Chapter 2: Sila Council

The man looked at me without an ounce fear. “Alpha Lycus Ahren of the Shifter pack,” he responded. “Your Highness.” The end of the sentence was filled with sarcasm.

He was truly a sight to behold. Handsome and masculine. He looked like he worked out and was a little shorter than me. My body responded to his looks. This was the kind of lust that I had never felt. Images run through my mind of pinning him down and feeding from him. How would it feel to conquer an Alpha like him? All my life I only knew bad people and death. Hunger kicked, and I wanted to feed. Feed on this delicious man. It had been centuries since I felt anything close to this. I needed to control myself.

“So, you are the Young Pup that summoned me?” I snickered.

The entire room fell into silence. I had no remorse for my words. I could feel the air suddenly change and anger filled the room. Rattling the shifter was a piece of cake. But I could not say this for the Alpha Lycus Ahren.

He sat down and crossed his arms in amusement. A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth as dark brown eyes clashed with mine.

“How is your coven going to pay for the death of my pack members?” His voice was a threat directed at me. He was truly magnificent and fearless.

I felt like he had been struck by lightning. His voice was like an aphrodisiac. I focused my senses and felt his heartbeat. The more i listened, the faster my veins demanded blood.

“What right do you have to speak to the Vampire King like that?” Leonardo stood up and yelled. Had he finally grown some balls?

“I am not speaking to you,” Alpha Lycus snapped.

I burst out into laughter. The entire council stared at me like I had gone crazy. There was no way the gods would be cruel to me. This was not happening. How could I crave his blood unless he was my life partner? It was impossible. Shifter blood was poisonous to vampires.

“Do you have evidence that it is my coven that is behind the killings? For all I know, it could be a plot by your pack to create chaos.” I drawled in amusement.

The words were out. I had set the bait. The shifters stood up in anger, and all looked like they were ready to attack. Staring at the Alpha, he was emotionless. He came prepared for such a scenario.

“My pack does not need to resort to such cheap tricks.” With just one look he commanded the pack members to calm down.

They all obeyed like small puppies, and they sat down. Wow! Just wow. How powerful was he? Tristan was right. I turned around and looked at Tristan. Behind his facade of a face, his eyes showed admiration for the Alpha. Dammit! I was not the only one who was whipped.

“Thank you for wasting my time.” I stood up and pushed the chair back. “Tristan and Leonardo will do the investigation into the killings and get back to the council.” I walked to the door of the council hall majestically.

“Your Highness, I have heard so much about you, but I never imagined that you were a coward.”

The words stopped me in my tracks. It took a second for the words to sink in and in a flash, I pinned the shifter to the wall. My beast mode activated in seconds. Hand around his neck, squeezing. His eyes blazed in anger the harder pressed hard. No one could match my strength as my body pinned him to the wall. His claws stretched, and I felt them scratch my arms.

“If anyone moves, I will snap his neck in two,” I seethed.

“What do you think you're doing?” he asked in a rough voice.

Alpha Lycus tried to struggle with me at the exact moment I pressed my body against his to control him and it jolted like he had been hit by electricity. Alpha Lycus' eyes widened when I felt his hard-on. His nose flared as he took a breath. My hand immediately loosened on his neck as I felt the veins in his neck pumping blood.

My hands were sweaty, my mouth dry, and I fixed my eyes on his. The desire to touch him, to be touched by him, rose with every second. My c*ck was already half hard, from just that one touch. I was flustered that I broke off my attack and moved away from him.

We stood there staring at each other. I could see him compose himself from the shock. I waited patiently for him to take back his words. All i could smell was his arousal and noticed how he was struggling to control it. He took a step towards me and we stood toe to toe.

“I was just kidding, Your Highness. No need to get so dramatic.” His unsteady voice and wide eyes betrayed the coherent feelings he felt. He was daring me to reveal what had just happened. I needed to get back to city; hence I turned around and walked to the door. The council member stared at me waiting for me to attack and looked turned to Tristan, who looked more composed than anyone. Leonardo was the only one who looked at me like I was out of my mind because he knew that in my anger, I would rip anyone's throat.

“So, Tristan was right. You are indeed too powerful for a coward like me,” I said nonchalantly.

The statement made everyone turn to look at Alpha Lycus. The shifter clan stood there staring at each other before jumping to spew out profanities directed at the vampire clan, the most creative ones coming out of Leonardo.

I turned to look at Alpha from the corner of my eyes Lycus and read his lips, “F*ck you b*stard,” clearly the insult directed at me.

Tristan was hot on my heels as we approached the convoy. “Let's go to the scene of the killings” I instructed.

He looked surprised at my request but he responded. “Yes, Your highness.''

I finally wanted to get my hands dirty. That damn pup had challenged me. No wonder he had summoned me to the meeting. He knew which buttons to push to his bidding. Even though there was something between us. How was it possible?

When we arrived at the scene of the killings, I found nothing vital at the scenes of the sickening massacre, no hair, no blood, and no witnesses. It’s like the killers had just vanished along with any evidence that could help them pinpoint their existence once they were content with the amount of blood on their hands. The smell of sulfur was so clear that I knew for a fact it was related to my coven and knew why Alpha Lycus accusations were clearly directed.

We left for the villa and found Leonardo waiting for me at the entrance. I could feel his stares as he walked along the villa corridors until we arrived at the main foyer. I walked to the couch and sat down; waiting to hear what he had to say.

“Brother, how will we deal with the rogues? Leave them to me. I will handle them,” Leonardo suggested.

“I will handle this matter myself.”

Leonardo looked at me in surprise. Regardless of being lazy, Leonardo had a keen eye and paid attention to details.

“We need to abide by the treaty. Hence, I would like to find out who is behind this. I could smell the sulfur on the scene. Even without investigations, I know that our coven members did this.”

“Brother, let’s not be quick to assume-”

I stood up and yelled, “How could you let me be called in by the Sila council? What is your work as the general of the coven? How were you unable to handle this small matter?”

“Brother-”

“I don't want to listen to your baseless explanations. Leave.''

Leonardo stood up in a huff and left. I knew he was not the cause of my anger and tantrum. It was purely Alpha Lycus. He had felt it, right? When our bodies were pressed together. I cursed and walked into my office to work out the uncertainty and anger.

It was nearly dark when I finished all the work. The city came alive in the night and vampires thrived on it. I walked into the room and struggled to rest. I closed my eyes and attempted to keep my mind clear.

After resting for an hour or two I gave up on sleep and went to the training grounds to train. Close to midnight, I returned to the room and grabbed a book, flicked the bookmarked page, and played smooth songs as I continued reading.

I must have dozed off, as what woke me was the sound of beeping shrill by the bedside. I was not a morning person. I grumbled and stepped from the bed, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I looked at the clock and it read noon.

There was a loud knock at my door. "Oh, for f*ck’s sake, Tristan, can you let me be?"

Another knock sounded at my door. "I swear to god if you don't stop your f*cking knocking I'm going to–" I yanked the door open and there stood Tristan and Leonardo. From the look on their faces, they had found the vampire rogues.

“Let me take a shower and I will join you shortly.”

We left for the coven jail and on arrival the statement Alpha Lycus made rang in my mind. I felt the anger and displacement of it. Eight rogues knelt on the ground and cowered in fear when they saw me.

“Your Highness, they have wrongly accused us,” one of them muttered.

I smiled and paced slowly in front of them. Each of the rogues had a unique aura–only one smelled of sulfur. I knew it. Someone in our coven was still behind the killings and had even made the fake culprit surrender. Did they think because I loved being alone, I was stupid?

The only way was to play along with them as I conducted my investigation. If Alpha Lycus was my mate, the killings would even complicate our union further.

“The Coven rules are clear. No killing of the shifters. No interfering with any business the shifters are doing. There was no going into the land of the shifters. Violation of these rules means death. Or am I wrong?” My voice was taunting enough.

They all looked down. I could smell the fear coming from them. I moved with speed and spared none of the rogues' lives. Blood splattered everywhere as their heads fell, one by one.

To say it was pleasing was an understatement. It was beyond satisfying. Far too much time has passed since I last killed anyone. I never resorted to killing, but the person who had planned this had calculated my every step. The only way was to play along and make them think I am a fool. The play was on.

“Let this be a lesson for everyone in the coven. Leonardo, send more guards to the borders. Tristan, you know what to do. Send a word to the Shifter pack that we have dealt with the issue of rogues. Find out from the Sila Council the penalties that we need to pay to the pack.”

With super speed, I left them and rushed to the enchanted forest that was at the back of my villa. It was a secret magical passage that led to the Shifter Forest.

I wandered around, not looking for anything but just needing to stop thinking for a little while. I felt like I had been so focused on trying to fix the problem that I was not thinking clearly anymore. This part of the forest was therapeutic, and it made me feel calm.

Someone was out to mess with the coven. I needed a plan, but first, I would visit the archives and read more about the shifters. For centuries it was unheard of shifters mating with vampires. His body made my skin tingle and I felt like I had been hit by an electric current. How was it possible? I needed to keep this a secret until I was sure of the outcome.

My senses are on high alert as I felt the presence of Tristan approaching. We stood in silence until I instructed, “Just say what you want to say.”

“Your Highness, after reporting our course of action to the shifter pack, Alpha Lycus has demanded an apology from you.”