LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter One

      “The asset has been terminated,” Prince Stefan Zolinski said to the company of men who surrounded him in the small clearing. The only sound he heard in response was the crackling of the torches that enforced the magical boundaries of their perimeter.

      He sought out the eyes of each soldier, his Gypsy power pushing hard against their mental shields. He tested them for both their commitment and any weaknesses. It pleased Stefan that he found none. His team was an elite force trained from birth to hunt and eradicate monsters.

      “The Aeternali moved up their timeline by partnering with the Department of Defense. Last report from the asset confirmed Dr. Ian Gevaudan is in residence at the Blue Ridge Research Facility and is continuing his vile experimentation. He’s produced a virus communicable through bodily contact with teeth and claws. With uninfected werewolves, it takes three bites. This virus can spread with a scratch to both monsters and humans.” Stefan met each man’s eyes again. “We have to take the facility down.”

      He left the rest unspoken—if Gevaudan was permitted to continue unchallenged, he could infect the world, and the governing body that was supposed to protect supernaturals and mortals alike—the Aeternali—had sanctioned his actions.

      Johann Graywald, his first lieutenant, spoke. “What intel do we have on their defenses?”

      “It comes from Aeternali troops and containment protocol. If the walls are breached, there’s an F-16 that will finish the job for us with a containment payload. Get in, get out and watch it burn. Let’s move out.”

      The men broke from the group, each attending to his duty and making themselves battle-ready.

      “The asset—” Johann began.

      “Is no longer your concern.” Something a lot like guilt formed a cold, hard ball in the pit of his stomach. It seemed wrong somehow to refer to Beth as nothing more than an asset. But that was what she’d been—a means to an end. She was a scientist on the payroll of the Department of Defense and the Aeternali. She was simply a way for him to gather intel about the Blue Ridge Research Facility so he could destroy it.

      Collateral damage.

      As he recalled vivid memories of Beth, the cold knot in his gut sprouted tentacles that twisted around his spine. Stefan found it odd they made him feel cold because his last moments with her had been so damn hot.

      She had awakened that morning sleepy-eyed and wrecked from the night before. He could see it now as clearly as if she stood in front of him. Her red-gold hair tumbling over her pale shoulders, strawberry lips swollen from his kisses, the velvet feel of her slit still slick with the evidence of their coupling as she mounted him. Beth rode him, the sunlight slicing through slats in the blinds to paint her in a soft glow. She’d brushed her lips over his and whispered, “I love you.”

      The last thing she’d said to him.

      He hadn’t said it back. Instead, he’d drifted back to sleep after they’d both spent. He spread his palms on the table and stared at the map spread out in front of him of their target and plan of attack.

      Johann closed a gruff hand over his shoulder. “There’s no shame in mourning her, my prince.”

      Stefan steeled himself. “Her death was needless, and I regret I didn’t do more to protect her. That’s all.”

      “There was nothing you could’ve done. Giving her Zoranna’s mark of protection would have alerted the Aeternali guard dogs. From what I hear, it wouldn’t have saved her from what happened.”

      Stefan fixed his lieutenant with a cold stare. He didn’t want to discuss it. He could think about it later, after he’d assured himself that hell was nothing more than a pile of smoking rubble.

      “We’re going to war, not a poetry slam. We’ll save the feelings for long nights by snapping fires with full cups of warm spiced wines in our hands.”

      Johann sighed and shrugged. “As you wish.”

      It would be great if Stefan could follow his own advice. He couldn’t stop thinking about that voice ringing in his head like a gong. As her fiancé, he’d

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