Chapter 34

Olivia’s POV

Damien looked so deeply into my eyes that I swore he could see all the way down to my soul. I shuddered at the feeling of being seen, of being known, at being unable to hide myself the way that I wanted.

Could he read my thoughts? Did he know that I had been thinking of him, caught up in his handsome face?

If he could, he didn’t saw. Instead, after a moment, the amusement entirely vanished from his face and he seemed somewhat bored.

Removing his hand from my waist, he stood up.

“Do as you will,” he said blandly, then left.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, watching as he disappeared through the foliage, back into the garden.

Had what he seen inside of me bored him? The thought made me feel somewhat… upset. Which then immediately annoyed me to no end.

What did I care what he thought about me or about anything else?

I hated giving him any kind of power over me than he already had. Yes, I wore his collar. Yes, I was his blood pet. But that didn’t mean I had to give him reign over my feelings as well.

I didn’t care about him, so I didn’t care what he thought.

At all.

Normally here, I would have stopped my workout, my muscles starting to feel worn. But, I hadn’t liked the way he said I could do better and I could do more. Quitting now felt like I was giving up, and with that kind of attitude of his, I felt like I had something to prove this time.

My sheer resentment kept me going, pushing myself beyond my usual limits. I could feel the burn of my muscles, knew I would be sore tomorrow, but I didn’t care.

Even if Damien was no longer around to see it, I felt as if I had something to prove.

Finally when I was sweaty and exhausted, I fell flat onto my back and breathed slowly, cooling down.

The stars were bright above me. When I had lived in town, I never really paid much attention to the stairs. The night was a dangerous thing, the time of the vampires, so we always locked ourselves in the house as soon as it got dark.

Here, in the lair of the vampires, there was nowhere to hide, which strangely gave me more freedom. No spot was any safer than any other, so I might as well have been here, staring up at the night sky, trying to remember the names of the planets and constellations from my school days.

One, I knew. The North Star. It shined brighter than all the rest. Some stories said that you could follow it and it would always lead you home.

I stared at it for a long time, until some orange started to paint the sky and I knew I had better get back to the tower before Damien went to sleep and locked me out of it.

I began to make a habit out of spending the evening lunch hour with the other werewolves in the slave cafeteria, and not just because I wanted to make sure that they were continuing to be served reasonable portions of food. That was part of it, but I also valued the comradery I was sharing with the others.

Spending too much time alone was not good for me or my mental health, especially not in a place like this, where we were constantly being oppressed. I had taken to sitting with Angela and Dee and a few others.

The vampire guards glared at me, but the werewolves all seemed pleased to see me. Even those I didn’t know greeted me with kindness now, a stark difference to how I had been treated in the past.

Angela and I talked more and more about Andy, about our lives outside of the castle, about everything. We were quickly becoming friends, and it was such a warm comfort.

Once, on an occasion where I had been given a sweet roll with my meal and the others had not, I broke my roll into pieces to share with those around me. As Angela took her portion, her fingers touched mine and she stilled.

“Olivia,” Angela said. “Were you just somewhere cold?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Angela took her sweet roll piece and returned her hands to her side of the table. But she continued to stare at me strangely. “When I touched your hand just now, your fingers were so… cold.”

“Cold?” I asked. I clasped my hands together, but I couldn’t feel a difference.

“Here,” Dee said from beside me. “Give me your hand. Let me see.”

I placed my hand in her outstretched one. Immediately, worry furrowed her brow. She enclosed her free hand around mine. Then, after a long moment of that, she tapped her hand along my arm, then placed the back of her fingers up to my cheek.

“Girl, you are as cold as a popsicle,” Dee said. “Far too cold for a healthy werewolf. Are you feeling ill?”

I tried to think, evaluating myself as best I could. Now that she mentioned it, yeah, I had been feeling somewhat… off. Not ill, exactly, but different. My heartrate had been slower than normal, and sometimes I would shiver while I was just sitting still.

“You do look pale,” Angela said.

That was another symptom.

“Could it be from the blood loss?” I asked. I didn’t like to bring up my role as a vampire blood pet, but it seemed relevant in this case. Paleness… Coldness… It seemed like it could come from having my blood drained almost every night.

“It’s possible,” Dee said and gestured to the food. “Eat more. And drink more water.”

Angela just kept frowning at me though. “The Duke is truly a monster. He probably plans on draining you until there’s nothing left, and he doesn’t care about your comfort. All of the vampires are the same.”

Another nearby werewolf shushed her. “If they hear you, you will be beaten…”

Angela pressed her lips hard together and lowered her head. She was a headstrong young lady. Anywhere else, she wouldn’t be afraid to speak her mind. It was upsetting that here, she was forced to be silent.

She thought herself so different from her brother Andy, but in truth, they were very similar. They both had strong beliefs and strong spirits. I wished Angela could see that in herself. Being near her, it was almost as if her brother was still alive and well.

No wonder why he had been so protective of her. She could so easily find herself in trouble here.

I’d already promised to escape alone this time, so as not to endanger anyone else. But leaving her behind would be painful.

If only there was a way to save everyone…

“May I check your pulse?” Dee asked me.

Nodding, I held out my hand for her. She pressed two fingers to my wrist and quietly started counting.

Whatever she found, after a moment, left her looking somewhat bereft.

“Your pulse is slow and soft, so strange for a werewolf.” She looked at me critically, right in the eye. “Olivia, at any point, have you ingested vampire blood?”