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use.

James shook his head. “Two men mating are one thing, but a vampire and a werewolf?”

“I thought there were stories about things like that?” Corey said, his scarred fingers drumming against the wood of the doorway.

Corey did things like that, always tapping his fingers whenever he was thinking.

“Yes, but those are just stories.”

“Vampires and werewolves are only supposed to be just stories, too,” Corey said stubbornly. “Not to mention you have a pond on your property that can bring people back to life.”

James smiled, trying to hold back the frustrated laugh that was bubbling inside of him. “I think you have me there.”

There was still the matter of whether or not Andrew would return

safe and sound. It wasn’t like the man had called him to ask for help

yet.

“I’ll give him one more day. If he doesn’t show up by then, we’ll  have to go looking for him,” James said.

“I thought vampires didn’t have a scent that you could track,” said  Corey.

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

* * * *

Taking one of the cars right now was too dangerous, according to

Vlad.

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The other man had explained all the security surrounding the garage, even during the day. If they took one of those beautiful-looking Hummers, one of the human guards would be aware of it and chase them down, and apparently there were trackers hidden in those vehicles as well.

It was a real shame. Andrew had wanted to swipe one of those beauties so bad. It would’ve been pretty awesome if he’d showed back up at DeWitt’s pack with a mate on his arm and a cool new ride.  Not to mention that the tinted windows would’ve made daytime escape ideal.

No can do. It was officially out of the question, which meant that  Andrew would have to take his new mate out of here during the night, the both of them slinking off like thieves or something.

Andrew grinned at the thought. Technically, he was stealing another man’s betrothed.

“What are you smiling at?” Vlad asked.

Andrew shook his head. “Nothing. Don’t fill your suitcase too  much. Pack light. We don’t want anyone to notice you’re missing for  the first couple of hours, and we’ll be going on foot until we can find  a ride.”

The drive from Brampton, where his pack was situated, to this giant house hadn’t been that long, but stealthily trying to get away on foot would definitely take a lot more time.

“How long and fast can you run for?”

Vlad finished forcing the zipper around his suitcase. “I’ve never timed myself, but I can go for pretty fast spurts. I get tired quickly, though.”

Andrew nodded. That would have to do. He checked his watch.

Another hour before the sun was down all the way, and the vampires of this house would be waking up several minutes before that.

“You sure you don’t want to, I don’t know, leave a note or something for your other brothers?”

They’d spoken during the day, always keeping their voices low,

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and always keeping one ear out for any possible noises coming from  the other side of their door. They’d moved their little party into Vlad’s  bedroom, but they still had to be careful.

Vlad had spoken about his other two brothers, and though there  was not much love held for Damion―as the second son, his attitude

was apparently no better than that of his king brother―it was Ivan  that Vlad spoke about with the most affection. He didn’t even talk  about his mother the same way he did about his favorite older brother.

Vlad shook his head, though his shoulders sagged a big. “Ivan  keeps mostly to himself. He sees things. Father nearly sent him to an  asylum because of the things he said he saw.”

Vlad bit his lower lip, exposing his fangs. “He and I got on best,  but still not enough to warrant me staying. I’m sure if I were able to  tell him, he would wish me well and send us on our way.”

After the revelation about the asylum, Andrew was keen to think

so, too.

The next hour was spent in jitters. Andrew was constantly checking his watch and listening for any hard stomping footsteps outside of Vlad’s bedroom door. He was waiting for someone to finally come and check to make sure that Andrew was a corpse, find no body in that spare room, and then come looking in here.

No one came, and after Vlad slathered himself in sunscreen,

enough to use almost the entire bottle, fifteen minutes before full  sundown, he finally said it. “Let’s go.”

“Thank God. I was getting anxious,” Andrew said, reaching out  and taking hold of Vlad’s hand.

It was still greasy with all the sunscreen he’d used.

“I know. I can hear your heart beating.”

They moved toward the window. Vlad had told him that he felt  like he was in a prison, but he was definitely not locked in. Still, they  couldn’t just walk out the front doors.

“Don’t get any ideas about feeding from me until we’re out,”  Andrew teased, but only half joking. “Gonna need my strength for

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this.”

“I know,” Vlad said, but he wasn’t joking even by half.  Everything about his body language was serious. He was about to  leave his family, the people he both loved and hated, for a werewolf, a  creature who up until recently he saw as being beneath him.

“I’ll make sure you never regret this,” Andrew said, squeezing his  hand until Vlad was looking at him. “I promise.”

Vlad leaned in and kissed him.

Then they opened the window and climbed outside.

They were only on the first floor, so their drop down onto the grass was soft and silent.

“The guards will be switching their rotation,” Vlad said. “We just have to keep along the shrubs and we should be able to get by.”

“Are there any cameras we need to watch out for?” Andrew asked. He could smell the humans at least, and how strong their scents were let him know when the last time was that they were walking around these areas. Some scents were strong, others were weak. It was hard to tell if they would be coming back one more time before the vampire guards took over for the night.

“Some, but not many. The guards usually patrol the blind spots.  That’s where we need to go.”

Fantastic.

Vlad was practically dragging Andrew along, and Andrew sensed the other man’s eagerness to escape now that they were finally doing it. It was a comfort. Vlad wanted to do this. He wanted
 
him.
 
He hadn’t

scoffed at Andrew’s confession, and now they were going to be  together.

Because the property didn’t actually belong to the king, there were  no gates surrounding the house. The driveway was gated, but that was  it. Andrew ducked down behind one of the huge stone water fountains  when Vlad prompted him, and together they both peeked out from  behind it.

The scent of the humans was much closer now, and Andrew

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watched with nervous anticipation as they still dawdled around the  area. They looked like they would be tough to handle in a fight, if  there were five of them up against Andrew, but they also looked  bored out of their minds.

He wasn’t about to use that as an excuse to let his guard down.  Human guards they may be, but there were enough of them to cause problems, and they would have tranq guns on them, too, and Tasers, and all sorts of gadgets that would make it a pain in the ass to escape.

“Thought they were switching their rotation,” Andrew said, his heart hammering with impatience as these guys just continued to patrol around. Any second the vampire guards would be coming and then it would be too late.

“They’re supposed to be,” Vlad said, his voice just as tense.

They each gripped the other’s hand tightly as they watched the  guards. Andrew was tempted just to take his mate and run away with  him right now, or transform and give them something to chase so that  Vlad could get out of here before they lost the advantage of being in  the dim sunlight.

The guards made the decision for them by finally signaling to  each other that it was time to go. They called to each other that the  end of their rotation had come, and as one, they began shutting and  walking back to the house and wherever the servants’ entrance was.

“Now, go, go.”

They kept low but ran as quickly as they could. There were no  gates for them to climb, but that was a long stretch of lawn with no  cover at all to hide behind. There was the line of trees and shrubs off

the property, and they ran for that like the guns were already going off

behind them.

Andrew was the one dragging Vlad behind him as they ran. The fear that one of those stupid vamp guards could walk out at any second and see them was very real, and it was the driving force behind the speed he pushed into his legs.

Then they were there, running through the unkempt shrubs that

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became large and heavy trees, but Andrew didn’t dare stop. They kept  going until the scents and sounds of the house behind them  disappeared, and then Andrew pushed on for another five minutes.

He would’ve kept going, but Vlad started to tug on his arm,  forcing him to slow down and then stop entirely as he took note of the  state of his mate.

Vlad’s cheeks looked puffy and red. He panted and had to catch himself by putting his hands on his knees. Not for the first time,  Andrew was reminded of Vlad’s privileged background. He might be a vampire, but he was not the warrior that Andrew was.

“Sorry,” Andrew said.

Vlad shook his head, and Andrew was encouraged by the smile on his face, despite his heavy panting. “It’s all right, but I must ask that we walk for the next ten minutes or so.”

If they wanted to get a proper head start and be back at Andrew’s pack in a timely manner, they would have to be faster than that. “Five minutes.”

Then Andrew noted that Vlad wasn’t carrying his suitcase anymore. When did that happen? “Where’s your bag?” he asked.

“I lost it back there. I couldn’t carry it any longer.”

Andrew must’ve made a face, because Vlad took on a look of

worry. “Is that bad?”

It was very bad. When the vamps came looking it would give the  guards the direction he and Vlad had gone off in.

Too late to go back for it now. For all Andrew knew they were  already looking. Maybe they’d even found the case.

“We have to keep moving,” Andrew said, grabbing Vlad’s hand.  “Let’s go.”

* * * *

Stelig reached down and picked up the discarded suitcase. It was a quality brand, and aside from being slightly mangled—had that

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werewolf thrown it away?—it was still in excellent condition.

It belonged to the prince, he was sure of it, but it was not his place  to open the heavy case to examine the contents, so he brought it to  Lord Dragunov.

“My lord, this was found just over there,” he said as the case  exchanged hands.

That bastard foreigner didn’t so much as give Stelig a nod of  acknowledgement.

He opened the zipper and began pulling out several articles of  clothing, books, bottles of water, small packets of food, and the few  small devices that Vlad favored. Then the man shook out the bag,  dumping its contents onto the ground, as though searching for  something else.

“My lord—”

“They went this way,” Lord Boris said, pointing in the direction  he wanted them to go. “Not far ahead now.”

Stelig would be lying if he didn’t admit that he despised being  ordered around by a man who was not even a member of the royal  family, even if it was to find the wayward prince.

Stelig bowed and stepped out of Lord Dragunov’s way as the  Russian lord marched off. Whether Stelig liked it or not, it was by  following Lord Dragunov’s lead that had brought them this far in the  first place. He was an excellent tracker. Stelig certainly wouldn’t have  known to go running and searching in this direction, and if he said  they were to continue on in this direction, and that the prince and his  kidnapper were not far off, then Stelig would follow him.

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Chapter Eleven

They’d made it about halfway back to Andrew’s pack. They had to stop several times so that Vlad could catch his breath, and that was definitely a slowdown. It was a shame Vlad had lost his suitcase, because he knew there were water bottles inside of it. Andrew was

getting pretty thirsty now, too, but he could handle it. He’d grown up  going without, Vlad hadn’t.