Eight: Lucien
Keeping her close was a terrible decision.
I smell her everywhere. At home. In my car. In my office. She had obliterated every other thing, and it was practically impossible to keep my fangs off her neck.
Her blood was the tastiest I've ever had. Right now, she wasn't in her seat, but I could still smell her. I was still craving her and…
The shrill ring of my phone distracted me, and when I saw the caller, my mood soured. I instinctively glanced at the tiny ring on my index finger as I ignored the call till it rang out. It started ringing again almost immediately, and I waited till the 3rd ring before I picked it up.
"You've been ignoring my calls," was the first thing Hera said. My beast reared its head at her audacity to speak to us that, and I was so consumed with anger that I tightened my hold around my phone.
"Paid you for the next two months already, Hera. We have nothing to talk about."
"Oh really?" Her tone was sarcastic, and I could picture her leaning back on her throne, "I thought we agreed on you doing everything I want. You running over whenever I ask you to and even barking like a dog if I should ask you."
She laughed loudly. A sadistic laughter that made my anger spike. No one has ever dared to speak to me like that. And head of a Coven or not, I should be able to remove the head of whoever spoke to me like that. But Hera Bolkob wasn't just an ordinary witch; she was someone who held my life in her hands.
"No reply, alpha prince?" she mocked, "Are you angry that this lowly nobody is talking to you like this?"
My clothes tightened around my body, and I could feel my beast stretching and trying to break free. When I pulled at my tie, my fangs grazed my neck.
"What do you want, Hera?"
"Ohh, nothing too serious, my prince," her tone was still mocking, "I just need letters of work recommendations for my girls. That's all."
I gritted my teeth. This was just one of the many things I've done for her. One of the many orders disguised as favors from her.
"It's okay. Send their details."
"You see? It shouldn't be that difficult, Lucien. Just do everything I ask of you, and you won't have to burn to…"
I cut the call and flung my phone against the wall. I stood up and paced my office before stopping in front of the left wall and punching it. Pain exploded in all parts of my body, and blood gushed out of my bruises before the skin healed itself almost immediately.
I hated Hera with everything. Hated her so much that I've gone over her death in my hands over a million times. But I couldn't kill her just yet… I might never be able to kill her as long as I have this curse. She was the only one keeping it at bay, and if she should pull back, I was as good as dead.
A familiar scent suddenly overpowered my senses, and I turned back to see Maeve settling into her seat. Her hair was packed into a slick ponytail, and my first thought when I saw her this morning was how it'd be easy to grab the ponytail while my dick slides with force in and out of her mouth.
Just like that, I forgot about Hera and her conniving ways. My two sides fought for dominance as I settled back in my seat while still observing her. My vampire side wanted to feed on her because she was the tastiest meal he had ever had, and my wolf side wanted to touch her because of her sounds. They were intoxicating. Drives both of us crazy to want to do crazy stuff to her.
Bend her over my desk. Press her against my window. Make her touch her ten toes. Have her worship me with my mouth. Tire her out till he's spent and begging. And then she touched me. Guided me to stroke against her wet pussy, and I'd be damned if I didn't get high from that alone. I'd have cummed the second her fingers grazed my dick, and it took all my willpower to block it out. She should never know that she has that much power over me. That the mere sight of her body did inexplicable things to me.
I licked my lower lip as I stared at her. She was now pressing away on her keyboard, and my finger hovered around my intercom. I could push it and summon her in. She wouldn't fight it. I know. I knew from the minute her mother introduced us years ago, and I smelled her arousal.
I hated her in that moment, and I hated myself more because that same night, I jerked off to the thoughts of her while she slept just a few rooms away from mine.
I knew her type from how her mother was. Poverty-stricken humans who would use anybody to climb up the social ladder. That was the only reason she married my poor father, and the only reason Maeve moved back into the house.
I hated that her plans were working. That I craved her like I craved oxygen. That I wanted to fuck her for hours on end till she was nothing but a mess of my cum in all her holes.
And I hated that I felt that way. Still, my finger hovered over the intercom button. If I should…
My phone rang again, and I momentarily cussed Hera before I saw the name and picture flashing on my phone.
It was my best friend and the woman I'd be in love with, even though I don't have the baggage bearing down on my neck.
"Hello Stella."
"Oh wow," she chuckled excitedly, "You remember my name."
"Oh, come on. Are you back?"
"No, it's… It was a false lead," she whispered in a broken voice, and mine splintered a little too. She had spent six weeks on that lead. Six weeks searching for the most powerful sorceress in the world. The one who could cure me and make me live an everyday life.
This wasn't the first time. She had spent weeks, months, and weeks over the last two years looking for ways to cure me. Her business suffers for it, and no matter how much I beg her to give up, she'd insist. According to her, I deserved to live a normal life too. I deserved to live up to my potential as the alpha prince.
"Just come back, Stella. There's no cure. There's no hope. I'll just have to keep using Hera till something happens."
"Nothing is going to happen unless we make it happen, Lucien. And Hera is nothing but a bitch who has turned you into a money and opportunity-making factory. We have to get a cure from elsewhere and get rid of that bitch for good."
"You need to live your life, Stella. This is the year of you running around and…"
"I'm doing all of this for the man I love and the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, Lucien. I regret nothing. I'd do it over and over again just for a glimpse of hope."
We weren't dating, and I hadn't explicitly told her that I liked her, but she had guessed my curse was the only thing holding me back. That was why she made it her life's mission to cure me.
"Since this one turned out to be another false lead, when are you coming home?"
"So the thing is I got another lead in Asia and I already booked a flight to…"
"No, Scarlett, you need to come home and…"
"My ride is here, Lucien. Talk to you later."
She hung up before I could reply, and as I stared at my blank screen, I fleetingly wondered what it would feel like to find a cure elsewhere, too.
Then I'd finally be able to make Scarlett happy.
And I'd be free from Hera's clutches forever.