From His Shield to His Nightmare

For a hundred years, I was his. I waited for his mark. An eternal bond. Instead, he finished with me, then announced he was mating with someone else.

I wasn't his mate. I was a vessel. A release for his primal urges.

Tonight, he’d found his release inside me once again.

He had me pinned to the bed, my body covered in red marks.

“Yes… Just like that…”

I gasped, feeling every brutal thrust, the sharp sting of his fangs piercing my neck. A mix of pain and pure ecstasy.

He drank my blood greedily. It carried the sacred light of my guardian family.

I felt his power, cold as eternal night, flow back into me through his fangs.

Our bodies were tangled together, just as they had been for the hundred years I’d protected him.

When it was over, I curled up in his arms.

His voice cut through the darkness. “Tomorrow night, the lord of the Valerius clan will be visiting the castle. You will join us for dinner.”

I looked up at him, my heart pounding.

He was inviting others?

In the century since we’d forged the Guardian’s Pact, he had never let anyone witness our intimacy.

“Cedric,” I sat up, my voice trembling. “Are you finally going to announce my status as your blood-mate to the elders? Will we finally be bonded…”

A mocking smile cut me off.

“What are you talking about?” He dissolved into a cloud of blood mist and reappeared by the bed. “This meeting is to forge a clan alliance. Princess Elsie will become my eternal mate.”

Every word was a dagger to the heart.

My heart stopped. My mind went blank.

“You’re bonding with someone else? Then what am I?”

The smirk vanished from Cedric’s face. He leaned in close.

“Don’t tell me, Alaina,” he whispered, a cold finger tilting my chin up. “You didn’t actually think a human could become the mistress of the Thorne clan, did you?”

I stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Her. When did you decide?”

“Not long ago. After the last conflict with the witches.” He stood and walked toward the bathroom, not even glancing at the bruised body I’d given him. “This is for the clan. For a purer bloodline.”

I remembered that fight. The witch’s dark magic surging toward him. I was the one who threw myself in front of it.

Of course, that was my family’s duty as guardians.

My ancestors were saved from a curse by the first Thorne, granted a long life bordering on immortality in return for our loyalty.

Each generation, the best of my family was chosen to guard the vampire lord, bound by the Guardian's Pact.

A guardian could never leave. Only death or a great betrayal could break the pact.

But why? I saved his life, and he chose someone else?

Was it because she was a pureblood? Or was it… love?

I followed him into the bathroom.

The mirror reflected my pale face and the bloody marks he’d left on my body.

An hour ago, they were medals of intimacy.

Now, they were brands of shame.

“Do you love her?”

“Love?” He sneered, steam quickly fogging the mirror. “Alaina, I thought you were smarter than that. This is business. Not some fleeting, ridiculous human fairy tale.”

He stepped out of the steam, water sluicing down his perfect body.

For a hundred years, that body had driven me wild every night.

Now, it just made me sick.

“Elsie is young, beautiful, and her bloodline is noble. She brings the clan the magical mines of the entire northern territory.”

His eyes swept over my naked form. “And you… you are a decent blood source, a convenient fighting doll. And a disposable bedmate.”

Blood source. Fighting doll.

I trembled, feeling his scent all over me. A stain I could never wash off.

By the time I’d pulled myself together, Cedric was already dressed in his black formal wear, sending magical commands through the air.

“Moon Orchid,” he commanded. “A millennium-old specimen. It’s Elsie’s favorite. Prepare the ‘Elf’s Tear’ as well, drawn directly from the spring in the Misty Woods. She loves its pure magic. And have a dozen gowns of moonsilk woven for her to choose from. Ensure she has every reason to smile.”

My heart clenched.

I couldn’t help but look at him.

And then I saw it. A smile I had never seen before. It was almost… tender.

The pain I’d just suppressed came rushing back like a tidal wave.

Clatter.

My magic communication stone slipped from my hand and fell to the floor.

Cedric turned at the sound, still smiling. “All cleaned up? Good. See yourself out.”

He grabbed his coat to leave but paused at the door. He glanced back, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Alaina, you’ve always been my best guardian. So drop the abandoned puppy look. It makes you look pathetic.”

“I know you. Every inch of you. I know what you’re thinking with a single glance. You’re already bound to me. A mating bond on top of that? How fucking boring.”

His voice faded with his footsteps, but his words echoed in my head.

I sat on the cold bed.

I started to laugh, but tears streamed down my face.

I sat there until late into the night, then returned to my family’s ancestral home.

I went to the altar in the secret chamber below, cut my fingertip, and used my blood to break the seal.

Inside was a silver crossbow, shimmering with sacred light.

My initials were carved on its stock. A “gift” from Cedric when I became his guardian.

There were also magical gems, ancient scrolls, and elven artifacts he’d given me over the years.

Tonight, I threw them all, piece by piece, into the purifying flame.

“My lady, all these precious magical items… are you sure you want to destroy them all?” my old butler asked, his eyes full of sorrow as he watched the sacred fire burn.

I nodded slowly. My voice was a whisper.

“I don’t want them anymore.”

Not just them.

This relationship, this man… I didn’t want any of it.

I opened a secure family communication line.

“Father. It’s me.”

“Alaina? You…”

“Father, I’ve protected him nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times. The debt is paid. In seven days, I want you to make me disappear from Cedric’s world.”