Chapter 11 The hunger within
548 Words
Vaelen couldn’t breathe.
The closer he sat to her, the more the scent of her filled his lungs—rosewood, frost, moonstone... and something darker. Something buried. His wolf clawed at the surface, pacing in restless silence. He wanted to touch her. Taste her. Claim her.
But she wasn’t just a heat-driven fantasy anymore.
She was real.
And she was carrying his twins.
He stood from the bench and crossed the room, pretending to study the books lining his shelves. “I should let you rest.”
Araya tilted her head slightly. “You’re avoiding me.”
“I’m controlling myself.”
She stood too, slow and steady. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be,” he said quietly, not turning. “Because what I want... I don’t know if I can ever let go of it once it’s mine.”
Silence pulsed like a heartbeat.
---
Meanwhile, in the healer’s private study below the royal wing, Mira stood before King Theron and Queen Syreena, her expression serious.
“I’ve completed the full scan,” she said.
Syreena nodded. “And?”
“Araya’s blood is not pure wolf.”
Theron stiffened. “Explain.”
“She’s a hybrid. Part wolf, part vampire. But her vampire genes are dormant. Recessive. Hidden, but present.”
Syreena paled. “A hybrid?”
“She’s not dangerous. Not now. But when the twins begin to mature in the womb, the vampire blood will awaken. It’s bound to the growth of the children.”
“What does that mean for her health?”
Mira looked down at her scroll. “She’ll survive, but she’ll begin to crave. The only blood that will stabilize her condition—genetically and magically—is from the biological father of the twins.”
Theron’s brows furrowed. “So… from Vaelen?”
“Yes. No one else. If she drinks another’s blood, it could harm her and the unborn. But Vaelen’s blood is identical in the markers that suppress the vampire genes while feeding the hybrid strength.”
Syreena sat down slowly. “Then she’s bonded to him in more ways than one.”
“She needs him,” Mira said gently. “Not just emotionally. Not just physically. But biologically.”
---
Back upstairs, Araya walked to the window, drawing the curtain open to let the moonlight pour in.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
Vaelen approached, slower this time. He stood beside her, watching her skin glow under the moon’s silver kiss.
“Why do I feel like I’ve known you longer than this life?” she whispered.
“Because something older than life put you in mine.”
He raised a hand, stopping just short of her cheek. “May I?”
She nodded.
His fingers brushed her skin, and every nerve in his body screamed to claim, to mark, to bond.
But instead, he simply said, “Whatever you are, whatever’s inside you—I won’t fear it. I’ll protect it.”
And Araya, whose life had been ruled by secrets, felt something c***k open in her chest.
Trust.
Real, raw, and terrifying.
But true.
And as the moon climbed higher, both their fates deepened, bound not just by heat or prophecy—but by blood, hunger, and choice.
- Writer
