Page 6 of Kingly Bitten

I waited to see if I received a reaction. If Lilith was watching me, she’d make it known right about now because she would be furious over my clear break in procedure.

Minutes passed and nothing happened.

No alarms. No calls. No toxins in the air.

The queen is dead.It was the only natural explanation for the lack of a response. She’d never let me get this far into a game without showing her hand.

And if she wasn’t, well, I’d cross that bridge later.

Because we now had less than thirty hours to escape this hell.

Or we would all be buried alive down here.

I stood and ran from my office into the vacant hall.

No one stopped me. Just as no sirens blared.

I should have done this hours ago, tested the limits of the disaster plan to determine Lilith’s intentions, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time now fretting over how long it had taken me to make this decision.

No scientist ever jumped to a conclusion without weighing all the evidence from their observations.

My researchers would understand that reasoning just as well as I did.

I shoved through the door to their lab, finding the ball of fluff snuggled into Gretchen’s lap. She blinked up at me in surprise, then smiled. “Hey, Calina. What—”

“Lilith is dead and we need to go.” I pulled the sleeve up to expose my wrist. “This whole place is going to self-destruct in just under thirty hours.”

2

Jace

I tracedthe lines on the map, studying the area known asLilith Region. That name would change soon. An upgrade, in my opinion.

Jace Region.

Technically, that area already existed, but it would soon be renamedDarius Region. Assuming the ancient vampire beside me agreed to claim it.

“You realize you’re a royal now, yes?” I asked without taking my eyes away from the map. “The Blood Alliance may not know it yet, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“First a sovereign and now a royal,” my old friend drawled, his English lilt rivaling my own. “How thrilling.”

My lips twitched. Darius never was one for politics.

“You could give it to Ivan,” I suggested.

He grunted in reply. “He’s too young. The challenges would distract him from getting anything done.”

“True,” I agreed, my gaze narrowing at Lilith City on the map. It was formerly known as Chicago in the human era. However, the dead Goddess had claimed it and retitled it after her namesake.

All the royals and alphas had followed suit with their own destined location.

San Francisco became Jace City—my home.

Kylan claimed Vancouver, renaming it Kylan City.

The list continued throughout the world, designating seventeen distinctive lycan regions and eighteen vampire states. Lilith took over a vast section of the Midwest with her area sprawling upward to meet Majestic Clan, which was primarily composed of former northern states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana.

“I really don’t think the labs are here,” I said, pointing to Lilith City. It was too densely populated. “Lilith would definitely want to keep her research close, but not close enough to be discovered.”