Claimed by the Alpha and the Vampire Prince: Masquerading as a Man

So where was I? Oh yeah—being dragged to god-knows-where by the scariest guy on campus.

Every step took me further away from where people were. The once-busy hallways had thinned out until there was no one in sight.

No witnesses.

I swear, I didn’t even do anything this time! Well... besides pissing him off by not following him, but was that really worth kidnapping me over?

And did I tell you I was freaking the hell out?

Because I was.

Reed’s grip on my wrist was vice-like, his long fingers digging into my skin hard enough to bruise. My free hand twitched, itching to fight back, but something deep inside me screamed: Don’t.

Not yet.

I wasn’t dumb. I knew the difference between picking a fight I could win and one I wouldn’t walk away from.

And right now?

Reed wasn’t just mad. He was furious.

The kind of quiet, simmering rage that promised violence if I pushed the wrong button.

Still, that didn’t mean I was going down without a fight.

"Okay, dude, seriously—what the hell?!" I snapped, digging my heels into the ground. It barely slowed him down. Barely.

His head snapped to me, golden-yellow eyes glowing under the dim lighting like a predator about to rip into its prey.

"You should’ve listened the first time," he muttered, voice low, sharp, and dangerous.

Okay.

That’s it. I’m dead.

Fangs and Phantoms

I did the only thing I could think of.

I bit him.

Hard.

My teeth sank into his hand, right over the spot where his grip dug into my skin, and I didn’t stop until I tasted blood.

It was warm. Metallic. Wrong.

I expected him to yell, maybe curse and throw me off, but no—the bastard didn’t even flinch.

Instead, he froze.

Like something about it had startled him.

And that? That was my chance.

His fingers loosened, just barely, but enough for me to twist my wrist free and rip myself away from him.

I didn’t think—I ran.

Two steps.

Three.

Yanked back.

The strap of my stupid backpack burned against my shoulder as Reed reeled me in like a fish on a line.

Fine. Take my stuff! I’d leave it behind if it meant getting away, but—nope.

Not fast enough.

I barely made it a few steps before his hand caught my arm again.

This time, he didn’t go for my wrist.

He went for my throat.

Panic exploded in my chest.

His fingers wrapped around my neck, firm, unyielding, deliberate.

I clawed at his wrist, my heartbeat slamming against my ribs.

I could still breathe. For now.

But this wasn’t just a warning.

I could feel it in the way his thumb pressed against my pulse, in the way his golden eyes locked onto mine, watching—waiting.

Reed wasn’t restraining me anymore.

He was deciding.

A predator toying with its meal.

And I was the meal.

I tried to speak, to say something—anything—but the moment I opened my mouth, the world shifted.

A gust of wind.

Sharp. Sudden.

Like the air itself had been cut open.

And then—

He was there.

A shadow among shadows.

Leaning against the wall as if he had always been there. As if he hadn’t just materialized from nowhere.

Blaze.

The ghost boy.

I didn’t know what was colder—the air around me, or his gaze.

He wasn’t surprised.

He wasn’t concerned.

He just watched.

Expression unreadable.

Uncaring.

Like he was waiting to see if Reed would actually do it.

I would’ve thought I was hallucinating, if not for the way Reed’s grip faltered.

It wasn’t much.

A hesitation. A flicker of something in those inhuman eyes.

But it was enough.

Enough to tell me one thing.

Reed wasn’t the only scariest thing in this town.

Blaze was.

The Devil You Know

The second Reed’s grip faltered, I knew I had to act.

But I didn’t.

Because I saw it.

That look between them.

Not just dislike. Hatred.

The kind that burns through lifetimes.

I knew the feeling. I had enemies. Back home, in another life, when my biggest problem was being too loud, too reckless. But this?

This was something else.

This was poison.

Toxic.

Whatever history was strung between them, it wasn’t just some petty school rivalry.

It was something old. Personal. Deadly.

And right now? That was my way out.

Because Reed had forgotten about me.

The moment his eyes snapped to Blaze, his focus shifted entirely.

His fingers, still hovering near my throat, twitched—as if he had to physically stop himself from redirecting that grip to the new arrival.

The air changed.

The heat of Reed’s fury met the ice-cold presence of Blaze, colliding into something tense, suffocating.

And then? novelbuddy.cσ๓

Reed moved first.

No warning. No hesitation.

One moment, he was in front of me, the next—he wasn’t.

I didn’t see him cross the space but heck he moved like a man on a mission.

He was just there.

Lunging for Blaze with feral intensity, the air around them crackling like an unseen force was about to snap.

I should’ve run.

But I was stuck, frozen, watching something that wasn’t normal.

Something that shouldn’t be possible.

Blaze didn’t flinch.

Didn’t back away.

Didn’t react at all.

Just stood there, waiting, the eerie glow in his eyes daring Reed to strike.

And Reed did.

Their collision was silent, but deafening all the same—like a storm hitting the ocean, violent and unnatural.

And in that chaos, in the split second they forgot I existed...

I moved.

Slow.

Careful.

Backing up one step, then another, my heart pounding so hard I thought for sure it would give me away.

I expected to be noticed.

Expected one of them to suddenly snap their attention back to me, like a predator remembering the prey had slipped away.

But neither of them looked.

Neither of them cared.

I wasn’t important anymore.

Not compared to whatever venomous history was unraveling between them.

So I took another step.

Then another.

Until I was far enough that my body finally obeyed and let me do what I should have done from the start.

Run.

I didn’t stop until I saw the campus gates again.

Didn’t breathe properly until I was blended back into the crowd of students.

Didn’t look back.

But even surrounded by normalcy, even with the sun above and voices around, I couldn’t shake it.

The feeling that I’d just walked away from something I was never supposed to see.

And worse?

That it wasn’t over.