Tainted, p.10
Tainted, page 10
part #1 of Light in the Dark Series
"Whatever Jace. Your loss! I don't know what I ever saw in you anyway. See my new ride? Well Romeu bought me that. I have been screwing him for over a year and he wants to mate me. He is way better in bed than you are." Kim hisses and stomps off. I just watch her leave. I wasn't bothered that she was screwing a guy named Romeu while she was dating me. Who the hell has a name like Romeu anyway? I knew she was lying about the other thing. I can sense emotions and can intensify passion. I knew Romeu, whoever that poor fellow is, has nothing on me in the bedroom.
"Man you should have seen your face when she touched you.” Seth laughs. “You wanted to rip her hand off. I could feel it." At least someone is enjoying my awkward position. Asshat! "Dude I have never seen you act that way with a girl before. It was like you said no for the first time ever. It was hilarious. Amateur."
I smack Seth in the back of his head and make it a point to roll my eyes at his teasing. “Thank you for your support Seth." I left his ass in the parking lot and let him have his fun. I could still hear him laughing as the sliding doors closed behind me.
I head to the meat counter and grab a number, taking my place in line. I feel disgusted thinking about Kim touching me. I will need to take a shower as soon as I get home.
Seth approaches a few minutes later and taps me on my shoulder. He nods to the front of the line and my eyes follow and I notice what has caught his attention.
Sure enough a vampire is standing in front of us. Running into vampires was common inside the city limits but we still preferred to keep an eye on them whenever we were near. My irritation with Kim distracted me and I failed to notice him before Seth did.
The vampire was probably there picking up blood. Vampires preferred food fresh from a human source usually but would keep bagged or packaged blood on hand for emergencies or if they didn't have a willing fresh donor available to them at all times.
"So Rincov did you find your girl yet?" The butcher asks the vampire as he reaches over the counter ands hand him a large white container.
"No not yet but we think another clan may have kidnapped her." He replies as he grabs his purchase.
"Well hopefully your princess returns safe." The butcher adds.
"Thanks Jerry. I will let you know when she does."
Seth and I look at each other. Admittedly I wonder who they were talking about. Sounded like the vampire clans may be fighting amongst themselves. I am sure this is information that Nick and the council would like to know.
The vampire eyes us wearily as he passed. “How can I help you boys?” The butcher asks.
“I would like eight ribeye steaks sir." I answer as I move way to the front of the counter.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Salvatore
"You think she is who?" I ask Mark once again. Nick and I stopped by his house on our way home. Saleen said he had found some information on our mate and we dropped everything at work and came straight here as soon as we got the message.
"Rumors are flying around the Moldta court that House Dark is missing a princess." He replies. They are missing a princess and he thinks it is my mate? Impossible.
"She is a vampire princess?" I look in Nick’s direction for an explanation. Trying to get a feel on how he is processing this information. Did he know what this meant? Hell I didn't know how to process this information.
"Lord Dark arranged a marriage with House Le Bousier. This arrangement would join the two houses and make them a formidable force." Mark continues. “She disappeared a few days ago, last seen in downtown at Lux Bridal. Some are saying that she was kidnapped, possibly by another vampire house, in an effort to stop the wedding."
"Shit!" Nick curses.
"I need you boys to tell me what is really going on. I need the truth. How did you end up harboring a runaway princess bride?"
"Mark what I told you was the truth." Nick explains, "I just left out a few things."
"She is our Mate." I interrupt.
I can see the shock cross Mark’s eyes right before a look of confusion and then quickly followed by pity falls over them. Yeah it just clicked in his mind. What we have been wondering all along. What our pack has been forced to deal with. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know but it's the truth. We would never lie to you." Nick mumbles.
"Well that complicates things." Mark who is obviously frustrated, eyes both of us. It was more than complicating. We could lose her if her father finds her. The council would never let us keep her. Not if the outcome was the result of another war and Mark knew it too. I could feel his pity as he watched both of us. His grief over our reality. We couldn't keep her a secret forever. Even if she continues to hide and decides to stay with us, someone will eventually find her.
"Did someone find out you were looking into her?” I leap from the couch. “Did you tell someone where she was?" My wolf was worried, ready to bolt home and protect his mate.
"No son. I would never do that to you boys. I promised Nick discretion in my search. No one knows."
I sit back down. I believe my uncle. He would never lie to us. I knew this and my wolf knew this. We were just a little on edge right now. This new piece of information about our mate was huge and unexpected. She was royalty and right now I had no idea what that meant for the future of our pack. Our lives had changed so much in just a few short days.
"I need to tell you boys something and what you do with the information is up to you." He waits for a response before he continues. Both Nick and I nod. "You boys may be too young to remember but Lord Dark's wife was killed by a group of werewolves from your father's pack." Simultaneously Nick and I sit up straighter and lean towards Mark. "It is my belief that your father gave the command. But he said the group went rogue while on a mission and when they got the opportunity to grab the queen they did. It was really bad. She was beaten and tortured among- other things...and one of them bit her."
There is a moment of silence before Nick whispers, "and she was pregnant at the time." He stares at Mark with disbelief.
I look between the two. How did Nick know this? Mark nods and Nick closes his eyes. Grief smacks into me like a train. It hits my chest like a wrecking ball so hard I heave for air.
"Goddammit Nick get ahold of it." I grit between my teeth. Nick slowly calms down but remains silent.
"Jace." Nick mutters under his breath.
"That is why I thought you should know. Maybe deal with it before the boy finds out on his own. I know he is in a better place now but something like this could cause him to relapse." Mark states.
"What the hell are you two talking about? What does this have to do with Jace?" I question before understanding dawns on me. The Dark's were responsible for the death of his parents. How will he take the news when he hears what kind of blood flows through his mate’s veins?
Nick looks at me, seemingly out of his haze. "Now is not the time to explain. We have to fix this." He says with an alpha's confidence. "Mark what do you suggest? Obviously we can't allow our mate to marry another but we can't afford a war over it either."
"Fuck a war Nick! She belongs to us. Our mate will not be marrying a goddamn prince on Saturday!" I snap.
"Salvatore I know this news complicates things with your mate but she isn't a wolf and she isn't just any vampire." Mark explains. I do not care what or who she is. My mate will not marry another. She belongs with us. We were keeping her and I will make sure she stays safe. I will kill any vampire who stands in my way.
"Wait how do we know if Vivka and Nikki are really the same person?' I ask. Maybe this was all just some crazy coincidence. What are the odds of our mate being the daughter of Viktor Dark?
Mark walks quietly over to his desk and grabs a folder. He walks back to me and Nick and pulls a piece of paper out of a folder and throws it down on the table in front of us. "Is this her?" He asks. Nick and I only stare at the photo in silence. We are both shocked by what we see in the photo.
To be honest I believed it was her as soon as Mark said it but a part of me was hanging on to that slim possibility that this missing princess was not our mate. There is no denying what we both see in the photo before us. It was our mate at her engagement party with Prince Synk.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Maddox
Nikki fell asleep next to me on the couch while watching television. I held her tight against my chest while I carried her to bed. Jace and Seth were home and being way too loud in the kitchen and I was worried they would wake her up. It was early but I could feel how extremely exhausted she was so an early bedtime was probably for the best.
We are almost to my door when I feel her tiny body starting to wiggle in my arms. "Shhh. I got you sweetheart.” I whisper softly in her ear. “You are with me tonight." I was claiming her before anyone else got the chance.
"Are you sure?" She whispers back, Seth said he didn't sleep at all last night with me in his bed."
Of course I am sure. "Sweetheart there isn't anything that you can say to change my mind." I bend my head down and kiss her forehead right before I grab my door handle. "Welcome." I push my door open and place her on the side of the bed that is furthest from the door. She opens her eyes a little wider and I watch her as she examines my room for the first time.
"The bathroom is on the other side of the door. Giles and I share a bathroom so you will have to lock both doors while you are in there."
"You have a very nice room Maddox." My wolf is pleased with her compliment. Salvatore dated an interior decorator a couple years ago and I let her design the room. Salvatore wouldn't let her touch any other room in the house but she showed me some plans and I liked them so I let her have a go at it.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I can tell it is a text so I pull it out to take a quick look at the screen. It is Nick letting me know he is on his way home. He is calling a pack meeting and wants to make sure everyone is home when he arrives.
While I reading the group text, he sends me another text, this one is a private text.
Try to find something to keep our mate occupied while we are talking.
“Hold on sweetie it's Nick letting me know he is on his way home." I text Nick to let him know Nikki was going to bed. "I'm going to leave so you can get back to sleep. I have a few things I need to take care of and then I will be back." I bent down and kiss her lips before she has a chance to react. "Do you want me to wake you when dinner is ready?" She only closes her eyes and shakes her head.
I leave the room and make my way to the kitchen. Something tells me this meeting has something to do with my mate. Maybe the guys know what was going on?
"I put everything away already. We must of left a bag at the store." I hear Seth talking in the kitchen. "Saleen's pasta salad is missing too." I turn the corner and see Jace making his way towards the front door.
"Shit! Get the grill started." He yells while darting out the door.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Apparently these two Betty Crockers forgot an entire bag of groceries at the grocery store." Saleen laughs.
"Did you guys read Nick's text?" I ask.
They both gave me a puzzling look before looking at their phones.
"Do you think he found something?" Saleen asks. I shrug my shoulders. "Where is Nikki?"
"In my bed asleep." I answer her. Saleen and Seth just gave me a knowing smirk.
"Here let me do that." Saleen nudges Seth out of the way and takes over chopping the onion he was crying over. Saleen wears contacts so onions do not bother her eyes. Our sensitive wolf nose has us turning into babies just being in the same room.
"We need butter too." Seth grabs his phone off the counter to text Jace. Another phone in the room immediately starts to beep. "Shit! He left his phone here." Seth growls with annoyance. Saleen and I just laugh at him.
"I get the feeling she doesn't want to go back to wherever it is she came from." Saleen says while chopping her onion.
"Why would she want to go back? I don't think the bond would let her? It would drive a wolf mad." Seth adds.
"She is not a wolf." I say, stating the obvious.
"Mark called earlier today. Nick was in court and he left a message for him. I'm not sure but I think Nick had him looking into her." Of course he did. Mark was a private investigator.
The door opens, halting our conversation. Giles, Nick and Salvatore enter the house. I make it a point to look at each one of their faces but none give any clues to what is going on.
"Where is Jace?" Nick asks.
"He had to run back out. He forgot a few items needed for dinner." I reply.
Nick sighs in what I feel as relief. "It's probably best that he is not here for this. I should probably talk to him alone."
"Nikki?" Salvatore questions.
"Asleep in my bed."
Without another word Nick escorts us all to the conference room. Immediately we quietly take our seats and wait for what our alpha was going to tell us about our mate.
Nick lays it all out for us. He tells us everything Mark found about our mate. About Princess Vivka. My wolf snarls at the title. He is not pleased because he knows the title complicates things. We also find out that our mate is promised to another. She is in an arranged marriage to some prince or lord's son. I wasn't sure. It didn't matter. She wasn't marrying him anyway.
"What is the plan?" I ask. We need to come up with a solid course of action before Saturday. We only had a few hours.
"Hopefully we can figure that out together" Nick answers.
"But she is our mate." Giles adds. "She can't marry someone else."
"We agree this plan does include that snippet at least...right?" Seth interrupts.
"We are going to do what we have to." Nick quietly answers.
Salvatore interrupts. “Are you serious with this Nick?" He hisses. “Our mate, the girl that should be with us is planning to marry another man this weekend! What the hell is wrong with you? How can you be so calm about this?"
Nick narrows his eyes at his brother. I can feel his alpha and his anger seep out of him. "I'm not okay with this but if she wants to marry someone else. If she chooses someone else, it is her decision. She is the daughter of the freaking vampire king Salvatore! Her loyalties are not with us. She is a Dark and with that she has responsibilities to her house. I doubt Victor would just let his daughter be claimed by a group of wolf shifters." He yells. "I am your alpha, brother, and so I have ignored your disrespectful outburst until now because I know how this news is affecting us, but it stops now." He growls at Nick. Nick doesn't reply, only nods after a few seconds. Sal was only saying what we all felt. No one thought he did anything wrong but Nick could not allow his brother to disrespect his position in front of the pack.
The awkward silence is interrupted by our missing pack member. "What is going on?" Jace is standing at the door with a confused look on his face.
"Jace! Glad you could join us." Nick grunts.
"What is going on Nick?" Jace asks again.
Nick releases an exhausted sigh. “Could you guys give me and Jace a moment alone please?"
Without a word we all get up and file out of the room, leaving the two alone. I am a little confused to why Jace needs to be told this information in private. Perhaps because of the circumstances of his parent's death? His parents were killed by vampires. If I am remembering the details correctly, I'm pretty sure it was the Dark's that ordered the kill. It complicated things enough with our mate being a vampire but now we find she is also a Dark. Jace may not take the news well. I imagine Nick wants to control the situation. Alone and away from distractions is probably for the best.
Chapter Thirty
Nikki
I wake up sometime in the middle of the night to a dark room. Maddox is holding me close to him with his left arm draped over my stomach and his right arm under my head. I was so tired when I fell asleep I didn't hear him come to bed. Lying on his bed is like sleeping in the clouds. His bed is the softest bed I have ever slept in. Sleep took over as soon as I laid down. I have had the best sleep of my life under this roof. How is it possible that after only the few days that I have stayed here this place feels more like home to me than my own home? I pull away from Maddox but his grip tightens. He groans. "Don't go."
"I need to get some water Maddox. I promise I will be right back."
His body shifts a bit. "I will get it for you."
I reach back and grab his arm just as he is about to pull away. "No I don't want you to get up. I have to use the restroom anyway. I will get my own glass of water."
He lays back down and squeezes me before he inhales deeply, sniffing my neck and letting me go. "Hurry back sweetheart"
