The Vampire Prince (Book 3)

Lucien harbors a haunting secret, one he would sacrifice his very soul to protect. When the mate he has longed for across centuries finally emerges, he faces a heart-wrenching dilemma. His solitude has grown wearisome, yet revealing his true self jeopardizes far more than just his secret—it endangers the lives of thousands.

Elaina, a rebel fae and personal guard to her king, fears few things, except for the vampires who once massacred her kind. Though those times have passed for centuries, her trust remains fragile. One enigmatic vampire prince, in particular, raises her suspicions. While her body is inexplicably drawn to him, her mind is resolute in uncovering his concealed truths.

As fate beckons, Lucien and Elaina must confront their intertwined destinies. Elaina's visions offer two divergent paths—one leading to destruction and the other to salvation. The choices this destined couple makes will determine not only their own fate but the fate of their entire race. The catch is, they remain uncertain about which path is the correct one. In this enthralling tale of love, trust, and destiny, Lucien and Elaina navigate a treacherous terrain where their decisions hold the power to reshape their world.

Lucien leaned against the stone pillar, his gaze glued to her. She was fluid in her motions, yet lethal as she trained with another fae in the expanse of grass outside the palace. He could appreciate why King Trevan had chosen Elaina as his royal guard. Her fae magic sparked the air with a current that reached all the way to where he stood. His skin prickled and he couldn’t stop the smirk that turned up the corner of his mouth. He had to wonder if she had intentionally sent the spark his way.

She despised what he was.

It was all Elaina could do to be civil to him while they worked in Glenmoore assisting Storm with the new fae territory. He couldn’t blame her, really. He was born of evil. A blood-drinking predator that was all hardness while she was a soft beauty that was a miracle of nature. His ancestors had killed hers. Drank from them until they had been nothing but bags of bones. His fangs ached and threatened to expose themselves to the fact that he wondered what she tasted like. 

Would her magic slide across his tongue?

Would she soften against him and moan in pleasure?

He cursed. Not only did his fangs ache, now his dick was rock hard. He shifted his weight and moved his gaze to the other fae that Elaina was busy training. Or beating the ever-loving shit out of. Depended on how you looked at it. It didn’t help because he found his gaze moving back to her once more. A prick of jealous rage ignited inside him that another man dared touch her, even if it was in that man’s own self-defense. Lucien’s mind wandered further down the rabbit hole and to the fact that he knew Elaina had also been fucking King Trevan. He’d smelled the fae king on her when he’d been in Drudora to search for his missing friend, Roman. That entire mission had started as a cluster-fuck that had eventually turned into a history-making event.

Roman, royal guard to Lucien’s brother Andrei, had been in Drudora. A fae territory off limits to them because of an ancient war between long-dead brothers. Roman had been fated to King Trevan’s daughter, who was a half mortal, half fae female, and while visiting the fae king, Roman had gone missing. In the end, things had turned out for the better. Everyone learned that Storm, the fae princess who had been living in Hetus with the vampires, was not Trevan’s long-lost cousin but his very own sister. Both she and Trevan worked together to open the borders between the war-torn territories of Drudora and Hetus. As part of the celebration, Trevan had gifted his sister with her own territory of Glenmoore, thrown a royal wedding for his daughter and her fated, and everyone was one big fucking happy family now.

Except for Lucien. 

It started right after Roman discovered Harper was his mate. The dreams. Lucien had dreamed of his own mate, as was normal for his species. She had come to him as a faceless female, so he had figured she had just been born. Not yet old enough to take part in the sexual energy the nightly dream escapades would bring. How wrong he had been. While it should fill him with joy, instead his gut was twisted in a knot. He knew his mate to be of age and was certain she had lost no sleep thinking of him. Unless it was to plot how to drive a stake through his heart.

“You look annoyed. Did someone piss on your boots?” The silky voice jerked him to attention, and he stared into ice-blue eyes. Eyes that could never hide the intense distrust of him. Unable to stop, his gaze roamed downward to the form-fitting black tank and leggings she wore before he looked back into her icy stare.

She tilted her blonde head. “I wonder, can you be trained to like the taste of normalcy instead of sinking those disgusting fangs of yours into someone’s flesh?” She leaned closer. So close he could crush her to him and take what he wanted, except she would lash out with her magic and he would have to pretend to be defenseless against her. She wasn’t a normal fae. Then again, he wasn’t a normal vampire either. Elaina was descended from a powerful line of magical creatures, and he from… Well, he was a dark, dirty secret.

“Does the blood on my hands entice you?”

He looked down. It wasn’t that blood he wanted. It was hers and controlling himself was becoming difficult. He rolled his fingers into his palms and squeezed. He dared not speak because that would reveal that he had no control around her. Instead, he met her defiant gaze once more.

“Soon our work here will be complete, and I can go home. It cannot happen quick enough for me.” She moved away from him when his temper reached critical, and he grabbed her wrist.

“In a hurry to go back to fucking your king?” He just couldn’t leave that one alone.

Her gaze zeroed in on him and shot daggers of disgust. “Who I fuck is none of your business.” She sent a zap of her power to his fingers, causing him to release her. Then she stormed away.

“Oh but it is my business, dragâ mea. You are mine and I will claim you if I have to kill the fae king to do it,” he whispered. 

* * *

Elaina stormed away, her mood now foul from her encounter with the vampire. She had only been in Glenmoore for a few weeks, helping Storm with the new fae territory at the urging of her king, Trevan. It pleased her all the fae were free of the war their predecessors had started so long ago that many of the youngsters had no idea why their world was split. The vampires caused her concern. Especially Lucien, who looked at her like he wanted to devour her.

She shivered.

It was well known to her that his ancestors had killed her people. The war between brothers, over a female who was Elaina’s grandmother, had taken place two millennia ago. Brother Micah had fled with Nina and created the territory known today as Hetus. Jarrah, who ruled over Drudora, retaliated by creating a species of blood-sucking demons he called vampires and set them upon Hetus to destroy his brother and the fae who had dared commit treason against him. Besides her grandmother, there had been other family members who had gone to Hetus and perished at the fangs of Lucien’s ancestors. If stories were to be believed, Lucien was not one of the original vampires like his friend Roman but born from the union of a male vampire and his mate.

Micah had used his powerful magic to alter the vampire’s DNA. A few, like Roman, had been a blood-sucking demon one day and a so-called civilized vampire the next, while others evolved by birth. It was her understanding that the vampire king––Lucien’s brother Andrei––had been one of those born.

She stopped in her tracks. Angry that her body reacted to the vampire prince in such a manner that caused her to desire his touch. All while her mind was filled with disgust at herself and all the reasons this was bad. So very, very bad. There was something else that bothered her. The true origin of the vampire royalty and the other born vampires. Things simply didn’t add up to her.

She did a quick memory search of the conversation she had with her sister, Cassia, before Elaina had executed her for treason against the crown.

“Sister, why?”

Cassia had glared at her from her prison cell. “You know nothing about our past, do you? Grandmother gave us the key to control the vampires and I would have had this one except for his mating instinct was far greater than his urge to kill.”

“What are you talking about?” Elaina pressed. She needed to understand why her own sister had passed herself off as Elaina and tried to have the princess, Trevan’s daughter, killed.

“Think about it, all the tainted blood that runs in our world. Half fae, half mortal, half vampire, dark fae,” she prattled on. “Who is even real anymore? They need to die before they come for us all.”

She had gotten no more than that from her sister who had refused to speak further, and honestly, Elaina had been too distraught at the entire situation to press the issue. Now, with a clearer mind, she thought back to what she knew of Hetus and why the fact her sister had referred to half vampire and dark fae. The history she had learned was that Jarrah had created the vampires and Micah had evolved them and somewhere her own grandmother, Nina, had gotten involved. This meant that the vampires carried fae magic because fae created them. Was that what her sister had meant?

“Good morning, Elaina,” Storm pulled her from her thoughts.

She focused on the new queen of Glenmoore, who wore a short green dress that matched her eyes and black leggings. Her auburn hair was in a single braid, and a simple gold band studded with emeralds sat atop her head. Since she had been here, Elaina had never seen Storm dress extravagantly as many royals often did. Storm was very much down to earth, and it was evident that the vampires loved her, and none would hesitate to lay their life on the line for the new fae queen.

“Morning, Majesty.” She decided now was better than any other time to ask her questions. “May I speak freely?”

“Of course. You and I are family.”

It was true. Storm was the daughter of Nina, Elaina’s grandmother, and while they did not share the same paternal ancestors, Storm was her aunt. “I have a question about the vampires.”

“Go ahead. I will answer if I can.”

“There were never any females, were there?” She watched the queen’s body language, which went slightly stiff but only enough for a trained observer such as herself to even notice.

“My understanding is that originally, no. The vampires Jarrah created were male. Of course, that means when Micah tampered with their DNA, he only had males to deal with. I assume mortal women became fated mates to the evolved vampires, so they bore offspring. But, as you know, that all happened before I was born.”

“You assume, but there is no evidence that mortal females and not fae were the first to bear these children? Harper spoke of the fact that there are no females in Hetus except for the fae, and the mated females, which have all been mortal. Why are no females born?”

“I do not know why, and the only person who would know is long dead. Why do you inquire?”

“Forgive me, I’m only trying to understand why my sister committed treason. Something she said has me wondering how the vampires bore children in the earlier days if they had no females. Who is Lucien’s mother?”

“Lucien’s mother was mortal. A fated mate to his father.”

It was possible that was what her sister meant when she referred to half vampire. Except, she understood that when a mortal mated with a vampire, she transformed. Her humanity lost. It was also possible her sister was deranged, and that was something Elaina was going to have to live with.

“Is it possible that some of the earlier vampires mated with fae?”

“I suppose in the early years it is possible, but there is no record of such. Would it matter?” Storm asked.

“No. Of course not. Thank you for your time, Majesty.” She curtsied, then continued on her way with this nagging sensation deep in her gut. Why would it matter? She wasn’t sure, but for some reason it did, and she intended to first find out exactly how the vampires were created, then follow the trail to wherever it led. She had to know if these creatures were trustworthy and the perfect place to start was back in the library at the palace in Drudora.