Semua Bab THE ALPHA KING'S MAID: Bab 21 - Bab 30

EMILII woke with his arm around my waist and his slow, warm breathing against the back of my neck. For one instant—just one—everything was perfect. His warmth wrapping around me, the sandalwood scent of his sheets, the solid weight of his chest against my back. As if the world were a safe place and I had the right to exist in it.Then the fear arrived. Right on time.It settled in my chest with the familiarity of a tenant who never pays rent but never leaves either. It reminded me that the last time I felt this calm was the morning before Ricardo threw me off a cliff. It reminded me that happiness and I had an unspoken agreement: it showed up, I let my guard down, and then something terrible happened.I tried to get up slowly, slipping out of his embrace inch by inch.His arm tightened around my waist.“Sleep a little longer,” he murmured into my hair, his voice deep and rough with sleep.My stomach chose that precise moment to growl with a violence that would have embarrassed a wolf

The castle did not appear on any map.Nestled among mountains that humans instinctively avoided without knowing why, its black stone towers rose against a perpetually gray sky. There were no roads leading to it, no signs, no trace of its existence. To the outside world, the place simply did not exist.But to the vampires, it was the center of everything.The torches in the great hall burned with a bluish flame that gave off no heat. The black marble floor reflected the shadows like a lake of ink. And at the far end, upon a throne carved from bone and obsidian, a figure remained still. So still it might have been mistaken for a statue—if not for the eyes. Two rubies burning in the darkness, ancient, patient, terrible.The King of the Vampires did not need to move to inspire terror. It was enough that he existed.Before the throne, kneeling on the cold marble, two men kept their heads bowed. Malik—the silver-eyed vampire with polite manners who had examined Emili on the island—was sweat

EMILIAmelia was the first to see it.We were in the kitchen reviewing the day’s orders when her gaze stopped at my neck. She didn’t say anything for several seconds. She simply stared at the mark with an expression I couldn’t decipher. Then she took my hands and led me to a secluded corner, away from the staff.“Do you know what that means?” she asked quietly.I touched my neck instinctively. The mark throbbed beneath my fingers, warm, alive, as if it had its own pulse. Two crescent shapes where his fangs had pierced my skin, right at the junction of neck and shoulder. Visible. Undeniable.“Yes,” I answered, though I wasn’t sure that was true.“No,” Amelia said, squeezing my hands. “You don’t. Not completely.”She made sure no one was listening and lowered her voice even further.“Alaric hasn’t marked anyone since Lena. Do you understand what that means? There hasn’t been another mark in almost a decade. When the pack finds out—and they will, because anyone who comes within two meter

EMILIThe first thing I did when I got out of the car was assess the damage.The three armored trucks that had brought us here were, in technical terms, destroyed. The first had its hood crushed by the tree trunk Alaric had used as a projectile against a vampire. The second—ours—had a cracked windshield and a dented side door from Damián’s body slamming into it. The third was lying on its side with its wheels still spinning.“Well,” I said, looking at the wreckage. “I guess we’re not continuing by car.”Klaus, who was examining the engine of the first truck with the expression of a surgeon facing a terminal patient, lifted his head.“The radiator’s punctured, the front axle’s snapped, and there’s a vampire fang lodged in the alternator. So no, we’re not continuing by car.”“A fang in the alternator?” I asked.“Don’t ask.”Alaric had already returned to human form and someone had tossed him a pair of pants, which he pulled on while giving orders over the phone. The guardians regrouped

EMILIThe town on the other side of the mountain looked like it had come straight out of a European postcard. Stone houses with slate roofs, narrow streets with iron lanterns, a crystal-clear stream winding through the center between wooden bridges. Flowers in every window, well-kept gardens, the clean mountain air mixed with the smell of freshly baked bread.It was beautiful. So beautiful that for a moment I forgot we were here because demons had attacked the people of this place.The Alpha of the pack was waiting for us at the entrance of the town. His name was Gustavo and he was a tall man with a broad jaw and graying hair, with the kind of smile that showed too many teeth to be sincere. He was sweating despite the mountain cold and his eyes bounced from Alaric to Damián and back to Alaric with the frequency of a nervous hummingbird.“Welcome, my King,” he said, bowing his head in a reverence so deep he nearly kissed his own knees. “It is an honor to receive you in our humble pack.