My family is human. We were gifted a long life by the Thorne clan, something close to immortality. For generations, we’ve been their most loyal guardians.

And I fell in love with Cedric, the vampire lord I was sworn to protect.

For a hundred years, I was his secret. His sin. His only bedmate.

I was his shield against dark magic. The sworn protector of his vast clan.

I thought I’d earn the mark of an eternal bond. I was even ready for him to turn me.

After all, on every blood moon, he would claim my body.

Then, at the peak of an agonizing pleasure, he’d sink his fangs into my neck and drink my blood.

He’d press his cold lips to my skin and whisper that I was his one and only. That no other blood, no other body, could make him lose control like this.

But this time, the moment he was finished with me, he announced his eternal bond with Elsie, the pureblood princess of the Valerius clan.

He smirked at the shock on my face.

"You're just a human, gifted a long life by my ancestors. My bed warmer. You didn't actually think you could be my mate, did you?"

In that moment, I understood.

I was just a renewable blood bag. A tool with a purpose.

For an alliance, for her, he sacrificed me.

He cast me into the abyss and let the darkness swallow me whole.

He thought the Guardian's Pact would chain me to him for eternity. But he forgot one thing.

Every pact has a loophole.

So I destroyed everything he ever gave me.

Then, with my family's help, I vanished.

But when the Lord of Eternal Night couldn't find his favorite toy… he went mad.

For a hundred years, I was his. I waited for his mark. An eternal bond. Instead, he finished with me, then announced he was mating with someone else.

I wasn't his mate. I was a vessel. A release for his primal urges.

Tonight, he’d found his release inside me once again.

He had me pinned to the bed, my body covered in red marks.

“Yes… Just like that…”

I gasped, feeling every brutal thrust, the sharp sting of his fangs piercing my neck. A mix of pain and pure ecstasy.

He drank my blood greedily. It carried the sacred light of my guardian family.

I felt his power, cold as eternal night, flow back into me through his fangs.

Our bodies were tangled together, just as they had been for the hundred years I’d protected him.

When it was over, I curled up in his arms.

His voice cut through the darkness. “Tomorrow night, the lord of the Valerius clan will be visiting the castle. You will join us for dinner.”

I looked up at him, my heart pounding.

He was inviting others?

In the century since we’d forged the Guardian’s Pact, he had never let anyone witness our intimacy.

“Cedric,” I sat up, my voice trembling. “Are you finally going to announce my status as your blood-mate to the elders? Will we finally be bonded…”

A mocking smile cut me off.

“What are you talking about?” He dissolved into a cloud of blood mist and reappeared by the bed. “This meeting is to forge a clan alliance. Princess Elsie will become my eternal mate.”

Every word was a dagger to the heart.

My heart stopped. My mind went blank.

“You’re bonding with someone else? Then what am I?”

The smirk vanished from Cedric’s face. He leaned in close.

“Don’t tell me, Alaina,” he whispered, a cold finger tilting my chin up. “You didn’t actually think a human could become the mistress of the Thorne clan, did you?”

I stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Her. When did you decide?”

“Not long ago. After the last conflict with the witches.” He stood and walked toward the bathroom, not even glancing at the bruised body I’d given him. “This is for the clan. For a purer bloodline.”

I remembered that fight. The witch’s dark magic surging toward him. I was the one who threw myself in front of it.

Of course, that was my family’s duty as guardians.

My ancestors were saved from a curse by the first Thorne, granted a long life bordering on immortality in return for our loyalty.

Each generation, the best of my family was chosen to guard the vampire lord, bound by the Guardian's Pact.

A guardian could never leave. Only death or a great betrayal could break the pact.

But why? I saved his life, and he chose someone else?

Was it because she was a pureblood? Or was it… love?

I followed him into the bathroom.

The mirror reflected my pale face and the bloody marks he’d left on my body.

An hour ago, they were medals of intimacy.

Now, they were brands of shame.

“Do you love her?”

“Love?” He sneered, steam quickly fogging the mirror. “Alaina, I thought you were smarter than that. This is business. Not some fleeting, ridiculous human fairy tale.”

He stepped out of the steam, water sluicing down his perfect body.

For a hundred years, that body had driven me wild every night.

Now, it just made me sick.

“Elsie is young, beautiful, and her bloodline is noble. She brings the clan the magical mines of the entire northern territory.”

His eyes swept over my naked form. “And you… you are a decent blood source, a convenient fighting doll. And a disposable bedmate.”

Blood source. Fighting doll.

I trembled, feeling his scent all over me. A stain I could never wash off.

By the time I’d pulled myself together, Cedric was already dressed in his black formal wear, sending magical commands through the air.

“Moon Orchid,” he commanded. “A millennium-old specimen. It’s Elsie’s favorite. Prepare the ‘Elf’s Tear’ as well, drawn directly from the spring in the Misty Woods. She loves its pure magic. And have a dozen gowns of moonsilk woven for her to choose from. Ensure she has every reason to smile.”

My heart clenched.

I couldn’t help but look at him.

And then I saw it. A smile I had never seen before. It was almost… tender.

The pain I’d just suppressed came rushing back like a tidal wave.

Clatter.

My magic communication stone slipped from my hand and fell to the floor.

Cedric turned at the sound, still smiling. “All cleaned up? Good. See yourself out.”

He grabbed his coat to leave but paused at the door. He glanced back, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Alaina, you’ve always been my best guardian. So drop the abandoned puppy look. It makes you look pathetic.”

“I know you. Every inch of you. I know what you’re thinking with a single glance. You’re already bound to me. A mating bond on top of that? How fucking boring.”

His voice faded with his footsteps, but his words echoed in my head.

I sat on the cold bed.

I started to laugh, but tears streamed down my face.

I sat there until late into the night, then returned to my family’s ancestral home.

I went to the altar in the secret chamber below, cut my fingertip, and used my blood to break the seal.

Inside was a silver crossbow, shimmering with sacred light.

My initials were carved on its stock. A “gift” from Cedric when I became his guardian.

There were also magical gems, ancient scrolls, and elven artifacts he’d given me over the years.

Tonight, I threw them all, piece by piece, into the purifying flame.

“My lady, all these precious magical items… are you sure you want to destroy them all?” my old butler asked, his eyes full of sorrow as he watched the sacred fire burn.

I nodded slowly. My voice was a whisper.

“I don’t want them anymore.”

Not just them.

This relationship, this man… I didn’t want any of it.

I opened a secure family communication line.

“Father. It’s me.”

“Alaina? You…”

“Father, I’ve protected him nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times. The debt is paid. In seven days, I want you to make me disappear from Cedric’s world.”

What I never told Cedric was that the Guardian’s Pact wasn't eternal.

Once a guardian protects their lord 9,999 times, the pact for that generation is automatically fulfilled.

The guardian is free to leave whenever they wish.

I could have left ten years ago. But I craved the pleasure of being by his side, yearned for our own eternal bond. I ignored my family’s call to return.

Now, I shut down all my magical communications.

If I was leaving, I was going to be thorough.

At two in the afternoon, the main gate of my ancestral home was blasted open by a powerful surge of magic.

Cedric’s right-hand, a blood thrall named Marcus, stormed in with four guards.

“Lady Alaina,” Marcus’s voice was polite, but his hand was already on the hilt of his sword. “The Lord wishes to see you.”

I didn’t look up, continuing to mend the tattered ancient spellbook before me. “Tell your lord I’m busy.”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a request.”

I set down my tools and stood up. “So you’re going to drag me back by force?”

Marcus didn’t deny it.

“The Lord’s orders. He needs you present to show Princess Valerius and the elders the unbreakable bond between the Thorne clan and its guardians. Don’t make this ugly.”

Twenty minutes later, the magical carriage stopped in front of the Thorne clan’s castle.

This place was once my sanctuary.

Now, it was just a gilded cage.

I was “escorted” to my old magic laboratory.

The moment the door opened, I froze.

The room was empty.

All my magic scrolls, my alchemy station, the night-blooming cereus I cultivated, our one and only magical photograph…

Every trace of my existence had vanished, wiped clean.

In its place was delicate, elven-style decor.

In the center of the wall hung a massive magical portrait.

It was Elsie, dressed in white, smiling like a moon goddess untouched by the world.

“Like it? Elsie picked it out herself.”

Cedric’s voice came from behind me.

He wore a custom-made black robe with magical embroidery. Flawless.

Elsie was on his arm, blonde and blue-eyed, like an angel.

“Elsie,” Cedric’s tone was flat. “This is Alaina. Our clan's most… capable asset.”

Elsie’s green eyes sparkled with innocence. Her voice was sweet.

"A pleasure to meet you. Cedric always says you're his most capable helper. I’m so grateful you handle all the clan’s tedious affairs. The dangerous ones, too. But don't worry. You'll be able to rest soon."

She was telling me that once she married Cedric, I would be cast out.

“It is my honor to serve the clan,” I replied, my voice laced with bitterness.

Cedric nodded, satisfied. He turned to Elsie. “My love, let me introduce you to the elders.”

He put his arm around her and led her toward the main hall. I followed like a shadow.

The clan elders were already waiting.

One of them, Elder Alaric, looked from me to Cedric and chuckled. “Cedric, Alaina has been by your side for so many years. We all thought…”

Cedric cut him off, his voice ice-cold.

“Elder Alaric.” His face darkened. “Do not say things that could be misunderstood.”

His gaze cut to me like a knife, his voice low but carrying through the silent room.

“I would sooner walk into the sun than enter an eternal bond with a human and tarnish my bloodline.”

I lowered my eyes to hide my pain. I forced a smile. “Elder Alaric, you misunderstand. The lord and I have always had a purely professional relationship.”

For a moment, Cedric’s expression froze.

He didn’t seem to expect me to play along so obediently, so decisively.

But then, a flicker of approval crossed his eyes, as if admiring a perfectly tamed tool.

The tension in the hall dissipated.

Elsie tightened her grip on Cedric’s arm and gave me a triumphant smile.

Cedric walked past me. He raised his hand. For a second, I thought he would pat my head like he always did.

But he stopped. And adjusted Elsie’s hair instead.

He leaned in, hissing in a low growl only I could hear.

“Well done. Remember what you said tonight. Don’t disappoint me.”

The banquet began.

I sat alone at the far end of the long table, watching Cedric and Elsie receive everyone’s blessings from the seats of honor.

Cedric felt my gaze. He turned and met my eyes.

He raised his goblet of blood to me. His gaze was cold, approving. The look a master gives his well-trained hound.

I raised my glass in return, a perfect smile on my lips.

Let’s see if you’re still smiling in seven days, Cedric, when I’m gone for good.

#

The banquet ended.

“Alaina, you’re coming too,” Cedric’s voice echoed from the top of the stairs.

He clearly had no intention of letting me breathe, determined to see this humiliation through to the end.

He looked at me, his eyes like ice.

“You are my best guardian. It’s time you got acquainted with your new mistress.”

The magical carriage was waiting outside.

On instinct, I moved toward the guard’s seat.

A single look from Cedric stopped me.

“Sit in the back,” he commanded.

Elsie, clinging to his arm, slid into the spacious main seat.

I was shoved into the cramped attendant’s corner in the back.

An extra.

During the dinner, I’d had a few bloody marys to maintain my perfect, forced smile.

The alcohol hadn’t worn off, making my thoughts sluggish and my sacred blood sluggish in my veins.

I leaned into the corner and closed my eyes, just wanting this long, humiliating night to be over.

The carriage entered the shadows of the Gloomwood.

The first Shadow Hound’s claws ripped through the roof without warning.

“Get down!” Marcus roared, yanking the carriage into a sharp turn.

The hounds’ snarls filled the air, their shadow arrows hailing down on the carriage.

“Dammit!” Cedric’s eyes glowed red. “Rival clan mutts!”

I immediately tried to summon my guardian power, but the strength in my blood felt shrouded in a thick fog, slow and heavy.

Dammit, the alcohol!

I could only draw my silver dagger and fight back through the rear window, the old-fashioned way.

Elsie screamed and burrowed into Cedric’s arms.

He shielded her with his body while firing back with blood curses.

“Don’t be afraid, my love. I’m here.”

The carriage’s magical core took a direct hit.

It spun out of control, crashing into a giant, dead tree.

Then I saw it.

A massive, mutated alpha hound. It was gathering a ball of pure shadow energy. Devastating.

“Energy sphere!” I screamed.

Time slowed down.

The shadow sphere flew toward us, trailing a plume of black and purple light.

In that split second, Cedric made his choice.

He grabbed Elsie, pulling her underneath him, using his unbreakable back as a shield.

Then, he lifted his foot.

With all his strength, he kicked the car door next to me.

The immense force threw me from the carriage.

I understood his intent. He was using me to absorb part of the blast, to create a safer space for himself and Elsie.

Just another way he was used to “using” me.

He never considered it. He never thought that the woman who drank just to survive his dinner party wouldn't be able to summon her full power.

BOOM!

A cloud of violet-black energy swallowed everything.

The shockwave, mixed with the Shadow Hounds’ vile magic, slammed me into a distant rock wall.

My guardian power, suppressed by the alcohol, had only managed a faint barrier that shattered instantly.

Shards of dark energy fell like superheated blades, cutting deep into my skin.

I felt the sharp pain of broken ribs as a mouthful of warm blood erupted from my lips, blurring my vision.

I saw him climb from the wreckage. Elsie was safe in his arms.

His suit was torn, but his eyes were sharp.

He gently stroked her hair, whispering reassurances, then teleported with her to safety.

He didn't even look back.

I lay on the cold ground, listening to the sizzle of residual shadow energy eating away at the trees, and the sound of my own fading breath.

Then darkness took me.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the clan’s secret healing chamber.

“You’re awake,” said the elderly physician, Elias, checking my pupils. “You’re lucky. Marcus pulled you from the site just before the main explosion.”

“Where’s Cedric?” my voice was a rasp.

“The Lord is with Princess Elsie,” the physician said, pausing. “She was quite frightened.”

My real wounds, her phantom fright. So precious.

I closed my eyes, swallowing the bitterness.

But a small voice in the corner of my heart screamed.

I needed to see it. After using me as a shield, after leaving me to die... did he feel even a sliver of guilt?

It was probably the last, foolish fantasy of the girl who had loved him for a century.

“Physician,” I opened my eyes again, my voice terrifyingly calm. “Turn on the scrying crystal.”

The crystal ball on the wall lit up, showing magical images from around the castle.

I switched it to Elsie’s room.

She was in a white silk nightgown, leaning weakly against a pillow.

Cedric sat on the edge of the bed, feeding her something from a silver spoon.

It was… his own heart’s blood. A vampire’s most precious life essence.

His movements were so gentle, as if he were tending to a priceless treasure.

“I almost lost you,” his voice trembled with fear. “I can’t live without you, Elsie.”

“I know. You saved me,” she whispered, touching his face. “You’re my hero.”

Then, Cedric pulled a crystal-clear rose from his pocket.

My heart stopped.

It was an Eternal Ice Rose, carved from everlasting frost, with a single drop of his heart’s blood sealed within its core.

The highest symbol of a marriage proposal in the Thorne clan.

He knelt on one knee. He held up the rose.

“Marry me,” he said, looking up at her, his eyes full of love. “Not for the clan. Not for an alliance. Just because… I love you.”

Elsie burst into tears of joy. “Yes! Of course, I will!”

He placed the Ice Rose in her palm and kissed the back of her hand.

I stared at the scrying crystal until my own magic shattered it into dust.

So he knew how to love.

He just never loved me.