CHAPTER THREE

“ Y up, okay, got it,” Anna Vitale said. Christ. Anna felt like she had ants in her pants. If only Sofia would stop with all the instructions.

She knew the beautiful woman was just doing her job and cared about her, but it was stifling.

Today was Anna’s first day at her new job. If only she could tell her friends she was working for King Moretti. It was an honour, to say the least.

How she’d come to live in the castle would be a little harder to explain—a story she was not permitted to share even if she could stomach it. The matter was highly confidential. Not that she had been in contact with her friends recently. Heck, she didn’t even have a phone—the thing had been lost when she was kidnapped.

That’s right. She had been kidnapped. By humans.

Something no one thought was possible before now. She was a vampire, much stronger than humans, after all. Though not as strong when compared to the male vampires she was surrounded by at Casa Moretti .

Hell, no. They were warriors.

But she had learned that her mother had assured her friends she was fine, away visiting her non-existent aunty in Mallorca.

I wish. A holiday in Spain sounded like bliss to Anna right now, and if that sexy vampire she’d met a few weeks ago went with her, even better.

My God, he was hot.

Anna’s heart rate sped up as she imagined him in long shorts and a sexy T-shirt, his tattoos,

and muscles on display as they danced long into the tropical hours of the morning.

Ben was one of those males who looked like he’d stepped right out of a Hollywood action movie.

So yes, she’d been fantasizing about him. How could she not? From the moment those dimples had made their appearance, her heart had not stopped fluttering.

Pathetic maybe, but the way Ben had looked at her and his parting whisper after she’d collapsed—and OMG she was so embarrassed about that—had heated her up from the inside out.

Ben.

Just his name made her shiver.

Sofia narrowed her eyes at her.

Shit. One downside of being a vamp—they could hear way more than humans. Including beating hearts.

“I’m so excited to get started,” Anna attempted to explain.

Sofia stared a moment, then nodded and continued. “Your security team will be with you until you return to the rehab center, so if you need me, just ask one of them to call me immediately.”

After Anna had collapsed, Sofia had been concerned about how she would react to being away from the rehab center, so they’d compromised and decided she would have a security team with her.

“They’re mostly there so you feel safe. Remember, there are no expectations, so if you want to leave at any point, simply excuse yourself, and they’ll bring you home.”

Home. It wasn’t really home, though Anna was incredibly grateful to the Moretti royal family for taking her in and caring for her. Especially when her family was, to put it bluntly, useless.

Anna understood more than anyone why they couldn’t offer her the physical or emotional support she required; they’d already lost one child in a traumatic way. But it still hurt. As a child, her sister had climbed onto a railing and fallen four stories. Of course, a vampire would usually survive such a fall with ease; however, when her father had run to the edge of the balcony, he’d been horrified to see his eldest daughter impaled on the spikes of a fence.

Freak accidents could happen to anyone.

Her father had been too slow to stop her mother from witnessing it; however, Anna had been saved the ordeal. But none of them had been saved from the grief of losing Caterina.

Anna’s parents had never forgiven themselves, and nothing was the same after that. Anna felt her parents had died inside, and every day of her life, she had wanted to scream at them and say, Hey I’m still alive and worthy of your love. But she hadn’t, and as the years went by, she adjusted and accepted it as part of her life.

Then she’d been kidnapped by humans doing experiments on vampires.

Anna had been unable to move while they did despicable things to her. She’d wished herself dead many times during that time. She’d even prayed to the human gods for someone to save her.

Eventually, her prayer had been answered.

While she was gone, her parents had thought she was dead. They had panicked. When the royal household had advised them Anna had been recovered from the lab (and been sworn to secrecy on the matter), they had been relieved and happy.

Then, as they all began to understand the type of care and recovery Anna would need, her parents had begun to withdraw. It’d happened slowly over the days and weeks that followed, but eventually, they’d began saying things like, “ You know your mother doesn’t have the resilience for this,” and “ What do we know about healing from this kind of thing? We’re not equipped. Perhaps you should have more professional help.”

Anna had sat quietly as Sofia explained to them that she did have the professional help she needed, and that all they had to do was be there for her and make her feel loved and supported. She’d watched the two of them glance at each other, desperate to escape.

In the end, they’d called and told Anna they were leaving to do some traveling for a while. They’d said they deserved a holiday after all they had been through, and now, with all that had happened to her, it had been hard on them. Too much.

She understood, didn’t she?

Anna had stared blankly at the wall and wished them happy travels. Her whole life, she’d put on a happy face and kept the peace. It was always about them, she was beginning to realize, and while she had been able to understand it when Caterina had died, now she was beginning to see things differently.

She needed them. And they had left.

Fury, hurt, and embarrassment filled her. She didn’t tell Sofia. What kind of parents deserted their child after something like this?

Hers.

Had it hampered her recovery? Yes.

Sure, she had a safe roof over her head, and Sofia was an amazing support, but all she wanted was her mother and father to wrap her in their arms and tell her she was safe. Loved. That they would protect her and never let anything like that happen to her again.

But they never, ever would.

Not that anyone could promise her that. Anna had discovered evil existed in the world, and once you’d seen it, you could never unsee it.

Anna wondered if she would ever feel safe again.

Her body might have healed, but inside, she was full of fear and pain. Sofia had been trying to get her to talk about what happened so they could deal with the emotional effects of being a human lab rat, but she didn’t see the point. She didn’t want to relive it. Not for a millisecond. She’d rather forget it and get on with her life.

Sofia had told her it wasn’t that easy; that there would be consequences in burying it. Until the day she’d met Ben, she hadn’t understood.

Overwhelmed by the conflict between him and several other senior Moretti soldiers, Anna’s head had spun. Not in that I’ve had far too many drinks tonight kind of way; instead, the cells in her brain had felt like they were misfiring.

Anna had collapsed.

It’d felt like she was in a blurry tunnel. She’d heard voices calling out to her, but there had only been one voice she’d focused on.

Ben’s.

His voice had felt comforting and...strangely safe.

Even Anna realized how crazy it sounded, given she’d met him minutes before. But when she’d opened her eyes, meeting his, the feeling had only strengthened.

She was well aware of the rich lust flowing between them, but any female knew that came with zero guarantee of safety. Sure, vampire males were more naturally protective than human men, but Anna knew that wasn’t what this was.

Perhaps she was just a damaged girl looking for a knight in shining armour to save her. After what she had been through, it wasn’t unrealistic to want to hide in that fantasy. A big, gorgeous male like Ben had hero written all over him. His dimples just sealed the deal.

In that moment, Anna had let herself melt into his arms. Close up, Ben was even more gorgeous. His body was hard, loaded with muscles, and so deliciously warm. The way he’d looked at her, the way he’d held her, made Anna feel like he would protect her to the death. She felt like the heroine in one of her smut books, and if she hadn’t already been on her ass, Anna knew she would have swooned.

And because it was her fantasy, Ben would have swept in and caught her. Then kissed her. Okay, so she wasn’t quite as confident he would have kissed her, but she really hoped one day he would.

Then the king had begun throwing around orders and instructed Sofia to take Anna back to the center. But not before Ben had grabbed her one last time. He had whispered a husky promise to see her again, which had set a million butterflies loose inside her tummy.

Anna had replayed it in her mind until she’d driven herself crazy.

He likes me.

Don’t be silly. It was just a friendly comment.

He just wants to fuck me.

He felt sorry for me after the fall.

He glanced at my boobs.

I’m too fat. The next time he sees me, he’ll be horrified.

Crash diet coming up.

He grinned at me in that way.

He’s my therapist’s brother. We can’t.

Sofia had been clear any type of distraction wasn’t healthy for her right now. Hello, had she seen her brother?

But it wasn’t just Ben she’d been referring to. It was males in general, along with dating, sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, blah, blah, blah.

Basically, anything addictive.

Ben was definitely her kind of drug, and one she was already addicted to.

It had been two weeks since she’d met Ben, and Anna had felt like she was going crazy just sitting around the rehabilitation center. She’d spoken to Sofia about it, and they’d agreed she could do some part-time work in the castle.

Anna was both nervous and excited.

“When will my phone arrive?” she asked, referring to her cell phone request.

Sofia swiped her own device as she hummed a few times. “Could be today. Someone from the tech team will drop it off here, or you can pick it up after work.”

Anna smiled. The tech guys were fun. She’d flirted with a few of them when they’d ordered it, gaining a frown from Sofia.

“Awesomesauce!” she exclaimed, doing a twirl. “So, how do I look?”

“Lovely,” Sofia said, smiling.

The two of them couldn’t be more different. Sofia was one of those classic-looking Italian women, always beautifully dressed in stylish outfits. Anna, on the other hand, considered her style to be one of creative chaos.

A little like abstract art, although perhaps a little less colorful.

Prior to being taken by the evil monsters, aka human scientists, Anna had worked as a vet nurse and spent most of her time in a pale-blue uniform.

It had taken some negotiation—and some mind control—but she’d secured an excellent job working the night shift in an emergency vet clinic. Her human colleagues appreciated her eagerness to work the hours they had no interest in.

Outside of work, Anna could be found wandering around night markets in a mishmash of outfits that often included one or more of the following: ripped jeans, colorful sneakers, boho-style tops, and leather jackets.

Anna glanced down at her denim overalls, which she wore over a black, tight tank top with pink converse, and mentally shrugged. She didn’t have a corporate wardrobe, but this would be fine for what she was going to be doing.

When Sofia had gone through Anna’s list of skills and she’d mentioned graphic design, Sofia had commented there was an opportunity to help out in the new PR office.

Willow and Brianna, by instruction of the king, were running the new team, and she was now part of it.

Anna was sad she wouldn’t be working with animals anymore, but this wasn’t permanent. She could return to it one day.

“Here they are,” Sofia said, turning as two males joined them. Both wore black Moretti uniforms with the iconic M embroidered on their left chest. “Anna, these are Timmy and Jordan.”

“Hey,” she greeted, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

“Nice to meet you,” they both spoke, and she noticed Jordan had a glint in his eyes when he smiled at her.

Sofia noticed. She stared at him until he coughed.

“If Anna wishes to return, or if anything happens, you bring her straight back here and alert me,” she instructed. Anna wasn’t used to hearing the female be so assertive, but she remembered Sofia had once managed a large group of vampires.

“Yes, ma’am. We have clear instructions and have been briefed on the situation,” Timmy said. “Today, we will both be with you, but afterward, we will take shifts.”

Jordan answered some questions which were thrown his way, and Anna was pleased to see he was taking the job seriously. He was cute, but not in the same league as Ben. At least, her body hadn’t reacted the way it had when Ben had smiled at her.

Not even remotely close.