CHAPTER ONE

A ri Moretti lifted his tumbler of whisky to his lips and took a drink of the liquid gold. Or otherwise known as Macallan.

“Relax, Oliver, I don’t blame you. Ben put you in a tricky situation,” he said, referring to his former head assassin who had recently left Seattle to return to Italy with his new mate, Anna.

Oliver shook his head. “When he called for the code of silence, I should never have agreed. He was always such a boy scout, you know.”

Ari shrugged. “It’s what mating males do: they’re insane.”

Oliver laughed and tilted his empty glass back and forth. “Another one?”

Ari looked around the dark, moody wine bar and nodded. It wasn’t packed, but it was a steady evening for the establishment. On the weekends, it pumped. Not that he frequented it as often as the other vampires that worked for him at The Institute.

While Oliver turned and ordered them another round, Ari found the familiar faces of the regulars and a few new ones. He was enjoying a night out; he didn’t do it enough.

After playing host to Ben and Anna in Italy, and then a few times while they were in the United States, Ari had found himself breaking out of his usual routine.

When you were as old as he was—fifteen hundred and twenty-two years—you had a high level of self-awareness. Part of that meant being really honest with yourself.

He had become a bit of a hermit in recent years. Happy with the life he’d created, Ari had gotten into a routine of training his assassins, sending them out on jobs, and being the guy behind the laptop. With a big group of researchers and tech, but still.

Sure, he occasionally went out and fucked, but he could take it or leave it.

What he wanted more than anything was to meet his mate. The bachelor lifestyle had long ago lost its glamour. He’d also lost all hope of finding him or her. He was the oldest vampire alive. He knew that as fact because he and his brother, Giorgio Moretti, had been the first two vampires.

They were the originals.

He was the sole remaining original vampire.

The first Moretti.

Well, technically, the second.

Giorgio had been born minutes before him, and Ari often wondered if that was why Gio had been able to procreate and meet his mate, while Ari never had.

If he could get an answer to that big fucking question, he would. He’d been asking a long damn time, and never found one.

So, yeah, he was keen to stay for a bit longer and throw a few more back. Plus, he had a reason for getting the young vampire out for a drink.

“There we go, sir,” the bartender interrupted his thoughts, sliding a new glass in front of him.

“Put them on my tab, please,” he instructed, and the guy nodded and left them.

“Anna is awesome,” Oliver said, turning to lean his elbow on the bar and watch the room. An assassin never turned his back completely. “It’s seriously fucked up what happened to her, but at least we know she’s safe now with Ben.”

Ari let out a small laugh. “Ah, yes. That poor girl is likely to be bubble-wrapped the rest of her life.”

Ben had proven to be quite the protective mate, and in Anna’s case, it was warranted. She had been one of the vampires kidnapped by humans and experimented on.

“So, with Ben gone, I wanted to speak to you about stepping into his role,” Ari said, turning to face the vampire.

Oliver’s glass lowered to the bar, and he cleared his throat. “Are you joking?”

Ari smiled.

“No.”

“I mean, yes. It would be an honor, sir,” he said, nodding.

“Good. You start on Monday. In the meantime, don’t fucking mate anyone.” Ari laughed.

“God, no. Seeing that shit up close scared the daylights out of me,” Oliver joked, feigning a shiver, and they grinned at each other.

Ari knew Oliver was only half joking. While mated males were crazy in love with their mates and their protective predator nature heightened, everyone aspired to be in their shoes one day. The unconditional love they experienced was unlike anything, except perhaps parenthood. But even then, Ari had to wonder.

His eyes flicked to a table in the corner where a woman sat with a small notebook and pen scribbling and tapping her pen on her teeth. Her hair was pulled on top of her head in what he’d heard females call a messy bun, which was highly accurate, and it exposed her neck beautifully.

Ari watched as the expression on her face changed from second to second as she appeared to be trying to work out a problem. She then dropped her pen in a frustrated fashion and lifted her glass of wine to her lips, taking a very long sip.

Rich mahogany eyes suddenly met his, and he felt his body heat.

Interesting.

He didn’t look away and nor did she.

“Hey, guys,” Jason, one of his other assassins, greeted as he sidled up beside Oliver. Three other agents joined them.

“’Sup, guys?” Oliver said. “Oh, by the way, I’ll be kicking your asses on Monday. Guess who’s the new head assa—”

His voice trailed off, realizing where they were.

“Ass?” Jason asked, slapping Oli on the shoulder. “Head ass is totally accurate. But congrats, dude. Well deserved.”

A round of congratulations filled the air, and drinks were ordered.

Ari stood. “I’ll be back.”

Oli glanced at the female Ari had been staring at and grinned. “She’s gorgeous.”

Ari nodded. “Yes, she is.”

He held back his smile as he walked across the room. Her nervousness was obvious... and warranted. Having a powerful original vampire stalk toward you was not for the fainthearted. And he was in hunter mode.

She would be his tonight.

And by the look on Oliver’s face, he might be sharing her. Yeah, he was totally up for that, and had a feeling the two of them would persuade her.

“Good evening,” Ari said, smirking as a blush covered her olive cheeks and she swallowed.

Oh yes, she would do for an evening.