because he wanted to mark her, to let every man know she was his, and his alone.

Cora turned to look at him, her eyes wide and somewhat hazy with passion. I’m not yours, Alec. Although the biting thing really sounds . . . no. Never mind. I didn’t just think that.

He was surprised that she had overheard his thoughts, since she hadn’t been able to previously.

Who’s projecting now? she asked with a smug little smile into his mind.

He pinched her behind, caressing the sweet curves of her ass as he asked, “Where exactly are we, Noelle?”

“Arizona. Outside of Flagstaff, actually. How did you knock out Mr. de Marco? I didn’t see you do anything.”

Cora sagged against him, her fingers absently toying with the hair at his nape. He wondered how long he’d be able to stand that without having to make love to her.

Her fingers stilled for a moment as she glanced at him from the corners of her eyes before a wicked little smile curled her lips.

“Where are we going? I only have this rental car for another day, so if you’re hoping to drive somewhere at a distance, I’m afraid—”

“Into the nearest town, then the airport,” Alec said, warring with his need to claim Cora again—her mouth, her body, her soul—and common sense.

“Will do,” Noelle said, turning onto a main highway.

“Airport?” Cora asked. “Where are we going?”

“Where do you live?” he countered.

“Outside of San Francisco.”

“Then we’ll have a doctor see you first, and fly into San Francisco, so we can pick up your passport and anything you want to bring with you.”

“Bring with me where?” she asked, and by the way she held herself, he knew she was in increasing pain. He wished he could take it from her, and nuzzled her neck, hoping to distract her.

“Florence.”

“Florence . . . Italy?” Cora asked, her voice a squeak as he nibbled on her earlobe. Jesus wept! Do that sucky thing behind my ear again.

He sucked. She moaned in his head.

Why Italy?

That’s where my friend and his Beloved live.

The friend you betrayed?

Yes. Kristoff and Pia are tied up with de Marco and Ulfur. They’ll help us.

Why on earth would they do that when you betrayed one and seduced the other?

He smiled at the jealousy she fought whenever she thought of Pia.

We didn’t have sex, mi corazon. Well, she touched me, I touched her, and that was it. I suppose you could call that sort of a minor form of sex. Regardless, you have nothing to be jealous of.

I am not . . . oh, move on. Why would they help us?

Because I’m not going to give them any other choice, he said, and gently pushed her out of his mind. He had some planning to do.

Two hours later Cora limped out to Noelle’s car, glaring at him when he offered to carry her.

“The tetanus shot hurt more than the bullet. Stop hovering over me, Alec, I’m fine. It’s just a smidgen pinchy now. Did you do something to me to make me heal faster than normal? Because that doctor said that it looked like the wound was several days old, and almost healed over.”

He kept to the shadows of the medical building before sliding next to her into the backseat of the car. “I haven’t done anything to you, no. It could be the Tool making you . . . more.”

“More what?” Cora looked startled at the idea.

“More than mortal, I think,” Noelle said, starting the car, pausing to glance back at him. “We Beloveds, even when not Joined, are kind of . . . oh, I like to think of us as ‘woman plus.’ We have extra bonus abilities, like healing faster, and being more resilient, things like that.”

“We Beloveds?” Cora almost choked on the word.

She thinks you’re my Beloved. Do not argue with her—it’s easier if she believes it to be true.

Is it? She clearly wanted to say more, but withdrew from him mentally.

“Yes. Didn’t Alec tell you? I’m a Beloved, too, although the Dark One I was supposed to save ended up liking my roommate more than me.”

Cora cast him a curious look. “Beloveds can do that? ”

“No,” he answered.

“Sometimes they can, yes,” Noelle contradicted him. “Sebastian—he was the Dark One—said it had something to do with fate, that sometimes it got messed up, and assigned the wrong Beloved to a Dark One. Airport?”

“Please,” Alec answered.

“You got it. I should return home, anyway.”

“So this vampire you were supposed to hook up with ran off with your roomie? The dog!” Cora said, shooting him irritated glances just as if he were at fault. “I hope you let them know how you feel.”

“Oh, I did. At first I was hurt, but I realized that they really were meant for one another. Besides, Belle—she was my roomie—promised to help find me a Dark One who doesn’t have a Beloved.”

Noelle’s gaze in the mirror flickered to him.

Cora put her hand on his leg and glared at the mirror. You say one word, and I’ll pop you on your incredibly gorgeous nose.

He put his hand over hers and stroked the backs of her fingers. I’m surprised you care enough to feel possessive, querida.

I’m not being possessive. I’m just protecting you because you let de Marco shoot you in the back in order to save me. Noelle wouldn’t be right for you at all. You can thank me later for getting her off your back. “And I take it she hasn’t found one yet?”

“No, although I’ve met just about every unredeemed Dark One in Europe.” Noelle sighed.

“You’d think one of them would be happy to have you swoop in and save him,” Cora said, drumming her fingers on his leg.

“You’d think so, but I guess not. I wouldn’t mind, except Belle is constantly after me to try to meet more Dark Ones, and to be honest, I’m perfectly happy the way I am. And besides, men are like stray cats, you know? When one needs you, they find you.”

Cora laughed. Alec refrained from making any comment, focusing his attention on more important matters. He had to figure out how he was going to convince Kristoff to go against the Moravian Council. Kris wasn’t going to like it, but Alec had too much at stake to tolerate any refusal of help.

He had to protect Cora, and it was beginning to look like there was only one way to do that.

Chapter Eight

I spent the entire flight to Florence pretending to sleep. I wasn’t proud of that fact, and I did actually snooze a goodly part of the time, thanks to some pain pills, but I had just reached a point where my mind seemed to be completely out of my control.

“I am going to sleep,” I told Alec an hour after the private jet he had chartered took off. The fact that he had the resources to think nothing about hiring private jets to send him rocketing around the world was one of the things my mind had a hard time dealing with.

“I don’t know why,” he said without looking up from his laptop.

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