Page 39 of Forced Vampire Mate

My lips pulled back from my teeth. Luken’s arms tightened. He needn’t have bothered. As much as I’d like to go for Donelle again, I wasn’t that stupid with anger. I’d have time to demand answerslater. I was so caught up in sex and Luken and feeling betrayed that I’d forgotten my true mission. Let Luken fuck Donelle if that helped me get Darcie back. Let him compel me to do his bidding—just so long as he didn’t, as Donelle suggested, make me forget I ever had a sister.

Donelle lifted one eyebrow at me, as though waiting for my snarky reply. I sealed my mouth and lowered my head. I wasn’t going to give her an excuse to throw me into one of those cages again. She waited before snorting, as though disappointed. Then she stretched, arching her back in a way that brushed her breasts against Luken’s arm. The arm that held me. Subsequently, they brushed against my breasts.

I jerked away, hissing between my teeth. Luken pulled me back a step, putting distance between the queen and the two of us. Her lover had leaned against the wall, slouching. His cock had gone soft, and a petulant pout jutted his lip out.

“Has the payment been made?” Donelle asked, suddenly all business.

What payment?

“Yes,” Luken answered. His voice was level and emotionless.

Donelle bit his thumb and looked down at his body, ignoring me. Then she sighed. “Then I suppose you’ll want to get going, hmmm? Fetch my robe,” she ordered over her shoulder.

Her lover sighed dramatically and went back to the room. He returned shortly with a knee-length robe that actually hid her body. Donelle shrugged it on, sent the man away, and led Luken and me down the hall. She strode swiftly, the length of her stride twice as long as mine. I struggled to keep up, cursing my short legs. Luken matched his stride to mine, his arm still around me. It would be comforting that he didn’t release me, if it wasn’t because he expected me to lose my temper again.

For a moment, I was just so tired of it. Tired that the one person in the world who could help me save Thessa and Darcie was the one person I wanted the most… and the one I trusted the least. At least with people like Donelle and Draven, I knew something about what to expect. I could read their motives. So why was Luken, the man I had a literal bond with, so difficult?

We finally came to a stop after climbing three more staircases. As fit as I was, my legs burned, and I struggled to control my breathing. Donelle led us into a large room dominated by a huge table covered in a topographical map of the continent. Borders were drawn in magic threads that hovered over the maps, and dozens of pins moved about on their own. I didn’t need to ask to know that this was a war room of some sort.

Donelle leaned against the table, her demeanor changing completely. No longer did she have a seductive sway to her movements. She was all business, harsh, and focused.

“Funny how it all works, isn’t it?” She looked up with a humorless smile. “In trying to kill you, your brother saved your life.”

Luken chuckled. “I don’t think you’d have killed me so easily.”

I looked between them, confused.

Luken caught my look and finally released me. “Donelle and the Silver Forest had plans to invade Taimarah and dethrone me a few years back. That is, until Draven betrayed them. He took half of Donelle’s army and started a civil war. It’s why he didn’t come after you again, even though you survived his initial attack.”

“Oh,” I murmured.

“He thinks that he’s owed my kingdom.” Donelle’s lip curled back. “We’ve kept it quite secret, this little rebellion of his. He plans to see me dead, the ungrateful churl. We’ll see how well the vampire side of him heals when I put his head on a pike.”

She smiled, enjoying her mental image. And as much as I hated Draven and feared him, I couldn’t stop a twinge of sympathy. Maybe Donelle was less callous before he attempted to coup her. But she certainly didn’t seem like much of a mother. I kept my expression smooth, making sure none of my thoughts were on my face.

“It will do us all some good if he dies,” I agreed.

Luken twitched.

Donelle caught the movement and arched one of her delicate brows. “Don’t you agree, Luken? It’ll be safer for your little mate if your brother is dead.”

“It will be. And he will die before this is over,” Luken answered stiffly.

“So much trouble… I should have tossed him into the sea the night he was born. He’s always been so… needy.” Donelle smoothed her elaborately braided hair and shook her head. “But we should continue the discussion, should we not? Draven is more powerful than you realize.”

Luken rested his hands on the map and studied it. “He’s found a way to bypass your security measures, hasn’t he?”

“Oh, he has indeed.” Donelle’s pretty mouth twisted in disgust. “There is no way for anyone to enter the Silver Forest without my knowledge. As soon as they pass through the barrier, they’re marked. With the same sort of magic that allows the channels to stream the Blood Trials, in fact,” she added, smiling at me now. “I’ll have to go back and rewatch yours. You were certainly the least interesting contestant this year, but maybe I missed something.”

I gave her a blank look back. She was trying to provoke me; that much was clear. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction.

“How did Draven manage to take half of the army? I thought males weren’t permitted to inherit in the Silver Forest,” Luken said.

Weren’t they? I suppose it made a little bit of sense if people were concerned about inheritance staying in the bloodline. If you were having group sex in the hallways, it was kind of hard to determine which child belonged to what father. Tracing lineage through the mother was much more secure. Although now they had blood tests for that sort of thing—did elves even use blood tests? I seemed to recall something about blood magic being strictly forbidden, which included scientific breakthroughs like transfusions.

Donelle glared at the map. “Oh, they can’t. But Draven has made promise after promise to elven folk. He gives them just enough for them to give him what he wants, then turns around and betrays them. He’s hated, but he was chosen by the gods as a child. He’s seen them, talked to them, and they corrupted. They promised him power that he’s too weak to hold. And now, too many people fear crossing the gods to challenge him.”

Luken nodded, but something about the way Donelle said it made me suspicious. I hesitated, not wanting to draw too much attention. My nerves were worn thin already, and it wouldn’t take much for me to snap again. Donelle and Luken seemed to have come to some sort of agreement—what kind of agreement, and what was the price?—and I didn’t want to jeopardize that.

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