Page 31 of Snowed in with the Vampire Prince

“No!” the warlock cried, stricken. His voice broke. “Please don’t hurt him!”

I released the paralyzed wolf, feeling disgusted at myself for showing him mercy. He tumbled to the ground at my feet.

The warlock let out a sharp cry that was both surprise and relief.

In my momentary distraction, the Alpha had grabbed a stray fallen tree branch from the ground and shot to his feet. Just as I turned, he broke the branch in two, leaving the edge he held jagged and sharp enough to end me.

The clouds overhead parted, revealing the pale moon. It struck the clearing, bathing the Alpha and all the wolves around us with silver light.

“The game has just changed,” the Alpha informed me, grinning smugly even as his face began to transform, his teeth lengthening into fangs and fur beginning to sprout on his face. “Now you lose.”

Chapter 16

James

All around me, the wolves began to transform. This was the manifestation of my very worst fear. Pierce was going to get torn apart because of me.

I couldn’t let it happen.

“Stop!”

Everyone turned to look at me as though startled to remember that I existed. I stepped forward with both hands held up like I was calling for a time-out.

I put myself between Jeremy and Pierce.

What are you doing? The panicked edge of Pierce’s thoughts crashed through my mind as my gaze met his.

Please trust me.

I do.

I nodded, relief flooding through me. I turned away from him, praying that what I was about to do would be enough.

I raised my voice so that it was audible to everybody in the clearing. “Everyone, stop!” Forcing myself to remain calm, I met the eyes of every single wolf, one at a time. Most of them were halfway transformed already, but they all stopped to listen to me. The human that they had spent the night hunting.

Then I turned to the Alpha. “Jeremy, please stop this.”

He stared at me, but it wasn’t with anger. It was with a stricken, unhappy look on his face like he had guessed what was about to happen. Even halfway transformed, with pale yellow eyes and the sharp teeth of a wolf, he looked miserable and very, very human.

“Jeremy, please listen to me. I know that you’re in pain. I can’t imagine the pain you’re in. But I can’t replace your mate. You’re about to make a serious mistake, one that you’re going to regret for a long time.”

Jeremy stared at me, the miserable look on his face intensifying. But he didn’t say anything.

I took a deep breath, realizing I was about to risk everything for Pierce. My life, my humanity, and worst of all, the walls I kept around my heart.

“I’ve chosen the vampire,” I told him, my tone gentle yet firm. “He’s the one my heart belongs to. He’s the one my heart will always belong to. He’s the one I want to spend my life with. I don’t want to be a part of your pack. And I will never willingly be your mate.”

Raw emotion chased across Jeremy’s face at my words. Disbelief, anger, pain, and grief, one after the other. “Once you’ve turned—” he started, sounding more hesitant.

But I cut him off with a soft shake of my head, giving him a very small, very sad smile that let him know I didn’t want to hurt him. Not really, at least. “Listen to me, Jeremy. Please, do your best to hear me right now. Do you really want to try to bind me to your side, even if I don’t want to be there? Do you really want to force me into this life, even after I’ve told you I don’t want it? That will make me hate you, and you know it. Nothing will ever be able to fix that betrayal of my trust. Do you really want a mate that hates you and who will always hate you? You’re better than that, Jeremy. I know you are. So be better.”

The wolves stiffened, but I caught what I thought must have been relief on some of their faces. At least a few of them hadn’t been fully on board with this either. But then, I already knew that from the uneasy way the dark-haired wolves in the cabin had been looking at me. I already knew that Jeremy’s wolves thought he was better than that too.

Jeremy’s face shifted from wolf back into human, and his eyes were filled with raw emotion as he looked at me. “But I can’t just let you go,” he whispered, staring at me, now fully heartbroken as my words finally sank in. “You’re the first man I think I could have loved since my mate died. How can I give you up?”

“Because I think—despite the evidence to the contrary—that maybe you’re a good person,” I replied, holding my breath.

It was a gamble I was taking with my own life and with Pierce’s. But that’s how I had known that he would listen to me in the first place. It’s how I had known that, deep down, he didn’t really want to do this.

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