Tempted

Oklahoma.”
    “You don’t know where he is. He could have been making you see him as being anywhere in your dream.”
    “No, he’s on an island.” As I spoke I felt the truth of my guess. “He needed to go to an island to recharge. Do you have a clue where that might be? Did you ever hear him talking about an island with Neferet?”
    Stark shook his head. “Nope. He never said anything about it around me, but the fact that it’s an island tells us you hurt him. Bad.”
    “Which means I’m safe right now, which
also
means it’s okay for you to drink from me.”
    “No,” he said firmly.
    “You don’t want to?”
    “Don’t be insane! I want to, but I can’t. We can’t. Not right now.”
    “Look, you need my blood and my energy, or spirit, or whatever, to get better.” I lifted my chin so he had a clear view of my jugular. “So, go ahead. Bite me.” I closed my eyes and held my breath.
    Stark laughed, which had my eyes popping open to see him chuckling while he clutched painfully at his chest, wheezed, and then laughed some more.
    I frowned at him. “What is so funny?”
    Stark managed to control himself enough to say, “It’s just that you look like something out of an old Dracula movie. You should be asking if I
vant to suck yur blood
.” He made a creepy face and bared his teeth.
    I felt my cheeks burning and pulled away from him. “Never mind. Forget I even mentioned it. Let’s just go to sleep, ’kay?” I started to roll over, but he caught my shoulder and turned me back to him.
    “Hang on, hang on—I’m messing this up.” He was suddenlyserious. “Zoey.” Stark touched my cheek. “I’m not drinking from you, because I
can’t.
Not because I don’t want to.”
    “Yeah, I heard you before.” I was still embarrassed and tried to turn my head, but he forced me to meet his gaze.
    “Hey, I’m sorry.” His voice had gone deep and sexy. “I shouldn’t have laughed at you. I should have just told you the truth, but I’m new to being a warrior. It’s gonna take me a little while to get it right.” His thumb caressed my cheekbone, following the line of my tattoos. “I should have told you that the only thing I want more than a taste of your blood is to know that you’re safe and strong.” He kissed me. “Plus, I don’t need to drink from you, because I know that I’m going to be okay.” He brushed his lips against mine. “Want to know how I know that?”
    “Uh-huh,” I murmured.
    “I know because your safety is my strength, Zoey. Go to sleep now. I’m here.” He lay back, settling me against his side.
    Just before my eyes fluttered shut I whispered, “If someone tries to wake me up, would you please kill them?”
    Stark chuckled. “Anything for you, my lady.”
    “Good.” I closed my eyes and fell asleep with my Warrior holding me tightly and keeping me safe from dreams and ghosts of the past.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Aphrodite

    “Seriously, gay boys. Just go back to bed—together—eesh. I need my vamp for the rest of the night.” Aphrodite was standing, arms crossed, just inside the door to the room Darius, Damien, Jack, and Duchess were sharing. She noted, with a vague sense of irritation, that Damien and Jack and Duchess were all curled up in one bed together. Sure, they reminded her of puppies, but it wasn’t exactly fair that the penguins were cool with them sleeping together while at the same time they’d banished her to rooming with Zoey. Or at least they’d tried.
    “What is it, Aphrodite? What’s wrong?” Darius hurried toward her, pulling a T-shirt over his completely gorgeous chest with one hand and slipping on his shoes with the other.
    As usual, Darius had caught on before anyone else was fully functional—yet another reason why she’d fallen for him.
    “Everything’s fine. It’s just that Zoey is sleeping with Stark.
In our room
. And I’m not cool with tagging along for that. So we’re going to do a little roommate trading of our own.”
    “All is well with Zoey?” Damien asked.
    “My guess is that about now all is more than well with her,” Aphrodite said.
    “I didn’t think Stark was up to, well,
stuff
,” Jack said delicately. He looked sleepy, with tousled hair and puffy eyes; Aphrodite thought he was even more puppyish than usual, and really cute. Of course she’d gouge out her eyes before she admitted that out loud.
    “He managed the steps up to our top-floor room, so I’m thinking he’s on the mend.”
    “Oooh,