I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 36

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The Odds

Two on two... I thought, weakly as I stared at the two of them standing in the doorway, light flooding into the room from behind them.

Matteo was only a beta, but I knew he would be able to hold his own in a fight, even against a prince. After all, there was a time when he was the only one Gianluca would allow to guard me. That had to count for something, right?

I let my eyes drift closed. I was going to die, I knew it with every fiber of my being, every weakening beat of my heart. I was bleeding too much. By the time they finished fighting, it would be too late, might even be too late already. But my prince had found me in the end. He had come to rescue me, futile as it might have been.

At least he would know the truth of my disappearance though. At least he wouldn't think I found a way to escape the bond to leave him. I could take solace in that fact alone.

But Matteo didn't charge the princes with his alpha as I expected him to. He used the distraction of the attack to rush to my side. As he tore strips from his shirt to tie a tourniquet around my arm above my elbow and used the rest to wrap a tight bandage around my wound, my heavy eyes fluttered open. He began tugging at the chains on my wrists "What are you doing?" I demanded, but my voice held none of the strength I intended it to.

He glanced away from the chains for only a moment to look up at me, worry creasing his brow. I had never seen cocky, proud Matteo look so unsettled. "I'm going to get you out of here."

My attempt at shaking my head was feeble, at best. "No, you can't," I rasped, "you need to help him. He's outnumbered."

He gave me a sad smile, as if his decision pained him as well, "If I don't get you out now, you're going to die, and he would never be able to forgive me, or himself."

Matteo gave up on attempting to break the chains as he had in the town square of Bresce, pulling a set of tools from his pocket to begin picking at the lock.

My tired gaze drifted to where Luca stood with his back to me, facing off alone against the two vampire princes. They had maneuvered themselves so that they blocked the exit, but their attention was focused solely on my mate. "You should be thanking us, really," Eric was saying to him, a confident smile on his lips with his arms held up before him, as if he had all the time in the world to waste and was not in the least bit worried about his odds, "with this one out of the way, you will be able to find yourself a partner more suited to your rank. Think about it, Gianluca. Do not throw your life away so recklessly. You may still walk out that door and return to running your kingdom, unscathed, treaty intact."

Luca released a dark, humorless laugh, "You forfeited all chances of maintaining the treaty when you stole my mate away in the middle of the night."

Beside me, Matteo let out a relieved breath as the first chain gave way. I didn't have the strength to lift my newly freed limb. He moved on to the next without a word.

Eric scoffed disdainfully, "You would give up all that you have worked so hard for over one little human?" He cast a dismissive glance to where I watched, head beginning to lull to the side, then to Matteo, kneeling in a pool of my blood as he worked to free my other hand. "She can't even defend herself, she's a liability. Any heirs she produces for you will only weaken your bloodline."

Luca didn't respond, but I could see his entire body shaking with anger and his suppressed wolf form. In such close quarters, he would do much better as a man, but his instincts seemed to be arguing otherwise.