Chapter 33

Jasmine

I looked at the moon through the window, it was late at night. A few more hours and the sun could peek through those opaque clouds like every day. The chilling winds were everywhere and even Lucien's arms around were not helping in subsiding the cold that thawed insides like a long burdening season.

"I think you should sleep now, little one,'' Archer said leaning against the wall beside the window.

"But I don't feel sleepy," I sighed out leaning further into Lucien's comfortable embrace, the couch placed beside the window never felt this useful before like today.

"And why is that?" The question came from Micheal as he walked over and sat on the chair opposite us.

"I d-don't know," I spluttered not exactly wanting to say the truth.

"But we all know the reason behind your lack of sleep," Lucien stated.

"It's not what you all are thinking, it's just that earlier I might have slept a bit too much.'' I hurriedly added and the suspicion in their eyes grew even more than prior.

"Since you said so, now we have got no doubts that it's exactly what we think," Micheal said.

"No...trust me, it's not what..." And before I could finish another of my lie, Archer pressed on my lips silencing my words.

"You know you can't lie to us when your thoughts are everywhere in the room, Jasmine," he uttered leaving no scope for me to cover up my lie anymore or make up any excuse.

It was unavoidable to get caught when the ones you are dealing with are superior vampires.

Having no other words to speak, I looked down at my fingers fumbling together finding them the most interesting things ever all of a sudden, and getting to sense my dilemma Lucien pulled me all the way back to him until I was fully leaning against him just as before.

"Don't think of what our father said about you, what he says does not matter and no one can be a better fit for being the queen of this kingdom other than you." He whispered placing a kiss on the side of my neck.

"Don't you think what your dad said was true? I am a human, how am I ever supposed to able to fulfill the responsibilities of a vampire queen?" My voice came out lower than a whisper.

"You can and trust me, one day you are going to realize that none else can hold this position better than you," Micheal leaned in cupping my face in his hands, and placed a soft kiss on my lips, momentarily distracting my mind from the chaos and everything.

"Now, please stop thinking about all this nonsense and show us that pretty smile of yours," Archer asked, sounding desperate at the end and this made a smile stretch on my lips and a chuckle slip past them.

I motioned him to come closer, their expression had already started lightening up watching the little change in my mood.

Archer did not take much time to listen to me and walked closer to me, I moved forward and grabbed his collar before I pulled him towards me until my lips met with the soft skin of his cheek.

I placed a long smooch on his cheek before I leaned back still unable to help the smile that did not want to fade away, as much sad as the tough situations could make me even the smallest moves of them could put me at ease.

"Okay, Your Majesty," I let out a laugh before I made myself comfortable in Lucien's embrace once again.

A smile lit up on their faces making the very familiar warmth bloom in my chest, the sparks flew again too and my heart remained in the mess of gigantic pulsating heartbeats.

"So, the queen's mood is better now, is it?" Micheal asked.

"Yes," I nodded, "Better than ever."

Wish I could tell how much I loved them but it was not the right time when everything around except for us was unsettled and unpredictable as well. So, I'd rather have to settle for not saying anything for now but not for always. 





*******


It turned out that yesterday night I had fallen asleep in Lucien's arms and now that I have found the four of us together on the bed, it went without saying that they were the ones to shift me on the bed without waking me up from my sleep.

The position was questionable as my body was kind of sandwiched between Archer and Lucien, with my entire back resting against Archer's front and my face itches away from Lucien's.

I had to admit that I liked the way their bodies felt, aside from the comfort the arousing feeling too was there, especially when I could feel every inch of them.

I took a deep breath being careful to not make any sound and wake these beautiful vampires up before I slowly removed Lucien and Archer's hand from my body or specifically from my hip and...not hard to guess, right? Archer's hand from my ass.

My eyes fell on Micheal's sleeping figure, he seemed to be in a deep doze just like his brother although he was sleeping on his front and letting out tiny snores that sounded cute to be compared with how the snores of a fully grown vampire's supposedly sounded.

I finally got off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

I brushed my teeth and combed my hair which looked like a bird's nest and as I was about to take off the top I saw the tall figure's reflection in the mirror.

A tiny scream left my mouth and I whirled around with a jump.

There stood the eldest of the three vampires with a smug smile that displayed on his devilishly handsome features.

"Lucien! You scared me!" I exclaimed placing a hand on my chest, my heart as though it'd jump out at any moment.

"I liked your squirrel jump,'' Lucien told and walked closer.

Squirrel jump?!

"It was not a squirrel jump!" I snapped offended, "You startled me by appearing out of nowhere!"

"Oh really?" He smirked trapping me between his body and the sink by putting his hands on the edge of the concrete countertop.

"Y-yeah," unfortunately my voice came out in a stutter and I started having a hard time keeping my eyes on his face rather than shamelessly letting them roam on his sculpted figure.

Suddenly the temperature of the room felt ten times hotter or maybe it was just my body that reacted that way at the tempting closeness.

"Is something distracting you, little mate?" He smirked, looking seemingly observant about my situation.

"No, not at all,'' I hurriedly spluttered but no gain, he had already sensed my arousal.

"Okay, let's see if you are saying the truth or not," He drawled out the last part of the sentence, and the next moment he lifted me and set me on the top of the cool countertop.

"Ummm...Is that important?" I found myself asking out and a husky chuckle slipped past his lips.

"Yeah, for me—It is important," He nodded grabbing my thighs and jerking my body closer so that my hips came grinding against his one.

Automatically a soft gasp left me and my hands flew to grab onto his muscular shoulders.

Lucien slowly leaned in closing the distance between our lips and his lips came hot upon mine. He thrust his tongue thrust inside my mouth and he explored every inch of it.

As the heat started building up and the friction between bodies began appearing evident, unexpectedly Lucien's body started tensing. He froze and his grip on me tightened to the point where it felt it could form a bruise at any second.

But the least of my attention went to the fact that he was partially crushing my thighs under the hold of his hands, all that got noticed was the sudden change in Lucien that seemed like the unnerving silence before the deadly upheaval in the situation.

I saw his fangs tearing through his gums and his eyes turning into a blood-red color, his body had frozen on the spot but at the same time, there was this perceptible struggle that could be seen through the dark red color that had shaded his orbs and his heavy breathing.

"Lucien...." I couldn't help the fear that draped my words, the unknown terror seeped through the cracks.

Hearing my voice seemed to unleash the feral part of him, his eyes looked at me in a way that I couldn't decipher until...

I saw his gaze landing on my neck, the very familiar spot where Micheal's one had landed the other day before the hell had broken loose.

My eyes widened in realization and the bloodcurdling feeling shrouded my existence. The ice coated my insides and all my senses stopped working, I got locked under the vampiric power radiating from him. The heat of the beast.

He forced himself to tear his gaze away from me but seemed to go through a hard time trying to remove his hands from my body.

His breathing came out as pants, the temperature of his cold skin rising so much that it burned against my skin.

The smallest whimper left my mouth upon the painful feeling and this seemed to be the only thing successful to get through the haze surrounding him and let his senses emerge for a mere second.

His hands let go of me and he pushed himself farther away from me, his back harshly colliding against the wall. The decorations on the wall landed on the ground, crushing them into tiny pieces.

The loud sound buzzed across the room still not overpowering the sound of my own heartbeats banging against my eardrums.

It was less than a matter of a second when another loud growl of Lucien was heard as his sharp nails extended. The black feathers of his wings started coming into my sight although they had not at all managed to spread out in full till now.

Suddenly Archer and Micheal came running inside the bathroom, both of their eyes widening as they looked at the state of their brother, then at me.

Micheal rushed closer and stood in front of me, shielding me from Lucien who seemed as though he would pounce at me at any second. The feral part of him gradually went out of control within seconds.

The dismay shading both Archer's and Micheal's countenances as though they already understood the reason behind Lucien's sudden change, although it was not a secret that the effects of the blood moon were the ones to be blamed for Lucien's condition.

Despite wanting to closer to Lucien, I couldn't move from my spot because moving an inch closer to the deranged feral that took over Lucien's body could be deadly for me and the outcome devastating as well.

I saw Lucien inhaling deep breaths but this only seemed to increase his restlessness.

Archer cautiously moved closer to him," Lucien, calm down."

No response came from him except for another resounding growl that left the entire bathroom shaking with its sound, his red eyes landed on me even though Micheal was completely hiding me from the pair of red eyes that looked nothing like Lucien's anymore.

And then, he attempted to push Micheal and get to me. His movement was harsh and violent—No less than an insane animal.

But before he could reach Micheal and me, Archer with all of his strength pushed Lucien back where he was. His back collided against the hard surface, the impact making a crack visible on the wall.

"Lucien, don't let it take control of you!" Archer said but the feral had already taken over Lucien.

His skin turned paler and paler and his eyes darker to darker, nothing seemed to improve but worsen.

I could not help the fear along with the worry that shrouded my insides as I looked at Lucien over Micheal's shoulder, my shivering hand holding onto Micheal's arm.

Lucien once again attempted to reach where I was, this time leaving Archer almost flying to the other side of the bathroom but still not succeeding as Micheal's hit left him to land on the glass wall of the shower breaking it into pieces.

Watching the blood gush out of his fresh wounds caused by the broken glass pieces, I momentarily forgot everything that was happening and found myself wanting to get off the counter in order to get to Lucien but as if Micheal exactly knew what I was about to do, he grabbed shoulders tight, locking me on the place.

He only shook his head, silently telling me to not do anything and stay within the safe boundary he had ensured.

Lucien stood up, his attention not even once moving to spot his own injuries.

"Lucien, calm the bloody hell down. We'll lose her like this!" Archer shouted and I saw a flicker passing through Lucien's blood-red eyes before they finally met mine.

He stilled for a second, his unsteady breathing stopping for a while, and then clenching his hands into fists, he with the speed of wind ran out of the bathroom. Archer followed him almost immediately.

"Jasmine, stay here and you won't get out till I or Archer get you out of here," Micheal said to me in urgency.

"B-but..." Before I could even finish my sentence, he was out of the bathroom and the door was locked tight, separating me from seeing anything that happened behind the closed door.

Soon the sound of the things in the room crashing down, the violent sounds of items of furniture breaking, and the impacts of some of it occasionally hitting the door gave a raise to my ever-growing fear and the tears flowing down my cheeks.

For the first time in my life, the helplessness had completely taken over me. The unavoidable guilt of not being able to do anything for the ones who had changed my life into something completely different, filled my life and washed away the loneliness.

But in return, all I could give them was....pain.

Maybe I did not have any fault in it, but the truth could not be denied that— I was the reason behind this pain they were forced to go through because they were given a human as a mate instead of a vampire.

On one side of the door there remained the vampire kings who did not want to let go of their mate at any cost and on the other side there sat Jasmine Doloris, a girl unaware of her own life story and with the tears freely rolling down her cheeks whilst all her guards fell breaking down one by one as she heard the sound of the destruction going on whilst she was pushed one step closer to giving up.