PARANORMAL: Tamed By My Alpha Vampire (Vampire Billionaire Alpha Male Paranormal Romance) (BBW Multicultural Mail Order Bride Short Stories) Read Free Page B

form. Arms and legs grew from my uncertain shape. A body with bones, a head, eyes, a mouth, and a nose also took shape.
    I still lacked true skin to cover my newly formed body. I walked awkwardly on brand new legs like a toddler to the entrance of the vault. Hanging on a hook beside the entrance was a long red robe with a hood that I wore at this stage in the cycle. Richard knew to have it washed and waiting for me after my first feeding. I draped the robe over me and pulled the hood over my head. Richard was waiting for me outside the entrance to the vault.
    I saw my new wife for the first time as the vault door slowly closed behind me. She was sprawled out on top of the sheets. She wore a silk nightgown that fit her perfectly. Her jet black hair was spread out behind her on the pillow. Her snowy white skin matched the shade of moonlight pouring in through the nearby window.
    Looking upon her, my hollow and cold heart felt something for the first time in hundreds of years. She looked just like her. I could barely remember her face after all this time, but before these mail-order wives I once had a true love. One that I left behind to fight in someone else’s war. This woman laying before me was a spitting image of her. Her beauty cut through the immortal curse that separated me from her all this time.
    “She’s perfect, Richard, utterly perfect,” I whispered.
    “I’m glad you agree, sir. She looked exactly how you described your true wife. I thought, after the last one, you needed someone you could talk to, perhaps even love.”
    I shook my head. “I’m incapable of love, Richard.”
    “With all due respect, sir, one does not require a beating heart to feel love.”
    I felt a tear welling up behind my freshly formed eyes. I turned away from her and looked to the open door.
    “You’re a good friend, Richard. What is her name?” I asked.
    “It’s Natalia, sir.”
    “Have a meal prepared for her. I will need to feed again soon and she needs her strength.”
    “Right away, sir.”
    “Oh, and Richard?”
    He turned and looked at me and I at him.
    “While I appreciate what you did, we will not speak of her again. Are we clear?”
    Richard nodded. “Yes, sir, I understand.”
    I made my way to the banquet hall and sat at the end of the long, intricately crafted table. This place was the definition of luxury, of success and wealth, and yet I could enjoy none of it. I only used it as a place to my make my wives feel comfortable and safe. It was nothing more than an illusion.
    Richard’s gesture stirred up old emotions and memories that I had long thought forgotten. Seeing my new wife, Natalia, reminded me of her. Her name was Reyna, and she looked just like her. My mind wandered back, hundreds of years, to the last night I saw my true wife, the night before our expedition into the forbidden tombs.
     
     
    I was a prized soldier back then. I fought and died beside warriors for a place that no longer exists. It cannot be found in history books, our enemies made certain of that when they crushed us beneath their heel. We knew we were losing, but our military leaders insisted that we push forward and die with honor if we must.
    Reyna didn’t want me to go. She begged me to stay. I recalled the night we sat in our bedroom, surrounded by luxuries which only that time could afford. We argued by candlelight as electricity was a far-flung fantasy from that time period.
    “It is madness! The king has gone mad, can’t you see that, Constantin?”
    “Mad or no, Reyna, he is my king and I must follow him!”
    Reyna threw her hands up and stepped back into the darkness. The candlelight briefly illuminated the silk dress she wore. Made from the finest of materials our dwindling empire could offer. We had both returned that night from a somber celebration of tomorrow’s final push into the enemy’s land. Reyna looked indescribably beautiful. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on.  I would say that again