Chapter 11 I Provoked Him
Brea’s POV
I stormed out of the sorcerer’s office, every muscle in my body coiled tight.
My hands his gripped the arms of the chair like I could crush it,
“You—this morning you said we’d talk about it rationally. That nothing had to mean more than it did. Well, fuck that! You shouldn’t have put your stupid dick in my body!”
The sorcerer froze, he hadn’t expected this at all.
Rayne, back in my small body stiffened beside me, pale, horrified.
“I was a virgin!” I shouted upon my lungs. “And you made me think it meant something! That it was love!”
The sorcerer blinked, clearly caught off guard, and opened his mouth, but I didn’t care.
I gripped Rayne-in-my-body’s arm tightly, forcing him to stay still. “Don’t say anything,” I hissed. “Not a word. You’ve already said enough.”
He froze, jaw tight, realizing he couldn’t talk his way out of this one. His eyes flicked to the sorcerer, who still looked shocked, and he muttered, carefully, “Thank you,” for… something. Politeness? Etiquette? I didn’t care.
I let out a bitter laugh and spun toward the elevator.
The sorcerer waved us off. I noticed the contrast immediately: Rayne calm, composed, untouchable; me I was burning, trembling, and furiously confused.
We walked toward the corridor in silence. Rayne’s arm brushed mine as we moved. I flinched, more at the memory than at him.
We stopped in front of the elevator. The polished metal reflected two masked figures: me, tall and imposing; him, smaller, hidden in black fabric like we were strangers to each other.
The doors slid open. Several employees were already inside with suits and tablets.
The Quiet conversations died the second I stepped in. Even masked, I carried something heavier than presence. People felt it without knowing why. Of course it was Rayne’s vampire Aura.
The doors closed. The elevator began descending.
“Your Highness.” My stomach sank as I turned.
A young girl approached me. It was Elira, princess of one of the vampire enclaves.
She wore a dark gown that hugged her form, impossible to ignore. Her eyes lingered on my main body like she was completely jealous, I realized, and maybe it was resentment.
She had been in love with Rayne since childhood. When they were children, their parents had arranged an engagement—one Rayne had quietly ended, ignoring her completely.
She had spent years waiting for him to choose her and now she had heard about the engagement party he had called for… broadcast nationwide for some human girl.
That infuriated her. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said smoothly. “And with her.”
Her gaze slid to me still in Rayne’s body.
“You still keep this one?” she added lightly. “I thought you preferred something less… defiant.”
Heat rose in my chest. I straightened instinctively, forcing myself into Rayne’s composure: cold, controlled, unshaken.
Rayne, trapped in my body, said nothing. While Elira stepped closer....too close. Then she reached out and gripped him in my body by the chin, tilting his face up.
“Humans should remember their place.”
The world snapped as the pressure exploded inside me as my ribs tightened as my vision warped.
The elevator’s hum twisted into something jagged and wrong.
In a heartbeat, we switched back.
My small, human body felt heavy and fragile under me. Rayne tall, and strong, stood in his immortal body again.
The sudden shift left me stumbling, disoriented, and painfully aware of my vulnerability.
Rayne moved faster than human eyes could track. He caught Elira’s wrist mid-push.
And this time his eyes turned bloodshot with veins darkening beneath pale skin.
The temperature in the elevator seemed to drop as his grip tightened.
For a split second, I felt it. The killing intent. If she breathed wrong, she would not see another month.
Someone whimpered as another person pressed himself against the elevator wall in fear to not look at Rayne
Rayne removed his mask slowly, without breaking eye contact. The fabric fell. Gasps erupted.
“It’s the Prince Rayne—” That name was known to cause fear and havoc instantly.
Elira’s confidence shattered as she stared into his bloodshot eyes.
His voice was low and deadly calm,
“You will not touch what is mine.”
He leaned slightly closer with his bloodshot eyes. “Do you mistake my tolerance for permission?”
His fingers tightened just enough to make her wince. For a heartbeat, I was certain he was going to kill her. Right here.
I moved carefully with my hands gripping his wrist.
“Rayne,” I said, with a shaking breath in my attempt to calm him.
His gaze snapped to me. Still bloodshot. Still dangerous. Focused now.
I shook my head slightly. The elevator dinged. Doors slid open to a frozen lobby.
Dozens of eyes stared. Security cameras tracked us as phones lifted.
Rayne’s jaw flexed slowly, deliberately. He released Elira and immediately she stumbled back, shaken as her wrist was red where he had held her. He did not look at her again.
His arm shifted from my wrist to my waist, pulling me slightly closer. My mask slipped. Fell.
My face was exposed as a collective inhale rippled through the lobby.
“He defended a human.”
“Did you see his eyes?”
“He was going to kill her…”
Rayne didn’t deny it. He didn’t explain. He simply guided me forward out of the elevator.
I didn’t lean into him. I didn’t cling. My body trembled with shock, confusion, and the crushing realization that last night might not have been love at all.
And as we walked, I realized: the curse may have been unstable, but what I saw in his eyes, that protective, possessive fury, was real. Too real.
If true love was the cure… then maybe it was already growing.
And in our world, that was far more dangerous than hate.