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

Juniper departs from the cottage and strolls for an hour through the forest, eventually arriving in a valley with another settlement. I covertly follow behind her. She knocks on the door of a wood lodge.

‘Juniper,’ A respectable gentleman greets her and welcomes her inside the house. Another resident of the house is hacking and gasping for air.

‘I was terrified I wouldn’t receive the potion on time. Florence is on the verge of death,’ Mr Hillsbury claims.

I pop my head up and observe Juniper and the gentlemen enter a room with an elderly lady in bed via a window. She is quite pale, coughing, and gasping for breath. Juniper arranges the basket on the bed and takes a healing potion. She extracts the cork from the bottle and proceeds to elevate the lady’s head.

‘Drink this, Florence. It will cure you of your illness,’ Juniper asserts.

Florence initially struggles but eventually consumes the potion. Within minutes, her cheeks have taken on colour, and her eyes have become bluer. She rises to her feet and crosses her arms across her chest.

‘I can breathe normally once again, and my chest feels clear,’ she beams.

‘Florence, it worked,’ the gentleman adds, clasping Juniper’s hands in his. ‘I’d want to express my gratitude to you, Juniper, and your grandmother,’ he continues.

‘You’re very welcome, Mr Hillsbury,’ Juniper smiles.

Florence rises from the bed and joins her husband in walking Juniper out.

‘It’s already becoming dark,’ Juniper observes as the sky darkens.

‘Mr Hillsbury,’ his neighbour says as he limps up the path.

‘It’s lovely to see you, George,’ Mr Hillsbury says with a smile and a nod of his hat.

‘Florence, your wife. She is out of bed walking? The doctor said she was so sickly she would die by tis very night. I don’t understand,’ George says. ‘I came to offer my condolences to you, but here she stands fitter than a fiddle,’

‘It’s a miracle, isn’t it?’ Florence says. ‘Juniper gave me medicine that cured me straight away,’ she says without thinking of the consequences of her words. Her husband attempts to elbow her to stop her from talking.

‘No medicine would do such a thing,’ George says, glaring at Juniper.

Juniper trembles and takes a step back.

‘Dear, I believe it is a bit implausible to claim you were suddenly cured.’ Mr Hillsbury responds uncomfortably, ‘Juniper was here all day attempting to mend you.’ Florence casts a puzzled glance at her husband.

‘I must be going now. Grandma wants me home before dark, and as you can see, the moon is rising,’ I say, turning and stepping onto the path. George snatches her arm, causing her to fall over and drop the basket. The bread and a bottle of healing potion roll out. George picks up the bottle and inspects it reading the label and pulling the cork off. He sniffs, then drinks it.

Juniper’s and Mr Hillsbury’s faces are flushed with fear. As George approaches her, Juniper rises to her feet, his limp leg now healed. George comes to a halt and stares down at his leg before returning his gaze to Juniper.

‘Impossible, my limp has gone,’ He looks at the bottle in his hand, then at Juniper. ‘This isn’t medicine. This is a magic potion. You’re a witch!’ He points his finger at Juniper.

Juniper runs frightened from the village as George creates a commotion causing neighbours to come out of their houses. Men follow George, chasing after Juniper. She runs as fast as she can and knows they will go straight to her house to search for her. She knows they will burn her at the stake.

‘I’m sorry, grandma, I can’t go home,’ she whispers into the wind. A shimmering breeze swirls around the fog of her breath like a spell, collecting her words and delivering her message to her grandmother.

Juniper abandons the trail and flees into the woods, eluding the horde of men.

She falls to her knees, becoming fatigued to walk any further. There are odd and unsettling noises all around her. She notices two crimson eyes looking at her from the darkness when she glances up. The eyes flash like a flame, and I immediately recognise them as Alec’s.

Alec swoops forwards and covers Juniper’s mouth with his palm as she screams.

‘My blood flame, I’ve been looking for you for many years,’ he says.

Juniper trembled in his arms. He carefully takes his hand away from her mouth. She gives him an odd expression as she touches her mouth, which tingles from his contact.

‘Why do I have this sensation?’ she sniffles.

With a flash, he crashes his lips against hers, sparks and warm tingles erupting between them. Juniper draws closer to Alec as they continue to kiss.

She finally takes a step back. ‘I’m very sorry, sir. I’m not sure what got into me. I’d never openly kissed or desired to kiss a man like that before. So you’ll have to forgive me,’ she admits, blushing.

‘What is your name?’ he inquires.

‘Juniper and yours, sir?’

‘Alec,’ he smiles. ‘No need to apologise, Juniper. We are blood flames. Which means we are destined to be together.’ He says.

‘Blood flames?’ She asks curiously.

Alec caresses her cheek, ‘Yes, blood flames, when we touch it feels magical, like nothing else you’ve ever felt. Once we find each other, we have urges to stay close to each other. Staying away from each other causes pain and even death if not careful. We have been chosen to be together,’

‘We are destined for each other?’ she asks, taking a step closer to him.

‘Yes,’ he says, showing his fangs with a smile.

Juniper exhales and takes a step back. ‘You’ve got fangs? And your eyes were red as fire when I first saw you?’

‘That’s because I’m not human,’ he says quietly.

‘You’re not human?’ She pauses for a minute, then gasps once again. ‘The creatures of the night, the ones who devour the blood from people and leave wounds on their necks?’

‘Creatures of the night is one way to describe us, but we like the word vampire,’ he smiles.

‘Why are you killing people?’ She asks.

‘We survive by consuming blood. Human blood tastes the best, yet we drink from animals mostly to limit the number of human fatalities, and the people we kill are far from lovely people. This is because they have either raped, murdered or blackmailed people.

‘I’m not human, either,’ Juniper admits. ‘I’m a witch, and the people in the valley are looking for me. ‘So that’s how I ended up here in the woods. If they discover me, they’ll burn me at the stake, Alec,’ she sobs as Alec draws her into his chest and consoles her.

‘They can’t hurt you if you stay with me, Juniper, my darling,’ he says.

‘I live with my grandmother in a cottage in the village over there. I need to see her. I need to take her with us,’ she begs.

‘Would it be too unsafe to return to the cottage?’ Alec asks.

‘I’ll go at first light. Then, if there are no guards or men near the cottage, I will sneak in and get her,’ Juniper says.

‘Can’t I grab her for you now while it’s still dark?’

‘The crowd will already be there, with lit torches and more men. I can’t let them hurt you, Alec,’ she says.

‘I’m Alec, the vampire king, and I’ll destroy them all before they blink,’ he says, emanating a tremendous aura.

‘Are you a King?’ Juniper is taken aback.

‘Yes, and you will be Queen,’ he replies with admiration.

‘You can’t kill people, Alec. They are just terrified of witches. Once they realise we are harmless and only want to help them prosper and heal their sicknesses, they will cease hunting and burning us at the stake. Let’s wait till the men have searched my grandmother’s house. Then, when they realise I’m not there, they’ll go, and we’ll be able to take my grandmother and escape this place,’

‘Wouldn’t it be easier just to kill them?’

‘I’m sure it would be Alec, but we’re not monsters,’ she replies, making Alec smile at the sweet, loving witch in front of him, knowing how fortunate he is that she was picked to be his blood flame.