The Dark Prince's Captive • Complete

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 - 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙

Look at how deep his eyebags are!
#HelpForJimin
#SaveOurKings

Now, look at his fingers. It's like they grew by an entire inch!

And... Chapter thirty oh my gosh what the fuck this is crazy how did I even ever get this far?!?!?!?

There had been three attackers. None of them were my father’s men.

So who the hell else was tracking them? Who else wanted Alex dead? Or was it not Alex they’d been hunting at all?

Alex had been following the third man. The last one left. The man hadn’t retreated or run even after his two comrades were killed.

No, the man had continued his hunt. And when he’d come upon River, Alex watched from the darkness beyond as the man held a knife to her throat.

The man wasn’t there on an assassination mission. He was meant to recover her.

Because he believed she was carrying a vampire offspring? A vampire could be one of the most powerful tools on earth if you could somehow exert control over one of them. Or a brand new vampire might be used as a pawn to exert pressure on Uncle Vlad.

People had tried it before. They didn’t realize how unsentimental the old man was. He let two generations of babes be raised in tortuous captivity rather than give in to anyone’s demands. Lonuț was one of them.

And look how well that had turned out.

Uncle Vlad could out-wait anyone in a standoff. He’d had centuries of practice. In the end, Lonuț hit his Crisis year, broke out, mated a servant girl, and ripped all his captors apart after he turned vampire. Then he came looking for Uncle Vlad and might have tried the same on him if Uncle Vlad hadn’t had his mysterious Weapon of Vampire Destruction.

Another child Uncle Vlad himself publicly executed to prove that no one and nothing would ever hold power to sway him from any path other than his own.

And when River gave this attacker the slip, he still didn’t pull out his gun. No, he followed her silently.

What the fuck did it mean? Could there be another reason they were following? One that had nothing to do with her possibly being pregnant with his offspring but had more to do with her secret agenda?

His earlier suspicions had seemed ridiculous as soon as the gunfire started flying. But one thing after another kept not adding up.

A single thing was clear, though. They needed to get the hell out of here if he was going to figure anything out.

Alex circled around River and then took out the last intruder once and for all.

River seemed genuinely freaked out when she ran forward and hugged him. And the way her warm, soft body curved into his leaner, more muscular one… fuck. He pulled away abruptly in a way that had made her frown and muttered something about how they needed to get out of there.

With the threat gone, he was suddenly incredibly aware that they were alone, and that she was trembling and vulnerable, and that she kept reaching for him.

Even now as he led her out, she clung to his hand. It felt good. Too good, in a deep-down satisfying way that disturbed him. But if he let go of her hand, it felt like she won somehow. Fuck, now he felt like a girl in a Jr. High soap opera.

But he didn’t let go of her hand.

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

When River and Alex got back outside the ruins, it was to find Savannah and Mihai on the ground, small tranquilizer darts having taken them down.

Alex was keenly aware that more attackers might be hovering anywhere in the woods. But after telling River to stay still, hiding just inside the ruins and scouting around, he didn’t see anyone or anything beyond three black bags with no markings on them, full of equipment.