Chapter 1

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Alessandro De Luca was batshit crazy.    

With a raised brow, Marcus turned away from the floor-to-ceiling windows to eye his father and then the lifeless body at his feet. A dark red pool spread rapidly around it as it gushed from the large hole in the man’s neck. 

His fangs itched as the intoxicating scent hit him, searing his nostrils. Clenching his jaw, he looked away from the temptation.      

“Don’t judge me,” Alessandro snapped. “I said I wanted creases on the sleeves of this shirt; this fucking ingrate should have listened.”

Alessandro kicked the corpse across the room. It thudded against the wall, leaving a trail of blood on its way down. 

His first thought was that the blood would stain, and that he would have to hire professional cleaners to remove the metallic, delicious scent. His second thought was that he now had to go through all the trouble of disposing of the body without being seen. He didn’t trust Cleanup not to report the killing. And that meant he would be late to meet Aidan.

Since the truce was called after the Great War, killing a human without good reason was illegal. It would do no good to remind his father of this. He was an Elder, so he had been present when the Council voted on the new laws.

“How long will our guests be here?” he asked Alessandro.

He looked away from the window again to look around the opulent suite, his sharp eyes not missing a thing. The penthouse suite overlooked Scarlet City, a sprawling urban maze glowing beneath them. He had scanned the surrounding two-mile radius many times. Everyone was either human or cleared to be in the area. The hotel was owned by one of their own, so it had been no trouble to ensure no bookings were made except the ones he had personally approved. 

Two human maids were quietly unpacking in one of the bedrooms, probably unaware of their friend’s demise, while a vampire bodyguard stood just inside the entrance door. The guard’s gaze was glued on the mess that had landed right next to him, but he had served Alessandro long enough to know not to react. Two more guards stood outside, and the whole building was swarming with members of his League, an elite force of the army known throughout the realm for their systematic ruthlessness.

It had been his job to assemble only the best security, many of whom he’d called in from their posts around the country. They would handle any situation discreetly, professionally, and with all their inhuman skills and strength. It still did nothing to lessen the nagging in the back of his head.

“We’ll leave just after the Council meeting. Make sure you have everything in place by then.”

Great. A whole two weeks with a bunch of fucking sitting ducks.

He watched Alessandro wipe the blood from his mouth and hands before pouring himself a shot of whiskey into a crystal glass. The offending white shirt now lay useless in the pool of blood. Alessandro moved gracefully to the black leather sofa, straightening his black silk robe like he hadn’t just killed a man. He had always walked like that, like he didn’t give a shit about anything—which, of course, he didn’t. That was probably one of the reasons a lot of his enemies underestimated him.

That, plus the fact that he looked like a harmless twenty-five-year-old boy with nothing to offer but his good looks. 

Had Alessandro been born into this generation, he would probably have been a movie star. He was tall, blond, with baby blue eyes. Soft features that belied the monster beneath. The only marker of his Italian heritage was his name. The accent had vanished long before Marcus was born.  

Alessandro changed his hair depending on his mood and was known to dye it with strange colours. Now his hair was colour-free and tied at the back in a neat ponytail, a sure sign of how serious this meeting was.

His father picked up a file from the table, a report from one of his deputies that was among the many he had to read before the meeting. Alessandro had never been one for paperwork. It was highly likely he would only read one or two before passing them down.

And it was likely he would be the unfortunate recipient of his father’s workload, even though he was already in charge of more than three-quarters of the family’s empire.

“Yes, sir.”

The Elders hadn’t met since the war ended. Now they were gathering under one roof, with rumours of the truce ending. It was a terrible idea, no matter how heavily secured and how much power the occupants had. Then, to have the whole Council—all the leaders of the species they would soon be at war with—was an even worse idea. Any fool could have told them that.

“Maybe you should stay somewhere else,” he suggested. “You could use my apartment at Headquarters. It’s just as secure. Not an easy target.”

The last thing he wanted was to have his father anywhere in his space, even though he hardly used that apartment. But his first duty lay with his family. He had to protect his father.

“We’re not likely to get attacked here either, Marcus.”

“With all due respect, we’re in a fucking glass building that’s thirty storeys high and at the brink of war. This isn't the best tactical decision. Forgive me for not sharing your optimism.”

Even with all the extra security the witches had erected, if there was an attack, not many of them would come out of it intact. If some survived, they would take a long time to heal, and the war would be lost before it even began.

Alessandro put the paper down and trained his icy gaze on him. It was meant to intimidate him, and it fucking worked. Though he looked like a mere boy, Alessandro had more power in his little finger than many people combined, himself included. And he was never afraid to use it. In his five hundred years, Alessandro had earned his place among the Elders in the most gruesome fashion.

“Are you questioning our judgment, Marcus?”

The words were calm. Quiet. But the weight behind them was lethal.

His father crossed his legs and looked at him squarely in the eye. Alessandro would think nothing of condemning him to death, even though he held a valuable position both in the family and among their people. Family meant nothing in his father’s world. It was only respect and loyalty that mattered to him.

He bit down on his jaw.

“No, sir.” 

Alessandro smiled a boyish smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Like the psychopath he was. The danger had passed. For now. When tensions were high, like they were now, his father was very unpredictable and dangerous. Case in point: the bloodied corpse soaking the imported wool. 

Alessandro flung the file to the end of the chair and stood to join him by the windows.

“So," Alessandro said, the grin sliding back into place, "two weeks until you start breeding. Isn’t it exciting?”