Everything went black for a moment. Then Noah was shouting his own pleasure above her, and rocking into her body so hard she was certain she would feel it the next day.

Finally, he stilled, and then lowered his face back to her neck. He licked her long and hard where he’d bit her, and she felt a twinge of pain. They stayed that way for a few minutes, her mind unable to form real thoughts, and Noah huddled into her neck. He held her so tightly it was as if he feared she would go running from the room if he let her go. Her hands were tangled in his hair. There had never been such a perfect moment.

“If you let me go, I promise I won’t run away,” she said, amused despite the awe-inspiring thing that had just happened.

He laughed softly against her hair before rolling over to lie beside her. “Am I that obvious?”

“Yep. But that’s part of your charm.” A sudden thought hit her. “I’m not going to wake up a vampire, right?”

He laughed, low and throaty. “No. It takes a good deal of sharing blood for that to happen.”

They didn’t talk then, they just lay next to each other until her eyelids grew heavy. She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until she woke with a start. She stared at the drapes, still slightly open to the dark ocean beyond, they flitted with the breeze. Noah was no longer next to her. She sat up in the bed and glanced around. No edge of light indicated he was in the bathroom. Had he gone out? The murmur of a voice drew her to the balcony.

The sliding glass door stood a couple of inches open and she heard Noah on the other side. She turned away, but her name caught her attention.

“—Alice. Yes…I’m aware of that Charles, but if I parade Alice in front of The Council and tell them my intentions, they’ll let me out of the bonding. You know that.” Noah paused for a few moments, and she took a careful step closer to the door, her form hidden by the drapes, and the muted sound of her steps on the carpeting no doubt muffled by the ocean and the man on the other end of the phone call.

“I know it hasn’t been long, but that doesn’t matter, does it? The intent to bond another is enough to get out of this fucking arranged marriage,” Noah said.

Her stomach dropped and the room spun. But she didn’t walk away, she couldn’t. She had to hear the rest. Maybe she’d misheard.

“Yes, Charles. Yes. I’m sure she’ll agree.” He chuckled, a low and sexy sound that suddenly made her sick instead of turned on. “If not, I’ll convince her.”

She stepped away and doubled over, pain spiking from her stomach and chest. She lay down on the bed and forced back the tears burning her throat. She’d believed him, really believed. Trusted him.

And he was just like Brent.

Using her. Using her to get out of some vampire arranged marriage. Using her to get something for himself. Had he cared for her, even a little bit?

Misery filled her, and she wanted to scream to find a release for all of the tension, all of the pain. She couldn’t act normal, not if he came back. But she had to, didn’t she? Talking to him about this would only make her humiliation that much worse. She couldn’t let him know she’d overheard.

The bed moved under his weight, and her lungs constricted. She struggled to keep her breathing even. When his arm wrapped around her and his body melded to her back, it took every bit of willpower she had to bite her lip and not cry out in anger. Her eyes watered, but she ignored the sensation. It was all she could do to breathe.

Finally, he slept. And Alice stared into the night.

Chapter Ten

Noah woke with light heart, in an empty bed. Alice wasn’t next to him, and he glanced around the room, looking for her. But the water running in the bathroom caught his ear, and he grinned. Maybe she’d want company?

What a perfect night. Their conversation hadn’t gone at all how he’d planned—it had gone better. Not only had Alice already known he was a vampire, but she accepted him for it, without fear. And she had tasted just as sweet as he knew she would. That she trusted him enough to let him bite her, made him feel like a goddamned giant.

Sure, suspicion had hit him when she’d first confessed to already knowing what he was. He’d immediately wondered if she worked for The Council somehow, had been planted by them to get close to him. But the idea was ridiculous, and he’d dismissed it at once. The Council would have no way of knowing Alice might be able to get close to him where others could not. And they were an honorable lot, unlikely to try to play with his feelings in that kind of manner.

Besides, they had no need for subterfuge, they could simply force their hand if they wanted.

Noah stretched, and glanced down at the messy state of the bed. The comforter stretched across the bed at a haphazard angle, and the top sheet was missing. He grinned.

The conversation with Charles hadn’t gone exactly as he hoped, but it had been about what he’d expected. He’d confessed he had feelings for Alice, and that she knew what he was. What they were. And after Charles got over his shock, Noah told him the plan.

The Council could be harsh in enforcing their will, but they weren’t unreasonable. If anything, they were logical to a fault. And if Noah approached them with an offer to bond Alice, to make her one of them, they would give them the time to build the relationship before he would have to turn her and make her his. He would be permitted to be with Alice rather than be forced into a marriage with a stranger.

Sun shone through the corners of the drapes, lighting the room and filling the shadows. Alice had opened them just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the blue sky beyond. It was going to be a beautiful day.

Despite his earlier enthusiasm for Alice, Charles hadn’t been totally behind the plan, even with Noah’s reassurance it would work. He’d had to force some confidence with Charles, but he couldn’t risk the other man thinking the plan could fail. Noah needed his support.

That Alice already knew about vampires had thrown Charles. But Noah made his feeling clear, and then he seemed to understand. In fact, he’d been positively annoying about his understanding. As if he’d known the whole time that Noah felt something far beyond neighborly for Alice.

Now, he just had to convince her.

In the dark of night, after they’d made love, he’d been certain he could get her to agree. And he’d been forced to sound even more certain than he felt on the phone to Charles. He couldn’t give his friend any reason to doubt the plan with Alice would work.

Noah sat up in the bed, but the water shut off before he could get any farther. He grimaced, but a quick glance at the clock revealed it was probably for the best. They didn’t want to miss the morning gathering two days in a row. Or, he assumed, Alice probably wouldn’t.

Not that he’d mind spending all day in bed with her, several days, in fact. But, he couldn’t ask her to abandon her family right now, not right before the wedding. If he took a quick shower, they wouldn’t be all that late to brunch.

The bathroom door opened to reveal Alice, fully dressed and styling her damp hair back in a conservative clip.

“I’m going to head down there. I have to help Cindy with some wedding stuff,” she said, and he tensed. It wasn’t her words, but the way she stood. She dropped her arms from her hair and crossed them. Her side faced him instead of her whole body. The stance was almost defensive. And her tone held no intimacy, like she spoke to a stranger.

“Are you all right?” he asked. She’d seemed fine the night before, happy even. Had she experienced some sort of delayed regret? Had fear hit her when she’d seen his marks in her neck? But with his saliva, there should be only small marks left, and they were surely not enough to shock her.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, and his head whipped back, her tone like a slap to the face.

“Alice—”

“Look, Noah. I’m sorry if I led you on, but this was never a long-term thing. I think we both knew that going in. And even though I knew about the vampire thing, knowing and experiencing are two very different things.” She kept her gaze firmly affixed to her hands, refusing to look at him, even when he stood.

He couldn’t seem to find breath, let alone form words. Instead, he gaped at her and tried to wrap his mind around her words.

“I’m heading down for breakfast. I’ll see you there.” And with those final words, she turned on her heel and left. The door clicked shut behind her, and Noah dropped back down to the bed.

What had just happened? His mind refused to understand her words, her coldness. A knife wrenched in his gut, and he took a deep breath.

It was happening again. Another woman turning from him because of what he was. Couldn’t Alice see he was more than a vampire? That he was a man who lov—no. He couldn’t think like that, not right now. But he cared for her. How could she drop him like that?

Forcing a long breath through his nose, he swallowed hard. Maybe he would have been better off if he’d never been turned. If he’d lived out his life like a normal man, working the fields of his father’s farm. He could have had a simple life with a wife and kids. But he’d gone to town on that fateful day. Fought a man to satisfy the entertainment and gambling needs of other men. Shown how tough he was—even for a human. And then the simple life had been wrenched from him.

He shook his head. Kane might have stolen his life that day, but he’d been offered a choice. He just hadn’t realized the extent that choice would really change the course of his fate.

But he had a choice now, didn’t he?

No, this wasn’t going to happen. He had to talk to her. Find out what had changed. Fucking fix it.

He dressed quickly and headed for the nook where her family had met up to eat breakfast every day. Alice sat with a plate of fruit. He stopped and stared. She joked and chatted with Cindy, who sat across from her. Could she be as cool as she acted, with everything that happened between them?

“Hello, Noah,” Edna said. He gave her a tight smile.

“Alice, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

Alice opened her mouth as if she would argue, but then glanced around, taking in their audience. “Sure,” she said brightly, and for the first time since he’d met her, he saw her lie to him. Her cavalier attitude was forced.