Chapter four

The Vampire Knows My Family  

Nora

I didn’t bother waiting for the breakfast bells.

My knuckles were white around the faded photograph as I stalked through the misty corridors of the north tower.

I found Zane on the secluded stone balcony overlooking the forest edge, an untouched cup of tea on the balustrade. He didn’t turn around.

“You really don’t know when to hide, do you, little bird?”

“Stop calling me that.” I marched onto the balcony and slammed the photograph flat against the railing. “Explain this. Right now.”

Zane glanced down. For a fraction of a second the mask slipped. His pupils dilated.

“Where did you get this?” His voice dropped to a thin whisper.

“Someone shoved it under my door last night. You told me you watched me die. You had fresh blood on your sleeve. And now I find out you were standing in my family’s garden weeks before they were slaughtered. Were you their butcher?”

“Keep your voice down.” He grabbed my wrist with icy speed and leaned in. “I knew your parents, Nora. I sat at their table. I drank their wine. But I did not murder them.”

“Then why did you say you watched me die? Why play the villain if you’re so innocent?”

“Because there are eyes in every shadow of this academy. My father’s hounds. The Moon Flame elders. If they think I care whether you breathe or bleed, they will rip you apart to get to me. My silence is the only reason your heart is still beating.”

I froze.

“Get your hands off her.”

Sebastian strode through the arched doorway, combat leathers straining over his shoulders, blue eyes flaring gold the second he saw Zane holding my wrist.

The scent of burning pine flooded the terrace.

“You’re trespassing on the south wing, Vale,” Sebastian growled, stepping between us. “Step back before I tear that pale arm out of its socket.”

Zane smirked and released my wrist. “Always barking, little dog. Does that beast between your ears run the whole show?”

“I don’t need to think to put a parasite in the dirt.”

“Enough!” I shoved both hands against Sebastian’s chest, then spun to glare at Zane. “I am not a bone you two can fight over! I am not a prize, I am not pack property, and I sure as hell don’t need either of you deciding my fate! Back off!”

Both of them stared, stunned into silence.

The courtyard bells rang, signaling the midday combat trials.

I barely had time to lace my boots before Alexandra HowlBorne strode into the sand ring, silver-edged broadsword over her shoulder.

“There she is,” she announced for the entire student body. “The little stray using forbidden blood hexes to poison our Alpha’s mind.”

She pointed the tip of her blade at my chest.

“I challenge you, half-blood. Swordsmanship. No outside interference.”

Roland and Ivy stood near the front row, grinning.

I stepped into the ring and picked up a standard steel longsword.

“I accept.”

The whistle blew.

Alexandra moved with Lycan speed. I ducked. Her blade grazed my shoulder.

Purple light flared in her eyes. Domination magic pressed against my skull, trying to force my knees to buckle.

*Drop the blade. Surrender and bleed.*

“Not today.”

The silver crescent under my collarbone flared. The mental chains shattered.

I lunged, knocked her broadsword spinning into the sand, and swept her ankles. She hit the dirt hard.

“Yield, Alexandra.”

Instead she pulled a jagged black-iron dagger from her boot, the blade coated in glowing emerald venom. She lunged from the ground, aiming for my throat.

I couldn’t raise my sword in time.

A monstrous roar shook the arena.

Sebastian vaulted over the barrier. He slammed Alexandra into the stone wall hard enough to crack the masonry, ripped the dagger from her grip, snapped the blade between his fingers, and drove her into the cobblestones. His fangs snapped inches from her throat, golden eyes wild.

“Sebastian, stop!” I grabbed his bare shoulder. “You’re going to kill her!”

The second my skin touched his, his body shuddered. The gold in his eyes slowly receded. He looked down at Alexandra trembling in the dirt.

“The bond…” she choked out, spitting blood. “It’s real. You mated with a half-blood.”

The entire academy watched in frozen horror.

That evening the courtyard was a ghost town.

I sat alone on the cold stone steps behind the old chapel when boots crunched against the gravel.

Sebastian stepped out from the shadows. He looked exhausted.

“You should be in the council chambers defending yourself,” I said.

“I don’t care about the council.” He sat two steps below me. “Do you want to know why I rejected you, Nora?”

My throat tightened. “You said I was a mistake.”

“You’re not a mistake.” His voice cracked. “You’re the only thing my wolf has ever wanted. But my family… my father… if they knew the future Alpha was tethered to a disgraced bloodline with secrets tied to the royal courts, they would eliminate you before sunrise. Accepting this bond puts a target on your back.”

I leaned forward. “If it came to that, Sebastian… would you choose your family over me?”

He opened his mouth. No sound came out. The silence stretched, giving me an answer that cut deeper than any blade.

“Touching,” a cold voice drawled from the chapel shadows.

Zane stepped into the moonlight, the old photograph held between his fingertips.

“What do you want, Vale?” Sebastian snapped, rising to his feet.

“To give her the truth before your father burns it.” Zane ignored him and stepped up to me. “Your parents weren’t just fallen royalty, Nora. They were guardians. Ten years ago they were tasked with hiding something powerful—something both vampire and werewolf bloodlines would kill to control.”

My heart hammered. “Where is it?”

“I don’t know.”

I looked at his hands. His left fingers trembled slightly.

He was lying.

I grabbed the front of his coat and yanked him closer. “Don’t lie to me. Where did my mother put it?”

Zane stared into my face, crimson eyes softening into something that looked almost like pity.

“Your mother gave it to you,” he whispered.

A bitter laugh burst out of me. “You’re insane. I don’t have anything from her except—”

The words froze.

My mother’s necklace.