Reluctantly Mated Book 3

Then…

She was being followed.

Looking over her shoulder, she didn’t see anyone in the darkness, but nevertheless, someone was following her.

She could feel eyes staring into her back. Her fingers clutched the strap of her purse as she hurried along the empty sidewalk.

Amara picked up her pace, moving quickly toward her apartment as if the thin walls and broken lock would keep out an intruder. She would feel safer at least.

Comical, really, as Amara had never really felt safe.

She’d been a victim her entire life. Amara was quiet and reserved, traits that let others feel entitled to walk all over her, especially men. Bosses.

And even worse than that, she’d let them take advantage of her, her time, her money, her heart. She was too kind and too trusting, and one day it would get her into serious trouble.

Just tonight she’d been stood up on a date.

And when she’d reached out to Josh, he’d had the gall to tell her someone better had come along, “a sure thing,” and he’d let Amara know if he wanted to hook up at a later date.

To make it worse, he’d answered the phone during sex, his new date wailing loudly in the background as Josh broke the news to Amara, grunting into the phone while she heard flesh slapping together.

She had been mortified but too shocked to end the call.

He hadn’t even given her the courtesy of pretending she was worth a dinner. It was just a hookup that would have probably ended with her sexually disappointed. And he’d stood her up anyway.

Good riddance to that.

She looked behind her again, alarm bells ringing as a shiver ran down her spine.

It was late enough that not many people were out, not many humans at least, and the street she occupied seemed abandoned, the glow of the streetlamps partially illuminating the area around her.

She cursed herself and Josh for agreeing to meet at a bar at midnight. It was now past 1 a.m., and Amara couldn’t believe she’d waited nearly an hour to call him and confirm she’d been stood up.

She wouldn’t do something like this again, she swore to herself. No putting herself in danger for a boy that called himself a man. Not for anyone.

She heard a whisper of sound, turned fully around, and walked backward as she stared at the empty street. Amara didn’t want to get caught up in whatever was happening.

Her breath hitched, and her blood pressure spiked. She felt hunted.

She needed to get home now.

She turned back around, intent on fleeing, but was stopped by a man standing in her way. She let out a startled gasp, jumping in fear, unsure of how he’d just appeared out of thin air.

He was on the shorter side, with a rather unassuming appearance overall, but the blood-red color seeping around his irises gave away the fact that he was an Other.

She gulped audibly, her mouth drying as they stood there staring at one another.

She needed to get away from him, but as always, she was too afraid to move, to do anything other than stare at the vampire, fear keeping her paralyzed. Why was she always so damned weak-willed?

The vampire smiled at her then, his fangs prominently displayed. She took a hesitant step back before straightening her spine, determination pouring into her.

It was rude of her to be afraid of him. It was, after all, illegal for a vampire to feed on someone without consent, so she should be safe.

She could be brave. She simply needed to walk away and go home. She didn’t actually think it would be that easy, but fear finally propelled her into action, urging her to escape.

“I’m sorry. I just need to get by.” She pointed rather dully at the sidewalk, terror making her voice slightly softer than usual.

He licked one fang before sucking the corner of his lip into his mouth and making a sound that was way too sexual for a random person on the street.

“I’ll just…” She trailed off, stepping into the street to wrap widely around him. Hopefully, she could avoid him altogether, go home, and pretend this horrible night had never happened.

He traced to her in an instant, his hand gripping her arm painfully.

“We’ve only just met, pet. You’ll stay like a good girl.” His voice was high-pitched, with a weird lilt that entranced her.

But when she stopped moving abruptly, she realized he’d used compulsion on her, a distinct vampire trait against humans. She was unable to move, frozen in the street.

The vampire chuckled at her, the sound unnatural as he approached and leaned into her.

Amara felt him move her long blue-black hair away from her neck, felt him run his cold lips along the vein in her neck and shudder into her.

His lips parted on an exhale, the cool air pebbling her skin.

“Please…” All she could muster was a scared plea, a soft denial of what she knew was bound to happen.

“That’s it, pet. Beg me for my bite.”

“No!” She didn’t want that. She just wanted to go home and pretend this night had never happened.

“I said, BEG.”

And just like that, Amara opened her mouth, pleading for him to bite her.

Horror filled her, her mind desperate to escape the hell she’d found with this vampire, but she couldn’t do anything except what he compelled.

One lone tear fell down her cheek, her breaths shallow as she fought him for autonomy of her own body. Nothing happened. Her arms were lax at her side, her feet unmoving.

“You smell so intoxicating, an aphrodisiac to my senses.” He nestled himself into her body, wrapping his arms around her waist, embracing her as a lover might.

His hands slid under her skirt to touch any portion of her skin he could reach.

All she could manage was another soft tear as he assessed her like she was cattle at an auction.

He walked around her, perusing her body before he grasped her chin, turning her face this way and that.

“Such pretty tears. Such a lovely face. And my, what a delectable body. I can only imagine your taste, how exquisite you’ll be on my tongue.”

“The blood tastes more potent when it’s filled with terror.” He tenderly brushed away another tear as it fell.

“You look so lovely when you cry, pet.”

He was on her then, hands roughly moving her head to the side to grant him better access to her neck as he bit down roughly.

The pain was indescribable, something that had Amara screaming out as he took another vicious suck on her artery.

He pulled away quickly, stumbling back as he wiped her blood from his lips, licking at the back of his hand.

It was like he couldn’t get enough of her blood. His body shuddered in ecstasy as he pinned her with his cruel gaze.

“Your blood is exquisite. You taste ancient, perfect.” He lifted her into his arms, her eyes locked straight ahead as she felt herself shutting down, her fear acting as a defense mechanism.

She only processed one word that would change the course of her life.

“You’ll be my special girl, my lovely pet.”

Amara opened her eyes and looked around in confusion. All she remembered was the vampire scaring her in the street, taking what she didn’t offer. But now she was in a room.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t. It was as if her body was bound to the bed she lay upon, but nothing was tying her down.

Her mind was sluggish, her head barely moving as she tried to take another look around her.

She felt so weak, so powerless. How much blood had he taken? There was a sharp stab in her neck when her head finally obeyed her, rolling sluggishly to the side.

She cried out, helpless to control her reaction as her neck burned and throbbed.

She attempted to roll over, but his compulsion must have kept hold of her, because her body refused to cooperate, keeping her prone on the bed.

She was desperate to flee, to escape. But as before, her body betrayed her, and Amara knew she was doomed.

A door beyond her line of sight burst open, hitting something roughly, before she saw the vampire slowly come into view.

His steps were light as he practically floated over to her with a manic look in his eyes. She inwardly cringed away from that look, terrified of what else he had planned.

“My pet, my pet, my pet. What a good girl you’ve been for me.”

His hands began undressing her. The sound of her jacket unzipping made her nauseous and had bile rising up in her throat as she lay there.

“Good girls get rewarded, my sweet queen.”

He propped her up like a doll, sliding her coat from her before tugging her shirt over her head, leaving her in a lace bra and a skirt she desperately wished had been six layers of leggings instead.

“What luck I’ve stumbled upon, to find the king’s mate, and so close to my home.”

He removed her boots, then her skirt, leaving her clad in only her lingerie. He hissed out a breath, his eyes darkening with a desire that sickened her.

“What do you mean?” She could barely keep up. Her emotions roiled through her until she feared she’d pass out.

“It’s true,” he replied happily, ripping her panties from her, leaving her bare before him.

Amara wasn’t sure what he meant, and she didn’t care. She needed to leave, to escape. Her limbs lay still, her mind screaming at them to work, to move, to help her.

The vampire reached for her, his hands touching her bare hips.

“Please stop. I don’t want this.”

The vampire grasped her chin painfully, his nails digging into her skin as he forced her to stare up at him.

“If the king wasn’t such a tyrannical fuck, perhaps I’d give you to him as a gift.” He tsked at her. “But alas, sweet pet, you don’t need your mate. You have me and all the things I can give you.

“To think I intended to kill you before. No longer. You’re meant to be mine eternally.”

He ripped the front of her bra, the material falling down her arms until he pulled it free, her limbs flopping back onto the bed.

“I can’t be yours eternally. I’m human.”

It was her only defense as he laid her back down on the bed gently, disrobing before he followed her down. His naked body was on top of hers, smothering her to the point she wished it would kill her.

She could barely comprehend her dilemma, like everything around her was happening at super speed while her brain was caught in slow motion. Was she going into shock?

“A queen is what you are. I’ve tasted it within you.”

He nipped at her cheek, breaking her skin. He hummed deep in his throat at her whimper of pain before licking at the wound, shuddering above her.

She couldn’t become a vampire. A human had to be willing. She definitely wasn’t. And even then, it was difficult. More than half the time, the human died during the transition.

There was a reason it was rarely done, why there were laws to regulate it.

He parted her thighs, and she knew what was going to follow. She stared up at the ceiling, completely trapped as he ran a hand along her body.

Tears slid down her cheeks, her situation finally sinking in as she quietly sobbed.

“So dry,” he muttered before slicing her thigh open and using her blood as lubricant.

Numbness swept through her before the biting pain of her skin splitting took root. No one was going to save her, to stop this. He was going to take and take and—

“Please stop,” she wailed as he entered her fully in one painful thrust.

He grunted above her before he was powering into her body, uncaring of the damage he dealt.

Amara did her best to keep quiet as it happened, to not give him the satisfaction of her despair, but in the end, she pleaded with him to stop.

“I told you you’d beg me,” he bit out before he lunged at her throat, ripping into her skin yet again.

She felt her life essence sliding down her neck, but she couldn’t feel anything else. She stared blankly ahead as she was violated, mind, body, and soul.

The popcorn ceiling above her was old, the white discolored until it was nearly yellowed with time.

She refused to look away. She couldn’t. She couldn’t ignore the sounds of his grunting or the slap of his flesh against her pelvis as he forced himself harder into her.

Amara barely registered when he was finished, his teeth pulling out of her neck with a wet sucking sound.

He forced her lips open and shoved his now bleeding wrist to her mouth, telling her to drink, commanding it.

She was helpless but to obey, her eyes locked on nothing above her.

The first taste of his coppery blood did nothing but add to her disgust. The second taste was…different. Still vile. Still repulsive. But something happened as she drank.

She felt a slight stirring in her mind, some sort of malevolent entity filling her with a delicate caress along her senses. It held her just as captive, if not more so, than the rapist above her.

The presence licked along her mind, a dark masculine voice holding her enthralled as it urged her to look down. All she needed to do was look down, to let it see what was happening, it whispered.

She closed her eyes instead, terrified of seeing what she knew had already happened. Inside, she was screaming and wailing, begging someone to help her, to save her.

Instead of soothing her, the presence became more sinister, compelling her to do its bidding. It wanted to see through her eyes, demanding she obey.

Unable to combat it—it was so much stronger than the vampire she’d met tonight—Amara’s eyes opened.

They searched until she locked on the vampire who was busy suckling blood from a newly formed cut on her breast.

She was a mess. There was blood all over her bare skin and bruises along her inner thighs from the vampire’s abuse.

She hissed out a breath, the pain in her body finally catching up to her before the creature in her mind simply took that pain from her.

It was as if it had put a balm over her tortured soul and body, allowing her to rest for a moment. The sob trapped inside her slowly died as she became wrapped in the entity’s dark embrace.

“Sebastian,” she bit out, her voice deep and full of rage.

The vampire looked up quickly, startled as he stared at her with growing apprehension on his face.

He recoiled, his eyes filled with horror as he took her in, his hands and his flaccid length covered in her blood.

“No, no, no. It can’t be… How are you here?” He shot from the bed, his small, bloody dick bouncing around him as he moved to quickly don his clothes.

She wanted to vomit at the blood covering him, but a darker part of her wanted to rip his filthy appendage off and feed it to him.

She felt herself sitting up, though she wasn’t in control of her movements.

Behind her fear, her sorrow, and her absolute despair lay a wall of rage she’d never felt before. It wanted to burst free, to add to the icy fury her new protector was full of.

“There is no place you will run to that will be far enough,” she hissed out, “no place safe enough for what I plan to do to you. If you thought your last punishment was severe, it is nothing compared to what awaits.

“Your torture will be endless. Your misery will be your only companion for the next thousand years. It will never end for you, and I will relish every broken sound you utter.

“I will wear a necklace of your entrails and will remove every piece of you bit by bit as time passes, until only your eyes remain to bear witness to my wrath.”

“My king,” Sebastian bowed down, limbs visibly shaking as he knelt. “I did not know she was yours.”

Amara flinched. The lie rolling off Sebastian’s tongue was nothing compared to the confusion she felt. Why was a vampire king in her mind?

Sebastian lunged forward, grabbing her head in his hands and twisting.

Amara vaguely recalled a guttural roar in her mind before everything went dark.