Page 74 of Cruelly Bitten
“Yes.” A blunt response, one tinged with a hint of annoyance.
Probably because I’d tasked Mira with cleaning up the other female’s mess.
Or perhaps she was just as irritated by Lilith’s failings as I was.
“But that’s why I’m suggesting we postpone the meeting,” she continued. “Given everything I’ve witnessed downstairs, we’re not ready to address the alliance.”
Normally, I would point out that it wasn’t her place to make that decision. But in this case, I happened to agree with her. And I appreciated her frank assessment.
However, I disagreed with one point. “Why do you need to go to Lilith City to disseminate the message? Surely you could work with Helias, Sofia, or Hazel, yes?”
All their regions bordered former-day Italy, making them much closer than Lilith City, previously known as Chicago.
She appeared thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose I could.” She uttered the words slowly, causing me to arch a brow.
“You sound uncertain.”
She shrugged one slender shoulder. “I’ve spent over a century playing a role as Luka’s obedient mate. It didn’t really occur to me that I could venture into another royal’s territory on your behalf, or that I could allow my real identity to become known.”
Hmm,I thought. “They all think you’re just a normal lycan.”
“They do, yes.” She frowned. “Although, word of my true nature is likely being spread now that Jace and Darius uncovered my secret.”
“Another one of Lilith’s security failings,” I muttered, thinking of how easily Jace and his newErositahad breached the security protocols in the various bunkers.
Of course, Damien had been helping them. But he’d primarily succeeded because he’d been able to hack into Lilith’s phone.
Which suggested her protocols hadn’t been all that robust.
Or he’s just that good.
Regardless, it confirmed that Lilith’s operations had weaknesses.
And I did not like weaknesses.
However, given that there hadn’t been much I could do about her failings, I’d opted to use the situation to my advantage and had allowed Jace’s curiosity to play out. I’d hoped it would help him understand our purpose here, perhaps sway him to our side.
Except he’d allowedCalina, hisErosita, to direct their search.
The female had mainly focused on her origin story—the one that informed her she’d been the product of Michael’s sperm and Mira’s egg, thus making her a unique breed of immortal human.
Too bad Lilith hadn’t been able to replicate that experiment in other trials.
Something about the golden-blood female surrogate had been key in birthing Calina.
Alas, my brethren had killed all the remaining golden-blood mortals in the world. The only humans left with a similar genetic disposition were the blood virgins.
Tasty, yes.
Appropriate candidates to birth immortals, no.
Hence the reason we’d moved on to the Blessed Ones.
“If I go above ground, I may be able to connect to a satellite and open up communications with one of the nearby royals. Would you like me to do that?” Mira asked.
“Which royal would you contact?” I queried, curious as to who she would deem astrustworthyin this situation. I had my own opinions based on Lilith’s logs, but Mira might have a refreshing perspective.
“Helias,” she responded without hesitation. “He’ll appreciate the stroke to his ego.”
