CHAPTER TWO

L ance stepped into the royal chamber and eyed the room. Vincent, the king, sat in his chair, tapping a pen repeatedly on the desk. Brayden, the prince and captain of the Moretti Royal Army, sat on the edge of a table with his arms crossed, looking like his usual powerful alpha self. No one fucked with him.

Then there was the commander, Craig. He sat in a chair nearby, arms crossed with an expression honed from centuries of being a powerful and dangerous vampire. If you looked a little closer, you could see the twinkle in his newly mated eyes. The highly protective second in command was either smirking or snarling in reaction to his redheaded mate, Brianna, who was now a vampire.

Brianna was also the best friend of Willow Moretti, Brayden’s mate and their new princess.

It wasn’t all that long ago that these males—well, not so much the king—were frequent hosts of some of the most infamous vampire orgies on the planet. Now all three of the senior members in the castle were getting it on the regular.

He turned as his fellow senior lieutenant commanders—or SLCs as they were referred to as—wandered in.

“Lancelot,” Marcus greeted, slapping him on the shoulder.

He shook his head at the nickname, but he knew he deserved it. Craig called him Lance-a-fucken-lot when he was pissed, but usually they all hightailed it when the big guy got his mad on. A nickname was the least of your worries when that happened.

Lance might not be a small guy, but he was also not a dumb guy.

No, he was known for being a ladies’ man, smooth and charming—at least that’s what they told him. Hell, it wasn’t like every male in this room didn’t pull the ladies, or males, when it suited them, humans or vamps. They were all big, good-looking motherfuckers. Except, Lance liked to add some good old-fashioned manners to his game instead of scowling like some.

Like that green-eyed beast of a commander.

Hey, whatever worked.

But now the guy was out of the game, as was the prince. Brayden wasn’t exactly Prince Charming. He was more like a chick magnet with princely, erotic powers they’d all witnessed at his regular orgies. Then one day, along came Willow, and it was like no other female existed for the heir to the throne. Such was the power of the vampire mating bond.

“Now that all you fuckers are here, take a damn seat. Or lean. Whatever,” the king said, waving his hand.

Lance glanced at Tom and Kurt, and they all smirked. You could be ten minutes early and Vincent would still make out like you’d held him up. But they would cut him some slack. Besides being the king, these were strange times.

“So, we’re back,” Vincent said. “Thank fuck.”

“Thanks to you, brother,” Brayden replied, pride in his voice.

Vincent returned his brother’s stare and gave a short nod of thanks. “We all played our part. I’m happy my strategy worked. Is working. We’re not out of the woods yet, though.”

They all nodded.

They had planned for this their entire lives, for the moment their race was exposed to the human race, and that day had come six weeks ago. It felt like six hundred.

Despite all their training and planning, it had still been a mind fuck. Fortunately, technology had helped. The system had automatically sent out a communication to vampire leaders around the globe to ensure everyone was advised of the situation and had been told to take necessary precautions. Though it had been hard to miss when every leading news channel in the world had covered it as breaking news.

Vampires Exist!

The Devils Live Among Us

Bloodsuckers on the Loose—Lock Up Your Daughters

The bad news for the humans? They’d had most of their daughters, in every delicious position possible. And they had loved it; they just didn’t remember it. #mindmanipulation

The good news? Vampires had been here all along and lived alongside humanity peacefully, with no epic dreams of taking over the planet. They just wanted to live their lives like most everyday humans did.

It was the leaders and scientists who made this a vampire’s worst fucking nightmare come true.

No one had been able to find Bob Johnstone, and frankly, the name was so generic it could have been a fake. They’d even gone so far as to suspect Stefano Russo, although it was crazy to think one of their own would expose them. Crazy was right down his alley, though. If it served the rebel vampire, Lance believed he’d do it.

“We won’t be through this for a fucking long time, if ever,” Craig said.

He was a male of few words, so when he spoke, the team listened, as did the king and Craig’s BFF, the prince. They’d smack him in the face if they heard him bromancing them like that, but fuck, it was funny inside his head.

Brianna had Craig twisted around her little finger. The guy was excessively protective of her, even for a mated male, but the funny thing was, she was a little firecracker, and Lance suspected she didn’t need his protection at all. Brianna had turned vampire shortly after the news broke, and soon after her transition, she had wanted to help. She had made a place for herself on the team with her expertise in social media.

Despite Craig’s resistance, she’d forced her way into the ops room and given them some interesting insight into how to use social media to plant enough doubt using algorithms and little bots. Vincent had demanded they listen to her and told the tech team to execute her ideas.

Soon, the Breaking News about the existence of vampires was seen as Fake News.

Lance had been surprised at how easy it had been—nobody wanted to be seen as a nutcase conspiracy theorist, or worse, a Karen— and it had quickly spread like wildfire, quieting the conversation and the threat to their species.

Remnants of it still remained, but their team continued to monitor and counter them with what could only be called as highly calculated bullying by their system. Fucking sad, but you had to play fire with fire.

Brianna had been right. Popular social apps had quickly jumped on board and shut down the “vampire nonsense,” knowing they would be called upon to control the dialogue taking place on their platforms. Lance was astounded at how the entire system manipulated what people believed all day, every day, so whoever had the means or the control, controlled people’s minds. It was the perfect war machine.

“ Why can’t people see this? ” he had asked Brianna one day.

“ They do, but no one knows how to stop it, ” she had replied, shrugging. “ Aside from unplugging. ”

She’d explained how it was driven from an industry who funded politicians who controlled the media. Simple. Terrifying. And corrupt.

He’d shaken his head in response.

The world was a scary place, more so now than at any other time he could recall. He’d rather have someone shove a sword in his face. At least then it was clear who the enemy was.

“No, but we have some breathing room while I continue my work with the human world leaders,” Vincent said. “Meanwhile, I need you lot to keep our vampires safe.”

The king looked at Brayden.

“Commander,” Brayden indicated, handing Craig the floor.

Craig stood and pointed a clicker at the screen. “So, we’ve restructured our army. More leaders, smaller teams, allowing us to get into the communities and sniff out those who went into hiding or need our support.”

“Do we know how many are missing?” Lance asked.

Craig shook his head. “Not yet. Our data team is estimating around ten thousand.”

One percent of their population.

“But it’s early days. We only sent the communication that it was safe to integrate back into human society a week ago,” Brayden added, reminding them all they’d only been back in the castle a few days themselves.

Heads bobbed around the room.

Not all vampires were connected digitally. Of the one million on the planet, there was a small percentage who still lived on the outskirts of society. But it was their job to ensure their safety.

“So numbers are still coming in?” Tom asked.

Craig nodded.

“We have no reason at this point to suspect anything untoward, but let’s keep an eye on it,” Vincent said. “The heads of governments around the world have given me their guarantee that they’ve called off the hunt on our species.”

Not that they had gotten their hands on a single one of them, or so they believed at this point. Only the people in this room had been privy to the conversation between their king and the US president, and it still gave Lance shivers.

He was so damn proud of his king.

No one—well, except the rebellion—had ever questioned the king’s right to be on the throne. Not just because it was his birthright, but because he was a good and fair leader. Physically, he was a tall and powerful vampire, and though those close to the two brothers were aware Brayden was the stronger alpha, none of them doubted Vincent’s ability as king. It took more than just strength and dominance to rule. They all knew that.

President James Adler hadn’t taken kindly to the carefully and cleverly delivered threat, but Vincent’s meaning had been strong and clear; call off the hunt on my species or we will revert to our true nature.

Predators.

The Morettis were well-known figures around the world. They’d mingled with the wealthy and powerful for hundreds and hundreds of years. There were strong relationships and investments with people in influential positions, not by accident. It wasn’t like they were a spaceship full of unknowns who had suddenly appeared on the planet. There was history. Long history.

When Vincent had reached out and reminded them of their history and partnerships, a whole bunch of reality had sunk in. Many of them wanted this situation buried as much as the Morettis did. Weeks of negotiations and discussions had taken place, tapping into Vincent’s strength in diplomacy and intellect.

He persuaded the right people they were no threat.

He reminded the right people they very well could be.

The fact was, they’d lived among humans since forever and had caused them no harm. The Morettis were wise investors, a powerful family, and as a species, they had quietly contributed to the economy without any threat to anyone.

“It looks like they’re keeping their word, but I still don’t trust them,” Lance spoke.

“We’ve never trusted them. Just as they don’t trust each other, they will never trust us. Not now. Not knowing we are a different race. Humans fear different, even if it’s just damn skin color,” Vincent said, shaking his head in disgust. “They want to form a secret task force and want a vampire representative on the panel.”

Brayden snarled. “No fucking way.”

“They want to get to know us. To understand us,” Vincent continued. “It has some merit.”

Brayden glanced at Craig. Despite Lance’s private bromance joke, he knew the two powerful vampires were ridiculously close. Not just as friends, but as soldiers. It was like they could read each other’s minds. Well, not taking into account the fact that they could all communicate telepathically, something you could only do with another vampire if you shared blood. Even so, this was on another level.

“It’s dangerous,” Craig said.

“I agree.” Brayden nodded.

Vincent rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s fucking dangerous. Thanks, ladies. How about I make the fucking decisions.”

Lance looked down and smirked. For all their power and royalty, sometimes they were just a bunch of brothers squabbling, with the king often drawing Craig into it for good measure. Rarely did Craig bite.

“You can’t be seriously considering it?” Brayden snapped.

“It’s my job to protect the vampire race. Eventually, we won’t be able to cover it up as we have until now,” the king responded, voice fierce. “By working with them, we can share information about our species in a controlled environment and break down any fears and barriers. Then when the time comes, knowledge about vampires can be drip-fed into their consciousness so it doesn’t incite fear. That’s how these things work.”

“Oh, you mean the bit where they learn we’re many times more powerful than they are and that we drink their blood to survive,” Brayden said, shaking his head. “Should go swimmingly.”

Vincent frowned.

“Swimmingly?” Craig asked, his brows raised. “Who are you?”

“Queen fucking Elizabeth,” Brayden replied, giving him the bird.

Craig snorted.

“Can’t we have a normal meeting for once, for God’s sake?” Vincent complained. “It’s like a damn kindergarten with you two, I swear.”

“You know,” coughed Marcus, becoming the chosen one to break up the Moretti bickering. “They could try to blame us for any number of human deaths over the centuries.”

Oh boy.

One by one, the males around him brought up other concerns.

They all had good points, but Lance ultimately knew the king was right. They couldn’t hide away from the humans. They had to work together. It would mean taking steps toward trusting by each of them.

“Christ. Alright, you pessimistic pricks. I do hear you and I know this is a troubling time, but please trust me and let me do my job,” the king said, pinching his nose. “Commander, what’s your update?”

“The prisoners are all secured and back in the castle prison. We need to think about what we are going to do with them,” Craig spoke.

During the evacuation, they’d moved the prisoners to the Tuscany mansion with them, but now they were back. It wasn’t the Morettis’ style to keep prisoners like they did in human society. Usually, their laws were pretty black and white. If you tried to take over the throne? Goodbye, head. Try to kill a royal? Bye-bye to your head. If you raped another vampire? See ya later, head—and probably a few other limbs, not necessarily in that order.

Murder was not illegal, so to speak. They were predators; there was a natural order to their species. The whole alpha/beta thing.

The gray area pertained to those who assisted in a coup, which was where Sofia’s crime sat. Yes, she’d been responsible for murdering vampires in the castle explosions, but that was part of a greater coup to take over the crown.

Exposing the species to humans? They’d never put a law dealing with such a thing in place because who the hell would ever do that?

Mind-boggling.

“Until we know more, I don’t want to let any of them go. Get your teams stuck into more interrogations. The Russo brothers are leverage, so they can keep their ugly mugs for now,” Vincent said. “What’s happening with the female?”

“Sofia Ferrero is in her private cell,” Lance informed, giving the king a grateful look.

Vincent nodded at him, acknowledging it.

“Remember the conditions, De Luca. We want information out of her,” Vincent responded. “What happened is unspeakable, and it has been added to Stefano’s growing list of crimes, so I’m happy to oblige her need for a safe space to open up and talk. If it is found she was directly involved with the coup—”

“Yes, sir,” Lance interrupted the king before he could finish his sentence.

He saw Craig looking at him from the corner of his eye. Lance ignored him. He’d already had to answer a million questions when he’d petitioned for her move. When he had shared the story of the day he’d found her, looking like a hunted animal, and what she had shared with him, the males had cringed.

Craig knew his history and had been keeping a closer eye on him. Was he aware of his attraction to Sofia?

He had to be careful. The last thing he wanted was some other male close to her.

Which meant nothing. Just that he was the right male for the job because he understood the stakes.

“Now that we’re back to normal, mostly, we can start digging into her background and see what we can find out,” Tom continued with the report.

“We need to find Russo,” Lance gritted out, his voice laced with the anger he’d been holding on to for weeks.

“We all want the same thing,” Craig said. “The shit-face also had our females in that restaurant, threatening to blow it up, remember?”

Yeah, he did. They all did. Stefano Russo had taken the queen, the princess, and Brianna hostage. Brianna might not be a Moretti, but as Craig’s mate and Willow’s best friend, she was highly respected. It had been a hell of a night.

The same night he had met Sofia.

The night he and his team had burst through her office doors and saved the lives of the Moretti queen and princess.

She’s the enemy, remember.

“Sofia has information,” Kurt said.

“So do the Russo brothers,” Marcus added.

They all sat in silence for a moment, sharing the frustration.

“Alright, let’s get these new teams activated, and set up a fresh round of interrogations. Lance, Sofia seems to trust you somewhat, so why don’t you take the lead with her, and Marcus, you can try your hand with the Russo brothers,” Brayden instructed. “The rest of us will work out a schedule with the remaining prisoners and see what we can uncover.”

They all began to stand when Tom cut in. “Lucinda spoke to her brothers when we were still in the United States.”

Brayden looked at him. “And?”

“Nothing. Either they’re complete morons or Stefano shared little with them.”

Vincent stood and threw his pen on the table. They all turned to him. “I’m not buying it. Keep on them and...dare I say it, up your game.”

Craig grinned eagerly.

Vincent pointed at Craig. “No. They’re still my vampires. Don’t terrorize them or kill them, but I want information, and it’s time they realized we’re serious about getting it.”

“You’re a dick, Vince,” Brayden muttered.

“What?”

They all began exiting the room, leaving behind the bickering Moretti brothers.

“We don’t go around intentionally killing vampires. Stop saying shit like that,” Brayden said as the door began to close.

“He just has a look. In his eyes—” the king started replying before the door shut, blocking out the rest of the conversation.

Craig let out a snort as they walked down the corridor. Lance laughed, though he didn’t totally disagree with the king. They continued walking until Kurt, Tom, and Marcus teleported off to do their thing. Suddenly, Craig’s big hand grabbed his arm. He stilled and turned to face him.

“You good?” Craig asked.

“Yeah, why?”

The guy held his stare for a long moment before nodding. “Good.”

“Okay,” Lance replied. “Good talk.”

They began walking again.

“I want regular reports from your interrogations with Sofia. You got it?”

“Yup.”

“Excellent,” Craig said, then smirked without looking at him again. “Good talk.”

Lance grinned, but he wasn’t fooled by him. Craig wasn’t a stupid male, not in any sense of the word. Not much got past their commander, and Lance knew he’d have to sort out his feelings for Sofia real quick or fess up.

And if he confessed to his feelings, they would be separated. He’d never see her again.

There was no way he was letting that happen.