Seraphina's POV
I woke to the scent of night-blooming jasmine and something else—something dark and wild that made my pulse quicken before I even opened my eyes. The bed beneath me was impossibly soft, the sheets silk against skin that felt hypersensitive to every sensation.
This wasn't my dorm room.
Memory crashed back in vivid fragments—the library, the mysterious man with silver eyes, the sharp pleasure-pain of fangs piercing my throat. I should have been terrified. Instead, I felt... alive. More alive than I'd ever been in my twenty-one years.
"Easy, little dove." His voice came from somewhere to my left, deep and soothing. "You're safe."
I turned toward the sound and found him sitting in an elegant chair beside the bed, dressed in dark jeans and a black shirt that emphasized every lean line of his powerful frame. Lucian. Even thinking his name sent warmth spiraling through my chest.
"What did you do to me?" I asked, surprised by how steady my voice sounded. I sat up slowly, noting that someone had changed me out of my library clothes and into a silk nightgown that felt like liquid against my skin.
"I awakened what was already inside you." He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, studying me with those mesmerizing silver eyes. "How do you feel?"
I took inventory of my body, expecting weakness or pain. Instead, I felt... powerful. Every sense seemed heightened—I could hear his heartbeat (did vampires even have heartbeats?), could smell the rain that had started falling again outside, could see every detail of his face despite the dim lighting.
"Different," I admitted. "Everything's so... intense."
His lips curved in what might have been relief. "The change is progressing well. Your vampire heritage is strong—stronger than I expected."
"Vampire heritage?" I swung my legs over the side of the bed, pleased when the room didn't spin. "What are you talking about? I'm completely human."
"Are you?" He stood with fluid grace and crossed to the window, gazing out at the glittering city below. "Tell me, Seraphina—did you ever wonder why you were drawn to gothic literature? Why you preferred the night to the day? Why you always felt like you were searching for something you couldn't name?"
The questions hit uncomfortably close to home. I had always been different from my peers, always felt like I was living slightly outside the normal world. But that didn't mean...
"That doesn't prove anything," I said, but my voice lacked conviction.
"Doesn't it?" He turned back to me, and in the moonlight streaming through the window, he looked ethereal and dangerous. "Stand up. Walk to the mirror."
Something in his tone compelled obedience. I crossed the room to the full-length mirror beside his dresser and gasped at my reflection.
The woman staring back at me was recognizably Seraphina Vale, but transformed. My skin was luminous pale, my hair richer and more lustrous than it had ever been. My eyes, normally a simple brown, now held flecks of gold that seemed to glow in the dim light. And when I smiled experimentally, I saw the hints of fangs behind my lips.
"This is impossible," I whispered, touching my face as if to confirm the reflection was real.
"Your great-grandmother was vampire nobility," Lucian said, moving to stand behind me. In the mirror, we looked like something out of a dark fairy tale—the pale vampire prince and his newly awakened queen. "The bloodline was diluted over generations, but it never disappeared entirely. My bite simply... reminded your body what it was meant to be."
"Great-grandmother?" My mind reeled. "But my family is completely normal. My parents, my grandparents—"
"Your father's line, yes. But your mother's grandmother was Lady Evangeline Shadowmere, one of the most powerful vampiresses of her generation." His hands came to rest on my shoulders, warm and steady. "She fell in love with a mortal and gave up her immortality to be with him. But blood will tell, little dove. It always does."
I stared at our reflection, trying to process everything he was telling me. It should have sounded insane. Instead, it felt like pieces of a puzzle finally clicking into place.
"Why?" I asked finally. "Why did you bite me? How did you even know what I was?"
His expression grew tender, almost vulnerable. "Because you're my mate, Seraphina. My soul recognized yours the moment you walked into that library. And your blood..." He breathed deeply, his eyes fluttering closed. "Your blood calls to mine like nothing I've ever experienced."
"Mate?" The word sent shivers down my spine. "What does that mean?"
"It means we're bound together by forces older than civilization itself. It means that you're the other half of my soul, and I'm yours." His hands tightened on my shoulders. "It means that I would burn the world down before I let anyone hurt you."
The intensity in his voice should have frightened me. Instead, it awakened something primal and fierce in my chest—a possessiveness that matched his own.
"I don't understand any of this," I said, but even as the words left my lips, I was turning in his arms, drawn to him like a moth to flame.
"You will." He cupped my face in his hands, thumbs tracing my cheekbones with reverent care. "We have time, Seraphina. All the time in the world."
"What about my life? My studies, my friends, my family?"
Pain flickered across his features. "That life is over. I'm sorry, but there's no going back now. The change has begun, and it can't be reversed."
The words should have devastated me. Should have sent me into panic or despair. Instead, I felt... free. As if invisible chains I hadn't even known I was wearing had suddenly fallen away.
"I should be angry," I murmured, studying his beautiful, otherworldly face. "I should hate you for taking my choices away."
"But you don't." It wasn't a question.
"No." The admission felt like a confession. "I don't. And that terrifies me more than anything else."
His smile was soft and devastating. "Don't be afraid, little dove. We'll face whatever comes together."
"What will come?"
The warmth in his expression flickered, replaced by something harder and more dangerous. "Opposition. The vampire world has laws about unauthorized turnings, about mixing bloodlines. There will be those who see our bond as an abomination."
"And if they try to separate us?"
His eyes flashed silver fire. "They'll discover just how far a vampire prince will go to protect his mate."
Before I could respond, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine—a kiss that was soft and claiming and absolutely perfect. I melted into him, my newly awakened senses cataloging everything about him: the taste of midnight and starlight on his tongue, the strength in his arms as they wrapped around me, the way my heart seemed to beat in rhythm with his.
When we finally broke apart, I was breathless and dizzy with want.
"Rest now," he murmured against my forehead. "Tomorrow night, I'll begin teaching you about your new world."
"Will you stay?"
"Always." He guided me back to the bed, settling beside me as I curled against his chest. "Sleep, Seraphina. When you wake, we'll start planning our future."
As I drifted off in his arms, I wondered what that future might hold. But for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid of the unknown.
After all, I wasn't facing it alone.