Page 3 of Plug and Claim

Even if her foster parents, Mary and Byron, had not told her about the academy, it would have been difficult not to learn about its existence. Everyone in the village spoke of it in hushed whispers. It was a point of fascination for the humans, who lived in fear of both vampires and wolf shifters, despite attempting to coexist with them.

His eyes narrowed as he smiled. “Don’t play with me. You and I both know that all wolves are required to attend Volmasque Academy from their eighteenth birthday.”

Kira crossed her arms. “I’m nineteen.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Too bad I missed the cutoff date.”

His voice grew dark and ominous. “We will find a way to insert you.”

The way he said it made her shiver, his cool words rippling across her skin like water in a stony creek.

“You have been avoiding me,” he continued. “I have been searching for you all year.”

Kira shrugged. “I was gone fishing.”

The vampire did not smile, his words slow and drawn out. “Your value, has only increased.”

She scarcely dared to breathe under his intense gaze. He didn’t just look at her. His eyes struck her like a whip, making her muscles coil and her knees weak. It was as if he was pushing her down to a place beneath him, somewhere near his feet, paralysing her heart.

“I await your answer,” the vampire said.

She regarded him coolly. “I’m not going.”

The mild politeness on the vampire’s face vanished, and his voice sharpened like chiselled ice. “I implore you to reconsider.”

Alarm bells were ringing in her head, but she soothed them. She had nothing to fear from the vampire’s threats because her goal wasn’t to evade capture—it was to make him think she was reluctant to go.

It was not an accident that the villagers had seen her shift in Nordokk’s town square. She’d done so on purpose for the briefest of seconds, knowing the villagers would report her to the authorities.

Still, it was not the abduction she’d been prepared for. He was meant to grab her and haul her away to the academy, and she was meant to kick and scream and put on a good show. But the vampire was surprisingly patient, as if he wanted nothing more than to stand on her porch talking to her. It made the situation trickier to navigate. His watchful gaze was creeping her out.

Kira lifted her chin. “I politely decline your invitation.”

The vampire’s eyes flashed. “You do not want to disobey me.”

His words gripped her as if he’d seized her by the shoulders, and her mind cycled through the possibilities of what he could do to her if she provoked him.

Fuck it.

“Why?” she taunted. “Are you going to suck my blood?”

The vampire laughed, a surprisingly pleasant sound that melted his icy demeanour. Somehow, it made him even more frightening as he stepped up onto the doorstep, and she suddenly realised his full height as he towered over her. “But we’ve only just met, Kirabelle.”

“It’s Kira,” she said, shrinking back from the vampire. “I prefer Kira.”

The vampire took another step closer until they were toe to toe, their bodies inches from touching. “Well, Kira…unless you want me to feed off you, I see no reason for the delay. Your education at Volmasque Academy awaits.”

“It can wait all it likes because I’m. Not. Going.” She slammed the door shut.

The vampire caught it just before it closed and shoved it open, the tremendous force sending her stumbling backwards.

She managed to stay on her feet and ran for the cottage’s back door, but he was faster. Cruel hands seized her hair painfully and jerked her back. Before she could react, he spun her around to face him, pinning her to the wall with his arms.

She screamed, forgetting in her momentary terror that this was what she wanted—that her capture and abduction was part of the plan.

“Calm yourself,” he said, releasing one of her shoulders and unbuttoning his coat. “Or I will do it for you.”