He leaned over her. The weight of his body sent sparks of heat through hers. “The desire between blood and lust is strong,” he whispered. Her hands stroked across his back, igniting a fierce fire.

“I don’t…I mean…I’m not like this, really. There’s something about you-like I’ve known you forever,” she whispered.

“Shh…it’s okay, I feel it, too.”

She reached for the waistband of his pants, unsnapping them, freeing him of the hindrance of the material. Raising her hips, she attempted to guide him inside her. He murmured words in a foreign language as he entered her warmth. A groan of satisfaction passed his lips.

He suddenly stopped. “You…you’ve never…you are a virgin.”

Bo must have seen the pain on her face. He was a large man, and she looked at him with wonder. He smiled as if to calm her for fear she’d run off into the woods and live out her days as a spinster Lamai.

She held onto him when he tried to pull out. “No, please. I want you… Don’t stop,” she whispered.

“Are you certain? I-I don’t want to hurt you, physically or emotionally.” He buried his head in her hair and kissed her neck. “Hmm, but I do want you so very much…” By the end of this night, he was going to have her. And she was going to let him.

“I want you, too,” she murmured.

He took his time as he gently eased his way inside of her. “Tell me if I’m hurting you…”

Then the world around them dimmed, and they were lost in each other’s energy. Her moans of slight pain turned to pleasure and filled the night air as they made love. Although she’d just met Bo, she felt she had known him for eons.

He nipped at her breasts and neck, gently breaking the skin and drinking her blood. She let him. She would let him do whatever he pleased. She wanted him to explore her.

As he rocked within her, he held back his long black hair, exposing his neck. “Taste,” he offered. His eyes flashed to golden orbs.

“Are you sure?” Raven wondered if he knew that for her kind this was an act of marking a mate.

“Oh, yeah,” he groaned.

She moaned in the throes of an orgasm.

The moment her teeth dug into his flesh, he let out an ear-piercing howl as he came inside of her. Worlds collided between shifter and Lamai, man and woman, and neither would ever be the same.

They lay in each other’s arms, staring at the stars, catching their breath.

“I’d say we did our part to welcome spring and celebrate the season of mating,” he mused then sighed with the sheer contentment of satisfaction.

Talk about a dose of reality. “Yes. I suppose we did. I-I’d better go,” she said, beginning to dress while pulling the dried grass out of her hair. She cursed herself for thinking this was anything more to him than a ritual. That he felt the same emotions she did. How stupid could I be?

Bo’s eyes widened as he noticed the blood on her thigh. He gently touched between her legs. There on his fingers was her blood. He wiped it on newly sprouting wildflowers.

“A gift to the Earth Mother,” he said with a wink.

She could feel her ire growing. “Yes. It was my pleasure to give up my virginity to…the Earth Mother,” she said between gritted teeth.

Raven slid into her bra and panties and pulled on her wrinkled dress. Any idiot could see this man was trouble. Too good looking, with a body to shame the gods and enough confidence for ten men. Oh, Raven, you fool.

“Nice to meet you, Bo. Good night,” she curtly said. She couldn’t help but feel insulted by his casual reaction to her lost virginity. The thought that she may have simply been one of many he’d had sex with that night turned her frosty cold. To imagine she gave him her most precious gift. What was she thinking? Obviously, she wasn’t thinking, in the throes of passion.

His jaw dropped open. “Wait…don’t go. The night’s still young.”

This man was at a loss for words. Okay, confidence level dropped to five men. His eyes betrayed his disbelief that the night would end so quickly.

He reached for her. “Please don’t go. There’s so much more I want to know about you. We’ve only just begun…”

Raven cut him off. “I’m sure there are many other young maidens who would love to share your blanket.” She turned and walked away, leaving Bo speechless and fumbling to dress.

What she would not know, until years later, was that he would spend the rest of that night-and the weeks that followed-looking for her.

Philippe Laroque sensed the Lamai’s energy in the air as he tied his boat to the dock. He silently cursed the day he promised his daughter he wouldn’t hurt Raven Strigoi. It was too late; he’d given his daughter his word.

He feared the half-breed had come for his daughter. If she did, all bets were off. He would do whatever was necessary to get Jade back.

He rushed to the back of the house, past the sliding doors, punching in the code for the alarm before it sounded. It was disarmed. Checking each room, he called out to his daughter, but there was only silence.

Stepping toward the bookcase in his den, he reached for the thick black leather-bound grimoire. Inside the book was a cut-out of pages measuring three inches by five inches, and in it he kept three small vials. He closed the book, satisfied his virus was still safe, and replaced it on the shelf. Before doing so, he removed one of the vials and slipped it into his pocket.

There were a few more hours until dawn. Tobias Strigoi would soon relive the pain that Laroque had suffered: the loss of a loved one.

“What do you want from me?” Jade struggled against the restraints. The room was dark and her eyes had trouble focusing, but she sensed someone was in the room with her.

“Where does he keep the virus?” Her icy voice cracked through the blackness. Raven had to keep her temper in check. If it took over, she could not be responsible for her actions. She remained connected to Bo’s aura and could feel his life force slipping away along with her self-control.

“There are things I could do to you that would make you beg for death. Or worse, I could turn you into a Lamai, and you would live long past all those you love. And your father would despise you, of course, knowing that you have the blood of Tobias Strigoi coursing through your veins. That would be an added bonus.”

Jade was panicking and she began to hyperventilate. “I don’t know what virus you’re talking about. He keeps his work private. I know nothing about what he’s done. All I know is that he blames your father for our mother’s death.” Hearing her say our mother sounded strange. She imagined it was odd for Jade as well. “I made him promise not to hurt you.”

Raven huffed. “How sweet.”

“Bitch,” Jade muttered.

“I make bitches look angelic.”

“My father’s a scientist. He’s always working on a project.”

“Then you knew he was up to something.” Raven paced the floor. Her mind raced. Time was running out.

Jade gasped in the gloom of the cold autopsy room, squirming. Raven smelled her fear. “All I know is that he wants to hurt your father.”

In an instant, Raven was at the side of the bed once more. “Were you in on that little scheme in the park?” She leaned over, inches away from her sister, baring her white fangs enough for Jade to see in the limited light.

Jade was silent.

A ripple passed through Raven. A menacing source of energy had entered the hospital grounds. Time was up.

“Answer me,” she growled, moving closer to the young woman’s neck.

“No.”

Raven swore back. “Liar!”

She thrust her head forward and sank her teeth into the flesh of her younger sister’s neck, grateful for the dark. If Raven had to see her face, she wasn’t sure she would be able to follow through.