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Prologue

Micheala

S oon as I park my car, Thebes, my childhood footman, opens my door.

“Good evening, Princess,” he says, using my old title.

I cringe. No matter how many times I remind my parents’ staff that I’ve denounced my title, they refuse to call me anything else.

Thebes holds out his hand. I take the offered hand. He helps me out of my Lamborghini Huracan Technico. I rarely get to drive this car or the other fifteen I have similar to it. A two hundred-thousand-dollar car doesn’t match the budget of a realtor. Not even one as good as I am.

I make my way up the cobblestone circular driveway toward my parent’s house.

“Princess,” Albert, my family butler, says in greeting as he stands on the front step.

I stare up at the giant gaudy mansion. Although my parents built the house in the 20th century, they designed it to resemble the gothic castles of England. They adored this home. When they built it, they said it evoked fond memories of our old estates.

I see nothing but coldness hidden behind these stone walls. Those fond memories they shared were lost to me. My childhood homes were nothing more than fancy prisons. I think back to my best friend, Elizabeth. Only a few short months ago, I helped her sell her childhood home. I remember all the emotions she had letting go of that house. All the fond memories she shared with her mother. It’s nothing like the cold castle I grew up in. My childhood home’s halls were not filled with laughter and fond memories, just lies, betrayal, pain, and cruelty.

Everything in me is telling me to leave this place. Whatever my father wants from me is not worth it. However, if he is summoning me, it must be important.

“Right this way, Princess,” Albert says, holding out a hand for me to enter.

Walking into the home, I glance around. Nothing has changed within the last 100 years. The dark stained wood is constant throughout the entire home. Large pillars and arched doors decorate every room. Crystal chandeliers hang from ceilings like earrings. Even the burgundy and black damask wallpaper is still the same.

“Well, if it isn’t my long-lost daughter.”

I turn to find my mother in the receiving room. I walk into the room. She stands as I enter, ever the proper socialite. Her long black hair is parted down the middle and hangs down her back. Her reddish-brown skin is flawless. The black silk wrap dress she’s wearing drapes over her long lithe figure. Even though my mother is nearly 700 years old, she doesn’t look a day over forty-five.

“Hello, Mother.”

She walks over to me with the grace only a royal vampire would have.

“You look…..well,” she says with a sneer. “Does this cheap attire help you fit in with the human world you so desperately want to integrate into?”

There is a lot I could say to my mother right now. I could remind her that if not for my blood and sweat, she wouldn’t be sitting in this gaudy ass castle in her expensive clothes, turning her nose up at those she deems beneath her. I could also remind her that a simple call to the council would have her out on her ass, and me living in this gaudy castle.

However, I don’t say any of that, because it’s what she wants. Her only goal in life since the day she birthed me was to get under my fucking skin. Daughters are useless to royal female vampires. Your only job as a royal female is to produce your mate as many male heirs as possible.

Although daughters are useful as a bargaining chip for the father, they have no value to mothers.

Instead of entertaining her need to make me angry, I plaster on a smile and say. “Yes.”

Just then, Albert enters the room with a tray of wine flutes filled with blood. He stops at mother first. She takes a glass and sips. When Albert comes over to offer me a glass, I shake my head no. He bows his head before walking out.

Mother places her light brown eyes on me. “So,” she taps her long, pointed nails against her wine glass. “How is my youngest daughter?”

Rolling my eyes, I say. “Let’s not act as if you care about Marley. We both know you don’t.”

There is a four hundred plus age gap between me and my baby sister. It goes without saying that Marley is an oops baby for my parents. Female vampires remain fertile until they are close to 900 years old. The men can continue to procreate until they die.

By the time a royal female hits her fourth century, she’s usually done having kids. I’m a little late to the party.

Mother shrugs and takes another sip from her glass. “I was trying to be polite. Isn’t that what you love about your pathetic humans?”

Completely over this mother-daughter bonding moment, I ask, “Where is father, Zahra? I have things to do.”

She frowns at the mention of her formal name. All royal vampires have formal names and presenting names. Formal names are the names given to us at birth. This name is well-known and widely used throughout our community. Our presenting names are the names we use for the world. It’s how we get by living so long. Every few decades, we choose a new presenting name.

“Just in time,” my father says as he enters the room. He stands beside my mother and places a kiss on her cheek. At six foot four, he towers over my mother, who is five foot eight.

My sister is the spitting image of our mother. She has her wide set rounded eyes and babydoll features. She even has the same reddish-brown skin tone. However, I was entirely my father. From the deep set almond-shaped eyes to the almond brown skin, even the narrow shape of my nose was all Khalif’s. The only thing I inherited from Zahra are my light brown eyes.

“Mizani, I’m so glad you could make it.” I cringe at my formal name. “How about we go into my study so we can talk?”

Dipping my chin to my chest, I follow behind my father through the elaborate home.

We make it to father’s study. He opens the door and allows me to walk in first. I immediately spot my oldest brother, Chikae, or Jerome. He was sitting in one of the chairs in front of father’s desk. Kofi or Malik, my younger brother, was sitting on the sofa on the left side of the room.

So this was a family affair.

Chikae nods at me as he takes a sip from his flute. Kofi waves with a snug smile plastered on his face.

“Would you like a drink?” father asks, taking a seat on the edge of his desk. He points to the bar on the left side of the room. “It’s O negative. Your favorite.”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “Can we please get to the point? My time working for you is done. I told you not to summon me again.”

“What if I summoned you because I miss you?” He laughs and my brothers join him.

I turn to leave.

“Alright. Alright,” Father says, causing me to turn back to him. He looks over at Chikae before turning back to me. “I need the Huntress. My seat is up for grabs again.”

I scoff, shaking my head. “You have to be the worst fucking royal in all of history. I secured that seat for you decades ago. All you had to do was not fuck it up. How did you fumble it that quickly?”

His jaw clenches before he speaks. “The other family kings aren’t happy about the way my region has been running.”

There are fifteen Royal family clans of Vampires. My father, the king of clan Nizam, is the eldest of his six brothers. He inherited the role of king from his father. However, my father’s sometime radical ideals, and his thirst for the luxury power brings but not so much the work that it takes to keep it, have made him many enemies amongst the clans. In the past, I’ve done jobs for other clan families to gain him favors and even took some lives to keep his seat. However, my last time was my last time helping him. I’m done being his weapon.

“The Huntress has retired. I’ve done my last deal for you. Remember, that’s how I got custody of Marley.” My father and I made a deal a few months ago. I took care of a problem and he allowed me to have Marley full time.

Chikae’s chuckle draws my attention toward him. “I have never met a more ungrateful being. Most royals would love the opportunity to serve their family.”

I usually don’t give my big brother the time of day, but I was feeling generous this morning. It’s obvious he wanted my attention.

“Not if their family only wants to use them as a weapon to obtain power.”

Kofi scoffs. “You should thank father for turning you into the warrior that you are.”

Tilting my head to the side, I glare back at my baby brother. It would seem someone has grown balls since the last time I’ve seen him. He’s feeling very emboldened.

“Thanking him?” I ask calmly. “While you two were being coddled and living a life of pampered luxury, I was sent to that prison camp they call an academy where I was beaten and tortured in order to be a weapon for him.” I yank my long sleeves up so that he can see the gold cuffs on my wrist. A reminder of the shit I went through for this family.

“He used me for centuries,” I continue. “Loaning me out to the highest bidder like a fucking sports car until he sold me to a sadist.”

“A sadist you mated.”

Tension fills my body. The gold cuffs on my wrist vibrate. My brother had just touched on the one topic he knew was off limits.

There are many things in my long life that I regret, but nothing as much as the man I thought I loved. A man that I realized too late was a sadistic, narcissistic, psychopathic cult leader.

I take a step toward Chikae.

“What did you just say?”

All the boldness from earlier fades from Chikae’s features as he notices my forward motion. Father quickly steps in my path. His gaze pleading for me not to take another step.

“Everyone, calm down,” father says, trying to ease the tension in the room. For a moment, I can feel his compulsion ability pressing against me. I roll my eyes at his lackluster attempt to use his power over me.

All pure blood vampires have some type of ability. My mother and youngest brother can move things with their mind. We call it psychokinesis. They were fairly good at it. Chikae and father had the power of compulsion—making people do whatever they wanted them to do. Marley, my little sister, is an empath. A very rare ability in the vampire world. Although, there are much rarer abilities.

“Please, Mizani. He didn’t mean it,” my father pleads for his favorite son’s life.

I did my family a favor when I denounced my title and left them many years ago. It was the only way I wouldn’t kill them. I wouldn’t lose sleep over their deaths, but I didn’t want to deal with the aftermath. Killing a royal, even one that is as disliked as my father, comes with penalties. Killing a king is damn near a death sentence. They’d hunt me down for it. Plus, if I had killed my family when I wanted to, I never would’ve gotten Marley.

I take a step back, putting distance between all of us.

“Why am I here, father?” I ask, once again growing more and more tired of their presence.

“The family needs you.”

“The family can kiss my ass,” I reply, turning to him with a glare. “I’ve given this family nearly 400 plus years of my service. Everything you have is because of me. You don’t have the right to ask me for anything else. Don’t summon me again.” I turn to leave.

“Well, if you won’t do it for me, do it for your sister.”

I stop in my tracks. There is only one person who they know of that can get my attention. Marley, or Zidora, is my lifeline. She is my only weakness. I think my father knew the power she would have over me. It’s the reason I think they had her.

“Zidora is now seventeen. She is old enough to be placed up for marriage. The other kings have reached out to me for an offer.” Spinning around, I glare at him. Once again, the golden cuffs around my wrist vibrate with my anger.

My father smirks. He knows he has the upper hand right now.

“You lie.”

He chuckles. “No, my dear. I have the request on my desk.” He walks over to his desk and grabs a paper off. Bringing it over to me, he holds it out in front of him.

I snatch the page. Right away, I notice the official seal of all the vampire clans. I scan the contents quickly. Sure enough, it is an approved decree for a marriage request for Marley. My heart races in my chest.

“Told you.” He takes the paper from me and walks back to his desk, placing it down. “Now, I could strip Zidora’s titles, and it would clear her from having to marry whoever has offered for her hand.” He walks back around to the front of his desk and leans his back against it. “But those types of things come at a high price. You know how it is.” The smirk on his face grows. I am more tempted to kill him now than I have ever been.

Tamping down on the anger and rage building up inside of me, I shut my eyes and take a deep breath before opening them again.

“What do you want?”

Khalif grins, running a hand over his low fade and down to his goatee. He stuffs his hands in his pocket as he makes his way back over to his desk.

“I have squatters in my territory. A bunch of human-turned are feeding out of control. The family clans think that I have lost my ability to run my zone. If I don’t deal with this problem, they will remove me as head of Clan Nizam and place your uncle as leader. If they do that, they will strip me of all my valuable possessions, which includes your sister.”

“That means you as well, little sister,” Chikae adds. “Uncle Azair could ignore father’s agreement with you and reinstate your title. They could call you back into service for the Legion.”

The Legion is our vampire army. It’s how I got the gold cuffs on my wrist and why I went to that damn academy. I have no fear of my uncle returning me to the Legion. The vampire union would step in and save me from that fate. However, my only concern right now is my little sister.

“This is a simple job,” I tell my father. Too simple. “You have enough muscle on your payroll to run a few human-turned vampires out of your territory.”

Human-turned are what we call vampires that were once human. They are like pest to our world. All they do is fuck and feed. Thankfully, they can’t procreate because the gods know they would overrun us.

“You are right,” father says with a shrug. “But it is a large colony, and I need this job done quickly and successfully. You are the only one that can master all that.”

As much as I didn’t want to do this, I had no choice. There was no way I was going to allow my seventeen-year-old sister to be sold off for marriage. The kings didn’t care about age or best fit when they accepted proposals. It could be that Marley is betrothed to a seven-hundred-year-old vampire that most likely would abuse her. And instead of killing him later, I might as well nip it in the bud now.

Letting out a deep breath, I ask. “When does this need to be done?”

Father smiles. “Tonight. I already have the location of where the colony has been nesting.”

It’s rare for a large colony of human-turned to come together. They are usually in small groups. However, it isn’t unheard of for them to grow. Usually, if they do, someone is sent in to break them apart. They are like locusts on crops when they are in large numbers.

“Alright,” I say. “Give me the info.” And just like that, the Huntress has returned.

From my perch in the treetops, I observe the movement inside the house that my father claimed was filled with human-turned. The home was a small, dilapidated mansion not far from the outskirts of father’s territory.

My phone vibrates, letting me know I have a call. I tap the earpiece in my ear to answer.

“What do you have for me, Tech?” Tech is a nineteen-year-old half-human, half-vampire computer genius I met eighteen years ago. When I met him, he was a malnourished orphaned toddler. I took him under my wing, found him a loving home and kept him fed. No one knows about him or our connection.

“I can’t find confirmation about the marriage thing, but your father is correct. In the last week or so, something has been running through humans at a rapid rate in his territory.”

There was no way I was going to take my father’s word for any of this. Even though I saw that decree, I still wanted proof. It goes without saying I don’t trust my family. However, when it comes to Marley, I’ll do anything.

“How soon can you verify the marriage thing?”

He sighs. “I don’t know, Zani. But honestly, I’d rather you wait until I did.”

I understood Tech’s stance. Moving without confirmation is not a smart move. However, I had the jump on this colony right now. And if I miss this opportunity before the kings’ come for my sister, all will be lost. No matter how good I am, I don’t have the stamina to go against every royal family.

“I respect your opinion, but I can’t wait. I won’t risk Marley.”

Tech sighs. “I figured you would say that. Just in case things go wrong, I’ll be on standby. But you know, I could be much more useful if you allowed me to tag along.”

Shaking my head, I say, “Never going to happen. Goodbye, Tech.” Pulling out the earpiece, I disconnect the phone call and press the button to turn the bud into a walkie talkie device. This way, Tech can hear me and my surroundings without having to call first.

I place the bud back in my ear. “Are you there?” I ask to make sure he’s with me.

“I’m here,” he confirms. “Be careful.”

I don’t reply. Just then, a car pulls into the driveway and two men hop out. It’s time. I check the gold cuffs on my wrists. Four fingers in width and two inches thick, I never go anywhere without the magical accessories. Mostly because they can’t come off. They are a reminder of my old life as a member of the legion. A life that I’ve tried hard to put behind me.

I pull the black balaclava face mask up, covering my nose and mouth. I then pulled the hood over my head. As soon as I have my face covered, I jump down from the tree, landing easily and silently on my feet.

I slip up behind the two vampires. Even though I am moving silently, they are so distracted by their conversation, they wouldn’t have noticed me.

“I spent the entire night with her,” the shorter man says. “She was all over me.”

“Yeah, right,” the taller guy replies.

The taller guy twists the doorknob, and it opens easily. Before he can walk into the house, I drop my hands out at my side, activating the cuffs. Two sharp Katana blades spring out. I use them to spear the two vampires in the back. After removing my blades from their spine, I chop off their heads, dropping them to the ground.

From my surveillance, I know that there are thirty vampires here scattered throughout the place. Stepping over the bodies of the two I killed; I enter the house.

Quickly, I scan my area, taking in the abandoned mansion. Years of neglect have turned the place into a dusty time capsule. I don’t have long to admire the decor.

Heavy footfalls coming from the room behind me have me spinning in that direction. Five vampires stop in their tracks when they see me. Yes, five full-blood vampires. I noticed it from the two outside as well. These aren’t human-turned. They aren’t royals either, but still not what I was expecting.

The meet and greet only lasts a second before they attack. I make quick work running through the first set of vampires. Not long after chopping off the last vamp’s head does another wave of those full-blood vampires rush in. One runs toward me as another tries to rush me from behind. I run up the side of the wall and do a back flip off, coming up behind the one behind me. The two vampires were going too fast to stop in their tracks. They nearly run into each other. I used my sword to ram it into the back of the guy in front of me and into the vampire in front of him. I yank the blade out and then sever their heads at the same time.

Before long, I’m again surrounded by headless corpses. I pull my blade out of the last guy and take off his head when suddenly an arrow pierces my thigh. I growl, but don’t go down. The metal tip of the arrow then opens up like a star. If I tried to pull the arrow out it would shred my flesh.

I attempt to turn to retreat when another arrow shoots me in the palm of my hand. “Fuck,” I roar.

Immediately, more arrows come from all over. One hits me in the shoulder while another goes into my foot.

I take a deep breath, fighting the pain. Gritting my teeth, I try to yank the one in my hand out, but my arm gets snatched back. It’s then I notice that some of the arrows are attached to chains.

Just then, the room fills with about fifty more full-blood vampires, all armed with bows and arrows. These vampires were not in this house when I did my initial surveillance. Which leads me to believe this was a setup. They knew I was coming and was prepared. I should have known the moment I realized they weren’t human-turned. But why?

I scan the faces of the vampires around me and a few familiar ones start to stick out. Davorin, Kozani, Kavita, Talon, and Venette are here. My heart races. If they are here, it can only mean one thing.

It starts off low. A burning sensation hits my chest. I gasp at the pain and knowledge of why it’s happening.

“Mizani?” the deep voice whispers in my head.

The racing of my heart increases. There is no way this could be real. My father set me up in the worse way possible. No matter how trifling and dishonest Khalif was, I would’ve never thought he could do this to me.

I turn my head at the sound of slow clapping. Walking down the stairs of the mansion, is none other than my mate.

“Markis,” I say his name and an icy shiver runs up my spine.

“Hello, my love.” He stops in the middle of the staircase.

It has been three hundred years since the last time I saw my mate. At that time, he was being chained and sealed inside of a concrete coffin that would be lowered ten feet into the ground to serve his life sentence. A sentence he wouldn’t have gotten if not for me betraying him.

But that’s what happens when you are a threat to all of mankind. Markis believed vampires were the superior race and should rule the world. He thought that all other beings should serve as our foot stools. He also believed that he should be the one true ruler over all.

Markis swaggers down the stairs. I follow his movements with my head. He walks around me and stands in front of me. His dark brown eyes search mine before he yanks the balaclava down, revealing my face.

A slow smile lifts his lips. “You look beautiful, Mizani.” He scans me from head to toe.

I don’t focus on the way my body responds to his gaze, or how his dark brown skin seems to glow. Nor do I linger on the way his unblemished, smooth skin stretches over six feet of pure muscle. I don’t care that his thick long locs have been freshly done and hang down his back. I disregard his perfectly trimmed beard and goatee that accentuate those full lips I used to kiss.

None of that holds my attention. No, my focus is on locking down my thoughts and memories.

The same way my father has the gift of compulsion; my mate has the gift of mind reading or sifting is what my people call it. It is one of those rare gifts. And not only does he have the gift, but he is also a master at it. Which means he is better than most with the talent.

I feel the slight nudge of his presence in my head. I make sure my brain is locked down. It doesn’t require much because my thoughts are always locked.

He chuckles. “Look at you. You’ve gotten much better at keeping me out.”

“How are you here?” I ask to keep his attention on me and out of my head.

He shrugs, glancing at the surrounding vampires. I try to move my hand, but the chain connected to the arrow embedded in my palm keeps it in place. They are holding me hostage. I need time to figure out a plan.

“I told you; I am invincible. No tomb can hold me. Even though you lost faith in me,” he smiles, showing off his perfect white teeth. “Your father and my loyal disciples did not.”

He looks at those familiar faces in the crowd. Faces I once considered friends.

“They heard my calls and came for me. The work must go on.”

“You’re insane,” I say.

“No,” he shouts, stepping closer to me. “I am a visionary.”

“You are a lunatic,” I snarl. “A psycho that wants to take away everyone’s free will.”

He grins. “Why not?”

“We are the stronger species,” Kozani, one of his loyal disciples’, shouts. “We are the only ones that should be on top of the food chain. Yet we sit in the shadows allowing the others to make rules for us.”

Murmurs of agreement go up. This was once the same way I thought. Until I realized it’s a sickness and my ex is the disease.

Markis starts to pace in front of me. “The humans prance around this realm as if they are the only ones here. Yet they are no more than insects in our world. The shifters hide behind their human forms, afraid to be seen. They cluster in their communities, keeping everyone else out. The witches are and have always been useless with their mediocre powers. I plan to make us rulers of this realm. And I shall be the true ruler of them all.”

The mindless sheep around me cheer as if he’s speaking some type of prolific sermon.

When I listen to him now speak of his desires, I can’t understand how I ever fell for his logic. I was once one of these sheep. I listened to his speeches and his theory of us being the dominate species and thought he was the most intelligent man ever. Now, all I see is his delusion.

“There are no keys left behind, Markis. The fey took them all with them when they left the realm. Your theory will never work.” The fey, or elves as some people call them, were once the most powerful beings in this realm. Their magic is endless. The only way for him to get what he wants is to find one of their fey keys. We spent nearly two decades looking for those keys.

He turns back to me and chuckles. “Now you know that’s not true.” Turning to his men, he says. “Now that I have my wife back, we can continue our search for the key.”

Once again, vampires around me cheer.

Dread runs a cold finger down my spine. However, I keep calm and give nothing away. There are still a few pieces of the puzzle that he will need to get what he wants.

“Nothing has changed, Markis. You will never have me back.”

He looks at me, his eyes watching me intently. He smiles. “Did you know my wife and I have a soul tie?” he says to the vampires in the room, but keeps his gaze on me.

I flinch at the mention of our bond. Again, my naivety and age really fucked me over.

Markis turns back to the vampires. “With our bond, she will now and forever belong to me. No matter how much she thinks she hates me or how far she tries to run. She will always belong to me.” He steps up to me, closing the gap between us so tightly his chest brushes against my nipples. “Isn’t that right, Mizani?”

Markis reaches out a hand and touches my cheek. Passion and desire blaze through me so fast and hard that I moan under his caress. If I had it my way, I would spit in his face. However, he's my mate, and the soul tie ensures my body desires only him. Not only that, but it’s been a while since I’ve felt a man’s touch.

“You need me, my love,” his voice resounds in my head. “ Have you allowed another to touch what is mine?”

With every ounce of strength I have, I shove him out of my head mentally. The shove is so hard, he stumbles a little. His eyes widen when he stabilizes himself.

Even though they gave Markis a life sentence of being put to ground, part of me knew a tomb would never hold him. While I never thought my father would be the one to bring him back, I knew that one day I would face him again. In order to do that, I had to be mentally tough.

His gaze narrows. “How did you do that?”

Keeping my face neutral, I reply. “Three hundred years gave me a long time to learn new tricks.”

He steps forward, wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing until I can barely breathe.

“I have a new trick too,” he sneers. Suddenly my brain explodes in pain. I cry out as it intensifies. It feels as if he is taking a sledgehammer to my skull and pounding against it. However, I don’t drop my wall.

“What are you hiding?” he shouts in my head.

I can almost feel him chipping away at the barrier I’ve erected. Eventually, he will get through. I summon every ounce of energy I can find and use it to shove him out of my head. Apparently, there was a lot of energy around me because Markis flies across the room and hits the wall. He looks back at me, confusion, anger, and then a prideful smile lifts his face.

I don’t have time to waste. I needed to get out of this mansion.

“Now, would be a good time to join in,” I say out loud so Tech can hear me.

A loud buzzing sound goes off outside. The vampires in the room look around.

“What the hell is that?” Florin shouts over the noise. “Go see what it is?” He tells one of the new followers.

“No,” Markis shouts. “Stand your ground!”

It’s too late. The chains holding me loosen just enough for me to snatch my shoulder free. I use the blade on that arm to cut the back of the arrow in my palm. I then quickly yank the arrow out.

Just then, the windows shatter and thick black smoke fills the room, making it hard to see.

“About time you showed up,” I say into my earpiece to Tech.

I take advantage of Markis and his follower’s distraction. I pull the arrow out of my shoulder. The star like spikes slice through the flesh. However, I’m used to pain. My stint in that hellhole academy made sure of that.

“If I’m not mistaken, I told you I should come with you.”

“Not the time for I told you so’s. Get me out of here.” I yank the arrow out of my thigh. I ignore the gaping hole it leaves behind; it will heal soon enough.

“Stay low,” Tech warns.

Seconds later, gunshots fire through the house. Bullets won’t kill any of these guys, but they will cause enough pain to distract them and slow them down. I activate my blades, slicing one through the last of the arrows in my side, setting me free.

“Don’t let her escape,” Markis shouts over the noise.

Another arrow comes flying toward my head. I use my Katana to slice it in half before it hits its mark. Flexing my wrist, I cause the Katanas to disappear back into the cuffs. Flipping my hands over, I aim the cuff at the head of one of the vampires and fire a thin spike into his eye. He drops his bow and falls to his knees.

I move through the room, taking down a few other vampires using my spikes. For those that get too close, I use hand to hand, snapping their necks easily. I make it to the door of the mansion.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Markis. He’s being protected by his loyal disciples. That alone shows you how far gone they are. Markis is a highly trained 700-year-old vampire. He didn’t need any of our protection. It is only by good timing and the fact that he’s probably still too weak from being put to ground that I’m making it out of here alive.

His dark brown eyes land on me.

“You can run, wife. But I will find you. And we will find the key,” those words are whispered in my head.

I don’t acknowledge him. Instead, I turn and run like hell out the door in order to get to Marley. We needed to get out of town. You see, I have a secret that I must keep from Markis. One that has deadly consequences. I know the location of a fey key.