Free Web NovelChapter 197: Chapter 197
Riley’s POV
What the hell just happened?
I stood there for a second, trying to catch my breath, my body not fully settled even though he had already left the room.
My hands were shaking slightly, and that only made me angrier.
"Oh my fucking goodness..." I muttered under my breath, dragging a hand through my hair as I paced a few steps away from the bed. "Did I just lose it over a vampire lord?"
That thought made my stomach twist again.
"No. No, that wasn’t me," I said quickly, like saying it out loud would make it true. "Something is wrong. That was not me."
My jaw tightened hard.
"This is all Carian’s fault," I snapped, my voice rising slightly as frustration built up fast. "She did this. She had fucking caused this."
I kicked lightly at the leg of the bed, more out of anger than anything else.
"Damn it."
The door opened before I could say anything else.
I turned immediately, my body going tense again out of instinct.
Berlin walked in like she owned the place.
Of course she did.
That same smirk was on her face, the kind that made it clear she already knew something I didn’t. Her eyes ran over me quickly, taking in everything, and I saw her hands tighten slightly at her sides.
She noticed.
Good.
That only made me angrier.
"Seems like the lord decided to spare you," she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Seeing as you’re still standing."
I let out a short laugh, but there was nothing amused about it.
"You’re a sick, twisted bastard," I shot back immediately. "All of you. Every single one of you."
Her smirk dropped just a little. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"You knew you couldn’t take me willingly, so you drugged me," I continued, stepping forward slightly, my voice sharper now. "All that power you walk around with, and you still had to do that? That tells me everything I need to know."
Her jaw tightened.
"And you," I added, pointing at her directly, "don’t even deserve to stand next to someone like your so-called lord."
That hit.
I saw it clearly.
Her expression snapped completely, and before I could even finish reacting, she moved fast at me.
"You bitch!"
She lunged at me without hesitation.
But this time, I was ready.
I stepped to the side quickly, dodging her completely as she came at me, my body moving on instinct. She missed me by inches, her momentum carrying her forward slightly before she turned sharply to come at me again.
"Try that again," I said, already shifting my stance.
Before she could, the door opened again.
A man stepped in.
Berlin stopped immediately.
Just like that. She stepped back, her expression still tense but controlled now.
That told me enough.
He outranked her.
He looked at me briefly, his expression calm, almost bored.
"Come," he said simply.
I didn’t move right away.
"Why?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly.
"Because you don’t have much of a choice," he replied without missing a beat.
I held his gaze for a second longer, then exhaled quietly.
He wasn’t wrong.
So I moved.
We walked out of the room, down a long corridor that felt just as controlled as everything else I had seen so far.
When we stepped outside, I slowed down slightly.
I didn’t recognize anything. At all.
The structure behind us was massive, built with dark stone that looked almost untouched by time. The space around it stretched out wide, with paths leading in different directions, and there were people.
Actual people.
Walking.
Talking.
Moving around like this was normal.
"What the hell is this place..." I muttered under my breath.
"Don’t worry," a voice said from behind me.
I turned immediately.
Emberkin.
He was standing a few steps away, his posture relaxed like he hadn’t just left me in that room minutes ago. The mask was still there, covering most of his face, hiding whatever expression he might have had.
"You’re in Obsidian Veil," he continued calmly. "You’ve probably never been to this part before that is why you don’t recognise it."
I swallowed without meaning to.
His presence alone was enough to make my body tense again.
"What are you going to do with me?" I asked directly, forcing my voice to stay steady. "Look, I don’t have anything to offer you. Whatever my sister did, it was a mistake."
He didn’t respond immediately.
So I kept going.
"We can fix this," I said, more firmly now. "We can break whatever bond she forged between us, and we go our separate ways. That’s it. Clean. Simple."
That was reasonable.
That made sense.
At least, it should have.
But instead of agreeing, he smiled. Just enough to make it clear I had said something he didn’t take seriously.
"I was going to let you go," he said.
My brows pulled together slightly.
Was?
"But then I heard something interesting," he continued, his tone calm but carrying something under it that I didn’t like. "I heard I wasn’t the only one connected to you."
My stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?" I asked even though I knew where this was heading.
His eyes stayed on me.
"The Triarc Alphas," he said.
The words hit immediately.
"And suddenly," he added, taking a slow step closer, "I became interested."
I stared at him.
"Interested in what?" I asked, even though I already had a bad feeling about the answer.
"In you," he said simply. "In what they see. In what they want and what they taste."
I blinked once. Then twice.
"Are you insane?" I asked flatly. "Do you even hear yourself right now?"
He didn’t react.
That made it worse.
Because he wasn’t joking.
My mind was already trying to process that, but something else caught my attention.
The light. The sun was out. Bright. Clear.
And he was standing in it like it didn’t matter. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
I frowned slightly.
That wasn’t right.
Vampires don’t just stand in daylight like that.
That’s not how that works.
"You’re wondering why I’m not burning," he said calmly.
I froze slightly."I didn’t say anything," I replied.
"You didn’t have to," he said.
That didn’t help.
"I don’t die by daylight," he added.
I stared at him."What?"
That didn’t make sense. That shouldn’t be possible.
Before I could question it further, he turned slightly toward the man who had brought me out.
"You and Berlin wait here," he said. "I’ll take her myself alone."
The man nodded without hesitation.
Berlin didn’t argue either.
That told me everything I needed to know about where he stood.
My attention snapped back to Emberkin.
"Where are we going, Sir?" I asked.
He looked at me again, calm and steady.
"Didn’t I tell you?" he said.
"No," I replied immediately. "You didn’t explain anything properly."
He took another step closer.
Close enough now that I could feel that same pressure again, that same pull that made my body react even when I didn’t want it to.
"I’m taking you to them," he said.
"Them?" I repeated.
"My co-mates," he answered.
My stomach dropped.
"And then what happens?" I asked, my voice tighter now.
His gaze didn’t shift."Then we decide how this ends," he said.
I shook my head slightly.
"No. There’s nothing to decide. I already told you—this is a mistake."
He didn’t respond to that. Instead, he reached out and grabbed my wrist firm enough that I knew I wasn’t pulling away easily.
"You’re wrong," he said quietly.
My heart picked up again.
"How?" I asked.
His grip tightened just slightly.
"Because I’m not breaking anything," he said.
I stared at him.
"What? Why?"
His expression didn’t change.
"I’m claiming what’s mine," he added.
My chest tightened hard.
"No," I said immediately. "That’s not happening."
His thumb brushed lightly against my wrist, and I hated that I noticed it.
"You don’t get to decide that feisty," he replied.
"Yes, I do," I shot back. "I’m not yours to take."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"The only thing we’ll be discussing with them," he said, his voice lower now, more controlled, "is how to remove them from the equation."
I went still.
"What do you mean?" I asked slowly.
His grip didn’t loosen.
"They don’t get to keep what belongs to me anymore," he said.
Something about the way he said that made my stomach drop even further.
"And once that’s done," he continued, "you’ll understand exactly why you were never meant to be shared."
My pulse started racing again.
"Emberkin—"
But he didn’t let me finish."Come," he said.
And just like before—
My body moved.
Even though I didn’t want it to.
Even though every part of me was telling me to fight it.
Because whatever he was planning—
It wasn’t just about a bond anymore.
And I had a very bad feeling that once we reached those Alphas...
Everything was going to turn into something I couldn’t stop, it was definitely going to be a bloodbath like he quoted earlier.
