Royal shuffle: Vampire’s mate

ANDREA

“Andrea!!!”

I felt water being sprinkled on my face, and I opened my eyes in panic.

“Where am…”

I gasped and looked out the window to see Leo snap the head of a wolf, and rip it clean off the neck. Once he was done, he looked back at the car.

“Thank goodness…” He ripped the car door off, and tore out my seatbelt. “How are you, my love?”

I nodded my head. My neck felt sore, but there could have been worse outcomes.

“I’m fine,” I replied.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Leo wiped my forehead, and I could see blood on his finger.

“Come on…” He helped me get out of the car, and held me close to him. “There are definitely more on the way. We need to get you moving.”

I nodded, and took his hand as he began to lead me through the woods. My left leg felt stiff, my knee didn’t have the same range of motion, making us move slow. Carrying me wasn’t an option now.

“We’re almost there. We just need to clear this forest, and then you’re safe.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when wolves jumped out of the forest. Four in number, and only one in human form, although he was half shifted.

“Andrea. You’re such a hard person to pin down,” the human said.

Leo pushed me behind him, and growled at all four of them. We were gravely outnumbered. I knew Leo would try his best to fight them off, but his body would tell the story.

“You can’t have her.”

The werewolf threw back his head and laughed. “We won’t be asking for your permission, your highness.”

He whistled and all three shifted wolves jumped at us at the same time. Forcing I and Leo to separate. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Leo shoot at the first wolf, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on him, as the wolf tore the gun out of his hands. I swallowed saliva, fear overcoming my being as one wolf stalked me. From the sheer size, I could tell that this was a female. She growled at me, and approached me slowly. Her eyes hyper focused on me. I kept taking few steps back.

“Just come with us, Andrea. You know you don’t stand the chance, right.”

“Fuck you.”

“No, but the prince will like to. Just imagine, you have two of the most powerful princes in America going to war over you. There must be something,” The bastard gasped as though he had forgotten something very important. “Forgive my manners. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sergio.”

My brows scrunched in confusion. What was I meant to do with that information? I heard a whirring sound, and then a knife got stuck in the neck of the wolf in front of me. She howled in pain, and dropped to the ground. I looked to see that the other two wolves were dead, and it was just Sergio left. I took a deep breath. Leo looked wounded. Sergio looked at the knife embedded in him, and groaned. He took the knife by the handle, and pulled it out. I watched as the skin there began to heal.

“Isn’t that silver?”

“It is actually. But I can’t be out and about revealing the secrets of the pack, now. Can I?” Sergio threw the knife at me, and I gasped as it hit the tree right next to my head.

“You’re so fucking lucky the prince wants you unharmed,” He spat at me with so much venom in his voice.

“Run, Andrea…”

Without thinking, I turned around and did just that. Ignoring the pain in my bones and joints, I ran as fast as my body would allow. I didn’t care that the trees and thorns were brushing me, and drawing blood. All that mattered to me in this instant was for me to get out of there. I knew Leo would get out just fine. Sergio didn’t seem like a good match for Leo.

I jumped over a fallen tree and landed right in the middle of a muddy puddle. I groaned and dragged myself through the filth, and then used the nearest tree as leverage to get back on my feet. The pain from my leg reverberated through my entire being as I got back on my feet.

“Fuck!!!”

I began to limp the rest of the way, not even sure of where I was or where I was headed. I just knew that I needed to keep moving.

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here?”

I froze and slowly turned around. Not believing the voice I heard.

“Leah…”

“In the flesh,” she replied.

She came out of the bushes and stood in front of me. The way she smiled at me made my blood run cold, and sent chills up my spine. This wasn’t going to be good.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Making sure you go back to where you’re coming from,” She clapped her hands, and a wolf emerged from the woods. “You will go with them willingly. I will tell Leo that you had died, and I would be there to tend to his broken heart. In no time, you will become history, and everything would go back to normal.”

“No…”

I shook my head slowly, tears gathering in my eyes.

“Yes…”

“Why would you betray your own like this? You’re working with werewolves?”

She simply shrugged, and began to look at her well manicured nails.

“Well, I guess you could say that desperate problems require desperate solutions. Yes?”

“No!!!”

“Take her, please.”

The wolf lunged at me, hitting my midriff with his big head, and knocked me into the ground. I tried to get up but he bit down on my leg, and pulled me closer. I screamed and began kicking the head with my other leg. He wouldn’t budge. I remembered the knife in my boot, and I quickly pulled it out, and swiped it across his head. The wolf howled in pain, and let go of my leg. He covered his head with his front paws as blood poured out of the slash in buckets. Leah looked at the wolf in disgust, and scoffed.

“How fucking pathetic. I guess if you want something done, you just have to do it yourself.”

I moved back, as she advanced on me. I crawled back as fast as my injured legs would allow, still clutching my knife to me. Leah grabbed my legs, and pulled me to her rather roughly.

“Come here, you little bitch…”

I swung my hand to strike her with the knife but she caught it midair and bent my wrist. I dropped the knife and screamed in pain as I felt my wrist dislocate.

“Leo won’t…” I started.

She grabbed my neck, and lifted me up until my feet was dangling in the thick forest air. I struggled to breathe.

“Leo…would be just fine without you. You overestimate your importance, little girl.”

She flung me, and I collided with a tree so hard that the air was knocked right out of me. Damn. She was strong. She was very strong. Queen material strong.

“Fuck…”

“Come on now…we shouldn’t keep our guests waiting,” she said excitedly.

She walked over to me, and grabbed my leg again, dragging me behind her with amazing ease. Despite the situation, I was in awe of her strength.

“And no more shenanigans,” She stated firmly.

She wouldn’t need to worry about that. I doubt that any fight was left in me at this point. Leah dragged me through the woods, and finally into a clearing. I could tell that this was our destination before the attack because I could see the dead bodies of several vampires laying there. Dismembered body parts and blood seeping out of several orifices made me close my eyes, a lone tear sliding out one eye.

“There you guys are!!!” She yelled at the werewolves. “I thought you said you had competent soldiers amongst you?” She asked mockingly.

“I’m guessing you have the girl?” Their leader asked, completely ignoring her jabbing.

“Of course, I do,” she replied smugly.

She flung me at them, and I landed at the feet of their leader with a loud thump, groaning from the pains. “There she is.”

“The king thanks you.”

She waved them off. “There won’t be need for that. He’s also doing me a favor.” She smiled sinisterly at me. “Bye, Andrea…”

The leader picked me up by my ponytail, and shoved me into the boot of the closest car. He looked at me and shook his head.

“You’ve caused one hell of a ruckus, girl…” He scoffed, and slammed the boot shut.

Darkness enveloped me in the enclosed space, and tears flowed freely from my eyes.

I could tell that my life was about to get a whole lot worse.