CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

V incent stretched his long black-pants-clad legs out in front of him. It was a stark contrast to the cream leather of the private jet he was about to take off in.

His private jet.

Which was taking him to his queen, and the little prince.

It had been hell being separated from them both, and now Kate was situated at Ari Moretti’s mansion in Seattle.

Surrounded by assassins.

And Brayden and Craig, so there was that.

She wasn’t happy, but his queen had long understood the importance of following the advice of the captain and commander. Even when she hated it.

Now it impacted Lucas, their little heir. Their little miracle.

A smelly miracle most of the time.

He wasn’t going to lie. The break from nappy duty had been damn good. And yet, he couldn’t wait to get the little vampire back in his arms.

“We’re ready to take off shortly, sir,” the captain said, doing up his jacket as he stood in the cockpit doorway. “Anything I need to know?”

Vincent turned to Kurt, who was seated across the other side of the plane tapping on a laptop. “No, we’re good to go. I’ll update you if anything crops up,” Kurt said.

The black ops team were scattered around the plane, mostly in the second lounge area. Resting. It had been a big few days in Washington, DC. They didn’t own property in the city, so it had been a logistical nightmare preparing the rooms to sleep in during the day.

The good thing was they could survive on plasma and room service, but a bunch of badass-looking guys getting prawn cocktails delivered with blacked-out windows looked dodgy as fuck, so they stuck to the plasma on the first day before the team got supplies that evening.

No one was going to die, but they didn’t need to raise any eyebrows.

Well, except the obvious.

Ten powerful vampires walking into a fancy hotel lobby got attention. Even though he’d been wearing an extremely pricey Tom Ford suit. It didn’t matter—they had a huge presence.

The others were in their Moretti uniforms and armed to the teeth because he was the king and that was their job. He couldn’t have stopped them if he’d wanted to.

And he didn’t want to.

Right now, it had never been a more dangerous time to be a vampire, which was a total mind fuck. He’d spent a portion of his time as king ensuring the race remained respectful of human beings and they understood the importance of keeping their existence hidden.

The meetings he’d attended over the past few days had focused on two things: Working to keep the status quo for as long as possible, and preparing for the inevitable moment it wasn’t.

Their strategy was coming along well, but it was difficult work. Alongside the obvious management of media and police reaction when the mass exposure happened, the United States president had presented potential FDA regulations to protect his race from experimentation.

Other country leaders were taking these blueprints to replicate for their nations. It was a whole world project, which was important. The only one missing was Italy. After it was discovered Diego Lombardo was working with Stefano Russo, the now deceased leader of the vampire rebellion, and BioZen, he’d been removed from Operation Daylight.

Then Ben had killed him.

Vincent had not stopped him.

He wasn’t in the business of punishing humans for crimes, but this was a crime against vampires.

Which was one of the more complex topics the leaders were working on. Vincent had explained vampires adhered to human laws on the planet just as humans did. But they had a few of their own. It was mostly to do with the royal structure.

The difference with vampires, as opposed to a nation with its own laws, was they were spread across the planet. Theoretically, their laws conflicted with humans.

For example, if someone threatened him as king, he had the right to take their head or life. He was also the king, so he could change laws whenever he liked. But it didn’t work that way—you still had to win the hearts of your people and he’d worked damn hard on that since the day of his coronation.

Vincent understood the human concerns around this, but he wasn’t changing those laws. If someone, and by that he meant another vampire, threatened him or any of the royals, the punishment was death. They needed to realize vampires weren’t human.

They were predators.

Like a wolf pack, there were natural laws.

They toned down their nature to live in this world peacefully with humans, but once there was no need to remain hidden, Vincent was unsure how that would change things.

It was quite possible Ari Moretti’s organization may need to expand to support the changing needs of their race and the new world in which they found themselves. Not that Vincent could tell his uncle what to do, but it was one opportunity he’d been ruminating on.

Had the conversation with Brayden thrown him?

Yes and no.

He may not know Ari well, but he did know the vampire was loyal, even if he had left them. He had, but he hadn’t. He’d always been in the shadows protecting them.

Vincent wasn’t stupid.

He was the king. He’d been trained to see everything.

He’d seen the affection in Ari’s eyes when he’d been talking to Brayden and then the wash of emotion when he met his new great, great or some ridiculous amount of great’s, nephew, Lucas. How could that not pull on the heartstrings of an original Moretti?

So, he didn’t perceive Ari to be an immediate threat to his reign, or more importantly, the stability of the vampire race. He hoped like hell he never would.

As king, there were always threats, and it was his job to assess the true risk of them all.

Ari Moretti was currently very low. But not zero.

Right now, BioZen was their greatest concern, and whoever else was behind the financial backing of the project.

The support of the leaders on Operation Daylight to flesh out any powerful people they knew were involved. James Calder, POTUS, had given a stern warning to everyone sitting around the boardroom table. If they found themselves with a financial interest with anyone connected, no matter how many degrees of separation, they needed to cash out immediately.

How much sway the president had over other leaders was questionable, but Vincent would take it.

More effective were his vampires’ reactions when he had shared details on the experiments and pain the subjects had suffered. His intimidating security team had gotten a little fangy and growly from the side of the room and the reaction had raised a few nervous brows. Vincent hadn’t stopped them, and that hadn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, he’d stared at every face in the room, making it clear his position if any of them were involved.

They would die.

Right from the beginning, he’d been clear. He would work with humans if they worked with him. Or the two races would be at war.

And they all knew who would win.

Vincent snapped back to current time and dialed Kate, now the jet was in the air, to let her know he was leaving DC.

Soon he’d have his mate back in his arms.

He was looking forward to seeing The Institute and the world Ari had created after leaving the Moretti family.

It was time for a new beginning for them all.