The Personal Choice

Chapter 13

Victoria was silent the entire time Luke forcefully made her his mate. She didn’t even shed a tear. Why would she? Only people who had emotions cried and people with emotions had a soul. Hers was taken away from her as she was forced to be bound to Luke.

~

Damien paced through the snow. The phrase ‘so close, but so far away’ had never been so true for him before until now.

Damien could practically see into the windows of the vampires’ castle yet he didn’t attack. Despite his new-found strength, Damien would be mad to try and take down thousands of vampires by himself.

He wondered if maybe he should have stopped back at the castle and asked his father and pack for help. No, he couldn’t have. The scent he followed had been fading by the minute. If he hadn’t followed it, he would have lost the only thing leading him to Ali.

Damien wanted to howl in agony; Allison, his beautiful mate, he wanted nothing more than to hold her soft body and assure him everything was going to be alright in her sweet voice.

Damien was contemplating just barging into the castle, consequences be damned, and retrieve his mate when he heard something behind him.

Damien whipped around so quickly his tail almost hit him in the face. Damien looked down at the man standing in front of him. No, he looked down at the vampire standing in front of him; and not just any vampire, the prince of vampires.

Lucien didn’t fear much, but the sight of this werewolf made him a little uneasy. He was nearly as tall an elephant. How he managed to run through the trees without plowing down the whole forest was beyond him.

The wolf in front of him must be Damien by the fierce look in his eyes and the snarling. This wolf was planning Lucien’s murder in his mind.

Lucien held his hands up, “I come in peace, friend,” he said.

The snarling became louder; it obviously meant that Damien thought Lucien was no friend of his. “Now before you attack me, I have something I need to say; it’s about your pack… and your mate.”

Damien growled and leapt through the air. Lucien managed to dodge the blow but how that large frame could move so fast was, again, beyond him.

“Damien, please, you must listen to me!” Lucien tried to get out between dodging and countering Damien’s sharp claws and teeth.

“Allison is okay, I am on your side!” But Damien was not listening or if he was, he didn’t believe it. Damien was fighting for not only himself, his pack, but for his mate as well. And nothing was going to deter him.

“Lilacs!” Lucien yelled before Damien was about to deliver a death blow. Damien stopped the attack and slowly lowered his paw. He gave Lucien a confused look with a tilt of his large head.

“Allison told me that you gave her lilacs the night after you bonded with her. They are her favorite because she used to help her mother plant them in her garden,” Lucien finished.

Damien whimpered and then phased back into his human form. “How did you know that?” Damien yelled at him. “You took that memory out of her mind! I know vampires are mind-readers!”

“Not all vampires can read minds. And I am half human; hybrids have no such powers,” Lucien replied.

Damien was still shaking; he was so close to phasing again that his eyes still glowed a vibrant gold. “Why should I trust you?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Because I am the only one who can help you get out of this war alive.”

Damien glared at the vampire, he didn’t want to trust him; but Damien didn’t really have plan anyway. “And what do you want in return?”