The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Mate

No Way Out

Kara POV

Annysia was clawing at me, trying her hardest to get out. She wanted to claim what was hers, but I felt nauseous and almost faint.

I dropped my gaze immediately, so afraid that he might see the change in my eyes. He couldn’t know what I was and there was no way I was going to mark and mate with him. He was a vampire. 

Oh, the Goddess had messed up royally on this one. Was this my punishment for what had happened to my family?

In the background I could still hear the King explaining the process and I attempted to focus on what he was saying, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart on my ears. 

The same thought circled in my mind. My mate was a vampire! He was a vampire!

I had to reject him. My thoughts spiralled. How was I going to do that? Would I even be able to get close enough to him to manage it? He was a Prince for Goddess’ sake.

I lifted my eyes enough to look at him through my lashes.

He was gorgeous, perfect almost. His blonde hair was ruffled, shorter on the side and longer on top. He had a chiselled jaw which wasn’t the only thing chiselled about him from I could tell. My heart began to race in my chest just thinking about it. His lips were clenched tight at this current point in time, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he looked anywhere but at me. 

My gaze ran down his lean frame, his shoulders broad but his waist slim. He wasn’t skinny, but I knew just by looking at him that his muscles would have muscles. He wasn’t overly buff looking like his brother, but he looked exceptionally fit. And far out, he was tall. 

Annysia growled loudly in my mind, successfully drawing my attention and I finally took note of the woman hanging off him, off my mate. She clung to him, and she reeked of desperation. She was beautiful, of course, it seemed all vampires possessed godly beauty, but there was a sneer to her expression that soured her appearance. A possessive streak ran through me before I could clamp it down. Who was she to him?

“Until tomorrow. You are all dismissed.”

Suddenly everyone around me was moving and I bowed my head again as I felt his gaze burning holes in me.

Annysia whined over and over, clawing at me. She was begging to be set free. To rip the limbs off the woman who dared to touch what was ours.

Enough, Annysia. We can never have him as our mate… he would kill us as soon as he knew what we were. Hybrid or even werewolf, it wouldn’t matter. To vampires we are all considered beneath them.

That seemed to snap her attention, but she growled at me in response. But he is ours. He was made for us, our other half.

He is a vampire! I pointed out. He shouldn’t be anything to us!

I was swept away by the other women who looked equal parts shocked and terrified as Annysia grumbled loudly in my head. She wasn’t happy and I could feel her sadness closing in on me as we moved further away from out mate. She pressed herself into the back of my mind and refused to acknowledge me as punishment for betraying her and not letting her near her mate.

Before I knew it, we were being closed back in the large room from before and Piper was sitting next to me calling my name.

“Kara, Kara!”

I met her worried gaze, coming from my daze. “What?”

“I have been trying to get your attention for like five minutes,” she explained softly, her eyes darting around to see if we were being watched or heard. Everyone else seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts as they mulled over what we have just learned of fate.

“Sorry, I… I got distracted,” I muttered weakly.

Piper gave me a strange look and opened her mouth, looking as if to probe me about it further. I wasn’t ready to go down that line of conversation with her. She couldn’t know, she could never know. I trusted Piper with my life, but this was something I would never tell a soul. Mated to a vampire! I think I had the worst fate of any wolf, let alone hybrid.

“I can’t believe they are pitting us against one another to win the chance to breed with a vampire. Maybe I will purposefully lose,” I tried to let venom sit in my words, by I noted how my heart started racing, my body clenching at the idea of getting closer to my mate. It was betraying me already.

Piper stared at me, her green eyes growing wider before a frown touched her brow.

“What?”

“Were you not listening?” she asked softly, her mouth turning down and her head tipping to the side like she was trying to figure me out. “That isn’t an option at all. I won’t let you purposefully lose anything.”

I balked. What was she talking about? Had I missed something important while I was having a minor panic attack about the fact that the vampire Prince was my mate?

“What do you mean?”

“You really weren’t listening, were you?” I could see the hint of a smile on her lips.

I gave her a gentle nudge and gestured for her to go on.

“I mean, each round of the games is designed to weed out those that the King deems unsuitable.” Her nose pinched and she almost ground out the last word. 

A dry laugh burst from my mouth. “If only he knew just how unsuitable we were.”

A smile quirked up her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. For a moment I saw just how much all of this was affecting her. She didn’t look like the carefree young girl she had been just a few months ago. Her eyes had hardened – a weary and darkened look within them. I wanted desperately to save her from this, to save us both. But the reality was finally starting to sink in. The only way out of this alive was to win it.

“I don’t like this anymore than you do, Kara, I mean hell, I’m only 17! I want to save myself for my mate,” she whispered, barely loud enough for my own wolf to hear.

At those words I flinched, and her sharp eyes noticed, her gaze zeroing in on me.

“Each round will challenge us in different ways, and each time the group will only get smaller.” She paused for a moment; her gaze locked steadily on mine. 

“Meaning more room for us to be exposed for what we are,” I finished bitterly.

If we won… maybe we could be with our mate, Annysia whispered the idea enticingly in my mind.

My body reacted to her words, my heart racing, my skin tightening. I hadn’t even man the man, let alone spoken to him or know anything about him and already my body wanted his touch. To feel his fingers graze against my skin and set me alight.

That won’t ever happen, I replied, trying my best to keep the sadness out of my voice.

“There are twenty women per group,” Piper said quietly, interrupting my internal conversation. “I counted while we moved to the arena. That means only thirty-eight women stand in the way of our freedom and our lives.”

“I don’t like those odds.”

Piper grinned, her eyes lighting up. She always loved a challenge, ever since she was a little kid. “We have beaten worse odds.”

“Don’t go there!” I warned, my chest tightening in panic. 

“You never want to talk about what happened.”

“Because I’m broken, Piper,” I whispered, my gaze scanning the room quickly. Many of the women were preparing for dinner, their faces drawn. It seemed far too empty in here without the others. “I don’t… I just can’t…”

“Well, once we win this, promise me we will have this conversation.” She stared at me so earnestly, her green eyes so wide and glassy with unshed tears, I could see my reflection in them.

“If we win.”

“Oh, we will be winning,” she rebutted confidently, a mischievous grin lighting her features up. “I don’t much like the alternative.”

“Which is?”

She fought against rolling her eyes. “What were you doing while the King was talking? Checking out the vamps?” She laughed loudly, drawing the attention of some of the other women who looked shocked by her sudden outburst. I knew they were probably wondering what Piper could find so funny in such a tense time. 

I wanted to laugh with her, but she didn’t know just how spot on she was, and there was no way in hell I was telling her.

Her smile dropped suddenly; her gaze pointed. Her next words bought a chill to my blood that I didn’t even think my magic could warm.

“The alternative is death.”