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Isabella clung to his neck and giggled when her daddy kissed along her neck and arms. Even to him, it was helluva cute.

Grinning, he glanced at Ari and met wild, emotion-filled eyes.

“She’s one of my biggest motivators.” Ari nodded at the princess. “Our next generations must be allowed to live freely.”

Yeah.

Fuck.

To think little vampires could be taken, tested on... worse. It was not okay.

As royals, both Isabella and Lucca, the heir to the throne, were high-value targets. The world now knew everything about them, including the family tree.

Brooklyn, a human originally, had worked for a very short time with Sage in the science lab. They all understood why she’d exposed them. When the prince gave the order to blow up theBioZen building with humans in it, Brooklyn had been shocked. She thought they’d always planned to harm humans.

That wasn’t the case.

The cell inside BioZen had held Callan and both Willow and Isabella. It had to be destroyed.

Had Brayden been a little less furious about his mate and daughter being kidnapped, he may’ve emptied the building first.

Instead, they had walked their enemy, Nikolay Mikhailov, out in exchange for the code to let Isabella out of the locked cage.

At the time, that was all that mattered.

No one—no one!—wanted to leave the Tungsten-lined BioZen science lab left standing after that. At any cost.

Brooklyn only saw them ruthlessly killing humans she’d once worked with. It was understandable. But if they could turn back time...yeah, it would have been better if she’d kept her trap shut. Not that he’d say that to Logan. He felt the same. Even though he loved his mate.

“Waweeee!” Isabella reached out her arms, and Ari took her from the prince.

“Hey gorgeous.” Ari kissed her forehead. “Are you coming to stay with Aunty Sage and me today?”

“Yes, she is.” Brayden grinned. “So that mommy and daddy can have noisy grown-up time.”

Mack snorted.

“Quick, clock your ears,” Ari covered one of the princess’s little ears and more giggling ensued. “He means playing video games.”

“Nope. No, I do not.” Brayden laughed.

Ari was right. They had to protect the world for these innocents. Royal or otherwise. The thought of someone harming them just because they were vampires made his blood boil.

Craig walked toward them, his heavy boots stomping on the polished floors.

“Mazzini. Girl, at the security gates for you,” Craig called out.

Ella.

“Here? At the castle?” Mack asked, surprised. He’d told her to go to the house and message when she arrived. She had to door code and could go straight in.

Damn.

He was hoping to prepare before seeing her for the first time as a shifter. His wolf would react; he had no doubt about that.

“No, the Louvre in Paris.” Craig rolled his eyes. “Where the fuck do you think I mean?”

Yup, he’d asked for that.