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I could practically feel him bristling beside me. “I require you to have some grace on the subject.”

The other vampire pressed his hand to his cheek. “I swear before you left, you said you wanted to see what was out there, did you not?”

Elijah had my full attention. It sounded like he was saying Lukas planned to find a human from the start. “You enjoyed all those blonds me and Kiam gave you so much that you wanted more.”

Before I could help it, I found myself combing my fingers through my not-blond hair. Elijah caught the motion and gave me a crooked smile. “Don’t worry, that’s all I had left for him, I killed all the brunettes.”

Selena met my gaze and shrugged. “Long story.”

Lukas sat frozen, possibly not even breathing. His eyes flickered from green to black, and back to green again. I heard Selena suck in a harsh breath.

He turned that gaze on me and then drifted his eyes over my form. He was completely closed off; I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But I wanted to know—had he gone searching for a human woman to take home? If he did, it changed everything.

It didn’t change how I felt about him, but it definitely made a difference in the dynamic at play here in this house.

“Are you questioning my love for Cassia? Attempting to make her question my motivation?”

My heart probably came to a complete stop, listening to Lukas’s words. My head buzzed as that four-letter word repeated in my head.

My head swiveled to look at him. His lips were partly separated, and he licked one of his fangs as he set his glass down on the table in front of us.

Elijah’s hands flexed and he placed one on his knee and the other on the arm rest again. “I’m not sure what you’re playing at, but this is now my domain. You gave it to me. You may be stripped of your title, for all any of us know, but you did this.”

Selena sneered, “He’s losing his grip.”

“Little girl, would you like to meet a new ceiling?” Lukas’s voice was sickly sweet.

Elijah’s nailed chimed together, having grown to impossible lengths. “Lay one hand on her and I will shred you to pieces,” he warned, with a smile.

“Didn’t you already agree to work together? Who cares how I’m here, there’s other—” The room suddenly went dark, stopping my words and sending my fingers to grip Lukas’s arm. “What was that?”

Juliet waved her hands in front of her face. “I want to say it's all the dick measuring but that was just sunset. It does that here.” The lit candles weren’t nearly enough light.

“Who’s measuring dicks?” A man strolled into the room, eyeing us all with suspicion before kissing Juliet’s forehead.

She introduced us all to her husband and then flicked a light switch, illuminating the overhead chandelier.

“Did you know about that?” Lukas sighed and shook his head, his shoulders slumping a fraction as he rubbed his fingers against my knuckles.

Elijah stood. “I imagine you’ll expect accommodations tonight?”

“Yes, please. We would appreciate that,” Lukas replied diplomatically.

“All right,” he agreed. He turned to Juliet and drew her into a hug before kissing the top of her head. “Thank you, I’ll talk to you later.”

She gave Lukas a cursory glance. “You do that.”

I glanced at Lukas and he lightly lifted his hand. He didn’t understand Juliet and Elijah, either. I wasn’t about to ask but it seemed normal for Selena, who went and crushed her arms around the woman as soon as Elijah let go.

Elijah looked at the two of us and then down at Selena. He took her hands and they disappeared.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Lukas said to Juliet with a slight dip of his head.

She glanced at him incredulously and said, “Please leave.”

Before she turned around, I tried to give her a hug, but she was wiping the back of her hand across her forehead and staring at the floor.

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