Rejected, Broken And Forgotten
Chapter 71

Mariana’s POV

I thought I would never see the cold-hearted vampire again. I thought I was over him and would never have to deal with him again. Obviously, I am not, as my heart is beating faster as he is handsome. I will never forget our one-night stand. We had a night of wild s*x. Luckily, I did not get pregnant with his child, as I do not know how I would have felt about having a baby from a vampire. I wouldn’t say I like the cold-hearted creatures that live off the b***d of others. I can feel his hand warm when he touches me. Since when do vampires have warm hands? They are usually as cold as their hearts. I still remember how cold he was, although the s*x was hot. Luca stares at me and smiles. I remember falling in love with him and returning to the bar the next night. He acted like he did not recognize me, and my heart broke. It took all my courage to walk up to him and tell him that I loved him. Luca laughed at me and told me it was just s*x and that I should replace someone else. I was heartbroken by his words and ran out of the bar.

I want to hate him but can not, as I stand before him. I never trusted men again. I met Valentino, and we started hunting together. I wanted to get away from Luca and forget about him. I could not forget about him all these years, but I will never tell him how much he hurt me or that I still can not get him out of my heart.

“I said let go of me,” I say. I keep my heart rate regular, knowing he will hear if my heart beats faster. He tries to look me in the eyes, and I know he will compel me to tell the truth if he does, so I look away. I am a trained hunter and will not let this vampire trick me again. I know he is not like the others because, over the years, we have watched him, and he does not have girls going to his bed.

“What are you afraid of, Mariana?” Luca asks.

“Not you! Suddenly, you can remember my name, but years ago, you could not,” I say.

“I had to protect you. You know the bar was full of vampires, and I wanted you out of there before they realized you were a hunter. I went to look for you, but you were with the other hunters, and I could not dare go near them. You know, everyone wants to kill an original vampire, and it is the biggest trophy for any hunter,” Luca says.

“Well, I do not want to talk about it. It is in the past, and that is where it belongs,” I say as I pull my hand away from Luca.

“Val, I need you outside. Shall we go?” I ask Valentino. Val nods. He knows about my feelings for Luca and that I must escape the vampire. We step outside, and I tell Val to keep quiet as we hear wolves crying in the distance. We know it is not ordinary wolves, and it is werewolves, and we do not know if it is a pack or rogues. Are they looking for the dogmen that we send to the Kingdom? I do not know what to think at this stage. They are getting closer, and we know that it is not good. Even if it is a pack, what do they want from the gypsies? Paris and Walker also come outside and hear the wolves’ cries. Walker shows his men to get ready. Is he expecting a fight? It looks like it. I get my gun out and am prepared to fight. Valentino has his crossbow. We are ready with the silver if needed.

“Wait until they step into the opening. We will hear them out first. If they attack, we attack, but if they are here to talk, we will listen,” Paris says. I admire how calm she is, but I can see although she and Walker look calm, they are ready to fight. Their bodies are tense as we wait. Luca steps outside and stands next to me with a silver sword in his hands. Why will he stand next to me? I don’t know, but at this moment, I can not care as a big black wolf, followed by about fifty other wolves, runs into the clearing. The gypsy warriors are also with us.

“Keep out of this! Our fight is not with you. We are here for the so-called King and Queen of werewolves. Where are they?” The big black wolf asks.

“What do you want with the King and Queen?” Paris asks.

“We are not going to follow them, and they can not tell the world they are the King and Queen of werewolves. We have our King,” The Alpha Wolf says.

“Where are your King and Queen? Why are they not fighting with you?” Walker asks.

“They are royalty and do not need to fight. Are your King and Queen warriors?” He asks sarcastically.

“Well, I am the Queen, and the wolf next to me is my King. We are ready to fight you,” Paris says.

“Hahaha, don’t be silly! A King and Queen do not look or dress like you,” The Alpha Wolf says.

“They are our King and Queen,” Jonathan says. The Alpha Wolf looks surprised for a while, then launches himself at Paris, as he must have seen her as the weakest link. She steps aside and dodges him, kicking him on the butt, and he flies head-first into a tree.

“We do not like killing wolves. Do not make us kill you,” Walker says.

“You can not kill us if you try. We are the best warriors of our Kingdom,” The Alpha Wolf says as he gets up, shaking his head, but before he can move again, Paris and Walker are all over him, and they put a silver dagger in his legs. He cries out in pain. We are all watching as we do not know if we should attack the wolves and kill them, as it is evident that Paris and Walker do not want the wolves dead.

“You are not going to kill me? Why not?” The Alpha Wolf asks.

“We do not believe in killing our kind,” Paris says.

“Attack them! Do you want the King to kill us all?” He shouts to his men, and they start attacking. We all jump in and help Paris and Walker, fighting with us.

“Wound them! Do not kill them,” Walker shouts.

“Got it,” I say as I shoot a wolf in the leg. Another comes from behind, and as I turn around to attack him, I know it is too late. He is upon me! He screams as a silver sword goes through his arm. Luca saved me. Damn, now I owe him.

“Stop!” The Alpha Wolf shouts, and the fighting stops immediately.

“We bend our knees to our new King and Queen,” The Alpha Wolf says.

“What is your name?” Paris asks him.

“I am Alpha Hansen from the Deep Valley Pack. We are all warriors from the Deep Valley Pack, and we want to join your Kingdom. A King and Queen that fight with their warriors are unheard of. We respect you, and even when we tried to kill you, you refused to kill us. We are your servants, King and Queen of werewolves,” Hasen says. He and his pack break their bond with their Kingdom by denouncing their King and Queen and accepting Paris and Walker as their King and Queen.

“Can your King feel it when you break your alliance with him?” I ask.

“I think he is too drunk to realize what happened, but I will replace out tomorrow. I do not care. I had linked the other pack in his Kingdom already before I left the Kingdom. Most of the Alphas are on their way as they want to join the new Kingdom. King and Queen, we are here for you,” Alpha Hansen says.

“Welcome to our Kingdom. We will wait for the rest before we do the b***d ritual. We have a High Priest of the Moon Goddess that will return soon,” Walker says. I have no idea how wolves work, but I know they do everything through a b***d ritual.

“We will wait, my King,” Alpha Hansen says. I would love to see their ritual.

“Thank you for saving my life,” I say to Luca as he stands beside me.

“It is no problem. I would have done it for anyone else,” Luca says. I can see he looks a little pissed off at me, and I wonder why.

“Why are you angry?” I ask.

“I am not angry,” Luca says.

“Yes, you are,” I say.

“How long have you and Valentino been lovers?” Luca asks.

“What? We are not lovers. What makes you think that?” I ask.

“Well, you look like you are,” Luca says, and he sounds almost jealous.

“We are not lovers, and Valentino does not believe in love, like me,” I say.

“Why are you with him?” Luca asks.

“You sound like a jealous lover,” I say as I want to walk away, but Luca grabs me and runs with me into the woods.

“What are you doing?” I scream.

“We need to talk, Mariana,” Luca says.

“We can talk at the gypsy town,” I say.

“No, we can not. As you try to run away from me all the time,” Luca says.

“Well, talk then. I have no choice but to listen since you kidnaped me,” I say.

“When I pretended not to know you all those years ago, I was trying to protect you. The bar was full of vampires, and you were a hunter. It would have taken just one to realize you are a hunter to get you killed. I am strong, but not strong enough to take on a horde of vampires trained by my father to kill. I did not want you to be in danger, as I was still with my father at that time, and he likes young girls and would have had his way with you to spite me, then he would have tortured you to death,” Luca says.

“Then you came and looked for me, but I was with the hunters, blah blah blah. You told me that already,” I say. Luca looks at me, and his eyes look hurt. Does he have feelings? Since when do vampires have feelings? I thought they didn’t even have a soul.

“When I saw you again today, I knew. I have feelings for you. This is all new to me as I have not felt anything for so long. The only one that could make me feel anything since I became a vampire was you. I did not want to admit it to myself as I saw myself as a monster than does not deserve love. Now that I can feel again, I know I am in love with you. I know you will reject me because of what I did, but I was honestly only trying to protect you,” Luca says.

“Luca, how can you even feel love? You are a vampire! I do not understand what is happening to you,” I say.

“See this tattoo? The gypsies gave it to me. It makes me feel again like a human,” Luca says. I understand better now. I think.

“So you have a soul again?” I ask.

“I think so, and my heart is beating fast again. I feel warm and not so cold anymore. It is hard to describe as it has been so long since I felt anything. The only time I felt anything while I had no tattoo and was not a human was the night I spent with you,” Luca says.

“Oh, Luca. I will give you a chance, but we take it slow, and you need to prove to me that you care for me,” I say.

“I will prove my love to you, even if it is the last thing I do on earth,” Luca says. I am happy and sad at the same time. So much time was lost between us. Luca holds me in his arms and k****s me with a passion I never felt before.