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“Bonjour, mon amour,” he murmured and held out his hand.

“Bonjour,” she said, moving into his embrace.

The world around them fell away, and they stood together in her memories of the sunlight streaming through the foyer. He rubbed the back of her neck with his thumb while she nuzzled into his thick hair, inhaling his heady clean scent that reminded her of an early spring day.

“Indeed. He brings gifts,” Serge said, pulling them back to the moment.

Uh oh, she thought.

His tone had lost its swagger and turned dreamy. It meant he saw “shadows” in the aura of whoever he was looking at, or impressions of the future. When Serge had his visions, disjointed and insubstantial as they were, changes were coming—usually not for the better.

Though Dominique appeared unconcerned, Cassidy felt the tension skitter through him. Neither of them dared to interrupt Serge as he studied Jackson with an intense interest that no longer had anything to do with his warm blood. The human man returned the stare, his hands wrapped over the back of the bar stool as though preparing to pick it up and use it as a weapon.

Serge turned to look at Dominique with a wide, gap-toothed grin of wonder. Then he chuckled with obvious glee.

“Oui?” Dominique prompted. “Did he bring a good gift?”

Serge laughed.

Jackson offered a tentative smile. “I suspect you’ll like it.”

Just like that, Serge stopped laughing.

In a flash, he was by Jackson’s side, his eyes bugging out of their sockets. “Beware the fire,” he whispered in a hiss that made Cassidy’s skin crawl.

Jackson took a hasty step back.

“Beware the fire,” Serge repeated, now looking at Dominique. Then he laughed uproariously and disappeared.

Dominique closed his eyes and struggled for patience.

“What…was that?” Jackson said.

Cassidy rubbed the chill out of her arms. “That was Serge. You remember him, don’t you? The vampire you tried so hard to kill?”

Discomfort tightened his mouth as he looked away.

Dominique placed his hands on the edge of the granite countertop as he faced Jackson. “So, did you bring me fire, Jackson?” His gaze darkened as he let the vampire rise and his senses expand.

Looking through his eyes, Cassidy saw Jackson had changed more than she realized. His aura, once muddy red with anger, had brightened into the powerful crimson of a man whose mind and purpose were clear.

Jackson took a deep breath and pressed a fingertip onto the little black case. “In a way.”

Dominique tilted his head, brows drawing together. “This is from the lab?”

“Yes, it is.”

The lab was the Striker Foundation’s clandestine research facility, staffed with bright scientific minds compelled to maintain absolute secrecy. The lab existed for one reason, and one reason only, and it was that reason that caused Dominique and Cassidy to become stone-still with anticipation.

“They did it, Dominique. They found a way. You can have the sun again.”