“As you wish.”

A rush of vampiric energy swept against my battered nerves. I blinked my eyes open. Tim writhed against the grass. His severed right leg lay behind him. Shayna yanked on Koda’s arm while Emme pushed him with her force. Taran followed closely. Her focus and that of my sisters were fixed on the vampires shadowing them.

Koda bled from the chunk of muscle missing from his arm and the deep gashes raked across his chest. He locked eyes with Misha before my sisters hauled him away. “I’m going to find out what you did to her and you’re going to pay! You piece of filth, I’ll get you back for what you did to them!”

He blamed Misha for my actions. They all did.

My head spun and my vision wavered. I remembered the cold rain splashing across my nose…and then I was floating in a sea of warm water that smelled like lavender and jasmine. Soft and slippery hands lovingly stroked my body before finally wrapping me in a lavish blanket and laying me on a sprawling surface.

Something sensual and delicious slicked over my lips. I licked them. The taste filled the emptiness inside me. More was offered and I took it willingly.

My subconscious eventually nudged me awake. It was hard for me to abandon this dream. I didn’t want to leave the warmth and security. The alluring scent surrounding me insisted I relax and enjoy the euphoria. But I wasn’t completely myself. My arms held something. No, someone. My eyes immediately shot open.

Misha stared back at me. He was naked.

And so was I.

Chapter Ten

“Good morning,” he said.

I didn’t normally swear much, but I did then. Like the offspring of a sailor and a trucker, obscenities shot out of my mouth like machine-gun fire. This only made Misha’s smile widen. He looked happy—too happy. I scrambled out of bed so quickly the sheets tangled around my ankle and I crash-landed on the wood floor. I snatched the corner of a blanket and pulled. Misha yanked it out of my grasp and patted the space next to him.

“Come back to bed, my love, so that we may continue to pleasure each other.”

“Continue?” My stomach dropped to my ankles “We like, did it?”

I traced my hands over my body, trying desperately to figure out what the hell had happened between us.

Misha groaned. “It pleases me to watch you touch yourself.”

“I’m not touching myself!” I screamed defensively. “Well, not like that.” I caught sight of a blanket left abandoned on the floor and wrapped it around me. I froze as the familiar scents of lavender and jasmine wafted into my nose and triggered my scattered memories: the warm water, the massage, and the…tasting.

I clutched the blanket against me. “Oh my God. I’m a slut.”

“Yes, you are, you bad girl.” Maria and the good Catholics sashayed into the room with an extra spring to their stiletto-clad steps.

And that’s when I recalled the slippery hands. Fantastic. I’d been felt up by the Catholic schoolgirls. Because my life just wasn’t entertaining enough.

Liz embraced me and kissed both sides of my face. “It’s so nice to see you’re still having sex. Would you like us to join you?”

Edith smiled and unzipped her thigh-high leather boots. “Oh, yes! Can we join you, Master?”

When I pinched myself and still couldn’t snap out of Bizarro Land I protested—vehemently. It was too late. Maria had stripped down to nothing and her tongue was already visiting with Misha’s tonsils. The others were busy tugging off their uniforms.

“What the hell? Put the plaid skirts back on!”

Misha stopped kissing Maria and Edith and frowned in my direction. “Would you prefer they did not join us?”

“Of course I don’t want them to join us!”

He shrugged indifferently. “As you wish. Leave, my precious ones, so that Celia and I may commence our lovemaking.”

Edith zipped up her boots and scowled. “You suck.”

My eyes narrowed. “I know. You’ve mentioned it more than once. Don’t let the door hit your unholy ass.”

I fixed my gaze on Misha when the last of the girls had disappeared from the suite. He sat in bed with his hands crossed behind his head. A sheet barely covered his waist. Strands of his long blond hair grazed his erect nipples.

I sighed. More than once I’d compared Misha to a Greek god. Like most anyone with a pulse, his physical beauty gave me pause. And for a vampire, Misha possessed the heart of a lion. Yet even now, my body failed to respond to his. Only guilt bored its way to the surface. I wanted to be in Aric’s arms—Aric, who was scarred beyond recognition, who no doubt hated me, and who most likely would never want me again.

“Why do you look so sad, kitten?”

“What we did is wrong, Misha.”

He walked to the chaise lounge where I sat. I averted my eyes when he knelt before me and brushed my hair away from my face. “I know why you broke your bond with the wolf.”

Perspiration trickled from my pores. If he knew about Anara, he was now in danger, too. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A slow, amused smile lit his gray eyes. Of course, he knew I was lying.

“Yes, you do, my darling kitten,” he replied. “It stems from your desire to be mine.”

It felt like he had slapped me. I took a second to absorb his words. “Misha, what happened between Aric and me has nothing to do with us.”

He smiled. “Really? Tell me then why you would break such a sacred connection.”

I couldn’t tell him squat, but I had to say something. “Aric and I just shouldn’t be together.”

That was so the wrong thing to say. Happiness radiated from his features. “I know.”

His joy crushed my already battered heart. I could never love Misha. And it was time for him to accept it. My hard stare met his. “Misha, you need to let me go. We don’t have a future together.”

“You’re wrong. Tell me what you desire and it shall be yours.”

“The only thing I want is what’s best for you. And I’m not her.” I shook my head. “Misha, one day you’re going to fall in love. And it will be an incredible selfless love with someone you can give yourself completely to. Someone you can be vulnerable with. Someone you can’t live without.”

Misha gritted his perfect teeth. “I have already found her within you.”