Mara's heart was thumping a tattoo as they followed Cole along twisted, dimly lit and poorly constructed narrow corridors, not knowing where he was taking them.

It was the first time he had come back to them after dumping them in a room four days back. Meals had been provided but most of them were half done and still dripping in blood such that the elves had decided to stick to the dried fruit and hardened biscuits that they had packed in Ellingsdale for traveling purposes.

They finally arrived at a set of roughly hewn double doors that were as ugly as everything else in the castle. Whoever their architect was, he was not going to see heaven. For the sake of peace and courtesy, Mara kept her thoughts to herself and watched as Cole pushed the heavy doors open, marching in like he owned the place.

"What brings you here, bastard? Can you not see we are in a hearing?" A shrunken old man sitting on a blood and bone throne, snarled.

Cole did not seem affected by the older werewolf's open hostility or condescending tone.

"Something tells me you'd like to hear them more," he said and gestured for Mara and Eric to come into the throne room.

On seeing the elves, the guards around the Master Alpha immediately got on their haunches, eyes glowing and teeth bared in fierce growls as they got ready to attack.

"Will you calm down? They're harmless," Cole rolled his eyes.

"Why do you insult me by bringing trash into my presence, Collen?" Master Alpha Zachary asked in a wheezy voice before breaking into a fit of coughs.

Everyone in the room closed their eyes with a wince at the nerve racking sounds.

"Take it easy father," the man who stood serene and composed, behind Zachary's chair said and Mara immediately knew this was Zane, it was impossible to deny it.

He stood tall and strong at over six feet, the general wolf disposition of bulky muscle working in his favour. His large, powerful frame was a deviation from his father's withered frail one. Deep well set eyes kept watching them, even as he attended to his father.

His face was grim and thoughtful, giving away little. Power and authority marked his very presence, making everyone want to instantly obey him. Even greater was the sexual appeal he seemed to wear without even noticing. His eyes were pale green, his hair cropped close to the skull.

Mara did not know if there'd be any inheritance disputes but it was obvious Cole or even Zachary himself could not compete. Here was a true Master Alpha.

In everything, Zane was a stark contrast to his feeble father who looked like he'd be blown away by the weakest of breezes. It was clear, time had finally caught up with the formidable Master Wolf. Every sigh, every cough, every wrinkle and jerky move drove home the fact that his days were surely numbered.

After Zachary's coughing fit, in which he'd mercifully not coughed out a lung, Zane brought his gaze to his half-brother.

"What do you have to say for this, brother?" he asked, gesturing to Mara and Eric.

There were six other royal wolves in the room, who had been attending the hearing and they were all watching with piqued interest.

"They believe they have something of great importance to offer us. If it is of no interest to us, we can always have them for dinner. Dibs on the woman," Cole smirked, gesturing to Mara.

There was a minute of silence before Zane thanked the elders who'd been present in the room for the hearing and dismissed them, leaving his father, brother, the elves and a couple of guards with him.

"Master Alpha Zachary, Alpha Zane, Alpha Cole," Mara curtsied, giving Eric who remained stiff a nudge to follow her lead. The king sighed and gave a shallow bow that could not even pass for a nod.

"He is not an Alpha," Zachary sneered at the reference to Cole as an Alpha.

"My apologies my lord, I assumed," Mara quickly backtracked, not ready to meet the renown werewolf temper.

"You have about five minutes to explain your business before I set my dogs on you," Zachary said, his voice sounding surprisingly strong for one who had seemed at the brink of death a few minutes prior.

Something in his tone told Mara he wasn't talking about ordinary dogs either and despite herself, she shivered.

"We understand you have heard the rumors that the elves have been blessed with a Pure Being again after four thousand years?" Mara queried.

They had tried to keep the secret tightly sealed in light of Erinna's nature and extra powers and to keep her away from Dracula but also to prevent a war of the races.

A fully bloomed Pure Being was a treasure and could bring great wealth to those she was loyal to. Everyone knew that and that was why no Pure Being had ever died a death of natural causes. They were always killed in a war or after being kidnapped and the kidnapper found the elf would not switch loyalties and turn her back on her people.

Eric had wanted to avoid all that for his daughter just as much as he had wanted to avoid Dracula finding out about her, neither of which had turned out successful.

"It's certainly not news," Zachary attempted a shrug but it only came out as a slight jerk of his frail shoulders.

"Well, it's true. We tried to keep her safe but the creature Dracula set his eyes on her."

"So that's the legendary princess who's been making him go through hoops. I've certainly heard about her," Zachary said with a malevolent smile, his canines fully displayed.

"I doubt it's that way but yes, that's probably her. Princess Erinna is the Pure Being. The vampires kidnapped her, misguided by a prophecy concocted by a deranged member of their clan," Mara explained.

The elves had received a prophecy themselves, four thousand years prior to Erinna's birth that a Pure Being would be born and she'd get rid of the tyrant, cleansing the world of the evil his abominable presence had caused.

But apparently, the vampires had received a different prophecy, one which stated that a mate would be born for Dracula and once the bond was consummated, the vampires would be released from the curse that forced them to live in shadows. Their strengths would be increased and their weaknesses diminished.

It seemed mere wishful thinking to Mara since Diana had cursed their race to end at Erinna's hands. And that was a curse she'd see fulfilled even if it killed her. The vampire was after all their own mistake.

Dracula had only come to exist because their ancestors had cursed him for killing a Pure Being. The curse had turned his into an unnatural creature of the night, but instead of suffering for his actions, he had embraced his new form and revelled in it, using it to put people to death at his will in the moments when he was not draining their blood.

"As interesting as this all sounds, I must ask you why you have come to us. Wolves do not fight elf battles," Zachary said, managing to look proud even though what was left of him was a huge pile of skin and bone. The wolf had not aged gracefully.

"But it is a matter that concerns both of us. Your ancestors were there four thousand years ago when he was in control of half the world, going around slaughtering everything that did not submit to him.

You were only able to regain your lands and recover because of the curse that the witches put on him to confine him to a coffin but now he's back. Who knows how long before it starts again? You know fully well what he is capable of and with the princess by his side, he'll be completely invincible.

Unless you join forces with us, the world will suffer again, your people will suffer. You know he has a preference for werewolves too. Hep us before he comes to the peak of his reign, it's only a matter of time."

While everyone else appeared entranced by her words, Zachary was enraged, his eyes glaring at Mara. When he talked, globs of spit were shooting from his mouth.

"You don't know that!" He seethed.

"That's where you're wrong my lord. Unlike many, I've been born with the select gift of Precognition and the future I can tell you, looks quite bleak for all of us if Dracula comes back to his full strength."

Or rather, terror, Mara thought in her mind.

"He has been building an army for seventeen years. We cannot just attack him," Zane interjected as his father broke into another violent fit of coughs.

"Nothing so disastrous my lord."

"What did you have in mind?" Zane asked.

Mara was pleased to find someone in this mess who was actually willing to listen and entertain the idea. She had been right; Zane was a true Alpha, level headed and patient, inspecting all sides of the situation.

"Your people are fast; perhaps you could manage a distraction whilst a few others grabbed the princess?"

"Are we talking of the same Dracula here? You think such childish games will fool him?"

"I'll take care of the creature, leave it to me," Eric spoke for the first time. Mara wanted to ask him if he was sure but the silent confidence in his eyes waylaid her doubts.

"You're all making useless points. Wasn't the point of bringing them here to hear what they have to offer us? All I've heard ever since I came in is what we can do for them," Cole, shrewd like his father inserted.

"Yes, Collen makes a valid point. What is in this for the werewolves?" Zachary asked.

"The princess of course. She will marry your heir," Mara replied, casting a glance at Zane. There was a tangible silence in the room after her words left her mouth.

"I no longer know if your plan is to end the vampires or rather the werewolves. Dracula would annihilate us!"

"You underestimate the power of the princess herself. Besides, I don't think anyone in Transylvania is truly in support of the union if they know about the curse that will kill them if Dracula and Princess Erinna were to marry. No one will fight by his side."

Cole was the one to reply.

"Zane, this is your call but we cannot perish because of past prejudices. We have to join with the elves, besides; the union will benefit both. I fully endorse."

🐺 🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

They were returning from the human village where Erinna had wanted to check up on the humans who had been harmed the night she had lost control, when Miya suddenly broached the taboo subject. The experience had left her shaken. It made her realize the amount of power she had at her disposal, the amount of damage she could do with her hands.

"Miya I really don't want to talk about this. You can't honestly tell me you believe him?" Erinna said, unwilling to believe one of the few friends she had in the miserable place that was Dracula's kingdom, was ready to abandon her.

But like Alexander, Miya was Vlad's friend before she was hers. Of course she would take Vlad's side. They might all like her and smile at her here and there but when it came down to it, they would lay down their lives for Vlad's. Erinna had no one like that in her life.

"I know what you're thinking child, but if he says he didn't do it then he didn't."

"That's the point, he doesn't even know if he did it or not!"

She did not want to think of what she would do if it turned out he hadn't actually done anything with Ingrid because to do that would be opening herself to false hope and inevitable heartbreak. If she trusted Vlad only to find out her instincts had been right all along, she would not recover. She just did not have it in her to go through that amount of pain for the second time.

Her trips to the human village or to the creek, distracted her from the pain inside her heart and she found out as long as she was around people, the headaches diminished, only increasing or coming full force if she was in the presence of vampires.

Only a few days were left before the blood moon and it seemed the closer they got to it, the more she could not stand the presence of vampires. She did not know if it was the normal repulsion to the undead that her kind had or if this was the curse playing with her but whatever it was, it needed to stop.

"Your mate is everything else but he's not a liar. Would you rather he had told you he hadn't done it?"

"Mate," Erinna scoffed, feeling stupid for having ever entertained the idea.

Accorded mates were not something you found every day, especially ones marked with a Recognition Mark. It was a phenomenon that happened once or twice a millennia. The last pair had been Diana and Daniel, which explained how crazy the witch had gone after losing the other part of her soul.

Mostly, people just looked for a companion with the most suitable characteristics and asked the clan leader to bless the union at a full moon to enforce a bond which would then be completed by the joining of bodies and hearts.

Wolves using the animal part of their nature, were usually able to pick the most eligible of mates based on breeding and compatibility, which explained why their unions lasted longer than others but it still wasn't the fundamental bonding of Accorded Mates.

Only Accorded Mates enjoyed the sacred joining of the souls in the uttermost binding way known below the skies. They shared a bond that went beyond time, death or circumstances.

The rarity of what they had was what made the situation unbearable for Erinna. If Vlad had felt even a fraction of what she did for him, he would never have hurt her the way he had. Because of their bond, the pain was soul deep, shaking her and destabilizing her from her very core.

"Yes mate. He loves you Erinna."

"That is what I thought too."

He was just that good of an actor.

At some point she had actually begun to believe that even though he hated everything in his life, he might love her. But looking back now, she could see how incredibly naive and stupid that had been. Hadn't Miya herself told her not to expect a lot?

She had told her the only driving force in Vlad__no, Dracula's life was his strong need for revenge. Had she thought that killing her race's second Pure Being, had been enough revenge on them for refusing to bring back his wife when he had begged them to?

Even now thinking about it made her feel stupid, Dracula gloried in revenge, of course he had stretched out this plan over centuries, to as he had called it 'hurt them where it hurt the most'.

Elves took pride in their Pure Beings, ridding them of two out of four would prove to be the best revenge and Vlad was nothing but creative. But she'd rather he had just killed her, it'd have been better than this pain and humiliation.

"Erinna that man can't even bear to be touched by another woman; you should see when I try to even hold his hand. There's no way he could have let Ingrid near him in that way."

Erinna too, remembered Vlad's violent reactions whenever Miya tried to touch him, even in the most innocent of gestures but like everything else she'd tried to consider to justify his actions, it didn't take away the fact that he had woken up in Ingrid's room and hid it from her as if he had already known he was guilty. That alone said a lot.

"It's actually not that hard to imagine Miya, they've been together for what? Three, four thousand years?"

"That doesn't matter, what matters is he waited for you for four thousand years. Why would he jeopardize all that for someone as stupid and unoriginal as Ingrid?"

"I don't know Miya and I don't care. I'm just glad all this came out before I'd made the mistake of shackling myself to him for all eternity. He's uncaring, manipulative and a colossal liar, it was childish of me to think he could be more than that."

It was spoken in a cold, frigid tone that was uncharacteristic of her but honestly, what was characteristic of her in the things she did those days? From making people explode into flames to nearly frying her own mate and his mistress to shunning Alexander, the only friend she'd ever had aside from her father, her governess and Miya.

"When did he lie to you?"

Her mind scrambled for an incident.

"He promised to let Angelica and those girls go."

Vlad had promised not to kill them but the next day he had shown up in her room declaring he had never promised not to torture them to the brink of death then revive them with vampire blood and do it all over again.

"That's not what I heard."

"Okay, maybe he didn't outright lie but he bends the truth a lot and right now I'm having a hard time separating the truth from his lies."

It hurt to think that whilst she'd been having the time of her life these past few weeks, everything had just been a game to him.

"The truth is in here," Miya said, putting her palm over Erinna's heart, "Only you can choose whether to believe it or not."

"Thank you Miya, I know that you're trying to help but I think I need more time."

"The Prince deserves someone strong by his side. If you cannot stand a little hiccup like this, what will happen when a true storm comes? Perhaps you don't deserve to be by his side after all."

Miya's voice had taken an accent which Erinna had never heard from her before.

"You think this is a hiccup?"

Miya kept staring at her, her eyes black and unfocused until she shook her head and returned to the present, "Forget I said anything. Go home, you need to rest."

The discussion with Miya left her in a sad and melancholic state and she felt the headache creeping in as she got nearer to the castle, the voices trying to break through the mental barriers she had set up.

It always got worse when she was alone. Stopping to take a deep breath and try to steady her racing heart, Erinna bend over, with her hands on her knees.

After the panic attack had passed, she continued on, heading straight to the kitchen, knowing she would not find a vampire there.

"Countess, it's been so long!" Leila exclaimed on seeing Erinna.

Erinna forced a smile she did not feel for the benefit of the older woman. Whilst they were not extremely close, Erinna enjoyed the cook's company.

"Hello Leila, you're right. I'm sorry for not coming here lately"

Ever since the incident, Erinna had had her meals sent to her room, not having the courage to face all those faces that had known exactly where Vlad had been and what he'd been doing even as she had walked around the castle like a fool, looking for him.

"It's okay, don't worry yourself. But why do you look like a twig that has given birth to twins?"

Erinna blushed; embarrassed her misery was showing about her. She hadn't been able to keep down any of the meals brought to her but had never thought anyone else would notice.

"I haven't been so well."

She wondered if Leila really had no idea of the state of things between her and Vlad or she was just doing a good job of pretending so as not to make her uncomfortable.

"Don't you worry milady, sit down and Leila will take care of you."

She ate what she could, though by Leila's disappointed face, it was not much. She was walking back to Dracula's chambers which had ironically become the only refuge she had in the whole castle when she suddenly felt the change in the atmosphere.

It wasn't the subtle shift that she felt when people approached her, no, this was Dracula in his full overbearing and domineering glory. Everything around her shrinked back and the temperature dropped in response to his dark presence.