Bite or Howl

Chapter 8

Chase POV

Nick takes a seat beside me in the cabin, bringing his feet up onto the coffee table. "You look like you just got dumped by your girlfriend." he comments. Oh, shit. My girlfriend.

"Did you take Phoebe home?" I quickly ask, all panicked and stressed. "Yes boss." He replies, bringing his coke up to his lips. "Oh thank god." I mutter. I was too busy with my own stress, I completely forgot about her.

'I'm sorry, my love.' I say in her head. I can feel her surprise from hearing my voice. She startles with excitement and enthusiasm. At Least she doesn't hate me. 'Chase, you scared me.' She replies. 'Why are you sorry?' She then asks. 'I should've been there to drop you off or something.' I say.I hear her laugh. 'I'm not a baby.' I smirk. 'But you're my baby.'

'Oh shut up.' She whines. I laugh at her remark. 'Stay safe, my love. I love you.'

But she still hasn't returned that I love you.

"Girlfriend issues?" I hear Nick snicker from beside me. Forgot he was here. "Oh, shut up Nick." I glare at him. "Just wait until you're in love. You'll get it." He laughs and drops his drink down on the bench. "Love? Ha." He scoffs. "Nick, one day you'll fall in love and you'll understand what I'm talking about." I respond. "Yeah yeah, one day, sure. Chase, I prefer married women." He explains. "See, if they're married, they aren't permanent. One fling and then by morning, they'll run back to their husbands." I shake my head. "I do not understand what goes on in that head of yours sometimes." I mutter.

"You've got that dinner tonight with the court." Nick tells me. Damnit. I forgot about that, too.

"Forgot about that. What's it about again?" I ask him. "Royal court wants to know more details about your crowning." He explains. I nod in response. A few more weeks. "What was up with you today? Like, you blew up an entire floor." Nick asks me. I think back to a few hours ago. Catherine, laying on the floor in absolute horror, watching as the darkness inside me slowly took the best of me.

"Catherine was pushing my buttons and I lost control." I say, ashamed. Nick scoots closer towards me and puts his arm around my shoulder. "What are we gonna do with you?" He mutters. "I don't think I can be king." I reply. "What? No. Don't think like that, you're gonna be a great king." He says. "I'm a monster, Nick." I snicker. "You're not a monster, there's a monster living inside of you." I've heard that before. But with someone like Phoebe, you can learn to take control of that monster." He replies."Phoebe will be scared of me." I realise. "You're being silly, she couldn't." He moves back. "So what did Catherine say?" He changes the subject.

"Now that I think of it, it probably wasn't even that big of a deal." I mutter. "I want to carry on with making that peace and bond between the werewolves like my parents tried. With Phoebe being the future queen, I could succeed in that." I explain. "Cath wasn't a big fan of my plan. She said power first."

"You know how Cath is, she-" Nick stops himself, thinking of a word to say. "She's not like you when it comes to those things." I sigh. "Yeah but maybe that's the problem. Maybe I'm the wrong one."He cocks his head to the side. "You're our king, it's all up to you."

Nick starts packing up, making his way back to the palace to get ready for our dinner with the royal court. Just as he reaches the door, he turns back to me. "Hey Chase." He catches my attention. I turn my gaze from the coffee table to him. He smiles and looks back at me.

"You're a great friend, and you'll be the best king that stepped on that throne"

"Chase, you're not a monster." My mother soothes my hair, sitting down next to me. "There's just a monster living inside you. But don't worry Chase, you're strong. You'll learn to fight it."

Hearing her voice calms me, stopping the fire in my eyes. "I'm scary, mother. It's scary when my eyes go red. I scared Catherine." I cry. 'Why me?' I think to myself. Why did I have to go out that night?I thought my uncle loved me. Why pass it on to me?

"Chase, your uncle loved you dearly, but the monster inside of him took over. He lost control." My mother explains. "But mother, what if that happens to me? I don't want to hurt you."

She smiles at me. "Oh chase, that's never going to happen. You can never hurt us."

"I will help you with your monster. If it's the last thing I'll do."

And the sad part is, it was.

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"Your highness, they're here now." A guard stands at the door with a tall sword beside him.

I never understood why they needed them, I mean, we're vampires. There was no point.

"Thank you." I tell him. Although I can't see his face, I can tell he's smiling. That's something our kingdom is missing. Respect. Acknowledgment. So I want to change that. We don't normally, acknowledge small things in this castle, so full of dread.

They open the doors for me and I step through. The hall is largely lit with huge chandeliers dangling from the ceiling. From afar, I can see Cathering talking to some other vampires. She's wearing this long blue dress, identical to the color of my hair. "Ah Chase! There you are." A large man approaches me.

"We've been dying to meet your mistress. Will she be here soon?" Another woman asks, standing in front of me. "Oh no, she won't be joining us today." I respond. A wave of people from the royal court come towards me, bombarding me with questions.

"Why not? We haven't had any information about her."

"Umm I want to make her as comfortable as possible, she's not exactly from here." I try to reply.

"Oh such a gentleman you are, just like your father." Question after question.

"Where is she from? Is she not from this vampire clan?"

"Well, she's not from any vampire clan." I respond, but they don't listen.

"Is she not a vampire?" I try to stay calm. Breath in and out. But it's not working.

I look over them all and try to spot Nick. He's standing at the very end near the water fountain, back facing me. Damnit. But then I see Catherine. 'Catherine, I'm sorry about today but you need to help me.' I reach into her thoughts. Her head shoots up, and looks directly at me. She sees the trouble I'm in and immediately walks towards Nick.

"Your highness, when are you going to wed your non-vampire mistress?" A woman asks me.

"She isn't worthy if she isn't a vampire." Another voice calls out. "No, she's beautiful and will be a great queen." I try to defend. "What exactly is she?""I hear she's a werewolf." "A werewolf?"
"Yes. The princess." "Chase, are you going to turn her?"

Before I could answer, Nick came through, pulling me out of their circle.