When Fangs Fall In Love

Chapter 2: The Alpha's Dead Mate

Some bonds are written in the stars. Others are carved into the flesh of the damned.

I. The Man Outside Her Door

Seraphina had survived two hundred and seventeen years without a heartbeat.

She had survived vampire assassins, poisoned wine, a royal execution that had somehow gone terribly wrong, and one particularly unpleasant encounter with a bishop who believed that holy water could solve every problem in existence.

But she had never been afraid of a mirror.

Until tonight.

She stood barefoot in the middle of her chamber, surrounded by fragments of enchanted glass that floated inches above the floor. Her reflection was gone. In its place, each shard displayed a different image.

In one, she was wearing a crown of black roses.

In another, she was lying in a coffin.

In a third, a man with silver eyes was kissing her forehead while blood ran down his face.

Kael.

She turned away from the images.

“No,” she whispered.

The shards trembled.

“No, absolutely not. I refuse to participate in whatever theatrical nonsense the universe has prepared for me.”

A knock sounded at her door.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Princess?”

It was Kael's voice.

Seraphina straightened immediately, smoothed her ruined dress, and lifted her chin.

“I'm busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Being dead.”

Silence.

Then the door opened.

Kael stood in the doorway wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His hair was damp, as though he had just returned from the rain, and there was a fresh cut across his cheek.

His silver eyes moved over the room.

The floating glass.

The overturned chair.

The blood on Seraphina's wrist.

Then they settled on her face.

For one strange second, he forgot what he had come to say.

She looked exhausted.

Not weak. Seraphina would probably rather throw herself out of the window than appear weak in front of him.

But exhausted in a way that made something twist unpleasantly in his chest.

"You're bleeding," he said.

She glanced at her wrist.

"It's a fashionable accessory."

"Seraphina."

"Kael."

His jaw tightened.

She smiled sweetly.

It was an infuriating smile.

He wanted to wipe it from her face.

He wanted to kiss it from her lips.

The second thought struck him so violently that he took an involuntary step backward.

Seraphina noticed.

Of course she noticed.

Her red eyes narrowed with sudden interest.

"Oh," she murmured.

Kael immediately regretted having a face.

"Oh, what?"

"Nothing."

"Say it."

"I would hate to embarrass you."

"Try me."

She moved closer.

One step.

Then another.

Kael remained still, though every instinct in his body screamed at him to close the distance himself.

"You look nervous, Alpha."

"I'm not nervous."

"Your heartbeat disagrees."

His eyes flashed.

"You can hear my heartbeat?"

"Unfortunately."

She tilted her head.

"It's terribly distracting."

For a moment, they simply stared at each other.

Then Seraphina's expression changed.

The amusement faded.

She pressed a hand against her chest.

Kael felt it immediately—the sharp, sudden pain that tore through the bond.

He caught her before she fell.

"Seraphina!"

Her fingers clutched the front of his shirt.

The room disappeared around her.

She could hear his heart.

Feel its rhythm.

Every beat struck against her senses like a fist against a locked door.

"Make it stop," she gasped.

Kael wrapped one arm around her waist.

"Look at me."

"I can't—"

"Look at me."

His voice became something fierce and steady, a command that cut through the noise.

Seraphina forced her eyes open.

Silver met crimson.

The pain eased.

Not completely.

Enough.

Her breathing slowed, and she realized that her forehead was pressed against his chest.

Her hands were still gripping his shirt.

His arm was still around her waist.

Neither of them moved.

Kael could smell rain in her hair, the faint perfume of roses, and something beneath it all that made his wolf restless.

Not blood.

Not magic.

Something familiar.

Something his soul remembered even if his mind refused to.

Seraphina lifted her head.

Their faces were inches apart.

His gaze dropped to her lips.

She noticed.

Her own lips parted slightly.

For one reckless second, neither of them seemed to remember that they were supposed to be enemies.

"You're staring," she whispered.

"I'm making sure you don't fall."

"Of course."

"You are injured."

"Naturally."

"And you're insufferable."

Her smile returned, softer this time.

"And yet you haven't let go."

Kael looked down.

His hand was spread against her waist.

He released her as if her skin had burned him.

Seraphina stumbled half a step, caught herself, and laughed quietly.

The sound was beautiful.

Kael hated that he noticed.

He hated even more that when she smiled, the pain in his chest disappeared.

"Stay away from me," he ordered.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Gladly."

"Good."

"Excellent."

"Perfect."

"Then we're in agreement."

"Wonderful."

They stared at each other.

Neither moved toward the door.

Finally, Seraphina crossed her arms.

"Are you going to leave, or are we planning to stand here exchanging increasingly unconvincing threats until sunrise?"

Kael turned toward the door.

"Lock it."

She blinked.

"What?"

"Lock your door. Don't open it for anyone except me."

"How romantic."

His hand tightened around the doorframe.

"Seraphina, someone entered this castle tonight without triggering a single ward. They reached your room, destroyed your mirror, and left a message inside your head."

Her smile vanished.

"I didn't tell you about the message."

Kael slowly turned back.

"What message?"

She stared at him.

For the first time since meeting him, she had no clever response.

Because the truth was suddenly very clear.

Kael hadn't come to threaten her.

He had come because he was afraid something would hurt her.

And somehow, that frightened her more than the monster in the mirror.

II. The Rules of an Unwanted Bond

By midnight, Kael had established seventeen rules for Seraphina's protection.

She broke eleven of them before breakfast.

The first involved remaining inside the castle.

The second prohibited entering the armory.

The third specifically forbade her from wandering into the western wing, where the oldest members of the Blackthorn family were buried.

Naturally, the western wing was where she went.

The corridor smelled of dust, cold stone, and old magic. Portraits of dead werewolves lined the walls, their painted eyes following her as she passed.

At the end stood a black door bearing the crest of the Nightfang Pack.

A silver wolf beneath a crescent moon.

Seraphina touched the symbol.

Pain flashed through her palm.

She pulled away.

A voice whispered behind the door.

Little queen.

She froze.

The voice sounded like her mother's.

Impossible.

Her mother had been dead for centuries.

You have found him at last.

Seraphina stepped closer.

"Who are you?"

You know who he is.

"I know who Kael Blackthorn is."

The voice laughed.

No, my darling. You know who he became.

The door opened by itself.

Beyond it lay a chamber lit by hundreds of candles. A marble sarcophagus stood in the center, covered in silver flowers.

Seraphina approached slowly.

An inscription had been carved across its surface.

HERE LIES ELARA BLACKTHORN, MATE OF THE FIRST ALPHA, MOTHER OF THE LAST BLOOD.

Beneath the inscription was a date.

A thousand years ago.

Seraphina touched the name.

The world tilted.

Suddenly, she was no longer standing in the chamber.

She was in a garden beneath a golden moon.

A woman stood beside a fountain, holding a little girl in her arms.

The woman had Seraphina's face.

The little girl had Kael's silver eyes.

And behind them, a man knelt in the grass, weeping over a bloodied sword.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

The woman kissed the child's forehead.

Then she looked directly at Seraphina.

"Promise me," she said, "that you will never let him remember."

The vision shattered.

Seraphina staggered backward.

A hand caught her elbow.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Kael.

His voice was furious.

His hand was warm against her arm.

She looked up at him, still shaken by what she had seen.

"Who was Elara Blackthorn?"

His expression changed.

"My mother."

"I saw her."

"No, you didn't."

"I saw a garden. A child. A man with a sword."

Kael went very still.

"What did the man look like?"

Seraphina hesitated.

"I couldn't see his face."

"What did he say?"

"He asked her to forgive him."

Kael released her elbow.

For a long moment, he stared at the sarcophagus.

Then he laughed once, without humor.

"My mother died before I was born."

Seraphina's blood chilled.

"What?"

"The official story says she died giving birth to me. My father never allowed anyone to speak of her."

He looked at Seraphina.

"But when I was a child, I used to dream about a woman standing in a garden. She would tell me to find someone."

"Who?"

Kael swallowed.

"You."

Silence filled the chamber.

Seraphina stepped away from the sarcophagus.

"No."

"I know."

"No, Kael. You don't understand. I've never met you before tonight."

"I know."

"I have never seen your mother."

"I know."

"Then why would she tell you to find me?"

Kael looked at the sarcophagus.

"Because either the dead have been lying to us for a thousand years..."

He turned toward her.

"...or one of us has already lived this life."

The candles went out.

Every single one.

In the darkness, Seraphina felt Kael's fingers close around hers.

Neither of them had reached for the other deliberately.

Their hands had simply found each other.

As if they had done it a thousand times before.

As if they would do it a thousand times again.

And somewhere beneath the castle, something ancient began to wake.

III. The First Kiss

The storm began just after one in the morning.

Rain struck the castle windows, and thunder rolled across the mountains. The pack's sentries patrolled the walls while the elders gathered in the great hall to discuss the strange disturbances in the forest.

Kael should have been there.

Instead, he stood outside Seraphina's room.

He had spent twenty minutes convincing himself that checking on her was a strategic necessity.

She was a vampire princess.

His fated mate.

Possibly a thousand-year-old corpse.

And, judging by the noise coming from behind her door, a menace to every piece of furniture in the castle.

A crash sounded.

Kael closed his eyes.

"Seraphina."

No answer.

He opened the door.

She stood on a chair, reaching toward the top of a bookshelf. A thick volume lay open on the floor, several more had been pulled from the shelves, and a candle had somehow ended up inside a teacup.

Kael stared.

"What are you doing?"

"Research."

"You're standing on a chair."

"An excellent observation."

"Why?"

"Because the book I require is too high."

He walked toward her.

"Get down."

She glanced over her shoulder.

"Ask nicely."

"Get down, please."

She smiled.

"Better."

Then the chair slipped.

Seraphina fell.

Kael caught her.

Again.

This time, she landed against him with a startled gasp, her arms instinctively wrapping around his shoulders.

His hands settled at her waist.

The book struck the floor.

Neither of them looked at it.

Rain hammered the windows.

Kael's eyes searched her face.

"You really should stop doing that."

"Falling?"

"Making me catch you."

Her smile softened.

"Perhaps you should stop being there when I fall."

"Perhaps you should stop giving me reasons to worry."

The words escaped him before he could stop them.

Seraphina's expression changed.

For a moment, the sharp, teasing princess disappeared.

In her place was someone quieter.

Someone who had not heard those words spoken sincerely in a very long time.

"You worry about me?" she asked.

Kael looked away.

"Don't make me regret saying it."

"Too late."

He sighed.

She laughed softly.

And then she noticed the blood on his hand.

A deep cut crossed his palm, probably from the broken glass scattered across the floor.

The scent reached her a heartbeat later.

Blood.

Werewolf blood.

Her fangs descended.

Kael felt the change in her body.

Her fingers tightened around his shoulders.

He could see the struggle in her eyes—the instinct to feed fighting against her determination not to hurt him.

"Seraphina."

"Don't."

"I haven't said anything."

"You're thinking very loudly."

He looked at the wound.

Then back at her.

"Does my blood hurt you?"

She swallowed.

"No."

"Does it tempt you?"

She didn't answer.

He should have put her down.

He should have stepped away.

Instead, he slowly lifted his injured hand between them.

"Then tell me to move."

Seraphina stared at him.

"What?"

"Tell me to put you down."

She opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Kael's voice dropped.

"Tell me you don't want to be here."

The bond pulsed between them.

Her heartless chest ached.

She could hear his heartbeat, strong and steady beneath his skin. She could feel his warmth through his clothes, the careful restraint in his hands, and the terrible tenderness he was trying so hard to hide.

"You're making this very difficult," she whispered.

His gaze softened.

"Believe me, princess. I know."

She looked at his lips.

Then at his eyes.

"Kael..."

He waited.

For once, he did not command her.

Did not threaten her.

Did not tell her what she should do.

He simply waited.

Seraphina lifted one hand and touched his cheek.

His eyes closed briefly at the contact.

A tremor passed through him.

"You feel familiar," she whispered.

His forehead rested against hers.

"You feel like something I've lost."

Her fingers brushed the scar beneath his eye.

"What if I hurt you?"

"Then we'll figure it out."

"What if I destroy everything you love?"

His eyes opened.

"Then I'll decide whether it's worth saving."

She should have pulled away.

She should have remembered the wars, the dead, the ancient hatred between their families.

Instead, she leaned closer.

Their lips met.

It was not gentle at first.

It was a collision of two impossible things—a vampire who had forgotten how to feel alive and a werewolf who had spent his life teaching himself not to love.

Kael's hand tightened at her waist.

Seraphina gripped his shirt, drawing him closer.

For one breathtaking moment, the bond blazed between them.

Silver light spilled across the floor.

The rain stopped.

Every clock in Blackthorn Castle struck the same impossible hour.

And far beneath the earth, a thousand locked coffins opened.

Then the kiss changed.

The urgency softened into something neither had expected.

Kael brushed his thumb against her cheek, as if he feared she might disappear.

Seraphina felt a strange warmth bloom beneath her ribs.

Not hunger.

Not pain.

Something she had thought her body had forgotten.

Hope.

She drew back first.

Their foreheads remained pressed together.

Neither spoke.

Then Seraphina whispered, "That was a mistake."

Kael's eyes searched hers.

"Probably."

"We should never do it again."

"Agreed."

She looked at his mouth.

He looked at hers.

A long silence followed.

Then she sighed.

"We're terrible at this."

Kael laughed against her forehead.

And Seraphina realized something far more frightening than the bond.

She wanted to hear that sound for the rest of her immortal life.

IV. The Taste of Betrayal

The first sign that something was wrong was the blood.

Not Kael's.

Seraphina's.

A single red drop slid from her nose.

She touched it, confused.

Then the room spun.

Kael caught her shoulders.

"Seraphina?"

She stared at the blood on her fingers.

It was bright crimson.

Warm.

And unmistakably alive.

Her eyes widened.

"No."

Another drop fell.

Then another.

A sharp pain tore through her chest, and she cried out, clutching Kael's shirt.

He held her upright.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know!"

The mark on her wrist ignited.

Silver light raced beneath her skin, spreading from the black rose toward her elbow.

Kael's own mark burned in response.

He gritted his teeth.

"Look at me."

She tried.

Her vision blurred.

"Kael, something is inside me."

His expression turned murderous.

"What?"

"A memory."

The room vanished.

A thousand years unfolded in the space between two heartbeats.

Seraphina stood in a garden beneath a black moon.

She was wearing a white dress.

Her hands were covered in blood.

Before her stood a man with silver eyes.

Kael.

But not the Kael she knew.

This version wore a crown of iron and held a sword against her throat.

Tears ran down his face.

"Please," she whispered.

He shook his head.

"You promised me."

"I tried."

"You promised you would never become her."

Seraphina looked down.

Her hands were changing.

Black veins spread across her fingers. Her nails lengthened into claws, and her reflection in the fountain revealed eyes entirely filled with gold.

She looked like a monster.

She looked like the First Queen.

Kael raised the sword.

"I love you," he said.

Then he drove the blade into her heart.

Seraphina screamed.

The vision shattered.

She collapsed into Kael's arms.

For several seconds, she could not move.

She could not speak.

She could only stare at him.

Kael knelt beside her, his face drained of color.

"What did you see?"

Her lips trembled.

She wanted to lie.

She wanted to tell him that everything was fine, that the bond was merely reacting to their kiss, that she had not just watched the man she was beginning to love murder her in another lifetime.

But the words would not come.

Instead, she reached for his hand.

"Promise me something."

His fingers closed around hers.

"Anything."

"If I ever become something you fear..."

She swallowed.

"...don't let me remember it alone."

Kael stared at her.

Then he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.

"I promise."

The bond settled.

The bleeding stopped.

For a few precious seconds, Seraphina believed him.

Then the castle bells rang.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

A servant screamed in the corridor.

Kael stood, drawing his sword.

Seraphina followed him to the doorway.

The great hall below had erupted into chaos.

The elders were shouting.

The guards were drawing weapons.

And at the foot of the staircase stood a woman dressed in white.

Her hair was silver.

Her eyes were red.

Her face was identical to Seraphina's.

The woman looked up.

Smiled.

And spoke in a voice that echoed through every stone in the castle.

"Hello, my daughter."

Seraphina stopped breathing.

Kael's sword slipped from his fingers.

Because the woman standing below them was not merely a vampire.

She was the First Queen.

The woman who had been dead for a thousand years.

The woman who had murdered Kael's mother.

And the woman whose face appeared in every nightmare he had ever suffered.

The Queen raised one pale hand.

Every werewolf in the hall fell to their knees.

Every vampire bowed.

Except Seraphina.

And Kael.

The Queen's smile widened.

"How touching," she murmured. "The dead Alpha and my little princess have finally kissed."

Seraphina felt Kael's hand close around hers.

His fingers were trembling.

The Queen noticed.

"Oh, Kael," she whispered. "You still haven't told her, have you?"

Kael stepped in front of Seraphina.

"Be silent."

The Queen laughed.

"Tell her what happened the last time she loved you."

Seraphina stared at him.

"Kael?"

He did not look at her.

The Queen descended one step.

"Tell her why she died."

Another step.

"Tell her why your mother begged you to spare her."

Kael's eyes turned gold.

"One more word, and I will tear this castle apart with you inside it."

The Queen stopped.

Then she looked directly at Seraphina.

"My darling child, he has been lying to you since the moment you met."

Seraphina felt the bond tighten painfully.

The Queen lifted her hand.

A vision appeared above her palm.

A garden.

A black moon.

A sword.

And Kael, kneeling beside Seraphina's lifeless body, weeping as he held her against his chest.

Then the Queen whispered the words that shattered everything.

"Your mate killed you in your previous life. And this time, he must do it again."

End of Chapter 2

In the silence that followed, Seraphina slowly turned toward Kael.

The man she had kissed.

The man whose heartbeat she could hear even from across a crowded hall.

The man who had promised never to let her face her darkness alone.

"Tell me she's lying," she whispered.

Kael looked at her.

For the first time since their bond awakened, he had no answer.

And somewhere deep inside his soul, an ancient memory opened its eyes.

To be continued in Chapter 3: The Kiss That Awakened the Monster.