When they reached her, they understood. There was nothing they could do. They’d come too late.

There was no doubt in Thomas’s mind that John had been killed by a vampire. He could still sense traces of energy the assailant had left. John’s body looked almost peaceful had it not been for the utter horror forever etched into his open eyes. He’d seen his murderer seconds before he’d struck.

John’s body lay on the floor of the den. His neck had been snapped. Ignoring the woman’s screams, Thomas bent down and closed John’s eyelids. There was no need for his wife to continue looking at her dead husband’s horrified expression.

They couldn’t stay to comfort the woman, but they could wipe her memory. Thomas laid his palm on her forehead. Her screams subsided, and she went still. He not only erased any memory she had of him and Ricky, but also of her husband’s eyes. It was better if she didn’t know how terrified he’d been in the seconds before his death. Dealing with her grief would be difficult enough.

***

Delilah threw her clothes into her only suitcase, not bothering to fold them. Somebody had moved her things into Samson’s bedroom during the day, and now she couldn’t get out of it fast enough. She couldn’t be with a man who didn’t trust her. Hell, he hadn’t even made an attempt to get to know her. Instead he’d gone behind her back. She couldn’t tolerate that kind of betrayal.

She heard the door open and close behind her and knew Samson had followed her. She had expected as much. She could sense his presence, but she didn’t want to acknowledge him. He didn’t deserve it.

“I’m sorry, Delilah.” His voice was closer than she’d expected. He couldn’t be more than a foot away from her. She didn’t want him this close. Not now.

“I’ll be gone in two minutes, and don’t worry: I’m not stealing anything from you.” Her voice was icy. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he’d hurt her. This wasn’t the first time she was disappointed in a man, and it wasn’t going to be the last. He wasn’t going to be the last man in her life. She was more than used to it, used to always dating the wrong guy. Maybe that was why she’d stopped dating altogether. She’d probably make a better choice with a cat or a dog.

“I deserved that.” Samson’s voice was calm. “Please give me a chance to explain.” He probably had a standard speech prepared for occurrences like these. How else could he remain this unmoved?

She felt his hands on her shoulders and pushed them off.

“Okay. I won’t touch you.” He sounded resigned.

Anger welled up in her. She could feel it boil up from her stomach and travel through her chest. It was too much to hold in.

“How could you? How could you go behind my back like that?” Delilah spun around to face him. “You could have just asked me what you wanted to know.” And why was he still so attractive, so sexy, when she needed to be angry at him? In his jeans and black t-shirt he looked as good as he did naked, even though she preferred him naked.

She shouldn’t have turned. She should have just walked out without even looking at him.

His biceps flexed, and she was again aware of his strength and physical beauty. The way his hazel eyes searched hers as if he was trying to look into her soul made her knees weak. She had to pull her eyes away from him if she ever wanted to get out of the room.

“It was wrong. But I needed to know who you were.”

Standing within inches of touching him only added to her agitated mind.

“I told you who I am. What were you expecting?” She let all her disappointment and pain out in her voice. “After all the things we did … you couldn’t just ask me? No. You had to run a background check on me, like I’m a common criminal.”

“Sweetness, don’t—”

Samson raised his hand as if he wanted to touch her face, but stopped when she shot back at him, “Don’t call me sweetness!”

Delilah had liked it when he’d called her that the night before when they were making love, but not now. She turned and snapped her suitcase shut.

“Delilah, I apologize. I wish I’d trusted my instincts more, but I didn’t. When Carl packed your things, he found something and brought it to my attention. I should have gone straight to you and asked you about it, but I … I don’t know why I didn’t …” His voice trailed off.

His hazel eyes stared into hers, trying to force her to listen to him. “You had files of Scanguards’ in your possession.”