Chosen

grown vampyre (and a professor at my school). What we had together went beyond all of that. What we had was really special. More special than what I felt for Erik. Even more special than Heath.

Heath…

The sleepy, satisfied feeling left me like someone had splashed cold water on my skin. My gaze went from our reflection to Loren's face. He was watching me with a slight smile curving the corners of his lips. God, he was so dang gorgeous I couldn't believe he was mine. Then I mentally shook myself, and asked the question I had to have answered. 'Loren, is really true that my Imprint with Heath is broken?'

'Yes, it's really true,' he said. 'You and I have Imprinted, and that severed your link with the human boy.'

'But I read the Vamp Soc book, and it only talked about how painful and hard it is to break an Imprint between a vampyre and a human. I don't understand how it could have happened so easily, and it didn't say anything about one Imprint breaking another.'

His slight smile spread and he gave me a sweet, soft kiss. 'You'll learn that there's a lot the textbooks don't teach about being a vampyre.'

That made me feel young and stupid and more than a little embarrassed, which he instantly picked up on.

'Hey, I didn't mean anything. I remember how confusing it was not to really understand what it is you're Changing into. It's okay. It happens to all of us. And now you have me to help you.'

'I just don't like not knowing,' I said, relaxing again in his arms.

'I know. So here's the deal with breaking that Imprint. You and the human did have a bond, but you're not a vampyre. You haven't completed your Change.' He paused and then added a firm 'Yet. So it wasn't a full-blown Imprint. When you and I shared our blood, that bonding overwhelmed the lesser one.' His smile turned sexy. 'Because I am a vampyre.'

'Did it hurt Heath?'

Loren shrugged. 'Probably, but the pain doesn't last. And in the long run it's better this way. The entire vampyre world will be open to you very soon, Zoey. You will be an extraordinary High Priestess. There won't be a place for a human in that world.'

'I know you're right,' I said, trying to sort through everything in my mind and remembering how sure I'd been earlier that night that I had to break up with Heath. It was really a good thing that my being with Loren had broken the Imprint with Heath. It was easier this way—for both of us. Another thought had me saying, 'It's a good thing that I wasn't Imprinted with you and Heath at the same time.'

'That would be impossible. Nyx had made it so that we Imprint singly. I suppose it's to keep us from making an army of Imprinted human minions.'

I was startled as much by the sarcastic tone of his voice as by what he'd just said. 'I would never have thought about doing that,' I said.

Loren laughed softly. 'There are many vamps who would.'

'Would you?'

'Of course not.' He kissed me again and added, 'Besides, I'm more than happy with our Imprint. I don't need any others.'

His words thrilled me. He was mine and I was his! Then Erik's face swam before my eyes and the thrill faded.

'What is it?' he said.

'Erik,' I whispered.

'You belong to me!' Loren's voice was rough, as were his lips as he kissed me possessively, making my blood pound.

'Yes' was all I could say when the kiss was over. He was like a tidal wave I couldn't stand against, and I let him sweep Erik away from me. 'I do belong to you.'

Loren's arms tightened around me, and then he lifted me gently and shifted his body so that he could look into my eyes. 'Can you tell me now?'

'Tell you what?' Even though I asked the question I thought I knew what it was he wanted to hear.

'Tell me what it is that upset you so badly.'

Ignoring the sudden clenching of my stomach I made my decision. After what had just happened between us, I had to trust Loren.

'Stevie Rae didn't die. At least not like what we think of as dying. She's alive, even though she's different. And she's not the only fledgling to survive a supposed death. There's a bunch of them, but they're not like her. Stevie Rae has managed to keep a hold on her humanity. They haven't.'

I felt his body tense and half expected him to tell me I was nuts, but all he said was, 'What do you mean? Explain everything to me, Zoey.'

So I did. I told Loren everything—from the 'ghosts' I'd seen to the fact that they weren't really ghosts, to the awfulness of the undead dead kids killing the Union football players, and then how I saved Heath. Finally, I told him about Stevie Rae. All about her.

'So she's waiting at Aphrodite's garage apartment right now?' he said.

I nodded. 'Yeah, she needs blood every day. The hold she has on her humanity isn't very good. If she doesn't get blood, I'm afraid she'll become like the rest of them.' I shivered and his arm tightened around me.

'They're that bad?' he said.

'You can't imagine. They're not human and they're not vampyre. It's like they've turned into all the stereotypes that are most horrible about vamps and humans. They're soulless, Loren.' I searched his eyes. 'And too far gone to fix, but Stevie Rae's affinity for the earth has made it possible for her to keep some of her soul, even if she's not whole. I really think I can do something for Stevie Rae.'

'You do?'

The thought flitted through my mind that it was kinda weird that he sounded shocked about me healing Stevie Rae but that he'd had no problem accepting the fact that undead dead kids existed.

'Well, yeah. I might be way wrong, but I believe I just need to use the powers of the elements. You know,' I paused and shifted my weight, wondering if I was getting heavy, 'I have that whole special connection with the five elements. I'm guessing that I just need to use it.'

'It might work. But you should keep in mind that you're invoking powerful magic, and there's always a cost associated with that.' He spoke slowly, like he was considering what he said carefully before he said it (unlike how I usually blurted stuff and then was sorry or embarrassed later). 'Zoey, how did this terrible thing happen to Stevie Rae and the other fledglings? Who or what is responsible for it?'

I started to say Neferet when Don't speak her name slammed into my gut. Okay, the words themselves didn't hit me, but I knew what was all of a sudden making me feel like I was gonna puke. And then I realized with a small start of surprise that I hadn't actually admitted everything to Loren. In my telling of the night when I'd rescued Heath from the undead-dead kids and first found Stevie Rae, I'd left out any mention of Neferet. I hadn't thought about it. I hadn't done it on purpose, but there was a whole piece of the story puzzle that I'd failed to put together for him.

Nyx. It had to be the Goddess working through my subconscious. She didn't want Loren to know anything about Neferet. Was she trying to protect him? Probably…

'Zoey, what's wrong?'

'Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking. No,' I kinda stuttered, 'I—I don't know how it happened, but I wish I did. I wish I could figure it out,' I added hastily.

'Stevie Rae doesn't know?'

Warning bells rang in my stomach again. 'She's not really communicating very well right now. Why? Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before?'

'No, nothing like this.' He ran a soothing hand down my back. 'I just thought if you knew how it happened, that might help you to fix it.'

I looked into his eyes, wishing the sick feeling in my stomach would go away. 'You can't tell anyone about this, Loren. Not anyone, not even Neferet.' I tried to be all High Priestessy and firm, but my voice shook and broke.

'You don't need to worry, love! Of course I won't tell anyone.' Loren held me close and stroked my back. 'But