Kira Thorne by Shia Naawl (book recommendations website txt) 📖

he didn't appreciate being babied and in return, I gave him a look saying he has no choice. Erik made an annoyed sound before he turned to Mircea.

'Let's get this business over with, shall we?'

'Of course, Mon Ami.'

At that moment, I didn't trust him as much as I can throw him -metaphorically speaking. I didn't know if the business was about Erik being a live blood-donor as Mircea eats him like a chew-toy or business as in something not-so-good is up.
I didn't like either of it but to survive in this city, you need allies -even if it means giving a little blood here and there. Since I didn't know which business Mircea was talking about, I guess I'll find out soon enough.


Chapter 8

Mircea took us into his office. His office went with the doom and gloom theme that was throughout the circus. The walls were painted black and the floor was of black marble that had small crystals embedded in them. His office was basically two rooms in one. The room was shaped to be a long rectangle. The first half we walked through was a living room/lounge. There were black leather loveseats and couch that curled around a 50-inch flat-screen TV. There was a small bar at the corner and by the smell of the room, Mircea had a stoke full of fresh bagged blood and alcohol –expensive alcohol.

We came to other half of the room which was Mircea’s office. He had a wooden desk and on it was full of papers stacked in a neat file and a laptop. There were two leather seats at the front and behind the desk was a larger leather seat. That was occupied and it wasn’t Mircea.
It was an Asian red-head. She had green eyes and her skin was in a caramel colour that was good enough to be a tan. From what I can see, she wore a plain black top and from the smell of her, she was loaded with silver weapons. From that alone, I positioned my body in front of Erik’s and Alaric took care from behind. Behind her, two vampires were dressed in black and both had guns with silver ammo and no doubt, knives.

The red-head didn’t give her face away but the way both Erik and the red-head tensed at the sight of each other gave everything away.

Erik gave a low growl and the red-head smiled at him.

‘Hello Erik.’ She said.

Erik inclined his head and said ‘Mistress.’

‘Scarlet.’ She corrected.

So this was the Mistress of the City. Rumours about her were everywhere around the City. Some said that she beheaded her twin sis (ex-Mistress of the City) because she wanted the position. Some also said that she hasn’t officially announced her title which meant that her title was up for grabs. Rumours in my pack were about her shacking up with a member of our own –Nikolai. A quiet but deadly guy. His baby blues showed that he was old and how much of a badass dominant he is. I stayed the hell away from him and he did the same. He doesn’t attend to the pack’s get-togethers much. He was practically an outsider but so was I, so who am I to judge?

Erik looked over at Mircea. ‘Why is she here? I thought we had some business we need to discuss.’

‘Oh, you do but as you can see, before you came along, we were having a little chat ourselves.’ Scarlet said.

Erik didn’t even glance her way but I felt the fury that possessed in him. I didn’t know who this lady-chick was but I didn’t like her already.

‘We were, Mon Ami, but we are finished.’ Mircea said in an almost-bearable tone.

‘I still need the alliance of the wolves, Erik.’ Scarlet said coolly.

‘Hell no.’ He said instantly.

‘The City cannot function right without the alliance.’

‘You should’ve thought of that when you killed Renee.’ He said.
Renee was one of the female werewolves in our pack. She was turned in a hiking accident through the mountains. In the meantime of her turning, she watched her friends being the wolf’s chow. She survived and killed a human. From what I’ve heard, she was executed by the ex-Mistress of the City’s enforcer. The way I see it, she had to be put down but knowing Erik, he couldn’t do that. Punish, yes. Kill, no –not unless it was beyond redemption.

‘She killed a civilian. She got what she deserved.’

‘I told you I would handle it but you didn’t even give me that.’

‘What choice did I have? A life for a life. It was justice.’ She got up and her guards followed.

‘When you’re over having your five year-old grudge, contact me.’
Then she walked out. I so did not like that female. She made Erik mad and I didn’t like that. You know what they; piss the alpha off, piss the whole Pack off.


Chapter 9

There was an awkward silence after the red-head chick left. Erik closed his eyes briefly and calmed his raging wolf that made his security and the rest of the pack really restless. Damn, Natalya would have his head on her mantle later on for this. Natalya didn’t like her mate being angry and closed off from her. If Natalya didn’t know why Erik was angry, she wouldn’t be very happy. She was the type of girl that wants to know everything in her mate’s life –good and bad. Erik was a guy, which meant that if he’s angry he stays quiet and tries to figure out just how to fix it or because he didn’t know. Soon, he’ll go hunt in wolf-form alone to figure it out.

‘Erik’ I prompted. I didn’t want to stay in this freak-fest any longer.
He snapped out of it and got down to business. ‘Why have you called me?’

‘Katra has been spotted in the City.’ Mircea said.
Erik’s face became expressionless and as I glanced at Alaric, he looked uneasy. Why? Who was Katra? And what did she do? Most importantly, is my Alpha in danger? If so, how do I kill her?

‘Are you sure?’

‘I have my people everywhere as my eyes and ears. Scarlet thinks you would want to deal with it.’

‘Well, isn’t she just generous?’ Erik said sarcastically.

‘You know why she’s here, Erik. You got into this mess centuries ago and now the past is biting back. No more running this time. You can’t.’

‘You saying that this is my fault?’ Erik was sizing Mircea up. Erik was bulky and a good height of 6ft 8. Mircea wasn’t necessarily lanky but he had soft muscles that are lethal. Afterall, he was a vampire. His height was inches shorter than Erik of about 6ft. Though Mircea had to look up, swagger owned him that still made him dangerous. I don’t know why but maybe it came with the undead theory.

‘You were the one that didn’t kill her.’ He said blandly.

‘Didn’t kill her? The only thing she did wrong was to fall for me.’ Erik shot back.

‘She’s not right in the head, Erik. If you would have let me, I would’ve hunted her down and kill her.’ Alaric said.

‘Who is Katra?’ I asked quietly. I didn’t like being out of the circle if it relates to Erik being lifeless on the floor in a couple of weeks or worse, days.
Alaric and Erik looked back at me. Erik looked like he was considering on what to tell me that wasn’t necessarily a lie, since most of the supernatural race were walking lie detectors.

‘You might as well tell me now since I’ll find out later.’ I said.
Alaric looked at Erik for permission and after a moment, Erik inclined his head.

‘While your security gets updated, why don’t they sit in the living area while we talk business in my office?’ Mircea suggested.

Before me and Alaric said the word ‘no’, Erik agreed to it. We both looked at Erik expecting he would change his mind but every Alpha has his pride and if we embarrass him in front of a master vampire, Erik will make us sorry for ever doing it. Not that I care but I respected Erik, so I wouldn’t do that to him.
Me and Alaric bared our necks in submission for a moment, and then walked towards the living room. I seated myself in a chair that had a clear view of the Erik and Mircea. Alaric seated himself so that he could keep an eye on the door.


Chapter 10

‘Where do you want me to start?’ Alaric said.
Without looking at him, I said ‘Who is Katra? What is she? And should I be worried about Erik?’

‘Katra is a witch and is one of Erik’s ex. Katra has a sick way of thinking obsession is love and has the whole routine of, if-I-can’t-have-him-no-one-will.’

‘Why is she bad news?’ I asked.

‘She’s not a pure witch.’ He said.

Oh. There are two different types of witches in this City. Pure witches and non-pure witches. Pure witches are those who wield Magick strictly based on nature. They are humans but if they’re a pure witch, it meant that they aren’t strong. Sure they can heal minor wounds and they can make a flower bloom but they can’t summon fire to blast out from their hands. Believe it or not, in order for a witch to wield it, they take a lot of energy and the user’s life force. Imagine if a witch is an immortal but still human-ish. That isn’t impossible but, with a capital B, it takes a lot of life force and energy to and to stay immortal means you need to do the ritual frequently. That’s where non-pure witches comes in. These witches are those who are driven by power and want more. How do they get more power? They have to take a life force and energy of another. Could be an animal, human and most importantly, any supernatural race. When they do the ritual, they are no longer pure. The power somewhat messes with their heads and makes them addicted. The witches are usually bitches and they can throw fire from their hands. They are also usually immortal. They can even control someone’s body entirely and they don’t even have compulsion like a vampire does. Like in really bad movies, they need a sample of DNA from the victim they want to control and then they need to go and get a life force.

‘Why did Erik even considering dating her.’ I muttered.

‘There was a century when he hated what he was and so, he thought that if he dated a human, he would feel normal.’

‘How did that work out for him?’ I said sarcastically.

‘Not that great. Erik didn’t know she was a witch. Katra was a local healer in her village but she had an evil streak in her. Her mother and sister was pure and kind. Though she was pure at the time, she craved for power.’

‘Then along came Erik on his black stallion.’ I said, as if I was setting the story.

Alaric ignored the sarcasm on my part and continued. ‘Erik was blind to see the truth but Katra knew the truth in Erik. She knew he was a werewolf and decided to exploit it. She wanted a lapdog and even though she had his