I felt a little dizzy as my thoughts wandered over to our ranking system and if the wolves also had special females that were meant only for breeding and others, they turned to wolves. If I had to be that honest, I didn’t know much about them. Only what our books told us about where they came from and most importantly that they were beasts, not human.There was never any mention of children and there were clearly little beasts running around. How much of what I was ta
Viktoria’s POVI was feeling much better, but my mind was still all over the place and I needed some answers. Even if I didn’t ask them outright.“Okay, you seem to know almost everything about me but I hardly know anything about you and the beasts.” That was a bit obvious! Wasn’t that the reason why they kidnapped me? “Tell me in your words how things are different from what you think I’ve been taught.” I was hoping if we could just sit and talk about it as we have been talking now, I wouldn’t feel sick to my stomach!“What do you want to know?” He leaned back against the post of the bed and smiled, crossing his arms over his chest.“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “You were the one who kidnapped me. I’m sure you wanted me to know something. Unless you wanted to kill me.” My eyes grew wide! I didn’t think he would openly admit it!“Well for one, we aren’t beasts, but I think you’ve figured that much out by yourself.” He looked amused and shifted so he could sit more comfortably. “What els