Page 7 of Tamed By Her Vampire Protector

He unlocked the door, but stopped before he opened it.“Your room should be ready tomorrow.I’ll see what I can do about finding a better room for the girls in a couple of days.Don’t tell them you’ll be getting your own room.”

I laughed.“There’s no chance I’ll tell any of them anything of the sort.”

He nodded.“Once I wrap things up with Alex, we can go somewhere outside of the compounds.You must be getting cabin fever from being locked inside for so long.”

“Great.”I gave him a strained smile.What I really wanted was to stick to the original plan, to use the cloaking potion and go as I pleased.But even with the potion masking my human scent, I would still be limited to wandering around the vampire compound.What I really wanted was to go outside, maybe to the beach, and breath in the salty sea air.What Leo was offering wasn’t the full freedom to do as I wanted and to go wherever I wanted, but it was a start.

Chapter 4

Meghan

The next day, I went down with the other captive girls to do our daily rounds in the kitchens.While the rest of the girls worked together to peel vegetables, I preferred to do the dishes alone.It gave me a chance to get away from the others and have a bit of privacy to myself, as the sink area was at the far end of the kitchen.My hands were elbow-deep in a sink of dishwater when I heard a hissing sound.

“Psst!”

I ignored it.It was probably one of the girls trying to play a prank on me.They made it no secret that I didn’t fit in with their little clique.Ever since Leo singled me out to bring me up to Amanda’s room, they’ve been even more hostile in singling me out.

“Psst!”

This time, something hard hit my back and bounced off.I turned around and looked for the source, but I only found a dinner roll lying on the ground.I glared at the other girls, but they were too engrossed in their gossip to pay attention to me.Plus, there was no way they could have thrown the piece of bread from across the room.I glanced around the room.There was only one place where a flying piece of bread could have come from.The half-open door leading to the hallway was empty, but I spotted a brief flash of golden blonde hair peeking out before it disappeared.

Could I escape without being spotted?

I glanced around the kitchen again, but the girls paid no attention to me.Wiping my hands down on a dishrag, I casually picked up a stack of dishes and carried them over to the shelf next to the door.With a final glance out of the corner of my eyes to confirm the girls were too busy to notice me, I slipped out of the kitchen.

There was usually a vampire guard posted outside to keep an eye on us, but today we were unguarded.Something had happened among the vampires recently.Of course, we were never told anything, but the vampires seemed stressed and overworked.Their forces were too thin to have someone watch over us twenty-four hours a day.I didn’t realize how much I needed it, but this little reprieve made it seem like life was almost normal.Our daily shift in the kitchen was the only time when we had a bit of freedom outside our little room.

“Psst!Over here, hurry.”I followed the sound of the whisper around the corner at the end of the hallway.My heart thudded in my chest.Was this a trap or test to see if I was going to escape?I took a cautious step and peeked around the corner.To my surprise, it was Rose.

“What’s the matter?Did something happen to Amanda?”My friend was so pregnant that it looked like she was going to pop at any moment.Something important must have happened for Rose to come find me and sneak me out of the kitchen.

Here eyes widened as she shook her head.“Oh gosh, no, nothing like that.My sister’s fine, though she’s about to serve the baby an eviction notice with the way it keeps kicking her in the bladder.”

I let out a breath of relief.“Then what’s going on?”

“Lizzy’s finished brewing the cloaking potion.”

“Oh?I thought we weren’t doing that anymore, what with Leo being assigned to be my constant guardian.”

Rose scrunched her nose.“I know the men mean well, but the chaperone situation is so old-fashioned, like we’re in a Jane Austen novel or something.The only reason Dante doesn’t shadow me all day long is because he’s too busy being Alex’s muscle.”Her eyes softened.“I know this situation must be unbearable for you.If you had the potion, you could visit us without a guardian.Just promise me you won’t do anything rash again.”

She was referring to the escape attempt I made earlier in my captivity.I didn’t need to be convinced not to do that again.The hunger in the vampire grunts’ eyes when they grabbed me and almost sank their fangs into my neck was forever burned into my mind.I made a cross motion over my chest with my finger.“I promise.There’s nothing left out there worth escaping to.”

Rose’s face softened, and her lips lifted into a smile.“Come on, Lizzy’s in the library.”She turned and started walking away from me.I guess that was my cue to follow along.

“Wait a minute, does Amanda know about this?”After Amanda’s excitement at appointing Leo as my guardian, it seemed strange to me that she would agree to the original plan involving the cloaking potion.

“She’s with Elspeth, one of the vampire healers.Elspeth used to be a midwife before she was turned.I still think it’s weird to have a midwife whose birthing experience dates from when leeches were the latest medical discovery, but whatever, it’s her baby.”

“So she doesn’t know,” I interrupted Rose’s rambling.

She glanced over her shoulder at me and pursed her lips before speaking.“She’s too busy preparing for the baby to keep an eye on us all the time.It would be best if she didn’t find out about what we were doing, the stress isn’t good for the baby.”

I caught what she was implying.Amanda couldn’t know about any of this.As the consort of the master vampire of this clan, Amanda would have no choice but to tell Alex what was going on if our sneaking around could endanger the clan.

“All right, then.We should keep this between the three of us, for the sake of the baby, of course.”

Rose gave a terse nod.

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