Page 35

ARI

“ P lease tell me what’s happening, Ari.” Sage lifted her face.

Ari had never feared death.

Never.

He’d feared life—feared loneliness.

All of that vanished the night he met Sage. Sending Oliver away after they’d shared her, his possessiveness working overtime, and learning that she worked at BioZen had made it so confusing to acknowledge she was his mate.

But once he did, life went from black and white to multi-color, and now he’d been blessed with a few short years of utter joy.

Ari feared her death, but without him, Sage would not survive. None of that mattered now. They were all going to die.

Either quickly or slowly.

President Calder hadn’t given them any details. What a position for any man to be in. Killing billions with a choice that was almost out of his hands and that someone else would do if he walked away.

Humanity had, as a species, stepped closer and closer to this moment.

Now it was done.

The button was pushed and so were all their enemies’.

China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France had also activated their missiles when Vincent received the call, and it was likely others had in the minutes since.

It was so fucking stupid.

Once everyone was dead, no one won.

The planet wouldn’t survive this. Humans and vampires wouldn’t either. Nor the wildlife or the oceans.

With the gift and hindsight of living for over fifteen hundred years, Ari understood time better than anyone. A very long time from now, the earth would heal.

Hopefully, it would one day support life and another intelligent species.

A more intelligent species.

But for humanity and the vampire race, their time was now up.

Never in all the scenarios he and Gio had gone over had they imagined this. Probably because when his brother was alive, modern technology hadn’t been invented. Nor atomic bombs and nuclear weapons.

They imagined vampires going head-to-head with humans in battle and having a moral quandary about how they coexisted given their superior physical power.

Never this.

The argument for the two Moretti’s was that humans reproduced faster, so would always have more men and power on the planet. That, and vampires needed human blood to live. A balance he assumed God, who’d created them, had done on purpose.

Unless he’d fucked something up.

Ari wasn’t a fan. The deity had taken away his humanity and thrown them in the deep end with no handbook and a few vague instructions.

Oh yeah, and made him infertile, creating a wedge between him and his brother, which saw him alienated from his family. The bonus point was for leaving him mateless for almost sixteen hundred years.

Really swell guy...not.

One star.

Would not recommend.

Ari had spent many centuries wondering what would have happened if he’d met Sage earlier and created his own bloodline. He still had no answer.

He’d imagined it would be like humans, where there were different cultures or religions. Where you might have Christians living among Jews, or Italians with the Japanese.

Random, but his point was that vampires were vampires. Humans were humans.

The argument of rulership given the race had one king was the hardest one. In his darkest days, when he was angry with Gio, Ari knew he could have challenged the throne and claimed the crown. He was the only Moretti.

Ari also had no desire to do that. Gio was a powerful king, and he’d hoped to find his mate and create his own line.

It never happened.

Then Francis was born.

He’d loved his nephew and served him when Gio died. Unfortunately, the boy had grown into a male plagued by his father’s insecurities. Suspicious of Ari’s intentions to the point that his identity as a Moretti all but faded from memory. All because he loved his brother and family.

It was Gio’s blood that ran through their veins, not his, so it was that loyalty that meant Ari never felt he had a right. That same mentality followed him when he reconnected with Brayden and Vincent recently.

Ari’s life flashed before his eyes, all fifteen hundred years of them, as he held Sage against his chest.

If he’d chosen differently, would they be in this situation right now?

God had given them a hundred years to create the race, and Gio had done it single-handedly. Ari, the infertile one. If they’d both been able to procreate and lead together, things might be different.

So yeah, Ari was furious.

He wanted answers.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t fuck like a rabbit in the early years to impregnate a female. Not for the lack of trying.

Ari lifted his eyes and found Vincent and Brayden watching him, knowing if he answered Sage’s question, the princess and queen would hear.

It was likely they knew more than Sage, but why waste their last five minutes talking about the horror that was about to take place?

Her beautiful eyes looked at him pleadingly, and his promise to always protect her kicked in. Ari was letting his mate down, and that wasn’t fucking okay.

What he did have left was the truth.

“It’s over darling.” Ari cupped her face.

“The war?” she asked so innocently that his heart almost cracked open into two pieces.

“Our life,” Ari replied. “Not our love—that’s eternal.”

“Oh God.” Willow whimpered.

Sage’s face crumpled as she began to cry. “Ari.”

“I’m here, my darling.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. Together, we will take our last breath.”

“Fuck,” Brayden cursed.

Sage began to shake violently, clinging to his arms as he held her cheek and tried to give her all his courage.

You fucking asshole, God.

At least it would be fast. It was the waiting that was painful. No. Correction. It was watching the people he loved shake in fear that hurt him.

Ari watched the little princes who’d grown up to be powerful men and guided the race into the modern world they now lived in.

And only for another few minutes, you bastard, God.

“I should’ve killed him,” Brayden spat. “I should’ve killed Nikolay in Seattle.”

“Instead of saving your daughter?” Willow gasped. “No. Bray, you did the right thing.”

“She’s about to fucking die right now. God fucking damn it.”

“This is on me.” Vincent stared at his son. “I am the king.”

They were wrong.

Ari should’ve intervened. He thought they had time. He knew his blood was more powerful than all of them and could have gone to Seattle that day and destroyed Nikolay himself.

But he’d stayed out of things while being an adviser to the king. Not wanting to cross the line. Never knowing the clock was closer to midnight than any of them could imagine.

That it would escalate so fucking fast.

When Brayden glanced his way, Ari drew in a deep breath.

It was time.

Time to tell his story.

To tell his remaining family the truth.

“I began my life as a human,” Ari said, and every head swiveled to his in surprise.

“Ari.” Sage gasped, clutching his shirt. She was the only person alive who knew his story.

All of it.

None of it mattered now. They had three minutes.

“What? Now you fucking tell us!” Brayden exclaimed. “When we have only seconds left to live. Jesus.”

Ari smiled because there was a twinkle in his nephew’s eyes.

“Sorry no time for Q&A, but I can tell you that it was God that changed my brother and me. Your grandfather. He came to us one night, standing on our dusty path, and gave us instructions to birth a new race.”

“Jesus Christ.” Willow gasped. “He’s real?”

Ari lifted a shoulder.

There was still a question around that. He said he was, but how would they know? Aside from the fact, he did give them powers and changed them into a new species.

“It was a long time ago and while I’ve questioned it almost every day, I’m certain it was him.”

At least ninety-nine percent certain.

Gio and he had talked many times over the hundreds of years they walked the earth together. There were a few things they shared different memories of but never disagreed about one key point.

They both believed it was God.

“Well, that prick hasn’t shown up to save us, so if he did create us, fat lot of good he is now.” Vincent said, lifting a remote and clicking the TV on the wall.

Ari didn’t disagree.

The main news channel appeared, showing streets in chaos. People ran for their lives, buildings exploded, and what looked like looting was taking place. Cars were on fire, and wild animals were running in the streets.

Had the cages at the zoo been opened up?

“Oh God.” Kate cried, picking up Lucca as a lion leaped in the air, attacking a group of people running through Times Square.

Isabella started to cry.

Brayden scooped her up, wrapping his other arm around Willow.

“How long?” Sage asked, pressing her face into his chest.

Ari looked at the timer on the screen.

T-minus thirty seconds.

All three Moretti vampires shared one last glance, then held their mates and offspring, and he wondered if they were praying.

Ari took his last glance at the world through the TV, then focused down at the woman he loved, lifting Sage’s face.

Their eyes locked.

“I love you.” Ari dropped his mouth to hers, knowing the last thing he would ever do was kiss her.

The blast of light burned through his retina, blinding him as heat blistered his skin.

“Ouch, that has to hurt.” A voice said, as the light and heat disappeared.

What?

Ari’s eyes opened, and the entire room was frozen. Like someone had paused a TV show.

A dozen feet away stood a man he’d only seen once in his life.

Man. God. Whatever.

The prick that started this whole thing.

“Well, you royally fucked that up,” God said, glancing around. “No pun intended.”

He waved a hand, and the flames and wounds on their bodies immediately healed.

With a glance at Sage, who was as frozen and stiff as everything else, Ari released her and took a step away. Then he crossed his arms, glaring at the deity with so many emotions he wasn’t sure which to lead with.

Anger.

Disgust.

Hope...