Page 35 of I Will Make You Mine
Maybe you should have. We’re not human anymore, Romeo. Stop fucking sympathizing with them. All it does is expose that you’re not ready to represent the House of Théoden. The Prince. Other vampires and supes will see that and exploit it. And now, I see humans can and probably will, too, because you’ll let them.He was glaring at me hard now, his anger very evident. I fucked up.
I’m sorry, Sir,I said.
“From this point on, until I say otherwise, you will hunt nightly and kill your prey. That’s what they are, Romeo. Your prey.” This he said vocally, probably so Jules could hear.
Oh, I didn’t like that shit at all. I didn’t want to have to kill every night. “Sire—”
“The fact that you want to debate my command pisses me off, Romeo. When we get home, you will be punished,” Noel threatened.
Shit! Fuck! Shit!
I put up my mental wall, hoping to lock him out of my mind. I felt invaded enough and I needed to be able to bitch privately. I hoped he’d give me that. This entire night started off good and went to the piss-filled gutter in like five minutes. I didn’t bother to say another fucking word, vocally or telepathically. I’d already screwed myself over enough as it was. I hoped he wouldn’t punish me too hard. I was only trying to help him, but I see now, he didn’t want it. And in the end, it only made me look weak in his eyes.
We got home a half hour later and I was exhausted. Hearing Jules crying and begging, then cursing Noel out on the drive home didn’t help ease the tension. I parked Noel’s car in the same spot it had been in before, then climbed out. Noel climbed out too, dragging the human with him.
“You can call me whatever names you want to call me, Jules. You and the others were stupid to infiltrate New Haven. I’m not even going to talk about how dumb your fucking plan is. You think that shit matters? We have other stadiums, Soldier’s Field is just our favorite. It wouldn’t mean a damn thing if you blew it up. It would be rebuilt even better in a month’s time, as vampires move very fast. You have no idea how useless your lives are,” Noel said.
“Fuck, that’s harsh, Noel. You used to see purpose in our lives before you bitched out and became one of them,” Jules snapped.
“I was chosen, Jules, and once my eyes were opened, I saw how foolish we were. You better hope I can do the same for you. If not… well… the inside of the arena might be the last thing you’ll ever see.”
Noel was as cold as ice as he dealt with Jules. It was as if he didn’t want the human to know that he didn’t want to do this. I could see that he still had some of his humanity inside of him, not that he’d let it get in the way. As a matter of fact, I saw a glimmer of it by how Noel was hoping he could save Jules… maybeembracehim. Of course, the decision would be Théoden’s, and there was never any mercy there.
We were on the elevator and Jules kept trying to plead with Noel.
“Why didn’t you just let us go?” he asked.
“It was too late. I’d already seen you, recognized who you were. There was no way I could pretend otherwise. Why didn’t you just stay the fuck out of New Haven?” Noel shot back.
Jules turned away, facing the mirrored elevator doors. “You killed Colin.”
“He shouldn’t have tried to stake me,” Noel retorted. “By the way, he was delicious.”
Jules scoffed and turned away from Noel. “I… I don’t even recognize you anymore.” His voice was soft and full of so much sorrow, uncertainty, and… fear.
“I’m not the person you remember, that’s why. I’m a vampire now, a General in Prince Théoden’s House, his son.” He grabbed Jules’s shoulder, yanking him around and shoving him against the wall. He placed his hand on Jules’s chest, pinning him there. “Whatever we were to each other, whatever I felt for you, it doesn’t compare to what I feel for him and my family. And I will not risk my life for yours, ever. Or that of my son’s. You knew being a rebel, you might get caught. That was the risk you took. Just be glad it was me who found you. Had it been one of my brothers, you’d be dead already. Now shut the fuck up!” Noel growled that last part, fangs flashing for added emphasis. It seemed to work, as Jules cringed away as much as he could. His lips tightened as they turned down into a frown, and two more tears dripped from his puffy, red-rimmed eyes.
The elevator doors opened and we all climbed out, well, Jules had to be dragged out. The house was quiet, and I wasn’t surprised. Everyone was probably asleep, as it was pretty late by our standards. I wanted to go to bed myself and hoped that Noel would let me.
“Go, I’ll join you after I’m done. But tomorrow, you and I have unfinished business, Romeo,” Noel said.
“Yes, Sire,” I said, then walked away, heading upstairs. My mind was running wild with horrid thoughts of what Noel was going to do to me tomorrow. I wasn’t looking forward to any of it. Just the fact that he was going to force me to kill nightly was punishment enough in my book. I opened the bedroom door and Donovan was in bed with Jace, Marcus, and Ryan.
It was weird not having the rest of the family there with us and I wondered just what in the hell had to be going down for them to still be absent. I stripped and climbed into bed beside Jace. Normally, Derek would be next to me, and his arms and legs would be wrapped around Jace’s massive body like he was hugging a tree. But Derek wasn’t here either and that made me wonder how Jace was feeling without his Sire. The same thoughts ran through my mind regarding Ryan and Marcus, too. Marcus was used to having Marco’s big dick lodged up his ass while they slept. Ryan liked to suck on Bruce’s nipple as he nuzzled him. Neither of them had that now. They must have felt pretty lonely.
I left space for Noel and let my exhaustion give me some measure of peace before my nightmare began.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DANTE
The pain was the thing that woke me up. The excruciating sensation of my body reverting into its human form. I groaned and gritted my teeth as my bones broke and reknitted themselves to match my human skeleton. I looked around, seeing the other members of my pack going through the same process, but it wasn’t taking them as long as it was taking me. Josef was already kneeling beside me, rubbing my back as my paws began to transform back into hands. The fur receded into my pores, leaving my human hairs in its place.
“It’s going to be over soon, Dante. The first time is always the worst. I know what you’re going through, just breathe… relax and let it happen. Don’t fight it, try not to tense up,” Josef was saying to me, but I couldn’t really concentrate on his words.
Tears dripped from my eyes as I endured the change, which was just as horrible as it was when I had to turn into a wolf. As much as I was looking forward to my new life, this bullshit wasn’t something I was happy about. Finally, it was complete and my muscles felt like jelly, so I collapsed on the cool grass, panting heavily.
“Yeah, that’s it… just take your time,” Josef said, then he kissed my sweaty forehead.
