Tempted

Stark to me, and then finished with—“that I said good luck.”
    “Oh, okay. Well, thanks again.”
    He nodded and walked quickly out of the cafeteria ahead of us, presumably going up to the professors’ dining room.
    “Huh. That was kinda weird, but nice of him,” I said.
    “He acts too much,” Stark said, holding the door open for me.
    “Yeah, I get that, but I’m still glad he said something nice before we left. I hate the awkward ex-boyfriend stuff.”
    “Yet another reason to be glad I’m not technically your boyfriend,” Stark said.
    The rest of the group was several yards ahead of us, so we had an instant of privacy. I was just trying to figure out whether Stark was being borderline hateful in his “not your boyfriend” comment or not when he suddenly asked, “Was everything okay last night? You woke me up once.”
    “Everything was fine.”
    He hesitated and then said, “You didn’t bite Heath again.”
    It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway, though my voice sounded sharper than I’d intended. “No. I was feeling fine, so I didn’t need to.”
    “I’ll understand if you do, though,” he said.
    “Can we not talk about this right now?”
    “Yeah, fine.” We walked on a few feet and were almost to the parking lot, so he slowed down, giving us another moment of privacy. “Are you mad at me?” he asked.
    “Why would I be mad at you?”
    He lifted his shoulders. “Well, first there’s Aphrodite’s visions. She sees you in trouble. Serious trouble. But she either sees me and I do nothing, or she doesn’t see me at all. And now Heath’s coming with us to Italy . . .” His words just trailed off, leaving him looking frustrated.
    “Stark, Aphrodite’s visions can be changed. We’ve done it several times. Once for me personally. We’ll change the drowning one, too. Actually,
you’ll
probably change it. You won’t let anything bad happen to me.”
    “Even though I have an issue with going outside in the sunlight?”
    I suddenly understood one of the reasons that this threat to me was bothering him so badly—he felt like he might not be able to bethere for me when I needed him. “You’ll figure out how to be sure I’m safe, even if you can’t be with me physically.”
    “Do you really believe that?”
    “With all my heart,” I said honestly. “There is no other vampyre I would ever want as my Warrior. I trust you. Always.”
    Stark looked like about a zillion pounds had been lifted off his back. “It’s good to hear you say that.”
    I stopped and faced him. “I would have told you that before, but I thought you already knew it.”
    “I guess I did. In here.” Stark touched the spot over his heart. “But my ears needed to hear it.”
    I stepped into his arms and pressed my face against his neck. “I trust you. Always,” I repeated.
    “Thank you, my lady,” he whispered as his strong arms held me close.
    I stepped back and smiled at him. Suddenly Kalona seemed very distant as Stark filled up my here and now. “We’ll figure out all this stuff, and through it all we’ll be together—a Warrior and his lady.”
    “That’s what I want,” he said firmly. “And to hell with everything else.”
    “Yep. To hell with everyone and everything else.” I refused to think about Kalona. He was a maybe—a big, scary, confusing maybe. Stark was a for-sure. I took his hand and, pulling him with me . . . always with me . . . toward the Hummer, said, “Come on, Warrior, let’s go to Italy.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Zoey

    “Venice is seven hours ahead of us,” Lenobia explained. She’d met us outside the VIP security checkpoint. “When you land, it’ll be late afternoon there. Try to sleep as much as you can on the plane. The High Council will convene just after dusk, and you’ll be expected to be there and be alert.”
    “How’s Stark going to handle the sun?” I asked.
    “I’ve apprised the High Council of Stark’s needs. They have assured me Stark will be shielded from the sun. You should know they are quite anxious to meet him and extremely curious about this new kind of vampyre.”
    “Curious as in wanting to study me like a lab rat?” Stark said.
    “We will not let that happen,” Darius said.
    “I think you should keep in mind that the High Council is comprised of seven of the wisest and most ancient High Priestesses alive today. They do not behave inhumanly, nor are they rash,” Lenobia said.
    “So they’re all kinda like Shekinah?”