CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

A s the three male vampires leaned, paced, and scowled at each other, Brianna sat quietly listening. Kate tapped her finger on the arm of the sofa at the far end while Willow twirled her diamond ring around and around her finger.

“So you’re his mate?”

Brianna rolled her eyes. “Jesus, is there a Facebook group I’m not in?”

“Do you realize you have to turn vampire now?” Willow asked under her voice, which was dumb because they were surrounded by vampires who could hear a pin drop. Loudly.

Brianna shook her head. It wasn’t the time to be talking about this.

“Willow, you know we can all hear you, right?” Brayden asked.

The king glanced between her and Craig. “She’s really your mate?”

Craig looked between the king and prince, confused, then landed on her and smiled. “Ah. Yes, sire, she is.”

“Well, fuck me.”

The king sat down and crossed his legs. He looked at his queen, and the two of them seemed to be having a conversation. Vincent nodded and turned to the prince before he began asking more questions.

Bri glanced at Craig, who was still in his leaning spot, alert and waiting for a decision from the royals. His eyes shot to her every few seconds, which she secretly loved. She gave him a smile before she pulled out her phone and began scrolling. They could be here for a while, and definitely didn’t want to discuss her being turned into a vampire with Willow right now.

She flicked through Instagram and saw her friends had already returned from Hawaii. Clearly, she’d lost track of time because she thought they had another week there.

Next, she opened Facebook.

Scroll, scroll, scroll.

She froze. She looked at the time stamp and her head flicked up just as Craig turned to her as if sensing her energy shift. She felt her face drain of all color.

“What is it?”

She stood and handed him the phone. Seconds later, all hell broke loose.

“We need to go, NOW!”

He threw the phone to Brayden and began picking up the bags.

“Vince, Kate, move it. The story has broken on CNN, and we’ll be surrounded by the media and God knows what officials in less than half an hour.”

“Jesus,” the king cursed and sped across the room to lift the queen to her feet.

“Vincent, I am not a cripple.”

“I know, I’m just taking care of you.”

Craig gave them a strange look as he hoisted the bags onto his shoulder and pulled Brianna into his arms. One look at Brayden, who had returned her phone, and they all ported down to the basement.

Lance, Kurt, Marcus—we’re evacuating now. Forget the conference call. We’ll do it from the vehicle. Get down to the meeting point now. CNN has broken the story.

Acknowledgement from all three of them came through, along with a bunch of curses.

He tossed a set of keys to Brayden, who unlocked one of the two large black SUVs and climbed into the driver’s seat. Craig unlocked the other and opened the back door for the king and queen.

The king threw their bags in the back, then climbed in beside his queen.

“Go hop in the back with Brayden and Willow,” he said to Brianna, who was quietly standing beside him.

The three SLCs ported into the basement and began throwing their bags and other equipment in the back of the king’s SUV. It was a drill they’d run many times, and it went smooth as silk.

Marcus jumped in the driver’s seat, Lance in the front, and Kurt in the back. Had Tom been with them, one of them would have joined the prince and Craig, but right now, it was more important the king have more security.

Behind them, team black and green were loading their vehicles. Marcus started the vehicle at nearly the same time Brayden did.

Craig nodded at the vampire. “See you in Tuscany. Lance, dial us into the conference, but I want you running it.”

“Gotcha.”

He climbed into the back of the other SUV, taking Brianna’s hand.

One vehicle pulled out, and Marcus drove the king’s vehicle out next, followed by Brayden. Soon, there were six of them on the road.

Thirty minutes after they had left the castle, he finally let out a breath and released Brianna’s hand.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck,” Brayden agreed.