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“Last night, what happened?” he repeated, refusing to be distracted.

The scent of anxiety and panic spiked. She swallowed, and he watched, fascinated, as she regained control of her emotions, her expression a mask, even her scent leveled off. She was a better actress than he gave her credit for.

Another ring.

“You should answer that,” she said, her voice as cool as the night air breeze in the desert. “I need to return to work.”

Julian let her go, even though his traitorous instincts insisted he chase after her and demand some answers, but he hadn’t lived a thousand years without the ability to suppress his darker nature.

He shouldn’t care. He hadn’t changed his mind about not claiming her. Last night had been a mistake. A momentary weakness. A temporary lapse of judgment. Even he was allowed to have those occasionally.

Two weeks, two more weeks, and she would be gone. In the meantime, he would leave Vegas every day and stay in a safe house outside the city if it meant avoiding her.

Chapter Thirteen

ThedayoftheGathering arrived, leaving Leah no time to worry about Julian. The stress of failure hung over her head constantly, but there simply weren’t enough hours in the day for her to track down Julian, who seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.

There was an endless amount of last-minute details to take care of. More people requested room changes, and certain human diplomats were offended that they were not staying in the Central Tower. Only after Leah reminded them that they’d be living with a bunch of centuries-old vampires did they realize that rooming in the Central Tower might not be the best idea.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had decided they wanted to be gluten-free vegans a week ago, so now she had to inform the kitchen they needed a new menu for the royal couple. If dealing with humans wasn’t bad enough, they had received the incorrect amount of blood for the vampires, only enough for the Opening Gala and nowhere near enough to sustain the guests for a week. Leah spent half a day hunting down four other companies that could deliver the remaining blood on time.

No one wanted hungry vampires scouring the city and inciting an international incident by drinking from the human guests.

The day passed in a blur, one thing after the next. Human guests arrived throughout the day. Most of the vampires arrived the night before, with a few arriving tonight before the Opening Gala. She watched the day-long procession of cars up the driveway of the four secondary Towers whenever she had a break.

The main meeting between the world leaders and the vampires would take place tomorrow, but anyone of any consequence would be attending the Opening Gala tonight at the Central Tower’s main ballroom.

Leah was taking a last tour of the ballroom to check nothing was amiss when Clement appeared next to her. Her heart in her throat, she glared at him. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“My apologies.” He inclined his head, not looking apologetic at all. “Mr. Blackmore said to inform you that you should attend the Opening Gala.”

“Well, of course, I’m attending.”

Where did Julian think she planned to be? Partying in the clubs during the Gala?

“Mr. Blackmore means you should attend as a guest, not as an employee,” Clement clarified.

“What? He can’t be serious.”

The Gala was in three hours. While everything was ready and she was just being her usual meticulous self and double-checking everything, she wasn’t confident letting someone else take the reins. Besides, she wasn’t ready to attend any formal function, much less one with dozens of vampires.

“He would not joke about this,” Clement deadpanned. “Mr. Blackmore has requested your presence at the Opening Gala as a guest. Your outfit has been delivered to your room.”

“My outfit?”

Clement kept going as if she hadn’t protested. “If you do not show up by ten, he will consider this a breach of your employment contract.”

Bastard.Leah growled. “Fine. Tell him I’ll be there.”

Clement bowed and exited. Leah made a quick call to Lucy and explained the situation. “I’m so sorry to spring this on you.”

Lucy was too busy squealing at the news that Leah would attend the Gala as a guest. “That’s awesome. I can take care of everything. And Clement said Mr. Blackmore insisted?”

“More like ordered,” Leah muttered.

What stunt was Julian pulling? He’d rejected her again the last time in his office. Now he wanted her to attend the Gala?

“And he bought you an outfit?” Lucy asked.