I rapped my knuckles sharply on the door of the guest bedroom.

“Uh, hold on! I’m almost ready!”

Panic sounded in Willow’s voice, and I had a sudden vision of her rushing around the room as she scrambled to finish dressing. I could imagine her tugging a shirt over her head and pulling it down to cover the milky softness of her breasts, the smooth plane of her stomach, the swell of her hips.

Clenching my jaw, I forced those images from my mind. This was exactly why I’d tried to send her away, as misguided as that attempt may have been. Jerrett would never let me live my weakness down.

It’s not entirely fair, I groused to myself. He followed her in secret too.

The only difference was, such a flagrant violation of the rules wasn’t at all out of character for Jerrett—but it was for me.

The door swung open, and Willow greeted me. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and she tugged down the hem of her loose white t-shirt. It seemed my imagination hadn’t been far off after all.

“Is this okay?” She gestured to her t-shirt and the tight, stretchy black pants she wore.

“Yes. That’s fine. You just need something you can move in.”

Dragging my gaze away from her body, I canted my head down the hallway. She pulled her door shut and fell into step beside me.

It’d been nearly dawn by the time we arrived home after our encounter with the shade, and Willow had clearly been exhausted. She needed a good day’s sleep, so I’d had Yuliya make up a guest bedroom for her—though not the same room she’d stayed in last time.

I’d botched the girl’s transformation just about as badly as was possible, and I wanted to start Willow’s stay with us on the right foot. Putting her in the same room where she’d once woken up terrified, alone, and strapped to a bed didn’t seem like the best way to put her at ease.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure anything would do that.

The sun had set a few hours ago. Sol and Jerrett were in the study, working on deciphering the runes on the shade’s arm. And as I’d promised last night, I was going to train the girl. My gut roiled every time I considered how much worse the shade’s attack on her could have been. If she’d died because we weren’t there to protect her, I would never have forgiven myself.

Why do you care so much?

A traitorous voice that sounded suspiciously like Jerrett’s whispered insidiously in my head.

Grinding my teeth together, I picked up my pace and led Willow through the large house, as if hoping to outrun my thoughts.

I care what happens to her because she’s my responsibility. My brothers and I turned her, and that makes her our charge. That’s all.

Willow hurried to keep up with me, her heart slamming against her ribs. She was nervous, though she tried her best to hide it. Her walk was strong and poised, but her pulse gave her away. She didn’t trust me, and she was probably right not to.

My predator instincts rippled under my skin as we descended the stairs to the lower level. Her flushed cheeks and wide eyes called to me like a wounded deer calls to a wolf; my muscles shook with the urge to press her up against the wall and show her how little she should trust me.

Agreeing to spend more time with her was a mistake. I knew that. The bond between my brothers and the girl was growing, and it was only going to become stronger now that she was living with us.

I hated to admit it, but my own need for her was growing too.

As reckless and insane as it had been to approach her in the bar, I couldn’t stop replaying our dance over and over again in my head. I could still remember the warmth and strength of her body as it rocked against mine, the uninhibited joy, passion, and sensuality of her movements.

But the truth was, we needed her in a more practical sense as well. She might be able to help us uncover answers about the shades, why they were attacking, and what they wanted. She was our only lead, and we were her only protection. It was a fair trade.

We reached the basement, and Willow’s hazel eyes nearly popped out of her pretty little head when I ushered her inside the training room.

“Oh!” She blinked at her surroundings.

I cocked my head at her, a smile tugging at my lips despite myself. “Just ‘oh?’”

Her reaction didn’t surprise me. The lower level didn’t exactly match the luxurious design of the rest of our house. But this room wasn’t meant to be pretty. It was meant to be useful. We didn’t need expensive art on the walls or extravagant upholstery here. We just needed a large, unbreakable space.

Somewhere to let our demons out to play.

“What is this place?” She glanced over at me. The specks of gold in her irises shone even under the dingy florescent lighting.

I took off my jacket and threw it to the floor, flexing my shoulders. “This is the best room in the whole house.”

Willow scanned her surroundings again doubtfully, as though she might’ve missed something. There was nothing to miss. A few heavy bags hung from the ceiling in one corner, and a rack of weapons and a small chest of drawers stood against the opposite wall. That was it.

“It is?”

“Yes. This is the training room.” I grinned, the excitement of a fight loosening my tense muscles. Sparring always helped calm me down and clear my head.

Willow blanched, biting her plump bottom lip.

“Do I really need training? I mean, it’s kind of intuitive, isn’t it? I can move a little faster, I’m a little stronger, and I can smell and hear more acutely. Is training neces—”

Before she could finish the word, I had her pinned to the wall with her hand behind her back. Her ass pressed against me as I leaned into her, her cherry and almond scent invading my senses, and I struggled to control my instinctual reaction.

Her body was like a drug I could get high on over and over, but that wasn’t the point of this. I couldn’t lose focus. I needed to teach her how dangerous it was to underestimate her opponents.

Or to get cocky.

“Yes. Yes it is.” My words were a dangerous whisper in her ear. She struggled against my grip, but I didn’t let her go yet. “A creature with the same heightened strength and speed as you can easily take the upper hand if you aren’t prepared. And those shades are incredibly strong and nearly vampire-fast. You might feel invincible, Willow, but that’s only because humans are weak. You have no idea what supernaturals are capable of.”

I finally released her, stepping back. She turned around and leaned against the wall—because her legs wouldn’t support her weight, I was guessing—but the glare she shot me was fierce.

“Jesus! First on the dance floor, now here. If you grab me like that again, I’ll kick your ass!”

“I didn’t think you minded it on the dance floor.” I raised a mocking brow, ignoring the reaction in my own body at the memory.

Willow’s eyes widened. She flushed bright red and looked down, her dark hair falling around her face like a curtain.

“That’s not the point,” she whispered. “You can’t just go around grabbing people without their permission.”

Her vulnerability drew out the predator in me, but to my surprise, an even stronger instinct rose in my chest—the need to protect her, to comfort her.

“Wildcat.” Stepping closer, I tipped her chin up with the fingers of one hand. Tears glistened in her eyes. My thumb caressed her cheek, the skin soft as rose petals. “There are monsters in this world who wouldn’t ask permission to kill you, let alone touch you. I’m trying to make sure you can defend yourself from them.”

She tugged her lower lip between her teeth, staring at me intently. “And you’re not one of them?”

“The monsters?”

Her head dipped slightly, still cupped in my hand.

“No, Willow.” I bent down to meet her at eye level, wanting her to see the truth in my eyes. “I try very hard not to be.”

“I… I believe you.”

A shaky smile broke across her face, and I swore I heard an angelic choir singing. My chest tightened at the sight, an unfamiliar but not unpleasant ache squeezing my heart.

“Good.” I cleared my throat and stepped back, giving us both a chance to recover our equilibrium. “I’m going to challenge you in our training because I want you to learn. I want you to have to push yourself, and to feel the adrenaline that comes with danger. But I will never hurt you. I promise.”

Willow nodded, stepping away from the wall. I was pleased to note that her legs no longer wobbled. She was strong. Brave.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

“You have a lot to learn. Blind determination and balls will usually get you just far enough to get you killed. That shade would’ve started carving you up in a few seconds if we hadn’t found you when we did.”

She blew some hair out of her face, frustration clear on her features.

“I was… handling it.” At my raised brow, she sighed. “Okay, I wasn’t handling it well. I want to learn how to move like you guys do. You shift through shadows so quickly. I want to be good at hiding.”

Good. She wanted to learn defense before she learned offense. That was the mark of a smart fighter.

“It is a useful skill,” I agreed.

I glanced around the room. It was sparse, so there weren’t many shadows. But the few pieces of equipment we had were enough. I instructed Willow to watch as I approached one of the heavy bags. The shadow it cast was almost half my size, but I slipped into it effortlessly, disappearing from view.

Willow gasped, and I grinned. It’d been quite a while since I spent time with someone who was impressed by any of this. My brothers would’ve just called me out for being too slow.

I slipped back out of the shadow, reappearing before the girl. “That’s how it’s done.”

“Like… this?” Willow walked hesitantly over to the shadow cast by the heavy bag. She stepped onto it carefully then glanced up at me with hope shining in her eyes.

Fighting down a laugh, I said, “I can still see you, wildcat.”

Her face fell. “Damn it. What did I do differently than you?”

“Well, for one thing, you just stepped on it. To hide in the shadows, you have to slip into them.”

Willow wrinkled her nose. “I’m trying so hard not to let my brain explode right now.”

I couldn’t blame her. She’d been in her new body for a few days. I’d had centuries to get used to mine.

“It’s all right, we’ll try again. Come here.” I gestured her forward, and she stepped away from the bag’s small shadow. Grasping her shoulders gently, I spun her around to face it again, lowering my head to speak low in her ear. “Think of it like stepping off the edge of a pool into deep water. You don’t have to do anything. The water is there. Waiting. It wants to envelop you.”

Was it my imagination, my untethered longing playing tricks on my mind, or did she soften under my touch? Did her body lean back slightly as if seeking more contact with mine?

“Okay. I’m ready.”

“Then step into the shadow. I’ll go with you.”

We moved forward together, and the shadow welcomed us, drawing us into its depths.

Willow shivered. “Oh, I felt that! Did I do it?”

“You did, little wildcat.” I squeezed her shoulders.

I’d helped her along that time, but now that she knew how it worked, I was confident she’d be able to reproduce the effect on her own. I let go of her and stepped back, checking to make sure she stayed hidden in the shadow.

After a moment, she reappeared, breathless with excitement. Her enthusiasm dimmed only slightly when I made her repeat the move over and over until she could slip in and out of the shadow at will.

“Excellent,” I said, as she stepped from the shadow once again. “Now let’s make it a little more difficult.”

“How?”

“I’m going to close my eyes and count to three. While I’m counting, you must find a shadow to hide in. If you can escape the shadow and find a new hiding spot before I catch you, you win. If not, I win.”

“Like hide and seek?” She tucked a wisp of dark hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.

“Yes. Exactly like hide and seek. Except if you lose this game in a real fight, a rogue supernatural will kill you and sell your skin to a dark magician,” I said dryly.

Willow rolled her eyes, but a flicker of worry passed over her face.

I closed my eyes and counted slowly, listening for her footsteps. I’d promised her I wasn’t going to go easy on her, and I had no intention of doing so. The shades certainly wouldn’t.

When I reached the end of my count, I glanced over to where her footsteps had stopped. A grin stretched my lips.

Clever minx.

A long bow staff leaned against the wall next to the weapons rack, casting a thin shadow across the wall and floor. With vampire speed, I darted over and pushed her out of the shadow.

Willow reappeared, stumbling backward and landing on her ass.

“Hey!” She looked up at me with wide eyes. “How the hell did you do that?”

“Don’t assume you’re safe anywhere, wildcat. Not even in the shadows. Next time, move before I find you.”

She stood slowly, rubbing her perfectly formed ass. The black pants she wore hugged every curve of her long legs, and I found myself inexplicably jealous of an article of clothing.

I wrenched my gaze away, dropping my eyelids closed. “Again.”

We continued like that for several hours. She did well. She was a determined student and a keen observer.

Good. She has so much to learn, and the faster we work, the better.

The more time I spent with this fierce, delicate woman, the harder it became to remember why I needed to keep a barrier up between us.

If I could get these training sessions over with as quickly as possible, I might come out of this with my dignity intact and the shades’ corpses at my feet.