(Kate)FOR the second time tonight, my heart was acting up again as I stare at His Majesty’s eyes. I was seeing only my reflection there. After his Christmas greeting to a certain ‘Kate’ on the radio seven years ago, that name had become viral for months.Many people on the internet kept questioning who that lucky woman was although no one got an answer. I only accidentally heard a DJ talking about it on the radio. Zachary Collins was a name that could be heard from the women’s mouth almost everywhere. He had become every female’s embodiment of a ‘prince charming’ on a white horse especially with all the financial support he had been sending to students and athletes in different parts of the world.Never did it occur to me that I could be ‘that’ Kate. There were countless Kates in the world. And I know His Majesty. He was never the type to settle with one woman. I know his needs better than anyone else. I had witnessed it myself several times.“I want you, Kate,” he added.I shivered.

(Kate) “I GOT YOU. Don’t be afraid,” Zachary told me as he gently pulled me up from the bench. He grabbed my waist in one hand and pulled me closer to his body in a protective manner. Captain Tau had already compelled the humans in the park to vacate the area. When I followed where Zachary was looking at, I saw Maximo along with some of the senior Hunters. They looked stupefied upon seeing Zachary. And I knew exactly why. They didn’t come here to hunt the Vampires. It seems like the Hunters were not expecting to see them either since they only had one goal in coming here. And it was to hunt me. If I don’t do something, same day next year will be my death anniversary. If Maximo were to expose my secret-which I was sure he would do judging by the way he was looking at me with those ravenous eyes-both sides would compete to kill me. “Zachary, do you still remember inviting me out on a date earlier?” I asked him when the Hunters began firing. “Why ask about it now? Do you still rememb

I’D BEEN told many times that every woman needed a man in their life. The old couples in my neighborhood said that life was different with a man. They said it’ll be warm, that it’ll be safe.They also said it’ll be chaotic, but they guaranteed that it was a beautiful kind of chaos. I didn’t believe ‘chaos’ could ever be beautiful. I had lived with men all my life and so far, all they brought to me was pure chaos. There was no beauty, just total agony and destruction.Except for my brother, I considered every man a red flag.And so was Zachary. His very existence screamed red flag for a woman like me.But today, as this king looked at me with emotions so raw and so real, as he held me as if I was a glass that could break anytime, as I feel the heat in his body, I think that I’m beginning to slowly understand the warmth some women were bragging about. They said men were rocks and women could depend on those rocks.I totally and wholeheartedly disagree. I didn’t need another rock. I was

“WHY are the Hunters targeting you? Why do they seem to know you? And why does it seem like you know them as well, Miss Morelli? If you evade my question one more time, you will be the next person who will fall on the floor.” I know I pledged to keep the lady safe, but before that, I must know who I was trying to protect here. She neither blink nor waver as she took the lives of the Hunters and as blood spattered on the floor. I knew that look on her face. I had seen it many times in the battlefield. That was the same expression His Majesty wore as he led the war against the Rogues and Hunters: cold and unyielding, ready to slay whoever would stand in his way. She seemed used to giving commands as well. For a brief moment there, I thought I just saw a female version of His Majesty. Even now, with the gun pointed on her forehead, she did not look terrified at all as if she had been in the same situation many times before. She looked straight into my eyes as if she was looking at deat

WHEN I saw how pain flashed through Kate’s eyes, I wanted to take back what I said but I stopped myself. Tau and Jonathan were both cursing me with their eyes.‘What a way to pour salt on her wound. Great job, Damon,’ Tau said sarcastically through his head.‘What do you want me to do? Sugarcoat things to make her feel better? That is not who I am, Tau. I would rather hurt her with the truth than to comfort her with lies,’ I shot back. ‘We owe her the truth.’We were still arguing when Kate calmly turned to Jonathan. “You brought ‘that’ bag with you when you took Mira and her things from my apartment, didn’t you?”“I did.”“What bag?” Tau and I asked.“The bag contained syringes with Katerina’s blood in them,” Jonathan explained.“If she is going to end up drinking blood, then I want her to drink only my blood, Jonathan. I don’t want any human to get hurt because of us. If my daughter gets thirsty again, you know what to do. I can’t be with Mira right now. And it’s not because I’m afr