Claimed By The Blood Sovereign

Cold metal bit into my wrists as heavy iron chains slammed me against the velvet-draped pedestal. My bare feet trembled on the freezing marble floor. Bright spotlights blinded me, but I felt the weight of hundreds of dark, predatory eyes locked onto my skin like starving wolves.

“Look at her,” the auctioneer’s booming voice echoed through the underground ballroom of the Crimson Gala. The Gala was a secret market where ancient vampire lords bought human servants and rare bloodlines. “Pure, untouched human blood. No chemicals, no alterations. Starting bid: five million dollars.”

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I did not care about the money. I cared about the sole reason I was standing on this stage—my seven-year-old sister, Lily. My uncle had used my life to cover his half-million-dollar gambling debt, leaving Lily locked in a lower-district cage as collateral. If I was sold to a low-tier vampire tonight, I would be drained dry before sunrise, and Lily would be turned over to the blood farms. I had to survive. I had to find a way back to her.

A heavy hand grabbed my chin, shoving my head back to expose my neck. A cold shiver ran down my spine as a fat vampire with yellow eyes leaned close, his wet breath smelling of rotting copper as he sniffed the air near my vein.

Before his fangs could graze my skin, I slammed my knee upward into his groin with all the strength left in my bruised body.

The yellow-eyed monster grunted, staggering backward with a snarl. The crowd gasped, dark murmurs rippling through the ballroom.

“Fierce little stray,” the auctioneer sneered, wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead. “Six million!” a voice shouted from the front row.

“Seven million!” another hissed from the shadows.

“Ten million!”

The bidding spiraled out of control. Dark laughter and greedy whispers filled the air. Panic clawed at my throat, but I kept my chin high, my fingers curling into tight fists behind my back. I pulled hard against the chains, the thick iron links rattling violently. My skin burned everywhere the cold metal pressed, but my human strength meant nothing against forged steel.

“Do I hear twelve million for the girl?” the auctioneer shouted, raising his glass gavel. “Going once—”

“Fifty million.”

The voice came from the high balcony overlooking the entire ballroom. It was a deep, low baritone that cut through the noise like a silver blade. It carried an absolute, ancient power that made every single vampire in the room freeze in place. The temperature in the hall dropped instantly, frost creeping across the velvet drapes.

I lifted my head, my chest heaving as I tried to pull air into my tight lungs.

Standing at the edge of the balcony was a tall man framed by candlelight. He wore a sharp dark suit, his broad shoulders and commanding posture radiating complete dominion. His face looked as if it were carved from cold marble, defined by a razor-sharp jawline and dark hair. But his eyes locked me in place—piercing silver eyes that glowed with an ancient, dangerous hunger.

He was Julian Von-Reyes. The Sovereign. He was the undisputed ruler of the Blood Court, a creature so old and powerful that even the most vicious vampire lords bowed their heads in his presence.

“Fifty million,” the auctioneer whispered, dropping his gavel to the floor with a dull thud. “The... the girl belongs to the Sovereign.”

Before the crowd could digest the bid, a dark blur cut through the air.

Julian did not take the stairs. He jumped from the twenty-foot balcony, landing with terrifying grace right in front of my pedestal. The force of his landing sent a cold gust of wind blowing across my body, whipping my damp hair around my face.

I pulled back as far as the chains allowed, but he moved faster than my eyes could process. In a fraction of a second, his large, ice-cold hand wrapped around my waist, pulling my stomach straight against his solid chest.

My breath hitched. His body felt like solid stone, yet the moment his fingers pressed into my bare waist through my thin dress, an electric shock shot straight down to my thighs. A terrifying wave of heat bloomed low in my stomach—a visceral physical reaction I could not control.

“Look at me, human,” he commanded softly. His voice vibrated against my ribs, heavy with a dark command that made my knees weaken.

I clenched my jaw, fighting the suffocating pressure in the room, and stared straight into his glowing silver eyes. “Get your hands off me, or I’ll cut your throat the second you turn your back.”

A slow, dangerous smile curved his sharp lips, revealing the white tips of his fangs. “Fierce,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to my lips before rising back to my eyes. “Fierce, and completely at my mercy.”

With a simple flick of his wrist, he snapped the heavy iron chains around my wrists as if they were dry twigs. The metal links shattered against the marble floor. Before I could fall or run, his arm tightened around my waist, lifting my feet off the ground and pulling me flush against his hard torso.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, placing my palms against his broad chest to push him away. Touching him felt like touching frozen granite, but my skin scorched everywhere our bodies met.

“Taking what I just bought,” he whispered against my ear.

His breath smelled faintly of rich wine and dark spices. I shuddered as his lips brushed the sensitive skin below my ear, trailing down to my collarbone. A sudden, deep ache throbbed in my core—an intoxicating, terrifying pull that made my fingers tighten into the fabric of his suit jacket instead of pushing him away.

Julian’s nostrils flared as he took a deep, heavy breath against my throat. His entire body went rigid. The silver in his eyes bled into a deep, lethal crimson.

Sanguis Purus.

I remembered the whispered warnings from my father's old journals. Sanguis Purus was an ancient human bloodline so pure that a single drop acted like an intoxicating narcotic to pureblood vampires. It restored heat, taste, and real physical sensation to their dead senses.

He smelled it in my veins.

“Your blood,” Julian growled, his voice dropping into a low, primal purr that vibrated through my bones. His hand slid down my spine, his large palm cupping the back of my bare thigh and lifting it around his hip to lock me against him. “It’s untainted. Pure.”

“I’m not your food!” I demanded, my voice shaking as I slammed my fist against his shoulder. “I have to get back to my sister!”

“You are whatever I say you are, Elena,” he murmured, knowing my name before I had even spoken it.

He turned his back on the silent, trembling crowd of vampires and carried me toward the private exit behind the stage. His grip was made of steel. Every step he took rubbed my bare inner thigh against the heavy fabric of his trousers, sending waves of forbidden heat rushing through my veins.

He kicked open the heavy oak doors leading into his private carriage room. The space was dim, smelling of leather and fresh rain. He shoved me back against the leather seat of his private car, stepping into the narrow space between my open knees before I could slide away.

I tried to scramble to the side, but Julian leaned over me, trapping me completely. His hands slammed into the leather seat on either side of my head, blocking my vision with his broad shoulders.

“Listen to me very carefully,” he said, his red eyes burning in the dark interior. He reached out, his long fingers wrapping around my collarbone and tracing the fast, wild pulse at the base of my throat. His touch was cold, making my skin goosebump instantly. “Your old life ended the moment you stepped onto that stage. You belong to me now.”

“I’ll fight you,” I spat, my breathing ragged as his thumb stroked my throat. “I’ll tear this place apart until I’m free.”

Julian leaned down until his lips were a millimeter away from mine. I felt the sharp edge of his fangs resting against my lower lip, drawing a single, tiny drop of blood.

The second the metallic taste hit his mouth, his red eyes flared with a terrifying, unholy light. He slid his hand down my neck, his cold fingers reaching inside the collar of my dress and gripping my shoulder possessively as his fangs pressed hard into the skin over my pulse.

“I count on it,” he whispered, his hot breath scorching my mouth. “Because the harder you fight, the sweeter your blood tastes before I break you.”

Before I could draw breath to scream, the car doors locked with a heavy metallic click, and Julian’s mouth slammed down onto mine in a fierce, possessive bite that stole the air straight from my lungs.