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CHAPTER ONE

MACK

“Don’t be a fucking coward, just ask him,” Mack muttered to himself as he walked down the hall. “He’s just a vampire. Just like me. Just like all of us.”

Two young warriors walked past, shooting him an odd look.

Great, now he was talking to himself.

Mack glanced around at all the doors, which all looked the same in this part of the Moretti castle.

“Where the hell is his office?”

More talking to himself. Wasn’t that a bad sign? If only there was a goddamn sign, then he’d know which door—

Finally, he spotted it and sped up his strides.

He let out a silent curse as nerves hit him again, then knocked on the door and waited. Then changed the position of his feet like he was going on his first date or something.

That ship had sailed years ago.

Mack was nervous. It wasn’t like he hadn’t met the vampire before; he’d fought alongside him, for God’s sakes.

“Come in,” the deep voice called out.

Pull yourself together.

Mack was usually a confident bastard, so these nerves felt foreign and unwarranted. But he was asking one of the most powerful vampires in existence for a favor. One he felt was important, given the state of their world right now.

Mack pushed open the door and stepped inside. Ari Moretti sat behind his desk, leaning back in the leather seat with a crease on his forehead that Mack suspected had nothing to do with him.

Things were grim after humans had discovered vampires existed. It had leaked before, but a smart “fake news” campaign had worked, and the whole thing pretty much fizzled out.

Not this time.

Unfortunately, the mate of fellow warrior, Logan, had outed them all globally, providing so much evidence it was impossible to do damage control.

Logan and Brooklyn had bonded after he forgave her, and so had the king, but it meant the world was in chaos. Humans were terrified, curious, angry, and everything in between.

Fanatics had created T-shirts and merchandise—think Roswell insanity—while one guy had created a vampire dating app for the millions of women on TikTok who’d begun creating videos wanting a hot vamp with hashtags #hotvampire and #imsingle and even cheesier #biteme.

While amusing, not everyone was so nice.

There was a movement of vampire hunters—yup, another hashtag—growing with detailed videos and instructions on how to kill one.

Them.

Him.

Those he loved.

It wasn’t fucking okay.

Their strategies were wrong. Well, except the one where they hacked their heads off. That would workifthey incapacitated a strong vampire long enough.

Some females were able to be overpowered by a very strong human. It wasn’t like vampires came in one model and strength.

They weren’t battery powered.