CHAPTER TWENTY

T wenty-four hours after he’d driven out of the castle, Lance was on Sofia’s sofa as she lay in his arms.

So there was that.

Now they were all just waiting.

Outside, a team of their best Moretti soldiers were positioned doing what they were trained to do.

Back at the ranch, their teams were continuing to investigate the properties and leads Sofia had shared with them over the past few days. The more they learned now, the more forearmed and prepared they could be.

Lance was sure once they had Stefano in custody—because none of them would stop until he was—the rebel vampires would clam up.

The rebellion wouldn’t suddenly stop; it was bigger than any one individual. But with their current leader captured, it would create a ripple of fear throughout the group. Which was exactly what they wanted.

It would buy them time to infiltrate the rebellion and break up some of the propaganda which had been falsely circulating for far too long.

Vincent had been furious to learn rebels believed his father, King Frances, had murdered Roberto Russo. Along with Brayden and Craig, he had been there that night. All three of them were honorable vampires; Lance had no doubt they were telling the truth about what had happened.

When confronted about it during their imprisonment and before they’d been broken out, the younger Russo brothers, Marco and Luca, had been tight-lipped. The lie had been rolling around since 1891, and sometimes people just began believing their own bullshit.

Or they were too cowardly to speak the truth.

Now vampires were disappearing, which was a strange and unusual thing to happen. Vampires were strong and capable of surviving in a human-dominated world. Was it a coincidence this was happening so soon after their race had been exposed to the human race? Lance didn’t think so, and it gave him chills thinking about what that might mean.

Were the rebels responsible in any way? Normally it would be unthinkable to believe such a thing, but Stefano Russo wasn’t a normal vampire. He was a damn psychopath, and underestimating him had been to their detriment in the past.

They wouldn’t do it again.

Once they had Stefano, his life was over. The crimes against him were too great. And Lance wanted to be the one to do it. They were all itching to do it, and the final decision would be the king’s, if he didn’t do it himself, but Lance would be putting up a good argument to be the one to swing the sword that day.

He ran his hand along the silky skin on Sofia’s thigh, slipping under her skirt. He smiled as she wriggled against him. He calculated what it would take to relieve them both. About ten seconds. He’d rip her panties, yank down his pants, tug her under him, and sink inside her.

“Tease,” Sofia groaned.

“I know,” he said and heard the gravel in his own voice.

She had accepted him stopping yesterday, and he had seen the look in her eyes, but neither of them had spoken of it.

He had to wait.

He needed to be sure she could be trusted and there was no doubt. For either of them.

Or it would destroy him.

Two days later, the call finally came.

“Put it on speaker,” he growled as Sofia held up her phone, showing him the display.

She pushed answer.

“ Ciao , Stefano,” she answered with enough anguish in her voice to sound authentic.

“Thank God. Where are you?” Stefano demanded.

“At home.”

“You’re not safe there,” he stated. “I’m moving you.”

“They don’t know where I live,” she said, startled, looking at Lance. He shook his head. No fucking way was she going with him.

“They can find out soon enough. I will text you an address. I want you to pack your things, and I will send a few males to help move you in.”

Sofia’s eyes flew open, fear flooding her face.

Lance stepped over and pushed mute. Hurriedly, he said, “Tell him no fucking way, and that you do not trust him. That you’re not safe with him, or anywhere near him either.”

“Sofia!” the voice yelled.

She repeated what Lance had said, sans the curse, and they both listened as Stefano ranted.

“I’m staying here,” Sofia declared. “They’re more interested in finding you, Stefano. And apparently, there are vampires disappearing. I’m the last person on their list, I’m sure.”

There was a long silence.

Then finally, he spoke. “They won’t find the vampires.”

Sofia’s mouth fell open, and she stared at Lance as she spoke into her phone. “What have you done, Stefano? Where are they?”

Lance clenched his fists. He fucking knew this asshole was involved.

“Tell me, Sofia,” Stefano said instead of answering her. “Why did they move you? From the cells. Why did they single you out?”

Lance watched as she chewed on her bottom lip, and he wanted to punch the fucking phone. She glanced at him and then answered, looking down at the phone. “It was uncomfortable for me to be surrounded by the other males, unprotected, after what happened between us.”

More silence. Then.

“I have also been thinking about that night. About you. About what we did.”

Sofia’s eyes clenched shut and color bled from her face.

“I want you again, Sofia.”

Lance felt his face burn with fury. The fucker had completely misunderstood what Sofia meant. He thought she’d been pining for him, the fucking narcissistic asshole.

She turned into his chest, grabbing a handful of his shirt in her fist. Lance wrapped an arm around her lower back.

“Where are the vampires, Stefano?”

“There is much I need to share with you. I will be in touch.”

“Wait. Where are you—?”

The line went dead.

Sofia dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom, dry heaving.

“FUCK!” Lance screamed. He followed her into the bathroom as she was wiping her mouth and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her so tight he was sure she wouldn’t be able to breathe.

He might not fully trust her, but his feelings for her were growing stronger and more powerful every day. Hearing their enemy saying those words to his female made it even more real. How could he let her walk into that world again?

What’s up?

Tom was nearby and had obviously heard his outburst. The SLCs had all shared blood and could telepathically speak to one another.

Stefano just called. I’ll update everyone shortly.

Lance. What happened?

Just. Give me a fucking minute.

He took a few deep breaths to get his own emotions under control, then tilted Sofia’s face up to his. “Hey. You did well.”

“Did you hear what he said? He’s a lunatic.”

“Yup. He is. A dead fucking lunatic,” Lance growled.

Brayden and Craig teleported onto the balcony and knocked on the glass. Unhappily.

Thanks, Tom, you wanker.

Fuck you.

You don’t keep us in the dark.

“What happened?” Craig demanded as Lance opened the sliding door and they walked in.

Lance updated them on the conversation while the two vampires stood with legs spread and arms crossed.

“So he is responsible for the missing vampires. There are two more gone today that we know of,” Brayden said, shaking his head. “He’ll call back, Sofia. He clearly trusts you. I am sorry, but we need to capitalize on this.”

Lance bit his tongue. The way Craig was glaring at him, he knew he was on the edge of pulling him off the job. But she wasn’t just a fucking job.

“I know, and I will. It’s just...” Sofia began, looking the two enormous vampires in the eye and saying, “I can’t do this without Lance. I know what you are thinking, both of you, but you can’t take him away from me.”

Well, fuck.