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Someone is going to die today. I know this fact as well as I know what my preferred blood type is—Bailey’s.

One minute, I was floating across the dance floor with my beautiful mate in the finest dress money can buy as opulence and romance swirled around us. She was pressed close to me, a bright smile on her face and her curves melding with my hard planes and hardening extremity.

Her body against mine always felt better than the last time, but there was something different about tonight. Like our relationship was going to be solidified by love, even though we’ve already mated. But then she fell from my arms as the blur of a vampire took her out, knocking her to the floor.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, and before I could think better of it, I snatched up the offending vampire and sped the cunt out of the gala, to where she’s now pressed into the wall, much like she was back in my office when she tried to start shit with Bailey the first time.

I tried to put a stop to her bullshit then, but it’s obvious she didn’t take me seriously.

Now, though, this bitch has gone too far.

There are certain rules surrounding a vampire’s mate that all vampires live by, and she has broken almost every single one of them.

Rule one, you don’t come between a vampire and his mate. Marked or not; with the intention of mating in the forefront, you stay the hell away.

Rule two, you don’t seduce an already mated vampire or a vampire who has already met their mate but hasn’t solidified the bond yet. It’s uncouth, immoral, and just plain shitty.

Rule three, you don’t injure or intend to harm mates. They are sacred in our world, and the only way for our kind to procreate.

Rule four. And this is my own personal rule. You don’t fuck with what’s mine .

While there are exceptions to the rules like in the case of my fated mate, there are none where Bailey is concerned. Andrea’s actions were intentional. Plain and simple. There’s no way to talk herself out of what she did. It was her form of retaliation for being removed from her position as my secretary and thus being denied my presence. Which solidifies my every right to handle this bitch as I see fit. Unlike her, there will be no consequences for any further actions I take. And let it be known; I plan to end her.

Knowing who her father is, I don’t doubt that she’s never been told no. Carter has spoiled his precious princess, always giving her whatever she’s wanted, consequences be damned. But that ends here and now.

She’s put Bailey in danger. Danger that Luka and I have been doing our damnedest to protect her from. But this is one that she shouldn’t have had to suffer from.

Even if her father tries to intervene, just like he has every time she’s thrown herself at me, it won’t change the fact that she will pay for actions tonight.

Period.

“What have I told you numerous times, Angelica?” I hiss, my fangs cutting into my lip. The smell of my own blood permeates the hallways, only fueling my ever-increasing bloodlust. It’s easy to tell when my eyes shift from their natural ruby red to the unnerving onyx when I’m infuriated, and the fear wafting off Annie curls around my body, like it too is afraid of being in my presence.

“Amy,” she squeaks, her claws cutting into my suit jacket as terror overtakes her red eyes.

“What?” What is this infuriating woman going on about?

“My name is Amy,” she grits out, her own tiny fangs on full display as she bares her teeth at me.

How pathetic she is trying to intimidate me with such small incisors.

When what she said finally clicks, my humorless laugh echoes around the empty hallway.

“What’s so funny?” Her perfectly shaped, fake red brows pull together in confusion as she stares at me like I’ve lost my marbles. And hell, at this rate, maybe I have.

“You. Obviously, you are so damn insignificant to my life that I don’t even remember your name. Even after working for me for years.” A gasp slips through her painted red lips. “Truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

The doors leading from the main gala space bang as they close, making my prey flinch, followed by the sound of rushing footsteps in our direction. It’s not hard to tell who it is, though. Only one person would be racing after this stupid bitch.

“Mr. Pennington,” Benjamin Carter, this cunt’s father, blunders, “please, let her go. She’s young. She doesn’t know any better.”

Another humorless laugh falls from my mouth, the maniacal sound bouncing off the walls.

“She knows exactly what she’s doing, Carter,” I hiss, slamming whatever the fuck her name is against the wallpaper even as my eyes are on Ben’s. Glee infuses my veins with every wince I feel under my fingertips and moans of pain as her head bounces against the hard surface. “And she knows damn well the consequences of messing around with a vampire’s mate.”

“M-mate? No, no, no.” She attempts to shake her head, but the flex of my claws in her neck hinders the movement. “I love you, Axel. I’m supposed to be your mate. Not some fucking nobody little bitch.”

“Shut the fuck up, Amy,” Benjamin hisses but makes no move to extract her from my grip. Does she listen? Of course, fucking not.

“No. She shouldn’t fucking exist as it is.” Her eyes light up. “And she’s about to die anyway. So, you’ll be mine!”

“Never!” I snarl, smashing my fist into the drywall next to her head. “If she dies, I’ll be right there next to her taking my last breath. She is my mate, and there will never be another for me.”

Abigail stops squirming in my grip, glee infusing her features as her lips curl up in a smug grin. “By the time you get back inside, Axel baby, she’ll already be dead.”

I recoil at her words, but I don’t dare release her from my hold.

Her smile widens even further, and it’s then I notice her hand raised next to us with Bailey’s glamour-infused snowflake necklace dangling between her fingertips. The rainbow colors refract the surrounding light, shooting beams of color around the space.

If she has that… that could only mean…

“You fucking bitch!”

“Your bitch, Axel baby.” Bile rises in my throat as she shifts her lower half forward, trying to rub up against me like a cat in heat. “I’m all yours.”

“Not in a million years.” Bone crunching is like music to my ears as my fist breaks through her sternum, giving me direct access to that black heart of hers. My fingers curl around the fleshy organ, mild surprise rushing through me that she even has a heart to begin with. “I hope you rot in Hell.”

Her mouth pops open in a silent scream as what’s happening finally registers in her brain. The squelch and pop of her heart being torn from her body only serves to fuel my bloodlust further, but it also appeases my vampire that this vile person will no longer be around to harm those that are dear to me.

Blood splatters the cuffs of my white tailored shirt when my claws pierce through the continuously beating heart in the palm of my hand, stilling it almost immediately. It easily gives way, turning into nothing but mush, no longer viable and able to return to her body.

Before what’s left of it falls from my fingers, I strike out, my claws slicing through her fleshy throat with precision. For what feels like minutes, her head floats in the air, even as gravity finally takes effect and Amelia’s headless body hits the floor with a resounding thud. Not even a second later, Benjamin’s scream pierces the air as it disappears in a cloud of ash. Her vacant eyes stare into nothing before her head too poofs away, leaving nothing behind.

Benjamin’s keening wail doesn’t stir any remorse as he drops, his knees cracking as he falls to the marble ground. His movements are jerky as he desperately tries to piece his daughter back together, but there’s no helping her now. She’s gone and not even into an afterlife. Her crimes against mates has left her soul adrift with no peace at the end of the tunnel.

My gaze falls to the distraught vampire once more as I pull a handkerchief from my pocket and wipe the bitch’s blood from my fingers. Can’t stain my beautiful mate with the blood of a cunt. Once my hands are moderately clean, the soiled material falls from my fingers, landing next to the small pile of her left that Carter hasn’t reached yet.

Even though Benjamin has been like family since he and my father opened the law firm decades ago, there’s no time—nor do I really fucking care—to console him. My cor meum needs me.

Fuck. I should have checked on her first. It’s my duty as a mate to take care of her needs first. But I was so consumed with dealing with this bitch once and for all that I put my heart second to my vengeance. I wasn’t lying when I said that if I lost Bailey, I’d lay down and die right next to her.

But this whole situation reiterates what Luka was talking about when he said she’ll need us both, along with whatever other mates she has—Lycan currently excluded. The world isn’t ready for curiomancers to be on the rise again, not until we can prove she’s not a threat. It’s just not something that I can do alone. It’ll take us all. Whoever the others may be.

My protective instincts push me toward the heavy double doors that loom ahead of me, but the sound of music no longer floats through the air. Now it’s a call to action.

A call for death.

And it’s all pointed at one person.

My cor meum .