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I’d wondered how you’d know when you found your true mate. But it was obvious, like getting smacked in the heart by a two-by-four.
Zoe immediately zeroed in on me. I had a feeling she’d always be able to find me in a crowd, glamour or no glamour, and vice versa.
Her eyes lit up, but instead of joining me, she tipped her head at a small woman—Lainey Q, looking like another harmless tourist down to her high tops and pink-and-orange flowered backpack.
Right. If you believed that, I was standing on a bridge you might like to buy.
My hand went to Blaise’s switchblade, but Zoe gave a little shake of her head, telling me to stand down. Meanwhile, Lainey started across the bridge toward the Notre Dame Cathedral.
“Follow her,” Zoe mouthed and started after her.
I shook my head and fell in line behind the two women. Apparently, I’d fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in Bizarro World.
The daughter of my father’s greatest enemy was my mate.
My father’s lieutenant and best friend was the man I was running from.
And the woman helping us was from Slayers, Inc.
Halfway across the bridge, Lainey stopped and rested her forearms on the railing, looking out at the Seine. Zoe stopped a few feet away and gazed out at the river as well. I inserted myself between the two women. Just because Zoe seemed to trust the slayer didn’t mean I did.
Behind us, a steady stream of pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles traveled over the bridge. Music from a Left Bank café wafted across the water, entwined with the low hum of traffic and conversation.
Lainey shrugged out of the flowered backpack and set it on the sidewalk at my feet. She leaned on the railing again, watching as a late-night tour boat passed beneath the bridge, its passengers snapping photos of the scaffolding surrounding Notre Dame’s burnt-out shell.
“You’ll find passports and tickets to New York,” she said in an undertone, her lips barely moving. “The plane leaves a little after midnight. You’ll have to hurry.”
Before I could answer, someone bumped into me. I whipped my head around, fangs out, but it was just a middle-aged human male.
“Pardon,” he muttered without looking at me and kept going.
Zoe set a hand on my forearm, wordlessly cautioning me to relax. I forced my shoulders to ease and retracted my fangs.
“Go,” said Lainey. “They probably don’t know Zoe is gone yet, but they’ll be looking for you, Kral.”
“Why should we trust you?” I gazed out at the Seine. “All you have to do is give Victorine or Philippe the info on the tickets, and we’ll be picked up at the airport.”
She expelled a breath. “Why the fuck would I help you get away from them if I wanted you to be captured?”
“I don’t know. Whydidyou help us?”
“Because this vendetta against your family is wrong. It’s not what I signed up for. But hey, there’s a thousand euros in the pack. Burn the tickets and use the cash to disappear—I don’t care.”
“Maybe we will.”
“Your choice. But I stuck my neck out for you. I’m going to have to start over now with a new cover because Lainey Q is compromised—and I put a hell of an effort into creating her. Those millions of followers on Insta didn’t just show up overnight, and I was starting to trend on TikTok.” Her voice held a pout.
Was she for real? I eyed her, trying to determine if she was seriously upset about losing her followers. She sure seemed to be. It was insane, but that sulky purse of her bubblegum-pink lips went a long way toward making me trust her. It was so un-slayerlike.
On my other side, Zoe asked, “What do you mean, you didn’t sign up for this?”
“SI’s mission is to rid the world of the sick vampires, the psychos who are truly evil or are lost to the blood craving. You may not like us, but it’s necessary. We keep things in balance. Without us, vampires would’ve enslaved the humans by now, or been hunted to extinction—and either way, both races lose. But this vendetta against the Krals is effed up.” She shook her head. “Rafe’s father pushed back against some things that were clearly wrong—and pissed off someone at the top.”
She glanced at me. “That’s the real reason you and your brothers are being targeted. Victorine just provided the money, and the perfect cover. If something goes wrong, the Board of Directors will pin it on the blood feud.”
My lips twisted. “Some mission. You’re worse than the syndicates. At least we’re honest about what we do.”
She moved a shoulder in a small shrug. “Hey, it’s not me calling the shots. Like I said, it’s not what I signed up for. It doesn’t help that you guys are dhampirs.”
