He had the need, right this very second, to get her the hell out of his dump and buy her a new house.

She caught his gaze and he quickly schooled his expression. Too late, her face paled and she took a step back. She looked almost in pain.

“I don’t want you here.”

“Why?” Need roared inside him to go to her, to pull her into his arms and never let her go. He couldn’t though.

She threw her arms out with a disgusted laugh. “Because this is how poor I am. This is how I live. Maybe now you’ll stop touching me.”

Hearing the pain in her voice made his chest squeeze tight. “What are you talking about?” He didn’t want to stop touching her, he wanted to buy her a new a fucking house. That’s all. Maybe a car too and anything else she could want. A small island, no problem.

“You and me, we don’t mix. Two completely different species of people.”

“We’re both vampires, Felicity.”

She glared at him. “You know what I mean. They take pictures of your family for magazines. I have to feed off a friend when I’m out of blood.”

She’d gone hungry before. The pain in his chest twisted until it became difficult to breathe. He vowed then she would never go hungry again.

“Felicity...”

She held out her hand. “Don’t, just don’t. I’m fine. I’ll earn my own way. I work hard and I’ll earn my keep. But this,” she said waving her hand to indicate her home, “is the difference between your opulent home and my shitty house in the city. Okay?”

“As if I care—”

Her eyes flashed, nostrils flared. “Don’t you dare lie and say you don’t care. I saw the way you looked at my house. It may not be much but it’s mine! I worked for every little piece of furniture I own. It’s mine! And I won’t have you sully it with your high-brow bullshit.”

Dom cooled his expression as he took her in.

She was quite livid.

And it only made her more beautiful.

In that very moment with her cheeks flushed, eyes glowing in anger, and her hair standing out, he wanted to shove her right up against the wall and fuck the living daylights out of her until she was screaming his name like she’d been born to do it.

Only after they each came and she grew weak in his arms would he take her into her small bedroom and fuck her six ways from Sunday until their scents embedded her sheets like perfume.

However...he didn’t think she’d consent to any of that right now. Women, they were tricky business. A man had to step carefully lest he find himself in a pit of despair, longing after the one he wants and getting nothing but scorn in return.

What was it about her that drove him so crazy? He’d never had such a wild and instantaneous reaction to a woman before.

Dom’s phone beeped in his pocket. He had it pressed to his ear in the next second. “Yeah? Right. Coming.”

Dom hung up, never taking his eyes away from her. “You need to pack.”

She her shoulders stiffened. “Why?”

“Because you’re coming to stay with me.”

She laughed, took a step back. “I don’t think so.”

Dom turned the handle of the front door. “You don’t have a choice. They know where you live and they know I’ve been with you. You’re a target now. Get packed.” With that, he left. Grayson was inspecting the car crash and unconscious were on the pavement when he got there.

Grayson looked bad. Well, he always looked bad but today he looked worse than normal. Dom pitied the man. He’d mated a fine woman many years ago, but as time went on and they lost not one but two children to miscarriages, his wife had taken to drink. And drink she did, lots of it until she was shaking, slurring, and unable to stand up right. Grayson had been living with it for years. He’d tried everything from forcing her into rehabs, tying her up to keep her away from the booze, everything he could think of. But she’d weasel out of it someway and always returned to the drink. She needed it now more than him. Grayson was miserable but he loved her. He wouldn’t let her go.

Dom loved his brother and loved Gray’s bond mate, Anita, but he didn’t envy the man. Not one bit.

Gray looked over the scene with a grim eye. “You figure it was Zeke?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s pulling out the big guns now.”

“It would seem so.”

Gray got on his phone and made a call. “I’ll get this taken care of. It looks like you’re in need of some protection.” At that Gray leveled the closest thing to a smile he managed these days.

“It would seem so. I need you to set me up.” Dom looked down the street. “And Felicity Shaw too. I want her protected at all times.”

Gray’s brow furrowed. “Who’s she?”

“She’s mine.”

Gray nodded. “The separation from Helena is final then?”

“Yeah, thank god. Can’t tell you how good it feels to be free from her clutches.”

Gray’s eyes clouded and Dom wanted to curse himself. He shouldn’t have said anything. He knew that a part of Gray, one he wouldn’t admit to, craved being free from his bruid as well. He’d never admit it, not that Dom could blame him. He still loved his mate dearly.

“I’m supposed to bond with Julianna Greenwich next month.”

Gray nodded slowly. “Mother told me. Then Luc told me. Then Vas. I’ve heard.”

Gray’s humor was still there even if he didn’t crack a grin. “Yeah, well, she isn’t the one I want.”

The were on the ground start stirring. Gray walked over and kicked him hard in the head sending him back into unconsciousness. “Why do you need her then?”

“Zeke’s gunning for the presidency. I need every advantage to get the seat and keep it. Julianna is a perfect piece.”

Gray shook his head. “But you don’t care about her.”

“No.” The thought of Julianna did nothing for him...but the thought of Felicity...that made his blood boil.

“You should choose one and run with it.”

Dom narrowed his eyes on his brother. “I could never win the race with a low-blood beside me. No one ever has.”

Gray shrugged. “No one’s ever tried either.”

“For that very reason,” Dom said.

Grayson looked him in the eyes and shook his head. “I’ll never understand that. Anita’s everything to me. Even if she’s...” his voice fell away. “I could never have another woman on the side like that. I don’t know how you’d that.”

“I won’t touch Julianna.”

Gray made a sound close to a laugh. “You’ll have to after the blood bonding.”

Dom stiffened. He hadn’t thought of it. After the blood bonding ceremony, newly made mates shared their blood and sex. The thought did nothing for his cock and actually sent a wave of panic through him.

“I don’t want to touch her.”

Gray pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit up. Black smoke curled around the red tip as he sucked in tobacco.

“I know,” said Grayson.

“How would you know that?”

Gray leveled his hard, emotional eyes on him. “Because how you feel about this low-blood is how I felt about Anita.”

Dom left Grayson to fetch Felicity. His mind was in turmoil of thoughts and emotions mostly foreign to him. He needed to win the presidency. He needed that seat in order to keep the majority votes in favor of vampires. If he lost that seat to Zeke then Zeke would go crazy with it. The man wasn’t right in the head. He had a madness to him. He didn’t care for propriety or rules. Tradition wasn’t a word in his vocabulary.

Dom stepped inside Felicity’s house and found her sitting on her couch, legs crossed, a stiff eyebrow raised, and no bags packed. Normally he’d be angry that someone disobeyed him. Instead, he smiled at her and told her he’d pack for her before he went about doing it.

Her squeal of protest only made the next ten minutes all the more fun as he tossed her sexiest panties, negligees, skirts, dresses, tops, and bras into a big suitcase. Only after she growled at him that she needed more than that, did he step away to watch her pack more suitable clothing.