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“I want kids.”

“Me too. Genetically our children would be attractive and extremely powerful.”

I felt someone move up behind me, someone big enough to cast a dark shadow over us. The shadow moved over Isaac’s face, like the moon being eclipsed by something bigger and darker.

That actually took longer than I thought.

Isaac frowned and stared over my shoulder.

“This is my friend Warrick,” I said without looking back. I didn’t need to. “He’s alpha of the hellhounds. He also has a bad habit of killing anyone who touches me.”

Isaac released me instantly and stepped back. Warrick crowded my back, his thick arm circling my waist, and he tugged me against his front. “Fuck off,” he said to Isaac.

Isaac’s eyes widened, then he looked down at me. “Willow?”

“Best you do as he says, he’s kind of unpredictable,” I said and watched as Isaac’s face turned red with rage. If I was trying not to piss off Sapphire, I’d gone the wrong way about it. That’ll teach me to drink copious amounts of champagne at one of these things.

Judging by the look on Isaac’s face, he wasn’t giving up yet, though. And he proved it by opening his mouth. “Now hang on a minute, we’d be a good match…”

“You’re kidding, right?”

His gaze flicked to Warrick again, then back to me. “You need to think…”

“I don’t need to do a damned thing. I’ll never marry, and if I did, it wouldn’t be to you.” Warrick’s arm tightened around me and he growled a warning. It lifted happy little tingles all over my skin. Nope, I really shouldn’t have had that third glass of champagne, or was it four? I couldn’t remember now.

“You’re making a mistake, a big one,” Isaac said and strode off.

Warrick’s beard brushed my neck, and then his lips were against my skin. “Watching you with that fucking cockroach has made me very unhappy.”

“How unhappy?”

“I crave the scent of his blood and the sound of his screams while I tear him to pieces, one limb at a time.”

His deep voice rumbled right through me and I shivered. I should push him away, but I couldn’t make myself do it. “That’s seriously unhappy.”

“Yeah.”

“He wants to marry me,” I heard myself say. “Their family and mine are both powerful. A mutually beneficial union, apparently. They want access to what we have.” Everyone wanted our cemetery. It was coveted by nearly everyone in this room.

His tongue flicked my earlobe, and I shivered. “I’ll kill him first.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He breathed deep, scenting me. “Come home with me. Let me pleasure you, dove. I’ll show you why I’m the male you should choose.”

I wanted to say yes—badly. But even seriously tipsy I knew I shouldn’t. “That’s not a good idea.”

“No, it’s an excellent one.” One of his hands was curled around my side, the other resting on the curve of my belly. His fingers flexed against the delicate silk. “Just once, that’s all I need to have you craving only me for the rest of time.”

Warrick was immortal; he had the rest of time. I, on the other hand, did not. I laughed, even as heat curled under his wide palm. “That’s pretty arrogant.”

“I have reason to be.”

“You’re that sure of yourself?” I needed to stop talking, to stop thinking about what he was offering.

“Yes.” His lips brushed my jaw. “I told you before, we worship our females.”

A scream echoed through the ballroom.