Page 60 of Kingly Bitten

Unless we were walking into an ambush.Hmm, no.Jace would suspect that with his heightened senses. His confident strides told me he knew exactly where the humans were, and the re-holstered pistol at his hip confirmed he didn’t foresee them giving him any trouble.

As he’d said, humans considered vampires to be gods.

The Vigils would have to be insane to try to fight him. The only reason the human soldiers in Bunker 47 had fought back was because they’d known they were dead anyway. Those weren’t normal supernaturals who’d escaped the lab, but research subjects with vendettas on their minds.

These Vigils would react differently.

Or I hoped they would, anyway.

I could hear them up ahead, their deep voices carrying through the field of servers. It was difficult to pinpoint their location, the computer walls too tall for us to see over. They were at least eight feet in height, leaving about two feet between the tops and the ceiling. That allowed sound to carry but didn’t give us a line of sight.

Fortunately, Damien—

“Gentlemen,” Jace called, his regal tone skating along my senses and making me flinch in surprise at him announcing our presence in the building. “My name is Prince Jace. I expect you all to be kneeling by the time my entourage rounds this corner. Any resistance will be met with lethal force.”

Prince Jace? I thought he was King Jace?

A flurry of sound followed his announcement, the scuffle of boots telling me the Vigils might not be doing what Jace had demanded.

“You have five seconds,” Jace continued. “Those who adhere to societal expectations and welcome me properly will be rewarded. I’ve already implied what will happen to those who don’t.”

His confident demeanor didn’t change. He merely continued walking with the grace of a god, his strides purposeful and important. Damien stopped at the end of the row, waiting for Jace to join him.

Jace didn’t pause, choosing to waltz right around the corner without a care in the world.

My lips parted, fear tightening my gut.

Only, gasps littered the air instead of gunshots.

“Well, that certainly took the fun out of everything,” Damien muttered, trailing after Jace. “I was craving blood.”

“You’re always craving blood,” Jace returned.

Darius and Juliet came up behind me, their presence an uncomfortable sensation at my back. “Move,” Darius said, his lips far too close to my ear.

I skipped forward and startled at the sight of nine men all kneeling in reverence before Jace. I idly wondered if I was supposed to join them. Instead, I walked up behind Jace and grabbed his shirt.

It was an odd response. Yet it felt right. Intuitive. Like I was meant to accompany him in this manner.

However, I quickly realized that I’d acted out of turn, touching the royal vampire as though he were mine to touch.

I released the fabric as though it’d burned my palms, my mind sending directions to my feet to retreat. But it was too late.

Jace reached around himself to grab me and tugged me to his side.

“Do you recognize any of them, Doctor?” he asked, gesturing to the submissive humans. Their heads were all turned downward, their eyes respectfully averted.

“I can’t properly see them,” I admitted in a whisper. “But I doubt I know them.”

All the Vigils familiar with my research had been killed in Bunker 47. Including those who had outlived their purpose prior to the bunker’s self-destruction. Lilith had usually fed humans to the vampires and lycans when they’d no longer served her purposes.

Jace dipped his chin, then looked over the crowd. “Who is the commanding officer here?”

“I am, Your Highness,” a blond male announced from the middle of the group. “Vigil One, Lajos Region.”

Jace’s eyebrow lifted. “You’re from Lajos Region? Not Lilith Region?”

“My team is from Lajos Region, Your Highness.” Vigil One didn’t lift his head while he spoke, his form perfectly subservient. “Vigils Seven, Twenty-Two, Fifty-Eight, and Sixty-One are from Lilith Region. However, they fall under my command for this op.”