Alexis took a sip and felt the satisfying burn as it travelled down her throat. It was really good, but she’d expect no less from the Wulver distillery. Kenrick was the new Alpha and not long mated herself. Everyone seemed to be destined for happiness except her. Alexis had lost her chance at love a hundred and seventy years ago, when Victorija killed Anna, the woman she was going to marry.

“It’s good,” Alexis said with little enthusiasm.

“Good? You can’t describe that masterpiece as good, Duca.”

Alexis swirled the amber liquid around her glass. “Really good?”

Slaine sighed. “You sound like you’re at a funeral instead of a wedding.”

“Slaine, the Dreds are turning humans at will to boost their boots on the ground, threatening to expose our world to humans, the witches are baying for blood, and the whole paranormal world is on a knife-edge. No one is taking the threat seriously,” Alexis said.

“Look at everyone dancing and having a good time. Vampires, wolves, shifters, fae, witches, all in the same room, and not killing each other.” Slaine pointed over to the small number of witches sitting together in a corner of the room. “At the moment the witches are baying for vampire blood, but because of this wedding, the British covens have sent representatives here and are enjoying a drink with vampires, who they probably trust as far as they could throw them. That’s an achievement that only love can bring.”

“Love?” Alexis snorted. “Please, love brings pain, not happiness.”

Alexis’s eyes flitted to a young blond woman, dancing not far from the Principe and Principessa—Katie Brekman, the Debrek head housekeeper, who was dancing with a female shifter. She felt her stomach twist with tension.

Katie’s family had worked for the Debreks for generations, and her mother and father had headed up the Debrek household for years. When Katie came back from university to work for Byron, she’d joined the blood rota, as all the humans in the household did.

Alexis remembered every millisecond of her first encounter in the blood room with Katie. Katie offered her neck and Alexis groaned at the first scent of it.

For a vampire, going to feed in the blood room should be like eating a meal for a human—nice, but just a fuel stop to keep their vampire bodies going. Unless you were feeding from a lover. Alexis closed her eyes and she was back there, recalling the memory like a movie in her mind.

Alexis had a long morning and needed to feed badly. She unlocked her phone and opened the Debrek app. The app had been developed under Byron’s leadership and modernized the Debrek way of life and business. She clicked on the icon to summon a blood host—a little like ordering an Uber—and made her way down to the blood room.

When she arrived at the old wooden door, she looked into the eye scanner to gain access. The security scanner released the lock, and she opened the heavy oak door.