Page 152 of Kingly Bitten

The name on the screen had me blinking. “That’s impossible. He would have told me.” I focused on Darius. “Did he tell you about this?”

He wore a similar expression of dismay. “No. Cam never mentioned saving Michael.”

“It has to be a lie,” I said, wondering just how much of any of this was actually true. “This… all of this… it’s too…” I couldn’t find the words. Mostly becauseunbelievableseemed like an understatement.

And yet the proof of it all stared up at us on the screen.

“Cam would—”

The ground beneath my feet shook as an explosion rippled down the hallway outside the doors. My gun dropped into my hand as I phased to the doorway to find rubble all over the floor.

And a smirking Kylan standing near the blown entryway. “See, now,thisis why you invite me out to play. I’m helpful when I want to be.”

41

Jace

“What the fuckare you doing here?” I asked, both shocked and thankful for Kylan’s unexpected arrival.

“Well, I was talking to Ryder, like you suggested. And he was going on and on about some human pets he’s had to adopt to please Willow. I guess he issued an edict stating a lab pup named Petri and his biological parents are officially under his protection?”

“Gretchen and James,” I translated, somewhat amused to learn of this development. Louis would be most disappointed. But only someone courting suicide would risk Ryder’s wrath, and if he’d chosen to protect them for Willow’s benefit, then they were fortunate indeed. “They were two of Calina’s lab assistants in Bunker 47.”

“Hmm, I see.” Kylan considered that for a moment. “Well, anyway, in the midst of Ryder’s bitchfest, Damien called him about some sort of watch alarm. Then he mentioned not being able to reach you. And long story short, I was the closest and I have the fastest jet.”

I narrowed my gaze at the subtle jab. We were both collectors. And he did, indeed, have the fastest jet out of all of us. Because he’d outbid me at an auction. “For now,” I said through my teeth, responding to his claim.

He shrugged and crossed one ankle over the other. “We’ll see.” He arched a dark brow, his matching hair sweeping over his forehead in a fashionableI just blew some shit upkind of way. “So. Did you find Cam?”

“Yes and no,” I admitted, glancing down at the watch I’d forgotten all about while reviewing the files. We were down to nearly an hour left. “We think he’s in the catacombs under the Conventus in Italy.”

Kylan arched a brow. “With the ancients?”

“Yeah.”

Kylan snorted. “It would be just like Lilith to disturb the peace. The whole Goddess bit really did go to her head, didn’t it?”

I would have agreed with him, but a note of alarm in Calina’s thoughts had me returning immediately to her side. It was a video of her tied to a table, screaming, as a lycan—

Fury licked through my being, followed promptly by acute terror as Calina’s emotions overwhelmed our bond.

I reached around her to close the window, then I grabbed her chin and forced her to meet my gaze.

No words were spoken.

Just an intense moment of silence underlined in my silent vow never to let anything like that ever happen to her again.

She swallowed, some of her fear abating. But the unease remained, her stomach churning at having stumbled upon that particular file.

Darius said something to Kylan in the hallway, confirming he and Juliet had left to give us some much-needed privacy. Because he’d likely seen all the details, just as I had.

I-I was just clicking through the reports, a-and it—

“You don’t need to explain anything to me,” I told her, releasing her chin to cup her cheek as I knelt before her. “You’ve wanted answers. You’ve found them.”

She swallowed again. “Th-that wasn’t an answer I wanted.”

“I know.” I drew my thumb along her cheekbone, noting her still-blue eyes. “But some of them were ones you needed. Although, it still doesn’t explain our connection.”