The Queen and her Wolf

Chapter Twenty-One

"Is something the matter?"

The raven-haired woman lifted her face from between my legs, face slightly flushed. To her credit, she'd performed wonderfully this evening. I'd been the problem. My mind had been elsewhere the entire time and I hadn't been able to give her the ovation she deserved.

Heaving a sigh, I gently extricated my legs from her surprisingly strong grip and shimmied myself off the ridiculously large bed.

"Something is always the matter." Frustration edged my words as I wrapped a silk robe around my shoulders and sat in a laughably luxurious armchair.

The young woman stretched herself out amongst the myriad of cushions, her legs tangling among the obsidian bed covers, and propped her head up on her left hand. Two bead bracelets jangled and slid up her forearm with the motion. One Black. One red.

When humans wanted to live among our kind they were given a contract. Boiling it down to basics there were two options. One, the black bracelet, was to let vampires in the Pleasure Wing know that this particular human was open to services of a sexual nature. Many humans, I found, had a certain kink for vampires and offered themselves willingly and enthusiastically. This particular Kindred was no exception. It wasn't the first time I'd sought her out specifically.

"Would you like to talk about it, Desirae?" She asked.

No title. No honourific. It was a small part of what I enjoyed about the Pleasure Wing. The Kindreds residing here were all human and so had no allegiance to me, thus no title was needed to address me.

For a human, she was quite pretty. Flawless alabaster skin, raven waves framing her oval face and eyes so blue you could imagine swimming in them endlessly. I suppose her body would have been enviable among women in the human lands, too. Full breasts, voluptuous hips, and legs that seemed to go on forever. Any other night I would have had no trouble reaching a climax with a Kindred such as her, but it wasn't any other night and this night had not gone as I expected.

Alana had played her part as guardian beautifully. It made me hopeful that she wouldn't resent me forever for the things she would endure at my side. She'd been attentive and gentle with each subject, vampires one and all, and sat through a grueling night of boredom without so much as a whimper. Pride had swelled within me, and relief, I guess, that my choice of guardian wasn't being called into question.

Yet.

That's when Eric had swaggered over, dripping with arrogance. He'd put me in this mood. I could barely contain myself as he offered Alana his gift as if that erased the harm he'd done her.

The she-wolf, once again the picture-perfect guardian, had regarded his gift with lofty approval. Only I had seen the way her eyes watched his every move, the way her lip twitched if he approached, and only I could feel the deep rumblings of the inaudible growl in her chest. Only myself, and Eric that is. He'd made sure to keep a respectable distance from both of us as best as he could.

I hadn't opened the jewellery box since the first inspection and quite frankly I was all too pleased to throw it atop my bed to be dealt with later. If at all.

The blood I'd had earlier had done nothing to sate my hunger or my rage. By the time I escorted Alana back to her chambers, my thoughts had spiraled into that dark, familiar place. The only things I wanted to do then were have my fill of blood, and fuck until there were no more thoughts in my head.

Usually that worked.

That is until Alana had shifted back into human form and I'd nearly pulled a neck muscle to stop myself from drinking in every inch of her naked body. It was all I'd been able to think about until she'd recounted her tale of Samuel and Eric's interaction and the small box that had changed hands. I'd agreed that the timing was too coincidental for it to be a different box. That just brought more questions to my mind. Why had Samuel given it to Eric? Why not just give it to Alana himself?

However, I suppose Samuel's job was to smooth things over so the boat didn't rock or go under. His duty was and always had been to the kingdom, first and foremost. I couldn't fault him for that. Still, I made a note to bring it up with him at a later time.

"No, Freydis" I replied, "I don't want to talk about it, and even if I did, I wouldn't know where to start."

"At the beginning, of course." She chuckled, rolling onto her back and lifting her arms above her head.

Her bracelets clinked against each other and, noting the red one, I slid off the armchair and climbed back onto the bed to straddle the Kindred. Her blue eyes sparked with arousal and she rose to meet me. With one hand, I pushed her back down on the bed with deliberate gentleness. Her expression melted into disappointment.

"I don't want that from you, lovely."

Confusion replaced disappointment, but then understanding had her offering up her neck to me and I barely hesitated as my fangs pierced her flesh. Hot blood filled my mouth as she cried out softly, and a moan followed soon after. From her or myself, I couldn't tell.

Blood bags and animal blood could sustain us and offer nutrients, but nothing was equal to the immediate relief and exhilaration of getting it from the source. The second contract that was offered to humans wishing to live among us, the red bracelet, signified a willingness to be fed on. Some, like Freydis, opted into both red and black. Kindreds they called themselves, as they felt as if they were kindred spirits to the vampires that lived here, they'd just been unlucky enough to be born human.

Drawing back gently, savouring her taste on my tongue, I locked eyes with her. Nothing romantic. I needed to make sure I hadn't gone too far. The vampires that utilised the Pleasure Wing had a duty of care to the Kindreds that resided on the floors above. Rotating rosters made sure that the red bracelet Kindreds had enough time to recover between feeds, but it was the responsibility of both parties to make sure everything was within safe and consensual limits.

Those blue eyes found mine, a little lazy from pleasure, but coherent enough.

"Thank you, Freydis." I leaned in to run my tongue over the last droplets escaping the wound on her neck before climbing off of her to dress.

"You can have more if you need," she offered, genuinely.

"Sweet girl, I do not doubt that you would let me drain you dry if I wished, but rules are rules. As you well know." I scooped up my coat and threw it over my arm as I headed for the exit, calling back to Freydis, "I better not find you feeding for at least a week, young lady."

A trill of laughter followed me far out into the hall as I began making my way back to my chamber, and all of the jewellery-box-related problems within. I needed sleep first. Even fresh blood wasn't enough to completely rid my body of the exhaustion accumulated from tonight.

Tomorrow night was going to be even worse as we travelled out to the Dark Ridge Pack territory to invite them to live in the castle. I only hoped Alan was ready for whatever might unfold. I hoped we all were.