The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Mate

Waking Alone

Kara POV

I awoke with a groan, pain searing through my head, and my entire body aching with fatigue. It laced its way through my very bones making every movement filled with tension as it raced along my sore and bruised body.

My eyes fluttered open, and I blinked rapidly, trying to become accustomed to my surroundings.

The last thing I remembered was running for my life as the horrid, rabid beast had come up on my heels. The smell of lemongrass and pine still seemed to perfume in the air as if my mate had only just been here.

I thought he wasn’t our mate anymore, Annysia whispered softly, her anger and frustration churning through me. But where are we?

I sat up quickly, finally alert at her words and my body screamed in protest. My arm burned ferociously, and I discovered it was bandaged in crisp, clean cotton that wound its way from my wrist to my elbow.

My eyes scanned the room, taking in the white linen sheets and the small, clean room I occupied. A single, small window covered with thin white curtains allowed in the warmth of the sun and I could just see a hint of green through the window. A single green leather armchair sat in the corner facing the bed.

My stomach twisted strangely as I took in the other scents that invaded my senses amongst the ones I recognised. A strong, pungent aniseed smell seemed to emanate of the chair as if the owner of the scent had not long ago left the room. It wasn’t a scent Annysia or I recognised.

I checked on my magic, feeling the familiar thrum of power beneath my fingertips which powered my cloak. A sigh of relief puffed from my lips as the door was opened and a ruffled looked Norah entered the room, her arms loaded with clothes, a jug of water, and other assorted objects.

Her eyes flickered up to meet mine and a relieved smile touched her lips. 

“Thank goodness you are awake,” she said softly placing the arm full of things out on the bed. She flitted around for a few minutes, checking my head, my eyes and then finally unravelling the bandage around my arm.

“How long have I been out?” I croaked out, my voice sounding dry and cracked.

Norah met my gaze, her fingers slowly and carefully unwinding the bandage.

“About a day,” she replied slowly. She passed a glass of water to me from the tray of food which I took gulps from greedily. The water washed away some of the dryness I hadn’t realised was there. “You are recovering well, but the bite-mark that mutant hybrid left on your arm, well it will take a bit longer to recovered.”

I almost choked on the water at her words. “Hybrid?”

She met my gaze, her brow raised slightly. “The beast that attacked you in the forest,” Norah whispered softly, her gaze shifting to the closed door and then back to me. “I have heard they used to be wolves before the King and his advisor got their hands on them.”

A sudden surge of vomit built up within me and Norah seemed to pick up on my distress as a bucket appeared in front of me within seconds as I purged the content of my stomach within it.

Wolves. Those mutts had once been wolves. Anger and hatred pulsed within me. This was the kind of creatures the vampires were. They destroyed anything from nature, anything good and pure. 

It only made me worry more for Piper and myself. We were in more danger than just being a part of these games. If the King discovered what we were, hell, if he found out his son was my mate, I would be dead for sure.

I didn’t know much about the King, but I didn’t think he would like the idea that his vampire son was mated to a wolf-witch hybrid.

“I have been given strict instructions that once you were awake, you were to be checked over and then returned to the recreation room with the other girls,” Norah said softly, bringing me out of my own head.

I nodded, unable to form words as my fear pulsed along my skin. Each round we made it through put us in more danger.

“My… my friend… is she okay?” I asked Norah, trying to hide the panic in my voice.

“Yes, she was one of the first few to make it out.”

Thank the Goddess. My whole body seemed to relax at her words, and I realised for the first time just how tense I had been.

“How many didn’t make it?”

I didn’t wasn’t to ask the question, I didn’t want to know how many died, but for my own peace of mind, I needed to know. It disgusted me knowing how much I wanted to put myself and Piper above anybody else, but we had been running and hiding for far too long.

Norah’s face dropped, but she recovered quickly, clearing her throat. “Out of the thirty that entered, only twenty came out.”

The bile in my stomach bubbled up again but I forced myself to take slow, deep breaths to calm down.

At least that is less competition for us, Annysia commented darkly.

Yes, but more exposure for us as well.

Norah watched me closely, her sharp eyes analysing my face before a gave her a wry smile.

“Well, you better check me over and get me back to the others,” I said slowly.

Norah nodded and proceeded to gather some bandages, cleaning swaps and tools she would need to check over my arm.

A sudden panicked thought entered my mind as I watched her grab my arm and slowly unravel the bandage that covered my wound. What if I had healed? How would I even manage to explain that to her?

Annysia? I screeched out to her, trying to cover the panicked expression that I knew was bound to be filling my eyes.

I held back as much as I could.

Oh Goddess!

Norah finally unravelled the bandage and pulled away the gauze that sat atop the wound to reveal the bite mark.

A sigh of relief burst from my lips when I saw there was still a significant scar, and the skin was puckered and red. It must have taken a lot of Annysia’s energy to hold back from our body automatically healing itself. Normally for a wound like that, it would have healed within the day, but it looked about half healed.

The skin around the bite looked slightly pink, and I could see where they had stitched my skin back together, but it looked relatively unhealed.

Norah met my gaze with a smile. “I understand your relief,” she said softly, moving quickly to wipe away any excess blood left behind. “The Vampires have excellent medicine, so it should be fully healed within the next day.”

I smiled widely at her. If only she knew.

“Thankyou.”

“Right, better get you back to the others.”

She finished re-wrapping my arm and helped me to stand.

Norah offered to assist me in dressing back in the black garments I now knew represented my belonging to the eldest Vampire Prince, but I refused. I also refused to acknowledge him as more than the Vampire Prince. He had been there, right there when I had passed out and had done nothing.

Annysia whined in the back of my head, cowering further away from the rejection she felt at the hands of our mate while I hissed in pain as I pulled up the legs of my pants.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Norah enquired softly from the other side of the curtain, her tone worried. “You don’t get extra points for doing everything yourself.”

“No I am fine, thankyou.”

Once I was dressed, Norah escorted me through the dark corridors. She chatted away cheerily the entire time, telling me how the other contestants were faring in their recovery.

It turns out I had been the only one who had been housed in the castle infirmary while I recovered. The rest had been left in the room with the other girls but were being tended to every couple of hours by the Vampire doctors.

“You must be special,” Norah interrupted my thoughts, her eyes watching my face carefully as we stopped in front of the huge doors to the room.

“What makes you say that?”

“The King would normally never have allowed it,” she looked over her shoulder quickly, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. “The fact that you are human, and were in the vampire wing… I have never known him to do such a thing.”

My brows rose instinctively before I could smother the shocked emotion, but Norah was too quick and picked it up.

“The King isn’t exactly fond of humans, or any species to be truthful.”

“Then why is he so willing to breed his sons with humans if he doesn’t like them?” The question burst from my lips, unable to be contained. I had been wondering over the same thing for so long. The King’s hatred of all other species was clear to me as soon as I knew about the mutilation of the wolf, but his own sons, his flesh and blood. It would taint the purity of them in his mind, I was more than sure of that.

Norah looked around nervously again, her tongue licking her dry lips. “From what I have heard, there is no other option. He isn’t happy, but he believes that having a human breed with his sons is better than the other species.” She frowned, flicking at a piece of dirt on her clothes. “Humans are dispensable to him, never forget that.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

She gave me a wry smile, her gaze warm but concerned. “If the King is taking special interest in you, you need to be on your toes. His eyes are everywhere, even within these walls.”

Her small hand rested on the large doors to the rec room and I followed her movement.

Is she suggesting there is a spy among the women? Annysia questioned with a growl, her hackles raised.

It seems so.

I smiled as politely as I could muster, my heart racing in my chest. “Thank you.”

Norah smiled back and then pushed open the door. My skin tingled as every set of eyes present in the room lifted to look in my direction. I could feel each of their gazes pricking me like needles.

I was suddenly ambushed by a set of golden arms wrapping around my shoulders and holding me close.

“Oh, thank all those that are mighty,” Piper whispered in my ear, her voice heavy with relief.

I let out a strangled laugh as she squeezed even tighter, her body quivering slightly.

I pulled her back from me to get a good look at her. Dark shadows graced her under-eyes, and a small, almost healed cut was visible on her forehead, but other than that she seemed perfectly okay.

“They haven’t let me see you since the first challenge was completed, I had no idea if you were okay, if you were even alive,” she growled lowly, her green orbs flicking around the room nervously.

Norah continued to lead us through the room, back to one of the empty bunks.

I noticed that the room was drastically emptier since I was in here last. Most of the bunks had been removed and the ones that remained had been spaced out, small half-sized walls had been placed around each one giving the remaining contestants a small space of their own.

The gazes of the other contestants seemed to follow us as we walked to one of the bunks at the back and Norah left me with a smile, her eyes still full of the warning she had given me earlier.

I nodded once, my mouth a tight line.

“I’m fine,” I said slowly, giving Piper a look, one that I hoped she would understand. It wasn’t safe to talk. “How are things in here?”

Piper nodded, acknowledging my unspoken words, before giving me a tight smile. “Things have been rather grim.” 

She glanced around the room, and I followed her gaze. Many of the women sported small bandages on limbs or on their heads, a sign that a lot had not come out unscathed from the first challenge.

I could see something strange within their eyes though, an almost dark desperation that poured from their very beings. Something had changed them within that forest, and I was glad that even though I had come out injured, I had remained wholly unchanged. 

Maybe it was due to being a hybrid and already having seen many of the worlds darker side since being forced from our home, but these human women… they looked tormented.

“A lot were lost, from both groups,” Piped added in a low voice, her green eyes darkening slowly as her anger took a hold. I had seen that look many times before. “Only ten left from each.”

“Hey, we both made it out okay, one round down,” I said, trying to lighten her mood. I knew her wolf would be royally pissed off, because Annysia was fuming at the treatment of not only us, but these humans. They didn’t deserve this.

My hand came up to squeeze her shoulder and her eyes landed on the fresh bandages that Norah had placed on them only minutes earlier.

“What happened to you?” Piper hissed; her voice barely audible. Her gaze stayed anywhere but my face as if she was trying to keep herself calm. “You were gone for a whole day, I thought they had killed you.”

“I only just woke up,” I replied trying to think about how much I could tell her without others overhearing. I didn’t want anyone to know what Norah had told me, that I had been placed in the vampire infirmary to recover. I knew that if anyone were to overhear, they would think I was getting special treatment, not that I had particularly asked for it. “Norah re-bandaged my wound and then brought me straight back here.”

“Is your arm okay?” Her words were tense, her teeth clenched as she tried to contain her wolf. The energy emanating from her was almost tangible in the air and I was grateful, not for the first time that the others in the room were only human and were unable to sense it.

I also understood her unasked question.

“Healing at a perfectly acceptable rate,” I said with a small smile, wording so no one would suspect the real meaning behind my words.

Relief spread across her face and her features softened as she smiled slowly.

“Kara, there’s something I need to tell you -”

She was abruptly cut off by the sound of a loud bell ringing from the front of the room, gaining the attention of every pair of eyes.

One of the identical vampires, I have no idea which one, stood at the front of the room next to Reuben, the vampire who had selected us. 

I grabbed onto Piper’s arm, quickly grabbing her attention. “What were you saying?”

“Nothing, don’t worry. I will tell you later,” she mumbled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she moved to stand before the two vampires and Norah who was watching us all assemble, her blue eyes wide and nervous.

“Piper…”

“No, not now, it’s fine,” she said softly, her eyes darting up to watch Reuben carefully who looked like a kid about to pick out his favourite toy. His dark red eyes were wide, and a sly smile touched his lips, showing his pointed canines.

Once we all stood before him, his smile widened. He swept his arms out as if inviting us in for a hug, before he clapped his hands together. “Congratulations, ladies! You have all passed the first test. I must say the King was quite impressed with a few of you and your exceptional performances.”

A shiver ran through me as Reuben’s eyes landed on me and an unreadable expression flickered across his features before I could pinpoint what it meant.

I felt Piper’s anxious gaze land on me as Reuben’s eyes continued to bore into my own but I refused to back down and be the first to look away. His eyes narrowed slightly before his gaze finally shifted and I took a relieved and slightly shaky breath.

Things are getting far too dangerous Annysia commented, her own thoughts worried.

I know, but there isn’t much we can do at this point. Only make our way through the game and hope we make it out the other side.

“Tomorrow you will begin round 2 of the Games, where we will be testing your intelligence and wit. Get some rest and make sure you are ready to be pushed to the edges of your limits.”

He gave another dark smile before he turned on his heel and walked out, the guard vampire following behind him.

The women stood in stunned silence for only the briefest of seconds before a low muttering began as they moved back to their spaces.

Piper grabbed my arm, dragging me along to our beds.

“What do you think it will be?” she asked, her eyes huge and pupils expanded with worry.

“I can only imagine it will be some kind of puzzle, maybe a test. There are only so many ways they can test our intelligence.”

I glanced behind me, my eyes sweeping over the array of women who now were sitting back on their individual beds, many looking several shades paler than they did before.

“I don’t know how I will get through this one,” Piper said.

I tried my best to plaster a reassuring smile on my face, my hand grasping hers and squeezing softly.

“You are one of the smartest people I have ever known. Whatever they throw at us, you will make it through and survive.”

Piper returned my smile, but the emotion didn’t reach her eyes as she lay back on her bed, the lights slowly dimming out to signal it was time for bed.

As I lay back on my own bed, my fears swirled within me at what tomorrow would bring.

She was smart, she would be okay. She had always been the cleverer of the two of us, more book smart, more intelligent and far better than I was at puzzles and games.

It was me that I was worried about. I had always been the better warrior. Fear prickled along my scalp as Annysia whined loudly in my mind, the questions circled around in my brain, tormenting me with the loud, obvious truth of their answers.

Was I going to be smart enough to survive?