Page 121 of Kingly Bitten

Calina should be no different.

Except she was very different to me.

This fucking link was going to get us killed. Rationally, I knew severing it was the practical choice. But another part of me reasoned that our connection was intensely beneficial. She thought just like I did. My immortality made her more formidable as well.

I also still needed her.

To help me find Cam.

And maybe for other reasons, too.

We weren’t done. Our time together had just begun.

Stop,I ordered myself, shoving all the thoughts to the back of my mind and taking a lazy sip of my wine as I waited for Lajos’s next move.

“You realize this is my territory,” he said, observing me with an intensity that left me cold inside. Except I knew I’d maintained my facade flawlessly, apart from interrupting Jasmine. All I’d done was turn around to back up my sovereign by clarifying that Calina was meant for dessert.

Surely Lajos hadn’t read much into it.

His political motivations were driven by greed and sadism, not strategy.

But as he continued to hold my gaze, a small part of me questioned his intent here.

“I’m very aware that this is your territory,” I told him carefully. “And I’m thankful you allowed Darius and me a chance to visit. Which is why we’re hoping you’ll join us later for a proper nightcap.” I reiterated the offer, hoping it would be enough.

However, the glint in his ebony irises told me it wasn’t. The sadist wanted to play now. “In my territory, I take what I want when I want it.”

“She’s not available right now,” I replied immediately, dropping my elegant act and allowing him to feel the wave of my power. “She’s my property, Lajos. Not yours.” And as his elder, he would have to respect that.

“You’d deny me the pleasure in my own city?” He sounded absolutely astonished by the prospect.

“I’m merely delaying your gratification.”

“No. You’re making a power move,” he returned. “One I don’t accept.”

He moved before I could react, his hands going to Calina’s head and twisting it with a resounding snap of her neck.

“There,” he said, allowing her limp body to fall to the seat beside him. “The distraction is dead. Problem solved.”

The world shifted around me in shades of red and black, my heart literally stopping in my chest at the sight of Calina’s lifeless form.

One moment, she was alive in my head.

And now…

Now I couldn’t sense her at all.

She was gone.

Her mind cut off.

Her soul… broken. Disappeared. Destroyed. By this bastard of a vampire. Like some sort of game. A passing amusement. His chuckle echoed through my mind. His movements slowed. His pulse throbbed with athud, thud, thud, where Calina remained silent.

Dead.

He killed her.

My mate.