Page 47 of Bitten

It made him want to die.

Things were thrown at him, but they bounced off the wards the sorceresses had placed. The bindings meant to keep him down protected him from their slings and arrows, to a point. In a matter of minutes, he was shoved into the back of a waiting car and the doors shut. It quieted some of the sounds outside, but not all of them. He could still make out some of the louder taunts. Closing his eyes, he tried to tune out the sound.

“Don’t listen to them,” Kane said down to them. “They don’t know what the truth really is.”

And what really is the truth?

He was an abomination.

Ralnur wanted to speak those thoughts aloud, but they weren’t alone. Why he was protecting the Halfling, he really didn’t know. With one word, he could alert them all that the villain they sought—the one who’d changed him—was sitting amongst them.

It wasn’t a vampire conspiracy. At least, he didn’t think it was.

He’d heard the whispers from the guards outside his door and understood the questions they’d all asked. They thought he’d played a role in the conspiracy, and some still didn’t seem convinced he hadn’t.

If they knew the truth, they would know there was no conspiracy and he’d played no role in his change.

One word.

A word which would likely imprison Kane.

Am I not imprisoned? Why should he be treated with any less?

Ralnur stared at the male in profile, knowing he couldn’t say anything. Kane turned and met his stare as the car started moving through the city streets.

“Why are you here?” he whispered.

“Where else would I be?”

That dark, dark stare penetrated him, seeing underneath the anger and ire. Or so it felt. Need bubbled up under the other emotions, simmering just below—and Kane appeared to know it was there. From the look in his eyes, desire simmered within him, too.

One moment alone… that’s all I need.

For a tongue-lashing, where he could scream at the man—where he could rail against the injustices of what Kane had caused in his life. Unapologetic, he’d said. Ralnur would make the Halfling feel the shame that was due him.

And then a serious tongue-lashing could happen… where he could savor those full, sweet lips and taste every bit of Kane. Then he could be the unapologetic one, taking what he wanted.

What he wanted…

What did he want?

His head was filled with scenes of him and Kane in bed, drinking from one another and exploring the sensual current that slipped between them.

And the other… their shadow man.

So many questions… he needed a moment with the Halfling to get answers. Ralnur gazed about the interior of the car. The sorceresses had wedged themselves inside, three sitting on the bench seat opposite them and the fourth at Ralnur’s left.

They silently created their wards, hitting him with their magical shackles.

It didn’t take long to arrive at the castle. From the street, it looked very much like the thousands of other skyscrapers reaching up to the heavens above. Once inside, though, it shifted and changed—as if one walked through a portal into another time. The steel, glass, and marble of the foyer gave way to stone, tapestries, and gold.

Inside the castle had changed little since the days of Zarrick, the first King of Midnight. Thanks to spellcasting, rooms had become larger and amenities modernized as the city had grown, but the décor changed very little.

And there was a sense of safety within those stone walls where Ralnur had been raised. Time didn’t pass there, in some ways, and it allowed him to mentally return to a happier time. A time when he wasn’t a creature of the night.

But was he truly happy before?

He’d lived a life of service. Married because it had been right for the monarchy. He had a failed marriage to prove it. He’d never found a love of his own. Someone that was his and his alone. All the years he’d lived inside the castle, he’d followed some moral code and done his duty.

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