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“I cannot lie to you. Not that I’d want to, but I can’t. You are my mate even though the two of us have never bonded.” She asked what that meant, and he told her. “So you see, sex is important to your welfare. Also, you’ll get more magic. You have a little now. You’re immortal.”

“Can you be killed?” He shook his head and began moving around her garage. “What will you do to my father if he hurts me again?”

“Kill him. In fact, I’d like to kill them both. Unless you’d ask me nicely not to.” She told him that she didn’t want him dead. “All right. But he’ll be hurt. Of that I can only promise.”

“The books all profess that you have a great deal of money. Before you answer that, I have nothing. I have sunk every bit of my money into this garage to make it work for me.” He said that he had billions. “I thought you’d say that. Another reason for us to not have anything in common. Why me? I mean, there has to be thousands of other women out there that would more than likely jump at the chance to have sex with you and spend all your money. What makes you think that I’m so special?”

“May I touch you?” He was about as far from her as he could get and still be in the same garage with her. When she nodded that he could touch her, he moved again and was standing right in front of her. “I’m going to touch the area where I bit you. Tell me what you feel.”

All he did was run his fingers over the two little wounds, and she felt her knees buckle from the climax. It was as if she’d been waiting all day for it to happen and he did it by a single touch.

“No one else can touch you there and bring the same reaction. If you were to bite me, and that’s something that I’m hoping will happen soon, it will have the same effect on me. You’ll be able to bring me to a roaring climax by just your touch.” Helping her to stand, he licked the area again, and she felt her body warm. “By licking you there, I can turn you on, but it’s my touch that will bring you. I promise you that I will only use that when necessary. Your blood to me is much more powerful when you come than when you don’t. I won’t need to feed as much if you allow me to feed from you while you’re coming.”

“You’ve made me come twice.” He said he was very aware of that. “I wish you’d not do that again. It’s embarrassing.”

“Not for me. It shouldn’t be for you either. Sex is a natural thing between the two of us. It’s as natural as breathing. When we come together, and we will, I have to believe that, but when we do, it will be something that you can’t live without either.” She said that she didn’t believe him. “And you won’t allow me to prove it to you either.”

“How would you prove it? Having sex, I guess.” He nodded. She could tell by his face that she’d hurt him and hated that. But this was all his fault. If he’d just left her alone, then none of this would be a problem. He asked her what she was thinking. So she told him.

“Leaving you alone is an option, but I’d have to die. I no more want that than I do to hurt you.” She asked him what he was talking about. “If you and I can’t come to some agreement, then I’m going to have to be put down. I’m not sure how it will happen, as that’s my job to kill rogues, but I will go insane without you in my life. Also, if you won’t allow me to feed from you, I’ll starve. And then I’ll change into a rogue vampire that will have to be destroyed.”

“You’re just telling me this to keep me here.” He told her that he couldn’t lie to her. “So you keep saying. Why should I believe you?”

“I have no idea.” He turned to go to the door, but he stopped just short of leaving her. “I won’t bother you again. You will come to realize that I’m telling you the truth or not. Until then, I hope you have a good life. I certainly won’t.”

She let him leave. It was that, or she would have to start over again in getting him to leave her alone. She thought about all the things that he’d said to her and knew that there was no way that he was telling her the truth. Vampires lived forever, at least he seemed to be. And then there was his mom. Picking up her cat and deciding to go home, she walked back to her place and settled in. York would be just fine; she knew it. She would live her life, and then she’d be just fine.

That night when she went to bed, she had another nightmare. This one had York in it, and he was dying. She tried to save him, but she couldn’t. Something about sex and her not giving him what he needed. When she got up the next morning, not only did she have a headache, but she was sick with it. Not going to the garage so that she could rest for the day, she thought about what she could remember from the dreams. Mostly it was about York dying. He couldn’t die so soon after her rejecting him, could he? She went to the shop to work when her headache wouldn’t give up and was shocked to see his mother there.

“I’ve come to tell you a few things.” She asked if she was mad at her. “I have no feelings toward you at all right now. If not for York needing you in his life, then I’d—” She cut herself off. “I’ve come to tell you that he’s paid off your hospital billing.”

“Why would he do that?” She said that she didn’t know, but that’s what he’d done. “What else has he done in the name of money? I’m sure there’s plenty.”

“There is money in your checking account. There is also money that will come to you monthly in the form of cash. He gets paid in cash, and he saw no reason why you shouldn’t receive money the same way.” She said she didn’t want his money. “Well, I guess you’re going to have to take that up with him. He said to do so soon so that he can get back to work. He’s been called away by the council to rid the world of three vampires.”

“Is it true that he’ll go mad if he doesn’t have sex with me?” She nodded. “And if he can’t feed from me, will he also go rogue and die?”

“He’ll have to be killed, yes. He didn’t lie to you about anything.” She asked about sex, feeling her face heat up with the question. “If you’re asking me if you have to have sex, then the answer is yes and no. Without him bringing you to climax when he feeds from you, he’ll need more. And that is the truth. But he can only feed from you from now on.”

“Who did he feed from before?” She told her what she knew of her son. “Does he have sex with them too?”

“No. He brings them to climax by making them think that they’ve had sex, but no, he’s not one to have one-night stands simply because he has to feed. I don’t believe any of my sons only have sex to feed.” She laughed. “I’m not saying that they don’t have sex, but it’s not when they feed. It’s rude to take from someone when they don’t know what you’re about.”

“I don’t know what to believe.” She told her again that he can’t lie to her. “How am I supposed to believe that? For all I know, he tells all the women he knows that he can’t lie to them.”

“He can lie to them. He does it all the time. But he won’t lie to you even if he could.” She was so confused and told her so. “I understand. I was the same way before when I met their father. I was a changed vampire. You would be too. The benefits far outweigh the feelings that you get from sex. You’ll have enough magic to rule the world should you wish it.”

“I don’t want to rule the world. What I want to do is have a peaceful life.” She threw back her head and laughed, much like York did when he thought something was funny.

“Your life will be far from peaceful again with or without York in your life. You’re a marked human, and other shifters will know that. You should see the benefits from his mark soon. Your business, for one, will be picking up. They’ll trust you more as well.”

“Why? Because he bit me?” She nodded and smiled. “That’s not as reassuring as you might think that it is.”

“You’ll soon see.” As she turned to leave, she came back into the garage and laid a thick envelope on the bench. “Your first payment. It’s what he makes in a day, so don’t think it’s going to tax him in any way. He can well afford it.”

She didn’t bother with the money but set to work. When her headache got the better of her again, she decided that she was going home to stay. Whatever was going on with York, she was going to figure it out. There was no point at all in her working when she was sick with her head pounding.

Chapter 4