Alpha Asher By Jane Doe

 “What’s with Vampire’s and abandoned warehouses?” I asked, speaking to no one in particular.

The breaks of the rusty minivan we were crammed into squealed as we pulled into a handicap space close to the front doors. I could make out the symbol painted on the spot, though it had faded over time.

Within the parking lot were a few cars, but most looked like junkers rather than functioning vehicles. There weren’t any windows apart from the ones that lined the front, but they were blacked out by scraps of cardboard boxes and old newspapers.

“This one won’t be half as luxurious as your father’s.” Tristan muttered at my side; his face marred in a permanent scowl.

From the front seat, Dina snorted. She turned around and glared at Tristan.

“With how flimsy your loyalty is, you got no room to be judging anybody, Tristan.” The pale-haired Vampire at my side lifted an eyebrow, but Dina didn’t falter in her rant. “That’s right, I know you. You don’t know me, though. I was a nobody back then, a body for her father’s military.” She jutted her chin in my direction. “I saw you a couple times, scramblin’ to obey the King and all his whims. It’s ironic you’re doin’ the same for his daughter now, isn’t it?”

I wanted to come to Tristan’s defense, and I had planned to, but Dina’s words struck a chord in my chest that left me silent.

Tristan had been my father’s right-hand man. He’d been closest to him, even though my father trusted absolutely no one. Part of me wondered if Tristan’s loyalty to me had anything to do with the mark that sat on my neck, or his lingering hopes that I would choose him over Asher.

I didn’t have to wonder for long if Tristan would speak up.

“Thank you, Dina, for dredging up the years I spent serving a monster who deserved not a speck of the loyalty he received. Everything you said was correct. I don’t remember you because I never cared to look your way. As you’ve already stated, I was busy trying to prove my worth to a King who viewed us all as disposable.” He said with a clipped tone.

The pale blues of his eyes glittered menacingly as he leaned forward in his seat. Dina remained rooted in place, but from the harsh set of her jaw and the way her grip tightened on the arm rest, I knew she was preparing herself for if he decided to a****k.

“Our new Queen, she doesn’t see us as disposable. I might’ve had to prove my loyalty to her, but never my worth.”

Tristan leaned back in his seat, his severe expression unwavering, even as Dina slid her eyes over to my face. The brooding Vampire at my side wasn’t one to speak idly, especially when it came to paying someone a compliment. I knew without asking that every word he said, he truly meant.

My heart flipped in my chest and took off, pounding harder with each set of eyes that found my face. I couldn’t read the emotion in their eyes other than obvious suspicion, not that I had much time to.

haired man with a toothy grin and a thin

He grunted, but the venom in his voice felt flimsy. “You

crossed his arms over his chest. Like a Queen herself, Dina slid from the seat and patted the man on his shoulder. He visibly relaxed under her touch, and as his eyes softened,

Dina

jutted her chin in my direction. “Our Royal Highness

Dina’s mate lost his cheesy grin and replaced it with a scowl so fierce I was

h**l would

she’s got to say.” Dina said curtly, though the sour

the oddest thing

to my face, staring at me long and hard. He pursed his lips, and the scar above his eyebrow rippled from the intensity of

don’t know, does she?” He asked, still not taking his eyes off my

a fraction of a second. “No,

his hands together and rubbed them eagerly.

it

things, but

of broken

an employee break room, though the lockers had been torn out. I could still see the imprint of where they’d sat against the wall, and

into the room. The woman, whose freckles were dark and cinnamon

slipped through a second doorway that I began to hear voices. One was deep and booming, easily commanding the attention of the others, who

metal shelves, nearly all of them empty apart from a few moldy boxes, I scoured our surroundings, trying to glean what information I

like it was some kind of make-up warehouse.” Tristan said gruffly,

a few, having owned

each step we took, I heard someone

bordering on hysteria. “They promised us a place with them-promised we’d have our own land once