Where he could handle Anwyn experiencing such possessive feelings, because they seemed wrapped up in her personality as a Mistress, not spawned solely by vampire blood, Gideon didn't like the idea of Daegan making similar assumptions. And that was how it suddenly felt.

He pulled back, drawing her away from him abruptly enough he could have unbalanced her, but she was already cultivating those catlike sensibilities. She straightened her arm, her hand still against his chest, registering his elevated heartbeat. He didn't want to be away from her, but he didn't want Daegan so close. In her confused gaze, he saw she thought he'd changed his mind. The vampire instinct to take wrestled visibly with her desire to respect his wishes, while fighting the roaring need to finish what she'd started. He understood it well enough. For an unsettling moment, he'd felt it just as strongly. He also saw some relief, telling him she was afraid of the consequences of this act, what it would mean about herself, what it would do to him.

“I don't want you here.” He turned his attention to Daegan. “I can't do this with you hovering over us.

She understands how the rest works. Let her finish it alone.”

“No.” Daegan met his gaze. “If bloodlust takes over, she could injure you enough to kill you. Until the second mark takes effect, your resilience will be no greater than usual.”

“Then move back to the kitchen at least. Give me some fucking breathing room.” Daegan lifted a brow. Instead of complying, he leaned forward, bringing his face within a few inches of Gideon's. “Can't keep your dick hard with me close, vampire hunter? Or worried that having me close is just making it harder?”

Everything in Gideon stilled into one red pinpoint of anger. It burned in the center of his chest like a cigarette, goading dark, fearsome things in him. “I think that bloodsucker's need you have to mark your territory is greater than any feelings you have for anyone or anything else. You want this done? You want her to have me to help her? Then go piss on some trees in the kitchen until this is done.” The world froze. Menace emanated from the vampire, the transition from cold dispassion to near-death experience so swift Gideon almost reached for the knife sheathed at his back. Self-preservation and the fact Anwyn was on his lap stopped him, because he knew if he'd done it, it would have been over. The hellfire flickering in Daegan's eyes told Gideon he was a breath away from being dead.

Even Anwyn felt it, her hand clutching over his heart, her breath drawing in. Her thighs tightened on the outsides of his hips as if she could protect him, but he wouldn't let her do that, no matter how much stronger physically she might be at this point. This was between him and one seriously pissed-off vampire. Which was pretty much how he'd always known it was going to end. He just had a bizarre, fleeting regret at not knowing what that second mark might have felt like, connecting him so closely to her. Feeling so close to anyone.

A blink, and Daegan wasn't there. He was across the coffee table, standing in front of the wing-backed chair positioned there. With elegant and precise movements, he lowered himself into the chair, propped his ankle on the opposing knee and templed his fingers again, his eyes still fixed with deadly intent on Gideon's face.

“This is as far as I go, vampire hunter. Now, let her get on with it, or change your mind.” Damn. The vamp did care about her, more than his ego or excessively dominant vampire nature. Either that, or he figured he'd rip Gideon's head off when Anwyn was done with him.

Fair enough. With an infinitesimal nod of acknowledgment, Gideon turned his attention back to Anwyn.

Unfortunately, he had a new problem there.

Anwyn slid off him, stood. She had no problem being cloaked in just her hair, but wished she wasn't still marked with blood from her last seizure. However, it was because her flesh felt cold that she picked up the blanket and wrapped it around her body, staring between them. “This is wrong,” she said, even more sure of it now than she had been before. She could already feel the impact of that first mark inside of her.

It was if there were a silken cord between her and Gideon. She could have closed her eyes and known exactly where he was in the room, without the use of any other senses.

When he'd pulled back from her, in that first instance she'd been so bereft, deprived of something that every cell in her had been screaming to have, she hadn't even been able to rally herself to interfere in whatever was happening between Gideon and Daegan. Just as well. It was never a good idea to get into a testosterone match between two highly physical males, though the undercurrents of it had disturbed her greatly. Gideon was doing this to help her, to keep her safe. Not because he truly wanted to be a human servant.

He'd been clear about that, but it was the undercurrent that bothered her. Even during their first session, she'd sensed his nebulous yet overwhelming desire to serve a specific woman with all he had to offer. As such, it wasn't going to be so easy for him to walk away from this, despite his soul-deep antipathy to being part of a vampire world. She knew what was expected of vampires and their servants, things she'd learned from Daegan's stories. Gideon's soul couldn't survive that.

Whether Gideon thought it applied only in the Queen's Chamber or not, she was his Mistress. She had a responsibility to protect him. She'd had submissives who couldn't be trusted to use their safe words when they were physically or emotionally in jeopardy, because they got so deep into their needs and yearnings they couldn't make that call anymore. That was why she had to be wholly focused, vigilant during a session. Gideon didn't even know the concept of a safe word. He'd follow his gut to his death.

While she knew her own feelings were secondary to protecting him, she also knew there was that component as well. What if she did make him hers with this second mark? What if it tangled their souls and hearts together, such that she couldn't let him go, or force him to do it, when it was time?

“We can't do this,” she said. “We'll figure out something else.” Gideon rose, his brow creasing and his jaw getting that stubborn look. “I already said I'd do it.”

“Yes. You're honorable. You're trying to do the right thing. But I don't want your sense of honor. Not for this. What if I become just like those you've killed, Gideon? If I'm second-marked, and you decide you have to hunt and kill me, it will be near impossible for you to do it with me in your head, anticipating your moves. Right?”

“It's not going to come to that.”

“You don't know that.”

“Yes, he does.”

Both of them looked toward Daegan then, still in the chair. His onyx gaze went to Anwyn. “I need you to think like a Mistress,cher. Can you do that?”

“I am,” she responded, her jaw tight.

He made a neutral movement, shifted his glance to Gideon. “He will never hunt you. Never cause you harm. And not just because he would never get close enough to touch a hair on your head.” That ripple of cold menace again, telling her that whatever had transpired between them before was still simmering.

“It won't happen because he's never killed a female vampire, except in self-defense. He's killed eleven vampires in the past eighteen months, an extraordinary count for a human hunter.” Daegan quirked a brow. “Every single one of them has been male. And their servants, when they had them, were also male.

I might deduce you are anti-homosexual”—Daegan's tone was faintly mocking—“but it's not that. You can't bring yourself to kill a female, except in cases where a female vampire, or a male with a female servant, has attacked you directly and there was no other choice. In those instances with a female servant, if there was a way to do so, you had her buried.” Gideon's jaw hardened in irritated response. “I'm glad you're so well-informed. Anwyn told me the only things I need to know about you. That you have a really small dick and tend to fart in bed louder than you snore.”

“Since you've been in close proximity to it, I expect you know the size of my cock as well as she does.

If yours was anywhere as formidable as your defensiveness, you might have half a chance of competing with it.”

Anwyn made a noise between her teeth, the precursor to a scream of frustration. Gideon bit back whatever he'd been about to say and Daegan inclined his head, a faint apology that was courteous enough to help her take a breath. “Cher, you are both taking a risk. His aversion to vampires is as strong as his fear of not being there when another woman needs him. Only time will tell which one will win out.”

“Have you turned any of that on yourself, Dr. Phil?” Gideon's arms were akimbo, his eyes snapping sparks. “Commitment isn't your big thing, either.”

“Stop it. Goddess, tripping over your own dicks, the both of you. And it's a tie—you're both fucked-up.Men .” Anwyn stomped away from them, turning at the limits of the room, the blanket twisting around her bare legs. “Damn it, damn it, damn it.”

“Anwyn—”

“No.” She shook her head at Gideon, as he moved a step toward her, regret in his gaze. “Don't you understand, Gideon? I want to give you that second mark so badly. It's the most important, most vital thing I've ever felt, worse than a drug craving. I'm all about control, denial, to heighten pleasure. This is boiling lava, an eruption I can't stop. You can't keep offering, because I won't resist it.”

“You don't have to.” When he took another step forward, she held up a quelling hand.

“Think, Gideon. For one quiet, damn minute, stand there and think about what it will mean, what can happen. Forget about me, and Daegan, and all of it. Just think, damn you.” Gideon stared at her flushed cheeks. The anger was gone, leaving desperation. What she didn't understand was, as strong as she felt that pull, he felt it, too. And he wasn't a vampire, dealing with a transition or unexpected cravings.

“I have thought about it,” he said. “You'll be in my head. I won't be able to keep you out. Daegan's already given you the vampire version of the locator mark. If he gives you more than that, he could probably get into my head, too, because he's a lot stronger than you right now.” He felt the weight of the vampire's gaze. Ruefully, he reflected that the man already had too many avenues into his head as it was. “But for all that, we both know by the time you get to territories and vampire social gatherings, you'll have another servant. Those things will be his problem, whoever the bastard is.”