Bitten by the King: The Virgin Blood Series Read online

  Bitten by the King

  The Virgin Blood Series

  Alexa Riley

  Contents

  Bitten by the King

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Fairytale Shifter Book 1

  Stalk the Author

  Bitten by the King

  by Alexa Riley

  Loren River has spent her whole life locked up and hidden away. She’s lonely and desperate to make friends and have a family of her own. What’s so wrong with wanting to fall in love and become a mom? But life has its own plans for her when she gets caught between her father and a man so dark and deadly she can’t look away. Could the feelings she’s having be more than just fear? Could they possibly be desire, too?

  Bishop Thorin is worried about the threat to his territory in the city. There’s something sinister coming closer to tear apart all that he’s built. He’s got the weight of the world resting on his shoulders, but when a young redhead steps in his way, all that he thought was lost is right in front of him. Can he take away her prison and make her dreams come true?

  Warning: It’s the first time we’ve written vampires, so go easy on us. Enjoy this brand new series that features a coven of five and read about how all of them find love.

  Copyright © 2018 by Author Alexa Riley LLC. All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [email protected]

  http://alexariley.com/

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Edited by Aquila Editing

  Cover Photo by Sara Eirew

  Cover Designer: Mayhem Cover Creations

  To Lb and Samantha…

  A sunny day on the beach brought this series to life, and we are ashamed at how much we love it.

  Let’s wear silk forever.

  One

  Loren

  I stand in the middle of my dad's office and there’s chaos everywhere. I know the mess scattered around will make my dad crazy angry, but I don’t care.

  He’ll have it cleaned immediately when he sees what the girl he locked inside here did. She looked to be my age, but I’m surrounded by vampires all the time, so I never know how old some people are. I had to stare at her for a long moment to be sure she was human. My father is a vampire and he can tell when someone is human by their scent. That’s what made him underestimate the girl in his office.

  I’m kind of proud that she caused this mess either in her anger or her need to find something. I find the whole situation fascinating and I want to talk to her again. I want to ask her what’s happening and why my dad is holding her against her will. I also just want someone to talk to. That sounds pathetic when I think about it, but I can’t remember the last time I hung out with a girl my own age. I wouldn’t even know what to say.

  I look down at one of the open folders at my feet and reach down to pick it up. It’s a black and white picture of a man I know all too well. I’ve only seen his photo once before, but I remember every detail. This one is different, but the feelings from before are the same. It sparks something inside me and it’s something my dad can’t take away. I keep it locked away tightly in my mind and I don’t let it out unless I can’t help it. Lately that’s more and more and it feels like he’s getting closer. Maybe it’s the dreams I’ve been having, but I sense change is coming. I might sound crazy, but I can feel it in my blood. Though is that any crazier than vampires?

  The picture I’m holding now looks over a hundred years old. The other one I saw for only a second, but the man in the photo branded himself into my mind. Could it be how his eyes called to me, or was it the fact that my dad told me he was the man who killed my mother? A lot of my childhood is fuzzy, and I don’t even remember her, but that picture never leaves my mind.

  That day my dad told me I was old enough to know the truth. He told me what happened and that I needed to know so I could understand why we live the way we do. I stopped asking for freedom after that because I realized he was only trying to keep me safe.

  I believed every word he told me, but this new picture would mean he lied to me. I fold it in half and put it in the pocket of my dress. I don’t want it to be taken from me before I can get a better look at it.

  The office door bursts open and I spin around to see my dad standing there. I know he’s just woken up because his hair’s a mess and he’s still buttoning his suit. When he went to bed for a few hours I knew it was my only chance to save the girl. The one whose words won’t leave me. A taunt I want to ignore but know I won’t be able to any longer.

  “You’ve been standing next to evil this whole time and you thought you were standing in the light. This isn’t the right side of things.”

  “You let her go.” I don’t answer him because he’ll know if I lie.

  My dad gives me information to keep me safe from the outside world. He says he can’t lose me like he lost my mom and it always gets me to stop pushing for a world beyond these walls. But lately I've been thinking he says these things to scare me and to make me afraid of leaving home. I thought before we moved here we lived a pretty isolated life, but I understood why. He had to protect who he was, but now it’s beyond that because we’re surrounded by a city.

  He’s always good at seeing the truth, and if I could pick one vampire trait to have, that would be it, even over immortality. I look down at the ground and I know I did the right thing, but guilt lingers because I went against the only family I have. He’s all I know, and it goes even further than that now that we’ve moved away from my old life. I barely even know the city we’re in and I’d be lost without him.

  I hear him let out a deep breath and his frustration with me is clear. I’m starting to get used to it. Maybe I’m hitting those rebellious teen years I should have already had, but homeschooling kept them from coming out and now they're making themselves known.

  “Go to your room!” he barks at me, louder than he ever has before, and then storms out of his office.

  He’s going to go after the girl, but I hope for her sake she’s made it out. I have no idea what plans he had for her, but each day he’s getting darker and I didn't want to see how much further he can go. I’ve already seen things I wish I hadn’t—things he believes are the right choices.

  I do as I’m told, not wanting to anger him further, but grab a few more things from the floor before I go to my room. I don’t want to run into someone who might take the folders from me, so I hurry down the hall only to come to a stop when I see Greg standing in front of my door.

  I force a smile at the new guard who started when we came to this house. I don’t get a good feeling from him, but I’m always polite. It’s hard for me to be rude even when I try. Something about him isn’t right and it’s like he’s hiding in plain sight. He’s a little too eager to help my dad when it comes to the darker side of things. My dad might think I do
n’t know much of what’s been going on lately, but when you’re locked away even in a beautiful mansion, there isn’t much to do but pay attention.

  Greg is smart enough to not look at me or try to touch me in front of my dad and I’m smart enough to not tell my dad either. I kind of keep this in my back pocket so that that one day I might be able to use his attraction to my advantage. People say there are always signs of who someone is and if you’re close to them then you choose to ignore them and not see what’s right in front of you. I’m starting to believe that. It keeps getting harder to ignore my father's actions and make excuses for him.

  “You’ve gotten me in trouble, haven’t you, girl?”

  Greg’s arms are folded over his chest and I don’t know if it’s to make himself look bigger or to remind me that he’s in charge. He could easily handle me if he had to. He’s a big man and I’m sure he could give some of the younger vampires a run for their money if they came to blows. If I had to have a human guard for the daytime, my dad was going to make sure I had the best. I don’t doubt Greg is strong, but he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Otherwise his eyes wouldn’t linger on me as much as they do. Everyone knows I’m off limits and most of the time the guards act as if I’m invisible. I saw my dad break a man’s wrist after he grabbed me by the arm.

  “Sorry,” I say, and I am.

  I don’t want anyone to get into trouble because of me, but maybe I’m taking a page from my dad’s book. Sometimes someone must be sacrificed for the greater good. I’ve always hated the saying, but I’ve just gone and lived up to it. I lied so Greg would leave and tell my dad I was in for the night. I knew if he left that I could save the girl. All the while knowing Greg would take the punishment for my actions. I didn’t want the girl sacrificed for the greater good or any reason at all.

  “Maybe you’ll show me how sorry you really are.” He steps towards me and I feel his hand trail down my bare arm.

  I look up at him and see the lust he has for me in his eyes. My stomach tightens at his touch. I’m not used to anyone touching me. My dad only gives me the briefest of hugs and it’s not often. Maybe that’s something that comes with age. It’s hard to see how the rest of the world acts when I spend most of my life locked away. Though I’m sure there are worse places to be locked in.

  “Get in your room for now. But I’ll find you later.” He drops his hand from my arm and I can't move fast enough to get away from him.

  When I enter my room I shut the door and click the lock behind me. Not that it could stop him from coming in, because even I can pick a lock. I smile thinking about Sam, the man who used to be my day guard before we moved. He taught me lots of small tricks that I once thought I’d never use. He and I always had a lot of time on our hands when the sun was high and the house was quiet. We moved so suddenly and then Sam was gone from my life. He wasn’t like any of the other men my dad hired, and I miss him. He was kind to me and he made the days not so long and lonely. He was my friend, or the closest I’ve ever been to having one.

  I walk over to my bed and sit down as I take the picture out of my pocket. I wish it was different this time when I look at it, but it’s not. It’s right there in my hands in black and white.

  Bishop and my dad are standing next to each other in the picture. If this was taken a hundred years ago, then my dad would have had to have been a vampire back then. Or at least have been a human but made into a vampire shortly afterwards. That’s not the story he told me.

  My dad said that Bishop attacked him and my mom when I was only a baby. He told me that he’d been left for dead but another vampire saved him. He said he was turned and he vowed to get justice for my mother. That doesn’t add up with the time frame on this picture. I’m only twenty years old, so that means he would have only been turned twenty years ago. Yet this picture is evidence of his lie.

  I never saw my dad mourn my mother, but I was so young. When he talks about her now he only ever has anger for Bishop. Everyone deals with grief differently and maybe vampires do too. He was pushed into a whole new world and still had a young child to care for. He has to miss my mom because why else would his revenge for Bishop be so strong?

  I wonder if I’m remembering it wrong and suddenly I’m unsure of myself. Could I have this story jumbled up, or is he really lying to me? The one thing that has been drilled into me is that Bishop killed my mother and he should pay for it. Of course I want Bishop to pay, but what will it cost? I’ve never seen Dad with another woman, and it makes me think he can’t move on from her. It’s a sweet and sad thought, and maybe that’s why he’s pushing this so hard. If he can get the revenge he’s looking for, he can finally move on with his life.

  But those pieces of the story he told me aren’t adding up with the picture I hold in my hand. My eyes go back to Bishop and I feel an odd tingling all over. Lately it’s growing and now I feel a pull towards him. I wonder if maybe it’s me wanting my own revenge—why else would I feel this way towards a man who ripped my family apart?

  Not only did he take my mom from me but now he’s taken my dad. Gordon isn’t the dad he once was. Ever since he told me everything about him being a vampire and how he’d come to be, I’ve still seen him as the same person. My dad. He wasn’t a vampire and then a man, he was still the same man to me but the same can’t be said anymore. He can go from sweet to nightmare in two seconds and I swear at times I can see him holding himself in check. I wonder if maybe he’s going crazy. Perhaps Bishop is the reason he’s this way. The closer we get to him, the more unhinged my dad gets.

  My dad always taught me to keep my nose out of his business and I always did. I trusted and loved him, but I’m discovering he has so many layers. He doesn’t see wrong in hurting innocent people if it means taking down something bigger. I found out about that six months ago when I walked in on it happening in our basement. It’s the same scene that flashed in my mind when the girl I helped escaped told me I’d been standing next to evil.

  My dad told me he was doing what needed to be done that day. Afterwards I swear he tried to make me forget. I saw him use the trick on other humans before, but I never thought about him doing it to me. I nodded along and pretended as he talked. I didn’t know what else to do because I was more shocked than anything. I told myself he was only trying to protect me from seeing something terrible, but the nagging thought that he’d done it before haunts me. He’s made me question why some things from my past feel so fuzzy.

  Could what that girl said be true? What if I’m on the side of a monster?

  I stand from my bed and go over to the window in my room. The curtains are pulled back and I glance to the path I told the girl to take. I don’t see anything, but it’s too dark for me to, anyway. I wonder if I’ll still be able to use the path once my dad and his men discover my little secret. I don’t use it much now—it’s just somehow nice knowing it’s there. That my dad might think he keeps me under lock and key, but I know I can always get away.

  One thing is certain: I want to know the truth. There are three sides to every story, and I plan on getting Bishop’s one way or another.

  Two

  Bishop

  “Bishop!” someone shouts, but it only echoes in my ears.

  The sound is faraway and my legs are weak as I close my eyes. I feel myself being carried to my bed as a wave of exhaustion hits me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I can recall Dove saying who the girl in the painting is, but I can’t focus.

  Everything is turning black and the world tilts right before I feel myself land on my bed. I can smell the scent of fear and panic all around and then there’s shouting. I reach out, but the cool sheets are all that meet my fingers as I drift out of consciousness.

  When I fall into the blackness I see the violet eyes of the one I’ve been dreaming about. It’s almost like she’s here with me. But if she were, I wouldn’t be dying. I can feel the end of my life fast approaching, and I think that’s what’s happening to me now. I always knew this moment w
ould come, but I’m not ready. There’s still so much I need to tell my family. There’s so much I need to teach them about our ways. I’ve tried to write it all down and do all the research I could, but it’s not enough. It’s been two hundred years but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the lifetimes they’ll all live now. They’ve found their mates and their true bonds have been formed. That’s all I ever wanted for them. I know that no matter what, they’ll be with the person they love, and knowing they are safe makes it easier to let go.

  I just have one regret and it’s that I never found her. My beautiful dream with her violet eyes and red hair. I know in my soul that she was my mate, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m leaving this world without ever finding her, but I can’t help but hope that I’ll somehow find her in eternity.

  * * *

  Three days later…

  My mouth is dry and my body is weak as I roll over in the bed. I feel a warm hand grip my own and I open my eyes slowly.

  “Ravana?” I croak, and her eyes snap up to meet mine.

  “Oh, thank god,” she breathes as she turns to look away from me. “Valen! He’s alive!”

  She squeezes my hand and I blink a few times, pushing the sleep away. “How long was I out?” My voice cracks and sounds like I’ve been chewing on chalk.

  “Shh, take it easy. Don’t talk,” she says as she bows her head in what I can tell is relief. “You’re okay.”

  I hear Valen running into the room and he comes up beside Ravana. He puts an arm around her and places his hand on top of our joined ones. “You scared the shit out of us, old man.”