Chapter 447: Vulnerable Beginning
Once the intruder got up off of the ground from where Zagan had thrown him, he growled. This was not as much fun as he would have imagined.
The rare times when vampire mates had come along, it was usually most enjoyable to target them. The trick was finding them before they completed their union, because the mate was not guarded by their vampire counterpart as fiercely. This made the non-vampire mate quite easy to kill and their vampire counterpart extremely easy to weaken in the process.
But Zagan and his mate had already completed their union, which was impressive in its own right. Zagan had obviously not spent as much time brooding over the sudden knowledge that there was one individual who he was drawn to so strongly, and his mate had not resisted his advances.
That also meant that she was already carrying his heir.
Because vampire mates were so rare, when they did come along and when they did mate, their success in conception was guaranteed. It was thought this was so they could birth a new generation of vampires very quickly since the mated pair did not live long. Once the vampire of the pair had a beating heart, they were mortal. They had a death looming in the near future, and so quick and successful conception was a must.
Whether Zagan realized it yet or not, he had already sired a future vampire.
The intruder’s eyes searched for the female Zagan had shown up with. She was huddled near the other pregnant female and she was very petite—smaller than most females he had encountered. A wicked smile curled on his lips. He was going to target her now instead of Zagan. That would make this so much more fun.
"He is coming this way," August muttered, trying to rush to complete the cage her and Penelope were creating.
Penelope’s forehead cleaved in concern as she noticed the creature staring at her. He tucked his chin and began stalking her way.
"Stay away from her," Zagan roared, slamming into the vampire’s side and knocking him off of his feet. He noticed the change in his opponent’s focus, and it created a surge of protective rage he was unfamiliar with until now.
"You said she could fight," the male snarled under Zagan’s hold. He was smiling. He loved this kind of reaction.
They rolled over each other on the ground, Zagan ending up on his stomach on the dirt with the other male mounting him from behind. Zagan’s arms had become immobilized in a hold behind his back as the intruder wrenched his head up so that he was staring at Penelope concentrating on something invisible in front of her.
She must be using her abilities for something. It reminded him of Nedra when she would become intensely focused on what appeared to only be the air itself, but from that air she birthed one miraculous thing after another that had aided him endlessly over the years.
Despite the pressing situation he currently found himself in, Zagan was suddenly overcome by guilt for what he had put Nedra through. She was an alyko just like Penelope—just like his mate. And although he was suspecting that his overwhelming desire to find and capture as many alyko as he could may have had more to do with an unconscious searching for the mate who was out there rather than for his own death, he regretted the way he had gone about doing it.
He had deprived Nedra of a life. He had seen her do so many incredible things. She had made this entire island and the portal world it was held within! But she had only done those things for him because he threatened that which she held most dear.
And now she had been pushed to her limit. He saw her weakening for some time now—getting more and more exhausted with each task he required of her—and it seems like it was all finally too much. Another tree creaked its protest and fell to the ground nearby as if to punctuate Zagan’s thoughts.
All of the alyko he had gathered and kept in containment. All of those lives he had paused, taking them for his own like objects to be collected rather than lives to be appreciated. Zosime was one of them. Zosime had been through so much. What future would she have had without his interference?
He groaned when the intruder stretched his head further off the ground and tightened the hold on his arms. His concentration had been broken from the fight he was engaged in, but now it snapped back to the weight of the male who was on him.
"Do you think there is a heartbeat in her womb?" The male whispered in Zagan’s ear, both of their eyes settling on Penelope. "I wonder what it felt like to have your immortality stripped from you just so you could bury your cock inside of her. Was it worth it, Zagan?"
"Get off of me," Zagan snarled, squirming underneath the male who was now pressing his length against Zagan’s ass. Was this really happening? How did he find himself in this position?
He snarled louder as the male began thrusting his hips behind him, grunting in his ear with this friction that was created between their two bodies. He wasn’t sure if the vampire on top of him was teasing him or was genuinely pleasuring himself, but a raging fire of resistance exploded inside of him and his arms snapped out of the hold briefly before the male locked them again, twisting his arms harder now behind his back.
"Not yet," the intruder hissed in his ear. "Allow me this, will you? You are the only one of our kind. You are warm with the delicious sound of a heart thundering so loudly in protest, pushing the rush of blood through your veins. And yet you are a vampire. Why is that so appealing?" He whispered, the tip of his fangs grazing Zagan’s ear.
"I am going to end you," Zagan snarled, every muscle straining in protest against the male who was restraining him.
"I think you are forgetting that you are the only one who can be ended here," the male chuckled. "You are the only one who has allowed yourself the vulnerability of a beginning, and therefore you are the only one who can end."
