As a half-blood vampire, Stella has been fighting all her life to get out of this city, escape the torment of her pursuer and live a peaceful life on her own.

And she’ll do anything to achieve her goal, even if it means working for Cassius van Cleef, a pureblood.  

From the moment their eyes met, Stella has been unable to resist Cassius and his loving arms, but will he protect her, or is he just another dangerous predator?

—

I leaned into him, and I inhaled his masculine scent as it intermingled with mine. 

He reached up with his fingers and brought my chin up a little, just as his warm lips met mine for the first time. 

I opened my eyes when the kiss broke and saw Cassius’ lips wet from the moment we just shared. 

I felt a warm blush flowing up my cheeks and I turned away quickly.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” he said as he reached over and gently turned my back to him. “As I said before, you are so much more than you realize. Just be patient with me.”

Saved by the Vampire

I paced back and forth between the kitchen door and outer fence trying to calm myself down. How was it possible that after all of these years, Alastair managed to find and harass me all over again? I felt myself begin to tremble as I worried about what might have happened if he’d decided to strike that house while Florence was there on her own. 


It would have been all my fault. I reminded myself that Florence was safe and sound upstairs. But for how long? How far would Alastair go? I wiped at the last of my tears as my fear and my trembling dissolved into anger and rage. 


What had I ever done to deserve the crap that Alastair had brought to my life? What made him think that any of this was okay and that he could simply get away with it? The anger inside of me was building to a point that I feared it might consume me. Thoughts of just leaving the mansion and facing Alastair once and for all crossed my mind. 


Chapter 17: Fear and Trembling