B Positive by Jewel Killian

Ten

Julian’s fangsdescended as he let out a ferocious growl.

Survival instinct had me scampering away, putting three sofas and two area rugs between us.

Not that I blamed him.

No one fucked with King Titus.

The king across the river. I’d only heard stories, and even those were light on the details. But all made one thing clear.

Never go into his territory. Not if you wanted to keep your life.

That one I’d learned the hard way.

A tall redhead in a designer dress and a killer pair of Prada heels sashayed into the great room, tapping on a tablet. “You bellowed, sir?”

I glanced from her to Julian, stifling a gasp as I caught sight of his still-lengthening fangs. They were the longest I’d ever seen, curving out of his mouth and over his bottom lip. “Uh, what’s with King Sabertooth?” I asked.

The redhead tore her gaze from the tablet, meeting my eyes. “You must be Eden.”

“I don’t know, must I?”

She sniffed, looking down her nose at me, making me regret my jeans and tank yet again. “Hmm. Well, come along. The king needs to take care of some things.” She beckoned me to follow, but I stayed put. “Come on,” she repeated.

I stole a quick glance at Julian, but he’d already headed for the front door.

“You’re not going outside in that state, are you?” I squawked. King Saber Cat didn’t seem like he was big on controlling certain vampish urges. I knew firsthand how difficult losing control was. Not the actual loss of control. That was bliss. Getting high on blood was the best high I’d ever had. I’d lost all sense of myself, every worry or care replaced by rapturous, velvet blood coating my mouth. My being.

But coming back from that? Dealing with the aftermath? Living with how easily I’d disregarded human life?

I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Not even Julian.

He spun around, glaring with full dark vamp eyes.

“Come on, Eden.” The redhead was now at my back, hands on my shoulders, trying to move me away. “The king needs to work off some steam.”

“On humans?” I slung the accusation at him like a weapon, but it had no effect.

Julian stalked closer, and my muscles screamed for me to run away. To blur the fuck out of dodge and never look back. And maybe I would have.

Maybe I should have.

Maybe, if redhead assistant lady hadn’t been at my back, with her hands keeping me in place, I would have. Or if I hadn’t already agreed to making the king ten million dollars lighter.

What did I care if the arrogant, too-rich, king whose voice did unspeakable things to my body lost control and took his anger out on a human or four?

I swallowed the nausea rising in me. The discomfort at having his glare on me for so long. “Be careful,” I managed.

I couldn’t be sure, not with his eyes full dark, but Julian seemed surprised by my words. It only lasted a moment though, before he nodded once and blurred away.

“This way, Eden. We have some catching up to do.” When I didn’t move, she put an arm across my shoulders and directed me deeper into the compound. “My name is Sunny, and I’m King Julian’s personal assistant. I’ll get you debriefed and filled in about the job as much as the king has authorized.”

Right. Why did I have the feeling that “as much as the king authorized” meant little to no filling in?

“The king wanted to test your skills at deception and infiltration,” she said as she guided me into a large conference room. She gestured to one of the leather swivel chairs pointed at a wall-mounted smart screen.

I sat down, and the screen glowed to life.

Oooh.Well, that explained…

A lot.

I gave the image a cursory scan. “I’d need at least a month to plan the entry point alone.”

Sunny glanced back at the blueprints projected on the screen, her coppery hair sliding over her shoulder to lie against the teal dress. “We’ve already planned the initial infiltration. You just need to get by the guards, into the inner sanctum, and to the safe.”

“Hang on. Back up a minute. You said the king was testing my skills, but I want to know how he found out about me in the first place. How did the king know I was going to take his diamond at all?’

The woman smiled at me, her perfect teeth gleaming in the light. “The king heard about a thief in Laurel Cove who was doing jobs humans wouldn’t dare.”

Okay, yeah, that tracked. Last month I pried twenty-seven diamond studs right off a bougie boutique sign. I mean, it was like they were asking me to take it. And, yeah, they had a camera pointed at the sign to make sure that didn’t happen, but I’d blurred in and back out before those outdated cameras with shit frame rates could even record I was there.

Sunny continued. “So, he started a rumor about a priceless diamond hoping to draw you to it.”

That he did. I’d heard about it from my tech guy and the fence who wanted to move it for me.

“Once he programmed the safes with your birthdate, he figured you’d know it was a job interview of sorts and hand back the diamond.”

But I hadn’t. I’d declared it mine and busted out his window.

“That priceless diamond is the Tzarina’s Diamond. A one-of-a-kind jewel renowned for its fire and brilliance and the fact that it once belonged to a monarch of one of the greatest dynasties the world has ever seen.”

As hard as I tried to keep my expression neutral, my shoulders still fell.

I’d caught wind of a big diamond.

Not a big, famous diamond.

“There isn’t a fence anywhere who’d touch it, let alone try to move it for me.”

Sunny nodded.

So that’s why the bastard let me have it. He knew it would be utterly worthless to me if I couldn’t move it. Damn. I mean, credit where credit was due, the king had made a solid plan and it worked exactly as he’d expected.

I just hated that I wasted months on a diamond that was essentially worthless to me. Bright side? It was still my entrée into a ten million dollar payday.

I surveyed the blueprint once again. “What’s the security set up like?”

“Top tier, state of the art. But again, you’ll already have access inside the building.”

I nodded. “Where’s the take?”

Sunny pointed to the direct center of the diagram.

“What kind of safe is he using?”

“We aren’t sure. No one has intel that far inside King Titus’s tower.”

My entire body went cold and tingly. Did she say…?

I didn’t want to go anywhere near that one. Cracking Julian’s safe was one thing. If they caught me, he’d kill me, and that’d be the end. But King Titus? He tortured vamps who betrayed him. Rumor had it that Titus has psychic vamps who know if anyone within a five mile radius has a nasty thought about him. How was I supposed to set foot in King Titus’s tower with intent to steal from him?

Plus there was that other matter.

The one we didn’t talk about. Tried not to think about despite everyone and their mother asking me about it. About her.

Fuck! I could kick past Eden for agreeing to ten mil before she had all the info!