Outcast Island

AN EXILED SECTOR NOVEL

They're hunting me.

And I didn't even get a chance to run.

But it doesn't mean I won't bite .

When I was sold into slavery, I made sure I wasn't worth bedding. I bit. I fought. I made such a snarl of things, they drugged me to try and calm me down.

They would have eventually won, had I not been rescued.

Silly me, thinking that was the end of it.

Of course I would crash land on an island.

And now I'm being hunted on this exiled sector of brutal vampires.

They're after my body and my blood.

Magnus is one of them.

I should be terrified of the gorgeous male who has taken me to his lair. Yet, when the blood has washed off and the moon turns red from his dark deeds, I realize he's not like the others.

He's darkly beautiful.

He's patient in his form of hunting me.

He's powerful in the way he says he'll claim me.

But he's waiting for something.

I'm not entirely sure what.

Because I'm not like the females he knows.

There's no way I can go into heat and take his knot like he wants.

There's no way I can take his seed.

… Right?

Chapter 1: Magnus

Pathetic.

That's the only way to describe the alpha vampire on his knees begging for his life at my feet.

I let him plead even though there's nothing he can say that'll change his fate. His doom is as certain as the crunch of dead leaves beneath my boots and the moonlight filtering through the dense island tree cover.

The mild breeze does nothing to temper the molten desire to kill running through my veins.

A fire burns inside my chest and pain radiates through my jaw. My fangs are longer than usual. They're like a rage hard-on that won't go away until I've sunk them into warm flesh, ripping and biting until the deed is done.

One death might not even be enough tonight. But that's okay. I have other tactics to stem my needs.

Beg for your life, I mentally demand. He can't hear me, but my power as an alpha vampire works on the sheer force of my dominance. It extends beyond me in a tangible wave and makes the very trees bend toward us as I snarl. Likewise, he stiffly bows his head in the submission I require.

I almost feel sorry for the vampire. But drawing out the kill helps my little rage problem.

Yes, I think as a refreshing wave of coolness sparks inside my soul. It only lasts for a moment, but this is how I temper the growing fire that will consume me whole if I ignore it.

I've tried to pretend the urge didn't exist. I let it grow too large before, and I nearly paid the price.

That's why I am on . No one marked me for exile.

I did it to myself.

And because of my choice of exile, I know my victim deserves this humiliation before he dies.

Only the worst of the worst end up on . Meaning, this vampire is a ruthless killer.

Perhaps I am, too, but there's one thing I don't share in common with the assholes who are exiled to this blood-forsaken place.

I protect the innocent.

Even if that means protecting them from me.

"You can have my rations!" he says, as if I care for the cold blood that Alpha Fare will give this worthless piece of shit. Sure, it might be Vampire Omega blood that'll better sustain me, but I have my own means of procuring blood when I need it.

Only, leaving the island requires that my rage levels be at their lowest for me to safely venture out. My urges seem to climb to new heights every day, requiring more and more blood and violence until I feel like myself again.

Hence, my little playtime with this asshole here.

"Why would I want your rations?" I ask as I slowly crouch. My leather boots creak as I settle and crunch more of the dead leaves beneath my heel. I grip his hair and yank his head up so that I can see his face. His black eyes stare back at me with panic and a little bit of insanity that comes with a vampire who has gone without blood for too long.

He doesn't try to run. He knows who I am and why I've targeted him. Alpha Fare might run this island, but we have an unspoken agreement. If any of his men disappoint him, or challenge him, they are marked.

This time not for exile, but for me .

The mark is easy to point out. If a vampire has Alpha Fare's blood on him, he's fair game.

I could scent the stench on this vampire a mile away.

Another reason he doesn't run is he knows that the predator in me will take over if he does. I'll rip his spine from his body and gnaw on it like an appetizer before he's taken three steps.

And he wouldn't get very far in his current state, anyway.

He's hungry. So am I, but that seems to make my magic stronger with its need to dominate and bend everyone and everything around me to my will.

It's not just domination I need.

It's their pain and a need to make them bleed.

Tilting my head, my dark hair falls across my face. I don't bother pushing it away as I peer at him through the parted strands. Rage burns inside of me, demanding an outlet and making my jaw throb in pain. My chest rumbles with a growl that I can't keep in. "Why settle for rations when I can just feed on you?"

His eyes widen as if he hadn't expected that. Did the idiot forget how my rage worked?

I need to drink blood. A lot of it. It doesn't matter what kind of blood it is or if my body will reject it.

The rage inside of me demands that rivers run red, and there are plenty of those in that will never be blue again.

My fingers wrap around his throat, stifling whatever sound he's about to make. He thrashes and snarls, but he's no match for me.

Bleed, I demand.

He grunts underneath my punishing grip as slashes appear all over his body.

My fangs graze his cheek, splitting his skin open to form a few droplets of his dark blood when a ball of fire streaks across the sky. It hurts my sensitive eyes to look up at it, but the sight is so unusual that I fixate on the object, watching it as it heads toward the emptiness of the sea.

No, that's not a fireball.

That's an escape pod.

My nostrils flare as I immediately snap the vampire's neck. His death fuels my magic, allowing me the power I need for a new task.

This way, I order the escape pod. I watch as it jerks with uncertainty through the sky.

I hope whoever is inside is secured, because my domination isn't gentle or subtle, even when I'm trying to help.

I wipe my fingers over the vampire's mouth and draw his blood into mine. My vision turns red in response as my stomach twists with the wrongness of drinking another alpha vampire's blood.

But I know that I have to keep it together. Those marked for exile didn't crash on this island. They were brought in on a regular schedule. Alpha Fare had initiated a new batch of vampires only just last week.

Meaning that whoever was in that escape pod was an innocent.

Stay, I command as I break into a run. Ancient trees crack against me, snapping and bowing out of the way as I rush toward the crash site.

I'm not the only one. The sickly scent of at least a hundred other alpha vampires are tracking the same target.

Whoever is in that escape pod is fresh blood.

A crack sounds through the forest as the escape pod pops open. I'm nowhere near it, but my hearing can pick up sounds from miles away.

My sense of smell is even more powerful, and when I take an inhale to scent the newcomer for more information I'm sent to my knees.

Dirt explodes all around me as I crash to the ground and my breath catches in my chest. Pain jerks through me as the fires inside of me roar to life.

What the hell?

I flash my gaze through the treeline, unable to see anything except the blur of alpha vampires reacting similarly to me. They're stunned, but they'll recover in a moment.

Because the newcomer isn't just an innocent.

She's an Omega Vampire.

And she's about to go into heat.

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