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My head snapped up, and I gaped in shock. Marie, at her core, was a cold-hearted businesswoman. Despite our history, she displayed no type of favoritism with her deals. She always demanded the same from me as she would from a stranger.

My jaw ached as I gritted my teeth. I should have known that Marie wouldn’t make this easy. “I can’t give you that.”

“That’s my price,cherie.Take it or leave it.” She smiled with malice, relishing my struggle.

My eyes locked on the cuffs, focusing on the way they glinted in the light of her office, trying to figure out a way that I could get them without kissing Marie. I could snatch them and run, but I would make an eternal enemy of the Voodoo community. So that was out. I could find another way to bind Phoebe’s powers. But the only other people who would have the power necessary to do so would be another witch. Witches didn’t like to create things that bound them. Plus, I didn’t know a witch powerful enough to spell something that would keep Phoebe powerless. There was no other option. I had to make the deal with Marie.

“Marie, I have many valuable charms and artifacts. Are you sure you don’t want those instead?” I asked, not even bothering this time to hide the tinge of desperation in my voice.

“I’m a woman who knows what she wants. A single kiss and they’re yours.”

My teeth were almost ground into dust from clenching my jaw. I gritted out, “Fine.”

Unable to see any other option, I stood and circled her desk, pulling her to her feet. As I leaned down to kiss her, her eyes slid closed, and she puckered her lips. The scent of oranges gagged me, and I was forced to hold my breath to stop myself from jerking away.

I’d kissed her before, and I could kiss her again. I just had to imagine it was Phoebe. Phoebe, my queen, my mate. I was doing this for her, right? Surely one brief kiss was meaningless if it gave me my queen. Less than a breath separated our lips now, but I couldn’t force myself to press my mouth to hers, wrenching away at the last second.

“I can’t,” I whispered, my voice breaking. Phoebe was already inside me, and I would not betray my mate.

Marie didn’t appear upset, only smug. “And why can’t you?” she asked archly, though she knew the answer.

I turned my back on the Voodoo Queen, my shoulders slumping slightly. “How did you know, Marie?”

She returned to her seat with a knowing smirk. “I could see her aura tied with yours the second you walked through my door,cherie. Your queen is a slippery one.”

I let out a deep sigh and returned to my chair. “How much for the cuffs?”

A witch revered their magic above all things. If I went through with this and bound Phoebe’s, I wasn’t sure she would ever forgive me. Yet without them, I could turn my back, and she could be in any of the millions of realms, lost to me forever. I had no choice. She’d leave me, just like everyone else.

“I want a meeting with your Oracle.” It was a decent exchange, but I hesitated. I didn’t speak for Cassie. Few even knew of our connection, and I liked to keep it that way. I didn’t want my enemies knowing they could use her to exploit me.

“I have no control over her, but I’ll talk to her,” I said, knowing she likely already agreed to the meeting, or she would have told me not to transact with Marie.

The priestess nodded, accepting the terms. I swiped the silver cuffs from the desk, rising to exit the shop.

As I strode toward the door, Marie said to my back, “Your queen has many enemies. Best keep her close, vampire.”

I lifted a hand in acknowledgment but didn’t look back as I left the shop.

Next, I just had to get close enough to capture my queen.

X

The Realm of Mortals.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

My feet hit the side of something hard as I shuffle forward. I can’t rebalance myself in time and fall with a loud thud. If there are still enemies waiting to pick them off, I just made it extremely easy for them.

Thankfully, the mask stays in place, and my mouth remains free of the cloying, choking dust that continues to fall from the sky. At least, I think it’s still falling from the sky. I see something falling from the sky. But I’m also blind, so there’s a pretty good chance I’m seeing things.

I WAS STILL MYSTIFIED BY THEstrange interaction with Lucien as I shoved my clothes into my threadbare rucksack. My go bag was already waiting by the door, filled with the cash I had squirreled away and my stack of fake ids.Rule No. 5was coming in handy. I couldn’t stop thinking about the expression on his face when he tried to protect me. He had lunged forward, trying to put himself between the threat and me. Why? Why did he care?I was nothing to him. Why come looking for me?

Outside of the witches, I was no one. I avoided other species of immortals unless I was forced to fight them.Rule No. 4: Never Draw Attention, Mortal or Otherwise.Yet, I had the vampirekingon my ass. Almost all immortals swore fealty to a royal family, often a lineage traced back to the first touched by the deity who created their species.

Lucien was coming for me. There was no doubt about it, not after the way he reacted in the alley. I shuddered, remembering his blood-red eyes, his fists pounding on the shield, almost cracking it with his strength.He’d been desperate to get to me, but why? Why me?

Maybe it originated from his shock that a female couldeverwant nothing to do with him. Maybe he was like all other immortal males when faced with a challenge, a dog with a bone, refusing to relinquish his prize, no matter the cost. Men, immortal or otherwise, were all the same.