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If I had ten bucks for every time I’ve walked in on my father getting head from some young stud, I’d be a…

Okay, maybe not a millionaire, but richer than I am by a long shot.

I rap on the oak door. As vampire king, my father has the right to summon me whenever he pleases, and I’m bound to obey due to my cursed bloodline. It irks me to knock. Walking right in makes me feel like I possess a modicum of autonomy, however imaginary. Just that little bit of power makes the whole thing a little less…insulting.

But only a little. After seeing several scenes a daughter should never witness, I’ve learned to knock.

“Come in.” My father’s voice is breathy.

I open the door with caution. Today’s hunk sports a mane of golden hair, slanted leonine eyes, and killer biceps. I might go for him myself if he weren’t kneeling on the plush burgundy carpet while my father zips his fly.

I clear my throat. Vampires aren’t known for their modesty, but I’m his daughter, for God’s sake.

“Just a minute, Hannah,” my father says. “I’m a little busy.”

Patience is not one of my virtues.

“Yeah? I was busy when you told me to hightail it over here. Finish up and tell me what you want.”

He turns to face me, his dark vamp eyes clouded. “This is Justin. Justin, my daughter Hannah.”

“Charmed,” I say, not meeting the young man’s gaze.

He stands, leaves the room a bit sheepishly, and closes the door behind him.

“Well?” I regard my father, lifting my eyebrows.

People say I look like him. We have the same coloring—pale complexion, nearly black hair, brown eyes. He’s a good looking man for three hundred. No doubt he could get the studs he does even if he weren’t king. My sister is blond with blue eyes. I once asked my mother, who’s human, whether Larissa was truly my full-blooded sister. My mom swore up and down that she was always faithful to my father.

Too bad, since he cheated on her during most of their marriage. That mockery of a liaison ended when I was in my teens.

My father walks to his desk and motions to a chair. “Have a seat.”

“Thanks, but I’ll stand.”

“Suit yourself.” He sits down behind his desk, glances over some papers, and then returns his attention to me. “I hear you’re fond of cock.”

Let me clarify something. Yes, I have an extremely healthy libido for a human. By vamp standards, though, I’m considered frigid. Vampires have very high sex drives—they coincide with the blood lust—and most are naturally bisexual. Personally, I’ve never had a taste for women, but I’m only half vamp.

I scoff. “Well, I am my father’s daughter.”

“Save your attempt at humor, Hannah.”

I smile what I hope is a saccharine-sweet grin. “What attempt at humor?”

Dad crosses his arms. “Fine. Play it your way. I have a favor to ask.”

“Please tell me it doesn’t involve one of your crazy herbal injections.”

My father is a health nut. The vamp life span of five hundred years isn’t enough for him, apparently. He’s convinced he can add to it with herbal tinctures and infusions, and because I’m half human, he insists I need them to make it to two hundred and fifty. I’ve always shunned his so-called remedies, except for once. Last time I saw him, which was only three days ago, he convinced me to try an injection of yarrow and gingko biloba, claiming it would suppress my need for blood.

He knows how to hit me below the belt. To say I’m a reluctant vampire is an understatement. I’m constantly searching for ways to quell the desire for blood, so I willingly sat still for the treatment.

The blood lust continued to hit right on schedule. So much for Daddy’s herbs.

“No, not today,” he says. “I have an assignment for you.”

“Goodie.”

He ignores my sarcasm. Just as well.

“There’s been a threat to the Brotherhood. One of the lycans has allegedly aligned with a demon.”

“There’s always a threat to the Brotherhood,” I say. “And by the way, since I always play a huge role in taking care of all your perceived threats, shouldn’t we call it the Brother- Sister hood?”

He blows off my query. Big surprise.

“The lycan in question is an alpha named Victor Rogan. He’s been linked to two vamp slayings in the past month.”

“Linked how?”

“His bite marks were found on the chests of both corpses.”

I should probably feel something. Two vampires dead. Despite my paternity, though, I don’t feel a connection to the Brotherhood. “So? Lots of vamps get bitten by weres and live to tell the tale. Lycans are hardly lethal to us.”

“They are when they literally eat our hearts out.”

This time chills slither along the back of my neck. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. The victims’ hearts were gone, and Rogan’s marks were all over them.”

“Still circumstantial.”

“Circumstantial how? You think he attacked them, left them immobile, and then someone else came along and sliced out their hearts?”

“Why not? The lycans know better than to mess with us.”

A few years ago, the Vampire Brotherhood and the Lycan Council reached a truce of sorts. We all agreed to register our bite marks with the government upon reaching the age of eighteen. Bite marks are unique to all vamps and lycans, like fingerprints are to humans. Any lycan or vamp mark can be easily identified via the central computer system. Surely this Victor knows all that, so why would he take the chance of being found out?

“None of this makes sense,” I say.

“I agree.” Dad pauses and rubs his chin. “Which is why I need you to get close to him.”

Here it comes. “Uh…how close, exactly?”

“I think you know. You won’t mind. He’s very handsome. I have a photo here somewhere.” He pats some papers on his desk.

I roll my eyes. “If he’s so handsome, why don’t you seduce him?”

Dad lets out a chuckle. “Trust me, I would if I could, but by all accounts, Victor Rogan is not the least bit interested in men.”

“Pity.” I look at my fingernails. Pretty ragged. Maybe I can fit in a manicure when I get home.

“You’re telling me.” He shuffles more papers. “Ah, here it is.” He shoves an eight-by-ten glossy across the desk.

I widen my eyes. Handsome doesn’t even begin to cover this god.

“I see you’re pleased.” Dad smirks. “I hear the photo doesn’t do him justice.”

Heat curls in my gut. My nipples harden. Emerald-green eyes fringed with thick black lashes, a chiseled face, just the right amount of dark stubble. And hair. Glorious hair. I love long hair on a man. It’s even darker than my own and it falls in unruly waves around beefy shoulders.

My heart slams against my chest, its cadence rapid. My skin heats, cools, heats again.

I close my eyes and inhale. The thump thump of his heart, the whoosh of the blood through his veins…both crash into my ears like a roaring storm.

I shake my head to gain composure. What imagination! I’ve never had such a physical reaction to a photograph.

I open my eyes.

Yeah, I can do him.

All for the sake of my people, of course.

“He’s in Vegas, staying at his penthouse at the London Hotel and Casino.”

“Penthouse?”

“Yeah. He owns the hotel.”

“So he’s richer than God.”

“He does all right. I’ve booked you a suite there.”

“Dad, I have a life here in Chicago. And a job, remember? I can’t just take off.”

“I’ve arranged a leave of absence.”

I work the night shift as an ER physician’s assistant at a local hospital. The hours suit me, as I don’t react well to sunlight, and I have blood ready and available whenever I need to feed. I’m good at my job, and the chief of staff adores me. My immediate supervisor, Margot the Bitch, does not, however. No way would she have agreed to a leave of absence.

I eye my father’s grin. “You didn’t.”

“Sorry, I did. Just a little. I need you on this, Hannah.”

“But you said there’s no excuse for using mind control.”

“I said there’s no excuse for mis using mind control. This is not misuse. This is for the good of the Brotherhood.”

Right. Dad always did have one set of rules for himself and one set for everyone else. Just ask my mom.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll go to the London.”

“And you’ll seduce Victor Rogan.”

“I’ll try to seduce Victor Rogan. What makes you think he’ll have me?”

“You’re a beautiful woman, Hannah. You know that.”

“Dad”—I hand the photo back to him—“look at this man. I’ve been told I’m attractive, but he’s a fucking Adonis.”

“Trust me.” Dad grins. “He’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.”

I shake my head. “You know as well as I do that weres only respond like that to their own kind.”

Dad’s eyebrows twitch slightly. “It won’t be a problem.”

“I can’t see how it won’t be. I’m half human and half vampire. Even if he thinks I’m the hottest thing walking, he’ll hardly jump through any hoops.”

Dad smiles—a surly grin—as his phone rings. “Did you not have a physical reaction to his picture?”

I can’t lie to my father. He’s a full-blooded vamp who can sense arousal from miles away. The intensity of my reaction shocked me, and my body is still humming.

“Give it your best shot.” Dad adjusts his Bluetooth. “Check in with me in three days.”

Three days?

“You expect me to seduce a werewolf in three days?”

He waves me away as he speaks into the phone. When Dad is done with a conversation, he’s done.

Icy needles prick the skin on the back of my neck as I walk out the door.