Shea stared at the male she had come to have such complicated feelings for in such a short amount of time, and she dreaded this conversation they were about to have. Right now, those feelings could sway easily one way or the other, and she didn’t know what she was more terrified of: that she would come to hate him…

Or love him.

But either way, it was time for her to know. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad as she feared. “You’re not a normal witch.”

He took her hand and pulled her along with him to the bed. Sitting her down, he knelt on the floor in front of her, still holding her hand. His thumb rubbed the delicate bones of her knuckles.

To Shea, he looked like he was praying. And perhaps he was.

“No. I’m not just a witch. I am half witch on my mother’s side. The Moss side.”

“Moss?”

“Yes, my name is Jesse Moss.”

“You’re related to Keira and Emma…?”

“Yes. And Grace. And Laney. But mostly to Ryan.”

Shea was still trying to wrap her head around it. “Ryan?”

“Ryan is my sister. We were separated by our mother when she was too young to remember.”

Well, that explains why I don’t like her. “So, you said you’re only half witch. Witches mate with humans all the time. As long as one parent carries the magic it will pass on to the child. Your other half is human?”

He sighed. “No.”

Staring into his golden eyes, she was almost afraid to ask. “What is the other half, Jesse?”

His stare didn’t waver. “My father is djinn.”

Shea frowned. She couldn’t have heard him correctly. “I’m sorry? What?”

“I’m half witch, from the Moss coven, and half djinn. And not the good kind. As is Ryan. Although, from what I know of her, my genes are stronger.”

“Djinn. As in genie.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t realize there was more than one kind of genie.”

He shrugged. “There are two types. Good and evil, to keep it simple. My father is from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.”

Shea’s heart sank with every word. “Good gods. That’s the darkness in you.”

“Yes.”

“That’s the power in you.”

“Yes.”

“That’s why I feared you.”

“Yes.” He glanced down at their joined hands. “You don’t seem surprised by my admission.”

He was right. There was no surprise. She knew of the djinn. Her father had taught her of their existence and their ways. They were to be feared more than demons, and avoided at all costs if you happened to run across one. Even for someone of her bloodline. They were more powerful than a Master Vampire, were capable of sorcery witches could only dream of, and they weren’t to be trusted. If he had all of that, on top of the normal magic a true witch possessed….

She looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. Her heart pounded in her ears. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to remove her hand from his. His touch was a drug to her, a drug she couldn’t resist. And she didn’t want to. “I can taste it in you. The darkness.”

“You like it.” It wasn’t a question.

She turned back to him. “Yes.” The word was said more in her mind than out loud, but he heard her.

“And it brings you shame.”

“Yes.”

“Because of who you are.”

Shea nodded. “I shouldn’t crave your darkness. I should want to destroy it.”

“But you don’t want to destroy me.”

“No.” Her voice cracked.

She closed her eyes as shame flooded through her, making her reel. Everything she’d done in her life, everything she’d fought for, everything she’d been forced to do, went directly against her being with Jesse. Yet, she couldn’t make herself turn away. Even without the vampire bond to its mate, she had craved him like no other. Just to be in his presence, to hear his voice.

Tears ran unheeded down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t be with you. Yet I went against everything I’d been taught—everything—to do just that.”

“I’m so sorry I’ve caused you so much confusion and pain, Shea.” His words rang with honesty, and his own pain for causing her any suffering. “It was never my intention. I tried to stay away after you left. I did. I sat in that room alone, and I dreamed of you every second. But I didn’t reach out, not once. Because I knew I was no good for you. I knew it before I discovered who you really are.” He reached out to touch her face. “But the moment I heard your voice on the phone, my resolve fell to pieces.” He dropped his hand, and sat back on his haunches. “I paced my room for days, worrying about you, and trying to talk myself out of coming to you. But in the end, I couldn’t resist the pull. I just…I wasn’t strong enough. And for that, I apologize. I should have been stronger, Shea. I should’ve been strong enough for both of us.” He ran his hand through his dark hair. “I should have left after seeing you at that club and reassuring myself that you were safe.”

Shea listened to his words, but more importantly, she felt the turmoil within him. The blood bond between them was so strong now they were almost as one person. And knowing his feelings for her were as turbulent as hers were for him was her undoing. She wanted to reach for him. But there was more that needed to be said. More that needed to be out in the open.

“I’m not so innocent myself,” she said. “I have blood on my hands. And I’m not talking about some poor person I accidentally drained when I was new to this life.” She cringed a bit. “Although, that did happen once or twice before I got the hang of feeding.”

“You’re speaking of your sister.”

Shea nodded. “Yes. And let me tell it. Don’t pull it out of my head. I need to say it. I need to say it to you.”

“All right.” He took her hand between both of his. “Tell me what happened with your sister.”

Shea took a deep breath. The only other person who knew what she was about to say was Luukas. She’d told him the night she’d asked him to turn her, once it was done and he knew she’d lied about being ill. “I belong to a long bloodline of people. Some would call us special, others think we’re cursed.”

“What do you think?”

She thought about that. “I think we’re a little of both. Our line has been around for thousands of years—way before the Christians created their book and worshipped their God. We are the true holy people. We are the ones who fought to keep demons from this world, and the ones who send them back when they escape their hell.”

She thought back to the beginning of her human life. It seemed so long ago. “Every generation has three children. Two girls and one boy to secure the bloodline.”

“I’ve heard of your kind, but always wondered if it was only a tale creatures like me were told to keep us in line, since we’re not afraid of anyone else.”

“And did you fear me when you figured out what I am?”

He smiled. “No.”

Shea narrowed her eyes at his egotistical attitude, and repeated his own words to him. “Maybe you should.”

“Perhaps.” He stared into her eyes for a moment, and Shea felt him poking around in her head. “Tell me what happened to your sister.”

The teasing mood left her as quickly as it had come on. “I had to kill her.”

“Why?”

“She was possessed by a demon.”

Jesse frowned. “But why the vampirism? If you come from the holy bloodline, why did you go to Luukas?”

Memories of Elise came flooding back. Her sister had meant everything to Shea. She’d been her best friend, her confidant, her partner in life.

And the only possessed person she wasn’t able to kill. “I couldn’t kill her because we shared the holy blood. It’s forbidden. The blood doesn’t allow it. So, I went to Luukas and asked him to turn me.”

Understanding crossed Jesse’s features. “Because the vampire side of you doesn’t discriminate against who its victims are.”

“Exactly.” Shea wiped more tears away. “But I had to do it, Jesse. There was no other way to free her. The demon had found its way into her somehow. Into one of us! One of the bloodline! And it wasn’t leaving anytime soon. It was only biding its time, figuring out a way to kill us all, including the host body—my sister.”

“I’m so sorry, love. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.”

Shea swallowed hard and took a haggard breath, pushing the memories deep down into the furthest recesses of her mind. It was the only way she could live with herself. When she’d convinced Luukas to turn her, her only thought had been to save her sister’s soul. She hadn’t thought twice about it. There was no one else to do it. She had to be the one to take her sister’s life. Because she loved her so much. Just as Shea would have wanted Elise to do the same if the situation had been reversed.

“You have nothing to feel guilty about, Shea. You did what you had to do.”

She focused on him again. “Is that what you’re doing, Jesse? What you have to do?”

He was quiet for a long time. “Yes.”

“And what is that, exactly?” When he stayed quiet, she prompted, “I showed you mine, it’s only fair that you show me yours.”

He laughed at the saying. “I thought I’d already done that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to deflect my questions. I want to know everything, Jesse. No. I need to know everything. If we are going to be together, I need to know.” She backtracked a bit. “That is what you want? For us to be together? Truly together?”

Still on his knees, he was suddenly mere inches from her face, before she’d even seen him move. “Shea, I can’t begin to tell you what it’s been like for me these last few days, having you with me. Having someone else want to be with me…no. Not just ‘someone’. You. Having you want to be with me. However much you fought against it.”

“Then tell me why you’re helping the demons.”

Ah, yes. That. She heard the words though they were not spoken aloud.

“Yes,” she said. “That.”

Jesse shrugged. “It’s simple really. I have a family member who is running amok. I need to stop him.”

“And you need demons, creatures from the furthest depths of hell, to help you.”

“Yes. They are the only ones with enough power to do it.”

Shea tried to imagine someone so powerful Jesse would need demons to take him out, rather than just doing it himself. It was hard to imagine, even though she had a feeling she’d only seen the merest hints of what he was capable of. “Your father?”

“My father,” he confirmed. “The newest High Priest of the Moss coven.”

Shock rocked her to the core. “Your father is the High Priest? The one the others are running from?”

“Yes. And with good reason.”

Good gods. “So, I still don’t understand what the demons have to do with it.”

“The demons are the only creatures with power as completely evil as my father’s. Once they are in their original forms, and have all that power back, they’ve agreed to help me kill him.”

“But he’s your father—”

“And he’s completely insane. He needs to be removed from this dimension and back to his own. The demons will take him there. And in return, his power will become theirs.”

“And your end of the deal is you’ve agreed to bring them back, and help them reclaim their place in this world.” Lines of worry creased her forehead. “And this is why you need to protect me and my family.”

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “But humanity won’t survive such an invasion, Jesse. And then how will the vampires survive?”

“I don’t care about other vampires. I care about you. And Luukas and the others have all found their mates, as have you. I will protect my family, also.”

“But how? If the demons can take out your father, what’s to stop them from taking you out?” She tried to keep the fear from her voice, and failed miserably.

“I am not a pure blood djinn. I am also part Moss witch, the most powerful coven of white witches ever to exist. I am light and dark, good and evil. And as such, I am something for the demons to fear.”

For the first time, Shea was beginning to understand the full magnitude of the male in front of her. “And every other creature that exists,” she whispered. “Oh, my gods.” She got it now, why fate had chosen him for her mate.

Because they were the same. Good and evil. Both two sides of the same coin.

“I can protect you, Shea. I will protect you. If you will let me. But please understand, this is something I must do. My father must be stopped.”

Shea barely heard what he was saying. Her holy blood was drawn to his magical blood, and her vampire blood to his djinn. Light to light. Dark to dark. Together, they were much more powerful than on their own.

It was how it was meant to be. Relief flooded through her, to finally know, finally understand why he had been chosen for her.

Her attention was pulled back to him when he took her face between his hands. “Shea. Tell me. Out loud. You’ve decided.”

Shea’s eyes traveled over his handsome face, from the dark waves of his hair falling over his forehead, to the slight unevenness of his nose, the sculpted lips, sharp edge of his jaw and back up to those amazing eyes. Even now, she felt the tug of desire between their physical forms, but she also felt the tug of her heart.

Her thoughts jumped to Luukas. After what she had just learned, was she ready to cut ties with the vampire that had created her, and make a life together with the male that made her forget everything but him with nothing but the slightest touch? Because no matter what Jesse chose to believe, Shea knew that is what it would come down to.

She felt pulled in two different directions, yet one was so much stronger than the other. “Yes. I’ve decided.”

His lips parted, but for once, no words formed. However, Shea didn’t need to hear the words. She felt his wonder, his lust, and his overwhelming joy. Warmth glowed from his eyes like liquid gold, along with possessiveness and triumph. Her breath caught at the intensity of everything he was throwing at her.

Suddenly, a wall was thrown up between them. Not physically, but emotionally. Jesse’s expression closed off and the heat faded swiftly from his eyes, until they became as cold as stone. Jesse was once again the enigma she had first met all those weeks ago in the altar room. Unemotional. Self-Contained. Frightening.

She reached out to him with her thoughts, thinking perhaps they were in some sort of danger, only to find he’d blocked her completely. She couldn’t get past his defenses, no matter how hard she tried. She kept her voice down. “Jesse?”

He stood and cocked his head to the side. “Is this a trick, Shea?” Cruthú let out a squawk from her cage, then flew across the room to land on his shoulder. She imitated his posture, staring at Shea with accusing black eyes.

Confused, Shea stood as well. “What? Is what a trick?”

Her eyes flew to the door just before a loud knock sounded, at the same time their visitor’s scent permeated the room. Shea looked at Jesse, but he stared at the closed door. “You had me completely fooled, love. You’re a much better actress than I ever could have guessed.”

Her heart pounded. Not out of fear of him, but of fear for him. “Jesse, please. Don’t answer it. I had no idea he was coming.”

Another knock sounded on the door. Louder this time.

Ignoring her pleas for caution, Jesse strode to the door, unlocked it, and flung it open.