When Katie told her about Daisy MacDougall and the fact that her bite from Victorija hadn’t healed, she knew sooner or later the Dred clan would descend upon them, looking for her. She had never kept something from Byron before, but Katie persuaded her to let Daisy be the one to tell.

She only agreed if Daisy told Byron in the next few days. Her love for Katie was making her fearful.

“Duca? Is everything all right?” Bhal said.

Alexis pushed her phone back in her pocket quickly. “What? Yes.”

Bhal nodded and returned to her post on the side of the dining room door. If one of her vampires was caught looking at their phone, they’d be peeling potatoes in the kitchen for two months straight. Alexis looked up to see if her vampires posted at the end of the corridor noticed. Luckily, they were all concentrating elsewhere.

The constant worry she had felt over the past week was paralyzing. Every morning she left Katie to work, she had the gut-wrenching worry that she might not see her again. This was why she never wanted to be in love with a human again.

She resumed pacing. It was so hard not to be at Katie’s side all the time.

“Duca?”

Alexis was instantly pulled from her tortured thoughts by Byron’s voice. She turned around and saw Byron had exited the dining room and was looking at her quizzically. So were Bhal and all her vampires.

She couldn’t believe she hadn’t been aware of Byron leaving the room—with her enhanced hearing she was always ready and waiting when Byron was leaving an engagement. Instead she’d been lost in her mind.

Alexis decided to carry on as normal and simply apologize. “My apologies, Principe. Are we leaving now?”

Byron looked at her through narrowed eyes. “Yes, I want to go to the office now, Duca.”

“Of course, Principe.”

Alexis took point and led them out to the waiting cars outside. Once Byron was safely inside her car, Alexis looked at the time again. Was Katie back home safely by now?

Being distracted was unforgivable. Her worry for Katie was compromising her duty. She had to get a handle on this paralyzing fear of losing her lover.

* * *

Amelia loved her new design room. In the basement of her shop, she had an office design room that looked out onto the workshop. There were two design tables, one for her and one for Daisy when she was working downstairs with her.

She looked up from her desk and through the glass windows, watched her all-female cutting and sewing team busily working hard. Amelia knew how it felt to be the only woman working in a tailoring workshop. It was still a man’s world, except in this little corner of Savile Row.