Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,7

I wasn’t safe with him.”

Callie smiled. “Both of us felt something, a special connection, but I was married, so Brundar resolved to just keep an eye on me and make sure that I was safe. When things got really bad, he could no longer watch from the sidelines and approached me at work. I was desperate, so I took him up on his offer to help me escape my abusive husband.”

“Did he hide you?”

She nodded. “He put me up in an apartment, gave me a job at his club, and had Edna help me with the divorce. He then took the papers to Shawn and thralled him to sign them. Naturally, I was completely clueless at the time and thought that he beat Shawn up to make him sign.” She chuckled. “He did that too. But long story short, Shawn somehow remembered Brundar, figured out that he was my lover, and decided to get his revenge on both of us. His plan was to kidnap me, wait for Brundar to rush to my rescue, kill him, and then keep me as his pet slave until the day I died.”

Callie shivered. “If he’d succeeded, that day would have arrived sooner rather than later. I would have killed myself at the first opportunity. With Brundar gone, I would have had nothing to live for. Besides, Shawn promised me a living hell, and I knew he would deliver on his promise.”

“What happened to him?”

Vlad had a good idea, but he wanted to make sure. If Anandur hadn’t killed the monster, he would finish the job himself.

Callie smiled sadly. “You can retract your fangs, Vlad. Shawn is no longer a problem.” She tilted her head. “Why did my story upset you so much?”

He glanced at Wendy, who was standing behind the counter and smiling at a customer while taking his order.

She had changed so much in the short time since her transition.

Wendy was happy, confident, and she loved working at the café. The worry lines that used to mar her forehead were gone, and she was quick to smile.

Dragging out the past might ruin the progress she’d made, which was why Vlad hadn’t approached Roni yet and asked him to dig into what had happened to her mom.

“Someone I care for was abused by her father.” He knew that Callie would guess it was Wendy, but as long as he didn’t say her name, it would remain just a guess. “I have a bad feeling that he did something to her mother. If he was anything like your ex, it’s possible that he murdered her.”

5

Richard

“Do you have to leave so soon?” Marla pulled Richard down for another kiss.

So far, out of all the clan females who’d won him for the night, she was the best, but regrettably, Marla wasn’t 'the one' either. The sex had been great, and she was fun to talk to, but neither of them had felt that special connection.

“Are you kidding me? So soon?” He chuckled. “I need to go home and sleep for twelve hours straight to recover my strength. I’m getting auctioned again tonight.”

She pouted. “Poor baby. It’s such hard work being the clan’s gigolo.”

“You have no idea.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed up. Only to fall back down.

“What’s the matter?” Marla frowned.

“I feel dizzy like I used to after a night of drinking. But I haven’t had any alcohol in days.” With a groan, he dropped his head on his fists. “I can’t go on like this.”

She put a hand on his forehead. “Maybe you’re finally transitioning?”

“I wish.” He had only two more days left.

After three inductions performed by three different males, he was still a human, and it seemed like that wasn’t going to change, which meant that in two days, Bowen would erase his memories, and he would be sent on his way.

Except, Richard had no intention of leaving. Even if he didn’t transition, he was going to stay on as a human. The village was a beautiful place to live in, he had more friends here than he’d ever had on the outside, and if he could slow down the rate of his gigolo services, he could keep on going for a while longer.

Somehow, he had to convince Kian not to kick him out.

Bowen had promised to talk to the guy about inducing Richard himself, but he hadn’t heard back from Kian yet. As the goddess’s son, Kian was the clan’s most pure-blooded immortal, and therefore his