Kay thought it would be difficult to be around people, but it wasn't. Her succubus had fed off Marcus' energy to some extent, which was possible with him not being a pureblood, and he suffered no ill effects. Although still hungry after her change, she was in control.

People touched her while dressing and undressing her in the dress shop and again afterward at the spa and the salon. Every time she had a sense of something flowing out of them and into her, but they seemed completely unaware.

The whole succubus thing did not work the way she imagined and definitely not how Azera's functioned, but then again, the woman was crazy and evil. Nor was it like the movies, either. There was no mysterious life force flowing from the mouth of one to the other—it was a touch thing. Invisible and noninvasive.

What would happen if she were starving? The thought unsettled her, and she pushed it from her mind. Who could think of starvation while being pampered?

***

When they returned home, Kay's new stylist dressed her while Kay stared at herself in the mirror. The woman looking at her from the mirror's reflective surface belonged on the magazine cover. An exotic beauty whose face moved when hers did and whose eyes stared back at her with little swirls of light, which she repressed.

Her new stylist was human, and scaring her off on the first night would not please Cat.

"Fuck," someone exclaimed from the door, and the startled human accidentally pricked Kay with a pin.

"Oh, sorry, forgive me!"

"No worries, I will live," Kay reassured the stylist and turned her head.

Claudia stared at her with raised brows.

"How am I supposed to compete with that?" the werewolf teased, her eyes examining Kay with approval.

"Asks the woman who looks like a movie star," she answered, comfortable with this tall, blond, and beautiful woman in a way she didn't expect to be after sleeping with her fiance.

There was just something mysterious about Claudia and slightly dangerous. It was subtle but there in the way she walked and moved.

The stylist kept apologizing, but Kay paid her no heed. She could tell Claudia knew what had happened, but there was no judgment, anger, jealousy, or negativity in her manner, just a hint of wariness.

The werewolf was unlike any person she had met before, and even if she didn't know her or her family, she would have guessed this was no ordinary woman. Marcus was the same, and his powerful aura was undeniable.

Claudia and Marcus didn't need to say a word or do anything to command people's attention. They had dominant personalities and wore the cloak of power with dignity, in her case, lined with just a touch of mockery.

"Has Cat briefed you about the dinner party tonight?" The werewolf asked, casually seating her glittering, glamorous self on the chair by the dresser.

The assistant stylist was so in awe of Claudia that the stylist, Amy, had to pinch her to get her attention.

"Yes, it's an icebreaker. Your father, Marcus, you, me, and the lawyers meeting to figure out how this will work. Just between you and me, I wonder what the media will make of it?' Claudia quietly said.

Amy finished up, collected her things, and hurried her assistant out the door before firmly closing it behind her. They paid her a hell of a lot of money for her knowledge, but mostly her discretion, and she obviously knew when girls needed some privacy.

"Why do they need to know that Marcus will marry a woman from the same background and move his mistress into the same house?" Kay asked, and Claudia grew serious.

"They are not stupid and will gossip. Soon enough, the truth will find its way into the world, and there will be a scandal. Father believes in ripping off the bandaid. He did the same thing, and people were either overly invested in his lifestyle or powerfully opposed to it. But do their thoughts really matter? We understand the stakes, and they do not.

"My family is obscenely wealthy and powerful, and so is Marcus, in our world and theirs. Pissing men like that off is never a good idea, and the people who matter won't dare say anything.

"We have powerful friends and are not breaking any laws. Their limited view of the world does not define our lives, and human kings did much more heinous things to ensure peace in the past," Claudia gracefully got to her feet.

"Come, Marcus awaits us," she held out her hand, and Kay took it with a sense of trepidation.

***

They followed the corridor, which led into another that ended at two massive white and gold paneled doors that two uniformed men opened.

Kay wanted to wait for Claudia to enter first, having gained an understanding of fae hierarchy, but Claudia did not let go of her hand, and they descended the grand staircase side by side, setting the room abuzz.

Marcus awaited them at the bottom, and as they drew even with him, he crooked both his arms. They hooked up with him and continued into the room. Every eye followed them, and she'd never been as uncomfortable.

The lawyers were easy to spot. Nothing much defined one from the other, and their eyes furtively glanced around the room, taking stock of the situation. The gentleman with them had a completely different demeanor and manner.

Claudia's father immediately caught the attention. He was taller than Marcus and broader of shoulder, his sharp eyes missing nothing.

Unease slithered down her spine. There was an unmistakable family resemblance between him and Claudia. Ruggedly handsome, danger oozed from him, except when Marcus escorted them to him and Claudia leaned forward to kiss him on his cheek. His eyes softened briefly, and the hard line of his mouth pulled into a smile.

"Darius, this is Kay," Marcus introduced her, and her stomach knotted.

***

Darius looked at her, and the force of his personality almost made her take a step back, but something warned her not to, and the slightest spark of approval glittered briefly in his gaze.

"No last name? She must have a last name." This was a man who would never have to raise his voice to be heard but also one who never bothered to whisper.

"She was a seedling and isn't anymore. Thane has denied her, and I cannot claim my own bonded, so she is Kay," Marcus stated calmly but coldly, keeping his voice low so no human would overhear. However, the nearest fae followed their conversation with interest, and the lawyers were not human.

A frown crinkled Darius' brown.

"You know the rules, Marcus. You are D'Argon, and I am Lupine. It is more than just a name, stating who we are and where we come from, and it's a designation and a declaration of intent, speaking for whether we are of the light or the dark," Darius's aggravation was undeniable.

"No one will dare speak for her, Darius," Marcus kept calm, but the werewolf alpha's eyes briefly turned yellow with some intense, suppressed emotion. For a human, it would look like a glint of reflected light, but to her, it was what it was.

"Then I will speak for her," Darius decided with icy determination, and it caused a stirring among the fae while the humans seemed to have no idea what was going on.

What Darius suggested was apparently unheard of and scandalous.

"Father..." Claudia cautioned him, their eyes speaking without words, and she lowered her gaze before him.

"Marcus, you asked for the hand of my only daughter, and I gave her to you, but then you took another without my consent. Luckily for you, I understand politics and necessity. If claiming Thane's offspring as my own makes him angry, then I feel a whole hell of a lot better about this," Darius almost smirked.

It hurt to have her life and fate decided by others on a whim. Darius stepped closer to her and lowered his head until their eyes were level. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but might only have been seconds.

"Anyway, what fool would deny a daughter such as this one? She deserved a whole hell of a lot better than the raw deal she got. If I claim her, she will be safe from the lily-livered fool who decided that her seedling mother was worthy of carrying a child with his DNA," Darius stood himself upright, and for the first time in her life, Kay felt short. She never expected the words or their sentiment.

"The strongest of us all, and he is intimidated by a madwoman," Darius scoffed as he stepped slightly away before reaching out and briefly petting the side of her face with his hand.

"Do we know whose seedline her mother came from?" he asked.

"Baccus," Marcus answered.

"Then it is only fitting. Baccus was our pro-generator as well. Strange that Thanus would have chosen her, knowing she belonged to his greatest rival."

"Or smart. Theirs are the two strongest bloodlines, and what do we care what the world thinks? At least if you claim her, Azera will never want her back," Claudia scoffed. She glanced at Marcus, and a small smile touched his lips.

"I sincerely hope this claiming does not involve biting," Kay said uneasily, and Claudia laughed.

"Yes, it does. You are in the world of vampires and werewolves, love. What did you expect?" she teased. "Let's go somewhere more private."

"Now, master?" someone asked, sounding scandalized.

"Yes."

"Excuse us for a minute; we have business to discuss," Marcus said with a smile, ignoring the unease of his guests as he led the way to his study.

Once behind closed doors, Kay's unease grew as Darius shifted closer and gripped her neck in his massive hand. The big bad wolf stared right into her eyes, and his glowed yellow, and for some strange reason, she could not look away.

The mirror behind him showed her that her pupils were blazing blue as Darius leaned forward with surprising speed for such a big man. His teeth sank into her exposed shoulder, just beside the mark Marcus left on her, and the wound disappeared even as he lifted his blood-stained mouth from her flesh.

It left the same silvery mark only visible to immortals, and her skin would appear unblemished to a human.

Darius licked his lips, briefly rubbing her neck in a soothing motion as his venom burned through her system, then stepped away. If Marcus's arm did not support her, she would have swayed as her system assimilated whatever happened.

*Daughter,* Darius's voice sounded in her head without his lips moving, shocking her, as Claudia glanced at her with a small, sad smile.

*Are you alright?* she asked, and even as Kay nodded, she belatedly noticed that Claudia's lips had not moved either.

She almost groaned.

*You'll get used to it. At least until you learn to tune us out,* that disjointed Claudia voice in her head tried to soothe, but there was something else there too, a little smugness.

Somehow claiming her had given Darius and his pack some silent victory over Thane, and they were both very pleased with themselves.

Even Marcus was guilty of the same thing. Would she ever understand the complexities of this world? Kay wondered.

"We need to go back to the party before our guests think we're having an argument," Darius reminded them. "Do you feel up to it?" he asked, and she nodded, following Marcus into the ballroom despite still feeling slightly weak.

"What price would I have to pay for Kay?" Marcus asked as they walked.

"That I have not yet decided," the werewolf alpha said with a smirk and a look that told her he could ask anything of Marcus, and the vampire prince could not deny him.

She suspected the idea did not sit well with her master and didn't quite know what this meant for her future. Being claimed by the most powerful werewolf alpha as kin, a daughter, was no small thing. With Thane being her father despite him not exercising his claim on her and Baccus, whoever he was, being the origins of her mother's bloodline, she was no longer nameless or without a clan.

Why did Akira never mention this Baccus when she explained what a seedling was? But it made sense that she would be of another line; otherwise, Thanus would have been her father and great-however-many-times-grandfather. Gross. Luckily, it never occurred to her, or it might have bothered her.

Even more interestingly, why had Azera never spoken of him? She didn't let an opportunity pass to remind her she was Thanus' offspring.

Things are both getting clearer and more muddied. Newest Version ©2014-2023 All rights reserved. If you find this on any other platform but Wattpad under @CSDreamer, please report it. No part of this book may be copied or reposted without the author's permission.