Chapter 1

The scalpel pressed against my chest, and I knew this heart would be carved out tonight as a gift for his white moonlight.

Five years ago, I was a medical genius. He was a dying vampire in the sewers. I gave up my humanity to save him, worked three jobs to fund his doctorate.

"Your heart has excellent quality. Perfect for Seraphina's transplant," he said coldly, slicing through my skin.

"Please... I just miscarried..." I weakly gripped the operating table's edge.

"Defective embryo. Good riddance." He cut my brother's oxygen tube, forcing me to cooperate with the surgery.

Blood pooled everywhere as I signed the organ donation form.

A year later, I stood at the pinnacle of vampire power while he knelt in the snow, begging for a drop of my blood to survive.

I poured it out, fertilizing the earth instead.

…

The thick parchment slapped across my face, the sharp edge slicing a hot line down my cheek. A silver-tipped pen clattered onto the metal tray beside my head, rolling until it nearly pierced my eye.

"Sign it," Valerius commanded. His voice held the absolute zero of a winter grave.

I grabbed the hem of his tailored black cloak, my fingers trembling violently from the phantom pain tearing through my chest. "Are you completely out of your mind?" I choked out, gasping for air my undead lungs didn't even need. "The Sire Bond just shattered, Valerius! I can barely hold myself together. You want to cut me open now?"

I glared up at him, my vision blurring with red-hot rage. "Ripping out my Vampiric Core right now will turn me into a mindless Ghoul!"

Valerius swatted my hand away with a look of pure disgust. He brushed his cloak as if my touch had left a filthy stain. "I am your Maker, Elara. I know your anatomy better than you do. You won't die."

He turned his back to me, casually examining his manicured nails. "The bond was fragile to begin with. It broke. Get over it."

"It broke because you severed it!" I screamed, the betrayal burning like acid in my throat.

"I need your Core," he interrupted, his tone utterly flat. "Seraphina contracted the Silver Blight. Your Core is the only viable biological filter strong enough to cure her."

I shoved myself up on the freezing steel surgical bed, ignoring the agonizing spike of pain in my chest. "I am not signing a damn thing. I'll drag you directly to the Council. This is a blatant violation of the Blood Oath!"

A cold, mocking smile twisted his aristocratic features. "I am your legal Sire. I am your attending physician. I dictate your treatment." He leaned in, his fangs catching the harsh fluorescent light. "Refuse, and Leo pays the price."

My blood ran ice-cold. The fight drained from my muscles. "Leave my brother out of this."

"Your fragile little human brother is sitting in my underground shelter," Valerius whispered, his breath brushing my ear like a spider crawling across my skin. "He costs me twelve thousand dollars a day in synthetic blood treatments and reinforced UV shielding. One word from me, Elara. Just one. And my guards will drag him out of his bed and toss him right out into the noon sun."

I bit down on my lower lip so hard the skin split. Copper flooded my tongue. He had me. He knew exactly where to twist the knife.

Five years. Five years of my life, completely erased. I had been a top-tier medical student. He had been a starving, feral rogue bleeding out in a filthy alleyway. I let him bite me. I let him turn me. I gave up daylight, my future, and my humanity. I worked three brutal shifts at the black-market blood banks just to keep him fed and hidden from the executioners.

I remembered the blood moon. He had carried my feverish, transitioning body through the woods. I will protect you for eternity, he had sworn, his eyes full of devotion.

Now? He stood over me in a bespoke Italian suit bought with my blood money, ready to butcher me for spare parts.

"Where is your honor, Valerius?" My voice shook with pure, unadulterated rage. "I pulled you out of the gutter! I fed you from my own goddamn veins! And this is how you repay me?"

His mask of cool indifference shattered. He slammed his fist onto the surgical tray. Metal tools crashed to the floor in a deafening clatter. "You fed me because you were a desperate human playing savior!" he roared, his eyes flashing crimson. "You think I wanted a pathetic Turned girl tying me down?"

He grabbed my jaw, his brutal grip bruising my flesh. "If you hadn't clung to me like a parasite, I would have bonded with Seraphina years ago. She is a Pureblood. An Elder's daughter. She secures my seat on the Council."

He shoved my head back against the pillow. "You? You are a dead weight. Giving your Core to her is the only real value you have ever had in my life."

The heavy steel door clicked open. A nurse pushed a sterilized cart into the room, her eyes widening as she walked into the lethal tension. She froze instantly, keeping her gaze glued to the linoleum floor.

In a fraction of a second, Valerius smoothed his lapels. The feral monster vanished, replaced by the perfect, composed Vampire Lord.

"Sterilize Bed 3," he ordered smoothly, adjusting his cuffs. "Prep the heavy extraction tools. We operate first thing tomorrow morning."

The nurse hesitated, her hands shaking visibly on the cart's handle. "My Lord... Bed 3 just lost her Sire Bond. Her Core energy is highly unstable. Immediate surgery could—"

"Did I ask for a second opinion?" Valerius barked, his voice cracking like a whip.

The nurse flinched. "No, my Lord."

Valerius stepped closer to my bed. His eyes were completely dead. Without a shred of hesitation, he grabbed the sterile sheet covering me and yanked it down to my waist. The freezing air hit my bare stomach.

He didn't look at me like a lover. He didn't even look at me like a person. He scanned my ribcage like a mechanic inspecting a salvaged car for usable parts.

"Standard material extraction," he muttered to the nurse, stepping away.

Humiliation burned through my veins, hotter and more agonizing than liquid silver. I clenched my fists at my sides, my uncut nails digging into my palms until blood pooled in the creases of my hands. I wanted to rip his throat out. I wanted to watch him choke on his own arrogance.

Then, a faint squeak of wheels caught my attention.

I dragged my eyes toward the open doorway. A slick, black wheelchair sat just beyond the threshold.

Seraphina lounged in it. Her pristine Pureblood face was flawlessly made up, her skin glowing with radiant health. There was no grey ash on her cheeks, no black, corrupted veins tracking up her neck. Zero signs of the agonizing Silver Blight.

Her eyes locked onto mine, and her glossy red lips curled into a slow, triumphant smile.