Page 45 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

I ate my last cup of noodles the evening of the same day I got out of prison.

I checked my bank account the next morning.

$0.94

Oof. Even emptier than I remembered.

With no other choice, I reluctantly threw on a pair of clean overalls, washed my bangs in the sink, and even put on a little mascara before I drove to Callum Frost's house.

A bunch of Dante's shadows seemed to be stuck to me for some reason, but they weren't really doing anything, so I just tried to ignore them.

I lived smack in the middle of the Shifter Borough, so it was only twenty minutes to his place on Fae Row. My gas tank was still half full, or I would've been truly fucked.

I parked in the driveway and walked up to the front door, even though the outside of the Frost mansion was even less friendly than the outside of the demon royals'.

A grumpy, male voice came through the speaker connected to the doorbell before I had the chance to knock. "How many times have I told you that you have to make an appointment, Ophelia?"

"How many times have I told you that I'm not going to make an appointment, Callum?" I tossed back.

We were kind of friendly enemies. It was a thing with scary, powerful people. I'd been mostly powerless for a long time, but people didn't really know that. The fact that I'd built the penitentiary with my magic made me scary enough for the fae. If they got stuck in there, they'd be just as trapped as anyone else.

Callum sighed loudly. "Fine. Come in. I'm having breakfast with my mate, so this is going to be a very informal meeting."

"Thank god," I muttered.

Formal meetings and I were not on speaking terms.

I heard the door unlock, and swung it open, striding into the house.

The interior was significantly friendlier than the exterior, which I was pretty sure was Callum's mate's doing. She was a werewolf with curly blonde hair and tanned skin, and she was really friendly.

Especially compared to her mate.

My stomach growled when I smelled their food, and coffee. I rarely drank coffee. I only liked the fancy, sugary stuff, and I wasn't willing to save up for a machine or spend an atrocious amount of money at a coffee shop more than a few times a year.

I basically drooled when I walked into their kitchen and found them eating pancakes, while glowing brightly thanks to their soulmate bond. His aura was icy, to match his pale skin, dark hair, and overall cold behavior.

Hers was bright orange.

The individual colors of their auras were overpowered by the glowing bond between them, though.

"Hi. I'm Kat." Callum's mate waved. "I think we met last year?"

"We did. You're a lot more pleasant than your other half."

She grinned.

Callum scoffed. The man was as pretty as he was dickish. "I could say the same thing about your mate, to you."

My eyebrows shot upward. "People are already talking about that?"

"Our family. Not the rest of the city. Not that I know of, at least," Kat said, looking at Callum.

He shook his head. "It hasn't hit the news sites. Grayson and Merrily are keeping it quiet for now."

"They only texted it into the family group chat," Kat explained.

Of course they had a family group chat.