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Briefly he wondered how many others in the Thunder would see her as an asset rather than threat and if maybe that would be enough for him to think sinking his fangs into her neck would be acceptable.

Then he remembered her mother.

‘She is not for you.’

Still, he was indebted to her. The useless binder he’d gifted her was not an equal transaction.

“I’m going to the astral plane to check if she’s safe. Guard my body.”

Blaise nodded his acknowledgement.

Alessandro closed his eyes and let his mind wander, extracting his astral form until he was floating in a space of darkness. He recalled the way her magic felt when it brushed against his, the smell of her skin as it heated underneath his palms. He called forth the image of her eyes, chanted her name, even accessed the entire Blessed network to look for her unique signature of magic, which he thought he saw for a second, but it went out in the next breath making it impossible to lock onto her trace.

Frustrated, he called forth the memory of the vampiress’ face. The connection was as instant as it should have been with Rowan. He floated over the rubble of the building, the woman an arm’s length away from him, her eyes staring past him to the kitsune who was squatting to the floor.

Alessandro didn’t need to get up close and personal to know what the man was doing.

“She can’t be dead.” Determination set on the vampiress’ face as she spoke into her phone. “Our bonds are just strained. I swear I keep feeling her for the briefest of moments.” She sighed afterthe person on the line replied. “Chloe, I have to go. Kin can’t find her with a scry. We’re going to try summoning her instead. But first we have to take Dew’s body to her family. Can you ask Master Jah to set the circle up?” Ruby eyes filled with tears, she tilted her chin to the sky to collect herself. “Okay, see you soon. Love you, bye.”

Alessandro stood for a few seconds by the vampiress’ side as she composed herself before turning to the kitsune who was carrying a lacquer box. Inside, Alessandro caught the smell of death. His jaw clenched. Louisa’s eyes watered again when she looked at it. This time, she let the tears fall.

“How are we supposed to tell them?” She asked, wiping her cheeks.

“Unfortunately,” he threw a glare over at the cameras pointed in their general direction, “I think they already know. Come on, we’ll head to EEK right after.” He wiped another tear from the vampiress’ cheek.

She snickered. “Please don’t call it that to Axel’s face. She will clobber us both.”

“Yeah, I’m not interested in testing the berserker.” He held out his hand before the two phased away.

Alessandro scanned the sea of reporters still standing and rolling film. Nausea rolled through him at the sight.

The decision to destroy the tech was an easy one to execute. With a snap of his fingers, each device gave a spark of blue lightning and died on the spot.

Satisfied with the shouts of frustration, Alessandro cut his connection and slid back into his body.

“I can’t find her on the astral plane.” He informed Blaise as he stood. “Her friends seem to think she’s still alive, but scrying won’t work. Are Naseem and Stone still with the witch?”

Blaise fell into step beside him by the time he walked out of his office. “Last time I saw them, they were comparing notes on Barros’ recorded properties in the library.”

“Have they seen the video?”

“Probably not. The only reason I ran into it was because I was scrolling through social media on the shitter and when I saw it, I knew you’d want to do something about it ASAP.”

Alessandro tried not to let the image of Blaise in the bathroom enter his mind.

Together they passed through the covered walkways of the estate, passing dragons who seemed to sense their king was not in a good mood if the 180 degree turns were anything to go by.

Alessandro tried to relax, but as soon as the library’s stone steeple came into view and a raised voice reached his ears, the tension snapped right back into place.

“You had no place saying that to him.” It was Terra.

Terra who was supposed to be taking care of making backup plans in Dragon City in case everything went south with Draconis.

“It isn’t our approval that matters, Terra. The houses will rebel against the idea.”

“Are you insane? Do you know how long they have been trying to get him mated off? There hasn’t been one dragon to get his headlights to go off, and the one shot he has at that bond you tell him to stay away from?” Naseem’s voice cracked with emotion.An image of a young blonde woman flashed through the Dragon King’s mind at the sound.

Being the only general who had actually received the mating feeling, Naseem saw the bond in a different light than any of his peers.