The law of the Mate

The chains around my wrists dug into my skin as the guards dragged me toward the throne room.

I didn't know what was waiting for me.

I only knew that the Vampire Council wanted my head.

The doors opened.

Twelve vampire elders were staring at me.

I stopped walking.

Their eyes followed me as the guards dragged me into the middle of the room.

Lucien sat on his throne.

His jaw was clenched, and one of his hands was tightened into a fist.

Kiran stood to the side with his arms crossed.

He hadn't left.

I didn't know why that made me feel slightly safer.

“The law is clear. Witch blood equals death,” one elder said.

My heart dropped.

Death again.

It seemed that was the only thing waiting for me in this place.

“Unless…” another elder said.

He moved closer.

“She is not just a witch.”

My breath caught.

The elder pointed toward my birthmark.

I looked down.

The mark was glowing through my shirt.

I stepped back.

“What is happening?”

Nobody answered.

The light became stronger.

Then I saw them.

Four symbols.

A wolf.

A vampire.

A witch.

And a dragon.

The whole throne room gasped.

I stared at my own body.

I didn't understand.

How could I have four different bloods inside me?

I was just Emily.

At least, that was what I had always believed.

“The destiny child.”

Kiran stepped closer.

I looked at him.

“What's a destiny child?”

Nobody answered me.

Then the voices started again.

Destiny child.

Destiny child.

My head began to hurt.

I grabbed it.

“No…”

The voices became louder.

I doubled over.

Lucien caught me before I hit the floor.

His hands were around me.

The strange pull I had felt before returned.

My body reacted before my mind could understand it.

I looked at him.

His eyes were fixed on me.

I didn't know what he was feeling, but something in his face had changed.

Kiran noticed too.

His jaw tightened.

“If she's the destiny child, she must be trained,” one elder said.

The others nodded.

“But if she is witch blood, she still needs to die,” another elder said.

My stomach twisted.

I was standing right there.

They were talking about killing me like I wasn't even a person.

They decided to vote.

Six votes.

Six against.

A tie.

Then every eye turned toward Lucien.

His vote would decide everything.

I looked at him.

I couldn't stop shaking.

But I wouldn't beg.

Not again.

I had already watched two witches beg.

They still died.

Lucien stared at me for a long moment.

Then he spoke.

“She lives.”

The room exploded with shouting.

My chest loosened slightly.

“For now,” Lucien added.

My relief disappeared.

For now.

That was all I had.

A few more words and I could be dead.

Kiran stepped forward.

“Then she lives in my territory too.”

Lucien looked at him.

“You can't.”

“I am Alpha and she is my mate. I have a right.”

I stared between them.

My mate.

His mate.

Again.

I still didn't understand what that meant.

I didn't understand why two kings were fighting over me.

I didn't even understand why I had been brought here.

But the voices inside my head returned.

Book of Eldrid.

I froze.

Find it.

“What is the Book of Eldrid?” I whispered.

Neither of them answered.

Lucien ordered the guards to move me to a guarded tower.

“My wolves guard her too,” Kiran said.

Lucien's eyes narrowed.

Neither of them trusted the other.

I didn't trust either of them.

By nightfall, I was in a different location.

I was dressed in silk and left alone in a huge room.

The bed was soft.

The room was warm.

But I couldn't relax.

I kept thinking about the throne room.

The four symbols.

The elders.

The vote.

Lucien choosing to let me live.

Then another nightmare hit me.

I was standing in a white room.

Everything around me was empty.

Then she appeared.

The woman from my first nightmare.

Maledicta.

She smiled.

“You lived.”

I couldn't move.

“Good.”

She stepped closer.

“I need your blood.”

I woke up screaming.

My heart was beating so hard it hurt.

The doors burst open.

Lucien and Kiran entered at the same time.

Then they saw each other.

Both growled.

I stared at them.

“Can you two stop?”

They ignored me.

Instead, they both insisted on staying.

So somehow, I found myself sleeping between two kings on the same bed.

I should have been terrified.

They were vampires and werewolves.

They were creatures I had never even believed existed before all of this happened.

But I was exhausted.

I closed my eyes.

For some reason, being between them felt safe.

I didn't understand why.

Lucien looked toward Kiran.

“Did you see her too?”

Kiran's expression changed.

“See who?”

I opened my eyes.

“Who are you talking about?”

“The witch queen,” they both said at the same time.

I stared at them.

Kiran's face had gone pale.

“Yes. Maledicta.”

The name sent a strange chill through me.

Lucien explained what happened one hundred years ago.

Maledicta had been trapped.

The barrier holding her was now failing.

I listened.

Every answer seemed to create another question.

“That's why you are here,” Kiran told me.

“It's a prophecy.”

I shook my head.

“I'm just a college student.”

My voice cracked.

“I just wandered off track and appeared here. I don't understand any of this.”

Lucien stared at me.

“Well, not anymore.”

Kiran nodded.

“Not anymore.”

I looked away.

I wanted my life back.

I wanted my normal clothes.

My normal room.

My normal world.

Instead, I was lying between a vampire king and a werewolf king because apparently I was some kind of destiny child.

“Sleep training starts tomorrow,” Lucien said.

I turned toward him.

“What happens if I refuse?”

He didn't answer.

I continued.

“Because it seems you are all very good at dictating my life so far.”

Lucien's expression remained serious.

“Then we all just prepare to die.”

I stared at him.

“Including you, most,” Kiran added.

I swallowed.

I looked toward the window.

The human world was only one portal away.

I could run.

I could go home.

I could forget all of this.

Then the voices came again.

Ten thousand creatures will die.

My chest tightened.

Ten thousand.

I could run.

But ten thousand would die.

I closed my eyes.

I didn't want this.

I didn't ask for it.

But somehow, I was being forced to choose.

“Fine.”

Both men looked at me.

“You will teach me then,” I said tiredly.

They both looked shocked.

“First lesson will be control,” Lucien said.

He took a knife and slit his wrist.

Blood slowly ran down his skin.

He held his wrist toward me.

“Drink.”

I stared at the blood.

My stomach turned.

Then Kiran stepped forward.

“Or run with me.”

I looked at him.

He looked almost excited about the idea.

But I was too tired.

I didn't want to run.

I didn't want to drink blood.

I didn't want to save ten thousand creatures.

I just wanted to sleep.

I stared at both offerings.

Vampire blood.

Or werewolf escape.

I had to choose.

My eyes slowly closed.

I didn't even realize when sleep took me.

Then—

BANG!

The doors slammed open.

I woke up instantly.

“INTRUDER!”

I sat up.

My heart started racing.

Something had entered the tower.

And judging by the guards' voices—

It wasn't supposed to be here.