CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

W hen Ben walked into the operations room, everyone was there, including the females. Even Kate and Vincent Moretti with baby Lucas.

He felt odd walking in, as if he were interrupting a family function. In some ways, he was. In addition to the newly expanded Moretti family, most of these vampires had been together for centuries.

“Ben,” Brayden said, turning and greeting him. “Have you been introduced to our queen yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Kate, this is Sofia’s brother, Ben Ferrero,” Brayden introduced, referring to the one female not present. Ben figured she was recovering after tonight’s event. “Ben, this is Kate Moretti.”

He lowered his head. “Your Majesty.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ben,” the queen replied. “As you can imagine, I’ve heard all that has been transpiring.”

He looked up and took in her warm smile and the cheeky glint in her eye. Ari had never met Kate in person, but of course, as queen, he had seen many videos and photos of her. Standing here in her presence, her power and grace was palpable.

“This is baby Lucas,” Willow piped up, turning while patting the baby vampire on the back as he lay on her chest.

Immediately, Ben saw the Moretti likeness in his features, and it was as if Ari’s eyes stared back at him.

Ben blinked and turned to Vincent.

“A very handsome prince, Your Majesties. Congratulations,” Ben said. To meet the new prince was both humbling and an honor.

It seemed criminal that Ari would never get to meet Lucas, which he guessed would be his nephew with a handful of greats before it.

“I think so, but some might say I am biased.” The king laughed, then cleared his throat and looked around at the group of vampires. “Now we are all here, I wanted to say you all did a great job tonight. It has never been my desire to be a bloodthirsty king, nor should I need to be in this modern age. However, as is the cycle of life, evil arises from time to time. Tonight was an important show of power and justice to our race.”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Craig interjected, then flinched. “Christ, sorry, fuck. Goddamn it.”

Kate shook her head, covering Lucas ears, and Ben laughed before he could stop himself.

Willow winked at him, and Brianna coughed into her hand. Ben glanced at Tom, Marcus, and Kurt, who were pressing their lips together humorously. Clearly, Kate was well respected by these males, and he wasn’t surprised.

“If I have to tell you all one more time, I swear to God...” the queen warned.

“Kate, come on,” the king all but whined. Ben watched with curiosity as he went from being a strong royal giving an important speech to a mate being told off by his female.

She sighed and took Lucas from Willow. “Let’s go, ladies. Clearly they cannot behave themselves.”

“Sorry,” Craig muttered.

Kate gave him a small smile as Brianna patted his chest and accepted the kiss he planted on her lips.

Brayden wrapped an arm around Willow’s lower back and pulled her against him, whispering something against her lips. She grinned, kissed him, and then followed the other females out.

Ben’s eyes drifted to the windows, wondering what Anna was doing. Sadness clouded his mind further.

“Ben?”

Huh?

“Sorry, Your Highness, can you repeat that?” he replied to the king.

“The prince has spoken to me about your plans. I’d like to understand your motives. Aside from respectfully wanting revenge for our lovely Anna.”

Ben’s hackles rose. She was his Anna.

But one did not leap at his king, so Ben gritted his teeth and let out a breath.

Craig smirked.

“Right. A fair question,” he answered, pulling his eyes away from the oversized vampire. Seriously, someone needed to tell the guy his body ratio was distorted. Ben decided he’d be the one to enlighten him...when they were somewhere they would break less stuff.

“One which I’m hoping you will answer,” the king said, crossing his arms.

Ben had thought about this long and hard. What he was going to share with the king, prince, and his senior warriors was likely going to shock them and raise more questions. Namely, where the fuck had Ben gotten his intel.

He had just gained their trust, and this could set them back. Yet, without telling them, it was possible the king wouldn’t approve his army’s assistance in this matter. As he’d just said, he wasn’t a bloodthirsty king, and most of the vampire race loved him for that.

Could he get to Diego on his own and kill him?

Possibly.

Could he do it with the Moretti’s’ help more effectively and get back to the United States faster? Yes.

Ben knew he was on thin ice with Ari Moretti, and if he extended his time in Italy any longer, there was a chance his future with The Institute would be at risk. Not that they didn’t have a solid relationship and history that could overcome something like this, but in the sort of business they were in, trust was everything. Ben knew he’d broken their trust with his choices, and yet, he wouldn’t change a thing.

He knew Ari would never have approved any of the decisions he’d made while he’d been in Italy. For good reason.

“Lombardo and his cronies are the main funders for the BioZen project, the lead project in charge of experimental tests on vampires,” Ben said.

“Which we stopped,” Brayden spoke.

“The Italian lab. There are others,” Ben replied. “Way before the Camp Darby lab in Tirrenia, there was one test subject in the United States. We do not know where it is, only that it exists.”

“Fuck,” Craig said as the others in the room cursed.

“Where is this information coming from?” the king ordered loudly, and Ben shook his head. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” the king growled.

Vincent glared at Brayden, who frowned. “This was our agreement. What else, Ben?” the prince asked.

“We don’t know who the vampire is, but we believe he is alive. They have had him for over six months,” Ben said and looked down at his feet, knowing how the males in this room were feeling right now.

Their curses got louder, and big, muscular bodies began to shuffle. Warriors like these males didn’t easily sit still at news like this. He himself had felt murderous, and lucky for him, it was his job to do exactly that.

“Motherfucker!” Vincent yelled.

“It gets worse, I’m afraid,” Ben continued, crossing his arms and widening his feet. “We have reason to believe they have been attempting to replicate our vampire powers using DNA replication techniques.”

He cleared his throat.

“The latest data shows they are ready to begin human trials, and that is what Tomassi is heading back to the United States to begin working on.”

Gray faces stared back at him.

“Have they?” Brayden asked, his jaw tight. “Replicated it.”

Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. There is possibly more data, but I am not privy to it.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Craig cursed, and for once, he agreed with the guy.

The king began to pace.

“This has to be stopped,” Vincent said. “I need to inform the US president and the...” He looked up at Ben and stopped speaking. “You know, this would be a hell of a lot easier if you would just fucking work for me.”

Ben let out a small laugh and nodded. “I know,” he said. “But Your Majesty, please know that my loyalty is to you as my king. With your permission and the help of these males, I want to eliminate Diego Lombardo, which I believe will substantially halt any progress.”

Although he wasn’t completely sure about that. Progress was already underway as far as he knew, but every single one of them deserved to go meet their maker.

“Who do you work for, Ben?” Vincent asked.

Ben shook his head. “Someone who is not your enemy, Your Majesty.”

Brayden stared at him in a knowing way, sending a chill down his spine. There was no way the prince could know. As far as he knew, Ari Moretti had died centuries ago.

The king shook his head and turned away from him, staring at the prince. It was obvious the two of them were telepathing, holding a conversation. Brayden continued to stare at Ben while it was taking place. Then his eyes moved to his brother. He nodded.

Vincent turned.

“You have my team’s support and my permission,” he said, his tone gruff. “On one condition.”

Ben raised a brow.

“You return to the castle afterward, before you leave the country,” Vincent ordered.

Ben stared at him a long moment. It was hardly a tough request, but Ben’s heart pounded. He’d just walked away from the female he was falling in love with, and the last thing both of them needed was to bump into each other in the hallway. Ben had just told her he would never see her again.

Ugh.

He nodded.

The king nodded back at him.

Ben didn’t know why the king wanted to see him afterward, but if that’s what it took to eliminate this monster and keep Anna safe, then he would do it.

Anna and all the vampires on the planet.

Because as much as it was personal for him, Ben knew this was much bigger than just her. It was why he was here in the first place, and he hadn’t forgotten that.

What he hadn’t shared was The Institute’s assassins in the States were intercepting Xander Tomassi. Unfortunately, Ben was cut off from any team updates, so he had no idea what the current status of that was.

He didn’t dare reach out to Oliver and compromise his friend further.

“And make it look like it was a human assassination. This is a president, for God’s sake. I want no connection back to any one of you,” Vincent said, staring at every single face in the room, including his. “Many of the world leaders know about us now, so we are on dodgy ground doing this.”

Ben was surprised to hear this.

“ That is highly classified,” Vincent warned, pointing at him.

Ben nodded. “Yes, sir.”

With that, the king let them get on with their mission.

“Game on,” Kurt said, and fist-bumped with Marcus.

Ben grinned.

brAYDEN TURNED AWAY from the map on the wall and looked at his males.

“Okay, so we teleport in there and stick to the plan,” he said. “Tom, Marcus, you two stay on the ground here. I can’t have our entire senior team off-site and leaving the royal family unguarded.

Ben raised a brow at him in question, and Brayden waved him off. “I’m the captain right now, not the prince.”

Craig laughed.

“You know what I mean. It’s not just the king and queen anymore. There’s the princess and Lucas,” Brayden clarified. Hopefully, one day he and Willow would be adding to the Moretti family. Damn, his mate was rubbing off on him.

“Lance, if you want to remain here with Sofia, that’s okay,” Brayden offered.

They all watched as the vampire had a quick telepathic conversation with his mate before he nodded.

Brayden gave a quick nod back. “Weapon up the team. We depart in twenty,” he ordered, turning to Ben. “I’m assuming you have your own gear.”

The younger vampire confirmed he did. “Yes, sir.”

Brayden slapped him on the shoulder and left his team to get ready.

He had a pending conversation with his brother before they teleported to the kill point. One he probably should have had a few days ago.