Chapter 12: Orders

Laurel returned to her tent and got ready for bed, but her mind wouldn’t rest. The scent of blood was still lingering in the air. The bonfire had burned out, but the fear the display had evoked in the soldiers remained. She didn’t hear anything outside of her tent beyond the quiet footsteps of the patrol.

Her mind kept turning over what she knew, trying to make sense of it. Adolph’s gentle smile and warm words didn’t match the cold fury she’d seen in his eyes. How could he embrace her so gently and use those same hands to kill a vampire slave so quickly and brutally? How could his sweet voice that made her swoon order Daniel’s fingers to be cut off? From fury to tenderness and ruthlessness to tenderness: what made him change for her? Being his mate couldn’t be enough. Was it a real change or just a mask to keep her at his side?

How long would it last?

Those beautiful women were dragged out of the camp so roughly by the soldiers, the same way that Sarah had been at Basil’s order. She