Page 85 of B Negative

Twenty-Nine

I leftthe compound soon after, this time with a bag full of clothes Julian had packed for me and behind the wheel of a silver Aston Martin DB-11.

I only knew the make and model number because Julian laughed when I called it the shark car.

What can I say? It was aggressively streamlined. Just like a shark.

Old Eden would never have agreed to drive such an expensive car.

Old Eden would have calculated exactly how much a scrape on the ridiculously expensive luxury car might cause her insurance rates to go up.

But old Eden wasn’t here anymore.

Please leave a message.

Hell, I might even dip into the money in my nest egg account and buy myself something nice.

I sped over the bridge, windows down, wind in my hair, and tested a theory.

Probably not a great idea, because if it didn’t work, I had no idea what the consequences were.

But I needed to know.

Could I make it beyond the ward without someone from the tower escorting me?

I mean, worst case, the necklace gets overwhelmed, explodes and I have a gaping wound in my chest.

Best case?

I can come and go without Titus knowing. That seemed like a pretty sweet deal. Especially once the incursions were back on the table. Titus had basically asked for parlay until Sunny adjusted.

But that wasn’t going to last forever, and having a way to sneak in and out of his territory—that was like cat burglar crack.

I promised Titus I wouldn’t steal his scepter for now.

But all bets were off when he and Sunny were fully bonded.

The traffic thinned ahead, and I sped up to put myself as far from other cars as possible. Humans who weren’t affected by Titus’s ward made up the majority of traffic on the bridge. And if the real worst case happened, and the ward somehow stopped the car from even entering, I could survive being accordioned in an Aston Martin, but a human wouldn’t survive crashing into me.

As the center of the bridge approached, I gripped the wheel, gritted my teeth, and hoped for the best.

“Huh, didn’t actually expect that to work,” I said to no one when I crossed the ward unscathed.

I didn’t even feel the wiggly icks the ward usually gave me.

I patted the stone. “Good work, little guy,” I said and headed toward the tower.

“Absolutely not,” Titus said flatly.

“It’s the reason Sunny lost her mortal life, Titus. Don’t you think you owe it to all the humans on thirty-three who won’t survive a building collapse? Christ, at the very least, think about your vampires. What will happen if their entire food source dies?”

The king stared at me, cold glare sliding over me like a frostbitten kiss. “I have thought about it, Eden. I’ve investigated on my own, and I don’t want you poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.” Titus stood, somehow managing to tower over me from his side of the desk. “I’ve allowed you in my territory as a favor to my mate. Do not forget that, Eden. You seem to have forgotten that we are adversaries. I’d advise you not to forget that again.”

I sucked in a breath and bit the fuck out of my cheek. As much as I wanted to argue and fight for what I believed was the right move, I couldn’t afford to be so brash anymore. “You make a good point,” I said, voice only the smallest bit strained.

Titus scoffed. “Your self-control is admirable, Ms. Vaughn. But it’s the thing I least like about you. Speak your mind.”

“Uh, fuck that, you just said not to forget we’re enemies.”