Bloodlust

Schemes

— VENICE —

Liam is alive.

Liam is here.

As I took a step toward him, tears of relief and confusion splashing down my cheeks, a voice halted me in my tracks.

"Both of you, come with me."

My head snapped toward the guard who spoke. I swallowed hard and glanced back at Liam.

His eyes were still trained on me, but I noticed now there was something dark and distraught about him.

He nodded his head at the guard and I knew what he meant. I followed the guard deeper into the yacht cabin. Liam stepped into line behind me, his hands ghosting over my hips.

I bit my bottom lip to keep myself in control. All I wanted was to throw myself into Liam's arms.

From his body language, though, I knew I needed to be on guard. This nightmare wasn't over yet. In fact, the worst part could still be ahead.

The knot of dread in my stomach multiplied tenfold.

We entered a living room area with two suede sofas facing each other. A glass coffee table was wedged between them.

"Take a seat," the guard commanded. "Liam will explain what the next few hours, potentially days, are going to look like." His ruby eyes cut at me, swirling with violent intent. "Try anything funny and I have orders to restore order by any means necessary."

As I lowered myself onto one couch, my eyes returned to Liam, who was now seated across from me. His eyes held mine steadily.

"Get on with it then," snapped the guard.

Liam took a deep breath and leaned forward, pressing his elbows down against his knees. He clasped his hands together. His eyes were clouded with some emotion I'd never seen in him before.

"We are traveling to London," he told me. "We are going to a ball hosted by the King Alpha of lycans. Normally, vampires are not invited, but the King Alpha makes an exception for the Princeps to maintain peaceable relations between the supernatural species." He sighed. "The Princeps typically send a representative to prevent unnecessary tension between the lycan guests. This year, they're sending us."

My mind spun with this overload of information. The ball explained this dress and the makeover, but what the hell?

The lycans had balls? And the lycans were friends with vampires? And they had a King Alpha—whatever that means?

I still didn't even know how Liam survived getting his damn neck snapped and now we were about to attend a formal function to present the same fucking people who kidnapped us.

What the hell is going on?

Liam must have noticed my confusion, because he added, "Essentially, we have to be cordial and charming and pretend that we work for the Princeps."

"Why?" I blurted. "I was just in a dirty, old prison cell without a toilet or food or water—and now I'm supposed to just tell a bunch of werewolves that all is fine and dandy?"

"Yes," snarled the guard. "Or you will find yourself back in that prison cell for the rest of your miserable existence."

Liam's lip peeled back in warning as he glared at the guard. His barely contained anger pulsed under his ivory complexion.

I pinched my nose. I didn't want to go back to prison, obviously, and I would do anything to avoid that. Anything short of killing someone, that is.

"Okay," I muttered. "So once we do this favor, we're free to go?"