Chapter 76: Forced Alliance_Claimed by the Alpha and the Vampire Prince: Masquerading as a Man

<h4>Chapter 76: Forced Alliance</h4>

 REED POV : 

 I should’ve stopped the fight.

 I should’ve walked away.

 I should’ve protected her.

 But all I did was brawl like a fucking pup over territory I hadn’t even earned.

 Every mistake ys over in my head like a looped curse — the way I let ze get under my skin, the way I let my ws speak louder than my instincts. The way I forgot her, just for a second, while I bared my teeth at another monster.

 A second was all it took.

 She slipped right through us, like smoke, like light, like she was never meant to stay.

 And it’s my fault.

 I press my palm against the wall and m my forehead into it once, hard enough to sting. My wolf growls in protest, but he doesn’t stop me. He knows. He’s angry too — but not at her. Never at her.

 At me.

 <fnf53b> For original chapters go to fin?novel</fnf53b>

 For failing her.

 For letting my temper matter more than her safety.

 For letting her believe she was alone in a room with two predators — because we were. I’d never let myself see her until tonight. And now I can’t stop seeing her. Her face when she screamed at me. When she cried. When she hit me. When she looked at me like I was just another nightmare.

 I deserved it.

 But she didn’t deserve any of this.

 And now she’s out there. Alone. Terrified. Or worse...

 Maybe the Moon Goddess was right to punish me.

 Maybe I’m not worthy of a mate. Not worthy of a bond. Not worthy of someone like her — all sharp edges and scared eyes and bravery she never should’ve had to grow.

 And if I can’t find her...

 Then I’ll carry that truth like a scar across my soul forever.

 ********

 I find ze in a side street, hunched in shadows like a curse waiting to be spoken.

 His coat’s soaked, his face dark with rain and blood. He hears meing and turns, eyes gleaming like coals. No smug grin this time. No taunts. Just silence.

 "Any sign?" I ask, voice rough.

 He shakes his head once. "Nothing. Her trail’s gone cold."

 We stare at each other — two predators too exhausted to fight, too furious to speak.

 For a moment, I almost lunge at him again. Just to feel something. Just to do something.

 But it would be pointless.

 "She vanished," I say through clenched teeth. "Her scent’s been wiped — unnaturally."

 ze nods. "I know. I tried to trace her aura. There’s nothing. Like something’s erased her."

 A beat of silence. Then his voice lowers. "This isn’t something either of us can track alone."

 I don’t want to agree. I don’t want to need him. But the truth is ck and bitter in my mouth.

 "She could be anywhere," I say. "Anything could have her."

 "And she’s mine," he growls.

 "She’s not yours," I snap.

 His eyes sh red.

 "But she’s not just yours, either," I admit, quieter now.

 Another silence stretches between us, long and strained. Then, reluctantly, like thest line in a prayer:

 "We find her. Together."

 ze stares at me for a long moment, then nods.

 No more words.

 Just understanding.

 And the quiet promise that whoever took her — whatever buried her scent and erased her presence — won’t live to regret it.

 The city is a maze of shadows, but Ib every inch of it like it’s my own battlefield.

 And then—at the edge of an alley I’d almost passed—something catches my eye.

 A glint.

 Small. Fragile.

 I crouch low, heart pounding like a war drum.

 It’s thread — scarlet, snagged on a rusted nail poking from a boarded-up window frame. Fresh. Human.

 I lift it slowly, reverently. My fingers tremble as my wolf surges forward, sniffing, tasting.

 And there — faint but undeniable — her scent. Weaker than it should be, almost... filtered. But it’s hers. My ws flex.

 I look closer, and my stomach tightens.

 A smear of blood. Not enough to suggest a wound — just enough to be wrong.

 She didn’t just walk here. She was pulled.

 And whatever took her wasn’t vampire, wasn’t wolf.

 This wasn’t our kind. No scent trail, no soul residue. Just... nothingness. Hollow and cold.

 I rise, fisting the thread. My breath clouds in the air. Something ancient brushes the edge of my senses, foreign and wrong. Fae? Shadowkin? Worse?

 ze catches up behind me and halts. I don’t speak. I just hold out the thread.

 He sees it. Sees the blood.

 His jaw tightens. "Not one of ours."

 "No," I say, voice low. "Something else lurks."

 We both feel it.

 A shift in the dark.

 Not predator, not prey.

 Something older.

 Something hungry.

 And it has her.

 I stare down the alley, my pulse a thunderstorm beneath my skin.

 It isn’t just panic anymore.

 It’s rage.

 That tiny smear of her blood awakened something savage in me — not the usual wolf fury, not the Alpha’s cold control. Something deeper. Older. Mated.

 My bones ache with it. My instincts burn.

 She’s mine.

 And something took her.

 Something that doesn’t belong in this world or the next.

 I curl my fists so tight I feel my ws pierce my palms. I want to lose control. To rip open the veil of this city and hunt through every shadow until I find her.

 But I know what that would cost me.

 The man would vanish. The heir. The leader.

 What’s left might be nothing more than a beast with her name on its tongue.

 And still—I’d do it. For her. Only for her.

 "She’s still out there," I whisper, half to myself, half to the storm building inside me. "And I’ll find her. Even if I have to rip through every goddamn nightmare to do it."

 ze doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to. For once, we’re aligned.

 This city is no longer safe.

 Not for her.

 And definitely not for whatever stole her.

 So let them hide.

 Let them bury her scent and erase her tracks.

 Because I’ve marked her in blood and soul.

 And I will find her.

 Even if I lose myself in the process.

 BLAZE POV:

 I can’t believe I’m doing this.

 Standing beside him — the overgrown mutt with rage in his eyes and blood on his knuckles — like we’re some kind of twisted rescue team.

 I want to vomit.

 Scratch that — I want to rip his damn throat out.

 But she’s gone.

 And nothing else matters.

 My fangs ache from holding back, jaw clenched so tight it’s a wonder I haven’t shattered my own teeth. Reed’s pacing like a caged beast, his golden eyes scanning every corner of this godforsaken street. His wolf is on edge. Good. He should be. But if he thinks for one second that I’ve epted him being involved — that this has be some sort of shared mission — he’s out of his godsdamned mind.

 This isn’t our problem.

 It’s mine.

 She is mine.

 My blood sings for her. My demons scream. I marked her. She’s my Beloved — the only tether I’ve had in centuries. And now she’s vanished like smoke in the night, with only a wisp of scent and a smudge of blood to show she ever existed at all.

 The silence is unbearable. The not-knowing worse.

 And still... I have to work with him.

 Because his kind have eyes I don’t. The wolves keep tabs on everything that breathes in this city. And I have contacts in the underworld — ones who whisper secrets in alleyways and dark churches, who barter in blood and memories.

 If we’re going to find her — if I’m going to get her back — then we have to divide the city. I’ll take the creatures that fear fire and fang. He can deal with his howling pack.

 It’s the only logical move.

 But don’t mistake this for unity.

 Reed keeps ncing at me like he thinks we’ve formed some kind of pact. Like this... cooperation means anything. I can feel his instincts gnashing against his ribs, wild and frenzied, like mine. His desperation mirrors my own, but it doesn’t give him rights.

 He doesn’t get to care for her.

 He doesn’t get to want her.

 He’s not worthy.

 She’s mine — in blood, in im, in soul. And when we find her, he’ll be the first one I tear away from her side.

 But for now... we hunt.

 I nod once, the motion sharp and reluctant. "You search your territory. I’ll search mine."

 He gives me a long look. No thanks. No truce. Just fire behind his eyes.

 Good. I don’t want gratitude. I don’t want peace.

 I want her.

 And I’ll tear the city apart to get her back.

 Even if it means, for now, I have to run beside a mutt.

 But gods help him if he thinks this means she’s ours.

 Because when I find her, I’ll remind him exactly who she belongs to.

 ***

 I don’t fucking share.

 And especially not with mutts.

 Reed walks beside me like we’re equals. Like we’re not one spark away from tearing each other apart. His silence isn’t peace — it’s pressure, coiled tight and barely contained. And I can feel it under my skin too. The burn. The tension. The relentless need to find her.

 But not for the same reason.

 He wants to protect her. I want to possess her.

 He wants her safe.

 I want her mine.

 And gods help anyone who stands in the way of that — even if it’s him.

 I see it in his eyes when he catches that fading trace of her scent, the way his shoulders snap straight, like he’s going to shift on the spot and run until the world ends. It makes my skin crawl. Makes my fangs twitch behind my lips.

NovelLamp

Chapter 76: Forced Alliance