Page 70

We stood in a loose semicircle, me, Chanel, Natasha, Harlen, Donté and Morgan. We watched as the flames transformed our enemy into ash. No one spoke. No words were necessary.

Chanel leaned against me. My arm snaked around her waist, securing her against my side where she belonged. In the flames, I saw not just the end of Lonzo, but the final severing of Teresa’s influence on our lives. With both the Lopez siblings and my ex-wife reduced to ash, the threats that had hung over us dissipated like the smoke now filling the garage.

“If we’re going to keep killing vampires, I think we need to start using matches.” Natasha joked with a straight face. “Seriously, we must leave. I need to make sure the camera footage, didn’t record us.”

“Right. Natasha, you’re in charge.”

I took Chanel’s hand and ushered her away. In the distance, I could hear Natasha giving out assignments for cleanup, which included retrieving the lighter that Chanel touched and the ashes. I knew Natasha could handle it. I needed to get Chanelinto bed, and I wanted to lie beside her. Everything else could wait until the afternoon.

In the new world I aimed to create, endings were rarely permanent. But for now, in this moment, we carved out a space for me to be the vampire king that served justice with fire and blood.

EPILOGUE

CHANEL

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Ijolted awake to dead silence. My body sensed something was wrong before my mind could identify it. The bedroom was a canvas of shadows. Chicago’s glowing landscape filtered through the reinforced windows of Zand’s loft. My hand reached across the sheets, finding his side of the bed empty and cold. Then I heard it. The hushed baritone of his voice came from across the room. He was engaged in a whispered conversation not meant for my ears.

I adjusted my eyes to Zand. He was pacing near the floor-to-ceiling windows. His shoulders formed a rigid line beneath his black t-shirt. Tension was radiating from him in waves I could feel from across the room. One of his hands gripped his phone with unnatural strain while the other hand ran through his hair repeatedly. This gesture was so uncharacteristic of his usual composure that alarm bells immediately rang in my mind.

“That’s impossible.” He whispered, but his vampire whisper carried in the quiet bedroom. “You need to verify before—” He stopped abruptly, listening to whoever had disturbed our night with news that transformed my usually cool ass fiancé into an agitated stranger.

I pushed myself up against the headboard and let the sheets pool around my waist. “Zand?” My voice came out rough and sleepy.

He didn’t turn to acknowledge me. His focus remained entirely on his conversation. His body angled away as if physically shielding me from whatever information flowed through that phone.

“Check again.” He commanded. “I need absolute certainty.”

I cleared my throat. “Zand, what’s wrong?”

Still nothing. He continued pacing, five steps one way, pivot, and five steps back, like a caged animal.

My pulse quickened as I watched him. I cataloged the signs of his distress, the microscopic tremor in his usually steady hand, the tightening around his eyes visible even in his profile and the way his jaw clenched silently between sentences. I’d never seen him like this, not even when we faced Teresa and Lonzo.

“No.” He hissed into the phone, stopping his pacing to press his forehead against the cool glass of the window. “That changes everything.” A pause. “Are you absolutely certain?” Another pause, longer this time, during which his entire body goes motionless like only vampires or talented actors could achieve. “Come here right now. All of you. I don’t care what time it is.”

I threw the covers off. I was fully awake now and moving toward him. Concern superseded the instinct to give him space. “Zand!”

He turned as I approached. His eyes met mine for the first time since I woke. Something flashed across his face. Surprise, then concern, then something else I couldn’t label. Then hisfeatures smoothed into careful neutrality. He ended the call with a swift movement, dropping the phone into his pocket.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He barked. The words were so at odds with everything about his demeanor. His eyes slid away from mine, another warning sign from someone who usually held my gaze with an intensity that made my pussy vibrate.

“You’re lying.” I replied, reaching for his arm, but he had already moved past me. He headed for the bedroom door with long, purposeful strides.

“Go back to sleep.” He said over his shoulder. “It’s too early.”

Before I could formulate a sassy response, he was through the door, pulling it firmly shut behind him.What the fuck just happened?

I stood frozen in the middle of the room, barefoot on the cool hardwood. After everything we’d been through, Teresa’s death, Lonzo’s execution, my acceptance of his world and all its violent necessities, now he shuts me out? Now, when we should be celebrating our victory and our future together. What about the honesty and the sharing? Apparently, some promises were easier to make than keep.

I paced the same path Zand had traced minutes earlier. My mind was racing through possibilities. Was there another threat? Perhaps Teresa or Lonzo had some remaining allies? But none of these explanations justified shutting me out. Especially after I proved myself by helping execute our enemies, and after I agreed to be his queen.

Beyond the closed door, I heard the low murmur of voices from downstairs. Zand was on another call, or perhaps someone had already arrived. The urgency in his final command suggested this gathering wouldn’t wait until morning. Whatever crisis had developed, it was happening now, with or without my participation.

I hovered near the door, my hand rested on the cool metal of the handle. Indecision paralyzed me. Following him meant confrontation. It meant I was going to demand inclusion in whatever crisis had erupted.

My engagement ring suddenly felt heavy on my finger. What kind of queen allowed herself to be locked away in a tower while the king held council below? What kind of marriage could survive when he was deliberately excluding me?