66. Friendly Visit.
Narrator’s POV.
“Sir, I do not think the vampires will let us enter their borders so easily”, one of the guards in the alpha king’s vehicle said, he had chosen to share a vehicle with his second in command, the luna queen’s maid who was squished in between the two powerful men and two other guards; the new head guard included.
The journey was awfully silent, every other person was afraid to say something that would provoke the alpha king in anyway, he seemed to be in a very damp mood and was visibly conflicted; in other words, he was a ticking timebomb just waiting to go off.
“This is a friendly visit”, he assured, “I will speak to the vampire lord, I do not care what it takes, I will get my mate today”. The head guard nodded and informed the other vehicles ahead to slow down and not enter the Vampire territory until they are given the go ahead to do so.
With a grumpy sigh, the alpha king took out a small phone and dialed a number that he had, imprinted into his mind, he had not dialed the number in years but somehow, he knew it like he knew himself. With a heavy sigh, he clicked the call button and waited for the receiver to pick up,
“As I live and breathe, I never thought this day will come”, the vampire lord said smugly over the phone but the alpha king was not in the mood for his teasing,
“Tell your men to stand down, I am coming in”, he ordered and ended the call before the vampire lord had a chance to say anything else or go against his request. “Tell the troops to go”, he told the head guard and faced the window, he still could not believe that he had not seen Daphne in such a long time, how did he not miss her? How could he not differentiate Daphne’s sweet and gentle touch from the touch of that woman? Did he have sex with her?
He began to panic, just thinking about the possibilities of him having sex with another woman other than his chosen, even though it was done unconsciously and he was under a spell? Daphne would have felt pain if he did, it would have hurt her severely.
Maybe he should have just gone back home and never see Daphne again, the shame of him doing such a thing to her was too much to bear. How could he face her when he had so many terrible things to her that he could not even account for?
He wanted to call of the whole mission but, it was too late. They had already passed the border line and the vampire lord had already done as he wished, going back now would just make him look like a big coward.
“She is in a shed at the western border”, his trusty second in command informed him,
“Head guard, inform the others about this immediately”, he ordered once more, having mixed feelings about getting to see Daphne again, his inner turmoil was unexplainable, one side of him felt that she missed him dearly and still loved him as much as she used to while the other felt that she never wanted to see him again and hated him with every bone in her body, he just hoped it was not the latter.
“That is the shed”, Sarah pointed out, she had avoided talking till now as she sat beside the alpha king and any rage directed at anybody would affect her first.
The cars stopped in front of the shed and the alpha king got down, “It sounds empty”, he said, scanning the environment, he walked towards the door and opened it, “It is empty but I can smell her scent”, a loud growl erupted from his lips at his mate not being where she was supposedly meant to be.
He went back to the car and slammed the door shut in anger, “Where are we heading to now?”, Fredrick asked,
“To the vampire lord’s castle”, he said without looking at his second in command. He looked outside the window once the car started moving again, he was watching every move of the vampires hiding about in the corners of the bushes. They did not know he could see them and he liked it that way, if they tried anything stupid, they were in for the surprise of a life time.
They finally got to the castle with no glitches and the alpha king headed straight into the building before the big vehicle even stopped. He barged into the throne room, “Where is she?”, he asked immediately,
“I thought you said this was a friendly visit?”, the vampire lord smirked at the man in front of him and tilted his head to the side, “Plus, you have to be more specific on who this ‘she’ is, I am a ladies man you know? I have a lot of shes”, he was testing the alpha king’s patience and he loved every second of it,
“You know exactly who I am talking about, Eric, where is my mate?”, he growled,
“Your mate?”, he cocked up and eyebrow, “I bought her for a good price”,
“You bought my mate?”, the alpha king’s face scrunched up with anger, how dare he ‘buy’ his mate?
“Well, it was either that or leave her to die with a couple of men”, the vampire lord shrugged, “They called a reasonable price and so, I bought her fair and square”,
“My mate is not property, Eric. Hand her over”, he demanded, sick and tired of this back and forth. This was why he hardly talked to Eric, he always tried his absolute best to get on his very last nerve, he enjoyed every bit of his frustration.
“Of course, you are one to talk, Mr. I own everything”, Eric accused, basking in the glory of his friend’s anger, it was obvious to anyone that they had some sort of twisted and complicated relationship.
“I do not say that”, his eyes turned darker and he scowled in frustration, “I do not say that. Now, hand my mate over before things get messy”, he threatened,
“You cannot beat me in my own home, Dwayne”, as much as the vampire lord enjoyed making the alpha king angry, he never took his threats lightly, he knew the king of power his friend possessed but he would always put up a fight no matter what.
“Then stand up and fight me!”,
The vampire lord stood up from his throne and rolled up his sleeves, “I will do just that”, they were about to pounce on each other when a loud voice rand out,
“What the fuck is going on here?!”, the alpha king did not have to be told who that voice belonged to or who the carrier of the beautiful scent that fumed his nose was. He turned his body immediately and his eyes met with hers for the first time in a long while.
His rigid and attacking posture slacked as he relaxed his body and scanned her over, she looked awfully different from the last time he had seen her, but one thing stood out to him the most; she had lost the spark in her eyes, that spark that he adored the most about her.
He could not help but think he was the cause of this, it was all his fault, he did this to her and he had no idea on how to make things right. How could he possibly make up for months of sleeping on the same bed with another woman, the same bed she lost her innocence to him on.
“Daphne”, he whispered gently, his dark eyes turned soft as he looked at her, to him, she was still very beautiful, not a flaw to be seen although her features had changed. How was it possible that she was bigger since the last time he saw her? Was Eric over feeding his mate or had she just hit puberty all over again?
“Dwayne”, she said back, “What is he doing here?”, she asked the vampire lord,
“He said he wants you back”, Eric shrugged and sat back on his throne once he saw that Dwayne was no longer ready to fight him,
Her face turned back to her mate, “I cannot go with you, Dwayne”,
“What? Why not?”, he was confused, why did she not want to go with him?
“It is not that simple. I really want to go with you but I just can’t right now”, she bent her head down so she would not have to see the sadness in his eyes,
“Is this why you left the shed? You knew I was coming?”, he spat in anger,
“No, I was attacked there a couple days back. A few stray vampires found my location and tried to kill me. Luckily for me, it was one of Eric’s visiting days”, she smiled at Eric making Dwayne’s blood boil.
“You are my mate, you have to come with me, this place is not safe for you, your kingdom is”, he tried to reason with her,
She shook her head, “I am sorry”, with tears in her eyes, she ran away from the room and he went to follow her,
“Wait”, Eric said, “I will talk to her”, he volunteered,
The alpha king growled, “No, she is my mate”,
“She will listen to me”, he assured while rolling his eyes and walking away.