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  He might no longer be in a position where he’d be able to protect her.

  “I love you,” he said. “I love you so much.”

  Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and she stood on tiptoes to kiss him, her mouth soft and warm against his. Tears trickled down her cheeks, toward their joined lips, and he tasted salt.

  Their kiss deepened, tongues dancing to trace every inch of each other’s mouth. He reached down and lifted her, so her legs wrapped around his waist. He carried her to the couch and reclined her back on the cushions. She lay out before him, her hair spread in a wave across the soft leather.

  Sebastian bent his face to her belly and raised her top to expose her flat stomach. He ran his tongue up from her navel in a cold, wet trail, eliciting a shiver and a rash of goose bumps from her flesh.

  Serenity exhaled in a small moan. She turned her face to one side and closed her eyes.

  He pushed the t-shirt upward, exposing her naked breasts. He reached up and covered one soft, warm mound with his palm. The nipple immediately tightened, forming a hard bud against his cold flesh. He moved higher up her body and lowered his mouth to her other breast, enclosing his lips around her areola. His tongue swept in a circle, hardening her nipple further.

  Blood rushed to the area, the veins thick and faintly blue beneath her creamy skin. Her pulse thumped in his ears, the sound overwhelming all others. He longed to bite her there, sink his teeth into the sweet, succulent flesh and draw her blood up over her tight nipple and into his throat. But he held himself back, he always held himself back. Whatever his darkest desires might be, Sebastian would never want her to be frightened of him.

  His own arousal pressed hard against her thigh, a pressure for which he needed to find release.

  Sebastian lifted his face from her breast and knelt up. Moving with speed, he pulled off her top and tore her panties down one side and then the other, so the wispy shreds of material fell from her body.

  She looked down, a smile quirking the corners of her lips, and raised an eyebrow. “I think you owe me a new pair of panties.”

  “I prefer you without them.”

  Quickly, he removed his own clothes, dropping them to the floor beside the couch. He paused for a moment, just to make sure Elizabeth was still sleeping. He focused in on her steady heart and breathing upstairs. They wouldn’t be disturbed any time soon.

  He lowered himself over Serenity, her warm, smooth thighs wrapping around his hips, drawing him in. He held himself above her body, only the faintest slither of air between his chest and hers. He kissed the corners of her mouth, gentle teasing nips, until she reached around the back of his head and caught his neck, pressing his face down to hers. She kissed him back, deep and sweet.

  With a gentle shift of his hips, he pushed inside her, the heat of her soft, wet core burning him like fire. Her inner muscles hugged him tight, gripping him in her heat.

  Nothing else allowed him to take in another person’s body heat like this, other than feeding. Her warmth spread from his pelvis up through his body. How did he feel to her, he wondered? Like he’d placed a rod of ice inside her?

  Serenity dug her blunt nails into his back, her heels pressing into the backs of his thighs. She lifted her hips to meet him and gently he pushed back, sliding deeper. They moved together, a perfect match, two bodies as one. Her heat against his cold.

  Even at the point where pleasure tilted him over the edge, he’d never completely be able to let go. His powerful strength meant he could shatter her pelvic bone with just one uncontrolled thrust of his hips. And the need to bite sometimes became overwhelming, wanting to lose himself in her completely. To devour her in every way.

  Serenity’s heart rate picked up as her climax approached, blood rushing through her veins. Her breath left her body in little gasps, gusting against his shoulder as she clung to him.

  Her heat … her smell … the blood flowing …

  An overwhelming excess of sensations.

  He wanted her, wanted her in every way. To be his wife, to allow him to own her. But she would never let him. She’d never give herself over to him fully, he knew that now.

  Not thinking, Sebastian grabbed her hands with one of his and pinned them against the cushions above her head. Her eyes widened in surprise and she took a sharp intake of breath. Her breasts lifted higher in this position and her nipples grazed his chest.

  “Sebastian—” she started, but he didn’t let her finish. He drove in hard, not enough to hurt her, but enough to make her know he meant business. She cried out, a mixture of pleasure and shock.

  He thrust into her, a low growl at the pit of his throat, over and over, her body bouncing with every stroke. He wound up tight at his core, the pressure swelling. Her head tilted back, her back arching. She called his name as her orgasm broke over her like a wave that rippled around him, urging him on.

  Everything in that moment focused on Serenity—the racing beat of her heart filling his whole body, the heady aroma of her blood racing through her veins, the sweet tang of her arousal. The world seemed to shrink until she was all he knew.

  They clung together with him still held inside her, his weight pinning her down. Her breathing became shallower as she caught her breath again, her chest heaving less and less beneath his.

  Sebastian moved to climb off her, but she held on tight.

  “Hold me like this for a moment.”

  He relaxed against her again, but he couldn’t stay that way for long. Morning was coming; he could sense the approaching of the sun with all the vibration of an oncoming train.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  She shook her head against him.

  “The sun will be up soon. I need to sleep.”

  “I hate that you leave me every day.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I’m not leaving. I’m only upstairs.”

  “But it feels the same as though you’d left. It’s like you’ve gone somewhere else.”

  He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you either, but I have no other choice.”

  “I know.”

  He propped himself up on one elbow, so he could look down at her. Her hair was tousled over the cushions, a high flush in her cheeks, her lips slightly swollen. He had to force himself away, though he wanted nothing more to stay here with her.

  “Call Bridget as soon as it’s a reasonable hour,” he told her. “And keep the doors locked and don’t let anyone else into the house.”

  “What are we going to tell Elizabeth?”

  “Knowing her, she’ll already know something is up.”

  Serenity smiled, the expression transforming her face.

  He gave her one final kiss. “Be careful and I’ll see you tonight.”

  She nodded, but before she had the chance to say anything else, he whisked away to take up his position on the bed.

  Morning had come.

  Chapter Eight

  It wasn’t worth going back to bed. Serenity knew Elizabeth would be up soon and to fall back into a deep sleep, only to be woken up again within the hour, would merely extend her exhaustion. Though, in fact, she didn’t feel too bad at all. Many of her stresses seemed to have ebbed away in Sebastian’s arms.

  She took a quick shower in the family bathroom and washed her hair. The drive the day before, and then their activities on the couch, had left her in need of a blast of hot water and some bubbles. She needed to be refreshed if she had to deal with Bridget. It was an understatement to say she struggled to maintain a friendship or relationship of any sorts with the woman who had put Elizabeth’s life in danger. Sebastian found the strange setup even harder. He’d spent a couple of years trusting and relying on Bridget completely, so to have that trust broken when he found out about Bridget spying for Demitri—a New York based vampire who’d been interested in Elizabeth’s precognitive abilities—had hit him hard. His first instinct had been to kill her. If not for Elizabeth’s attachment to the woman, Serenity suspected he wou
ld have done exactly that. However, Bridget had practically been a mother to Elizabeth while Serenity was in Jackson’s clutches. Bridget had tried to make things better again and help them against Demitri, otherwise Serenity wouldn’t have allowed her around either. Sending the woman away and removing all contact only hurt Elizabeth, so they tried to stay on good terms and allowed visits as long as they were overseen by either herself or Sebastian.

  Serenity towel-dried her hair and dressed in her customary outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. Elizabeth would be up any minute, so she headed back down to the kitchen to start breakfast.

  Pancakes, she decided. Elizabeth loved pancakes for breakfast, especially with chopped banana and maple syrup all over the top. The thought of her daughter’s excitement at coming down to her favorite food made Serenity push aside the numerous other concerns that had suddenly arrived on her doorstep, worries for Sebastian in particular. She decided to forget the paranormal for the moment and focus on one of the simple things in life—making breakfast for her daughter.

  Serenity took eggs and flour down from a cupboard, and then butter and milk from the refrigerator.

  She fished a knife from the cutlery drawer, but the item slipped from her fingers. The metal hit the tiles with a resounding clang, the sound echoing in the big house.

  Serenity winced and bent to retrieve the knife. As she straightened, she gasped in shock.

  Each of the cupboard doors stood open, both fridge doors sprung wide.

  Her grip on the blunt knife tightened, the metal cold against her hot skin.

  Someone was behind her! She felt their presence burning in her back.

  Serenity spun around, jabbing the weapon at the empty air, to find Elizabeth standing in the doorway. Her nightgown hanging down past her knees, in one hand she clutched her comfort blanket, the tip trailing on the floor.

  Serenity fell back, her hand clutched to her chest. “Jesus, Elizabeth. You scared the hell out of me. How the hell did you do this?”

  Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. “Do what, Mommy?”

  She waved the knife around at the open cupboards. “This! How did you open all the doors without me seeing?”

  Elizabeth shook her head in tiny, frantic movements. “I didn’t! It wasn’t me, honest!”

  “Don’t lie to me, Elizabeth. Who else would have done this? No one else is here.” Something dawned on her. “Was it you, too, last night? Did you leave the faucet on in your bedroom and come down here and turn this one on as well?”

  “I’m not doing any of those things, Mommy. Why won’t you believe me?”

  Fear and anger made her react before she’d even thought things through. She crossed the room in only a few long strides and grabbed Elizabeth by the upper arm. “I need you to tell me the truth, Elizabeth. I won’t have you lying to me!”

  Elizabeth pulled her arm away. She turned from her mother and ran back up the stairs, crying. “I didn’t do anything! I didn’t!”

  Her bedroom door slammed shut.

  Serenity stood in the middle of the kitchen, shaking. Immediately, she regretted shouting at Elizabeth.

  Did she really think her daughter to be responsible? They were alone in the house, who else could it have been? She didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t as though she’d opened all the cupboard doors herself. A flicker of uncertainty rippled through her. No, that was nuts. All she did was bend down to pick up the knife. Not enough time had passed for her to do such a thing and then not remember. But yet she couldn’t discount the notion that she may have done it herself. The house was empty, the doors and windows all locked.

  It wasn’t Elizabeth, she decided. The little girl been sleeping last night when the commotions had been going on, Serenity was sure of that. And when the cup had flown off the counter the day before, Elizabeth had been a hundred miles away. Serenity had just reacted—she’d been frightened—and Elizabeth had been the closest person to lash out at.

  She glanced at the clock. It was just after eight. Could she get away with calling Bridget yet? Yes, she thought so. After everything Bridget had put them through, an early morning phone call should be the least she should expect.

  But first, Serenity needed to go and apologize to Elizabeth. She should never have taken her fears out on her daughter and she felt awful for upsetting her unnecessarily. Her stomach churned in the same way as when she fought with Sebastian, like the axis of her world had skewed.

  The cupboard doors remained wide open, taunting her somehow. She’d not even thought to slam the refrigerator doors closed.

  Serenity ran to the cupboards. Using her palm, she slammed each door shut, one after the other, the bangs echoing through the house. She kicked the fridge doors shut with her bare sole, the metal cool and smooth against her skin.

  She took another deep breath to settle her nerves. Someone was screwing with them, someone who didn’t even have the balls to reveal their identity.

  With a knot in her stomach, she climbed the stairs to Elizabeth’s room. Serenity cracked open the door and stepped inside. Elizabeth sat on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, her face pressed against her legs. Serenity crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed Elizabeth’s back.

  “Hey, honey. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Elizabeth said.

  “I know. I should have believed you the first time. I just got a fright and I’m sorry.”

  Elizabeth looked up, sniffed, and wiped her face. “You shouldn’t accuse people of things, Mommy. That’s not nice.”

  “You’re right and I won’t do it again.” Serenity repressed a smile. How strange to feel as though the roles had reversed.

  “I think Sebastian opened the cupboards,” Elizabeth blurted.

  A frown replaced Serenity’s smile. “Elizabeth,” she said, a warning in her voice. “What did you just say about not accusing people? And anyway, you know that would be impossible. It’s daytime.”

  She pursed her small lips together. “Okay … Not Sebastian, but something else that’s making him do things.”

  Alarm raced through her. “Do you understand what you’re saying?”

  She nodded. “I think so. I told you I dreamed Daddy was lost. I think those times of him being lost are getting longer and longer now. Stronger even. That’s why he can move around in the daytime.”

  “Don’t be silly, Elizabeth. Your father can’t move around in the daytime, the sun would hurt him!”

  She focused on her mother with those huge dark eyes. “It is.”

  Immediately, Serenity remembered the patch of flaking skin on Sebastian’s neck. “Oh, no.”

  She jumped off Elizabeth’s bed and ran to the bedroom she and Sebastian shared. She burst into the room with no concerns about disturbing him.

  Sebastian lay on the bed, in his customary position. He’d dressed before taking his daytime rest, not needing to concern himself with the same comforts a human needed.

  Serenity ran to the bed and stood over him, her hand clutched to her mouth in shock.

  The exposed skin on the back of his hands, face and neck was mottled pink and white—healing burn tissue. The scars rippled and moved under Serenity’s gaze, healing as she watched. But one patch hadn’t healed. The dry skin on Sebastian’s neck, between his collarbone and his jaw, had spread. Where the patch had previously been about an inch in diameter, it was now at least twice that size.

  Burns from the sun.

  So Sebastian was responsible for all the strange things happening around the house. In a way it made sense—the feeling of someone near, his speed making it too fast for her to see him, the coolness in the air a result of his cold skin brushing past her. But in so many other ways, what was happening made no sense at all. What reason would he have to play tricks on her?

  He’d told her he killed someone without remembering doing so. Perhaps he was also doing these things without his knowledge?

  Someone else was behind this, but who?
This felt more like dark magic than the result of an angry vampire. The only witch she’d ever met was Bridget. And while things hadn’t gone quite to plan with Bridget working to look after Elizabeth, she didn’t think the older woman was the type to try to exert some kind of revenge.

  But what about her betraying Elizabeth and Sebastian to Demitri? She’d been playing Sebastian the whole time then.

  Perhaps that was true, but Bridget had made her peace with them. In fact, she was the only person Serenity had left to turn to.

  She reached out and placed her hand against his cool cheek, worry spiking through her heart. “Be okay,” she whispered. She put her arms around his broad frame and lowered her head to his shoulder, pressing her face against his chest.

  “I wish you were awake,” she told him. “I really need you right now.” Her voice broke as she spoke. She didn’t want to deal with something similar to what they’d been through over the past few years. She only wanted for them to be safe, to be happy and living in peace together.

  Serenity forced herself from his side and made her way back to her daughter’s room. Sebastian’s condition had only confirmed the plan to call the one person they knew who might be able to help them.

  “You fancy giving Bridget a call?”

  Elizabeth’s face lit up and she bounced off the bed, her upset forgotten. “Yeah, yeah! Let’s call Bridget!”

  Sebastian opened his eyes to find himself standing, once again, on a deserted street in downtown Los Angeles. The silence pressed against his eardrums, an unnerving sensation when he’d spent the last two hundred years being able to hear things from miles away. Office buildings rose up on either side of the street, fluorescent lights blazing in each of the uniform windows.

  He frowned. Was he back here again? The same place as in his dream?

  To confirm his suspicion, he glanced up. Above his head, the same portentous sky shifted and roiled. Thick clouds of gray, with dark purple fringing the edges, rippled at speed. The effect was of a building storm being filmed and watched in fast-forward. A boiling sky.