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I was frozen with shock at what I was seeing beneath me.

Vampires.

They were horrible deceitful beings . The Werewolves had a long time ago stopped feeding on creatures other than animals but the vampires had refused to stop, preying mainly on humans and merebeings but they also liked to feed on moon witches and faes. Many years ago, they had been driven to the east by a Werewolf horde and the ancient moon people had put up the barrier with the aid of the Ardenites. That was the only time in history that Werewolves and moon people had worked together.

But there were no vampires in the East. Eryk Rivinlyte had driven out the few that had gotten through the barrier, three years ago ...but my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. There were actually four vampires here.

Still smiling at me, one of them said,

" Why don't you bring her down to play, dog?"

I heard Rhydians warning growl. I knew Rhydian was big and strong and incredibly fast but vampires were also as strong and fast as a werewolf ...and there were four of them. From the vibrant red of their eyes, they had fed recently. I wondered what poor soul had become a last meal.

Suddenly, my vision came flashing back. Good goddess, was this it? Was this how I become a ...No! I just couldn't be one of them. I couldn't do that to Rhydian ...make him a last meal.

Another looked up at me with a blood chilling smile.

" Don't fret hun, you won't miss out on any of the fun, I assure you."

" Get your eyes off her." Rhydian snapped in a voice that made me recoil but only made their smile grow.

" Possessive much, are we now?" The second one asked then laughed.

" The girl's not a wolf." The third said.

" I noticed. She smells delicious. Unlike him." The first said. He seemed to be in charge of the other three. He sauntered forward and Rhydian tensed.

Good goddess, I didn't want to watch this.

" Since you're going to be dead soon dog, I won't tell you what we'll do with her but I can assure you ... it'll be fun. For us at least." He said and the others broke out in sniggers. To them he said, " kill him." Then he moved so quickly towards my tree.

Rhydian got to him just as quickly, grabbed his hand and used it to toss him many feet into the air, in the opposite direction of my tree.

The vampire landed easily on his knees and glared at Rhydian.

" You're going to be like that? So be it then."

The four vampires charged him at once.

Rhydian went on to meet them and jumped into the air. Mid jump, his wolf burst through, ripping his clothes to shreds, and he took down three of them with him. The other raced towards me. The wolf was pushed off. It turned its attention to the solo one and chased after it.

The vampire jumped, landing easily on the branch I was on. With a startled gasp, I pressed myself against the body of the tree in an attempt to create a lot of space between us.

A second later, he was knocked off by a black blur and the wolf began to furiously tear him apart even before they reached the ground.

There was no blood as the vampire became no more than a head and a torso. His limbs were thrown around the forest. Of course he was still alive and he cried out for help.

The others rushed towards the wolf, fangs out and it turned snarling furiously. They seemed to have learned that a one-on-one with the wolf would be fatal and so, they worked together closing in on it.

The wolf snapped and growled, keeping its eyes on the three vampires and also on my tree.

Even though I didn't want to watch, I found myself leaning closer ...and then I fell off. I hit the forest floor slamming my left side against it. Good goddess it hurt, and good goddess I could be so stupid at times.

Stay in the fucking tree, he'd said and I went ahead to fall off.

As I struggled to get up, I noticed two things on the ground. One, there were fresh blood stains on some of the fallen leaves carpeting the forest floor. I glanced at my left arm. The sleeve of my dress was torn above the elbow and the fabric around the tear was soaked in blood. I'd cut myself.

Oh no.

The vampires suddenly turned in my direction with distracted snarls. Even though they had a murderous werewolf in front of them, they couldn't fight the blood lust.

The wolf capitalized on their distraction. In one leap, its jaws closed around the head of one and bit it off. But even before it got to the ground, another vampire threw himself against the wolf and I heard a sickening crunch as bones were broken.

The wolfs pained howl rented the air and my heart stopped.

The wolf threw him off but it didn't go after them. It was badly hurt and could barely stand, leaning on its good side.

The vampire laughed angrily.

" Not so cocksure now, are we?" He taunted. " Come on dog, let's dance."

I held my breath, waiting for the vampire to attack the wolf ...but it never came.

Too distracted by its momentary victory, the vampire continued to ...talk. It taunted the injured wolf and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I hoped he continued to waste time. Werewolves healed incredibly fast especially in their wolf form but Rhydian had Alpha blood coursing through him. In other words, he healed even faster than the normal werewolf.

He was only giving Rhydians wolf the time it needed for its bones to mend.

I picked up the second thing I'd noticed on the ground.

It was one of the Ardenites I'd stolen from the Caliber estate. It had fallen from my dress when I fell off the tree. Just as I picked it though, I froze. Hadn't there been two remaining vampires?

As if on cue, something slammed into me with so much force, I saw stars.

I hit the ground hard and tasted blood in my mouth. I'd bitten my tongue when it hit me, but I was still holding on to the crystal.

And ...I was very angry.

I squeezed the crystals and willed the magic it had to offer into me. I reveled in the familiar rush as the magic flowed through my veins again. Good goddess I'd missed this.

The pain I'd been feeling because of my cut disappeared slowly. We also healed fast with the aid of magic.

I turned to face the leering vampire. Its fangs were out and that made me pause. I didn't want to get close enough to it to get bitten and anyways, I didn't know how to engage in hand to hand combat.

I decided to stay put.

The leer was wiped off the vampires face as a huge tree branch slammed into him. It sent him flying into the air and he landed horribly. He hadn't been expecting that.

I didn't celebrate yet. I took a deep breath and continued to focus on harnessing nature. The tree branches, the rocks, the wind they were my weapons and after three years of being without magic, I was eager to use them.

I rose into the air as branches and roots snaked to my side. The vampire got to his feet, the promise of murder in his eyes. He charged me and I pushed down my panic and focused on the tree root that I was snaking towards him ...from behind.

The most effective ways to subdue vampires was either to cut their head off and burn them or stake them and then burn them. I didn't have a jaw to use to snap his head off but ...a second before he reached me, distracted by the branches and roots beside me, I wrapped the other one around his neck, squeezing tightly.

He didn't need to breath and so wasn't very panicked. When I used the tree root to snap his neck off, he was even less panicked.

I grinned at his headless body as it collapsed to the ground then I turned my attention to the other vampire.

He had to be the dumbest vampire alive. He was still taunting the wolf and hadn't even realized that it was now standing on all fours. The bones that had been broken had mended. It was still healing but I could tell it was much better, just waiting for the right time to act.

I worked on a tree root, whittling its end with my magic till it was pointed. Then I snaked it underneath the laughing vampire. He seemed to know something was wrong and turned warily in my direction.

I smiled at him and pointed down. Before he could look though, I sent the now pointed root upwards. It tore through him from his pelvis up, jutting out from the top of his head.

His veins stood out and blackened as he died his final death.

I pulled the branch out and the lifeless body fell to the ground. This one had no chance of being put back together and brought back. It was dead. Period.

Still, I sent the pointed end of the root into his chest, over and over again till there were large, bloodless holes in him.

This one had hurt Rhydian.

" Don't lean on your injured side." I said quietly to Rhydians wolf, not daring to go near it. Even though Rhydian was still in there, this was more of his wolf than him.

The wolf regarded me with its intelligent green eyes. It had Rhydians features; black hair/fur and emerald green eyes. It uttered a low growl, its eyes trained on me.

I didn't let myself get bothered though. We had a mate bond and it would be stronger when he was in his wolf form. He wouldn't hurt me.

The wolf took a step towards me, snarling and I balked. It wouldn't hurt me ...right? Then, it did the last thing I'd expected.

It licked me.

I usually enjoyed it when Rhydian ran his tongue along my neck or breast but having his wolf's huge tongue run along my face was gross.

" Rhydian!" I complained but it didn't stop. It continued to lick me, running its tongue all over my body and I tried to get away from it.

It stopped and sniffed me, wrinkling its nuzzle. Then it continued with the licking. I realized what it was trying to do. One of the vampire had touched me and so his scent was on me. Normally, Werewolves hate the smell of vampires but smelling a vampire on your mate was probably worse. Still though, I'd thought licking to clean only worked on fur. I had no fur.

" Rhydian stop!" I said angrily and the wolf surprisingly sprang back at my tone, uttering a low whimper. It looked down and I suddenly felt bad. With an eyeroll, I said, " Fine, you can continue."

With a happy yelp, it rushed to me and we fell to the floor. It continued to run its tongue all over me. It looked like it was having a blast and I laughed. I'd never seen Rhydian so ...playful.

After a good two minutes of non-stop licking, it stopped and moved back, watching me.

I sat up. I was literally drenched in saliva but I couldn't even be annoyed. I pointed at my nose and said,

" You missed a spot." I said and it obliged, eagerly. I laughed hard at that. Was it the attack that had made him let his guard down? I lifted my hand and it nuzzled my palm, looking at me with its intelligent eyes.

Slowly, I ran my fingers through its luxurious fur and it let me, waiting calmly.

Then suddenly, it was snarling again, emitting low warning growls.

What now?

I looked around worried that there were more vampires but instead, three large wolves came into view. I noticed that they had small packages of clothing tied to their right hind legs.

The wolf got in front of me protectively but the three wolves dipped their heads in submission. They weren't here to fight. All three morphed back into men ...or rather two did. The third was a woman. They were all naked and incredibly ripped. I looked away blushing at their nakedness but they seemed unbothered by it.

" Your highness." The middle one said, bowing. The other two followed suite, having recognized the scent of their Alpha.

The wolf morphed back into Rhydian. I watched, awed by the complex process of rearranging bones and retarding fur ...then I realized I was staring right at Rhydians naked body.

He was all ripped stomach and bulging arms. My eyes fell to his ...good goddess. I had to drag my eyes away as heat filled my cheeks ...and other parts of me too.

" You're with the border patrol?" Rhydian demanded his voice extra gruff. I guessed this was because they had seen him in a playful state.

" Yes, your highness." The middle man said. " We were tracking four vampires that had made it past the barrier."

" Well you were hours behind them." Rhydian snapped and they balked at his tone. I felt sorry for them, having been on the receiving end of his anger myself. It's not nice in any way.

They didn't dare give excuses and remained quiet, unable to meet their Alphas eyes.

" Get rid of the bodies." Rhydian said and turned to face me, kneeling.

" Are you alright?" He asked softly.

I nodded, completely focused on keeping my straying eyes on his face and he smiled knowingly. Who wouldn't be so damn confident with body parts like his.

Rhydian glanced at the bodies of the vampires.

" What you did ..." He said quietly. " at the end ...it was pretty dark. I hadn't expected it from you."

I shrugged and said.

" Why not? I mean I spent three years in a prison cell. I'm not all bubbly and nice."

He frowned at me and was about to say something.

" Your highness." One of the soldiers said. He had a bundle of clothes; a single shirt and trouser with him and placed it on the ground beside Rhydian. Rhydian nodded at him and he went back to the others. They had gathered up the limbs and bodies of the vampires.

" You fucking werewolves, you're all going to fucking die, you bastards." The other vampire that Rhydian had attacked was of course still alive. He hadn't been staked or beheaded.

The soldiers ignored his words and poured gasoline from one of their packages on him as well as his comrades and soon, his insults and curses turned to screams. I resisted the urge to clamp my hands over my ears at his blood curling screams.

Rhydian handed the shirt he'd been given over to me.

" You should probably change out of that." He said, gesturing at my saliva soaked dress.

I grinned at him forgetting the screaming vampire.

" Oh, do you mean my dress which you drenched in your saliva?" I asked sweetly and for the first time ever, I noticed the tips of his ear turn red. He was embarrassed!

He couldn't meet my eyes and I found it hard not to laugh.

" That wasn't actually me. It was my wolf." He mumbled and I gave in to my laughter. His ears turned a darker shade of red but he relaxed and smiled at me. " Just put this on. He hasn't worn it so his scent isn't very strong on it."

I accepted the shirt.

" Turn around." I said. He raised an eyebrow but did as I said. My eyes fell to his butt. Oohhh what a butt! I bit my lower lips, my eyes trained on his taut behind. Perfectly sculpted and lean and glorious!

" Deven." Rhydian said.

" Mmm?" I manage to drag my eyes away, still distracted.

He turned to face me, a pleased smile on his gorgeous face.

" Glorious ...I heard that." He informed and it was my turn to be embarrassed. Damn this mate bond making us hear each others thoughts.

He winked at me, almost laughing as he turned away and my jaw dropped in surprise at that wink. I felt so giddy at that moment even though we were supposed to be in the middle of an argument.

He quickly shrugged on the trousers given and once again, I was distracted. I shook my head lightly to clear my thoughts and pulled down my dress. I glanced at the cut on my shoulder. It was now just a thin white scar.

" Are you done 'cause we need to ..." Rhydian said, turning but he trailed off, his eyes darkening at the sight of me. Thankfully, I was wearing a bralette and matching lacy boxers. The Aradian women lingerie was a bit more advanced so I wasn't very embarrassed when he suddenly turned back.

" Sorry." He apologized but made no move to turn away. I let him watch as I pulled on the oversized shirt and watch, he did!

His eyes went every where from my breast down my waist to the junction between my thighs where they seemed to linger.

The shirt was huge on me because the guard was a big man. It stopped around the top of my butt and the sleeves went past my arm. I glanced at the soldiers. They were still distracted by the burning bodies.

" Um," I said to Rhydian. " I need some help with the buttons."

I really didn't need help. I just ...wanted him close to me. He came closer, his eyes arresting mine and slowly started to button up the shirt. Sometimes, his fingers brushed against my bare skin and sent delicious shivers coursing through my body.

" Your highness, would you like us to escort you back to the castle?" One of the soldiers asked.

" Go on back to your base. We'll be fine on our own. " Rhydian instructed still looking at me.

The soldiers morphed back into their wolves and disappeared into the forest.

" Come on." Rhydian said, dragging his eyes away. " We need to get going if we're going to get back to the castle in time."

He was right. We needed to get back. Milah and Sierra were probably wondering where I was and I really needed a bath.

Without another word, I climbed his back and he took off.