Chapter 189

 I didn’t mind overcompensating. “There’s a lot of sun in Nevada.”

“Shifter City is the opposite of the vampire lairs in Washington State, which is all rain and cold,” Shade said. “We picked the sunny state for a reason. No vampires like to venture into Nevada. Only a few very powerful vampires can survive the brilliant sun in our mountainous region.”

My heart stuttered. “What about the Vampire God? Can he come here? He’s powerful, right?”

“As I said, he’s more like a myth,” Shade said. “No one has seen him on this continent for a century. Though rumors say he was sighted in North America recently.” He lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. “Even if he’s hunting you, he won’t get to you. We’ll make sure of it.”

“We’re home,” the driver, who was a bear in his animal form, announced happily.

 A fenced city with high-rise buildings loomed ahead. Sparks jumped from barbed wire fences at its top, and a legion of shifter soldiers patrolled the walls.

“Are those watch towers?” I asked, pointing at one of the towers inside the gate. Four armed soldiers stood on the top platform beside a mounted machine gun.

“We have eight of those towers in the city,” Shade said with pride. “We now have to rely on old-fashioned watch towers since the satellite era was over a century ago.”

When War, the second horseman, had come to Earth, I wondered what had happened to him. Had he died, retired to his Heavenly home, or simply disappeared?

A chorus of howls from the city jerked me out of my trance. The shifter soldiers were acknowledging the return of their Alpha Heir and his team.

The leading jeep braked before the gate, as did the rest of the fleet. Sideburns jumped off the second vehicle and strode toward us. The strange thing was I hadn’t missed him one bit, but as soon as he was in close proximity, my core tightened, needing him and wanting him in a shameful way.

From the sudden heat rising in his hard gray eyes, I could tell he felt exactly the same and he didn’t like it either.

The Alpha Heir tilted his chin toward the two other shifters sharing the jeep with Shade and me. The shifters bowed to him, left our jeep, and filed into a black van.

My heart pounded erratically, and my hand reached out to grab Shade’s sleeve. The younger prince had convinced me that his older brother had promised not to put me in the retaining center, but what if the Alpha Heir changed his mind?

Sideburns glanced at my hand as it landed on Shade’s arm, and his face darkened.

“I’ll escort Pip to the Academy and make sure she settles in,” Shade offered, his eyes on his brother.

“That’s where I’m going too,” Sideburns said. “You drive.”

Shade flashed me a comforting smile before he moved behind the wheel

Sideburns slid into the jeep and took the seat beside me.