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“He is a lucky man,” he said, knowing she would think he meant the opposite. In truth, he’d meant it. She was a singular woman—tough and beautiful and loyal to a fault. Torr could understand why Kenton Morley had forsaken his lifelong vow and his own brothers to protect the very woman he’d come to Stone Haven to kill.

According to Lawrence, she was developing into one of the most powerful Cheld he’d ever seen.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice strained.

“Ladies.” With one last glance at the gentlewoman—no, not a gentlewoman, a princess—he strolled back to the bar. He’d known several princesses in his day, and that’s what she looked like in her perfectly coordinated outfit, not a hair out of place.

He knew the type well.

And though he still couldn’t sit thanks to an ill-timed tightening of his pants, Torr decided then and there to abandon his plans to play with the princess of Stone Haven. He didn’t need that kind of aggravation, and besides, if he messed with her, Alessandra wasn’t the only one who’d kill him. His brother would likely beat her to it.

Or attempt to, at least.

Torr, like his siblings and the Morley brothers, couldn’t easily be killed. As members of the first vampire families, they were also the fastest and strongest, and only a very skilled Cheld or vampire taking them completely unaware could have a chance at ending their exceedingly long lives.

Shoving his glass toward the bartender, Torr smiled.

It was good to be a Derrickson.

It was good to be untouchable.

* * *

“Torr,you’re going to kill yourself.”

Placing the beam on the floor in front of him, he looked back to Toni and tried to be serious, for her sake.

“You think so?”

A red flush crept up her cheeks. His brother had insisted on exposed beams that weren’t native to the bank, and he’d thought to help the process along by moving the wood himself. But apparently Toni preferred he leave that work to the professionals.

“I forget sometimes,” she said, handing him a bottle of water. “Silly, I know.”

He took the water and opened it. “Not silly at all. We’ve spent many years acclimating. It’s a compliment, actually. You’re saying I fit in.”

Toni reached down to the cooler to grab her own water bottle.

“Well, don’t tell your brother I complimented you. According to him, it’s the last thing you need.”

He considered her words and agreed. “He’s right.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “But you’re perfectly normal sometimes.”

His laugh echoed through the open space. “I’d thank you if I thought being called normal were a compliment. Lawrence, on the other hand, would . . .”

He let his words drift away. They didn’t need to be said. Toni knew his brother well enough now to know the truth. As much as Torr relished the special abilities they’d been given, Lawrence had never wanted anything but to be human again. To be “normal.”

This bar, Stone Haven, was his dream.

Living in one place, working for himself . . .

“What is it?” Toni asked.

Because he liked and respected her, he met her gaze—after ensuring Lawrence was on the other side of the room, of course. “He can’t stay forever,” Torr said, watching as his brother spoke to one of the workers. “However much he might like to. This isn’t an open town—”

“But could it be?”

Torr shivered. “No,” he said automatically. “The last time he tried to force that—”