The Vampire King's Possession-Chapter 794. First Attack With Humans

Mauve had to try her hardest not to run down the stairs as she ran to her mate who had just returned with the three mages. She couldn’t risk it, there was a chance she would lose her footing. As soon as she heard he had arrived, she rushed out of their bedroom—to the horror of Mill—to meet Jael.

"Mauve," Jael called in alarm as she stopped at the top of the stairs, having seen her run from the hallway.

He rushed up the stairs, faster than Mauve’s eyes could have followed when she still had human sight, but now she could track his movement. He stopped by her side.

"What are you doing?" he asked, partially concerned, partially scolding.

"I am sorry, Sire," an apologetic Mill stood behind with her head bowed. "I couldn’t—"

"Welcome back," Mauve cut in, smiling up at him.

She was surprised she wasn’t crying, given how relieved she was to see him. There weren’t any cuts or injuries on him, just a little dirt on his clothes, the smell of smoke, and the stench of Palers. She knew just how strongly their stench lingered.

She looked past him to the mages. They looked traumatized; a few had some cuts on their faces, but they looked more like scratches from branches than injuries from a Paler attack. Thankfully, no one looked seriously hurt.

"You shouldn’t have rushed here," Jael was still saying.

She turned to look at him. "Did it go well?" she asked, ignoring his words.

Jael sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yes, Mauve. Come, let’s get you back to the room."

He looked like he might touch her but decided against it. Mauve knew it was because he didn’t want to stain her with the dirt on his body, not that he was that angry with her.

"Mill, see that their injuries are attended to," she said as she followed after him.

"Yes, My Lady," Mill replied and stayed back to attend to the injured men.

Mauve moved closer to Jael, but he didn’t seem very pleased with her. She didn’t say anything as she slowly walked beside him. She did feel a little tired now—she might have expended more strength to run all the way here than she had thought.

She didn’t ask any questions as they walked together. She could imagine how tired Jael was, especially since they had run into a Paler. Mauve wasn’t sure if it was one or more, and Jael had to work harder with three lives to protect.

It wasn’t until after Jael had cleaned up that Mauve thought it appropriate to ask questions. He didn’t seem very eager to talk about it with her, but she knew he wouldn’t deny her information if she asked.

"What happened?" she asked softly. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Jael sighed as he joined her in bed. He pulled her in front of him so he could wrap his arms around her from behind. He placed his head in the cradle of her shoulder, took a deep breath, and then leaned back.

"It wasn’t too bad," he whispered, then sighed.

"What happened?" Mauve pressed.

"It was a little hard to move around with the mages. To avoid scaring them, we didn’t go too far. I didn’t want to draw any Palers’ attention tonight—I wanted them to get used to the nighttime. I know how easily humans get spooked."

Mauve couldn’t even take offense at this. She nodded and caressed his arms wrapped around her. It was so nice to lie in his embrace; even the serious topic couldn’t stop her from noticing how pleasant it was. He was also pleasantly cool, which helped with her elevated body temperature.

"It went well for the most part," he continued, then his voice had traces of anger as he recounted the incident. "until one of them thought it was a good idea to make a fire. I understand it was dark, and perhaps they were a little bored or itching to do something—but it doesn’t matter what the reasoning was. I didn’t even notice until a Paler was in our midst, as I was looking around to make sure nothing was amiss. It had moved fast; there was barely any warning, no smell or sound to alert us. I think our sense of smell was dampened because of the smoke. Thankfully, Erick and Corbin, who were close enough, reacted in time, and we were able to weaken it enough for the mages to burn it. Two of them lost their nerve at its appearance; only one was able to use magic to set the Paler ablaze."

"Who?" Mauve asked.

"Farrell. He was the only one able to use magic despite his agitated state."

Mauve wasn’t surprised, she could tell just from looking at him that he was going to be reliable. She was glad that there was someone like that. However, she couldn’t fault the rest of the mages, Palers were a hideous sight and their smell was enough to make one regurgitate their last meal.

He paused and tilted her head to look at her face. Mauve was a little startled—she had been listening intently to his story, and now Jael was looking right into her eyes.

"What?" she asked, half amused, half confused.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

Before she could answer, he kissed her soundly on the lips. When he pulled away, Mauve was flushed, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Do what?" she asked, even though her mind was far from the conversation.

Jael looked at her with pride. "You have faced Palers twice now, and each time you were alone. The second time, you actually killed one all by yourself."

Mauve couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to see that Jael recognized her tenacity, though she knew it didn’t mean he would let her near danger. Even acknowledging it must have taken him a lot.

She shrugged and turned her back to him again. "I don’t know," she whispered. "But the last time, I knew I couldn’t just do nothing—not with the baby. I couldn’t let harm come to us, or worse, I didn’t want to leave you and I knew how badly that would hurt you."

She leaned deeper into his arms, and Jael tightened his embrace. "You are not going anywhere," he said with such conviction that Mauve felt her heart skip.