The Alpha’s Mate And The Vampire King (The Alpha Series Book 3)

Alec and Juniper spend the night gazing up at the stars and moon as Alec learns everything he can about Juniper and her past.

‘I think you should tell me more about yourself, Alec. I’ve been telling you everything about myself, but I still don’t know anything about you other than you’re Alec, the vampire King,’ she replies enthusiastically.

‘The sun will be rising soon, and I’m not fond of the day. We shall retrieve your grandma while it’s still dark and return to my castle, where we will hold a great feast and celebrate our love. I will tell you all you want to know about me then,’ he smiles.

Juniper nods, and they hold hands as they trudge through the woods to her village.

‘Over there, that cottage there is where grandma and I live. I don’t see anyone around, do you?’ She asks.

Alec slowly and carefully scans the area, ‘No, I don’t see anyone,’ he says.

‘Stay here, I’ll peep through the back window, and if no one is inside, I’ll climb inside,’

‘I’ll keep watch outside then?’ He says.

Juniper sneaks up to the window, peers through it, then turns and nods to Alec. Assuring him that everything is well on the inside. I hear her scream not long after she walks into the room. Alec bursts through the window inside the cottage, only to see men emerge from hiding. One man is holding a knife to the throat of an older woman, and I know it’s her grandmother. Three men tackle juniper. Alec grabs one by the throat and throws the man out the window. The rest of the men stand around me, ready to fight. I hiss and bare my teeth, making them tremble.

‘Creature of the night,’ the grandmother murmurs.

Alec continues to kill them one by one. More men enter the cabin as Juniper is dragged outside. She screams again when she sees the man with the knife slitting her grandmother’s throat. Alec’s hands emit a black mist as he summons Shadow Reapers and Grimghouls. The Grimghouls rip men apart, while Shadow Reapers induce the men to imagine that other men are the enemy, and they begin attacking one other. Alec escapes the dwelling, only to find Juniper chained up to a wooden beam, standing on bundles of sticks. A man hurls a lit torch at her feet. ‘No!’ Alec yells and rushes towards her.

Men yell, ‘Don’t let him get to her, stop him!’

As Juniper screams in agony, Alec snaps their necks and rips the heads off dozens of men. As Alec approaches Juniper, her cries have stopped, and her entire body is enveloped in flames. She is no longer alive.

Alec’s breathing becomes more rapid, and he sends out a high-pitched shriek that causes people’s ears to bleed.

Thousands of black flashes zoom and dash around, moving too quickly to identify what they are, as people’s limbs fly across the ground. Shrieks and screams are heard, and it quickly becomes silent. Finally, the black flashes come to a halt.

Hundreds of vampires stand near their king and watch him mourn his blood flame. They had killed everyone in the village. The only sound now is the cries coming from the king, the vampire king.

As the sun is about to rise and the fire is doused, he orders the vampires to retrieve Juniper’s body for burial at the castle.

I am summoned to the Realm of Shadows alongside the Grimghouls and Shadow Reapers. We emerge at a gloomy medieval castle where the only light comes from a few candles spread about. Alec is standing over a dark stone coffin in the underground crypt. He lays black flowers upon it, kisses it, and walks out into the night. He raises his palms, and a burst of dark power emanates from all around him, opening a vast portal.

‘I will avenge your death, Juniper, and all humans shall pay,’ he cries into the night sky. Then, swarms of vampires, as well as Grimghouls and Shadow Reapers, rush through the portal. Alec is the last person to enter, and I rush in just as the portal closes.

We’ve arrived in werewolf territory. The alpha warns Alec to return to where he came from.

Alec laughs, ‘You fool. I’m the vampire king. It is you who shall be warned. Join me and eradicate the humans or die along with them.’

The alpha charges at Alec but the Grimghouls shred him apart before he can even get near Alec. The pack trembles and flees, informing other packs of what happened. Alec and his legion wiped out many packs over time that had tried to stop him from entering human lands and villages. A slew of witches appear and cast spells to keep Alec at bay.

‘My blood flame was a witch. You should all be pursuing revenge alongside me!’ Alec shouts.

The witches work together, casting spell after spell until he is encased in a magical whirl that prevents his entire body from moving. They create a portal, and on the other side, I can see the Midnight Coven. Alec is magically forced through the portal. Other witches manage to contain the Grimghouls and Shadow Reapers and push them through to join their king. Alec continues to fight, but there are too many witches making him unable to repel all their spells at once. The swirls of magic around him lift him into the air and into the Covenstead. A witch casts a spell in the corridor where two doors are. Her spell creates a third door, a new section of the Covenstead. She places a book in the room of darkness that forms into stairs and leads to a dark heavy door. She opens it and casts another spell creating the dungeon. They confine the Grimghouls and Shadow Reapers to their cells and Alec to his. A witch draws a line of salt inside the iron-barred door, and several incantations are uttered. Alec is freed from the spell that had been binding him. He hisses and lunges at the bars and attempts to pass the line of salt. His arm reaches through the line, and his arm spontaneously engulfs in flame, burning him. Alec falls back and pats his arm until the flames are out.

‘It is of no use, vampire king. Your cell is bound by magic to keep you within. No matter your strength, you will never leave this cell until the day someone lets you out, but after wiping out most of the werewolf packs and intending to wipe out the human race. We sentence you to remain in this dungeon forever.’ she says and walks away.

‘No, come back. Please don’t leave me here!’ He screams out in agony.

The witches converse near the Shadow Reapers and Grimghouls.

‘We have never seen these creatures before. I sense they are not what they seem,’ Emmerson, a witch, says. Another pulls a mirror from her pocket and holds it in front of a Shadow Reaper. They gasp as they see the ghost of a human in the reflection.

‘Try one of the Grimghouls,’ Emmerson says. The mirror is held in front of a Grimghoul to reveal a pixie.

‘The vampire King has summoned the souls of the dead and pixies from Silverfay forest and turned them into these hideous monsters.’ She says to the other witches.

The witches begin to cast spells attempting to change them into their original states but fail. The Grimghouls and Shadow Reapers are a danger in these forms. The witches have no choice but to keep them in the dungeon, hoping that a day will come when the pixies will be returned to Silverfay forest in their natural forms and the souls of the dead returned to their resting places.

As an added precaution, the witches inscribe sigils and lay wards over the doors after closing the heavy black door.

I’m suddenly pulled out of the dream state and back in real-time, looking into Alec’s solemn eyes. I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around him, and cry.

‘I’m so sorry, Alec. I’m so sorry you lost your blood flame when you found her. I’m so sorry you’ve spent hundreds of years in here grieving her death and being alone,’ I say.

‘I’m sorry as well. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on her death and realised that she would not have wanted me to avenge her death. She was so kind that she would have wanted those guilty to survive, hoping that one day they would see their actions were wrong,’ Alec says.

‘You shouldn’t be in here, in this dungeon. It’s not right to treat you like a-‘

‘Monster?’ He says, ‘That’s exactly what I became when Juniper died, Luna,’

‘But you’re not anymore,’ I say as I gaze into his eyes.