CHAPTER FOUR

B en pressed his thumb against the scanner and acknowledged the security guys with a quick lift of his chin all, hey, bro.

They returned the greeting with their own slower, suspicious nod. He understood—the last time he’d been here, they had witnessed the conflict between him and Craig.

The commander was a highly respected male in the Royal Army, and with loyalty at the heart of every warrior, challenging their superior made him immediately unpopular. Lucky he wouldn’t be here long enough for it to matter.

And in ten minutes, he would be their superior.

If Ben could turn back time...nah, he’d still have wound Craig up. He just couldn’t help himself.

Was he cocky? Maybe. But could one truly be cocky when they were better trained and could back it up?

Fuck , Ari would beat his ass for this kind of thinking.

But hell, he was. He’d spent seventy years at The Institute being trained and mentored by the best.

Ari Moretti.

There was no one better.

Ben was strong, fast, and deadly. You wouldn’t see him coming; it was why he was Ari’s top assassin.

So why did he run his damn mouth whenever the commander was around? Ari had taught him better than that, but the guy’s sense of superiority irked him.

Ben had to rein it in. He could never challenge the large vampire and show him what he was capable of, so he had to park his fucking ego.

Craig had already eyed his body and warrior stance, not that of an everyday soldier; males like him had something extra. And while Craig had noticed it, questioned it, and could continue doing that, he wouldn’t be getting any damn answers.

Ben was here to do a job.

Well, two jobs.

If it was appropriate to put Anna on his to-do list, which he very much had, he was going to do her all day long as soon as he had the chance.

He smirked as he walked along the hallway to the security office. Just as he went to push the door open, it was ripped out of reach.

“You’re here,” the rough voice said.

Oh, great, look who it was—the big man himself dressed in his own Moretti onesie.

Ben zipped his lips.

“Reporting for duty...Commander,” he replied, failing to keep a tone from his voice that was guaranteed to rile the vampire.

“Drop your things behind the desk and follow me,” Craig instructed. “Oh, and Ferrero, leave your fucking smirk behind.”

Asshole.

“Why? Does it get your panties wet too?” He gave the commander his best Colgate whites, then shook his head at himself when Craig just walked away growling, Keep up.

Jesus, why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut around this guy.

Ben’s eyes darted around as Craig led him down the hall to another office. This door required a thumbprint on a scanner, and inside were a handful of desks, computers, and a whole bunch of digital screens on the walls.

He knew exactly where he was. This was the senior operations room.

“He’s all yours, Kurt,” Craig told him as if it was his turn to take out the trash.

“Welcome aboard, Ben,” Brayden Moretti said in greeting, standing up from his desk. Ben went to bow at the royal, but he was stopped. “No need for any of that here. Inside this office, I’m the captain.” He reached out his hand, and they shook.

“Thank you, Captain,” Ben said.

“Sofia sends her hellos,” Lance De Luca piped up with about two hundred ounces of reluctance.

He held back a grin and nodded. But fuck, it was hard not to smile. These males were completely unhappy about him being here, except for the prince.

Brayden seemed like a good guy. He was, after all, related to Ari, and Ben could see a very strong resemblance, just as he had with the king. A thing he should not be fucking thinking about.

“This is Kurt. Lance, you’ve met. Tom and Marcus,” Brayden introduced while Craig slouched in his chair across the room, glaring at him.

More hands were shaken.

“Welcome to the team,” Tom said. “You’ve been living in the States, right?”

He nodded, not offering any more information. “That’s right.”

“Which state?” Craig asked.

Ben was prepared for the questions. He wasn’t trained as a spy, but being an assassin, he often traveled the world adopting other personas to slip in and out of places. This was different, though. They knew he was Sofia’s brother; they knew his real name, and they had the technology to search for his digital footprint, which they wouldn’t find.

The king would have known all of this before he hired him.

The trick was to tell the truth without telling the truth.

“West Coast,” he replied.

“Not a state,” Craig countered.

Just as he was going to congratulate the guy for being a genius, the door opened and a voice bellowed, “Ferrero! Welcome aboard.”

This time, he did bow, and no one stopped him. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Vincent Moretti glanced around the room. The king was sharp as a tack. He’d been the king of their race for as long as Ben had been alive.

Despite his loyalty to Ari, Vincent was his king, and like those before him, a beloved one. Ben had once made his way to the royal household, though he had never made it. In some ways, it was kind of ironic he found himself working for both Moretti’s and neither of them knew.

“Great to have you here,” Vincent said. “If you can all sort out your trust shit, you’ll be a great asset to the team.”

This time, Ben did smirk, dropping his face to hide it. And failing.

“Yeah, that isn’t gonna help, son.”

“Yes, sir.”

The king was referring to the meeting during which he’d offered Ben his new position, right after he’d met Anna.

“ So, who are you, Ben? ” the king had asked.

“ Just a vampire visiting his sister ,” he’d replied. It was the truth. He was visiting Sofia, and he was a vampire. “ I’ve already told your senior team who I am and what I do. ”

Which was also true. When he’d visited Sofia at her apartment, her mate and his pals had cornered him and interrogated him for hours. Okay, fine, about an hour.

“ And basically, told them nothing ,” Prince Brayden interjected, standing at the king’s side. He’d heard the two brothers were close, but seeing them together like this just reinforced the rumours. Ben had been trained to assess people, and there was one word he’d use for these two brothers: Impenetrable.

Not in the sexual way.

Craig had entered the meeting and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. His eyes had landed on him and remained there, glaring.

Ben had shrugged. “ Nothing much to share. I’ve been touring the States, surfing, training, and just staying out of sight. ”

“ We understand you left the family ,” Vincent said in question.

He nodded.

“ As I told your team, I disagreed repeatedly with my father’s support of the rebellion. Without wanting to sound like a kiss-ass, Your Majesty, I believe the royal structure serves the race well. And you are a great king. ”

Craig snorted.

Ben shot him a look. He still had energy running through his veins after holding Anna in his arms. He wanted to know she was safe and protected. If not for his trust in his sister, he’d be knocking heads and punching through walls.

They had a stare off for a few more seconds, then the king slammed his fist on the table.

“ Alright, you two, knock it off ,” he growled. “ Clearly, you’re a warrior, Ben Ferrero, and have your reasons for not telling us who you have been trained by. ”

Ben stared blankly at the king. It was these questions he would not answer. Ever. If he had to, he would walk, and find another way to see Anna again.

Is that why he was here?

“ Do we have any reason to mistrust this male ?” he asked the prince and the commander.

“ You mean apart from the fact he’s secretive as fuck and has lied? ”

Ben spun around. “ I have never once lied. ”

“ Then who do you work for? ” Craig demanded, leaning forward.

“ You think I work for the rebellion ?” Ben scoffed, not answering the question, raising his brows. “ I left my fucking family because of those assholes. ”

“ Then I’ll ask you again. Is there any reason we should not trust you? ” the king asked.

Ben shook his head. “ No, Your Majesty .”

Vincent turned to Brayden, the two sharing some words telepathically, no doubt.

“ Listen, I just wanted to see my sister. I meant no trouble. If it’s easier, I will visit her outside the castle ,” Ben offered in an attempt to get the hell out of there. It was too close for comfort, and Ari would be spitting tacks if he could see him right now. He had a job to do, and so far, he wasn’t making a lot of progress.

Every day, the risk of these evil bastards harming vampires on a larger scale than anyone in this room knew was becoming greater.

“ How are you with a gun? ” Brayden asked, turning to him.

Better than you, he wanted to reply, but as Ari had trained the prince, it was unlikely. “ Not bad .”

“ Sword? ” Brayden continued.

Excellent. Along with every other weapon you can think of.

“ Well, it’s not 1785, but I can swing one around. Why? ”

“ I want you on my team, ” Vincent declared, and Ben’s eyes shot to his hairline.

What the fuck? He hadn’t been expecting that. Not in a million years.

“ I’m sorry, what? ” Ben asked.

“ Come and work on my team, ” Brayden repeated, backing up the king. “ When I spot good males, I recruit them. Clearly, you have training—excellent training—and you know how to keep your mouth shut. Two good attributes. ”

He stared at the prince blankly.

“ I found this guy years ago and trusted my gut. Never regretted it, ” Brayden said, indicating Craig.

“ You might in a minute, ” Craig grunted.

Ben turned to the commander and took in the pained look on his face. God, it was tempting to accept just to make his life miserable.

But that wasn’t why he was considering the shocking offer. Although it was mad, given who and what he was, Ben saw this as an opportunity to get some intel he may not have access to otherwise. And yes, it got him closer to Anna, and he couldn’t say no to that. Despite the price he was going to pay for it.

What he didn’t know was which of those reasons was the biggest driver for his next words.

“ When do I start? ”

Ben shook his head, returning to the present. “We’ll play nicely, I promise.”

“There are no games in the Royal Army, Ferrero,” Craig said. “You fuck up; you die.”

“Do I look like I don’t fucking know what I’m doing?” Ben snapped without thinking. Did the guy think he was a newbie?

Shit.

Craig smirked.

Fuck, the guy was prodding him, and he’d just won a round.

“Come on, let’s get your induction started,” Kurt interrupted, indicating the door. “See you all back here for the ops meeting.”

“Yeah, fuck,” the king grunted, rubbing his hand over his mouth. “Decision time.”

“Yep, no more fucking procrastinating, Vince,” Brayden said.

“I want—” Lance began, but the king held up his hand.

“I know what you want, De Luca, but let’s wait until the meeting.”

The king turned their way, and Kurt nodded before leading Ben out of the room.

“What was that about?” he asked the senior warrior. Kurt was one of four SLCs—or senior lieutenant commanders—and they were all famous among the females in their race. Pinup boys or some shit. He’d heard about them all his damn life. Apparently, there was Team Kurt, Lance, Marcus, or Tom.

And now his goddamn sister had mated with one of them. He guessed that made her Team Lance.

He cringed.

Kurt gave him a small smile. “Your brother-in-law wants Russo’s head. Rightly so, after what happened.”

“You were there?” Ben asked. “On the op that got her out?”

“Yup.” Kurt nodded his head as his lips bunched. “The fucker deserves to burn—you know, if flames could kill us.”

Which they couldn’t.

Ben felt anger rush through him. Anger and regret. If he’d been here, if he’d stayed with the family, perhaps Sofia never would have been hurt by Stefano to start with.

“So, what’s with the decision? Is it happening or not?”

Kurt shrugged. “We’re waiting on the king.”

“To decide who does it?” He figured it was a beheading. That was the law.

When Kurt kept silent, he stopped walking. The vampire turned.

“Don’t tell me he’s considering not doing it at all?” Ben asked, anger and surprise lacing his words.

The senior soldier placed his hands on his hips. “I’m not telling you anything. The king will make his decision, and it will be final. Neither you nor I get to interfere with that.”

If he were anyone else, Ben would have agreed with that.

But he wasn’t.

He was an assassin.

If the king wouldn’t execute the male responsible for sexually abusing his sister, twice , then Ben would be quite happy to take on a little side job; except this one wouldn’t be a clean shot. He’d torture the fucker.

“Sure. She’s my sister, you know?”

Kurt nodded, accepting his reaction. “I get it. We all hate the asshole and have our reasons to want to swing that blade.” He shrugged. “If it were my decision, Lance would be the one. Sofia is his mate.”

Ben couldn’t disagree with that. Mates trumped everything in their race.

“It must have been sickening to be there. How did he deal?” Ben asked. “I mean, don’t give me fucking details, but damn, that must have killed him.”

Kurt nodded knowingly. “Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” They wandered through more halls, Kurt pointing out key areas and security points. “We unplugged him from the comms during the op. It was Craig who saw Russo on her.” Kurt glanced at him. “Lance doesn’t know that. I mean, he probably does, but it’s not dinner conversation. You feel me?”

“Gotcha. And no, it’s not like I want to discuss my sister being abused over a chicken salad.”

“Salads? With guns like those? I don’t fucking think so.” Kurt laughed.

Ben grinned, not looking at the guy. “Sure, I eat salad. Nicoise salad. Eggs are a great protein.”

“Whatever, dude.”

TWO HOURS LATER, KURT had taken him around the castle and introduced him to about three hundred damn vampires. While Ben was trained to retain information, damn if he was going to remember all these names. Although he had the important ones plugged in.

Beside him, Kurt slowed, and his eyes glazed for a moment, an expression all vampires were familiar with. It generally indicated they were speaking telepathically to someone else.

“We have to make a quick detour,” Kurt finally said.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“The tech team just need a thumbprint, and we’re close, so I volunteered,” Kurt answered.

Ben nodded and followed. “I’ve noticed very few vamps teleporting around here. I thought it would be more prevalent.”

There were very few places on earth which were vampire-only locations, and Ben had always imagined Moretti castles would be a place you could let loose and be all you were. They did at The Institute.

“Yeah, it’s a nightmare. There’s over one thousand vampires in this castle alone. There were some accidents about a century ago, so Vincent put guidelines in place,” he explained. “Some do, but it’s not encouraged unless it’s an emergency.”

Interesting.

“This won’t take long,” Kurt said as he scanned through another door. “We’ll set up your security protocol while we’re here. You only had access to the front door.”

Good to know how far the trust went.

“Sure.”

The room they’d entered was large. It looked like any corporate IT department: desk after desk with laptops and desktops scattered around full of vampires with headsets, which he assumed were offering tech support to the royal teams around the world.

“Does this team also manage VampNet?” Ben asked. VampNet was their own private intranet, available exclusively, obviously, to vampires. It ran on the dark web. No matter where you were in the world, vampires could get their communications from the Moretti royal family. There were also private groups and social spaces for conversation and sharing.

“Yup.”

A vampire poked his head out of an office and lifted his arm. “Kurt.”

Kurt spotted him and began walking his way. “Feel free to have a look around. I’ll just be a minute.”

Ben was about to do just that when he heard a voice. A sweet-as-honey voice. His entire body reacted.

Inside the office Kurt was heading toward, Ben could see the back of her pretty blonde hair. She flicked it over her shoulder and laughed, causing every nerve ending in his body to sit up and pay attention.

Anna.

Kurt must have said something because she turned to answer, and she saw Ben. Their eyes met, and her sweet, rosy lips fell open. His cock turned to stone. Somehow, his feet had begun walking toward her, and now his brain was catching up.

Her face tilted up when he got closer to accommodate his height, and he loved that he towered over her. Right now, all he wanted to do was scoop her up and carry her away. Like a fucking caveman.

Ben’s eyes cast over her body, taking in the sexy-as-fuck denim overalls and tight, low-cut top she wore under it. The damn thing fit snugly across her breasts so perfectly, making his fingers itch to reach under the loose blue denim and cup them in his hands.

He smiled at her, and she blushed.

God, he wanted to see her flushed like that after an orgasm.

“Hello again.” Ben smirked, loving how much his presence affected her.

“Hello, dimples,” she greeted, and his smiled widened. “Fuck, I mean Ben. Sorry, I have a brain injury. I think.”

Her faced turned bright red. Never had an embarrassed, babbling female been so attractive.

Kurt gave them an odd look, then walked around the desk to a machine where he pressed his thumb onto a panel. The tech guy began rambling about stuff, distracting the SLC.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ben turned to Anna. His need to touch her was overwhelming. He blinked, tapping into his decades of training, and told his body to behave.

Damn, but she had a powerful effect on him. This was highly unusual.

He took in the two security males standing nearby who were focused on Anna.

“They’re my security,” she whispered, almost like it was a secret.

Ben leaned in closer and whispered back, “What did you do?” Anna giggled, and he wanted to beat his chest like super-fucking-man. “Nothing. They’re protecting me.”

Ben tilted his head. “From?”

Her eyes darted away, that same dark look he’d seen when she collapsed back. “Hey, you don’t have to say.” His hand reached out and landed on her arm, and he saw the two males standing up taller, looking alert.

Interesting.

He removed his hand and gave them a nod of acknowledgement.

“Do you work here now?” Anna asked. When he nodded, she continued, “Which wing do you reside in?” Her pretty blush was back.

“None. I stay outside the castle.” There was no way he could give up the privacy of his apartment. He still had a hit to complete, and...a secret life. In reality, Ben knew he would only be here a few days. A week or two at most.

The tech guy handed Anna her phone and showed her how it worked.

“While you’re here,” the guy told Ben, “We have yours ready to go also, Mr. Ferrero.”

His eyes widened. He had no idea they were going to supply him with a phone. He’d have to check it for tracking or other security protocols to ensure it didn’t have anything that would cause an issue. And if he found anything, that would be an issue. Disabling it would create questions.

Kurt nodded at the phone. “All our phones have Moretti security loaded. You’ll need to use it for all royal business. You might want to ditch yours.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“Thanks,” he answered, taking the phone and not committing to anything.

“Here’s your number and codes so you don’t forget, but it’s best if you destroy this in twenty-four hours,” the tech dude said, handing him and Anna a sheet of paper. “Another swipe here, please, Kurt.”

As Kurt leaned over to do the job, Ben took his phone, swiped up, and opened the camera. He reached out and took a screenshot of Anna’s phone number.

She looked up at him in surprise. He winked, and she blushed, shaking her head with a grin.

For a moment, the air thickened between them as their smiles faded to desire. For a second, maybe more, their eyes dilated, and that delicious, unspoken lust was there once more. Anna slowly swallowed, and his eyes drifted to her creamy neck. Ben felt his fangs ache and body begin to move closer.

Fuck.

A throat cleared behind them. Her fucking security. Ben straightened.

“Let’s go,” Kurt prompted.

Ben contemplated knocking every single vamp in the room out so he could press Anna up against the wall and slam his lips on hers. The SLC was probably his only challenge. The guy would give a good fight before going down.

Instead, he winked at her and said a broad farewell to the others in the room.

“You know she’s off-limits, right?” Kurt asked as the door closed behind them.

“Is she?” Ben replied lightly, as if it meant nothing. As if his cock wasn’t ready to jump out of his pants and yell, Fuck you, she’s mine.

“Yeah, dude. Very fucking much.”

Ben liked Kurt. The guy was open, friendly—for an SLC—and up-front. After a few hours together, he was getting used to his straight talk. But that comment? There was no confusion. Which just created more questions in his mind.

Why did a sweet vampire like Anna have two security guards inside a Moretti castle? Why was she working with his sister? And why had they both lied to him about what she was doing there?

Yeah, he had a built-in bullshit detector. He’d been trained to sniff that shit out.

Who the hell was this female? Aside from someone he wanted to sink his cock into. Was she the danger? Or was she in danger?

So many questions. He didn’t like questions; he preferred answers.

Ben had every intention of getting them.

And his lips on hers.