Chico looked at me like I was simple. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“We’ve got nothing to hide, have we?” It wasn’t a question from me, it was a confident statement. “There’s obviously been some kind of misunderstanding. The sooner we get it cleared up, the better. We’ve got more important things going on right now.”

After a long silence, Chico ground out, “Fine.” He pointed hard at Collins. “But then you stay the f**k away from me. You got that?”

Still somewhat nervous, Collins gestured at Eloise, who gave Jared a secret smile as she past him. “If you could follow Eloise, she will take you to the mansion where we intend togreat, thank you.” Grumbling and scowling, each of them practically stomped after her. Seeing that Ava, Cristiano, and Jude – who were clearly seriously pissed – hadn’t moved, Collins turned to them. “I’m sorry, are you all members of the…?” He let his sentence trail off when Salem came up behind Ava and glared down at Collins. The bloke swallowed hard and forced a smile, taking a step backwards.

Ava peered up at Salem. “Aw, it’s my hero again.” His sudden scowl didn’t seem to bother her in the least. “You really are too sweet.”

Salem growled but, again, Ava didn’t appear to be affected. “Be good,” he told her gruffly before joining the rest of the squad.

It was hilarious watching big, bad Salem turn protective and possessive of small, bubbly Ava. I would never have expected the two to match, but just maybe Ava was what Salem needed. He was too serious and work-focused. Ava’s personality wouldn’t allow for that. Oddly, though, despite that Salem behaved so protectively, he was also very distant with her and brushed off her attempts to talk more intimately with him.

Jared went to follow Collins. “I’ll come too.” He was seemingly just as worried about the squad being alone with Prick Number One and Prick Number Two as I was.

Collins’ eyes briefly glistened with anger. “Actually, I’m going to need time alone with them. They might feel pressured or intimidated if you are nearby.” His tone was pleasant, but his eyes were cold. “You don’t have a problem with that, do you, Gerald?”

I gave the bloke a sad smile that said, ‘Oh you really don’t wanna play like that with Jared’. My mate had been raised by someone who played mind games, which meant three things. One, Jared could spot those games a mile away. Two, he had absolutely no tolerance for them. And three, he knew exactly how to handle people who played them.

“Why would it be a problem?” Jared looked sincerely confused – it was a total slap down, an implication that for Collins to be a problem, Jared would have to actually care. Translation: ‘You’re not important enough for me to give a flying f**k what you do.’ For someone who clearly thought they were extremely important, it had to have chafed. Collins’ face turned crimson with both embarrassment and anger as he marched away.

A gaping Jude approached with Ava and Cristiano. “Tell me I imagined all that.”

I sighed. “I wish I could.” As Antonio appeared beside me, I asked him, “All right, what’s the deal with these two? Please tell me it’s some kind of sick joke.” His grim expression confirmed that it wasn’t.

Cristiano, who came to my other side and shot me a brief look of concern, asked Antonio, “Seriously, is all this for real?”

“I’m afraid it is,” replied Antonio sadly.

“But you don’t believe there’s been a complaint,” Jared detected, pulling me close to him and, in effect, away from Cristiano.

“If there has, I do not believe it has come from the squad.”

“Then who?” Ava asked Antonio.

“As the Heir’s mate, Sam will always have enemies.If these people cannot harm her physically, they will hurt her in other ways.”

That would have happened in any case. I had a talent for offending people. “I’m pretty sure the answer is no, but I have to ask if there’s any chance you can put this crap to an end?”

“I am sorry, Sam, but for the Prelature to be impartial, it has to be immune to all authority. One of my predecessors once tried to challenge it, and that did not end well. If I was to interfere, it would look bad for you – as though you are not confident that their decision will clear your name. Fredrick would certainly see it as such.”

“Not to be a bitch, Antonio…but what possessed you to choose him as your first-born?”

“I Turned him centuries ago when he came to me with evidence of not only the existence of vampires, but of my being one. Back then, people were much more superstitious and they often staked perfectly innocent humans who were simply ill. Collins promised to withhold the evidence if I Turned him. He was not a bad person…just very misguided, very unhappy because he did not feel that he fit amongst his own kind. I had felt the same during my human life. I truly believe that becoming a vampire helped me as a person.

“But Collins…he felt short-changed because his gift is not very substantial and the Keja hypnotic beauty could not make people ‘love’ him. It was not enough that women desired him. He wanted them to adore him, need him, and be obsessed with him.” Antonio shook his head. “Nothing was ever good enough for him. Nothing ever fulfilled him. Some vampires within the nest that I was part of back then were similar to him, and they all left as a group. I did not hear from Collins again until I was made Grand High Master. He came here, liked what he saw, and asked to stay. But when it became apparent that he expected to be made Heir simply because he was the first vampire I ever Turned, I made it very clear that things did not work that way. Offended and angry, he left. This is the first time I have heard from him since then.”

After a short pause, Jared spoke. “Would he make something like this up out of jealousy? I mean, would he try to get to me by using Sam just because I have the position he wants?”

Antonio pursed his lips as he considered that. “Collins can be slimy and vindictive, but I’m not sure he would do something like this as he is a stickler for rules. I will contact the Prelature and find out if this is an authentic complaint. In the meantime, be careful, Sam. Do not give them anything to use against you. You are a fantastic commander – we all know that. You do not need to act any differently than you normally do. But…try not to kill Collins or Eloise, that’s all.”

“I can’t make any promises.” I went to head back to the Command Centre.

Jared’s hand engulfed mine. “No more work.” There were then familiar flutters in my stomach as he teleported us away. We reappeared on a narrow path in the rainforest. He shrugged. “You wanted to take Dexter for a walk – or a slither, whatever.”

This wasn’t about Dexter, though. This was Jared trying to keep my mind occupied on things other than the black cloud hanging over us. I could sense that he was just as angry as I was, but he was doing his best to put it aside so he could calm and comfort me. I squeezed his hand. “Thanks.” Knowing Dexter was currently twined around my waist, I peeled up my t-shirt and said, “Novo.” The Latin word for ‘change’ was enough to make the four-inch long tattoo become a live one and a half foot long snake. His colouring was presently pearl-white, indicating that he was excited. Of course he was excited – he loved being in the rainforest, hunting for food.

Dexter’s tongue briefly flicked my chin, and then his intelligent and very observant gaze landed on Jared. Dexter shot him what could only be described as a ‘mind how you step’ look. Jared simply rolled his eyes. Dexter then slinked down my body and began slithering along the ground.

“I can’t believe all this is really happening.”

Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, Jared pulled me close to his side as we walked along the narrow path in the same direction that Dexter was heading. “You know the squad aren’t behind this, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. But it doesn’t mean this whole thing isn’t pissing me off.” Considering that I would soon be ruling all vampirekind alongside Jared, I’d be losing the position of commander anyway. But the point at play was that if Collins’ report recommended that I be wiped of my position, I would no longer have the support of the Prelature. Without that, no Prelate would be prepared to perform the Coronation. As such, there would be no ascension. In addition, people might once again be wary of me if the Prelature ruled that I wasn’t fit enough to lead my squad and that I exploited them.

If Antonio had announced his decision to step down, I might have wondered if this ‘complaint’ was someone’s way of ensuring I didn’t take his place. But only a handful of people knew of Antonio’s intention. Plus, it was believed that I had the support and acceptance of all vampirekind anyway.

Another important question would be: “Who would do this?”

“Like Antonio said, you’ll have enemies; people who are jealous of what you have and of how powerful you are.”

“Like Joy?” She had openly flirted with Jared in front of everyone earlier. That was why it had been so hilarious when Denny wrapped her in yellowy-green ooze. It was sweet in a Denny way.

“She’s a bitch, baby, I know that. But I’m not sure if she’d go this far to piss you off. To be honest, I don’t think her imagination’s good enough to come up with something like this.”

Valid point. “But it has to be someone from The Hollow – someone who knows how I work. Joy’s sneaky enough to do a little spying.”

He conceded that with a tilt of his head. “Maybe we should consider Dickhead, too.”

That made no sense to me. “Sure, he likes to poke at you and he finds some dark amusement in the fact that he drank from me in the past”

“There’s nothing amusing about it.”

“but he’s not so much of a prick that he would try to make me lose my job. What possible motivation could he have to do it?”

“Maybe he’s bitter about us. He wants you badly, baby. You don’t see it, just like you never see when anyone wants you, but it’s true.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Hey, what about Magda’s first-born? According to Collins, they reported that she never returned home and they aren’t too happy about it.”

“But how would that vampire know enough about you and how you train the squad to twist it all?”

I groaned, totally bamboozled. “I hate this.”

He kissed my temple – his touch gentle despite the anger that occasionally seeped to the surface. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll find out who did this. And then I’ll kill them.”

I snorted. “Not if I get there first.” And I had every intention of doing so. “What worries me about having someone hovering over me is that they might pick up on the hybrid thing.”

Jared shook his head. “That won’t happen purely because no one would ever believe it was possible. Besides, Antonio came up with good excuses for why you’re more powerful and stuff. Don’t worry about that. In fact, don’t worry about any of it right now. We’re spending some time together – you and me. Let’s shove this shit aside for a while and move on to a lighter but extremely important subject: Have you come up with any new rules for us to put into place after the Coronation?”

Despite my mood, I actually smiled.

“Come on, baby. Don’t go retreating into that head of yours again. I know what’s happening is f**ked up on so many levels, but you’re stronger than this. And I’m here.”

Still feeling bad for having held back from him before, I relented. “I’m still working on the rules, but I’ve come up with a few. I’m thinking that the whole consort thing should be banned from The Hollow.”

He laughed – a sound I hadn’t heard in a while. “I really shouldn’t be surprised, should I?”

“Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying flings or one-night stands shouldn’t be allowed or that anyone has to be celibate. If the males here want to get randy, that’s fine. But if they want to make things exclusive, they can give the females the respect of calling them ‘girlfriends’, and vice versa.”

Still laughing, he nodded. “Sounds fair.”

Surprised, I looked up at him. “Yeah? I was expecting you to defend the concept of consorts, considering you once had some.”

He shrugged. “Vampires having consorts has always been the norm. And if you spend a long time with people who consider it the norm, it’s easy for you to do the same. That was why I never really saw the whole thing the way you did. Plus, those women had been using me; I didn’t see why it couldn’t work both ways. But looking back, I can see it was kind of…seedy. We can’t stop all vampires from having consorts, but we can at least ban it from happening in The Hollow.”

“That’s not to say I’ll force all the vampires who are currently consorts to leave The Hollow, but they’ll have to find another way of fitting in.”

“That’s fair.”

“Although…it wouldn’t be so bad if Joy left.”

“She’ll probably do it of her own accord after the Coronation. The last thing she’ll want is to directly serve us.”

I hoped he was right – not just for my sake, but for Joy’s. There was a high chance I’d severely hurt her if she kept pushing me.

“Enough about her.” He kissed my hair. “Don’t let her get to you.”

I barked a laugh. “Says the bloke whose mood turns homicidal whenever he’s around a particular Sventé by the name of” I laughed again when he clapped a hand over my mouth.