I glanced at Tony, but he had not budged and still looked at a space beyond me. "It was their poor choice to force us to go there," I said. "It's their own fault they didn't know Alexis was in me. They struck first when Esmeralda smacked me, breaking my neck, and bloodying my nose." I could feel Tony's eyes move to me then."And when Tyler tried to protect me, Esmeralda broke her wrist. Julie was thrown across the room, and only then did Alexis come. But he came from inside of me."Frank nodded. "Her words are not lies.""Well," Cyrene said, "it seems that they weren't very hospitable to an American Council member.""Why don't you ask her what she said to cause her to get slapped?" Kaniji asked."I asked her why she was asking me so many questions about Alexis," I said."And she slapped you for that?" Frank asked."No. She didn't just slap me. She hit me with her power and it knocked me out of my chair and broke my neck. I couldn't even turn my head when my people began to s

Everything she showed us was way too opulent. I wanted something homey and nice but comfortable. The last house she wanted to show us was a little before midnight, and it was a Mediterranean transplant. Not nearly as big as Johan's or even Tony's house, this place had everything my human mind could want. There was a pool and Jacuzzi, even a grotto. The backyard was any person's fantasy with a bathhouse and a walkout that was very open air. Italian travertine marble covered the floor in a rustic decoration. Glass doors closed off the oversized walkout. Kat was telling me that we'd have all the glass replaced with the UV-protected glass that Vampires used. There were four bedrooms, perfect if anybody needed to crash, and each had its own personal en suite. Monica would always have a place to stay if she wanted it, but I figured she'd want to stay in her wing at Johan's. The master bedroom sealed the deal for me. It had a rook wood fireplace in perfect condition. The hardwood floors

"Leftover shrimp creole." I looked at him over my shoulder. He was only an inch away. His lips curled up. He frowned and shook his head. "I can make you a steak," I said while staring at his lips."Sounds good," he said.I straightened slowly. It had to be slow because he was so close to me that I would have bumped into him. I concentrated on the task at hand—cooking a steak. There were rib-eyes in the freezer. We kept plenty of meat around because it was blood food. Paul backed up and looked around."You did a good job decorating this place," he said. "Last time I was here it was pretty empty."I placed the steak into the microwave to defrost and then handed him a bottled water. When he took it he allowed his fingers to graze my fingers. His eyes held me again. Feeling an unfamiliar self-consciousness, I turned away and searched for a skillet to fry the steak. I often wondered if the desire I felt for Paul was only the blood. Now I knew. We hadn't shared blood in over a year

"What the fuck? What the fuck does that mean? Are you like a giant hairy dog? Or do you look like Lon Chaney?"He rubbed my arms. "I'm not quite sure. It's only happened twice, and I wasn't near a mirror. Sometimes I feel like a wolf but still like a man and other times…I don't feel like me at all. I hunt like a wolf." His eyes looked distant as he stared at some spot beyond me. "We were in a pack. We chased down small animals. I wasn't skilled enough to drop big game like the others.""Others? Please tell me everything. How did this happen?" I couldn't even form all of the questions I had.He led us to the bed, and we sat facing each other. As he held my hands, I could feel this current coming from his body, something I didn't recognize and hadn't felt in anyone else."When I left here I had a vague idea of other supernatural beings from what Mara told me," he said, his eyes blazing with excitement. "She told me of some legends: demons, lycans, witches, fairies, even trolls. I kne

He rolled his eyes, but not as if he was angry. "The sun will be coming up in a bit. Tell me about what happened when you got home. I know it didn't end in Spain.""Yeah, you're right." I told him about how my Council had bombarded me and about Esmeralda's murder."As long as Athena's alive," Paul said, "then she'll always be a danger to you. Trouble has a way of always finding you. You're right. I did come back in the nick of time."I smiled. Not that he could do anything to solve the Athena problem, but it felt good to have him to bounce my ideas off of.I stood and kissed his forehead. "I'm going to bed before the sun rises and catches me unexpectedly."Paul stood and pulled me to him. "I missed you, too, Kim.""It's good to have you home."He smiled at me. "Like old times. Blue balls and all."I gasped and then laughed. Knowing that my lust could flare with little urging, I hurried out of the room and down the stairs. We had talked all night.It really was like old times.