Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) by Bella Klaus (romantic books to read TXT) 📗

A tall woman with golden hair stepped inside, flanked by a black woman whose braids reached her shoulders, and a woman with dyed red hair.

The blonde placed her hands on her hips, twisting her pouty mouth into a rictus of disgust. “Who the fuck are you?”

Annoyance tightened my skin. This rudeness was one of the less subtle attempts at dominance I’d seen at the academy. If I ignored it, the blonde and her friends would forever treat me like I was beneath them. If I challenged her tone of voice, it could escalate into a fight.

I pulled my shoulders back and straightened. Gone were the days when all I had to defend myself with were sharp words.

“Does King Beowulf approve of skanks speaking so rudely to his guests?” I asked, channeling my inner Ellora Vandamir. “One would think a shifter of his status would have chosen better.”

The blonde bared her teeth in a snarl. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“And you haven’t asked me a question worth answering,” I drawled. “You should be aware that anyone capable of passing into the retreat’s inner wards is here at the king’s request?”

Her lips tightened into a thin line, and her eyes glowed the shade of amber I’d seen before when shifters were about to fight. I suppressed a sigh. It was such a pity people couldn’t communicate without this posturing. Things were so much better in the human world where everything was more subtle.

I walked across the room and stood at the doorway before the trio of Amazons. “Well,” I snapped. “Are you going to let me inside, or continue to keep King Beowulf’s guest waiting?”

The blonde’s hand shot out, grabbed my cloak, and dragged me through the wards. Needle-pricks attacked the outer layer of my skin for a millisecond but disappeared the moment I stepped into the hallway.

A heartbeat later, the blonde lowered her face toward mine and bared her teeth. I didn’t need to feel the crackle of her unstable energy to confirm she was a shifter—her attitude was enough to identify her species—but she wasn’t as powerful as her attitude might imply.

I wrapped my hand around her wrist and sent a pulse of power down to my palm. It wasn’t enough to burn her… yet. The blonde’s fierce expression flickered with doubt, and she glanced down at my cloak. Perhaps she was trying to work out if I was a reaper or a light mage who could generate heat.

Whatever she decided, it was enough for her to deepen the scowl. “What gives you the right to address Beowulf by name?”

“Let go of me, right now, or I’ll make you howl like a scalded dog.”

The other two women snickered, and the darker-skinned woman with the braids flashed me a grin. “No one as small and weak-looking as you would talk to Freida like that if Beowulf didn’t bring you here as the new favorite.”

I glanced from her to the one with the bad dye job. Neither of them seemed particularly protective or fond of Freida, which made me wonder if they were different kinds of shifters or rivals for the attention of their king.

“Do your worst,” Freida snarled.

I raised my free hand, set its palm alight, and let it drift toward her annoying face. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The blonde staggered back, her eyes wide. “Fire mage.”

“Shifter, actually.” I walked toward her, holding out my flaming palm.

The other two women parted to stand against the hallway’s magnolia walls. Freida glanced from one to the other, her amber eyes pleading for backup. “Are you going to let this bitch come here and ruin things?”

“For you maybe,” said the red-haired woman. “Looks like there’s a new harem alpha.”

I tried not to roll my eyes, both at the notion that King Beowulf kept a harem of women and their assumption that I’d come to join them. At least now I understood why Freida had been so rude.

“My name’s Eliza.” The dark-skinned woman held out a hand. “Harem’s beta. What kind of shifter are you?”

“Phoenix,” I said.

She straightened. “Hemera Griffin from the papers?”

“Mera,” I said.

“Wait a minute,” Freida snapped, her gaze dropping to my left hand. “You’re supposed to be engaged to the Vampire King.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “If you’d given me the chance to introduce myself without all that domineering crap, you would have found out earlier that I wasn’t a threat.”

Frieda’s nostrils flared, and her irises flashed even brighter than before. Her lips trembled, like they wanted to spew a bellyful of insults, but she turned on her heel and stalked down the hallway.

“Shit,” Eliza muttered under her breath. Without a word, she followed her alpha, leaving me alone with the third woman, who stared down at me like I was an exhibit in a museum.

“You don’t look like a phoenix shifter,” she said.

“King Beowulf should be arriving soon.” I ignored her attempt to make me prove myself. “Is there somewhere I can wait?”

“Chlamydia,” she barked.

I stepped back, my brow forming a tight frown. “What did you say?”

The squeaking of wheels filled the hallway, and a scowling figure stepped out from around the corner. Like the other women, she had an Amazonian figure, but her shoulders were hunched and her neck bent as though she was trying to avoid being noticed. In her hands, she clutched a mop handle still attached to one of those metallic buckets known for their squeaky wheels.

“Chlamydia can take you to the guest room.” The third woman turned on her heel and sashayed down the hallway, leaving me alone with the newcomer.

Her hair was as white as the magnolia walls, her skin nearly as pale as mine. She met my gaze through startling blue eyes with gold flecks that reminded me of lapis lazuli.

“Guest room?” she asked.

“A male friend and I might be staying here for the week,” I murmured.

“Follow me.” She turned around, steering her mop and bucket down the hallway.

I bit down on my lip and