Page 3 of Plug and Tame

She didn’t have time to contemplate why Nathaniel had a portal in his bedroom that led to the outskirts of Nordokk, not when he was in hot pursuit, his voice calling her name from some landing above. There were other students about, and she was too afraid to shift into her wolf form just yet.

Her shoes squeaked on the tiles as she skidded to a halt by the front doors and changed direction, darting towards the dorm door. She shot down the stairs, hoping Nathaniel hadn’t seen her. Earlier, she’d feared for how weak he was. He’d been so selfless, saving two unlikely people by giving them his blood: Barbara, an illegal witch hiding in the city, and Susie, Kira’s closest friend at the academy.

She’d taken it as a proof of his generosity and kind-heartedness—qualities she was no longer sure he had. How could that same person have been manipulating her all this time? To have sex with her, and toy with her heart, only to betray her?

Vampires are manipulators. Everyone knows that. I know that. I should never have trusted him.

A minute later, Kira was standing outside Nathaniel’s bedroom. This was the last place he would expect her to go. She smiled grimly as she kicked in the door.

The portal was disguised and bordered by a window frame complete with real glass. She nearly kicked that in as well, but she didn’t want to risk cutting her leg up. She found a whip in Nathaniel’s chest of interesting taboo items. She shivered at the feel of the smooth plaited leather, but it was the hard cane handle she was interested in. Perfect for breaking the window.

Although…

The twinkle of a gem had caught her eye by the bedside table. It was one of the plugs Nathaniel had made her wear. This was the larger of the two, a bulging mushroom-shaped toy made of steel. Its base was decorated with a red, heart-shaped gem that gleamed in the grey light filtering through the window. She dropped the whip with a clatter and hefted the heavy plug in her hand.

Even better.

The plug made a satisfying sound as it broke through the glass. Instead of creating a hole like she’d expected, it caused the entire pane to shatter into tiny fragments.

She morphed into her wolf form, her human form separating into two dark-furred wolves with long vicious fangs. Each wolf had nine whip-like tails with barbed ends at the tips hidden in tufts of fur. She did not understand why she looked so different to the other wolves, but Mary and Byron had taught her to keep her true form a secret. To this day, she’d never shown anyone her wolf forms, not even Nathaniel, although there had been a moment last night when she’d been tempted.

And she’d woken in his arms, aghast to realise she’d morphed while she’d been sleeping. Nathaniel had not seen, but even so, her life had spun out of control the moment they’d entered his office to find the Vampire King waiting.

Fear coursed through Kira as she tore across the lane and down a steep bank, her paws kicking up dirt and leaves as she plunged into the dense forest below. The heavy rain pierced the dense canopy, battering the leaves and dripping large droplets onto her snouts.

She’d bolted the moment Henrikk had revealed his intent to use her for breeding. The knowledge that Nathaniel was complicit in that scheme made bile burn her throat and her chest ache. Now that Henrikk had set his eyes on her, she would need to rethink her plan. But right now, all she could think of was Nathaniel’s betrayal.

I thought he was different. I thought… She shook her head. It no longer mattered.

It was all bullshit.

And it serves me right for trusting a vampire.

She increased her pace, trees whipping past her as she tried to leave her mistakes behind her. She had no idea what she was doing, or where she would even go. All she knew in that instant was that she needed to put as much distance between herself and the two vampires as possible.

Her first impression upon meeting Henrikk was that he was pure evil. A tyrannical cunt.

But Nathaniel was worse than his father, because he’d lied to her and made her feel like she was special. Fool as she was, she’d let herself believe that he might actually care about her.

Idiot. Look how that turned out.

If she could have wiped him from her mind, she would have. Instead, her thoughts kept circling back to the horrifying revelation that he’d been grooming her to be his father’s sex slave. Both father and son were repulsive.

She pushed her limbs to run faster. The last person in the world she wanted to see was Nathaniel. Any romantic inclination she may have had was dead and buried, even if the pain of his betrayal remained, digging into her like claws. She would not let him close again. From now on, her heart was cold as stone, her body off limits, her mind and thoughts her own.

Prince fucking Nathaniel could suck a royal dick.

Once Kira had put a quarter of a mile between her and the portal, she lifted her head to the dark clouds and howled. The sound had a haunting beauty, echoing for at least ten miles with the wind still. There was a small risk that Nathaniel would hear her, but she doubted he’d tracked her this far. Even if he had, he would never keep up. She was in her element.

Kira howled again, then paused, panting as she waited to hear an answering cry.

A deep, distant howl answered. Her spirits lifted as she recognised Byron. The old wolf’s voice held a gravitas that commanded respect, and a familiarity that tugged at her heartstrings.

Moving in the direction of the sound, her wolves’ powerful muscles traversed the rocky foothills with ease. The earth was dry here, and she took comfort knowing that even if Nathaniel tried to follow her, he could not track her without pawprints.

As she climbed higher, a cool breeze picked up, refreshing her as it seeped through her damp fur. By the time she cleared the steep slope and the ground levelled out, the rain had reduced to a mild drizzle.

Tall cliffs stretched above her, and she wove between large boulders. The smell of charcoal and smoke reached her nostrils as a campfire outside a cave entrance came into view.