Prologue

PROLOGUE

1146 A.D.

London, England

T here was a time when he never would have set foot in a place like this, but now…

It was exactly where he needed to be.

Logan watched as the whore, who’d offered him the use of her mouth for a few coins, tilted her head back so that the vampire that had taken her up on her offer could sweep her hair back as his eyes turned silver and two white fangs slid down past yellow teeth and found their way inside her neck. When she released a well-practiced moan a moment later, Logan took in the rest of the tavern that had taken him two winters to find. He watched as men and women willingly allowed vampires to feed from their necks while shifters ate from large platters of meat, fruit, and bread drizzled in honey as he ignored the vampire watching him from across the room.

He wouldn’t touch him. At least, not here. They had rules, ones that ensured that humans were able to come here without having to worry about their throats being ripped out. They provided humans with a few coins, a free meal, and a chance to find someone willing to give them their protection and, for their part, vampires came here for an easy meal while shifters came here to bury their cocks without having to worry about suddenly finding themselves mated.

While Logan was here, he was untouchable until he made his decision, but the moment he did, his fate would be sealed. If he chose wrong, there would be no going back. Once he was marked, no other vampire or shifter could touch him. He’d learned that lesson the first night he came here when he saw a vampire pull a woman that had already been marked onto his lap and drank from her. Within minutes, his heart had been torn out and the girl had been drained dry as punishment.

He’d learned a lot about the world that he never knew existed until the only thing that he loved was taken from him, and then…

He’d learned everything that he needed to destroy it.

Slowly exhaling, Logan dropped his head in his hands as the last memory that he had of Elizabeth threatened to destroy him. She’d been on her knees, begging him to save her and he…

Hadn’t been able to move fast enough.

“How much?” came the curious question that had Logan looking up to find the vampire who’d been watching him all night dropping down onto the bench across from him.

“What are you offering?” Logan asked as he leaned back against the wall while he considered the vampire before him.

“My protection,” the vampire said with a hint of an accent that Logan couldn’t quite place as he allowed his brown eyes to turn silver.

“Not interested,” Logan said as he sat there, debating between two worlds.

“You’re not marked,” the vampire said after a slight hesitation.

“No, I’m not,” Logan murmured absently as he watched the shifters as he thought about all the possibilities, only to decide that it wasn’t worth the risk, not when there was no guarantee that he would survive the transition.

Then again, there was no guarantee that he would be turned into an Alpha if he did survive. He’d still have immortality, heal faster than a human and be able to tear this world apart during the three nights of the full moon, but it wouldn’t be enough.

That left…

“You want immortality,” the vampire correctly guessed, looking amused as he considered him.

“That surprises you?” Logan asked as he shifted his gaze to the other side of the room and watched as humans vied for attention from vampires while others simply climbed onto their laps and bared their necks. The last thing that he wanted was a lifetime of avoiding the sun and being forced to gorge on the blood of whores and thieves to survive, but for Elizabeth, he would do that much and more.

“No one will willingly change you, not while your blood is still pure,” the vampire murmured absently as he followed Logan’s gaze and watched a whore drop to her knees to service a human male while his Master drank from his neck.

As she wrapped her mouth around the human’s cock, Logan slowly took in the rest of the tavern, running his gaze over the freshly scrubbed floors and tables before shifting his attention to the whores who’d scrubbed their skin raw, knowing that they would be turned away if they didn’t. Humans carrying the scent of filth or disease were barred from entering, which was the reason why he’d never had a problem gaining entry.

He’d never consorted with whores or drank to excess, always made sure that his clothes were cleaned with boiled cloves and flower petals and that his skin was scrubbed clean before he came here. He suspected the real reason that he’d never been turned away was because he’d never touched a woman before. It was something that he knew the vampire sitting across from him wouldn’t have been able to pick up, but the shifter guarding the tavern would have known before Logan had a chance to walk through the front door.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” the vampire said when Logan spotted the vampire that tried to follow him home last night leaning back against the far wall as silver eyes locked on him.

“I know,” Logan said as he slowly took in the rest of the room, noting the vampires that were watching him before shifting his gaze back to the one sitting across from him.

“You have nothing to offer them that would make them willingly give up your blood,” he said, watching Logan with something close to pity.

“And if I did something to make my blood less tempting…” Logan said, letting his words trail off as he considered his options.

“They’ll probably drain you dry before ripping your throat out,” the vampire said, shrugging it off.

Nodding, Logan said, “And coin?”

“You’re planning on buying your way into immortality?” the vampire asked as he ran his eyes over Logan, taking in the quality of his tunic before shaking his head. “You don’t have enough coin to make it worth it.”

“I have other skills,” Logan said, watching as the vampire considered him for a moment before reaching over and grabbing hold of his hand and turned it over, taking in the healed callouses and scars before releasing it.

“You’re a servant,” the vampire said dismissively.

“I’m a carpenter,” Logan corrected him, watching the vampire’s lips twitch.

“There’s a difference?” the vampire asked, sounding amused.

“Probably not to you,” Logan said, even as he couldn’t help but wonder how old the vampire really was. He looked to be around thirty winters old, but he could just as easily be a hundred winters old or even a thousand. Then again, if he was newly turned, then Logan was wasting his time.

“Probably not,” came the absently murmured response as the vampire drummed his fingertips against the tabletop while he considered him. “What’s your name?”

“What’s yours?” Logan countered.

“Evander,” the vampire drawled, the crisp accent that Logan couldn’t quite place thickening as he gestured for Logan to answer him.

“Logan,” he said as he considered the vampire sitting across from him.

“Are you going to tell me why I should change you, Logan?” Evander asked as his fingertips continued drumming against the tabletop in a slow cadence.

“Because you’re not going to have a choice,” Logan said, watching as the vampire’s lips slowly pulled up into a smile.

“Planning on attacking me and stealing my blood?” Evander asked, not really sounding all that concerned.

“Something like that,” Logan murmured absently as he watched the reason why he was here drop down onto the bench next to Evander.

“He’s under my protection,” Kale said as he reached for Logan’s mug.

“I don’t see your mark,” Evander said as Kale’s silver eyes locked on Logan over the rim of his mug.

“How well do you think you’ll see it with your throat ripped out?” Kale drawled as he took another sip before placing the mug down on the table.

“Probably not well,” Evander drawled with a reluctant sigh as he stood up and stepped away from the table. With a murmured, “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again,” Evander shot one last glance in Logan’s direction before he made his way to the door.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Kale said as he reached over and helped himself to the untouched platter the servants brought earlier.

“You should have been running instead,” Logan said, watching Kale rip a piece of bread off the loaf and dip it in the stew as he allowed his silver eyes to fade back to green.

“You don’t belong here, Logan,” Kale said while Logan sat there, taking in the large man that he’d known since he was a boy, from his dark hair to his silver eyes and wondered how he could have missed the fact that the man he’d once considered his brother was really a monster.

“You expect me to forget about Elizabeth?” Logan asked, watching as Kale ripped off another piece of bread.

“Yes,” Kale said with a heavy sigh as he dipped the piece of bread in the stew and tossed it in his mouth before grabbing Logan’s mug and finished off the rest of the ale. “Go home, find a wife, raise a family, and forget that any of this happened.”

“And if I say no?” Logan asked, wondering how many of the old tales about monsters were true. He grew up hearing tales of men turning into beasts during the full moon and of men stalking the night and gorging on blood, but he’d never thought that any of them were true until that night.

“Then, I’ll take the choice out of your hands,” Kale said, keeping his eyes locked on Logan as he gestured for him to stand up. When Logan didn’t move, he said, “You don’t want to do this,” as he allowed his eyes to flash silver, giving Logan the reminder that he needed.

After a slight hesitation, Logan clenched his jaw tightly shut as he stood up and made his way to the door, past the whores moaning for more and the vampires watching him go. Ignoring the cold air rushing over him, Logan made his way down to the docks, past the vampires standing in the shadows watching him go and ducked down the dark alleyway to his left.

He used the soft moonlight making its way through the thatched roofs above to find his way. He stepped over garbage, sleeping dogs, and buckets filled with rainwater and made his way behind a row of cottages before making his way behind the church, past the butcher, and then…

He was closing his eyes as he reached out and ran his fingertips over the dried mud coating the cottage walls while he made his way past the tavern that he’d stayed at the night before his world was destroyed and past the whore houses, knowing his way by heart. Every night since Elizabeth had been taken from him, he’d walked this path, taking the same shortcut that he’d taken that night, eager to finally make Elizabeth his wife, only to find her waiting for him with a blade at her throat.

“You have to stop doing this to yourself,” Kale said as Logan came to a stop a few feet away from where he was forced to watch Elizabeth’s body fall to the ground.

“You should have saved her,” Logan said as he thought about the moment when he realized that everything that he knew about this world was a lie.

“I made a choice,” Kale said as Logan stood there, staring down at the ground as he thought about everything that he’d lost that night.

He would never see Elizabeth again.

He would never hold her again, kiss her, or finally take her into his bed. They would never marry, never raise a family on the land that he’d worked so hard for, and they would never grow old together and it was all because of the man that never should have lied to him.

“I couldn’t give them what they wanted,” Kale said on a soft groan seconds before he was stumbling past him with his hand pressed against his stomach while Logan stood there wondering how long her screams would haunt him.

“No, you couldn’t, could you?” Logan murmured as he watched Kale drop to his knees on the spot where Elizabeth had fallen with a pained grunt. When he tried to get up a moment later, his legs gave out, dropping him back down on the ground.

There was a time when the thought of hurting someone would have turned his stomach, but now…

Logan watched blood trickle down the bastard’s chin as he struggled to breathe. “Wh-What...” Kale asked in a daze as silver eyes searched his.

“Silphium,” Logan said on a bored murmur as he watched Kale’s arms give out, dropping him to the ground with a weak groan.

“What’s that?” Kale asked in a daze.

“The reason why you can’t shift,” Logan said as he leaned down and ripped the silver coin he’d sewn into his trouser cuffs free with a sigh.

“I was protecting you!” Kale growled as his hands fisted in mud.

“I didn’t need your protection,” Logan said, absently flipping the silver coin between his fingertips as he watched Kale struggle to shift so that he could destroy the herb that was working its way through his body.

“She wasn’t who you thought she was,” Kale bit out between clenched teeth.

“She was everything to me,” Logan said as he reached down and yanked Kale’s tunic aside and placed the silver coin between his large shoulders. “And you were my brother,” Logan said with a sigh as he reached down and grabbed a handful of mud and placed it on top of the coin to stop it from moving and ending this too soon.

“I still am,” Kale bit out as he struggled to reach back and push the coin off his back, only to give up with a pained groan when his arm refused to cooperate.

“Did you know that silphium is the only plant that can mimic the effects of silver? It’s sweet and blends in well with ale, making it difficult for even a shifter to scent,” Logan drawled as he stood up and took his time walking around Kale as the shifter struggled to breathe through the pain that was most likely tearing his body apart.

“Don’t do this,” Kale managed to get out on a pained groan, but Logan simply ignored him as he knelt down by his side.

“I’ve learned a lot since that night,” Logan murmured absently as he wrapped his hand around Kale’s throat, “like how far I can take this before killing you.”