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“Oh fuck, she’s going to faint.” Kurt grunted.

The world turned from fuzzy to black. The last thing she felt was a huge, warm fur body wrapping around her, cushioning her fall.

Mack.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

VINCENT

“Have the wolves arrived yet?” Vincent asked.

“Just landed in Rome.” Brayden sat on the sofa. “We have two more jets arriving from different parts of the world, and five buses from Europe.”

The castle team was going to be busy, but Vincent knew they’d missed having the royal family in residence the past few years.

He missed it, too.

Vincent knew Kate had wanted to return, but with the geopolitical situation as it was, they’d needed to remain close to POTUS. For all the good that had done.

Not that it would have changed anything. Callan, and others, still would’ve been kidnapped, he still would’ve been tortured and changed into a hybrid.

Xander still would’ve...well, been fucking Xander.

Nikolay still would’ve stepped in and discovered the serum, becoming enemy number one.

And then taken that knowledge to the Russian president, creating the greatest threat of global nuclear war the world had even seen. Most people had no idea what was happening around them, and Vincent didn’t think that was a bad thing.

His heart felt heavy.

Failure weighed on his chest as he watched those he loved gather around him with fear in their eyes.

James Calder had warned them, and he was grateful. But there would be no further updates as the president managed this terrifying situation.

If buttons were pushed, they’d have thirty minutes until it reached the United States. Then...well he’d googled it while flying because he was a sadist like that.

Each missile would have an impact of about half a mile. The thermal damage would be a mile radius. Debris could be even farther, a couple of miles.

The radiation dose would be lethal for almost a mile all around.

If you survived, the radioactive fallout impacting food and water systems would see hundreds of millions more die.

Fromonemissile.

There would be hundreds, if not thousands.

Russia, on its own, has over four thousand missiles.

Before learning about vampires, many believed nuclear war was a stalemate's game. No one was going to attack because you knew your enemy would do the same, then everyone died.

It only took one psychopath.

Vincent had lived long enough to observe leaders around the world. They’d all secured their positions in different ways, sometimes coercion, but most were not deserving of the titles.

Andmostwere not qualified to be making sound decisions on behalf of every living being on the planet. It was their egos, the need for power and greed which dictated those decisions.

However, it was also likely the reason that the all-out destruction of the planet hadn’t yet happened.

Would it be today?