Warning: A bit violence, I think it is but anyways, did spill few tears at few moments in this chapter. Oh My Heart!

Crystal gulps pausing on the steps as she stares at the body lying on the ground covered with white sheet, she shivers when she listens to the guard explain how he found her advisors and ministers, all dead with head ripped off their body.

She jumps when she finds someone stepping closer to her, glancing beside her she finds one of her counsellor eyeing her.

"No one saw who came in, killed all of them, but from the bodies we found around, it is sure it's the same man who is responsible for all the missing vampires"

"But how can one single man kill all of them at once?" Crystal asks in disbelief.

"That is an answer we have been wanting as well. Whoever he was must be very powerful or perhaps has someone helping him. This attack to your advisors means a direct attack on you, My Queen"

"Did you not say the name graved in the bodies were of Darwin's?" she asks.

"Yes, but..."

"Whoever did this must have a grudge on Darwin, have you checked on with him?" she asks.

"Yes, we have alerted him about this incident but we need to do something about this horrifying incident. People have started to raise questions, they feel if the advisors of Queen are not safe how they can be safe" he points.

"Maybe for once they will feel the taste of fear of unknown"

"Meaning?" the man frowns.

"The same people who hunts down humans and animals for pleasure and games are for once scared for their lives, ironic is what I see"

"But as our Queen..."

"The killings were not done inside of the palace but in one of my advisor's residence, where I wonder why all of them were gathered, as for who did this...

Darwin's name were craved in the bodies of the vampires, which means this grudge whoever holds it, is seeking Darwin not me. I do feel terrible for what has occurred and my condolences are with their family but importantly, it seems my own advisors were doing something behind my back...

Find their replacements and if possible find out what they were all doing together as we both know right now I am not favorite of many of you. And if anyone has any doubts on how I run the palace or rule, then perhaps show them the throne room, we could definitely have a tea conversation regarding it...

Now, send the bodies back to their families, alert everyone about this mysterious man, especially those who in any ways has link with Darwin"

"You do realize Darwin is twin of Diego Carlos?" the man asks her and Crystal nods once before she walks back inside of the palace while the man sighs and stares at the dead bodies.

"Clear this up and tightens the security of the palace" the man orders before he too walks back to his work.

*******

"Crystal" Aura gasps in surprise seeing Crystal who runs in Aura's arms.

"I missed you" Crystal sighs making Aura smile.

"I missed you too my lovely, but wat a surprise and did you just use a portal?" Aura asks and Crystal moves away.

"I had come to warn you and Diego"

"Warn us, oh my, what did my son do, this time?" Aura worries and Crystal shakes her head no.

"It's not Dante, even though we need to warn him to stay alert. Someone is targeting vampires, especially who is linked to Darwin and I am scared if one of you will come in harm's way"

"Darwin?" Aura frowns.

"Yes, last night, few of my advisors were brutally murdered and whoever did it left few bodies with Darwin's named craved on it"

"Named craved?" Aura asks.

"So, please, stay alert and safe, do tell Dante as well. I do not have enough time, I need to go back to the palace, but please alert Diego and Dante as soon as you can" Crystal asks before she opens a portal back to her bedroom.

"Cry..." Aura stops as Crystal disappears and Aura stands biting her lip.

"This is not good" Aura breathes before she calls for her mate.

********

Darwin frowns as he listens to one of his men, he puts his glass of drink down before tilting his head as the man finishes.

"Someone holding a grudge on me?" he asks before he pushes the woman away from his lap.

"Draw" the woman whines but Darwin ignores it.

"We do not know who he is or what power he holds but..."

"Then go and know about it all, do not disturb us. He is mine the next few days and who will be fool to even cross a path with Draw, after all he is one of the powerful vampires and anyways, if he was so powerful he would have come directly for Draw and no waste his time on killing other weaklings...

Honeybunch, I think whoever it is just want to draw attention to him through you, you should not give attention to such things, no one is foolish enough to cross path with you" the woman smiles.

"I..." Darwin's man starts but the woman shuts him up.

"Why is he still here? Draw, he is wasting our time, you have heard enough nonsense and anyways I feel whoever this is, is perhaps a woman, who seduced these men, killed them and wants your attention so she craved your name on their bodies, because she knows she cannot have you" the woman smiles as she puts her hands on Darwin's chest and rubs herself on him.

"Or perhaps you are just finding ways to hear than for me you are the only beauty" Darwin grins as he pulls her closer and she giggles while he waves his hand dismissing his man as his lips are locked with the woman.

********

The man shakes his head before he steps out of the room after warning his master but the vampire was too distracted to heed the warning, closing the door the man turns only to gasps as Connor stands in front and before he could alert his master the man eyes rolls at the back of his head before falling down.

"Did I not ask you to step out?" Darwin growls as he pulls away from his mistress bosoms only to narrow his eyes at the man standing at the door.

"Draw, who is it?" the woman moans as she turns around to only frown as the man stands under shadows.

"This is why I keep telling you we should go away on vacation not stay in one of these houses, your men disturbs us too much" she sighs before getting up.

"Or perhaps they just want a sneak peek on me" she giggles as she pulls her robe and makes her way towards Connor.

"Honeybunch, if you want a sneak peek on me, try to be as generous as your master" the woman points as she walks closer to Connor only to stop as she sees him.

"Oh my" she gasps seeing the beauty of the beast in front of her.

"Or perhaps you may want to give me a sneak" she teases.

"Who is it?" Darwin asks as he grabs his glass and gulps down before sitting on the bed and staring at the man.

"Not fair, Draw, you never told me you have men like him under you" the woman grins as she reaches to touch Connor who grabs her instead turning her back to his front and a moan escapes from her lips.

"Oh yes, I love rough men" she giggles and Darwin gets up from his bed as he finally sees Connor's face.

"You..." Darwin points a finger at Connor.

"We meet again" Connor speaks.

"How?" Darwin frowns before he tries to scent Connor but hisses as he finds his own blood pumping inside of Connor.

"Impossible, I never sired you" Darwin hisses.

"Oh, so he is one of yours" the woman asks but Connor covers her mouth and jerks her head away.

"Is she important?" Connor asks Darwin.

"No" Darwin growls and the woman's eyes widens in shock.

"Good, then you won't mind if I did this" Connor states as be breaks her head and lets her body fall.

"So, it was you, all those killings" Darwin narrows his eyes as he stares at Connor.

"No"

"No?" Darwin asks.

"No, it was all you"

"Me? How can I kill..."

"You made me kill all of them, each of them. You turned me into a monster just as you, those were all your doing" Connor states and Darwin laughs a loud.

"So you do admit you are a monster, I will admit I am shocked you made up to here, and what a fucking surprise...

It will be a tale to reminisce for centuries you know, the mate of the Queen nothing but a monster" he grins and Connor narrows his eyes at him.

"I was someone, I was someone before being her mate"

"You were nothing but a pathetic human but look at you now, because of me, all because of me you have become this! A man who holds so much power, join hands with me, we can rule everything and everyone" Darwin asks as an idea starts in his head.

"Join hands with you? With the murderer of my sister?" Connor asks in disbelief.

"Forget about it, just look what you have become. Now, you are a worthy mate to the Queen, with you beside her side as her mate and King to the Queen, we will rule, man this is golden" Darwin's eyes glints devilishly.

"Never" Connor growls.

"Yes, yes. Imagine we can bring this whole world down, play them with our hands, you and me"

"You have lost your mind if you think..."

"But don't you want it? Imagine it all, you can play house with Crystal, create more of children like your sister, this is a golden opportunity, you will get to rule this world, people will fall down on their knees for you, this is what every man dreams of, a whole world right under this thumb" Darwin states as he walks towards Connor and puts his hands on Connor's shoulders.

"You are alive for a reason, and this is the reason, you are born to rule. Even if by default you were sired by me but what a beautiful default it is, just look at you"

"I..."

"Yes, come on man, I am sure somewhere inside of you, you must have wanted it all. I did you a huge favor by turning you into a vampire. Did you never wanted a life filled with richness and luxuries, all these powers and no one can stop you...

I did not destroy your life but pulled you out of the miseries, all those days living that life but now you can have all the luxuries of the world and everything right in your hands, join me and I will make you the King of this world, we will rule, you will rule us"

"A King"

"Yes"

"Luxuries"

"Yes, yes a whole world with riches, luxury and power" Darwin nods his head as his grin widens when he sees Connor giving in.

"Miseries" Connor whispers as a frown forms in his eyes.

"All will go away, everything" Darwin promises and Connor glances his way before tilting his head as a grin appears in his face.

"Join..." Darwin stops as he cannot move.

"Joining hands with you, the one who took away everything from me? You must not just be delusional but down right pathetic to even think so" Connor whispers as he steps away from Darwin while the man's hand stay raised in the air.

"The miseries you saw me in, was my happiest place, the hard life you believe I had, was my safe heaven, the powers you chant about will never come in comparison with the times my sister smiled my way and you took that away from me, every bits of it...

A King, you say but I would rather be the best brother in the whole world any day than be a king to your people" he states before he stares at the Darwin's hand as he rips it apart from his body and Darwin does not even get to scream his pain.

"It was her birthday and you ripped it away from her" Connor states as he throws Darwin's hands away.

"She just wanted a cake" Connor whispers as he grips Darwin's jaw.

"And now she will never get to have it" the tear of the flesh echoes in the room.

"Your evil eyes took away the brightness from my sister's eyes" Connor points as he shoves his fingers inside of Darwin's face to pull his eyes out.

"I will never get to see her grow up, I will never get to feel her touch, hear her laughter, walk her down the aisle, she will never be able to turn in to a beautiful woman as beautiful as her soul, she will never get to do everything she ever dreamed because you stopped her heart from beating" Connor growls as he grabs Darwin's weakly beating heart and tears it apart from his chest.

Connor stares at the pumping bloodied heart in his hands before he feels a hand on his shoulder, turning his head he finds a man he never met but somehow he felt he knew.

"That's enough" Diego whispers holding Connor's shoulder and squeezing it.

"Who are you?" Connor asks as he drops the heart on the floor and turns at once to face Diego.

"A friend" Diego states and Connor narrows his eyes.

"You two..."

"He is...was my twin, I am not here to attack" Diego points.

"Then?" Connor asks and Diego sighs.

"You have avenged your sister, now it's time to stop this madness Connor, now it's time you return to your mate's side" Diego advices and Connor shakes his head no.

"There are more, I don't know their names but I remember their faces" Connor whispers and Diego sighs.

"I understand your..."

"Do you?" Connor asks stopping Diego mid-sentence.

"Connor" Diego states and Connor shakes his head wondering why he was even talking with the man even so he cannot stop himself.

"Do you really understand me, how I feel as I watched helplessly while they hold my sister hostage and killed her, on her birthday, her birthday!" Connor shouts losing his temper.

"Do you really understand this cravenness I have to listen one last time, she calling me her best brother, this itch to hold her in my arms, the safest place she had but I can no longer see her, touch her or feel her. I could not even protect one little thing, my precious little bundle and this burn in my chest, it never goes away...

It keeps burning and burning like a wild fire. What will I do of this life without my sister's presence, what shall I do of these powers that will never be able to protect her, what have we ever done, for your brother to take it all away from us, what will I do with a mate whose existence made my sister vanish from the face of the world" Connor asks with so much anguish that Diego cannot even face the man as he stares at the remains of his twin's body wishing he could kill my own twin by his own hands.

"I cannot explain the amount of regret I feel on what happened to you Connor and I do not even have any right to speak on the matter, even so forgive me and forgive us"

"Forgive..." Connor frowns as that word rings something in his head before he feels a chill run down his body as darkness covers him.

********

Connor shakes his head a bit before he frowns, staring at his hand he feels the heaviness of the heart of Darwin, he tries to remember something he does not know what before he lets go of the heart. The anger he felt moments ago vanishes at once, stepping away from the body of Darwin, he blinks few times as he senses something is not wrong, as if his brain is asking him to remember something but the sound of running footsteps makes him alert as he hurries out of the place.

Connor once again finds himself standing in front of his sister's grave, he bends to grabs the flowers he knows has withered only to pause as a frown forms in his face seeing the fresh flowers on her grave.

"Man I think I love this place" a voice makes Connor stiffen before he vanishes from the place.

"You are drunk" someone else states.

"Whatever, when I see Adrian next morning I will ask him to move all of us in this village, damn the war and guard duty"

"Adrian will not even have you with us if he heard you complaining about the guard duties"

"Whatever, just wait when I see him tomorrow" the man grumbles as they walk past and Connor grips the flowers in his hand before he takes a sniff to find the scent of Adrian on it.

Making his way towards his sister's grave he puts both the flowers on her grave, one he got for her and another which Adrian got.

"Too much crowd" Connor sighs as he runs his hand through her tomb.

*******

Crystal takes a deep breath and stops herself from jumping off her throne and into Adrian's arms in happiness as her eyes lands on the man walking inside. She composes herself as Adrian kneels in front of her.

"My Queen" he greets and she sighs in relief.

"Adrian" she calls and Adrian rises from his position.

"My apologies for coming back without any former notice, as soon as the news of the incident got to me I rushed back"

"I am glad you did" she nods her head.

"If it's not too late I would like to take the place as a Royal guard back, our Late King trusted your safety in my hands and knowing someone could harm you while I was away..."

"Your duty lies with your pack, Adrian. You have left a whole army to protect me"

"It's my father's pack, My Queen"

"But..."

"My pack is right where I am standing at, my pack is the whole army I left to protect you" Adrian states and Crystal smiles as she stands up before she walks down towards him.

"Are you sure?" she asks him and he nods once before Crystal raises her arms and wraps her arms around him.

"Welcome back, Ad, welcome back to your pack" Crystal whispers as Adrian stands still.

********

"Have you lost your bloody damn mind?" Adrian thunders at once as soon as he is left alone with Crystal.

"No, but have you?" she asks him and he narrows his eyes at her.

"I have left my men to protect you not the village"

"Protecting the village is equal to protecting me" she argues.

"You do not command my men" he glares at her and she sighs.

"I am the Queen" she points and he narrows his eyes at her.

"You do not command my men" he points making her groan.

"But the village needs protection"

"So do you"

"But Ad"

"I am calling them back to the palace, there duty is towards the Royal"

"And this Royal wants the villagers to feel safe" she points making him sigh.

"Cry, I know feeding my army..."

"It's not about feeding them, but don't you think there is more to life and for them to explore than just standing as guard in this palace"

"It's their duty"

"But what about their feelings, dreams and..."

"They are here because this is what they want, no one has dragged them here without their consent"

"But after years of nothing but war and fights don't you think your men deserves something normal"

"Crystal" he warns.

"They are not just guards but men, who may have a hope for a family, hope for something normal"

"A warrior's life is..."

"Not just about war, I won't command your men but do ask them, give them a choice between staying in the palace or at village, you will be surprised with their choices"

"Why are you doing this?" he asks and she sighs.

"They see you as their Alpha and an Alpha needs a place for his pack, a territory he can claim and protect"

"Don't tell me..." he narrows his eyes.

"I am not telling anything Ad, but even I feel you will be a great Alpha, a bit stupid at times, but you will do" she teases and he shakes his head no.

"I do not have time to play Alpha right now"

"Sure, whenever you feel like it just know there is another option and the village falls right under this palace, so in a way you will have a territory, a pack and yet protecting the palace" she grins before getting up from her chair.

"Whatever, now on more serious topic" he states making her groan.

"Were we not serious enough just yet?" she asks making him rolls his eyes.

"We need to find you a mate"

"We?" she narrows her eyes at the news.

"The ministers have asked me to inform you that they plan on organizing a party of some sort where all the unmated males will be invited, see if one of them is your mate...

A throne with a Queen is fulfilled but without a King by her side she looks empty"

"But Adrian, surely you know that..."

"What I know is, it will make us worry less if there is someone by your side who will protect with his life Cry. It's time you start to search your mate, maybe once you have a mate you won't have to see my face" he teases.

"What happened to the notion one can leave without a mate?" she asks him.

"Just because I got betrayed by my mate does not mean everyone will. Not all of us are meant to have a mate, I am one of them. A life of war, being a warrior is the path for me, Cry. The gates of this palace will open for the unmated males, see if you feel the connection to someone, maybe a blooming love is what will bring the change we all need" he points before he walks away and Crystal stares at the back of him.

"Connection with someone else except Connor? Maybe we both are not meant to have a mate, Ad. Yours betrayed you and mine is lost to me" Crystal whispers as she rubs her chest as it hurt.

********

Jade walks to where Connor was and joins him. He glances her way before frowning as she has a big grin on her face.

"What?" he asks and she shakes her head before staring at the front.

"No more hunting at night I see" she comments but he does not reply.

"An invitation" she states before passing him the invite and he frowns.

"Invitation?" he asks as he opens the letter.

"Yes, invitation to all the unmated males and as you are one of them, so" she clears her throat before standing in front of him.

"The Queen has started to search for a mate, I wonder who the lucky one is? Seeing how you are a unmated one, well not your cup of tea but, the party begins tomorrow night, I am heading towards it with few of my unmated male pack members...

That one, it's for you. Decisions, decisions" she hums before walking away as Connor reads the cordially invited invitation for the unmated ones to win the Queen's heart.

"How many hearts do you have left to win over?" Connor asks with narrowed eyes before he moves away from the place.