Tall, lean, and imperious, he’d been my enemy, and he was the opposite of the man I’d thought I’d grow to love. I’d expected to fall for a dreamer, a thinker, an artist. Someone I’d meet in the coffeehouse on a weekend with a satchel full of books, a pair of hipster glasses, and a tendency to quote Fitzgerald.
Ethan preferred Italian suits, vintage wine, and expensive cars. He also knew how to wield a sword, or two of them. He Mastered the House, and he’d killed vampires by his own hand. He was infinitely more complex and difficult than anyone I might have imagined.
And I was more in love with him than I’d imagined was possible. Not just infatuation. Not just lust. But love—complex and awe inspiring and utterly frustrating.
Nearly a year ago, I thought my life was over. In reality, it was just beginning.
Ethan looked up at me, frustration fading to curiosity.
“Sentinel?” he asked.
I smiled at him. “Go back to your domineering. I’m just thinking.”
“I hardly domineer.”
“You made several lifetimes of domineering.” I gestured toward his phone. “Any news from Chicago?”
“All is quiet on the eastern front,” he said. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”
We could hope all we wanted. Unfortunately, hope rarely deterred humans with a grudge against vampires.
Much like he had in the rest of the building, Papa Breck hadn’t spared any expense in the bedroom. The bed was soft and undoubtedly expensive. The linens were silk soft—and probably just as expensive. Not that a twin-sized bed in a cold room was bad when you got to fall asleep beside a very sexy blond vampire.
We unpacked and undressed and prepared for the day ahead. I ensured the windows were covered, then messaged Catcher to check my grandfather’s condition.
ASLEEP, Catcher responded. AND WELL CARED FOR. YOUR FATHER SPARED NO EXPENSE.
He rarely did. If I couldn’t be with my grandfather, at least I knew he was getting the care he needed.
I also messaged Jonah, my RG partner, to let him know we’d made it safely to the Brecks’ house.
YOU’RE RUINING ALL OUR RG FUN BY HANDLING THESE THINGS.
IT’S NOT BY CHOICE, I assured him. DRAMA FINDS CADOGAN HOUSE.
SO I SEE.
I made him promise to tag me if there was trouble.
YOU’LL BE IN THE FIRST FIVE, he cheekily promised.
“Business?” Ethan asked, as I sat on the edge of the bed, one leg curled beneath me, the phone in hand.
“Jonah,” I said, fingers finishing my equally snarky good-bye.
Ethan growled, a manly display meant to remind me he still wasn’t thrilled about my ties to the tall, auburn-haired, and handsome guard captain.
“He’s my partner,” I reminded him. “And you’ve already consented to that.”
“I’m aware of what he is, Sentinel. Just as I’m aware of what you are to me.”
The sun peeked above the horizon only seconds before Ethan’s hands were on me, stripping me of clothing and inciting my body to flame. His mouth enveloped mine, then my neck, my br**sts, my bare stomach, before he extended the length of his body over mine and chained my wrists above my head with his hands.
“You are mine,” he said, with a wicked spark in his eyes that sent a thrill down my spine.
“You don’t own me,” I reminded him, arcing my body just enough to prove the point.
“No,” he agreed, his lips so soft, playing at the edges of my breast. “We own each other. I am your Master. And you are my Sentinel.”
He wasted no time; I hadn’t needed any. “Mine,” he said, plunging inside me, plundering my body, demanding everything I had to offer, and then more.
“Mine,” he growled, as pleasure bloomed across my body like a living thing, as cold as ice and as hot as fire, emptying my mind and soul of anything but Ethan. His mind, his soul, his body, and the word he murmured over and over again.
“Mine,” he said, each word a promise, a declaration, a thrust. “Mine,” he said through gritted teeth, passion riding him as it had me.
“Mine,” he said, kissing me with such ferocity I tasted blood, the magic rising between us as he thrust fiercely and groaned like an animal as pleasure swamped him.
“Mine,” he said, softly now, and pulled my body into his. The sun rose, and there in the darkness of a borrowed room, we slept.
We awoke to riotous noise—pounding on the front door that had both of us shooting upright. The sun had only just dipped below the horizon again, but not quite far enough along to pull us from sleep.
“What in God’s name?” Ethan asked, his voice still slumber slurred, his hair more surfer than moderately pretentious Master vampire.
The pounding sounded again. Someone was in a hurry.
Ethan moved to climb off the bed, but I stopped him with a hand. “Get dressed. I’ll see who’s there first. Luc will kick my ass if I let yours get kicked.” I had a bad feeling this was going to be one of those nights on which I really, really wished I could sleep in and defer being an adult for a few more hours.
I pulled on Ethan’s shirt from the night before and buttoned it up. It wouldn’t do as protective armor, but there weren’t enemies at the door, at least not of the CPD variety. I’d tempered my own katana with blood and magic, which left me sensitive to the presence of steel and guns. I didn’t sense any outside.
Now draped in tailored and expensive menswear—only the best for our Master—I trundled back into the living room. Ethan’s katana was propped beside the door; I’d taken mine to bed, just in case. I picked it up and took a cautionary peek through the peephole . . . and found a shifter on our stoop.
“Open up, Kitten. I know you’re there.”
I opened the door; a cold breeze lifted goose bumps on my bare legs.
He stood in the doorway, six feet and some-odd inches, all muscle and wolfish energy. His hair was tawny and gold tipped, and it reached his shoulders in shaggy waves. His eyes were amber colored and, at the moment, swirled with amusement.
“Kitten,” said Gabriel Keene, the Apex of the North American Pack. He gave me an up-and-down perusal. “I trust I’m not interrupting anything?”
“Sleeping,” I managed, crossing my arms over my chest. “We were sleeping.”
Ethan stepped behind me, chest bare, buttoning jeans. “I’m fairly certain you know precisely what you were interrupting.”
Gabe smiled broadly, revealing straight, white teeth. “Doesn’t matter now, since you’re both awake. Get your asses dressed. We’ve got business to attend to.”