Page 172 of Kingly Bitten

The protocols were all broken due to Ryder’s recent announcement regarding Lilith’s death. We no longer needed to hide.

So why didn’t they call me?I wondered, my gaze going to the window as the jet continued to descend.

Mira had told me they’d found him under the Conventus. Just thinking about the catacombs beneath Rome gave me chills. All those cold, sleeping immortals. Crypts. Skulls. Former ritual sites.

I’d not lived through the creation of that tomb.

But Cam had.

And I’d seen the memories of it in his mind.

There were age-old rituals that kept the ancients from rising before they were ready. However, their spirits were very much alive down there. Cam had once called it a protective measure meant to deter humans. I’d told him it worked because just visiting the Vatican had made me feel cold.

Why can’t I feel you?I wondered, thinking at Cam.Why are you still blocking me?

I knew he’d done it originally to protect me. But if he was with Jace and Darius now, then that meant he was okay and should be willing to talk to me.

Yet I couldn’t sense him at all.

It was as though he’d erected a barricade between our minds, cutting me off from the other half of my soul.

“You’re sure he’s okay?” I asked Mira for the hundredth time.

“Positive,” she replied, her focus on the tablet in her hands.

I tapped my fingers against my armrest, the sense of unease remaining. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen or heard from Cam in over a hundred years.

The agony of being cut off had dulled over the last century, but my heart continued to ache. I’d dreamt of this moment so many times, of finding Cam and reigniting our bond.

Nothing about this felt right.

Because I can’t sense you, I decided.

Maybe we needed to touch each other again to rekindle the link?

I frowned.That can’t be right. I should be able to feel our connection, but I can’t. Why?

My pulse continued to race, something I hoped Mira took as excitement. For some reason, my instincts told me not to confide in her. Which was also strange. I’d known her since before the revolution. But something about her demeanor now struck me as off.

Or this was all just in my head.

Maybe I’m nervous, I thought. Considering how I’d felt about Cam in the beginning, nervousness would be an appropriate response. He’d been this enigma of a male with his long, dark hair and striking blue eyes.

I’d thought he was a god.

And he sort of was, with his ancient history and vampiric abilities.

Butterflies ignited in my belly as I recalled our first meeting. It’d been in the dark, but his eyes had practically glowed beneath the moonlight. And he’d escorted me home, saying the streets were too dangerous for a young girl like me to be wandering alone.

He hadn’t been wrong.

He’d been a predator lurking in the night, looking for a drink. And he hadn’t been alone, either.

Goose bumps pebbled down my arms at the recollection of how captivated I’d been by his charm and beauty. He hadn’t bitten me. Hadn’t even touched me. Just protected me, something he’d continued to do for weeks before making a move.

His kiss had set my blood on fire.

His touch, too.