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Again, the man was stunned, but he wasn’t overcome by lust or the need to do as Vlad wanted. Instead he pushed him away and held him at arm’s length, looking down at him as though Vlad might have lost his mind. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Don’t kill him. I’ll go away with you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do and won’t fight you, just don’t kill him.”

“You cannot think to seduce me with your desperate―”

Vlad kissed him again, and this time Boris was a little more susceptible to it. He allowed Vlad to kiss him, to open his lips with his tongue. When Vlad reached down and palmed the swollen bulge he felt growing there, Boris pulled back once more.

It seemed the guards had all stopped what they were doing, even the one who had been ordered to kill Andrew, to see what was going on. None of them had any lust in their eyes, not the way Boris did.

No, they recognized what Vlad was doing and were waiting to see if the orders would change.

What killed Vlad on the inside was when he looked down at

Andrew and saw that his eyes were open. Andrew had seen Vlad kissing Boris, fondling him like he was an animal in heat. Those golden eyes were sad, the face downcast and nearly soulless with despair, and he heaved a small, painful cry.

Vlad had to look away from him. He couldn’t take the guilt.

Boris motioned for the guards to wait for him, and he dragged  Vlad off, further into the trees.

This was it, he realized with the worst sort of nauseating disgust creeping into his stomach. He’d offered himself, and Boris was going to take his payment now.

They kept going at least twenty feet farther into the trees, until

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Vlad could no longer see the party of guards keeping watch over  Andrew, but he panicked when they stopped.

They could not do this here! Andrew would hear them! He would be able to smell it!

“My lord, please, can we not go farther―”

Boris’s strong grip on Vlad’s shoulders silenced him. “You will

make the wolf leave.”

Vlad didn’t understand. “Pardon?”

Boris shook him a little. His accent was thicker than ever when he

spoke. “That is a werewolf. When they believe something to be theirs,  they become stubborn, idiot creatures. Do you understand me?” Boris  said, his red eyes sharp and square face twisted down into a snarl.

Vlad understood, and his heart sank. He was going to have to  make Andrew
 
want
 
to leave him. They were mated, Andrew had said.  He had sworn an oath of loyalty to Vlad just to come along with him  to a house filled with vampires, but Vlad would need to turn his back  on that, on every risk Andrew had ever made, to save his life.

Vlad was going to have to do his best to make sure Andrew knew  that he wanted nothing from him, that Vlad had changed his mind and  wanted to go back.

Vlad’s heart fluttered with the thought of what he was about to do,  and his tear ducts worked overtime while his throat closed up.

“I understand,” he said before it became too painful to speak.

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Chapter Twelve

Andrew wanted to die at the sight of his mate willingly pressing himself against another man, especially the one who cared nothing at all for him.

As soon as he pulled himself out of the black hole he’d sunk into at the sight, he told himself that, no, Vlad had wanted to go with him.  Vlad was his mate. He’d chosen to be with Andrew, and Andrew had woken up to see stranger things.

Vlad was being forced to do that. There was no doubt in Andrew’s mind.

Now, however, he just needed to figure out what these vampires planned to do with them.

Andrew shifted out of his wolf form, but he was still bound. The second the vamps noticed the shift in his body, realizing what he was doing, they jumped on him again, and he had no choice but to let them bind his now-human arms and legs.

It was the most degrading thing he’d ever experienced, being tied up naked to a tree and entirely helpless.

He could break these leather binds, he knew it, but only if he struggled against them for a couple of minutes, stretching them out until he could slip free.

The three vampire guards, all of whom were staring down at him right now, waiting for him to so much as twitch, were not going to let him do that.

Vlad and that Lord Boris whatever his name was were gone a long time, and Andrew had nothing to do but keep his ears open. There were no sounds of a struggle or grunting and moaning, and the scent

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of sex didn’t fill the air. That was the only reason why Andrew held  still now. If he did started to hear any of those sounds, he was  probably going to get shot in the head, because that would be the only  thing that would stop him from ripping the throat out of that vampire  lord.

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief when they came back after what must’ve been a good half an hour of being away.

Vlad didn’t look so good. There was a scuff of what looked like dirt on his forehead, but then Andrew recognized it as a healing bruise.

Did that motherfucker
 
hit
 
him?

Andrew was going to tear that man’s hands off the first chance he got!

Vlad looked at Andrew, on his knees with his hands behind his

back, his whole body exposed to these vampires while his legs and

wrists were bound to that fucking tree behind him.

Then Vlad turned to look at Boris. The man nodded and Vlad

approached him.

The guards stepped back, but then Vlad snapped at them. “Leave

us.”

They looked amongst each other, confused, and then they turned

to their leader.

Again, Boris said nothing, just nodded his head, and the vampire stepped away.

They didn’t leave like Vlad had ordered, but now there was a wide circle of space surrounding them. At least fifteen feet of privacy.

Andrew couldn’t believe it. “What did you do to them?”

Vlad licked his lips. “Andrew James, I am very honored by your affection for me, especially considering that I was the one to force you into this situation―”

“Vlad―”

“But I must see to the honor of my family before I let my selfish

intentions destroy us both.”

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He was still sure that Vlad was being forced into saying these things, kind of, but that didn’t stop Andrew’s heart from hammering in his chest at those cold words.

He looked up and around at the vampires standing around. They would hear every word Andrew said to Vlad, and they would know it if he tried to make some kind of signal to him.

If Andrew’s voice was uneven because he was nervous that Vlad

was being serious in his decision, then all the better for these  vampires to see.

“I made an oath to you. You are my mate, and I’m sorry for  failing to deliver you from them, but I won’t give you up so easily.”

Vlad’s red eyes shone at the declaration. He looked at everything  but Andrew. “I am the one who must apologize. I thought I knew  what I wanted, but I became afraid. I dropped my suitcase on purpose,  Andrew.”

Andrew’s heart thundered beneath his ribs. Lying. Vlad was lying,

he had to be.

Andrew played along in what he hoped was just a show for the vampires, and he shook his head, his eyes wide. “I don’t believe you.”

“Then I drank from you to weaken you, so that you could not fight back against my brother’s guards.”

Okay, now he was getting to sound like he wasn’t acting for the sake of the men standing around them.

Vlad seemed sincere in his words, but that could easily be the despair he felt over having to say such things to his mate.

Then again, Andrew could be just making excuses for him, simply because he wanted to believe in Vlad so much, that the vampire would choose him. A lot of people did things like that for the people they loved and had their faith destroyed for it.

“You remember when I told you that we were mated?”

“How could I forget? It was only this morning,” Vlad said dryly.

Andrew ignored him, along with the rising anger that bubbled inside of him. “I told you that I didn’t want to tell you right away

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because I was worried that you would turn your back on me for being

a werewolf.”

“Yes.”

“Look at me!”

Vlad’s eyes snapped up, his face alert and shocked from being suddenly yelled at.

“I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to leave behind your life as a prince to live with a poor werewolf. Is that what you’re doing now?”

Andrew held his breath, waiting for an answer. Vlad seemed to struggle just to breathe.

“Yes, I’ve thought about it and I have changed my mind. For  God’s sake Andrew, I cannot even keep up with you while running through the forest. Could you not see that my heart wasn’t in it?”

Was that what it was? Was Vlad purposely stalling, always calling for rests because he grew more and more frightened the farther away from his family he went?

“I’m sorry to tell you like this, Andrew. I truly am, but I was too ashamed to admit it, and now that my betrothed is here, I am forced to confess. They will let you live, but you must go back to your family now and never come back.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Andrew said through clenched teeth.  He couldn’t help it, either Vlad was a very good actor and lying to  spare Andrew’s life, or he was telling the truth, and Andrew was  having a hard time figuring out which was which.

“I am fond of you, Andrew. That much is still true. Please, do not  give them cause to kill you.”

The begging in Vlad’s eyes was definitely real. If nothing else  was real, the fact that he didn’t want Andrew to die tonight was  definitely real.

Andrew let all the hurt, embarrassment, and anger he felt show on  his face, and Vlad had to get up and step back just to be away from it.  “Fine. You go ahead and bond or join or whatever the hell it is you  fucking vampires do and be miserable for the rest of your life. I don’t

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care.”

Vlad bit his lips together, and then he nodded and walked back to  Boris, his back straight and his head held high.

Just watching him take Boris’s meaty hand into his own and lace their fingers together damn near made Andrew insane with rage. He fought to get out of the leather straps that bound him, and the rage only intensified to the point where he could hardly think when he couldn’t free himself.

“Let me go! Fucking get these things off me!” he roared.

Boris must’ve given the signal, because another one of the  vampire guards came forward with a huge knife and sliced through  the leather like it was made of sewing string instead of animal hide.

Andrew jumped to his feet when he was free, and with one last  glare at the lot of them, he started walking again in the direction of his  pack. Christ, if only he had some pants on him. There was nothing  worse than trying to walk away with his dignity while he was buckass naked and all those vampires watched.

Boris barked the order to his men that sent them out, and Andrew

stopped and clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails cut into his  palms.

Vlad didn’t say something like,
 
I don’t love you
, or,
 
I hate you,  vile werewolf creature.
 
No, he told Andrew that he was having second  thoughts, and that he wanted to honor his family by marrying that  vampire lord.

If only Vlad had just told him that he hated him, that he despised  his werewolf guts and never wanted to see him again, Andrew  would’ve known in an instant that it was all an act.

Instead he had to say something as serious as, “I’m fond of you and I don’t want them to kill you. I’ve changed my mind.”

Andrew wanted to punch and kick and snarl and just outright kill something. Vlad changed his mind. Maybe he really had only kissed  Boris like that to save Andrew’s life, because there was no way  Andrew would ever believe Vlad was suddenly in lust with that man,

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but he was still making the decision to leave Andrew for him. If it  hadn’t been real, Vlad would’ve found a way to signal him. He was  smart enough to do that.

Unless that vampire lord threatened Andrew if Vlad wasn’t  convincing enough.

That thought made Andrew half turn. The vampires were nearly  gone through the trees, but he could still see them.