Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Lucien’s hold on me didn’t ease, not even amidst the protests from Mera’s friends or when we stepped through the damn doorway and I felt the chill of the pathway between worlds, and definitely not when a familiar red washed over my vision. The red of my favorite wine and my favorite flower, which grew in Torma and was so rare I didn’t even know its name.

Again, coincidences I did not want to look too closely at, but maybe both explained my obsession with Crimson City and the master vampire carrying me.

Last time we’d arrived in the Crimson City, I’d walked in of my own volition, naïve to my place in the world since on Earth a shifter was the top of the food chain. The vampires had cured me of that mistaken sense of worth.

Lucien had warned me to stay in the castle-like compound he called a house, but in my stupidity over his rejection of me, I’d stopped listening to him. Stopped using common fucking sense.

Being back here was triggering in a way that I expected and hadn’t had time to properly prepare myself for. My neck ached, reminding me that I’d almost died here. Almost died when I’d been convinced to enter the Master Chambers, a massive building at the center of this mazelike city. In that building I’d touched their sacred stone and changed the course of my future.

The stone’s alarm had brought the guards, who ripped my throat out for breaking their most sacred law. I’d been bleeding out on the floor when Lucien raged in like a guardian angel. He’d shared his blood with me and saved my life, even if I didn’t remember most of it since I’d been all but dead at the time.

And now I was heading back to the very place it’d all happened.

Desperate to speak, I pushed my wolf forward to bust through the compulsion, but she was as traumatized as I was and did nothing except whimper. It broke my heart to hear that strangled sound from her. The other energy resting on top of her, the foreign beat, swirled as if to remind me it was strong. This had to be the result of me touching the sacred stone, or maybe… it was Lucien’s blood, still inside me.

He was vampire and I was shifter; our bloods were not compatible, and my body didn’t know how to purge it from my system. His blood might have saved my life, but now it felt like it clashed with my shifter energy.

If I’d had a voice in this moment, I’d have asked Lucien about it, but of course, he wanted me going to the masters as a mute prisoner.

The city was set out like a maze, a zigzagging array of streets that went left and right and back and forth until eventually you found the center of the maze. The Master Chambers. Surrounding this building were dozens of entrances—or exits depending on your direction—each leading to a different section of Crimson City.

Last time I’d learned that there were about a million vampires in this city, which was the largest and most exclusive in Valdor. You needed permission to move to any of the enclaves here and a tier one master to take you in under their protection, or you’d quickly be ripped to pieces.

Lucien had told me there was one lone wolf—so to speak—vampire in this city without an enclave, but he was so damn powerful that no one bothered him. He’d refused to be a master or join any enclave after his family had been murdered in another Valdorian town.

Other than that, it was ten tier one masters, ten enclaves of vampires, and endless machinations and politics.

“I never wanted you back here.”

His words startled me, at least internally since he still had my movements locked down. And while I understood the reason he’d used compulsion against me—he wanted to garner some trust again with his fellow masters—it didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed about it.

“And I know what you’re thinking,” he continued.

Doubt that very much, fucker.

“But I promise that if I didn’t bring you in incapacitated like this, they’d come down so much harder on you. Do not remind them that you’re a predator. Best, at this point, to appear frail and weak.”

Man, if I could’ve moved at this point, I would’ve been swinging my leg like a prize fucking horse straight into his vampire balls.

Lucien chuckled, a low rumble, and I hated that tiny flicker of attraction I still felt when he went all sexy on me. “Your energy is strong,” he said, sounding amused. He paused then, and his next words were slower. “Why do I feel it so strongly though?”

Can’t answer your question, moron who compelled me.

Maybe it was best not to tell him my theory, just in case it meant more trouble for me. Lucien would probably try to drain my blood to get his back because we all knew that blood from another supernatural creature could be used against them.

He didn’t question me further, instead picking up his pace as we headed deeper into the maze. The houses and streets themselves formed the walls of this circuit, and you had no choice but to continue along the path. Left or right was the only option, with no gaps between the buildings and shops.

Everything looked the same in the streets, with the only color variance the stones that belonged to each house. The master’s houses were more unique and luxurious. Not that any of the vampires lived in slums, from what I’d seen anyway.

Shops were scattered between houses, providing the Crimson City citizens with bottled blood and plasma, a variety of foods, and other creature comforts. In many ways, this city reminded me of Earth, with similar levels of advancement and technologies, only there were no cars here since vampires could speed themselves around much faster than any vehicle would go.

Newcomers could be lost for weeks in this maze of a city, which left the masters safe and sound in their chambers in the center. The last to be attacked.

I hated when leaders let their “people” stand on the front line while they hid in their castles—a sentiment I was fairly sure I held in common with Lucien. Last time we were here, he’d talked about vampire politics, telling me he’d never wanted to be a master, but he didn’t trust any other to keep his enclave safe. He’d also said that the tier one masters needed to be cleaned up since too many of them had been alive forever, abusing their power, which was one of the reasons he was only here when duty dictated.

The fact that we were both back here now was a slap in the face, and even if I wanted to blame Lucien, I couldn’t. Once again, this was a result of my own actions when all he’d ever done was keep me safe.

The rest of the journey continued in silence, and though I couldn’t see much of the landscape from my position over his shoulder, I did notice the brighter red of the sun lighting up the paved road below. It must be the middle of their awake cycle, which explained why there were more than a few vampires on the streets going about their business.

Lucien picked up speed at one point, and from there everything went by in a red blur. We would be at the chambers in minutes now.

“Are they going to kill me?”

For a brief second my wolf surged through his hold, and I managed to speak. The compulsion locked me back down almost instantly. Lucien’s speed faltered briefly, and I was able to see that we were approaching the outer layer of the Master Chambers.

His hands on my waist tightened as he lifted me off his shoulder so he could peer into my eyes. “How did you break my compulsion?” he questioned, pupils darting about my face as the green deepened until it was almost black.

Once again, he was asking me a question without allowing me to answer. It was almost as if he was trying to ferret the information from my mind, his energy seeping inside, but there were some things he just couldn’t have.

My wolf made another surge, snapping at the invading power, and Lucien withdrew his energy. “Fair enough, B. I won’t press again, but once we get through this next little performance, you’re going to tell me everything that you’ve experienced since that night we shared blood. Everything.”

I was back over his shoulder before I could blink—not that I could blink. If I wasn’t a shifter, my eyes would have dried out and fallen from my damn head by now.

He continued on to the chambers. The guards, which were stationed at huge gates at each maze opening, opened them up before Lucien was even close.

As we moved into the outer courtyard of the chambers, I realized he hadn’t answered my question. Probably because he had no idea if the masters wanted to kill me or not.

Here’s hoping his words from the library were true and he had enough power to get us both out of here.

Before they ripped our hearts out.