Chapter 73 – Kidnapped by My Mate Series II: His Lost Queen

Filed To Story: Kidnapped by My Mate Novel (Belle & Grayson) Online Free by Annie Whipple

I struggled against him, trying to push his hands off me. I wanted to scream in frustration. I was so sick of people using their supernatural strength to detain me.

After a few more seconds of fighting, I begrudgingly relented and lay back down in defeat. I glared at Liam, feeling tears running down my cheeks. Embarrassment reddened my face. I hated that I was crying in front of them.

“So, what?” I demanded, angrily wiping my tears. “I just walked into a crazy vampire cult or something?”

Liam frowned. “We prefer the term clan. Not cult.”

As if that made it any better.

Laila touched my hand. My head snapped up to look at her, and I jerked away from her touch.

“You have nothing to be afraid of,” she told me. “You lived with werewolves before, didn’t you?”

My jaw dropped. “H-How did you—”

“We all knew you had come from a werewolf pack as soon as you got to Evergreen.

You reeked of them.

“Plus, you have a werewolf mating mark the size of Canada on your neck,” Laila told me. “You really thought we wouldn’t notice that?”

I didn’t know how to respond. I touched my mark gently, wincing when it flared with heat. I wished I could just scrub the thing away so no one, including me, could ever see it again.

Laila sighed. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but I promise you, if you can handle werewolves, then you can handle vampires.”

“At least we don’t turn into monsters whenever we’re in a bad mood,” Liam grumbled. “We’re not nearly as scary or dangerous.”

Was that supposed to make me feel better? Nothing they said would make this situation any less messed up.

I had escaped a pack of werewolves who hated me just to walk straight into a vampire clan who probably wanted to have me for breakfast. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Werewolves don’t kill people,” I retorted.

Liam scoffed. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, hun.”

We held each other’s gaze for several long moments. A silent challenge. I was the first to look away. Although I hated him at the moment, some part of me knew he was right.

Liam definitely wasn’t the biggest monster I had ever faced.

“I’m so sorry, Belle,” Laila said. “I wish we could have told you. We wanted to, I promise.”

“So why didn’t you?” I whispered.

“Our father wouldn’t let us. He didn’t want us to associate with the mate of a werewolf. Especially one with a mark the size of yours,” Liam said.

“Your mate is dangerous, isn’t he?” Laila questioned. “Isn’t it true that the bigger the mark, the more powerful the werewolf?”

I nodded stiffly. “He wasn’t the friendliest person.” That was the understatement of the century. “So that’s why I couldn’t get a job in Evergreen? Your father wouldn’t let me?”

“Yes,” Liam grumbled, actually looking upset about it. “He was being an asshole.”

I tried to keep my breathing calm, although my chest was tightening more and more by the minute.

“So when you told me your father was the leader of the town…what you really meant was that he’s the leader of…of a vampire clan? ”

Liam sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. “Yes,” he said slowly. “Our father may or may not be one of the most powerful vampires in the world.”

“Because why wouldn’t he be? It makes perfect sense.” Of course I left one of the most powerful werewolves in the world just to move in with the son of one of the most powerful vampires in the world.

“And let me guess—he hates me because I was mated to a werewolf, right? That’s why he wouldn’t let me get a job?”

Liam and Laila hesitated for only a second before they both nodded.

I couldn’t help the bubbling laughter that left my lips at the irony of the entire situation. “Well, isn’t that just peachy?” I laughed.

“We tried to convince him you wouldn’t be a problem, but he didn’t want your mate, whoever he is, coming to our town,” Laila said.

I shifted. “Would you do something to him if he did? Would you…hurt him?”

“We don’t kill anyone,” Liam cut in, sitting on the edge of my bed. “Yesterday was the first time I had ever taken anyone’s life.”

“But then how…” I swallowed. “How do you—”

“If you’re trying to ask about our diets,” Liam provided, “we drink blood. They got that much right in the movies.”

“Human blood?” I asked quietly.

He nodded slowly. “Yes. Human blood.”

“But we don’t kill them,” Laila cut in. “They don’t even remember anything after we take their blood.

“They may feel a little disoriented for a couple of days—they might even think they have the flu or a bad hangover or something—but they are otherwise unharmed.

“Vampires have evolved to be able to inject our victims with a toxin in our fangs that can make them forget everything if we want them to. Not all vampires care to do this, but we do.”

All the nights I had spent here came racing to mind. I had no idea that I had been living under the same roof as a bloodthirsty vampire.

I didn’t remember Liam touching me but…Was it possible that he drank my blood without me knowing about it?

“No one has touched you,” Liam suddenly said, as if he had been reading my thoughts. “No one in this town, including us, has fed from you. I’ve made sure of it.”

“He’s not kidding,” Laila said. “He almost killed a couple of people, so you wouldn’t become someone’s next meal.”

I winced at her choice of phrasing.

Suddenly, it all made sense. “So when you kept insisting on driving me to and from work, saying you didn’t want me to get murdered while I was walking home alone

—”

“I was literally making sure you wouldn’t get murdered,” Liam explained, sounding more than a little defensive.

“I can tell people not to feed from you when you’re in Evergreen, and they have to listen to me because of who my father is.

“But the moment you moved to Woodhurst and started working at that stupid diner, I lost any authority over you.

“Anybody could have wandered over there and done whatever they wanted with you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to stop it.

“And when I didn’t invite you to that party, it was because I knew someone would try something on you if you were there. Your blood is especially appealing for some reason.

“It’s most likely because you’re a werewolf’s mate, and vampires are hardwired to kill and harm werewolves.

“So even though I warned people to stay away from you, I never wanted to risk leaving you by yourself for too long.” His fists clenched at his sides.

“But you were always so damn persistent about being independent and not needing anyone’s help; it was as if you wanted  someone to kill you—”

“Liam is strangely protective of you,” Laila interrupted, giving her brother a look.“I don’t really get it. No one does. Ever since you came to town, you’re all he thinks or talks about.

“He gets really upset if you’re ever alone.”

I shifted uncomfortably at this revelation. “Is that true?” I asked Liam.

Liam ran a frustrated hand through his curly hair. “I don’t know how to explain it.

It’s not a romantic thing, so don’t get the wrong idea.” His jaw clenched, looking frustrated as he eyed me up and down.

“Well, fine, maybe it was when I first saw you sitting on that park bench alone. I mean, look at you.” He gestured to my body.

I blushed.

“But then I saw the mark on your neck and…well, I knew you had a mate and were off-limits. The last thing I wanted was an angry monster werewolf thing trying to kill me because they thought I touched you.

“So I don’t want you to think I did all of this because I have hopes of you ever wanting to be with me in a romantic way because that’s not the case.”

I didn’t miss the way his eyes dropped to the bruising around my damaged neck.

“I should have left you alone after I found out you had a mate. But one look at your bruised face and tear-stained cheeks and…I don’t know.

“Something in me switched the day I met you; some instinct took over. I couldn’t leave you after that. I needed to protect you. I needed to know you were okay at all times.”

I studied him for a few seconds, trying to process all the crazy things he was telling me, but I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it all. None of it made any sense.

It explained his strange behavior and his need to control my life, but I still didn’t understand why.  Why did Liam feel like he had to protect me? Why did he care at all?

I wasn’t his responsibility. And, seriously, the last thing I needed was another possessive, overprotective supernatural creature claiming they had some magical bond to me, connecting himself to me.

“Well, thanks for looking out for me, I guess, but you don’t have to anymore. I’m leaving town. I can’t stay here anymore.”

“What?”  Laila practically screeched. “You’re leaving? Why?”

I snorted. “Besides the fact that I have unknowingly been living right next door to a vampire clan for the last few months? I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me.

“If Adalee was able to find me, then I’m sure other  people will be able to too. I need to get out of here before it’s too late.”

“This has something to do with whoever the hell put that ~on your neck, doesn’t it?”

Liam glared down at Grayson’s mark. “Your mate.”

My mark burned as if it knew who we were talking about. I nodded once.

A hissing noise left Liam’s chest. My eyes widened. I had heard that sound before, back when I had been living with Grayson.

Grayson had made that noise the first night we slept apart from each other, right after pushing me out of his bed for refusing to have sex with him.

Then he’d done it again when he’d hit me for talking to Kyle about our relationship, and once more right before I’d refused him for the last time, and he’d mated with someone else.

Liam’s hand touched my shoulder, dragging me out of my thoughts.

“He’s the one you are running from, isn’t he?” he asked. “Now that you finally know everything, we can be honest with each other. Was he the one who hurt you?”

My throat was suddenly dry. I didn’t want to answer. I didn’t want to talk about Grayson or all the horrible things he had done to me.

Laila handed me a glass of water that I hadn’t even noticed had been sitting on my bedside table. I chugged it down, grateful for the feel of the cool water on my sore throat.

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