Page 59 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

I recognize a group of people I went to school with at the big U-shaped booth in back. Their gazes dart between me and Bran. I know we are an unlikely pair. And there’s no way in hell anyone I went to school with would have ever considered me up to the standard of the Duvals.

Well look at me now, side by side with Thee Duval, still full of his cum.

I start to slide into the booth where the seat faces the door but Bran gives me a shake of his head.

“I need to watch the front,” he tells me.

I roll my eyes. “If someone wanted to ambush us, they could just as easily come through the back door.”

“Yes, but the backdoor is metal. I’ll hear it clank open. They have twice as much ground to cover to reach you from the back door as they do the front. So, I sit here.” He points at the bench seat facing the front. “You sit there.”

Well his logic is sound, but I’m not about to tell him that. “Fine.”

We slide into the booth. Judy comes over, her order pad tucked into her apron pocket. “Do I even need to ask?” she says to me.

“Nope. Give me the usual.”

She nods and then glances at Bran. “And for you?”

“Coffee. Black.”

“Coming right up.” She disappears behind the counter.

“So,” I say.

“So,” Bran says.

“What now?”

He spreads one arm over the back of the booth. Freshly showered, the blood scrubbed from his skin, he could easily pass as human, but he would never blend into a crowd. There is something extremely bold about Bran Duval. Like a fast sports car with sharp edges and a roaring engine.

That’s what he is here, or anywhere. Unmistakable. I can feel the eyes of my former classmates watching us. And I’m so glad I’m here, on the other side of the booth with Bran instead of across the diner speculating what it’s like to have a Duval.

What a lucky girl I am.

Other than the brother that wants to kill me, of course. And the sister possessed by a fae queen. And a bastard fae prince that I’m sorta still betrothed to.

“What now?” Bran repeats, his gaze casually scanning the diner and the street beyond. “Well, your brother didn’t show up at Duval House to gut us, so I think that’s a good sign.”

“Is it?”

Judy reappears at our table with a black coffee and a Diet Coke for me. “Stanley’s making that grilled cheese for ya, sugar. Be just a few more minutes.”

“Thanks Judy.”

Bran sits forward, lets the steam from the coffee curtain between us. “Have you thought about what happens when you win this war?”

A cold chill runs down my spine. “No, why?”

That’s a lie. I have thought about it. Quietly. In the deep, dark recesses of my mind. Even if I didn’t want it, even if most of the fae realm wants me dead, I still feel a sense of responsibility to the throne. The fae realm is in chaos, the seasons out of sync. They’re in trouble and they need me to help fix it.

But even if everything worked out perfectly in my favor, what does that future look like? And how will Bran fit into it?

Bran levels me with an intense stare. I squirm beneath his gaze.

“You have thought about it,” he says, more statement than accusation. “And you and I both know that if you win, you’ll have to return to the fae realm, claim your throne, and then guard it every day for the rest of your life.”

I swallow hard.