Page 47 of Toadstools and Vampire Kisses

She sneers and steps forward, humans moving quickly out of her way. “No trickery, my faithless pet. Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I came to this country, took a powerful vampire as my bloodbonded, someone who cannot be taken away from me this time, and started a new life. Perhaps you know him. Rowan Algriech, step forward, my love,” she says, half-turning to peer back at a spot behind her.

The vampires standing at the ready behind her silently part, making way for the tall male who strides forward, his blonde hair falling around his shoulders from behind the braids framing his face. His lips spread in a vicious smile, but behind his eyes there is a vacancy that is chilling. There is a reason that vampires do not bloodbond each other, and it is soullessly staring me right in the face. A vampire who is bloodbonded to another is nothing but a puppet, their awareness repressed beneath the will of the dominant one who initiates the bond.

“So it is you who control the Algriech coven,” I say, turning my gaze away from her toy and back to the queen herself—the real danger to my mate and everyone here.

“I do,” she purrs with a terrible smile as she circles, pacing nearer. “And because of that I received word of your little warning regarding the Durmont witches’ coven and was intrigued. My favorite death dealer had found a mate at last. So very… sweet. And so very stupid to come between me and what I want.”

“And whatis it thatyouwant?” Katherine snaps as she pulls off her mask and storms forward, her dark gown swirling around her feet. Her eyes cut to Titania with the ferocity and power of lioness in her prime, unshakeable in her strength. “This ismycoven! And I insist that you stop this once and leave. You and yours were not invited and are not welcome at our holy night.”

Titania’s head turns slowly toward the witch, her eyes glittering with menace even as her smile widens in what I know to be a threat.

“Katherine Durmont, I presume.”

“I am,” Katherine affirms, her chin lifting without even a trace of fear in her scent. “And I know exactly what your ilk wants, thinking that they are free to plunder our covens. This is my family and under my guard and protection.”

“Ah, so protective of your coven. As a coven queen, I respect that. However, we seem to have a little problem here,” Titania hisses as she steps closer to Katherine, her dragon whip gauntlet quivering around her arm eagerly in wait for its taste of blood as her eyes scan the witches gathered. “I see many young, powerful witches with powerless humans at their side, wasting their strength on a mating that does not serve anyone much as our kind has so often been sentenced to do through the ages. At this revelation of what our species can be for each other, I consider this a travesty and cruelty that will not be tolerated.”

Katherine scoffs, and the hair on the back of my neck rises in warning. I want to demand that she cease baiting the queen and allow me to handle this, but I warily hold my tongue. Although I have placed the coven under my protection as vampiric laws permit me to, it does not change the fact that it is stillhercoven, even if she does not know whom she is confronting.

My worried gaze cuts over to Adeon who stands only a short distance back, his features obscured entirely if not for his immense height. It is a wonder that he restrains himself at all with the direct threat to Katherine, but when his eyes meet mine, I realize that he too is holding back out of respect for her, though he remains protectively close by. He inclines his head in a brief nod, and his attention turns back to Katherine, the tension in his body tightening.

“You speak as if I would wish to seek to control with whom my witches fall in love,” Katherine comments with a laugh. “It doesn’t matter to me who they choose as long as it is their choice.Thatis for the good of the coven,notwhat you speak of.”

Titania’s expression darkens ominously, and I slide forward, ready to intervene. From the corner of my eye, I see Adeon shift, and part of me worries that his instincts might send him over the edge to where he loses sight of the fact that there are humans crowded in the room with us. For a dragon to assume their true form in such cramped quarters would be disaster, but that knowledge might not be enough to stop his instinctive impulse if Katherine’s life is threatened. They may be dancing around each other now, but I recognize the protective stance in a mated male hovering behind his loved one.

“Aunt Katherine, what’s going on?” A woman steps forward, she doesn’t lower her mask, but I recognize her by her scent as she draws nearer and the familiar sound of her voice.

Eleanor.

Behind me, I feel Fran shove at my wings, like trying to get to her mother’s side or perhaps to protect her cousin, but I don’t budge. Unlike Katherine, or even Eleanor with her invisible protector who aids her work with the coven, Fran had already relinquished her formal duties to the coven for me, and I refuse to allow her to put her life in any more danger than it already is.

Titania’s nostrils flare, and she smiles as her eyes trail over Eleanor before glancing once more at Katherine. “I request so little. I will not even rip every unmated individual from this coven… at least not at this time. All I ask for is five volunteers and we will leave, and you can resume your charming party.”

Eleanor’s eyes turn nervously toward her aunt, and I can feel Fran scratching uselessly at my wings in an attempt to get through them.

“Katherine?” Her voice wobbles fearfully, and Katherine gives her a pained look.

“It will be all right, honey. Just step back among the others. Hurry now.”

“I would not do so if I were you,” Titania says silkily. “My men are predators, and it is not good for them to see prey flee.”

“Do not even think it,” Katherine replies, stepping to the side to draw the queen’s attention back to her like a snake charmer drawing in a cobra. She looks over at Eleanor urgently. “Eleanor, go! Hide!”

Her mouth drops open, and she shakes her head, taking a stubborn step forward. I hiss in annoyance, cursing the stubborn, courageous nature of the females of this family. She does not take more than a few steps forward, however, before the air crackles and bursts around her. A moss green male leaps forward, dragging her up into his arms, and he gives Titania a baleful look before passing back through his portal with Eleanor in the blink of an eye. The furious hiss of the vampire queen follows him, but Katherine laughs and shakes her head.

“It seems that one slipped out of your clutches, snake. You see now that not one Durmont witch will be yours.”

“You dare speak to me in such a way?” Titania hisses. “Witches are mere peasants compared to vampires. You should be pleased and honored to be claimed by us. Your own offspring has been chosen and yet you still refuse to see the benefit and deny me?”

“You will not speak of my mate,” I announce, drawing Titania’s attention back to me and off Fran’s mother.

She hisses a soft word and spits her conjured venom like a cobra. A trick from her that I know all too well. It was how she subdued me last time before putting me into the sleep, but it shall not work again. Snapping at my hand, I draw the air so that it falls harmless in front of me. A cold smile curls my lips as she draws back, her skeletal dragon claw clattering as it vibrates with her fury.

“Change of plans. Rowan, deal with this and bring me his witch,” she commands as she turns to her mate, drawing a sharp claw down his chest so that it wells with a thin line of blood.

He grins at her, a murderous light filling his eyes with his eagerness to fulfill her command. A true puppet, his only desire to fulfill her wishes. He doesn’t even feel the gash down his chest from which streams of blood flow. My body stiffens, my muscles coiling. This Rowan Algriech is an unknown to me. All I know of him are the rumors of his cruelty and his unending hunger to which even the weakest among his own coven have been sacrificed. Also what I know is that I need Fran to be better protected than just between my wings.

“Fran, when I open my wings, run for the maze,” I whisper, counting on her to interpret what I need her to do without giving anything.

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