Again with that slow, lordly smile. Perfectly shaped for Luc’s fist.

Not that time alone with Ingrid was something to wish away. She’d chosen him. Given herself to him, and even though he couldn’t claim her in the human way, she was still his. Passing the day and night in the quiet town home was giving him a taste of his fantasy, sweet as meringue and just as easily dissolved.

He barred his forearm across Marco’s brawny chest and shoved him against the stone door. “She may not be mine, but I am still hers.

I was wrong, Gabby, and I’ll apologize for it forever if you want me to. But the truth is I couldn’t face you. If I came to you and you sent me away, if I knew for certain that you didn’t want me anymore... God in heaven, Gabriella Waverly, I’ve never been so bloody afraid of a lass before.

Ingrid released a pent-up breath against Luc’s shoulder, her nose brushing against him. He let go of her wrist, feeling absurd that he’d been so worried about Vincent’s presence. The Notre Dame gargoyle was a rotten crab apple with antihuman sentiments, and just like a rotten crab apple, he could be taken care of with one solid boot stomping.

He barred his forearm across Marco's brawny chest and shoved him against the stone door. "She may not be mine, but I am still hers.

Valor. He'd displayed valor when he'd rescued Ingrid and Grayson. It was the closest Luc had come to receiving praise from Irindi in all his gargoyle years.Fancy that.

She may not be mine, but I am still hers.

Ingrid deserved better than selfish kisses and an empty, hopeless future. Even if the Dispossessed allowed it, she deserved to be more than Luc's human obsession. He would end it, cut himself off from her. He could better protect her then. That was all Luc was. It was all he could ever be. Her watchman. Her guardian.Her gargoyle.

I was wrong, Gabby, and I'll apologize for it forever if you want me to. But the truth is I couldn't face you. If I came to you and you sent me away, if I knew for certain that you didn't want me anymore...God in heaven, Gabriella Waverly, I've never been so bloody afraid of a lass before.