CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

T hree, two, one.

On Brayden’s count, they barged into the building despite the strong feeling and growing evidence that they’d been duped.

The doors crashed down, and they stood staring around the offices of Donza Assicurazioni , a leading Italian insurance company.

It seemed unlikely it was the front for the vampire rebellion, but the intel had sounded good. That was, until they’d arrived at the human-occupied building at 8:00 p.m. and watched the last of the office workers head home. Desks, computers, phones, files, and watercoolers greeted them.

“Check the entire floor and the stairwells,” he directed. The green team spread out while he relaxed his rifle. Beside him, the prince did the same.

“You surprised?”

“A little,” Brayden said. “How they keep dodging us, I don’t know.”

Think we have a traitor?

Starting to. You?

He nodded.

“Nothing here, Houston. Teams, evacuate,” Craig said, pressing his earpiece.

“Roger that, International Space Station,” Kurt replied from the ops room at Casa Moretti .

Brayden and Craig shared a small grin. The guy was a smart-ass.

One thing Craig knew was that the traitor wouldn’t be one of his SLCs. They’d all worked together for centuries. While the king’s advisor, Regan, had been a surprise, none of their soldiers would make the same mistake. Hell, if they were going to suspect anyone, it would be Tom. His mate was related to the Russo’s. But like the others, Craig and Brayden trusted him implicitly.

One thing about vampires was that they were pretty loyal. Unlike with humans, there was no infidelity in the vampire race. Once you mated, you were with that vampire for life.

And the majority of the race was loyal to the royal family. They had no religion because when you were immortal, you looked to who had given you life. For the vampire race, that was the Moretti family. The first vampire, who had originated in Italy—or what would eventually become Italy—near the beginning of time, thousands of years ago, was their source of life. The original Moretti king.

It was only when he had chosen to leave his life that he had passed on the crown to Brayden’s father, Frances Moretti. One day, he supposed Vincent would do the same. Immortality didn’t mean you chose forever; it meant you could choose forever. There was a difference.

“I’m porting back. Clean up here, and I’ll see you in an hour for briefing,” Brayden said before he vanished.

Craig joined his team, scouting the spacious floor and finding nothing suspicious. They hacked into one computer to be certain, but when the vampire tech shook his head, he called it a day.

Most of the team was now standing around, waiting for instruction while looking like the mean-ass males they were, head to toe in black and layers of weapons on them despite being vamps.

Twirling his finger in the air, he let out a low whistle. “Let’s wrap this up and head back. Team leaders in the briefing room in ten.”

Nods.

“Terrance, Frankie, put that damn door back on.”

“Yes, sir.”

An hour later, he was leaning against the wall near Brayden, who had led the briefing. The air was thick with questions. Either the rebellion was a bunch of steps ahead of them, or they had a traitor in the mix.

“Go back to the source. I want to know who spoke to them within the hour,” Brayden demanded to the three team leaders, angry. “We need to get ahead of this or more lives will be lost. Rest of you, get back out in the field and put ears to the ground.”

The team pushed away from the walls and other leaning spots, and headed out.

When the room was empty, Craig closed his laptop and pushed his chair under his desk. After a nod to the prince, he took off to find Brianna.

“Craig.”

He stopped at the door.

“Remember when I was in denial about Willow being my mate?”

Craig raised one eyebrow and turned. “Gee, let me think back to all those weeks ago, to that super fun time.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you back.”

A small smile formed on the captain’s face. “My point is, it might be worth you reflecting on that.”

Craig shook his head. “Not the same, Bray.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t think you had already had a mate for hundreds of years. And had lost her.”

The guy tilted his head and stared for a moment.

“Tell me, have you spent every day of your life pining after Marie? Like you couldn’t breathe without her?”

Craig narrowed his eyes and went to respond, but the prince kept talking.

“Because I haven’t seen that, and let me tell you, my friend, if Willow had left me...” He couldn’t even finish the sentence, his head shaking and a shadow crossing his eyes.

“I get it. But what I did, Bray.”

“You need to let it go. Forgive yourself. You are a damn good vampire. That female would be lucky to have you if she is yours.”

He stared.

“Let me deal with Willow. And you can damn well owe me if I have to,” Brayden said, punching him in the arm as he walked past him.

“Oh, hey, please give the king our apologies at mealtime. We’re going out.”

Brayden turned. “You taking her on a date?”

“Sure, yeah, why not?” He shrugged.

Brayden grinned and walked off, muttering, “ How cute.”

Craig growled and locked the door behind him.

Fucking royals.