Jesse stared at the male on the other side of the threshold, and it came to him that he had been a complete fool.

He felt Shea behind him, her warmth like that of the sun after a freezing winter, and he fought the urge to reach behind him and pull her up against him. She had fooled him utterly. With her body, her words, and even with her mind. She’d never planned to be with him. It had all been a trick to find out what he was about.

Her voice came from behind him, still playing the part. He had to admit, she was an excellent actress.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

However, she was a fool if she thought this one could stop him. But no more a fool than he had been to believe her. “Come now, Shea. Let’s invite our guest, or should I say ‘guests’, inside before we go throwing out questions that you already know the answer to.” Stepping back out of the way, he threw one arm out in welcome, ignoring Shea’s confused stare. “Please, come in.”

Aiden stepped over the threshold, and went to go stand near Shea. Closing the door, Jesse observed the way he protected her with mild amusement. It was quite comical to him that the vampire believed he could keep him from her. Especially since there was no need. Not now. Not anymore.

“What can I do for you?” He didn’t need to ask how they had been found. He assumed they’d been seen by one of Luukas’s minions who were also tracking the demons. A touch inside of the vampire’s head confirmed it. Mammot had given them away by coming here to the room.

“Hallo, mate. Fancy meeting you here.” Aiden’s tone was light, but his grey eyes were glinting with hatred. He gave Shea a tight smile. It fell from his face, and he placed a hand over his chest. When he lifted his head, Jesse detected shadows ghosting about in his bright gray eyes. Then they were gone.

“Excuse me, just a bit of indigestion there.”

It wasn’t a stomach ailment, unless you considered a demon that currently possessed you as such. Jesse wondered if the vampire really was as “off” as he seemed, or if it was all an act. Maybe the entire colony was all a group of actors who used their talents to obtain more and more power for their Master.

He couldn’t say that he blamed them. He, himself, had done a lot worse, for nothing but his own personal amusement.

“What do you want?” Shea asked again. “What are you doing here, Aiden? The last time I saw you, you told me not to come back. And now you’re chasing me down? And where is Nikulas?”

Playing the game through to the end, I see. She really was good.

Linking his hands behind his back, the vampire strolled casually into their room. He appeared to be checking out the décor.

“He’s off playing with demons. I told him I would stay in our room, as my inner demon tends to get his knickers in a twist when I’m around them.” He stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. “This room is quite lovely. A bit Americanized, though, with the color scheme and all, don’t you think?” He looked at Jesse. “No?” He began to walk around again.

Cruthú flew from Jesse’s shoulder to land on the headboard nearest Aiden. She followed him around, jumping from object to object, watching him closely as he touched this and that, until he’d gone full circle. Finally, the vampire plopped down on the edge of Shea’s bed and leaned back on his hands. “I’ve come to fetch you home. Luukas is in quite a state, to be honest, and we need you there. No matter my feelings about all of this.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. With a quick glance at Jesse, she told him, “I can’t. And I don’t want to. I belong here. With Jesse.”

Aiden gave her a blank expression, blinking hard. Eventually Jesse, who leaned casually against the door as he watched the exchange, drew his attention. Understanding dawned. “Ohh, yes. Because of your lusty attraction to our dark witch here.” He shrugged. “I can see why you would fancy him, what with the whole sexy dark magic thing going on.” Then he leaned forward, confusion creasing his brow. “But, Shea, wouldn’t you be better suited to find a nice lady friend?” He held up his hand. “Now, we all know that you swing it both ways, and honestly, we couldn’t care less. My point is: you can touch a female, whereas you can’t have any physical contact with a male. And I don’t know about you, but I’m all about the touching.” He grinned, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Does he ever shut up?” Jesse asked idly.

“Not really, no,” Shea told him. Walking over to the bed, she sank down beside the other vampire.

Jesse felt his spine stiffening at the sight of her so close to another male, despite his intentions not to care.

“Aiden…” She paused, took a deep breath. “Aiden, Jesse is my mate.”

He stared at her for a full minute. Finally, one eyebrow went up. “Ah, well. That’s a right mess then, isn’t it?”

Jesse was surprised when she adamantly shook her head. “No. It’s not. It’s good.”

Though she was speaking to Aiden, her eyes found and fixed on Jesse. He felt her pushing against his mental shields, but he refused to let her in. She’d already done enough damage.

With a deep sigh, she continued. “I was with Jesse the entire time I was a prisoner at Leeha’s fortress. I was forced to stay there, yes, but only because he was protecting me.” She pleaded with Aiden to understand. “It was supposed to be me on that altar. Not you. Jesse refused to do it. He kept me in his room and magically sealed the door. No one could go in or out but him. I couldn’t leave, but it also kept Leeha out. Until the day he finally let me go.”

Aiden waved a hand. “Yes, Shea. I know all this.” He rose from the bed and walked over to Jesse. “But you had no such qualms saddling me with the one demon who doesn’t want to be here.”

Jesse met Aiden eye for eye, but stayed as he was. “No. You weren’t so lucky.”

“No, I was not,” Aiden agreed. “Maybe if I’d had flowing dark hair and sparkling green eyes?” He smirked, then turned and strolled away.

A smile threatened, but Jesse got it under control. The vampire had balls, he had to give him that.

Shea expelled a breath of relief when Aiden moved away from him. She was tense, waiting for him to lose patience with her friend, and rightly so. However, he was more interested in seeing how this would play out. Not because he harbored any ill feelings for what he had done, but because if he killed the host body, the demon inside would be free to possess another now that it was unchained from the altar. And the closest body, other than himself, was Shea. He might be angry with her, but he did not wish that upon her.

“Feel free to poke around in here if you wish,” Aiden told him, pointing to his head. “I assure you I came here of my own free will. Shea knew nothing of my plans. Her reasons for gallivanting about with you are, apparently, true.”

Jesse was tempted, but a part of him held back, unsure he really wanted to know what he would find in the crazy Brit’s head. “Are you not afraid of me, vampire?”

“Terrified,” Aiden said without humor. “But I think you’ve already done your worst with me as far as I’m concerned. Knowing what I know now, how you were only trying to protect our little Shea, I’m attempting to understand. You did what you felt you needed to do. There are worse things I would do for my Grace if she were threatened. Or even for Prickles.”

Jesse frowned, glancing around Aiden to Shea, who remained sitting on the bed, watching them with her heart in her eyes. “Grace’s hedgehog,” she supplied.

“Ah.” Somehow, that didn’t surprise him with this one.

Aiden kicked his chin up a notch. “My Grace is arse over elbow for the silly thing. If anything happened to him, she’d be heartbroken.”

“Of course.”

“So, what do you say?” And this time Jesse found clear gray eyes glinting with intelligence staring back at him. “Truce? For Shea’s sake?” Gritting his teeth, Aiden stuck out his hand.

Instead of shaking it, Jesse pushed himself away from the door and opened it wide. He paused. Looking at Shea, he said, “Don’t forget your bag when you go.”

She was beside him in an instant, grabbing his arm. “Jesse? What are you doing? Why are you leaving?”

He ignored Aiden’s shocked exclamation, his eyes on her hand on his arm.

“I gave you what you came here for, Shea. But now, I’m doing what I need to do to correct the damage. Don’t worry. I won’t let you starve. I’ll find you come feeding time.” He sounded cold. He sounded like a complete ass. And he didn’t give a fuck.

Her eyes filled with tears. “Jesse, I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you.”

“So they can track you, and therefore, me? How idiotic do you think I am?” Turning to Aiden, he said, “Take her. She’s all yours.” Then he walked out of the room, whistling for Cruthú. She swooped through the room, landing on his shoulder. With a quick look up and down the hall to make sure there were no humans about, he disappeared.