Chapter One
“Father, you called?” Noah entered the home of his father, the leader of the vampire nest of Alaska. He dropped the hood from his head, allowing the snow that had collected to fall to the floor. Winter was setting in and it seemed like it would be a brutal one.
“Yes, where have you been? It’s been two days since I summoned you,” his father questioned him with an obvious tone of disappointment. Liam was a version of himself, who looked barely a decade older, but with a braid that fell down his back with a stark white beard to match it.
“I was taking care of some business,” Noah supplied the weak excuse.
“Business?” Exasperated, Liam waved off the human servant who’d been tidying up the space.
“Yes.” Noah stepped aside to allow the young woman room to pass him on his way out. He smiled as the soft sigh passed her lips. His father’s new maid had an obvious crush on the prince of Fairbanks.
“What business is it that you have that is so important it kept you from answering my call?”
“Does it really matter at this point? I’m here now.”
“Yes, right.” His father stood from the clawfoot chair as he confronted his son. “There are other things to be concerned with.”
“Are there?” Noah removed his coat and tossed it to the chair knowing that doing so would irritate his father who would be more concerned about damaging the material of the furniture than his true whereabouts.
“Yes, your mate has been chosen,” Liam announced as though Noah should have been pleased, and then frowned when he instead received a glare of anger. “Of course you’re ungrateful. Why should I ever have expected anything different from you?”
“I told you I’m not doing that.” Noah had objected to his father’s decision to return to the archaic practice since the moment it was mentioned to him. His lack of a vampire bride troubled his father, and when it became clear that he had no intention to choose one, his father took that as an opportunity to arrange what he saw would be beneficial to himself.
“As if you have a choice?” Liam scoffed. “You have an obligation to your people. You would turn your back on them?”
“Yes, I do have an obligation, but I won’t marry any vampire you choose for me simply because you deem their bloodline to be good enough,” Noah repeated the statement he’d made to his father countless times before. “I have the right to choose, and I won’t allow you to force me into making this one.”
“Noah, you have yet to find your mate. I have given you ample time to do so, but still you linger out here, alone and uninterested in anyone who crossed your path. You are vampire royalty, and soon you will be the one to lead our people. I will be going to rest.” Liam referred to the right of passage during which he would join the former leaders in the crypt beneath Fairbanks, not to be awakened again for five hundred years. “Donovan isn’t supposed to awaken for another fifty years, during which time I intend to leave our nest in good hands. It was my plan to hand that responsibility over to you, my son, once you found a suitable mate. Since the time is upon us and you have yet to make the choice, I’ve been forced to make it for you.”
“Since when is it a rule that I need a mate to be able to lead?” Noah challenged his father’s thinking. “I will only be the interim leader of this nest before Donavan arrives. Once that happens, I’m free to live my life how I see fit.”
“It is tradition,” Liam’s fist landed forcefully against the mahogany desk leaving a permanent impression on the pristine surface. It wouldn’t be long before the desk would be replaced, just like the ones before it.
“Tradition? Whose tradition is it?” Noah laughed as he straightened his shirt and sat down in the chair opposite his father. “If I remember correctly, not every ruler has had a mate. Hell, not every ruler has even been interested in producing an heir.”
“No, they haven’t, and because of that, those rulers failed, Noah.” Liam took a deep breath as he tried to calm the frustration that the conversation always brought him. “You cannot lead our people by yourself. The house of Brown will continue to stand tall, as it has for centuries now. It will not be my son to destroy all that our family has built.”
“And you think that I would be the downfall of our house?” Noah laughed sarcastically. “Really, thanks for the vote of confidence here.”
“I have every bit of confidence in you but I know that if you attempt to rule our people alone, you will fail.”Liam leaned across the desk to peer down at his son. “One of these days you will stop insisting on debating everything that I tell you. I act only in your best interest.”
“I am not here to debate this with you.” Noah hated that his father lacked confidence in his abilities, but that was a hope he gave up on a long time ago.
“Good, because it isn’t up for debate. You will marry Marissa and that is the end of this.”
“Marissa? As in the daughter of our greatest enemy?” Noah laughed sardonically. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of desperate ploy is this?”
“The Galena vampires are no longer our enemies. At least they won’t be after your nuptials. Your union will bring our people to peace. It is for the best.”
“You will marry her, Noah. Or everything you claim to care so much for will crumble around you.” Liam issued the veiled threat. “All of your secrets will come to light, and those who you have worked so hard to protect will suffer.”
“What are you talking about?” Noah halted his exit. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Do you think that I don’t know what you’ve really been up to all these years? Running off to your secret hideaway with the girl. Whoever she is, she is clearly beneath us or you would have brought her here to meet me. Think about her when you make your decision, Noah. She will suffer if you don’t do this.”
“How long have you known?” Noah tried to keep his cool. Liam didn’t know who Skye was; even if his cover was blown, hers hadn’t been. He had to keep it that way.
“Long enough.” Liam moved closer to his son. “Either you do this, or whoever that woman is, she will die. That is not a warning, son. That is a promise.” Liam laid his hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Think about it.”
You’ve just read Chapter One of IMMORTAL BLOODLINES by JESSICA CAGE.
You can find more of this story here:
books2read.com/u/m2PO7R
Andie M. Long is author of the popular Supernatural Dating Agency series amongst many others.
She lives in Sheffield with her son and long-suffering partner.
When not being partner, mother, writer, or book editor, she can usually be found on Facebook or walking her whippet, Bella.
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