If you’re going to kill me, make it fast. But set it up so Brock takes the fall.

Stop. Now, he chided himself again, Not with a human. But he knew paradise and catastrophe went hand in hand.

Luca sensed she was trying to find words, but she had a habit of making her words into weapons and he was quick to disarm her.

She whispered his name again. He was less than human now, and less than vampire. He was an animal. He’d drawn blood and now he needed to fuck, to cover her with his scent, to tell the world, She is mine. Stay away.

The music seemed to fade into silence. It was just the two of them. He could kiss her, or he could bite her. Both possibilities were equally tempting as she looked up at him from under her long, dark lashes.

When she moved away from him now it didn’t stink of retreat. Instead it felt as though she had seized the high ground as she sat gracefully on the ledge of the window. She crossed her long legs and her short dress hiked up another inch. The night sky — vast and open without any tall buildings blocking its reach — seemed to both swallow her and retreat from the immensity of her presence.

Are you all right?” he asked.“I’m dead,” she drawled. Her hands extended toward him and she wiggled her fingertips spookily. “The spirits of this place command you to leave.

Jillian took another step. The weaving abruptly stopped, and she pressed the blade of his own knife to his neck. He felt its cold bite. Their gazes met.“I have just one question for you,” she whispered. The edge broke skin effortlessly, and he felt blood trickle down his throat in a thin fracture. Her green eyes flickered to the wound, and Luca knew it had already healed.“Then ask.”“Do you sparkle?

She might dress like them, but she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She simply did not belong.