Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
Mom put her cup down, “Every time we have our humans out of the underground tunnels, we are attacked. Our livestock have just been massacred. Our livelihood has been taken bit by bit.”
“We can help with protection,” he nodded, thinking as he walked over to his desk.
He ruffled for some pieces of paper then came back over with one and handed it to us. I grabbed it and my mom leaned over to see.
“Names?” I asked.
He nodded, “This is a list of the young that receive the blood you volunteer. If we are to protect the humans, we will need more blood. For the ones protecting,” he admitted warily.
“But the bloodlust?” I asked.
Lucien shook his head, “I have control enough for us. It won’t give you trouble,” he said then emptied his cup, “We will have vampires guarding the human village but if we are to be a match for the rogues, they will need the aid of blood,”
he explained.
“But Evelyn and her warriors–“
Lucien shook his head, “They are different. You can thank Silas for that. But they will be staying to protect the vampire territory.”
“How much blood do you need?” Brax asked, frowning.
“Not much, and only for whoever is sent to protection detail. It will make our senses sharper, our strength stronger,”
he said.
“How will it work?” Mom asked.
“I’ll send four vampires with you. You will let them each feed once, not much, a few drops each, not enough to weaken your humans. Then when it is time to switch shifts, I will send four more and they will swap. The four that leave can take the volunteer blood for the young with them, would that be agreeable?” He asked.
We all looked at each other before I turned to Lucien, “Would a few drops be enough to help you beat them?”
He thought for a minute then nodded, “It will help.”
“Then yes, we have a deal,” I said.
Lucien grimaced and held his head.
“One moment,” he huffed.
I frowned and we all tensed, waiting.
“This better not be a trap,” Brax warned, his shadows already leaking.
Lucien shook his head quickly, “I assure you, it is not. But my vampires do have a request in return for our help,” he sighed.
“We’re not going to like this, are we?” I grimaced.
He shook his head, “I expect not. But the mothers of my vampires can be quite persistent in our hive when their children are concerned,” he admitted. And he did look sorry.
“You need our blood,” I assumed.
Galen and Brax growled from deep in their chests.
11. The Request
Lorelai
“Werewolves do not give vampires blood. It may not be law, but you know the disrespect in such a request,” Galen snarled.
Lucien did look shamed. “I understand. I do not wish disrespect. I only ask because my vampires have families. Their young do suffer the bloodlust and they have not had any to help their urges due to the rogues. My vampires are insisting I ask for your help in return for ours,” he asked.
I knew my answer but Brax got in there first. “I thought you were their leader?”
“I am. But I do not want to rule as Silas did. I give my vampires a say, an opinion. I let them have some control over their own minds, I do not claim it all. I could, we all know that but I wish to rule out of loyalty, not fear. Hence why I am asking. They have trusted me to do what needs to be done and I have trusted them not to abuse the freedom I have given them.”
“But if you don’t control them, could they do what they wanted?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. The hive mind will not allow that much freedom. Their overall goals are still mine. For example, my goal is to be an ally to the wolves and humans so if they try to take an action that goes against that, like attack, they will die. They cannot go against my direction for us as a whole. But I have left them some freedom within their minds to live with their families as they wish and parent as they wish.” He smiled.
They couldn’t attack us? It seemed like something I should hand my blood over for.
“Of course, we will not take from you, Lorelai. You carry, your blood is already busy keeping your child alive. We understand this line and will not cross it. But–” He sighed as he saw the anger on Brax and Galen’s faces.
He knew as well as I did that getting a yes from them was going to be something of a miracle.
“Come,” he said, “We have decided to show you something.” Then Lucien strode towards the door, opening it for us to follow.
I did straight away. The vampires fascinated me and I couldn’t resist seeing more.
Brax came with me, kissing my cheek. “Don’t be so eager to run towards the danger, Spitfire. You’ll send me to an early grave,” he said quietly.
“I’ll be careful,” I promised as he tucked me into him and we followed Lucien.
He led us down hall after hall, more blood-red carpet runners making our path. We went down staircases, some vampires coming with us but they didn’t hover dangerously.
Instead, they nodded in acknowledgment and came down and down and down with us.
Lucien led us across the top of a castle wall, the cold air hitting me.
Brax held me tighter as we moved across.
We weren’t high up, just heading to another structure of the castle that was off to the side, accessible by the wall we were on.
He turned at the middle of the wall and pointed to the forest.
There was red smoke billowing up out of the trees.
“That is Evelyn’s dwelling. She lives there with her warriors. If you are ever in trouble, run to her, she will help,”
Lucien offered.
I nodded then carried on following him through another set of double doors that were guarded at the other end of the wall.
We were let through and my ears instantly ached.
There were screams and hisses. Bellowing, haunting screeches and squeals. I covered my ears and turned into Brax who held me tight.
My shadows fell from me, trying to smother my hearing but I shooed them off so I could hear Lucien’s explanation of what the hell was trying to pierce my eardrums.
“This is the school of our young. They dwell here in this part of the castle until they have learned how to cope with the hive mind emotions and tasks as well as their blood lust. Some take longer than others. It is a torture that I suspect only Lorelai could understand.” He eyed me and I refused to let my mind go back to the time he was talking about.
“They are like this all the time?” Brax asked, swallowing hard. He was probably thinking the same as me–what if it were the twins in this much pain?
I suspected it changed his answer to Lucien’s request.
Lucien nodded somberly. “They struggle, and it is something we have had to endure for all the years of our existence.
So we have always had to keep them here, suffering until they have learned what they need to. Since we have had the volunteers, the young have learned quickly, suffering half of this for a mere 24 hours before they are able to assimilate into the link. You can understand why we are so grateful for the volunteers and why, when we don’t have anything but vampire blood to survive on, we would risk disrespecting the wolves for a request we know they will not enjoy,”
Lucien said.
Mom sniffled, and I looked over to see tears streaming down her cheeks. Galen was holding her, scowling at Lucien like he wanted to rip his head off for bringing us here.
But we needed to hear it.
There was a black spiral staircase leading down to where the young were, and I wanted to see it, but Brax squeezed my hand. “Being here will be making it worse for them,” he whispered.
Lucien heard and nodded. “It does. But you had to see, you had to understand.”
“They are children?” Mom whispered, her voice broken.
“Yes,” Lucien nodded, “The equivalent to teenagers to humans. Ranging from sixteen to eighteen depending on when they get the full hive in their minds. The younger children are raised knowing this will happen to them, and for a while, we have been able to put their minds at ease.”
Galen cleared his throat. “We’ll give you what you need, Lucien.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?