The Master's Maid

Prolog

23 years ago...

Levi’s POV

“What the hell---?!” I muttered, walking over to the window. The two incubators displayed the two small children that were fighting for survival.

One wrapped in pink.

One in blue...

“That’s what she said,” Mick muttered as he came up to me, scratching the back of his neck and looking very uncomfortable.

“What is this?” I asked, almost dreading the answer.

“From what we could gather it was King’s latest science experiment,” he sighed, only glancing at the window from time to time – a mix between disgust and sympathy flashing in his eyes. “Apparently he was more hellbent on creating an army than we realized.”

He didn’t say it, but the smell of the little ones was enough to confirm it.

“Hybrids!”

I wasn't asking. I simply confirmed it...

They were hybrids!

Half-vampire. Half-werewolf. The tubes going into their pale, transparent skin were red with thick, red blood trying to keep them alive. But it was failing quickly. Their heartbeats were uneven and their breathing staggered and strained.

They were dying…

My wolf whined, willing them to fight. To stay! His protectiveness of them started the second I laid eyes on them and only got stronger with every passing second. I was surprised, but I couldn’t deny it. I felt it too.

The bond…

“Are there more?” I asked, my insides shivering in rage. How could anyone do this…?

“There were,” Mick said and met my shocked expression with a disgusted look of his own. Without explaining he handed me a black leather book, thick as a brick. “It’s all in there,” he said, grinding his teeth. I flipped through the pages, getting sicker and sicker by the things it revealed.

The King had been trying to bread with a werewolf for years, working his way from rogues all the way up the ranks, until he found the best result coming from a pureblooded alpha-she-wolf; a she-wolf where both parents had alpha blood.

Everything was neatly noted. Everything from the day of “i*********e”, the number of times he’d taken them, and the number of spontaneous abortions. He’d then realized that by mating her and feeding her vampire blood, she had successfully carried them to term.

The two children were born just a month ago, only a few minutes apart...

“They’re twins,” I muttered surprised, mostly to myself. Having twins in the were-society was – much unlike our animal counterpart – very unusual. Survival of the fittest is quite a literal phase in our world, starting in the womb. Even if someone became pregnant with twins, there was a 90% probability that one would be stillborn or die during the birth.

Somehow, King had managed to do the impossible and kept them both alive until now...

“The mother?” I asked but wasn't about to get my hopes up. And as I suspected, Mick shook his head.

“She was dead when we found them,” he gritted between his teeth, digging his fingers deep into his pockets. “Apparently they drank her dry.” He nodded toward the children and my wolf was a second from ripping his head off. Did he seriously just insinuate that the children deliberately murdered their mother?!

“Or she offered it to them,” I growled back, not believing for one second that children could be born evil. My wolf was fighting to get control and rip Mick’s throat out, but I calmed him, by turning my attention back to the twins. Mick would understand in time, but first, we needed to make sure they were safe.

“What are they having now?” I asked, seeing that only red liquid was entering their small veins.

“This is Sin City,” Mick replied a bit confused. “The pantry is stocked with blood---”

“Make them lower the dosage and replace it with baby formula – the kind you give werewolf pups,” I ordered, feeling more and more anxious for their survival. But if King was right about them surviving in their mother's womb by mixing vampire blood and wolf’s blood, there was a good chance that some of their metabolism was the same as a werewolf's.

“They’re vampires---” Mick frowned in confusion, but my wolf wasn’t hearing any of it.

“But they’re also werewolves,” I growled, hating that he didn’t do as I told him instantly. “Get someone to mix them some formula.”

“With all due respect, Alpha,” Mick continued, but this time talking to me like a Beta. Which really wasn’t helping much! “But they’re hybrids.” He said as if it explained s**t.

Damn it!

If finding a new beta wasn’t such a pain in the ass, I’d---

“Because of the neglect – and the fact that we didn’t find them until yesterday! – their odds of survival are minimal,” he said, baffled by my order. “And even if they – against all odds – survive, who will take in hybrids to raise?”

I eyed the two babies that were finally sleeping soundly with their bellies now full of milk. My wolf was going wild, wanting to rip out Mick's throat for speaking like that. He had already bonded with them and was busy marking them with his scent, making sure everyone knew to keep away from his children!

He loved them and so did I as if they were my very own. The only thing keeping me from barging in there and taking them home was one simple question:

What will Dina say?

My mate was my world and thanks to her recent heat, was very much pregnant. Could I truly ask her to take in and bring up the children of the man who had killed her brother? Who had taken her and put her through hell? Who had---

Our babies!

Was my wolf's simple reply. Ever since I mated with Dina, he'd become more and more Dire Wolf-like than an ordinary alpha. As far as we could find, this was normal for anyone who mated a Dire, but because her wolf was bound by magic, he probably wasn't going to become a full Dire Wolf like the ones told in the legends...

It’s a lot, I reminded him. To ask her to raise the children of the man who kidnaped and tried to r**e her.

My wolf didn’t reply but continued to take in the small, fragile creatures resting peacefully.

“We will,” said a firm, but melodic voice finally. I looked up and automatically a smile found its way across my lips, seeing my mate walk towards us.

“Luna?” Mick asked like the i***t he was, not even realizing what was happening. Luckily, Dina had more patience with Mick than I had and, therefore, just shook her head as she walked over to me. She placed her hands on my chest and looked me in the eyes.

“The twins are ours and we will raise and love them like our own,” she stated, without even blinking. “And the pack will accept them like they will accept any other children of ours.”

I know I was grinning like a madman. I curled my arms around her, pressing her soft curves against my hard chest…

“With all due respect, Luna---” Mick of course interrupted the moment. I growled, losing patience with him quickly. But Dina was the one to defuse the situation.

“NO!” she growled, making Mick flinch, me grin and my wolf go wild. “If you talk against my children again, I don’t care much for your respect!”

Goddess, she’s so hot when she does that, my wolf howled. I grinned at my lovestruck wolf. But I totally agreed. She was SO hot when she got all angry and s**t!

“You may be excused,” she continued, dismissing a stunned Beta, who retreated with his tail between his legs. As she turned back to me, I couldn’t help but pull her into me and claim her lips with my own.

Our mate…

“You mean it?” I asked when I finally allowed her to breathe and enjoyed the bright red blush that trailed across her cheeks.

“Levi,” she smiled at me, her eyes filled with the same love and compassion she had for all things. “My wolf felt yours in distress and we came to investigate. The second I understood the situation, my wolf all but took over and would have kidn*pped them if it wasn’t for the fact that they need medical help.”

I beamed down at her, unable to believe how incredibly lucky I was to have her in my life. She was so strong, so kind and so beautiful in all matters, I felt like I’d mated with a saint. I would spend every day for the rest of my life making myself a man worthy of her unconditional love…

“How are they?” she asked, looking over at the two small infants.

“They’re weak,” I sighed, as there was no need to hide the truth from her. “The next couple of days will be crucial…”

She nodded and took my hand, resting it against her abdomen where their brother or sister was safely tucked away in their mother's belly. We comforted and supported each other in the stillness and said a silent prayer, hoping our hybrid children would make it...