But unfortunately, I couldn't cross into the Academy. If I did, Dracula would know.
I had to wait, wait for Rocco to make his move.
TheLapis Umbraeshard had to be hidden at the Academy. Figures. Dracula had found it. Trying to protect his sweet little bride from being dragged back to hell.
But all his careful planning would be nothing once I duped the prince.
Soon Angelo and Costin would be on his ass.
Once he was busy being hunted I would destroy that shard.
Then it was open season on Noelle.
Chapter Eight
Selena
Dimitri winked as he held open the limo door.
I couldn't even manage a thank you. My voice had abandoned me somewhere between my front door and the sidewalk—right around the moment Rocco had offered me his arm and every feeling I'd buried came roaring back to life.
I slid onto the leather seat, hyper-aware of Rocco climbing in beside me. The door closed with a soft thunk, sealing us inside.
The limo pulled away from the curb.
And suddenly, I couldn't breathe.
He looked even more devastating in the dim interior than he had standing on my doorstep. The tuxedo hugged his broad shoulders. His dark hair fell loose around his face, making him look like some romantic hero from a gothic novel. The faint scent of his cologne—something woodsy and warm—wrapped around me, making my head spin.
Heat crept up my neck, spreading across my cheeks. I turned toward the window, avoiding his gaze, and scooted a few inches away until my hip pressed against the door.
Distance. I needed distance.
But the limo wasn't that big, and every nerve in my body was screaming at me to close the gap between us. To press myself against him. To finally feel what it would be like to?—
Stop it.
I clasped my hands in my lap, knuckles white, and stared out the tinted window at the passing streetlights.
This was going to be a long ride.
Rocco stared out his window. I stared out mine. Neither of us said a word.
The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating. I could hear every breath he took. Every shift of fabric when he moved. My awareness of him hummed under my skin like a current I couldn't shut off.
He had been in love with Rose. Everyone knew it. He'd followed her around like she hung the moon, blind to anyone else—including the mate the fates had chosen for him.
And me? I'd been an idiot.
A heartbroken, reckless idiot who'd made all the wrong choices. When Rocco had made it clear he didn't want me, I'd spiraled. Let my pain twist into something ugly. I'd followed Grayson Allen—Rose's step-father, a traitor who'd wanted to dethrone the Vampire King. I'd told myself it was about justice, about change, about something bigger than my broken heart.
It wasn't. It was about hurting so badly that I didn't care what I destroyed—including myself.
I'd been branded a traitor. My reputation shattered. And Rocco had looked at me like I was dirt beneath his shoes.
Disgrace, he'd called me. Not worthy.
And then he'd outright rejected me. Cut me out of his life as cleanly as if he'd taken a knife to my heart.
