Page 78 of You Will Obey

He snorted. “But you don’t know that. Do you even know how he did it?” he asked, pointing to Alexander’s rotting corpse.

I smirked. “I don’t, but that’s the chance I’m willing to take. Are you? We both know that there is magic in taking one's heart into your body. And this would be the first time a vampire Royal would do this to another.”

“For wolves,” he said.

“And dragons,” I added. “And he had the power of both. Now, I'm going to eat this heart, because I believe I will gain his power. I hear that you are a man who recognizes opportunity when it’s presented. Would you turn this one down?”

“What if you die?” Deacon asked, which was a valid question.

“To gain great power doesn’t come without risk. I took a chance twenty-five hundred years ago when I was just a human. I trusted my instincts back then, I trusted them when I killed Alexander, and I trust them now.”

He crossed his arms over his bloody chest. “And what do you want in return, because nothing with you vampires is ever out of the kindness of your hearts.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Au contraire. It is out of the kindness of my heart that I’m even extending you this offer. Because you have proven to me that you are formidable. And you gave me your blood to drink so I could defeat a threat to all of us. I’d rather have you at my side, Deacon.”

“At your side, or under your command?” he shot back, and I had to admit, he was a clever one.

“Under my command, as Josef is. With it, you will have access to my other territories as Josef does. But who’s to say what powers you’ll obtain for yourself and your pack just by taking the heart inside of you?” I asked. “Isn’t that a small price to pay for what I’m offering?”

“To be under your thumb?” He scoffed and shook his head, but I could tell he wasn’t ready to refuse my offer. Not yet, at least. He turned to his wolves. “Anyone have a cell?”

“Here, Alpha,” said one of his wolves.

Deacon took it and dialed who I assumed was his mate. When Elijah didn’t answer, he tried three other numbers with no luck. He cursed and tossed the phone against the wall in his frustration, shattering it into pieces. The wolf who the phone belonged to gasped in horror, but didn’t say anything. Deacon growled, then looked back at me. “Do I have to decide now?”

“Yes, as you know, the sooner we eat the heart, the better,” I said.

“Fucking hell,” he cursed under his breath. He looked at Théoden, then Tylendel as if looking for validation. Finally, he looked back at me. “And what if I don’t get any powers?”

“You’re still mine. That’s the gamble part of this arrangement,” I said. “But like I said, you’ll actually get to travel. Have you ever been to Greece or Japan or India? And now that I’ve killed Alexander, I will be taking over his territories too.”

“You’ll have to share those with my King, Ara,” Tylendel said.

“Of course,” I said with a nod. “I owe my life to his dragons. And I will honor the deal I once made with your prior king, we fight for a new territory, we share it.”

Tylendel nodded, satisfied with my response.

I looked at Deacon. “Clock is ticking, wolf.”

He looked at his pack members, some shrugged and others remained quiet.

“Dad, do it. Taking chances is how we got where we are now,” one of his wolves said, his son, who was also very handsome. Hmmm.

“If this works, we probably won't have to fight for a while. Who’d be stupid enough to challenge us, Alpha?” said another wolf.

“We’re here, we know you’re putting the pack first, Boss. We’re with you,” said another.

He sighed and nodded, then looked at me. “I agree to your terms. Fuck, I hope I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life,” he said as he walked over to me.

I ripped a medium size portion of the heart and handed it to Deacon, who took it.

“Bottoms up,” he said, then bit into the heart.

I followed suit and began to eat Alexander’s heart. It was disgusting, even the blood tasted rotten and I gagged but managed to keep it down.

Deacon finished his portion. “Bloody hell, that was dreadful. Whoa!” he said, then stumbled to the wall. He grabbed his chest, a look of pain on his face as he grimaced. I finished eating my piece and felt something coiling within my chest, like a snake wrapping itself around my arteries and heart. It was another bout of agony I had to endure this night, I just hoped it was fruitful.

“Father, are you okay?” Théoden asked, then he struggled to his feet and came over to me. He stumbled, then fell to his knees. “My heart,” he grimaced.

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