Page 45 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

Kelly slumps suddenly, eyes closed, and then a second later, she’s awake and screaming.

The chain rattles and grows taut as she lurches for the door. Damien catches her. “Stop. Look at me, Kelly.”

Big, fat tears are streaming down her pale face. Her hands are practically claws on his bicep, like she’s holding on with every ounce she has left.

She finally looks up. “Damien?”

“I’m here,” he tells her, his tone soothing and filled with worry.

I know Kelly is strong—she had to be in order to take over my care when our mother died—but this is different.

The queen may be gone, but I’m not stupid. She can come back whenever she likes until we figure out how to sever that open magical link between Kelly and the fae realm, the one left over from the spell cast by the Renshaw witches.

With that connection still open, if the queen wanted to, could she make my sister jump off a bridge? Light herself on fire? I shudder at the possibilities. I don’t want to contemplate all of the horrible things that woman could do to my sister if given the freedom to do it.

I’m grateful we caught the connection early enough so we could put Kelly in a safe location. The queen revealing it so soon was a reckless mistake.

She’s clearly no strategist. Not like Bran and Damien.

And I’m going to use that to my advantage.

I turn away from Damien and my sister. “Please keep her safe,” I tell him before I leave and he barely acknowledges me, as if to say, How dare you question my dedication to her.

At the door, I find the Alpha and his third-in-command waiting. “Well played,” Cal says, nodding at the cell phone in my hand. “But how do you plan to get that recording in front of Arion?”

Bran comes up behind me. “He’s lived here on the mortal side for decades. He must have a cell phone.”

“Yeah and do you have his number?” Cal asks.

“I’m sure someone does.”

“No.” I shake my head and make my way back down the stone hallway. “I want to see his face when he hears the queen’s words. I want to make sure he doesn’t dismiss it as some kind of ploy.”

They follow me out of the basement, and I realize, once we reach the first floor of Duval House, that they’ve all been waiting for me to give my final thoughts.

In the side hall, where the door to the basement is tucked into an alcove, I turn to the three of them. Bran, tall, dark and scorchingly handsome, equal parts dangerous and terrifying, and Cal, hard-edged with muscle, raw with power, and Keiko, fierce, loyal, but willing to speak her mind, and all of them are staring at me waiting, willing to hear me out.

Not that long ago, I thought I was just a mortal girl who was destined to pledge her life to a vampire house and let her veins become a 24-hour buffet unless I escaped.

And now some of the most powerful figures in Midnight Harbor are watching me with interest, waiting to see what my plan is. As if my ideas might also hold value.

A flare of pride rushes through my body and because I’m a dork about this stuff, tears burn in my eyes until I sniff them back and turn away.

“Let’s put together a team,” I say over my shoulder, making my way back through the house to the library and the coffee bar. I need some caffeine first.

“A team for what?” Bran asks.

“A team to help separate my brother from his fae army.”

Bran doesn’t argue my plan. And neither does Cal. In fact, I think they like the plan way too much because they’ve assembled several vampires, and three more shifters in a gallery hall in the back of Duval House in record time, much to Keiko’s dismay.

I approach her as the vampires and Cal talk about possibilities and concerns.

“I’m really sorry he’s dragged you into this,” I tell her, lifting my chin in the Alpha’s direction.

She uncorks a bottle of whiskey she’s pulled from the small bar along the wall and pours a shot into a glass. “He didn’t drag me into it. You did.”

I wince. “The Alpha is his own man. He can make his own decisions.”

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