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Vlad swallowed hard. “I―”

“Or what if he wants you to watch while he has sex with another  man, or let someone else watch you. He will have total control of your  body, and you’re just going to let him do that?”

“I must!” Vlad snapped finally. “I am not even a second son, I am  a fourth son! My worth is determined by others, and I am worthless in  all ways but this. It is my duty to uphold my family honor and the  promise of my brother, and I will not be worthless in that task.”

Andrew couldn’t believe him. All that garbage that just spewed  from Vlad’s mouth…It was damned unbelievable.

“Get out of here.”

Vlad blinked. “What?”

Andrew pushed him until he fell off the side of the bed with an undignified curse.

Andrew was already getting out of bed and grabbing at his pants.  Vlad was ranting at him, but he wasn’t paying any attention. The second he had his hips covered, even if he left the buttons undone, he walked around the bed and grabbed Vlad around his upper arm.

“Let go of me, you vile creature!”

“Fine.” Andrew opened the door and practically tossed Vlad out into the hallway, naked. He didn’t care if anyone saw the prince in his birthday suit either.

Neither did Vlad, it seemed. “You have no right to banish me from any part of this house,” he seethed.

“Don’t I? You’re worthless. You just said so yourself. Your worth is only determined by letting that other vampire stick his dick inside of you. You’re so worthless that your only outlet is to get a worthless werewolf to make you feel better when no one else is looking.”

“I didn’t say―”

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“Go away,” Andrew shut the door in Vlad’s face, not interested in  hearing the other man backtrack, as though his mate hadn’t just  insulted the hell out of the both of them.

Vlad didn’t pound on the door and demand re-entry or even his clothing back. Likely that would cause too much of a scene. Andrew went and sat on the bed, and after opening his ears and listening really hard, he eventually heard Vlad walk away.

Andrew was furious and he knew he should leave. His mate

would rather marry some pervert than even contemplate the idea of a  relationship with a werewolf. Vile creature, Vlad had said.

That comment stung almost as much as the knowledge that Vlad  had zero self-esteem and would rather suffer for the rest of his

life―his very long vampire life―in a marriage to another vampire

who couldn’t give less of a damn about him.

If this was what Vlad wanted, no matter how demented it was,

then Andrew had a difficult choice to make.

Should he bother trying to save someone who so obviously didn’t want to be saved? Andrew had made a vow to always go wherever  Vlad went, but did he have it in him to stick around and watch as his

mate married someone else and then follow him all the way to Russia  just to sit back and do nothing while that man made his mate’s life a  living hell?

This would be so much simpler if Vlad was just another werewolf.  Why in the hell did Andrew’s mate have to be a vampire prince?

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Chapter Eight

For the first time in his life, Vlad contemplated throwing himself out into the sun. As there was no sunlight to be had at this time of night, the only option for him was to walk away from the guest room where Andrew James was staying and go back to his own room.

He’d turned and took maybe two steps before he bumped into  Stelig. His eyes had been on his feet the entire time, so it was no wonder he hadn’t seen the other vampire coming.

Vlad gasped, his heart launching into his throat like a rocket, but he held back any shocked sound he would have made.

“My lord! What are you―?” Stelig looked down at Vlad’s naked form, and the other vampire blushed and looked away, stammering.

Vlad fought off his humiliation at being seen like this. He pushed past Stelig like he was still fully dressed and in complete command.  “I’m going to my room. I don’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the night.”

He had to hurry if he was going to lock himself away before he started to cry in front of one of the guards like some sort of weakling.

Well, hell, that was exactly what he was, wasn’t he? And it made  Andrew too sick to stomach having him in bed with him.

“I came to check on you, my lord,” Stelig said, following Vlad’s lead, keeping his eyes straight ahead and going along with the farce that Vlad had created.

He felt like a character in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

“Did that vile creature hurt you, my lord?”

Vlad recalled the sudden twist of pain on Andrew’s face when he said those words, and the guilt was crushing. “Do not speak such

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terrible words,” Vlad said. “We took each other to bed. That is all.”

“My lord―”

They arrived at Vlad’s door, and he let himself inside. “Good  night,” he said, shutting the door in Stelig’s face, much the same way  Andrew had done to Vlad.

Only when he was alone did he allow himself to crumble. He put his hand over his eyes, trying to shut out the room, the whole world, and he slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor, shoulders shaking with the torment of emotions racing through him.

He hadn’t meant to hurt Andrew with his declaration or to

insinuate that the other man was somehow beneath his notice.

But he could not lie to himself. Those had been part of the reasons for choosing a werewolf for a lover. He’d hoped to receive someone small and insignificant, who would disappear once the deed had been done.

Instead he’d been blessed with a god of sorts, in body at least. In mind, Andrew was much more normal in that aspect, but still superior to Vlad.

Andrew held respect for himself, so much so that he would not allow himself to be called names, even by a prince whom he’d enslaved himself to. He would also not be with a man who did not

respect himself.

But everything Vlad had said had been the truth. How was he  expected to take back his words when he had spoken no lies?

Vlad lifted his knees and wrapped his arm around them, keeping  his hand still over his eyes, trying to stop the flow of his tears. His  tears that proved him to be weak and small, not worthy of the strong  name of Belekoff.

Of course he did not wish to marry Boris. The thought of being touched by that man’s thick, smoke-smelling fingers made him nauseous with disgust, but what else was there for him to do? Boris was a dangerous vampire, and so much more powerful than Vlad, who had no idea how to care for himself.

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Yet here was a man, a werewolf, who was only in Vlad’s life for a couple of days, judging him based on the decisions of others.

Perhaps Andrew was right to judge. Perhaps it was some sort of divine punishment for his cowardice that Vlad was to fall in love with a man he barely knew only weeks before his marriage.

* * * *

As a personal guard to the youngest prince, Vladimir, it was quite difficult to get a private audience with the king, even though he worked in the same building that his royal majesty resided in.

Though he’d been summoned, Stelig was still expected to make himself known. The stiff command to enter was given, and Stelig opened the door to the sitting room where his king still sat.

The fire from earlier had died down some, but otherwise, the room

was still as warm as the last time he, Prince Vladimir, and that

Russian foreigner had all been inside.

The entire house felt a touch hotter ever since Lord Boris came to

the house. He liked being kept warm, it seemed.

Stelig approached the leather chair. It was large enough that it  could almost be a small version of the king’s throne. Of course, that  was still back at their proper home in New York in the penthouse of  one of the larger buildings overlooking the water.

Stelig came from a small village, and so, sights such as that and  the knowledge that he worked for such people and lived in their home  filled him with a great sense of pride.

He bowed low when he made it to the front of his king’s seat, so  low that his forehead nearly touched the king’s honorable knees.

King Markus swirled a dark wine in his goblet, but Stelig didn’t  dare look him in the face until he was given permission.

He hoped it would be soon. He’d bowed so low that now there  was blood rushing into his head, and he was unable to move now,  even to lift himself to a slightly more comfortable angle.

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As his face grew hot and cheeks felt as though they were in the beginning stages of swelling, the king finally took some pity on him.  “Rise.”

Stelig stood straight, forcing back a sigh of relief, which was difficult. He looked into Markus’s face, but not into his eyes.

“I am told you have some information about the little fishing expedition my little brother went on.”

He mentally prayed for forgiveness for betraying even the most lowly member of the royal family, but his true loyalty needed to be to his king first. “I do.”

“You may speak.”

Stelig cleared his throat. “Sire, as you know you have an agreement with Lord Dragunov, and part of that agreement dictates that Prince Vladimir is to keep himself pure until the night when they are joined.”

“Boris likes to pretend that my youngest brother is a virgin, but he and I both know better. If your plans are to destroy this union by claiming otherwise―”

“No!” Stelig said, and then felt a sharp horror over the fact that he’d just interrupted his king. He quickly bowed low once more before he could watch King Markus’s face turn red with rage, and damn it if it hurt his head. “Forgive me, my lord, but I did not mean any disrespect, nor was I presumptuous enough to assume that Lord  Dragunov was unaware of such facts about Prince Vladimir’s state of being.”

King Markus said nothing for a solid two minutes, and Stelig felt the scrutinizing ruby eyes of his king on the top of his head.

“What news is it that you bring me, then?”

He had to make this good. If he did, then he would be in the king’s favor. He wanted that so badly for his family. “Your Majesty,  Prince Vladimir ordered myself and Dominic to go out and search for a male werewolf, capture him, and bring him back to the cabin he had taken.”

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King Markus’s hand clenched around the arm of his leather chair.

“Did he, now?”

Stelig nodded. “He did.”

“To what purpose?”

Stelig wet his lips. This confession was turning out to be more difficult than he had previously anticipated, and he didn’t understand the reason for that. “To dishonor Lord Dragunov by fornicating with the creature.”

The stem of the glass King Markus held shattered. He allowed the glass bulb filled with his wine to fall to the carpet and spill. The glass didn’t shatter, but the pooling wine reminded Stelig of a bad wound he’d once seen bleed out from one of the men he used to work with.

“I will have to speak with my brother about his behavior. To take  a lover is one thing, but a werewolf…”

Stelig didn’t understand. Wasn’t the king furious that Prince  Vladimir had gone against the wishes of his betrothed?

This wasn’t good. The king didn’t sound nearly as though he  thought Stelig deserved a reward for bringing him this information.

“Sire, the werewolf is in this house, posing as a feeder in one of  the guest rooms. Prince Vlad is still making visits to his room.”

The king stood up, and Stelig bowed and stepped back.

Instead of telling him to rise immediately, Stelig felt the soft touch  of the king’s hand on the back of his head. Shock filled him that King  Markus would do such a thing.

“You have done well in bringing this information to me,” the king  said.

Pride filled Stelig like water in a glass. “I am only doing my duty,

sire.”

“Who else knows of my brother’s offense?”

Both he and Dominic had been told, even though they both knew  otherwise, that Prince Vlad only wanted the creature to feed from. To  sample his blood, the prince had said. Stelig could pretend that he  didn’t believe Dominic knew the truth, and that way he wouldn’t be

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committing treason by lying to his king, and he also wouldn’t have to  share his reward. “Only myself, sire,”

“Good,” the hand left Stelig’s head. “You may rise.”

Stelig stood straight, and King Markus gripped him by the chin,  hard, forcing him to look into the red eyes of his master. “You are to  never breathe a word of this to anyone else. Vladimir is my brother,  and I shall handle this personally. Do you understand?”