Page 36 of Forced Vampire Mate

“He’s one of the reasons we’ve come here, Donelle,” Luken answered. “Draven has been causing trouble. I suspect he’ll be coming through Silver Forest on his own way to the temples. Perhaps he’ll even seek your aid.”

“He’d be a fool if he tried,” Donelle replied dismissively.

“You are his mother,” Luken answered. “Is it really that foolish?”

“After what he did the last time I let him into my halls, yes.” She shrugged one silvery shoulder and continued before either Luken or I could ask what she meant. “I knew you weren’t just here for a visit, but I must admit I’m disappointed. You’ve been king these three hundred years, and you’ve never once tried to come to be before. One might even think it’s an insult.”

Luken bowed slightly. I wondered how much it grated on him, playing the submissive act. “I’ve been busy. Rebellions, attacks on my crown, and of course, the Blood Trials to oversee every fucking year.” His voice grew bored as he spoke, and he spread his hands with a wry smile. “And of course, I couldn’t come to you unfed. I’ve had a difficult time keeping my personal donors alive.”

“I’ve heard. But you really oughtn’t think I’m so opposed to being drunk from.” Donelle laughed as she ran a hand down Luken’s arm. “I wonder how much of your father’s skill you inherited. Is he a good ride, little human? Though I suppose to you, all vampires are a good ride,” she said with a laugh.

Fury and jealousy reared through me, and my jaw clenched. I wanted to bash her over the head, but I managed to stop myself. She must not have watched the Blood Trials if she didn’t know that a staff was my weapon of choice. “I wouldn’t know. He doesn’t let me be on top,” I gritted through my teeth.

Luken twitched. Some emotion flashed through his eyes, but it was gone before I could fully see it.

Donelle’s eyes widened in surprise, probably because she wasn’t expecting me to be so bold. Her gaze flashed to Luken, but she focused on me again quickly. Her lips twitched and she let out a high, silvery giggle that made me flinch.

“Oh, I’d top him,” Donelle said casually. “It takes a strong woman to tame vampire men, and you…” Her giggles grew to an all-out derisive laugh. “You simply don’t have what it takes.”

“I have enough to be his wife,” I spat at her. “He chose to make me his queen. So what does that tell you?”

Donelle smirked. “It tells me that he must be very… pent up.”

She ran her hand down Luken’s arm again. Her eyes darkened as she lifted her other hand and pressed it to his chest. She tilted her head slightly, and I knew she was going to kiss him. Luken shifted slightly, moving his feet. But he didn’t pull away. Donelle ran her hand down his torso. As her fingers brushed against his belt, a murderous rage washed over me. No way in hell was I standing by to watch this happen!

I didn’t have a plan before I attacked. I was moving before I realized what I was doing, swinging my staff at her. She moved quicker than I anticipated, too. One moment, she was groping Luken, and the next, she had my staff in both hands. She wrenched it from my hand and spun, kicking me in the stomach. I was thrown back, slamming into a large vase that shattered.

“Don’t,” I snarled between gasps, “put your hands on my husband.”

Luken rushed to my side and pulled me to my feet. Worry flickered in his gaze, but also anger. “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” he hissed.

I gaped at him. What did he think I was doing? I was trying to keep that woman from feeling him up!

“You are my husband,” I snarled at him, shoving at his chest. “Mine.”

Donelle laughed. Her gauzy clothes floated around her as she twirled my staff expertly in her hands. My heart sank. It wasn’t that she didn’t watch the Blood Trials. My first assessment was right. She knew what I was capable of and utterly dismissed me as a threat. It was clear that was the case with how easily she disarmed me.

“How do you expect to tame him when you can’t even top him?” Donelle asked.

Luken turned. “Enough. I didn’t come here for my wife to be beaten up. I have things I need to discuss with you, Donelle.”

“Then we will discuss them.” She dropped my staff and clapped her hands. The servants and guards streamed back in. “But for her attack on the queen, your wife will be imprisoned.”

My hand tightened on Luken’s arm.

He was silent.

Silent.

The guards grabbed me and dragged me away. The last I saw of Luken, he’d turned to Donelle, and she had her hands on him again. Fury and jealousy rushed through me again, but I was overpowered by the sheer pain of knowing he wasn’t going to try to stop it.

Chapter 17

If I opened the bond, what would I feel?

I growled as my hands started to shake, and my makeshift lockpick slid out of my grasp. Anger was like a living beast inside of me, prowling and snarling and caged. My ribs were too tight, my lungs were unable to fill properly. That bastard had just let Donelle feel him up in front of me, flaunting that our wedding vows meant nothing to him. Of course, they didn’t. I was a tool to him, something to make him more powerful.

What else made him powerful? Alliances with other kingdoms. Alliances that apparently meant he’d fuck the elvish queen with her unworldly beauty.

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