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The whistle comes again.

“Cliff’s Notes, Georgia.” He pulls me through the door into the small stairwell.

“Well, long story short, you’d just need to inject it, I would think. But I can’t guarantee it’s the correct dosage to actually—” I stab the air with my knife. “You know.”

His eyes twinkle. “Kill them, you mean?”

“Right. There may be another way to deliver it, possibly orally or even atomized, but I don’t know for sure. It’s a poison.”

“You can make it?” he asks. “A lot of it?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Good.” He pulls me down the stairs. “Holy shit, you realize you may have just saved us?” Without warning, he pulls me into his arms and plants a kiss on me.

I’m too startled to do anything except make anmmphnoise.

When he pulls back, I just stare at him, unsure of what that was. There’s no heat in me, no pull, nothing except awkwardness.

He doesn’t seem to feel the same, a grin on his face. “I’ll see you again. Soon.” He slips out the other door.

Right before it closes, I see an emblem on his sleeve. A patch of a circle, a glowing halo with light shooting from it in all directions.

* * *

A low growl wakes me.

“What the fuck?” I yell and sit up.

“I can smell him on you.” Valen looms over me, the unnatural glow of his eyes sending a shiver along my skin. “His stink. His desire.”

“Hey!” I yank the blanket to my chin. “You should at least fucking knock!”

He prowls on top of me like a powerful cat and presses his nose to my throat. “He covets our bond.” His voice is thick, gravelly, and penetrating.

“You sound insane right now.” My voice quivers. “We don’t have a bond. We’re just—” I don’t knowwhatwe are.

“You doubt me?” He pulls back, his gaze eating me up.

“You need to leave.”

“Why?” He runs the back of his knuckles down my cheek, his touch gentle despite the violence in his voice.

“You can’t just show up here in the middle of the night and accuse me of-of-of whatever it is you’re accusing me of!”

“Not you, my Blood. Not you. The captain.” He snarls, his fangs white bone in the moonlight. “He wants you for himself.” The growl from him is even more feral, a wild animal pressed against me with murder in his eyes. “I’ll flay him and bring you whichever trinkets of his skin you’d like. An ear, perhaps?”

“What?” I gawk at him.

“Both ears?” He smiles. “My Blood is greedy for more, and I’m happy to oblige.”

“No! No, I don’t want anyone’s ears! This isn’t medieval times, okay? No flaying, no ears, no—none of that!”

“Why?”

“Are you seriously asking me why you can’t murder someone and take their ears for trophies?” I wriggle from underneath him, but he only sinks deeper between my legs, his hard cock pressing against me, sending a spark of traitorous heat through my veins. “Look, he came because I asked him to. All right?” I snap.

He blinks, then moves closer, running his fangs along my throat, my nipples tightening with his touch. “Why would you do that?”