“What did she say?” I asked Milika. Trolls must have a special language. I never knew that.
“She says trolls are treated good where she is and the alpha is nice, except for her obsession with phones and technology, which are evil.”
“Hey!” Demi’s voice could be heard off camera and we all laughed, lightening the mood a little.
Marmal said something else and Milika spoke right back in rapid-fire troll language. It was fascinating, and I allowed them to talk for however long they needed, until finally the conversation wound down.
Milika pulled away and handed the phone back to me. “Thanks,” I told her and stood, walking into the bathroom with Marmal still on the line.
I shut the door behind me, leaving Luka, Milika, Liv, and Ruby in the room, and flicked on the fan. “I’m alone now. So, what’s up? What did she say?”
Marmal’s tusks turned down as she frowned. “It’s bad there. Nothing like here. The trolls and werewolves are slaves—”
“WHAT!” Demi screamed from somewhere behind Marmal.
“Shh,” Marmal shushed her friend and kept going. “Witches, vampires and fey run the world. Trolls and wolves are treated like rats and dogs.”
“Those mother fu—” Demi started.
“She also said that the baby selling house is a brothel,” Marmal added, and my stomach dropped.
I swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”
“Humans who know about the supernatural world pay to have sex with these women who are chosen as they have a small amount of fey genetics and are mostly human. When they get pregnant, the guy has no idea, and the baby is sold to the Los Angeles Vampire Hunter Society … among other places.”
I might not be a mother—hell, I didn’t even have a womb anymore, but the wordsselling babiesmade anger flush through me so fast and hot that I cracked the phone screen.
“Is she sure about all this?” I pressed Marmal through gritted teeth.
Our troll friend nodded. “She is a maid at the brothel. The front is a … whorehouse. The back is where they hide the pregnant women and birthing mothers until they can sell the merchandise. Her words, not mine.”
Sex slavery. This was freaking sex slavery. I mean, you read about it on the news in other countries, but…
There was a knock at the hotel door and I froze. “Call you later,” I whispered, and hung up, slipping Luka’s phone into my pocket.
Luka was up and across the room in seconds, and I was by his side. If vampires were the big dogs in this city, then Luka and I needed to use that to protect the others in our group who were looked down upon.
Luka pulled the door back to reveal a petite vampire woman with long black hair. She was holding a white envelope.
“Mr. Drake?” she asked.
I froze. They knew his name?
Luka played it off casually. “And who are you?”
She smiled. “My name is Carmen, assistant to King Constantine. He heard that a Drake used their credit card to buy tickets into Night City and now he must have you and your fiancée for dinner.”
Dinner with the freaking king? So much for laying low.
How did the king even know that the Drake name was important or that I was his fiancée?
Luka beamed. “Oh, that would be wonderful. Is that the invitation?”
She handed it over, looking Luka up and down in a way that made jealousy spring to life within me again. An involuntary growl rumbled in my throat and the woman looked at me with surprise.
“My beautiful wife-to-be is newly changed and still learning to regulate the emotions,” Luka interjected.
Understanding crossed Carmen’s face and she took a step backward. “So we will see you tonight?”
