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When her brothers were finally out of her line of vision, she plopped back down in her seat and tugged her baseball cap off of her head. “How much of that did you hear?” she asked.

He gave her a pointed look, and she nodded.

“Right. All of it.”

“They love you,” Beckham said.

“Yes, they do. Very much so.”

“You could have stayed.”

She shook her head. “You and I both know that isn’t true.”

“They wanted you to.”

“And a part of me still wants to be with them,” she admitted. “But I want to see where this goes, Becks. It’s not an easy road, but it’s one that I’m willing to travel with you.”

He reached for her hand, and they laced their fingers together. It was nice and made her sigh. Everything wasn’t right with the world, but the here and now was too wonderful not to relish in.

Beckham was staring at her, not saying anything. He wasn’t even looking at his phone. She had become so accustomed to the thing glued to his face that she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Nothing urgent or pressing?” she asked.

“No.”

“No text messages you need to send? Emails you need to reply to? Charts you need to look at?”

He smirked. “No.”

“I thought it would be a busy day after what happened.”

“It might be,” he acknowledged.

“I’m not complaining, but normally you’re kind of attached to your phone.” It was almost a little bit disconcerting to have the full weight of his gaze on her.

“Did you never ascertain that you were the reason I was always plugged in?”

Reyna cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at his penetrating gaze. “I mean, I didn’t think that was the sole reason,” she volunteered. “I figured you were busy?”

He laughed, and it had a lightness she had never heard before. “Sure. I’m busy. All the time. But when you’re in the car with me, I can’t concentrate. I get nothing done. All I could think about was this,” he said, grasping the back of her head and pulling her in for a fierce kiss.

She practically climbed into his lap she was so ready to have his lips on her. She didn’t care that she was in ratty jeans and a T-shirt while he was in a two-thousand-dollar suit. All she wanted was to feel him again, feel him as hers for the first time. God, she couldn’t wait to get him home. She was going to finally get to rip off this damn suit and find out exactly what was underneath it.

“Reyna,” he groaned. He bit her lip lightly and dragged it between his teeth. She arched her back and pressed her pelvis down onto him.

“Mmm?” she moaned.

“I need to talk to you. I have things I need to tell you,” he said, his hands doing all the talking for him.

“It can wait,” she assured him.

All talking could wait. He had said that he was going to tell Penelope he wanted to be with Reyna, and that was good enough for now. He had chosen, and he had chosen her. She wasn’t sure she could wait until they got home to get her hands on him.

“Reyna, please,” he groaned as she fumbled with his tie.

She silenced him with a kiss and then yanked the tie off of him. Then she began undoing all of the little buttons of his shirt. He stopped protesting at that point. He couldn’t win against her when all of his barriers had been shattered. His hands pushed the soft cotton of her shirt up and over her head. A thin lacy bra covered her breasts, and he cupped both of them in his hands, flicking a finger inside to caress one nipple.

She moaned and grabbed onto his chest for support against the pleasure coursing through her body. She circled her hips on top of him, desperate for the passion that had been building between them to finally come to fruition. Her hands tugged on the belt he was wearing, unfastened the buckle, and then unsnapped the button of his trousers.

“Beckham, take me here,” she pleaded against his mouth. “I don’t care where we are. I just want you.”

He growled deep in the back of his throat and then threw her down roughly onto the seat. His tall frame had difficulty adjusting to the cramped space, but his body covered her and his hands were everywhere. She threw her head back, and he kissed down her throat in a heated desperation. Her legs came up to circle around his waist, drawing him closer.

In the silence that followed, the buzzing of his phone was as clear as day. “Ignore it,” she pleaded, running her hands down his jaw.

“Let me turn it off.” He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and retrieved the phone. His brow furrowed when he checked the screen. “Hmm…”

“Hmm good or hmm bad?” she asked. She was anxious to get back to business.

“It’s Roland.”

Reyna cringed away from the name. After what had happened with Roland in the club, just the mention of him made her body shudder with revulsion.

“I have to take this.” He gave her an apologetic look and sat up. He didn’t want to talk to Roland any more than she did, especially not under the circumstances.

Recess was over.

She righted herself in the car and reached for her T-shirt on the floor.

“Hello?” Beckham said gruffly into the phone.

Beckham listened as Roland said something into his ear.

“Yes,” he responded after a minute. “Today?”

He pulled his sleeve back to check the time.

“That’s in half an hour.”

Roland was clearly saying something that Beckham didn’t agree with, because his face was growing darker and darker. All traces of the fun, sexy Becks who had been seducing her in the back seat of the car evaporated.

“I understand.”

He hung up the phone, clearly aggravated, and tapped on the console that let him speak to the driver. “Change of plans. Head to the city hall building downtown.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What happened?” she asked.

He carefully rearranged his suit, buttoned his shirt up, and retied the knot at his neck before getting under control enough to answer.

“He didn’t say exactly. Purposefully vague. Just that I needed to get to city hall. That I wouldn’t want to miss what was about to happen.”

Reyna swallowed, hating all of this. “Why do I feel like we’re playing into his hands by going?”

“Because we are,” he admitted reluctantly, “but I see no alternative.”

She hated bringing this up, but they were going to the building where the mayor was. “Do you think this has anything to do with Penelope?”

Beckham shook his head. “I doubt it. I would have heard if her condition had changed. She was stable when I left. This sounded personal.”

Reyna frowned. “Personal how?”

“He asked me to bring you.”

“What does that mean?” she demanded. She did not want to see Roland. If she had to face him down eventually, she would. She wouldn’t cower, but she had hoped that time would come in a distant future, not today.

“I guess we’ll find out once we get there.” He took her hand in his and kissed the top softly. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

They made it to about a mile from the city hall building before their car was stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic. People filled the streets for as far as the eye could see toward the main intersection.

“What the hell?” Reyna said, craning to see what all the traffic was from.

“This will do for now. We’ll have to go on foot the rest of the way.”

Beckham told their driver their plans, and then they hopped out of the town car into the middle of the gridlocked intersection. They jogged over to the sidewalk and past the people mingling around the road in confusion. Reyna was glad that she wasn’t in some ridiculous high heels in that moment. If she didn’t have her Converse on, she never would have been able to keep up with Beckham. As it was, she still lagged behind.

He reached back for her, and after another ten minutes, they finally made it in front of city hall. Reyna leaned over to a couple who were chatting animatedly.

“Excuse me. What’s going on?” she asked.

The woman glanced worriedly at Beckham before saying, “The mayor is about to make a big announcement. We’re finally going to get the change we needed. After those horrible fires and all the unnecessary death, we are so eager for what the mayor is going to be heralding in with these policies.”

“What policies?” Reyna asked, astounded. She had only been gone a couple of days. How could all of this have passed so quickly? What was the media saying that was convincing these people that it was a good idea?

“Human and vampire equality, of course.”

“Of course,” Reyna deadpanned. She looked up at Beckham as the couple disappeared into the crowd. “I don’t like this. Something seems wrong.”

He nodded. “I can feel it, too.”

“You didn’t hear anything about this?”

“No. That’s what worries me.”

Reyna and Beckham pressed in closer to the city hall. A stage had been erected in front of the building, with a podium and a row of chairs on it. Even with Beckham’s height and bulk, they could only get so far into the crowd before it was impossible to move forward. Reyna couldn’t see a thing. Not that she really would have been able to see much at this distance anyway. But Beckham could see to the stage with his enhanced sight.

The crowd was bustling with activity. Everyone was excited to hear what the mayor was going to say and had their own opinion about what they thought that meant. All Reyna knew was that whatever the big announcement was, it couldn’t be good.

A group of people walked out on the stage in a single-file line and took their seats. As a man approached the podium, the audience quieted down.

“Welcome,” the man called into the microphone.

“Harrington is seated to the left of the speaker,” Beckham whispered down to Reyna.

“Do you think this has something to do with Visage?”

He pressed his lips firmly together. She could tell it was killing him not to be in the know. As a senior official, he should have been informed of what was about to happen, especially if it had something to do with Visage.

“Stick close to me.” He pulled her closer to his body and reached for her hand. “There are too many people out right now, and I don’t want us to get separated.”

“Thank you all for coming this afternoon. It is my pleasure to introduce our very own Mayor Sky.”

As the mayor stepped up to the microphone, the audience broke into applause. He was well-liked and had been elected over and over and over again by the people. Reyna didn’t really feel like he had ever helped. While she felt bad for Penelope’s situation, she and her father were both beyond wealthy in a world where the poor were quite literally starving. Living on the inside with Beckham had really shown her the difference, and if she had the chance, she would vote him out of office in a heartbeat. Though there would never truly be a better alternative in today’s environment.

The mayor waited for the immense crowd to quiet down again before speaking.

“Welcome.” His voice boomed. “It is both sad and troubling, the circumstances in which I stand before you today. Our city has endured a great tragedy this weekend. I’ve spent my time meeting with the family of the victims of the underground fires, my daughter among them. It is with a heavy heart that your city government and I have had to come up with a drastic solution in these trying times.”

He paused for effect to let his words sink in. Reyna held her breath as she waited to find out where he was going with this.

“Henceforth, all illicit activity will be severely cracked down upon for both humans and vampires. Many have let the animosity between our races drive them to violence. No matter the measures we have already put in place, more death and destruction befall the people of our city than ever before. The fires are the tipping point to a horrible plague. My own daughter was burned.”

Reyna clutched Beckham’s hand tighter at the mention of Penelope. His face was drawn, and she wished she could make his worries go away.

“Your brothers and sisters dead. We need to come together as one and stamp out the evil in this world. That should be our ultimate goal, and it was the goal in crafting this legislation. Today, I bring you a new plan to remedy the rising crime. The government must take responsibility for what has gone on, and today is the beginning of a new era!”

Beckham and Reyna glanced at each other. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking behind his dark eyes, but hastily drawn legislation couldn’t have been well thought out. Nor did she assume that meant it was truly benefiting everyone.

“Your legislators have passed a sweeping anti-crime bill that I have signed into law in response to the rapid increase in deaths within our city limits. As a result, we are immediately initiating these measures:

“First, our city has decided to commence the Blood Census starting tomorrow morning at locations all over the city, including city hall.”

“What?” Reyna said. “I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen for a few months.”

“Looks like they’re in a hurry to get it started,” Beckham responded stiffly.

“Our city is thrilled to be the first in the country to herald in this new program. Each of you will be assigned a location to register in the city, and everyone must be tested for their blood type within a month. We want this to happen as quickly and seamlessly as possible, so we can report back all test results to the federal government and complete the national crisis database. Anyone who fails to complete the test will be heavily fined.”

The crowd rumbled with speculation. Some were outraged that they were being forced to participate in this. Others were frustrated that a blood type database was even necessary. Many of them mirrored Reyna’s own sentiment about the existence of a Blood Census. It could mean only one thing: Visage was in the government.

“Additionally, all Census sites will be equipped with these.” The mayor held up a small band in his hand. “They are bracelets issued by the city, programmed with your identification information. All officers will be issued band scanners to verify your identity.”

The rumble turned into a roar. It was enough that everyone had an ID card, but it definitely wasn’t mandatory. And now they were taking it a step forward with these mandatory ID bands. What else would the government force on them?

“These must be worn at all times as proof that you are registered with the state and have passed your blood test. Anyone caught after the deadline for the Census without an ID band will be arrested and fined. We hope these new identifiers will help check crime in the city. After all, our mission is to make your city and the city where your family and friends live a safer place.”

Reyna realized she was shaking. How dare they do this? Who the hell did they think they were that they could pass sweeping legislation like this without hearing what the citizens thought? She wasn’t a prisoner to the system. She believed in change, but she didn’t believe that they were going about it the right way at all.

The mayor continued despite the growing unease. “Finally, we are enforcing a mandatory curfew within the city limits.”

“What?” she cried along with everyone else. “Curfew.”

“Reyna,” Beckham growled, pulling her closer. “We need to get out of here. This doesn’t look good.”

“We can’t leave. We have to voice our opinion. We have to tell them that this is wrong. They can’t do this.”

“They can and they are. We don’t need to get caught in the middle of it.”

“Maybe if more people were willing to get caught in the middle, something would have been done long before they enacted these rules.”

“I agree,” he said. “But right now, my thought is for getting you out of here before everyone gets crushed under a stampede.”

“Fine.” She couldn’t change his mind, and even less so the government’s mind. But she wanted to. She desperately wanted to.

The mayor droned on as Beckham clutched her hand and veered through the crowd pressing in on all sides.

“Only night workers will be able to go out after curfew, and they must have a permit that allows it. I hate the thought of shutting down our city after midnight, but we feel at this time it’s necessary for peace.”

“Freedom. Freedom. Freedom!”

The chant started up in the crowd. The people heaved forward toward the podium, and Reyna’s hand was wrenched from Beckham’s.

“Beckham!” she screamed over the crowd.