CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

S age placed her thumb on the panel to access the foyer to her new offices. The second door activated when it picked up her biometric chip.

Her heart was racing with nerves.

When she’d woken, everything came flooding back. She’d burst into tears, sobbing. If ever there was a day to have a sickie, today was the day.

Yet it wasn’t.

Yesterday had been one of the most shocking and emotional days of her life. Vampires were real.

Wow!

Sage had been shocked. She’d also felt incredibly fortunate to be one of the few people on the planet to find out and to be part of a team of scientists selected to learn more about it. This was what she did, animal health, and it was clear now why she’d been awarded the promotion.

It was an honor.

Now, if what Ari had said was true, she had a big decision to make. It changed everything.

Her reason for being a scientist was to progress human knowledge and discover new things. Sometimes that meant sacrifice. She’d been part of a team of students at university working on a project to eliminate live testing on animals in labs, but it was still some time away from being widely available.

While at times it was still part of her job, never did she torture the animals.

Ari had made it sound like BioZen was using this Callan in unethical ways and torturing him. Sage couldn’t believe it. The company had sound policies on things like this, and if he had expected her to just pack up her job and leave, he was mistaken.

Ari.

So vampires were real... and she was sleeping with one of them. As in sex. Having sexual intercourse with a being from another species.

Jesus F. Christ.

Even worse, Sage had to acknowledge she had feelings for him. Lust, yes. In spades. But there was more. She’d been fighting it for days and it had only grown stronger.

Tonight she was meant to be going on a date with Carl, and it was the last thing she wanted. Ari had told her to cancel it, but she hadn’t. Now she was going to do it for a different reason.

Her life was in turmoil.

Sage carried her box of office things into her new office and placed it on her sparse desk. The only thing on it was the new laptop, which she’d been told had new security protocols for the project.

“Good morning, Sage,” Sandy said, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Hi,” Sage replied, wringing her hands.

“Once you’re unpacked, meet us in meeting room three. We are taking all new recruits on a tour.” She pushed away from the door. “Leave your mobile device in your office.”

Sage nodded and chewed her bottom lip as Sandy walked off. This is it. If there was a live subject, then she was about to see it. She sat down in her chair.

“Oh, God,” she murmured quietly.

What if Ari was right? What if she couldn’t do this and had to leave her job?

She couldn’t stay, could she? There was no way she could watch a living, breathing being—someone like Ari or Oliver—suffer. There was no price.

That was human trafficking.

But with vampires.

There might not be a law protecting them—because no one knew they existed—but there should be.

Who would she tell?

Sage could hardly call the police and be all like, so hey, we have a vampire at work, and it looks like he’s been kidnapped. Vamp-napped?

God.

They’d think she was insane.

In any case, even the police wouldn’t get access to this area without a very solid warrant. What judge would give them one? What evidence could she produce to convince a judge there was a vampire being kept in the BioZen laboratory?

She felt completely out of her depth.

Perhaps she should text Ari?

For all she knew, he hadn’t completely written her off already. Though he’d disappeared last night without another word, leaving her distraught and confused.

She pulled out her phone and stared at their last messages. Her stomach cramped, which it always did when she was stressed.

First, she’d find out the truth.

Sage slipped her phone down the side of her bra. No way she was going in there and not having her phone with her to gather evidence if this was happening.

She walked into the meeting room and planted a smile on her face.

“Good morning.”

She recognized the two other team members who had also joined the team.

“Do you all know each other?” Sandy asked, sipping her coffee.

“Kind of.” Murray smiled and reached across the table to shake her hand. “Murray Campoza. This is Jenny Richardson.”

“Hey,” she said, shaking both their hands.

“Isn’t this crazy?” Jenny said, sitting back in her chair.

“I know.” Sage smiled, pleased for a moment to be able to share this incredible situation. “Mind-boggling.”

Dr. Phillips stepped into the room with another scientist. Sage hadn’t seen him before, but he looked pale from a lack of sunlight, and rather unfriendly.

“Good morning, everybody. Sorry to rush you, but we need to get the induction started as I am flying out this afternoon,” Dr. Phillips said. “This is Brian. He’s the lead scientist in the Callan lab. We’ll be showing you around this morning. Please follow all his instructions.”

Brian stared at them for a long moment. “We’ll need you all in PPE gear after you’ve scrubbed.”

There was nothing new about any of that. It was a common procedure to scrub and sterilize beforehand, just as a hospital would. Then they layered up with protective gloves, masks, and hairnets.

They were rushed down a few corridors and through two more highly secure check points which had security guards on them.

“As we showed you in the presentations, this project has been running for approximately six months,” Dr. Phillips said. “We’ve had a number of locations around the world working on analyzing the data we’ve retrieved.”

Sage tried to take in all the areas they walked through and so far, nothing looked terribly exciting. People in white lab coats, gloves, and masks, just as she was.

Then everything changed.

A door swished open, the sound indicating to all of them they were in an air-controlled environment.

Sandy stopped in front of them and turned. “What you are about to see is a real-life vampire.”

Sage’s stomach lurched.

“There is no reason to be afraid. He is substantially weakened and cannot harm you,” Sandy continued.

Jenny and Murray asked a number of questions while Sage drew in slow, steady breaths to stop herself from vomiting.

“Sage,” Brian said.

“Hmm?” she replied, looking up.

“Do you have any questions?”

She shook her head. Probably too fast. “No. Mmm mm. Nope,” she replied. “Just taking it all in.”

Sandy stared at her, but it was hard to determine what she was thinking under her blue mask. Sage held the woman’s gaze until she turned. “Brian, lead the way.”

“Your job will be to take daily samples from the subject,” Dr. Phillips said as they entered a room which looked like a viewing room inside a police station.

Inside the space there were monitors and computers, with all kinds of beeping and noises going on. It was clear they were monitoring and recording data from whatever was beyond the large glass windows.

Sage lifted her eyes.

Lying on the bed in a sparse room was a large man. Except Sage knew it was no man. This was a vampire.

It was Callan. It had to be.

She held back a gasp.

“Can he hear us?” Jenny asked.

“Yes,” Brian replied. “He has advanced hearing compared to humans, so he will be able to hear you.”

“What if we whisper?” Sage asked. “How much more powerful are their senses?”

“We estimate around twenty-five times the strength of humans, so, yes, if you whisper, Callan will hear you,” Dr. Phillips replied.

Callan.

It was him.

Ari had been right.

“Remarkable,” Murray said. “Is he resting because it’s daytime? How close to fiction have you found their species to be?”

Sandy and Dr. Phillips shared a look which sent chills down Sage’s spine. Nothing about this felt right. Sage wanted to knock on the window and ask if Callan was okay. She might not be a doctor or expert on vampires, but even she could see from here he didn’t look well.

“Coincidentally, fiction writers have been very close, with a few exceptions. They are sensitive to daylight and therefore slumber during the day,” Dr. Phillips shared. “Callan has been with us for a while now.”

How long?

Had he volunteered as she’d asked yesterday?

Sage didn’t want to ask. She knew the truth like she knew her own name.

Another part of her reality shattered before her very eyes.

Before she knew what was happening, words began to fall from her lips. “Did you say he volunteered?” she asked, staring at the vampire while silence fell around her.

That was all the answer she needed.

Sandy began explaining they had a volunteer program run by a top-secret government department, but Sage knew all she had done was not answer her question.

Then she saw Callan’s eye twitch.

Oh, my God.

“Well, let’s move on, shall we?” Brian said.

Sage let everyone move ahead of her before she quietly whispered, more quietly than she ever had in her life.

“ I will get you out. I know vampires .”

Callan opened one eye and stared directly at her.

ARI RIPPED OFF HIS headphones and cursed.

“He’s there,” Oliver said.

“We have to get in there.” Craig stood. “Darren, how’d you get on cracking that system?”

Oliver gave Ari a quick glance while Darren carried on tapping.

Ari ignored them all. His heart was thumping. He’d heard Sage’s whisper. He had no idea if the others had understood the importance of what she’d done in those eight simple words, but he did.

It was taking every ounce of his strength he had not to teleport to her right now. He wanted to scream and cry and fuck her. And destroy the humans she worked with.

The prince caught his eye and raised a brow. Ari nodded and the two of them stepped out of the room and wandered down the hall.

“You told her?” Brayden asked.

“Yes,” Ari said, running his hand through his hair.

The prince wasn’t questioning his decision to tell a human about their existence. They both knew Sage already knew about vampires. He was ascertaining Ari’s ability to remain in charge of this operation because of his personal feelings.

Ari would have done the same.

Except this wasn’t just some job, this was about the protection and future security of their entire race.

“She’s your mate, Ari. You know that, right?” Brayden said.

He shook his head.

“I can’t be sure. Not until my eyes change.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen this enough recently. Sage is your mate.” He let out a short laugh and slapped him on the back.

Ari tensed. “Nephew, I appreciate your joy in this news, but after all these years, this is not something I can assume.”

Brayden tucked his hands into his pockets. “I understand. You have waited one hundred lifetimes.”

“One hundred and fifty and more, little prince,” Ari said, shaking his head. “Fuck, hearing her whisper those words...”

The prince nodded. “You thought she would harm Callan?”

Ari leaned his back against the wall and rested his head. “I didn’t know. I met her four days ago. She’s a scientist, and it’s in her nature to want knowledge.”

It could have gone either way. He shoulders physically relaxed as the tension melted away. He hadn’t realized how fucking stressed he’d been. But it wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.

“It was brave of her to do that,” Brayden said.

“Sage is in no position to help him,” Ari ground out. “I need to get her out of there and find a way to get our teams inside to help Callan.”

Ari saw the look on Brayden’s face and knew what was coming next. “Let me take over the operation.”

“No,” Ari said firmly.

Brayden frowned.

“If I thought I wasn’t capable, I would step aside, but I will not stand on the sidelines while my potential mate is entwined in this mess,” Ari said. “You know how dangerous it could be for her if they get even a hint that she’s connected to us.”

“Now we have confirmation this is officially royal business. The king could order—”

“That’s bullshit,” Ari said firmly, standing away from the wall. He stared at Brayden for a long moment, holding back the words he wanted to say. Instead, he said, “We agreed to collaborate on this together. If this was Willow, you would be in there, guns blazing.”

That aside, the king had no authority over Ari Moretti. Technically, the king had authority over every vampire. Except him. Ari was not of Vincent Moretti’s bloodline.

Ari Moretti was his own fucking line.

An original.

If Ari ever voiced those words, he’d be crossing a different line none of them could come back from. He hadn’t voiced it in over fifteen hundred years, and he wasn’t ready to do so now.

Every single king had known. He knew. And no one had voiced it. Not yet.

Brayden cursed.

Ari’s phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his jeans pocket and stared at the screen.

Sage.

“I’ve got to take this,” Ari said, and teleported to his quarters.

He swiped the screen and pushed the speaker button.

“ Ciao, mia stellina .”

“Ari, speak English. I can’t... I can’t translate that shit right now.” Sage spluttered.

His body stiffened at the anguish in her voice and ignored the rude comment. “What’s wrong?”

Even though he’d shared much of what they heard yesterday, Sage hadn’t figured out she was being listened to. If he could get away with never telling her, he would, but it was unlikely unless he wiped her memory.

Her voice was labored, and he could hear her heart thumping. “Sage, tell me what’s going on?”

“I saw... what you told me,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Where are you?”

“In the ladies’ room,” she said. “I just threw up. I, he...”

Ari wished he could teleport into the building, but because it was daylight, he was unable to leave the mansion. If he’d been to BioZen and knew of a safe place to teleport into, he could, but there was no safe option right at this moment.

“I need you to stop talking, sweetheart,” Ari said firmly but softly. “I want you to do exactly as I say. Okay?”

Silence.

“Are you nodding?” Ari asked.

“Oh. Yes, okay, what do I do?” Sage said, and he afforded himself a little smile.

Ari looked at the clock. It was after three in the afternoon already.

“I want you to tell your boss you aren’t feeling well. Say it’s a migraine and you need to be in complete darkness, to take some drugs and go to bed.”

Sage was muttering okay okay okay okay .

“It’s going to be all right. Get in an Uber and have them drop you at my house. I’m texting the address now. We will work this out.”

“Okay,” she replied again. That was a lot of ‘okay’s’.

“Leave now, Sage,” he ordered, knowing she needed some firm guidance.

“Okay.”

Ari teleported back to the logistics room when the call ended. Darren lifted his head and nodded to him.

“We heard,” Oliver said. “What’s the plan, boss?”

Ari ran his hand through his hair. A plan was formulating in his head, but there were only a couple of people under this roof he could share it with.

For now, it was time to bring everyone up to date on the entire situation. Normally a male wouldn’t be so public as the mating dance was taking place, but he’d seen enough psycho males to know it was likely he could lose his shit if anything happened to Sage.

It was his job as the director to ensure his team had all the information so they could do their jobs. They all knew this wasn’t a normal job because of Callan.

And now, even more importantly, Sage.

It wasn’t because she was a vampire’s mate. It was because she was his mate. And only a few people in the room knew exactly who he was.

“First things first,” Ari said, walking to the front of the room and crossing his arms. “Sage is on her way here. She’s human and knows about our race but is in a stake of shock. Yes, she’s an asset, but I need you all to be aware of something else.”

Brayden crossed his arms.

“What have we missed?” Jason asked, glancing around.

Oliver caught Ari’s eye, and they shared a look. Ari nodded at him, and the head assassin smiled.

“Sage Roberts is, probably—and I can’t stress the probably enough until I have confirmation—my mate,” Ari said.

“Shit.”

“Fuck.”

“Holy shit.”

“Fuck me, really?”

Ari let them all get it off their chests. Many of them knew he was old, like really old, but not all of them knew his origin or story. He was just Ari, the director.

“Hopefully, I don’t have to spell this out, but under no circumstances should any harm come to her. Am I clear?”

“Got it.”

“Yup.”

“No fucking way.”

Other heads nodded.

“Sage doesn’t know anything, so keep your lips zipped,” Ari added. “Darren, Oliver, keep working on finding a way for us to get into BioZen. I’m going to greet Sage.”

“Pull that map up again,” Craig said, spinning a chair and dropping into it as Brayden pulled out his phone.

Ari walked down the hall until he came to his main office.

He had an idea about how they could get Callan out.

They were going to use the power of the Moretti blood.

His blood.