Chapter 3

I stepped into nothingness, plummeting off the cliff. Just as I was about to drop into the abyss, a powerful hand clamped around my wrist.

"Alexander!" I jerked my head up, the sheer ecstasy of survival sweeping over me instantly.

At the top of the cliff, Alexander looked down at me. But his face was stone cold. His other hand covered my knuckles.

Then, one by one, he deliberately pried my fingers open and pushed me down.

"No—"

Tumbling in the rapid free-fall, I clearly saw him turn away. He pulled Elena up to the safety of the cliff edge, took off his cloak, wrapped it tightly around her, and coaxed her in a low whisper.

My eyes snapped open. I gasped for air, chest heaving.

My chest ached as if it had been cleaved open. The premonition of the dream and the icy reality collided perfectly in that moment.

My wrists and ankles were bound by heavy chains.

"Awake? The cast-aside, in-name-only mate."

A cold sneer came from above. The scarred hunter leader crouched down and patted my cheek with his dagger.

"Someone paid two million dollars to buy this little ambush. The employer's exact words were—'Test him. Let's see who His Highness the Prince really chooses when it's a matter of life and death.'"

My pupils constricted.

"Turns out, the employer made the right bet." The leader mocked me. "Your Prince grabbed her and ran without even looking back. But that woman didn't think it was enough. She paid extra to have you hauled here, just so you could watch a good show."

The door was pushed open. Elena walked in.

The second her eyes met mine, the jealousy and venom in her gaze were completely undisguised.

"Tighten the locks," Elena ordered.

The silver chains bit brutally into my wrist bones. The immense force broke my stance, sending me crashing to my knees in the muddy water. The agonizing pain made my whole body spasm uncontrollably.

Elena squatted down and giggled in my ear. "Sister's eyes, your status as the family's alchemist, your lofty position, and your man... I'm taking them all now, one by one."

I stared dead at her.

This was the first time I saw the pure greed in my twin sister's bones so clearly.

Only a hollow, dead silence remained in my heart.

Not long after, the rusted doors of the abandoned dock were blasted open.

Alexander stormed in with heavily armed vampire guards. His eyes were bloodshot, reeking of murderous intent. "Ryan, you've crossed the line! Name your price. I'm taking my people."

The hunter leader chuckled unhurriedly and pressed the remote in his hand.

Two blinding spotlights crashed down simultaneously, completely illuminating Elena and me on opposite sides.

"You can only take one."

Alexander froze. He looked at me, his gaze sweeping over the blood on my abdomen and the silver marks burning deep into my flesh.

His Adam's apple bobbed violently.

But he didn't move.

Even a single second of hesitation was fatal enough at this moment.

"Ten seconds on the clock. Don't choose, and we chop off one of her hands first," the hunter counted down coldly. "Ten, nine—"

"Ah—it hurts!" Opposite me, Elena suddenly clutched her stomach and screamed. "Save me... Alexander, save our baby..."

The struggle in Alexander's eyes collapsed instantly.

"Three, two—"

"I choose Elena!" his voice was hoarse.

The moment those words hung in the air, my tightly clenched fingers slowly uncurled.

The hunter kept his word and unlocked the cuffs on the other side. Crying, Elena threw herself into Alexander's arms.

And what awaited me was a barrage of slaps and vicious elbows.

Three consecutive kicks. The hunter ruthlessly stomped hard onto my lower abdomen.

Right in the midst of that tearing agony, I clearly felt it—a scalding lifeforce was rapidly being stripped away from my body.

I was pregnant.

I was supposed to tell him. And now, this child died because of his choice.

Alexander instinctively took a half-step in my direction.

"It hurts so much, Alexander, take me away..." Elena tugged at him.

He froze. The next second, he scooped the weak-kneed Elena up into his arms and hurried out.

In my blurred vision, his back drifted further and further away.

I suddenly laughed. At first, it was just a slight twitch of my shoulders. Then, broken gasps mixed with bloody foam choked out from the depths of my throat. I laughed until my shoulders shook.

"If there is a next life, I will never love you again."

"Test is over." The hunter dumped me here like a piece of trash.

Forcing my battered body to move, I returned to the manor and left behind three things.

The first was the micro-recorder from the hunters' dock—it clearly captured the original recording of Elena giving the kidnapping order.

The second was the medical report I got earlier—stating clearly that I was six weeks pregnant.

The third was the family ring, the symbol of my status as the Vampire Prince's mate.

After doing all this, I prepared to leave.

A car pulled up to the gates. A man in black stepped out briskly and pulled open the door.

"Master sent us to pick you up."

Getting into the car, I didn't look back, letting the manor behind me vanish completely into the rearview mirror.