Chapter Fourteen

I ached from head to toe the following morning, and the self-satisfied smirk on Cole's face told me he knew it. But my jubilation from the incredible night we'd shared faded in the cold light of the rising sun. Nothing had changed. The packs were still on the brink of war, and my mom was still paying the price.

And Cole…Cole was still facing an impossible decision. Fight his own father, or let his whole pack be torn apart in a war that would have no winners.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back into him.

"It's going to be okay, princess," he breathed in my ear, and I nodded, but the truth was, I couldn't see a way for that to be true. Whatever happened, life was going to change for us both. Forever.

I glanced through the window of our dorm at the rising sun and Cole followed the direction of my gaze.

"Time to go?" he asked.

"Yup. Demir doesn't need another excuse to single me out."

I felt the rumble in Cole's chest.

"You can't fight everyone who gives me a hard time," I told him.

"Watch me."

I turned around in his embrace and hooked my arms around his neck. "Hm, tempting as that offer is…"

I touched my lips to his and then pulled away regretfully. "See you after my lesson?"

"Count on it, princess."

I ducked out of the door and headed through the corridors to the vampire sector. The morning lessons in the feeding den remained a compulsory part of my day, and unquestionably the worst. It wasn't that I had an issues with vampires, as such. And I definitely didn't have an issue with consensual feeding. Some of the humans here lived for that. But the ones who'd been tricked here, bound to contracts designed to take advantage of their desperation? They deserved better.

And Thaden owed it to them. Or something to make their lives here a little less horrific, at least. It wasn't much, but that was what my deal with Thaden had bought them. And it didn't matter that the vampire prince hated me now, hated me for what I was, because we'd struck our deal, and I'd damned well honored it, even though it killed me to see the hatred and revulsion in his eyes as he fed. I'd honored it, and it was time for him to do the same.

I walked through the double doors into the feeding den, ignoring the whispers and snickers that broke out around me—I was more than used to them. If the vamps couldn't get over the fact I was here by now, well, I figured that was their problem, not mine.

…But I wished they'd go back to whispering quietly enough that I couldn't pick out their insults as I passed.

"…dirty dhampir…"

"…what a joke…"

"…should just throw her out…"

I kept my chin up and didn't look at them as I strode straight through, heading for my usual corner of the room. These sessions usually took two parts, the first being feeding, and the second being honing vampiric skills. And since I didn't feed or apparently possess any vampiric skills, my lessons here were much the same as my lessons with Alpha Ryker: I sat on my ass and tried not to look too bored. Of course, the difference was, I had some actual friends in that class.

A hand gripped my shoulder, the fingers digging in deep, and spun me around. I yelped in pain, and found myself staring into Thaden's furious eyes.

"Ow! Get off me," I snapped.

"Gladly," he snarled, slamming his hand into my chest and shoving me back hard. I crashed into the wall with a thud, forcing the air from my lungs, but before I could demand to know what the hell he was doing, he was in my face.

"Think it's funny, do you, sweetness?" he hissed. "Do you imagine this gives you some kind of power over me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I gasped, trying to focus on anything but the two inches of menace-filled air that separated us.

"Don't play the dumb little human with me. Did the two of you have a good laugh about it, knowing that I needed—" He broke off and dragged a hand over his face. "Where the fuck were you last night?"

"Not that it's any of your business—"

He slammed his hand against the wall, trapping me between his arm and the corner.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, sweetness," he said coldly. "Everything you do is my business, and you'd better not forget it."

"Fuck you," I snapped, but the way my voice shook did nothing to help my cause, and I saw Thaden's pupils dilate in response to my fear. Fuck.

"You do not want to play this game with me," he said. "You won't win."

"The only one around here playing games is you. Trust me—"

He threw his head back and laughed, the malice in the sound sending shivers down my spine. He snapped his gaze forward to glare at me.

"Trust you? Not in this lifetime, sweetness. We made a deal, and you reneged."

"I did not r—"

"Then where the fuck were you last night?" His shout thundered around me, and I knew some of the other vampires were looking our way—just as I knew not a single one of them would step in to help me. There was a time Thaden had been the one to do that…but that time was clearly over.

"I tried to tell you, but you didn't want to hear it. Shockingly, not every part of my life revolves around you, vampire."

He curled his lip in a sneer. "We'll just see about that. Since you didn't show last night, guess I'll just get the blood elsewhere."

He twisted round to look back over his shoulder, and I looked past him to see Thessalia eyeing me coldly, but it wasn't her who caught my attention. It was the human standing immobile with her vise-like grip around his arm. Sam.

"You wouldn't," I hissed.

"Oh, I fully intend to. I sure hope I don't lose control and drain him completely."

"Thaden, no!"

He spun on his heel, shaking me off effortlessly as I grabbed at his arm.

"Thaden!"

"Brother," Thessalia purred. "Come, feed."

She shot me a look loaded with loathing and hatred and my step faltered. We'd never been friends, but we'd at least been allies last year.

Thaden grabbed Sam by his shirt and pulled him closer, yanking his head roughly aside to expose his throat. Sam's jaw clenched for a heartbeat before he forced himself to relax. There was nothing he could do to fight back. Even if he'd the slightest chance against Thaden, resistance of any kind would get him executed.

"Thaden, don't," I said, my voice catching in my throat. "I'm sorry."

He twisted his head to meet my eye. "Me too, sweetness."

Then his mouth parted and he slammed his fangs into Sam's throat. Sam jolted in his grip, gasping in pain, and I lurched a step forward, but the reality was that I was as helpless as him against Thaden. I might be a dhampir, but I didn't have any kind of vampire strength. I was powerless to do anything but watch, and we all knew it.

Abruptly, Thaden pulled back with a hiss, spitting Sam's blood from his mouth.

"Fuck!"

He shoved Sam away, sending him staggering towards me, and pivoted on his heel, slamming his way through the doors and out of the room.

I caught Sam, steadying him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said coolly, shrugging off my grip.

"You're not," I said, looking at the messy wound on his neck that was still oozing blood and showing no sign of stopping. "Your wound needs to be treated."

"I said I'm fine!"

I glared over at Thessalia—or rather, where she'd been—but she was gone. Presumably running after her brother. Whatever. I had more immediate problems.

"Look," I said, lowering my voice and hoping the rest of the vampires had lost interest in us. "You're pissed off, I get it. And you have every right to be. I'm sorry you got caught up in this, I am. But he made a mess of your neck. It needs to be treated. Let me take you to the med wing, please?"

He glared at me for a long moment before his face softened and he huffed out a sigh. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Thank you." I wrapped my arm around his back, ready to steady him when the blood loss caught up with him. Which, judging by the mess Thaden had made of his neck when he'd yanked his fangs out, would not be long.

Ignoring what I had no doubt were derogatory stares from the remaining vamps in the room, I steered Sam towards the doors. We'd almost reached them when they swung inwards and a figure strode through, pausing as he caught sight of me.

"Where do you think you're going with my human, dhampir?" Demir demanded.

"He needs a healer…sir."

The instructor curled his upper lip in a sneer. "I'll be the judge of that, Ellis."

He gripped Sam's chin between thumb and forefinger, twisting his head aside to look at the wound on his neck, then tutted in irritation.

"Fine. Get him out of here. Make sure you're back before the end of my lesson."

"Yes, Instructor," I forced out. Wouldn't want him to miss his daily dose of tormenting me, after all.

I hurried out with Sam before he could change his mind, and we'd made it as far as the end of the corridor when a shadow fell across our paths. Great. Just what we needed.

"Thessalia. What do you want?"

"You and I need to have a little talk."

"Little busy," I said, jerking my thumb at Sam. "Thanks to that stunt you and your brother pulled."

"Oh, we'll do far worse than that if you try to deny me."

I opened my mouth to do exactly that, but Sam gave a quick shake of his head and averted his eyes. "I'm fine."

"See?" Thessalia sneered. "Your little pet is unharmed."

"He's not a—" I shook my head and blew out a breath. I wasn't sure if she was deliberately trying to get under my skin, or if that was truly how she viewed him—the latter, knowing her—but either way I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was getting to me. "Just say what you've got to say."

I moved my arm from Sam and he nodded gratefully, leaning back to rest against the wall.

"You owe my brother. I refuse to allow you to humiliate him like this for your own satisfaction."

"My own satisfaction?" I gaped at her. "Do you really think I'm getting some kind of sick pleasure from his dependency?"

"I know you do." Her dark eyes slashed across my face in a way that I suspected she'd have liked to do with an actual weapon. "Why else would you force him to come begging for your blood?"

"Begging? Do you even hear yourself? He never begged, not a single time. He never even asked until Cole warned him off. He just took, without permission."

"And you view this as some kind of penance? That is why you torment him and deny him?"

"For the last time, I had my own shit to take care of yesterday. And if you have a problem with my family coming before your brother's addiction, then I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to get used to it. Yes, I said I'd meet Thaden last night. And yes, something else came up. Deal with it."

I made to turn away and she caught my arm.

"Deal?" she said, arching her brow. "That is an interesting choice of word for one who doesn't seem so keen on upholding her own deals."

"I'm not the one not upholding my end of that deal, Thessalia. I snuck out of Iron Shadow's packlands all summer to let Thaden feed, and hell, I've even let him feed every week since I got back, despite him turning out to be a racist bigot who can't stand the sight of me ever since he found out I was a dhampir."

"You think—" She cut off sharply, clamping her lips shut.

Something about her expression gave me pause.

"What?"

"Nothing." She waved a hand. "Continue your pointless diatribe."

"No. You were about to say something. What was it?"

She looked briefly uncomfortable. "It is not for me to say."

"But you're going to tell me anyway," I pressed. "Because I'm guessing Thaden doesn't know about this little chat."

"How dare you try to make demands of me?" she hissed.

"I'm not one of your simpering sycophants," I said coolly. "You should be used to that by now. I don't care who you are on the outside, I care that you're in my way."

"Maybe you should have a little more care," she said. "Because like it or not, I am princess of the Moritego clan and you are little more than a gnat to me."

"A gnat that your brother needs." Which didn't change the fact she was right, or that if Cole challenged for alpha of Iron Shadow, he would need allies—allies that had once included Thessalia and her brother. I forced an evenness to my voice. "I'm not looking for a fight with you. Neither of us would win, and there's a whole pack of wolves that would love to watch. Probably some vampires, too, I'm guessing. We helped each other last year, so can we at least go back to tolerating each other? Even if I am a dhampir?"

"My dislike of you has nothing to do with your heritage."

I blinked in surprise. "It doesn't?"

"Of course not. What do I care for outdated laws governing lesser creatures?"

Right.

"So, what, you've got a problem with something else about me?"

"You cannot possibly be this obtuse."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Pretend that I am."

"My hatred of you, dhampir, has nothing to do with what you are, and everything to do with the way you're treating my brother."

"That…That's it?"

"You spoke of family before." She raked her eyes over me with disdain. "I would have thought you had at least some comprehension of what it meant."

"Huh. Well if you don't have a problem with me being a dhampir, and you guys being twins feel the same way about pretty much everything, then what's Thaden's problem with me?"

"Ask him," she ground out. "When you give him your blood, which had better be soon."

"Tell him this evening," I said curtly. "The library. But I expect to see some sign of him delivering on his end of the bargain. The feeder den will have a collection of new books delivered. Today."

"Done."

"Good. And one more thing, Thessalia. If you or Thaden ever try to use Sam—or any other human here, for that matter—to get to me, I will never allow him another drop of my blood."

She held my stare for a long moment. "You should get your pet to the healer. He's looking a little pale."

I twisted round with a curse and saw she was right. When I looked back, she was gone.

"Come on," I said to Sam, slipping my arm around his back again. "Let's get you to Marin."