I noticed that the final three members of the squad – Max, Reuben, and Harvey – were standing near Chico, talking with members of other squads. There were, all in all, ten squads in Antonio’s legion. I also noticed that my best friend, Fletcher, was dancing with his boyfriend, Norm – both looked more like they were hyperventilating. Spotting me, they waved. Fletcher also happened to be mine and Jared’s personal assistant. And I absolutely loved the camp sod.

The energy in the place and the almost electric atmosphere was affecting Dexter, who was now in his tattoo form once more. I could always sense his mood without even looking at his colouring. Right now, he was feeling energised.

“No Evan?” Stuart asked.

I shook my head. Being Jared’s twin and a fellow commander, Evan often joined us to celebrate. Lately, though, he hadn’t been his usual playful self and had taken to brooding. He had been in a foul mood since the day after the Binding ceremony when all the guests had left. One of those guests had been a consort of one of the High Masters. As Bran was actually g*y but simply too private to announce it publically, his female consorts were nothing but a smokescreen. Evan had been pursuing one of those consorts, Alora.

Evan had actually seen Alora in a vision long before he met her, thanks to Luther whose gift of precognition allowed him to make others have a vision of their own. Evan had been waiting impatiently for her to finally appear in his life. It had been obvious to everyone that she wanted Evan. For whatever reason, however, she had resisted him. I’d asked him about it several times, but he refused to speak of it – even to Jared.

Threading his fingers through mine, Jared pulled me close and gestured to the dance floor. “Come on.” I followed him despite that dancing with Jared was never a good thing. Why? Because it was more like foreplay, and no one was as good at foreplay as Jared. Swaying and grinding his body against mine, he fondled and caressed and teased, but none of his touches were invasive. He didn’t need to have any part of him inside me to make me so ready for him that the feel of my own clothes was pissing me off.

In no time at all, the entire squad was plastered. Vampires could only get drunk by drinking the blood of intoxicated humans. Some of those intoxicated human females had approached Jared – which was dumb of them really, considering my homicidal tendencies. But Jared never drank from anyone other than me, and vice versa. Despite that I was sober as a judge, I felt drunk from Jared’s teasing. Of course he thought that was hilarious and was very pleased with himself. So I bit him.

The thing about Sventé saliva was that it could spark the ‘blood donor’ to have an orgasm if the vampire drank from them for more than ten seconds. Despite that I was now a hybrid, that hadn’t changed. I counted to eight before releasing him, but the damage was done – he was as horny as I was and more than ready to f**k. About bloody time. “I take it you’re ready to leave now.”

His lopsided smile had me smiling back. “You’re a tricky bitch, aren’t you? I can respect that.” He teleported us both to the living area of our apartment, where we instantly dived on each other, kissing wildly. A few seconds later, we froze. We weren’t alone. Breaking apart, we pivoted to find Antonio and Luther sitting on the sofa, blushing and avoiding our eyes.

A blush stained my own cheeks. Like Jared, I was fighting to contain a laugh. “Er…What a pleasant surprise.”

“Sorry to intrude,” said Antonio with a forced cough, still looking everywhere but at us. “As Luther and I knew you would be returning home soon, we thought we would wait here. Rest assured that we will not be doing that again.”

It took everything I had not to laugh. “You can look now.” Finally the two Kejas met our eyes, still extremely embarrassed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here?” Usually when Antonio wanted to speak with us, he simply waited until the daily meetings he held at dusk in one of the conference rooms at his mansion. The fact that it was now approaching dawn made it even stranger for him to come to us.

“This is not about an assignment. It is a personal matter.”

I exchanged an uneasy look with Jared.

“Do not be alarmed. It is not bad news.” The Latino-looking vampire’s huge dark eyes were filled with reassurance. He was a very calming person to be around, which I wouldn’t have expected from the ruler of all vampirekind. He was a very elegant, graceful, and collected individual. Luther, his Advisor, was just as elegant. They couldn’t have looked more different. Whereas Antonio had dark shoulder-length hair, Luther looked…well, like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings.

Jared retrieved two breakfast stools from the kitchen for us, and then gave Antonio a questioning look.

Once we were seated, Antonio took a long breath. “I’ll get straight to the point. I have decided to step down from my position as Grand High Master.”

My brows flew to my hairline. “Say again?”

“I’m tired, Sam. I have had this position for a very long time, and I’m tired.” He sounded it as well.

“You’re kidding, right?” asked Jared. I sensed that he was feeling as incredulous as I was.

“I would like to step down and spend more time with the people I care about.”

“You mean Lucy, don’t you?” I quite liked the brunette. Lucy was one of the humans on the island and was also one of Antonio’s vessels – a human who fed him and only him. I’d noticed that Antonio had shed himself of his consorts and vessels until there was now only Lucy.

“In my early years, I was as ambitious as Jared,” Antonio told me. “And I fought hard for this position. Then I put everything I had into it, neglecting many of my own needs. At first, I avoided relationships because I wasn’t prepared to divide my time and attention. After that, it was because it seemed that I was surrounded by people who were not so much attracted to me but to the idea of being with the Grand High Master.”

“Are you planning to Turn her?” Jared’s shock was still pulsing in the air.

“Yes. I plan on Turning Lucy and Binding with her. But it means I have done everything the wrong way around – Binding after I stepped down rather than before. Ruling without a mate for support can be a very lonely life. I saw that you were headed down that same route, Jared, and I did not want you to make the same mistakes that I have.”

I quickly realised something. “You played Cupid, didn’t you?”

Antonio tilted his head, stifling a smile. “Perhaps. It is not why I offered you a position here as a commander, Sam. You are here because you deserve to be. But I confess I had hoped that if I forced you and Jared to work together, you would grow close. You seemed to be exactly what he needed, just as he seemed to be what you needed. And I was right, was I not?”

“Sneaky.” Jared ran a hand through his hair. “None of this means you have to step down yet.”

“No, but I wish to. As I said, I’m tired. I wish to retire, to no longer have to worry about the lives of others and to instead concentrate on my own. Do you have any idea how long it has been since I have seen the outside world? Being who I am, my life was always at risk, and I have had to remain on the island. I do not want that anymore, and I do not want it for Lucy. You two are more than capable of ruling. The vampire community has totally accepted both of you, has confidence in your ability to lead and protect them. The question is…are you prepared to take on the responsibility?”

It was more than a mere responsibility and, in truth, I didn’t feel at all ready. It was a huge step to take. Yes, I’d known it would happen one day, but I’d envisioned it happening centuries down the line, not now. But how could I place Antonio in a position where he had to remain ruler at the cost of his own happiness? He didn’t deserve that. “I’m in.”

Jared’s shock still hadn’t eased in the slightest. I could sense through our bond that beneath that shock was a slither of unease. I would never have guessed that he would ever have any reservations about stepping up when the time came. Yet, that unease was there. With anyone else, I would have said that was perfectly natural. But it didn’t fit Jared in this situation.

“I don’t like that you’re stepping down,” he told Antonio. “I think you’re easily capable of ruling for a hell of a long time, and I can’t imagine you not being Grand High Master. But…I committed to being your Heir, knowing this would eventually happen. If this is really what you want, I’ll support you.” He took my hand. “We’ll support you.”

The smile that spread across Antonio’s face was one of relief. “I would like for the Coronation to take place in two months’ time, if that works for both of you. This will give me time to tie up any loose ends.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Luther will serve as your Advisor, just as he has served as mine.”

The Gandalf lookalike smiled. “It will be an honour.”

“Sebastian will serve as your tracker. He will be as loyal to you as he has been to me. And do not forget that you will need to appoint yourselves an Heir at some point. It does not have to be immediately, but you will have to choose one eventually. And choose wisely.”

I wasn’t what anyone would call ‘wise’, so that would be where Luther and his advice would come into play.

“The tradition for the Coronation is that only the High Masters and any immediate friends and ‘family’ attend. The rest of vampirekind will watch via V-Tube.” That was basically the vampiric version of YouTube that could be accessed using the V-net, which was the vampiric version of the internet. “In a few days, I will announce the upcoming Coronation. For now, both of you get some rest.”

Once both he and Luther had left the apartment, I blew out a long breath and twisted in my seat to face Jared. “Well, that was unexpected.”

“And that was an understatement.” He scooped me from the stool and brought me to straddle him. “I can sense that you don’t feel ready for this yet.”

“It’s scary,” I admitted. There was no judgement in his hazel eyes, only understanding. “I can coach and command a squad of ten, but lead all vampirekind?” In vampire years, I wasn’t quite four years old. That wasn’t really much experience at this life to have such a high position. “I didn’t envision this happening so soon.”

He cupped my throat with both hands. “You can lead. You can do anything.” He gave me a soft, lingering kiss and slid his hands into my hair. “If you need more time, just say the word and I’ll talk to Antonio about it. He’ll understand. This isn’t showing weakness. It’s showing that you’re taking this as seriously as you need to take it.”

Unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt, I snaked my hands under Jared’s collar and rested them on his broad shoulders. “I can’t ask Antonio to wait any longer to step down. Not after seeing how tired he is of all this. He’s been on this island for so long.” Every Grand High Master that had ever been appointed had remained concealed in order to be safe from any assassination attempts. “He deserves to have a life of his own. He hasn’t had one for a long time, has he?”

“No.” Jared trailed kisses along my jaw. “You’re a good person.”

“Say again?”

He chuckled at the disbelief in my voice. “Oh you can be merciless, ruthless, and vengeful. And we both know you’re downright crazy. But you’ve got the biggest heart. And it’s mine. All mine.” His gaze blazed with a possessiveness that made me roll my eyes. Smiling, he gave me a pointed look. “Hey, don’t think I haven’t seen your reaction when another female comes anywhere near me. I really thought you were going to drown Joy in the pool that time. It was a shame that you didn’t.”

Joy had been Jared’s consort once-upon-a-time, and she hadn’t taken it too well that he’d ended his consort ways for me. When he’d been swimming in what I called ‘the bat pool’ – it was shaped like a bat with outstretched wings – outside Antonio’s mansion last week, she had taken to strutting up and down the side of the pool in the skimpiest bikini imaginable.

Coming upon the scene, I hadn’t been a happy bunny. She was constantly trying to get his attention, pathetic though it was. Before I’d even thought about it, my energy whip had been in my hand, I’d wrapped it around her twig-like body, and then plunged her into the pool. It had instantly become clear that anger management classes might be a good idea for me, because I’d kept her under the water for almost a full minute. In my defence…“If she wasn’t binging on slut-flakes, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

What annoyed me more than Joy’s antics was the knowledge that she’d once been his consort; that she’d touched him, that she’d had him inside her. I hated it. And she knew that I hated it, thought it gave her some kind of power. But it was truly difficult to hate her because she was so pathetic it was honestly saddening. It was impossible to feel anything other than pity for this girl who had absolutely no self-respect.

Off that irritating subject…“Are you going to tell me what’s bugging you?”

Jared’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“You seem uneasy about something.”

“I just wasn’t expecting this so soon. It’s the shock, that’s all.”

Our bond told me that that wasn’t a lie, but I had the feeling there was more to it than that. Choosing to let it go for now, I said nothing. If his sense of unease didn’t shift, we’d definitely be revisiting this subject.