He had also insisted that the Grand High Pair couldn’t live in a simple apartment. Jared and I had told him not to be daft, that we didn’t care where we lived and didn’t need a spacious, luxurious home. So what had Antonio done? Built us a house. I had been pissed off about his complete lack of respect for our wishes until I realised that the house was built on the beach. Antonio, the sneaky sod, knew I loved the beach and that I’d find this too hard to resist. I’d still ranted at him a little. But he’d been perfectly aware that I’d been absolutely thrilled with the house – the fact that I’d uncharacteristically kissed him on the cheek might have tipped him off.

Spotting Wes with his mate and two of the High Masters Rowan and Ricardo, I made my way over to them. Wes thought of Jared as a grandson, so he had no doubt spoken to him at some point in the past hour. Although tradition was for only a few witnesses to be present at a Coronation while everyone else watched over V-Tube, Antonio had felt that these allies who had come to us at the greatest possible hour of need and had aided us in fixing The Hollow deserved to be present if they so desired. He had a good point.

Noticing me, Wes turned away from the group. “Sam,” he drawled with an affectionate smile. He placed his hands on my upper arms. “You look”

I held up my hand. “Let me stop you right there. Compliments aren’t my thing.” Of course he already knew that.

“Don’t tease her, Wes,” his mate, Leona, gently admonished. She gave me a brief hug. “How are you feeling? Nervous?”

Nervous? Definitely. But admit that to others? Not likely. “I’m fine.”

“I would be nervous in your shoes,” said Ricardo.

I smiled brightly at him. “Hello, Rick.”

His expression hardened in annoyance. “It is Ricardo.”

“Right, that’s what I said.”

Rowan shook his head, amused. “You cannot resist needling him, can you?”

Of course I couldn’t resist.

Marcia, Rowan’s mate, suddenly came to his side. She shot me a genuine smile. “It’s not often that I see you alone. Where’s your mate?”

“I have no idea, that’s why I’m here.” Turning back to Wes, I asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Jared anywhere, have you?”

Wes gestured behind him. “He was talking with your personal assistant a moment ago.”

“Great, thanks.” Giving each of them a brief wave, I walked to where Fletcher stood, laughing, with Norm, Ava, and Cristiano…but there was no Jared. I went to speak, but Fletcher pulled me into a hug that was tight enough to squeeze the breath from my lungs. “Can’t. Breathe.”

He loosened his hold. “Oh don’t be so dramatic.”

I could only gape at that. “This is coming from the drama queen of the century?”

Norm laughed. “Of every century,” he corrected. When Fletcher scowled at him, he patted his back. “But you’re my drama queen, aren’t you?” That made Fletcher smile.

I stifled a chuckle. “Ooh, good save.”

Norm winked at me. “Thanks.”

Ava snatched me from Fletcher’s arms and hugged me just as tightly. The tiny female was weirdly strong. “I’m so excited about the Coronation.” Pulling back, she gasped. “I love this dress.”

“As usual, Fletcher can take the credit.” The white halter-neck was, like everything else he’d ever given me, a snug but perfect fit.

“I’m going to miss you.” Ava pouted cutely.

“You don’t have to leave. In fact, I’m hoping you don’t. I have plans for you.” She looked at me questioningly, but I simply gave her a mysterious smile. “All will be revealed shortly.”

Cristiano arched a brow. “I’m guessing that invitation doesn’t extend to me.” Most likely in response to my ‘oh shit’ expression, he shook his head. “Joke. I’m eager to get back to my nest. I’ve been away from them for long enough. Actually, I’ll be leaving straight after the Coronation.”

That was good, because although Jared had grown to…tolerate Cristiano, I knew he wouldn’t cope with him on a permanent basis. “Be a better leader than Victor was.”

“That goes without saying.” He tilted his head. “Joy left last night, you know.”

“Really?” Jared had predicted that she wouldn’t want to serve us directly, but…“We’d sort of reached a truce after she killed Eloise.” I shrugged. “Clearly the truce is over.”

“Just because someone can accept that they can’t have the person they want doesn’t mean that they can stand to watch that person with someone else.”

The odd look on his face made me frown. “You all right?”

He nodded, swallowing hard. “You, er…take care.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he just smiled. It wasn’t one of his usual smirks. It was an actual smile.

“I will. You, too.” I nudged Fletcher. “Where did Jared go after you spoke to him?”

Fletcher frowned thoughtfully. “He said something about going to find you, but then Antonio called him over.”

Knowing Antonio was near the patio doors with Lucy, Sebastian, and Luther, I said, “Okay, thanks.” It wasn’t until Fletcher grabbed my hands that I realised I’d been fidgeting nervously.

Fletcher kissed both of my cheeks. “You’ll be fine, luv. You might want to put on a little blusher – you’re white as a sheet with nerves.”

“I’m not nervous.” I gave him a gentle shove and then went to seek out Jared. Instead, I came face-to-face with Max, who stood with Chico, Jude, Damien, Denny, and David.

“Coach,” Max greeted with a wide smile and a manly pat on the back. “Damn, you’re pale – even for a vampire.”

Denny cocked his head at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous before. It’s weird.”

Jude gave him a ‘Seriously?’ look. “Wouldn’t you be nervous if you were about to be crowned Queen of the Undead?”

“Queen of the Undead,” drawled Chico, curling an arm around her. “I like that.”

I resisted shifting from foot to foot. “I’m not nervous. I’m just not feeling too good.”

“Because you’re nervous,” said Damien. At my scowl, he held up his hands in a gesture of innocence.

It didn’t placate me. “I’ll speak to you all later. I’ve got to find Jared.”

David frowned. “I’m surprised he’s left your side.”

“I was late getting ready, so I told him to go on ahead of me.”

“Late because you’re nervous,” Damien again insisted. So I slapped him over the head. “Ow, Coach, that was just mean.”

Snorting, I advanced toward the patio doors…only to find that Antonio, Lucy, Sebastian, and Luther were no longer there. More importantly, neither was Jared. I knew through our link that he was close, but I didn’t know his exact location. If I’d have had his gift to teleport, I could have used the link to take me immediately to him.

Inwardly growling, I still headed for the patio doors, wondering if they had wandered outside. As I neared the doors, I saw that Butch, Salem, Stuart, Reuben, Harvey, Paige, and Imani were huddled in the corner. It wasn’t a surprise to find that Butch was standing a little too close to Imani, or that Stuart was teasing Paige, or that Salem had his eyes on Ava despite that she was at the other side of the room. “Any of you seen Jared?”

Harvey turned to face me. “Well hello to you too, Coach. I’m doing great, thanks.”

I rolled my eyes. “Have you seen him or not?”

Paige pointed to the patio doors. “He was there a minute ago.” Imani nodded.

“Wow, Coach, you’re kind of…pale,” said Stuart with a wince.

Reuben grimaced. “Seriously pale.”

“I’m a vampire. I’m hardly going to have a bloody tan, am I?”

Butch snickered. “I think Jared might have gone outside.”

“Thanks.” I went to walk away, but then I noticed that Salem’s heated look had morphed into a scowl. Tracking his gaze, I saw that Damien was flirting with Ava. “You know, you could just go over there and talk to her.”

Salem frowned down at me. “I talk to her.”

“But you also blow hot and cold with her.”

He sighed. “She’s…”

“What?”

“Good…and I’m not.”

He flinched when I slapped his arm. “Hey, what was that for?”

“None of us are particularly ‘good’, Salem, or we’d be crap at our job. But we’re not ‘bad’.”

He sighed again. “She’s leaving with her brother tonight anyway.”

“Don’t be too sure of that.” I didn’t respond to his arched brow. Instead, I turned away and headed outside. My vampire night vision enabled me to easily spot Antonio, Lucy, Sebastian, and Luther at the other side of the pool…but no Jared. I was starting to wonder if he was deliberately avoiding me, if maybe he was having second thoughts about the Coronation. I could pick up through our link that he was slightly nervous, but he was also excited. If he was having doubts, he was doing an extremely good job of hiding them from me.

Confused and frustrated, I went to Antonio and the others. He gave me a beaming smile. “Sam, you look…” – his smile faltered – “annoyed.”

“My mate seems to be avoiding me.”

Lucy shook her head. “He said he was going to find you, but then Evan came and took him aside.” She pointed to where the brothers were standing on the fringe of the beach. Finally.

Sebastian studied my face. “Aside from annoyed, how are you feeling?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Fine.”

Luther twisted his mouth. “You’re rather…pale.”

I was getting sick of people commenting on that, even though it was true. I gave him a sardonic smile. “You’re good for the ego, Gandalf.” He just grinned.

Antonio curved an arm around my shoulders. “It is okay to be nervous. It does not make you weak.”

Lucy nodded. “It happens to us all.” Currently, it was happening to her. She had every right to be nervous. The plan was for Antonio to Turn her later tonight. She had actually confessed her worries about being a Keja to him. Antonio had offered to have a Sventé Turn her – he really was too sweet. But she had changed her mind, not wanting to be linked to anyone other than him. I knew that had relieved Antonio.

If Jared and I had been in that situation, he wouldn’t have given me the option of being Turned by another, he would have hounded me until I changed my mind. Jared wasn’t the ‘sweet’ type, but that was fine with me. If I had a ‘sweet’ person, I’d make them cry sooner or later.

“You should go and get Jared,” Antonio told me. “It is almost time for the Coronation.”

Nodding, I moved out of his hold and made my way to the brothers. When they sensed my approach, they both turned. I halted. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No,” Evan assured me, gesturing for me to come closer.

Jared held out his hand. “Get over here, baby.”

Walking to him, I slipped my hand in his, allowing him to tug me to his side. When he frowned at my expression, I pointed hard at him. “Tell me I look pale and I’ll”

His mouth landed on mine, giving me a hard but sensual kiss. The second the stiffness left my body, he broke the kiss and briefly sucked on my bottom lip. “Better?”

Yes, actually. Weirdly, his kisses had a way of calming my nerves. Relaxing against Jared, I looked at Evan. “Where’s Alora?”

“Chatting to a bird,” he replied dryly.

Not what I’d expected to hear.

“I was just telling Jared that I asked her to Bind with me in a few months’ time.”

“Really?”

“She said no.” Strangely, he didn’t sound guttered. In fact, he’d used the same tone that one might use when referring to a confused toddler...like it was kind of cute that she thought she had a choice. Yeah, well, Evan’s determined streak wouldn’t allow him to ever accept a ‘no’ from Alora. He’d been waiting too long to find her.

“You can hardly blame her,” I said gently. “I mean, she’s only just got out of one Binding. It makes sense for her not to want to throw herself into another one straight away. Give her some time.”

Evan smiled. “They were almost her exact words. I’m just happy that she’s no longer joined to that prick. It means we can have that one day, when she’s ready – thanks to Imani. I owe that girl more than she can ever realise.” Imani had used her gift to sever the bond between Alora and Gregory. I was guessing that the bloke hadn’t taken it very well, but f**k him. Alora belonged with Evan – anyone could see it.

Jared cocked his head at Evan. “Ironic how much I panicked about bringing Paige here. If she hadn’t come, I’d have lost Sam and you for sure. And if Paige had never requested refuge for her and Imani, we would never have realised that Imani is your only chance to be able to Bind with Alora one day.”

Evan nodded. “It seems like sometimes we have to go the long way round before getting to the place we need to be – if that even makes any sense.” Seeing Alora approaching, he raised his arm invitingly. She melted against him, smiling. “Did the bird have anything interesting to say?”