I got back to the castle a little before midnight.

“There you are,” Luana said once I entered my chambers.

I was surprised to see her. I thought she wouldn’t be back for a couple of days. “When did you get back?”

“About three hours ago,” she said, looking a little mad at me. “It was a little tricky to get back into the castle, but here I am. Though, when I got here and didn’t find you, I thought …”

“What?”

“That Alex had found out about your lie and killed you.”

“If they had examined the wolf, they would have caught me, but they didn’t even care.”

When delivering the fake werewolf, I had been on edge, but Alex and the princes bought it. Alex was still looking for a way to get to me, though. I glanced at her arm. It looked perfect fine.

“I see your arm is healed and you’re well. I’m glad.”

“Thankfully, the healer in my pack is experienced.” She looked at me, at my clothes, probably finding my sweatpants and a Henley as weird as I felt wearing them. “Where have you been?”

“I was running an errand,” I said. She didn’t need to know where I had gone. No one did. “So, did you talk to your alpha?”

“Yes.” She lifted her chin high, reminded me of Thea. A pang cut through my chest. “His name is Ulric, and he wants to meet you in two nights.”

“He’ll help me?”

“Right now, he’ll meet you so you can plead your case.”

“Fair enough.” I sighed. Then, I finally took in her attire. A long, black dress. “Where are you going?”

“You mean, where are we going?” she said. “A little while ago, you received an invitation from Lord Alex for a formal banquet in the ballroom. It starts in fifteen minutes.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Hell …” After running for hours, my muscles groaned and I could use a bottle of blood. All I wanted was nourishment and rest. I didn’t feel like going anywhere. But once more, I had no choice here.

“I’ll get ready.” I started toward my bedroom, but stopped and looked at Luana. “If you’re going with me as my blood slave, then find another dress. Something more revealing. Something red and provocative.”

A knot appeared between her brows. “Why?”

“So Alex and the princes buy that I’m into you and have forgotten all about Thea.”

I couldn’t read the emotion that flashed in her eyes before she showed me indifference again. Shrugging her shoulders, she marched to her bedroom. And I went to mine to get ready.

I could have used a long bath, but settled for a quick shower. After putting on my formal clothes—black tuxedo, dark red shirt, and black tie—I went back to the living room.

“Is this better?” Standing in front of the sofa, Luana spun around. A dark red dress with a low neckline, tight torso, lace around her midriff, and a long slit up the side of her legs.

“Much better,” I said, realizing she was prettier than I first realized.

“I was hoping you would say no.” Groaning, she hugged herself, hiding her waist. “I really don’t like this dress.”

“You’ll be fine. All you have to do is put on a show.”

She groaned again. “Another thing I don’t want to do.”

I scoffed. “We all do things we don’t want to. For example, I’m here, aren’t I? Though I wish I weren’t.” I offered my arm to her. “Let’s go.”

Rolling her eyes, Luana rested her hand on the inside of my elbow, and together, we walked down to the ballroom.

While approaching the entrance, a thought occurred to me. Alex hadn’t stripped me of my title, but he had taken everything that came with it. Did that mean I was supposed to use the entrance on the main level, or could I still use the royalty entrance atop the balcony?

To irk him, I chose to go through the same place I always had. With Luana by my side.

When we entered the ballroom, Alex and all the princes were already on the landing, looking down at the guests.

Wait, guests?

The air rushed out of me once I realized the place was filled with humans.

I halted beside the other princes, but before I could ask what was going on, Alex opened his arms high and shouted, “Let’s feast.”

The vampires positioned along the walls lunged at the human guests, who as usual were too dazed, too drugged to react. No one screamed, no one cried, while the vampires bit their necks and drank their blood.

Behind me, Luana’s heart sped up and her hands closed tight around my arm.

Alex, who stood at the edge of the stairs, glanced over his shoulder at us. “Go on, princes. Feast.”

Without hesitation, the princes—Dorian, Aston, Nolan, Patrick, Cain, Gray, and Phelps—jumped off the landing and grabbed a human or two for themselves.

My stomach turned.

A satisfied grin took over Alex’s features. “Aren’t you going to feast, Prince Drake?” He looked at Luana. “Or is your new pet keeping your satisfied?”

“What are you doing, Alex?”

“Lord Alex,” he rasped, clearly irritated. “I’m doing what we should have been doing for centuries now. Bringing humans to the castle once a month instead of twice a year. Why almost starve ourselves when we are stronger, faster, better?”

I clenched my teeth. “Did you talk to the princes about this?”

“Are you jealous you aren’t included in such decisions anymore?”

I didn’t dignify him with an answer, but my silence was enough.

To be honest, I wasn’t jealous. I was disappointed. Maybe if I had been there, if I could have uttered my vote, the ruling would have leaned the other way. Maybe we wouldn’t be massacring humans for Alex’s pleasure.

“The princes barely had any say in this,” he continued. “Now that I’m Lord of the castle, I do what I want.”

That was so goddamn wrong …

“That isn’t how things are done here,” I said. When Lord Reynard ruled, he always listened to his princes, and before important decisions, he always held a vote to make sure it was fair.

“It is now,” he snarled. “Don’t you forget, Prince Drake. You are here, alive and kicking, because I’m allowing you to be. I can end you—” He snapped his fingers. “—just like that.”

I didn’t dare tell him he was dreaming. I was older than he was, only by a couple of decades, but that meant I was stronger. If we ever dueled, I would kick his sorry ass from here to the moon and back.

Instead, I gritted my teeth, clenched my hands, and held his defiant stare.

He let out a laugh. “I see you continue to be no fun.” He patted my shoulder, but I jerked away. “Go feast, prince, before I change my mind and take even that privilege from you.”

With that, he spun around and jumped, floating to the floor below where the humans awaited their end.

I stared, disgusted by such a sight. What had Alex done? The potion in the humans’ drinks had to be stronger this time for them to act like that—swaying as if they were dancing, chatting, and laughing as if they were at a real party. And not one bit aware of the massacre surrounding them.

There had to be at least fifty humans here, and half had already become corpses littering the floor. It was then I realized Alex didn’t intend to leave any humans alive for later. The vampires would kill them all.

I reached behind me and grabbed Luana’s hand. “Let’s get out of here,” I whispered.

She didn’t object as I pulled her out of the ballroom.

The hallways were practically empty, but I could hear Luana’s heart hammering as if it were a church bell echoing off the walls.

Once we were inside my chambers, I pushed her down on the couch and knelt beside her. “Are you okay?”

Wide and filled with tears, she turned her eyes to me. “W-was that the legendary bi-annual feast?”

I sighed. “Yes, but apparently, Alex now wants to make it a monthly occurrence.”

“That was horrible,” she whispered. “Since I had been found outside the castle, I was put down in the blood slaves’ quarters. I had heard about the feast, of course, but had never seen it.” She pressed a hand against her chest. “I can’t … Those people … Oh, my heart.”

“I know, I know.” I rose and paced around the living room, too agitated, too angry to settle. “I never liked them. In fact, I hated them.” I had always suggested we do something else for blood. Like the damn hospital bags we bought to fill our bottles. We could live off that, for sure. But no one ever wanted that. They enjoyed the warm blood from humans, even if it was only once every so often. They also enjoyed the thrill, the game, the hunt. But now … now Alex had gone overboard. Once a month? That was too much.

Luana clenched her fists. She lifted her head, blinking her eyes fast as if fighting tears—and exposing her long neck. Her heart still beat too fast and I could see, and hear, the vein in her beck thrumming.

Even though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t deny having her in here was too much right now.

Hell, I needed to get out of here.

Trying to ignore her odd scent and the sound of her blood rushing through her veins, I turned to the door.

“Where are you going?” Luana asked, her voice breaking.

“I … I’ll be back later.” I paused at the door, but didn’t look at her as I said, “Don’t leave. It’s not safe right now.”

I rushed down to the back garden, and inhaled a lungful of fresh air as I walked away from the castle.

Shit.

What the hell had come over me?

Well, it wasn’t the first time I had been tempted into drinking from a human during a feast—or after in this case. And I hated to admit it, but it happened more often than I was comfortable with.

I blamed the fact that I had been a pile of anger after talking to Alex during the feast. That and missing Thea. Those two facts put me over the edge, and I was suddenly ready to drink from a werewolf.

I was glad to see I could control myself and get away from her before I did anything.

I halted in front of the bench where I had first kissed Thea. I hadn’t even realized I was coming this way, but now that I was here, I could understand why. I missed her. Plain and simple. It had been only a couple of days since we separated, and yet I missed her so much, it hurt.

I sat on the bench and closed my eyes. Images of Thea and our time together flashed through my mind. I held on to them, willing them to give me strength so I could endure this forsaken mission.

Why the hell did I feel this immense, painful necessity to make everything right? To bring justice to this place, and save this castle? Why the hell did I care so much?

The fall of a soft footstep reached my ears, and a few seconds later, I caught a new scent in the air.

My eyes snapped open, and I went on full alert.

Who was spying on me now?

Slowly, I rose and followed the faint scent trail, careful so I would keep hidden and find the vampire before he found me. The scent got stronger the closer I got, and I soon realized whoever was coming wasn’t a vampire.

It was a human.

I found the human, a man in his early twenties, keeping to the shadows in the garden and creeping closer to the mansion.

I came up right behind him. “What are you doing here?”

Startled, the man turned to me, a knife in his hand. “Don’t come any closer.”

Could he be a human who escaped the feast? And why was he going toward the castle and not away from it? “What are you doing here?”

The man’s eyes widened. “I-I’m looking for someone. A vampire. I was told he likes to roam the gardens alone. Drake is his name.”

What …? How …? My hunger had subsided, but I elongated my fangs for show. “Who are you, and what do you want with Drake?”

The man’s arm trembled, but he kept that blade poised at my chest. As if that could stop me from breaking his neck. “I have something to tell him.”

“Who are you?” I snarled, showing off my fangs.

The man took a step back. “You’re him, right? You’re Drake. I know because Thea told me about you.”

My fangs retreated and my shoulders sagged. “Thea? What about Thea? Is she okay? Where is she?”

The man didn’t lower the dagger as he said, “I’m Keeran, Thea’s servant.”

Thea had a servant? Despite myself, I looked at him with different eyes. The man was good-looking for a human and was wearing nice clothes for a servant. I didn’t like it. “Why are you here?”

“She asked me to hand you this.” With his free hand, Keeran fished a folded paper from his pocket. I took the paper from him and cradled it in my mind as if it were worth my weight in gold. Groaning, Keeran slapped a hand over his chest. “I need to go now,” he muttered. “I can’t stay away for long or the spell might kill me.”

What did that mean? But before I could ask, the man walked away.

“Thank you,” I said, loud enough so he could hear.

Keeran tipped his head once, and then took off.

I stared at the spot he had been with my senses focused on our surroundings to make sure no one else, vampire or human, was around. When he was out of range, I glanced at the note.

Thea had risked the life of her servant to send me this note. It was probably important. And yet, I was finding it hard to open it.

Instead, jealousy festered in my chest. Why hadn’t Thea told me she had a servant? A male one? A good-looking male servant? Had she been afraid I would be jealous? Be jealous and angry?

I sighed. Who was I to talk? I now had a new blood slave I hadn’t asked for, and she was pretty for a werewolf.

This was stupid. I loved Thea and I hoped she knew that. I wanted her to trust me, to trust my feelings for her, so I had to do the same.

I trusted her.

With that in mind, I unfolded the note.

Meet me at the place we parted at midnight tomorrow.