Outcast Island (Exiled Sector)

4. Guðrún

CHAPTER 4

GUDRúN

Male voices murmuring with cordial but dominating tones wake me from the best sleep of my life.

Mmm, whoever lit that candle of woodsmoke and liquor is my hero.

My eyes flash open when I recall that the scent is not from a candle.

It’s from the vampire who killed everyone around me in a shower of blood and terror.

When I search my surroundings, they don’t match what my brain is telling me I should be seeing.

No escape pod.

No blood-soaked ground.

No intensely beautiful and terrifying vampire who doused me with his rage.

All I see is a kempt bedroom with cozy—if a bit masculine—furniture. There’s a large oak dresser at the end of an oversized bed. I’ve sunk into the center of it and am surrounded by pillows.

And shirts?

Snatching up one of the garments, I bring it to my nose and deeply inhale. My eyelids flutter closed as I indulge in the perfect scent.

His scent.

That’s when I register that I’m picking up voices again. The tones sound civil but strained. An overpowering warmth radiates from inside my chest, and I rub at it while I listen.

“Alpha Fare said the escape pod and whoever was inside it was free game to the fastest and strongest vampire,” says an unfamiliar voice. The lethal steadiness of it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but I keep listening.

“Then that would obviously be me,” the male who took me replies.

My breath comes in short pants as the warmth from my chest shoots through my abdomen, then pools between my thighs, confusing me. I should be experiencing the urge to run as fast as I can while he’s distracted.

Instead… I am imagining him killing the male who is talking so that he can come back into this bedroom and devour me.

No devouring, I chide myself. Stupid death-seeking pussy of mine.

Maybe I have a thing for psychotic killers, or maybe I’m just insane to begin with.

Because I should definitely not be fantasizing about him biting the inside of my legs with the fangs I have yet to see.

But I bet they’re big, my libido supplies. Just like other things…

I mentally slap myself as the voices continue, blissfully unaware of my internal battle.

“You’re not one of us, Magnus,” the chilling voice says. “So that means you don’t have a right to the Omega. Alpha Fare commands that you ? —”

A gurgling sound follows, and I can only imagine that Magnus has wrapped his fingers around the male’s throat. “No one commands me, Ja’ar. You’ve grown complacent with your little position as liaison between Alpha Fare and me. You tell him that if he wants to command me, he can come in person and stop being a coward.”

I whimper as both males begin to growl. Those familiar blades reappear in my stomach again, further confusing me as my desire melts into pain.

A door slams, then the door to the bedroom makes a bunch of clicking sounds. I can hear a series of deadbolts unlatching, followed by the creak of a metal door.

What the hell?

I can only guess Magnus doesn’t like to be disturbed when he sleeps.

With the door open, Magnus is in the bedroom a moment later, making the space seem small as he looms over the bed.

He’s even more beautiful than before. His hair is damp as if he had showered, which explains the lack of blood all over his body.

I realize that I’m clean as well, and I’m wearing one of his shirts and nothing underneath. My hair has been washed and dried, and as I comb my fingers through it I notice it has even been brushed.

Did Magnus… take care of me?

Warmth pools between my legs again.

He’s only wearing a pair of jeans that seem a size too small for him, doing little to hide the swelling package between his massive thighs. His entire body is layered with muscles, but in a lithe way that flatters the large Vampire Alpha.

This time, though, his fangs are out. To my disappointment, they retract before he speaks to me. “I apologize,” he begins, then stops as he seems to make an assessment of me. His dark gaze skims over my shivering body, then he frowns as if disappointed by something he sees. “I had hoped you would not wake without me here, but Alpha Fare sent—” He cuts himself off as if the information is irrelevant. Which, I suppose, it is. I have no idea who Alpha Fare is, or the male he had called Ja’ar, whom he sent off with a growl.

Apparently, Ja’ar was a lot more intelligent than the vampires I had met at the crash site. He knew how to encounter Magnus and leave with his body intact.

By submitting.

Maybe that’s why he’s disappointed. I’m still gawking at him like an idiot.

My entire being screams at me to submit as well. I bow my head and curl into myself, more out of instinct than fear.

I should be afraid of him, but he’s not giving me the same signals he was before.

Whatever rage he had been funneling into me feels manageable now. It’s as if my body had accepted the molten iron core, and now it simmers inside my chest. I place a hand over my sternum, marveling that I can feel it there.

When he kneels on the bed, that warmth shoots down my core once again, making me swallow a pitiful mewl I don’t want him to hear.

He doesn’t need to know the effect he has on me. He’s already in a position of power.

He lifts my chin with a finger, then offers me a soft smile. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” I ask him.

He sucks in a breath, then his smile grows bigger. “Blood, your voice is beautiful. Are you from Greenland? What’s your name?” He eases next to me, drawing his arm around my small frame as he tucks me against his side. The motion seems natural and protective, but after what he said to Ja’ar, I’m under the assumption that Magnus is not like the rest of the vampires on this island.

And, it seems, I’m under his protection, too.

The last vampire who had offered me protection had the stipulation that I take his knot and feed him my blood.

Is that what this vampire wants from me?

I find myself not so appalled by the idea, in his case.

Instead of telling him I don’t know my name or where I’m from, I spew idiocy from my mouth. “You didn’t answer my question,” I remind him, then mentally curse myself as I dip my head again.

He asked me a question, and instead I challenged him to answer mine first.

He chuckles as if I amuse him. He offers a rumbling sound that reminds me of the growls I had heard, but this sound is softer and doesn’t send knives tumbling around in my stomach.

Rather, it comforts me and makes my shoulders relax. A cocoon of protection and assurance wraps around me, telling me I’m safe.

“You don’t need to submit,” he says, his words vibrating as he continues the alluring sound. “I made sure that no one can hurt you now. I’m strong enough to keep you safe. I promise.”

I hum and close my eyes, then lean into him. “Because you’re a Vampire Alpha?” That much is clear, but I feel like a blank slate without my memory. I want confirmation and clarity on all fronts.

“Is that not obvious?” he asks, still releasing that sound that has me floating in a sea of peaceful bliss.

His fingers dig into my hip, and he slowly massages muscles I didn’t even know were sore. I melt into him when I respond. “I guess… I just don’t know what a Vampire Alpha is, exactly.”

He goes still. “You’re a Vampire Omega with an incredibly rare empath power in your bloodline, proving you’re royalty, and you don’t know what a Vampire Alpha is?”

It’s my turn to chuckle. Figures I’m royalty. I’m probably some unwanted heir better off dead and abandoned. Or maybe I’m on the run from an undesirable betrothal.

If that’s the case, then I’m an idiot for landing on an island of Vampire Alphas who want to fuck me until I’m dead.

Sighing, I feel like I can’t worry about such things while this male holding me is making such an amazing sound. It makes me want to open up to him, but I don’t even know who I really am. “I think I have a little memory loss problem.” I point to my head as I manage to slit one eye open. “Bumped myself on the landing.”

If one could call that a landing.

Guilt I don’t understand washes through me, and I realize the emotion is coming from him. I’m a Vampire Omega with the power of empathy. That’s why I’m feeling all these emotions from everyone around me. Great. Why couldn’t I get a cooler power like jumping three stories or bossing around other Vampire Alphas?

“Why do you feel guilty for my crash?” I ask, now that I know the emotions I’m feeling are his. “And what is that sound you keep making?”

He grins at me, then whispers in my ear. “It’s called a purr. Do you like it?”

I hum in agreement. “Yes, but stop pushing the guilt on me. It feels… cold.” The emotion is unlike the primal energy he funneled into me earlier. As a vampire, I can only come to the conclusion that I naturally run cold, so I like the source of warmth.

“I crashed your escape pod,” he murmurs against my ear as more guilt douses me. “Or, well, it was my fault it was redirected.”

“How?” I wonder.

His touch travels up my back as his fingers follow my spine. It should be a terrifying movement, given the strength I know this male is capable of. I find myself leaning into it instead.

I really do have a death wish.

“The vampire I killed was trying to crash your escape pod on top of me.”

I blink at him a few times. “Oh.” Tilting my head, I recall the voice I had heard from a mile away. “So, you were the one who called the first vampire who found me back into the forest? How did you do that?”

His fingers begin to massage me, as though he hopes he can keep me from bolting if he’s gentle enough. “People have a tendency to do what I say.”

“Because of your charm?” I ask with a wry grin.

He chuckles. “Hardly. My power is from a dominance blood marker. If I command someone to do something, then they will.”

“Always?” I ask, my eyes widening.

He hums, making his purr roll deeper in his chest. “Not always. The command has to be within reason, and within the limits of the cost.”

I don’t have to ask what the cost is. I can feel its molten demand inside my chest.

Violence and blood.

Lots of it.

His purr stops as he curls into me, and I realize his fangs are poised against my throat.

And his arm has me locked against him.

I go very still once I realize the danger I’m in. His purr lured me into a sense of safety, and now I’m trapped.

“You need blood,” I guess.

“Vampire Omega blood, specifically,” he clarifies against my throat. His tongue flicks out to taste my skin, making me shiver. “And now that we are magic-bonded, we can finish what we’ve started. We can become blood-bonded, if you wish.” He licks me again, making me shiver. “It’ll let me protect you.”

I don’t know what any of those words mean. Blood-bonded? Magic-bonded?

It makes my head spin, as does the reminiscent promise of protection in exchange for letting him bite me.

Also letting him knot me, perhaps, while he uses those large fangs on me.

I’m not sure I want that anymore. Now that he’s not seducing me with his purr, I’m not so convinced I’ll be safe.

That I’ll even survive .

“I-I’m sorry,” I murmur, flustered as I squeeze my eyes shut and prepare myself for his bite.

It’s going to hurt. There’s no way around that.

And based on the rousing need building inside of him, I know that it’s going to be violent.

He might not be able to stop. Who knows how long it’s been since he’s had the kind of blood he needs.

Given what he’s said about blood markers and compatibility, he might never have had blood like mine.

What’ll happen when he tastes me?

Will he knot me?

Will he kill me?

I have the feeling that he doesn’t intend to harm me, but there’s so much power coiled inside of him that he might not be able to prevent doing damage to a frail Omega whose only power resides in the burden of others’ feelings.

He growls against my throat and I whimper. The sound doesn’t particularly hurt like the other growls had. This one demands that my body prepare itself for him, despite the fact that I haven’t agreed to anything yet.

Terror winds through me as I realize he can make me agree if he wants to.

The new sound rumbling through his chest sends warmth shooting between my legs, and I automatically open them for him.

There’s nothing to impede his view. The sight of my wetness spoiling his bedsheets and sticking to my thighs proves the kind of power he has over my body.

Because I’m a Vampire Omega—and he has decided to own me.

He already completed some sort of magic-bond, whatever that meant. If this vampire valued consent, I should have had a say in that.

I don’t even know when it happened.

But my body betrays me and opens everything to him. My vulnerability displays itself like a lamb brought to slaughter as I twist my neck to give him access to sink his fangs into my flesh.

He snarls, making me shiver as my core twists and fresh wetness gushes out of me in response.

I squeeze my eyes shut, readying myself for the impact that is surely to come.

Only, it all stops, and I’m left stunned as a warm mist wafts over my face. My body sways without his there to support mine.

Blinking my eyes open, I run my fingers over the substance and find traces of blood.

You have another power.

He’s gone, meaning he can teleport, too.

That information explains how he brought me to his lair so quickly, but it doesn’t help my current predicament.

My legs are still spread open for him, and my body is thrumming with need that he had demanded.

But then he left me alone to deal with this need all by myself.

I’m not sure if I’m grateful or angry that he left without a word. I’m not even sure how he disappeared.

All I know is that without his presence, my body retaliates, and my core throbs with desire that won’t be sated now. Tears burn at the edges of my eyes as the need within me grows and twists, turning violent as if I had somehow pushed him away when I needed him most.

You’re going to need a Vampire Alpha soon.

The other vampire had said those words—was this what he meant?

The insane urge to push my blood-wet fingers into my pussy doesn’t make sense, but I do it anyway. The pain is too sharp to ignore, and I need relief.

I need something inside of me— now .

As soon as my fingers are securely deep inside, as is the blood on them, a climax rolls over me.

But it doesn’t bring me relief.

My body spasms and clenches around my fingers, but it’s not enough. It’s not what I need.

Pain and need leave me panting as tears slide down my face.

He’s gone.

And his absence in my current state is far worse than death.