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“Uh-huh. Have you taken care of it?”

“Yeah, hotel room’s stocked.”

“Good. Now tell me about her.”

“Leslie. She’s…stunning.”

“How progressive of you to comment on her looks first,” Tai said, and an eye roll doubtlessly accompanied those words too.

“I mean all of her, not just her looks. Her personality. Her laugh. She gets along with wolves. She really gets into what she loves—art, food.” He perched on the edge of the bed while elation hummed in his blood. He wished he had somewhere else to be. Somewhere with Leslie. “I can’t explain her, Tai. She’s extraordinary. One of us, perfectly content in a small mountainside town despite having all this artistic talent and a college degree and…”

“Careful. Your snobbery’s showing.”

Ryker snorted. “I’m not a snob.”

“You’re one-hundred-percent a city snobanda vampire snob.” Tai was laughing now, the pure music that was the laughter of their kind. “Why shouldn’t one of us live on the side of a mountain with her art and her college degree? What makes a city inherently better than a mountain?”

“It’s just a fact. That’s all.”

“It’s snobbery and nonsense.”

“Says the guy who lives in a penthouse.”

“Because Ilikeit, Ryker. Not because it’s a superior lifestyle.”

Tai’s opinion was a clear preference, not a settled fact. But that implied Ryker’s was too. He wrestled for a rebuttal and settled for a sharp hiss.

Tai only laughed at him some more, then quickly sobered. “Look, do me a favor, will you?”

Of course he would. Always. “Sure.”

“Check in with yourself every once in a while. Make sure you’re into her because of her and not because of the stupid test results.”

“Did you not hear a thing I just said about her? I said nothing about the test.”

“Forgive my skepticism.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re disturbingly skilled at self-persuasion.”

“You think I’ll…what? Regret coming? Get bored?”

“No,” Tai said. Not a trace of mirth in his voice now. “But don’t tell me you’ve never convinced yourself you’re happy with something that turned out not to be good for you.”

Ouch. Ryker pushed his fingers through his hair and fought the reflex to hunch his shoulders. “This is…different.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t believe me.”

“You’re the smartest guy I know, and your decisions are solid most of the time. But with Jacqueline, I couldn’t…” Tai gave asoft hiss. “I couldn’t say the thing to make you see it, see her clearly.”

“Leslie isn’t Jacqueline.”

“I believe that much.”

Ryker propped his head in his hand and closed his eyes, which did nothing to stem the tide of everything he didn’t allow himself to wallow in. Confusion and pain, mostly. Her eyes, that arresting shade of magenta he’d never seen before or since. The night they turned ruby-red as she sneered and sliced his heart into ever smaller pieces.