The Alpha’s Mate And The Vampire King (The Alpha Series Book 3)

‘Not just any vampire’s blood flame, Reaper, the vampire king, Alec’s blood flame,’ I say.

‘The vampire king, Alec! The first time you came here, I sensed something happened to you. Alec marked you, didn’t he?’

I nod my head.

‘I had no idea what he had done at the time.’ He grasped my wrist and left a mark, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him in the same way I couldn’t stop thinking about Magnus. My body was drawn to him, and I desired to be near him. What am I supposed to do, Reaper? How will Magnus react when he learns that Alec is my second mate?’

‘I wish I had the answer for you, Luna.’

May enters the enchanted garden along with the other witches.

‘Wow! so beautiful. Look at that gnome!’ May says and pokes its belly. The gnome doesn’t move, but when no one is looking, his expression shifts to one of irritation. ‘You weren’t joking when you said there was a unicorn,’ May says, approaching us. ‘Nina, are you okay you look like you’ve been crying?’ May adds.

‘Oh, no, I think I’m just allergic to some of these flowers. My eyes went all red and puffy after I smelt them,’ I force a laugh.

‘Fern and the others are going to take me to see the Grimghouls, the Shadow Reapers and the vampire king next! Are you going to come with us?’

‘You know, the vampire king isn’t some kind of freakshow for you all to look at!’ I lash out angrily. Everyone is staring at me strangely because of my outburst defending the vampire king. ‘I apologise. I didn’t intend to….’

‘We understand you are under a lot of stress, Luna, with everything going on with the wolf council,’ Fern empathises.

‘I know, but I still should not have snapped like that. I’m sorry,’ I grimace.

‘It’s fine. You don’t have to go with us,’ May says.

They leave the enchanted garden and enter the dungeon.

‘Let’s have a cup of tea,’ I say to Reaper.

We walk into the kitchen and notice the iron kettle hovering above the fire. I grab a teacup, place it on the table, and fill it with one scoop of sugar and a teabag.

Waving my wand at the iron kettle, I exclaim, ‘Lifto Levitatous.’ It floats over to my teacup and fills it with hot water.

‘You should probably tell Magnus about being the vampire king’s blood flame,’ Reaper says.

As I tremble at the thought, the teacup starts to wobble. I set the cup down and take a deep breath, attempting to relax.

‘I can’t tell him, Reaper, not just yet. There could be a way to break the bond?’

‘I’ve never heard of a way to break the blood flame bond, but you could always reject Magnus and break the mate bond? That way, you would only have one lover instead of two?’

‘Reaper!’ I growl. ‘I love Magnus, and I am his Luna. We grew up together and have known each other all our lives. My love for Magnus is not something I will throw away. Can’t I reject Alec instead?’

‘Doesn’t work that way with vampires,’ he says.

‘Well, then how does it work?’

‘All I know is that it’s different with vampires,’

‘That’s not very helpful information, Reaper,’ I sigh. ‘Maybe we can find some information in the forbidden room back in Shadow Crest?’

‘Perhaps,’ he says.

Yiselda, May and the others return to the kitchen.

‘I’m sorry if he frightened you, May. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I’ve never seen him in that state before.’ Yiselda says.

May is shaking. I stand up from my seat and run over to her.

‘What happened? Are you okay?’ I ask.

‘I will be fine. It was a lot more terrifying than I thought it would be going into that dungeon,’

‘How so?’ I ask—my heart races with worry.

‘The vampire king was distressed, pacing back and forth in his cell and pulling at his hair. He appeared to be quite anxious and was constantly muttering to himself. As we approached, he turned savage, screeching loudly through the bars as if famished of blood, setting the Grimghouls off. They tried to attack us by advancing their arms through the bars and clawing ferociously at us. I didn’t have a choice except to put the vampire king to sleep. And being the vampire king, he is stronger than most, so our sisters had to help cast the ‘Dreamus Sleepous’ spell as it had no effect on him even when I had cast it onto him myself.

A dreaded feeling consumes me. I’m forcing myself not to run to Alec. What if they hurt him? Was it my fault he was distressed?

‘Is he going to be, okay? Why would he be erratic like that?’ I ask, clearly worried.

Yiselda laughs, ‘My dear Luna, what has gotten into you? It’s the vampire king, and you shouldn’t worry yourself over him. But for what it’s worth, he is not hurt. He is simply taking a nap and will hopefully return to his normal self once he awakes. He hasn’t missed a meal, so I am confused about why he was in that state. Vampires do not die if they haven’t consumed blood in a long time. They simply become erratic, losing all control of themselves,’

I force my tears back, ‘I need to go home. Thank you for the tea, Yiselda,’ I say and dash out the front door and enter the circle. May, Fern, Ria, Ela and Lilac appear behind me. But I don’t wait for them. Instead, I race inside the packhouse and up to my room.

‘Nina, is that you?’ Magnus yells out.

‘Um, yeah, it’s me. I’m feeling exhausted. I’m going to go lie down for a while,’ I say and climb under the covers and hug my knees.

The door creaks open, ‘I know you’ve only been gone for a few hours, but I’ve missed you,’ he says as he crawls beneath the blankets with me.

He pulls me in closer and nuzzles my neck as he snuggles up behind me. I turn to face him and caress his cheeks. I’m overcome with guilt and begin to cry.

‘Nina, it will be okay. If you think Alpha Bennet and the wolf council will exile you from your own home and pack. Then he has another thing coming. I’d give up my Alpha status if it meant staying with you,’ he says, wiping my tears away with his thumb.

‘Magnus, I could never ask you to give Shadow Crest and your status away,’ I sob.

‘You wouldn’t have to ask,’ he says.

He kisses me passionately, and suddenly Alec’s face flashes through my mind. I break the kiss and struggle for air.

‘Nina, what is it?’ Magnus says.

‘I’m sorry, I need to go. I’ll be back later,’ I say, hurriedly putting my shoes back on. ‘Skedaddle Dash,’ I say before Magnus can respond.

I appear downstairs, and Reaper flies onto my shoulder.

‘We need to go to the forbidden room and figure this out now,’ I say to him and make a hasty descent to the basement. May and the others are concocting magical potions.

‘Come to help make some love potion?’ Lilac winks at me.

‘No, sorry, not today. I have some things I need to do. I’ll see you all later,’ I say, stepping into the circle and teleporting into the forbidden room. I flick my wand for light. Reaper lands on the altar and keeps an eye on me while I leaf through dozens of books over the next two hours.

‘There has to be information somewhere,’ I say.

‘Have you considered asking the vampire king himself?’ Reaper suggests.

‘Reaper, why didn’t I think about that? Hey Alec, Vampire King, it’s your blood flame here. I suppose you wouldn’t tell me how to break the blood flame bond between you and me by any chance, would you?’ I shake my head at Reaper. ‘Could you imagine his reaction, Reaper? Sure, darling, let me do the honours for you and break it… I think it was quite obvious, Reaper, that he doesn’t want to sever the bond and wants to be with me,’

‘Okay then, how about this? They fight to the death. Whoever lives wins?’

‘Reaper!’ I growl.