have to turn you."
"I'm glad it was taken off your shoulders too. We might never have gotten to this point otherwise." Though Selena suspected if she'd gotten to know Atreides better, she might have been ensnared by his charm and given in. They would never know. It didn't matter. She was happier than she'd ever been.
"We won't tell the others we're together as a couple," Atreides said.
She scoffed. "As if anyone would think otherwise." But she hoped he didn't feel he would be ostracized for taking her as his mate.
"I just want to let Daemon know before anyone else tells him."
So tell him already!
"I'm afraid if I explain what has happened to you, to us, he will return with Tezra to straighten things out," Atreides said.
"Oh, sure." She understood how he felt about that. He wanted to prove he could handle managing the clan. So it wasn't that he was afraid to tell the rest of the clan what was going on between him and her. She still figured they would all assume it. Yet, it wasn't the same as just coming out and saying it. She just hoped Daemon wouldn't cause Atreides too much grief when he returned home. She assumed he wouldn't with her because she couldn't help what she'd become. "Well, I can't be happier to be with you."
Atreides stroked her arm with a soft caress. "You are the light of my life, Selena. Since the moment you walked into it, I knew my world had changed. I think that's why Iconia was all over your case. I'm sure she realizes this isn't just some wild infatuation I have for you and it will end soon."
"It better not be," Selena said. "I don't often declare my love for another person."
Smiling, Atreides raised a brow.
"I did twice, but the hunters weren't ready to settle down and felt I was a little too borderline rogue to deal with. Most hunters stay with the same mate for life, but I could see getting dumped by a mate if the heat was on me and he ended up in a negative spotlight."
He kissed her cheek. "Many vampires mate for life and if you end up getting yourself in trouble, I'll back you all the way."
"Okay, it's a deal." She cast him a devilish smile. "If you turn rogue, I promise you a quick and painless death—the huntress in me coming to bear."
He laughed. "It's a deal."
But she didn't really know what would happen in a case like that. All she knew was she didn't want to lose Atreides for any reason.
She snuggled against him and tried to get her mind off the business with the wolf, the murdered vampiresses, Cliff and his buddies gunning for her, and Daemon's take on what his brother had done in declaring to her that he wanted her forever. She breathed in Atreides's scent and licked his chest. "Night, Atreides.
"Night, Selena." He smiled at her. “I love you.”
After making love to Atreides, Selena finally managed to doze off, heard what she thought was a whispered thought in her head, but she couldn't catch the words, and saw the wolf in her mind's eye again. The same wolf she saw when they were coming back from her apartment. The vampire knew she was staying with Atreides. Did he know she could even be staying with him for good if it worked out between them? Had he thought he could tempt fate in this way to make it happen?
The fog surrounded her, swallowed her up, made her see beings in the mist, not anything she thought she could recognize, then one form came to her out of the fog. Iconia, her simpering smile telling her that all was not well with Selena's conquest of her boyfriend. Then Iconia's fangs were exposed, and she hissed at Selena.
Selena thought she was above that. She thought she could control her anger better. But as soon as Iconia hissed at her, Selena hissed back, extending her canines, furious with the vampiress. Selena hadn't intended to. She had planned to keep her cool, look superior, that she wouldn't resort to scare tactics, but she couldn’t help herself. The fangs extended and the hiss followed.
And then she woke. Atreides was smiling at her.
"What?"
"You were fighting with someone in your sleep."
Selena ran her fingers through her hair. "Iconia. She bared her fangs first."
"Let me see." He looked at Selena’s small fangs. "Baby fangs. They'll get longer in a few days. But when you're newly turned,