Gena’s free hand tightened into a fist and she used all of her momentum to swing at whoever pulled at her. Before her fist made contact, another hand captured her swinging wrist. Two arms wrapped around her from behind. One rendered her own arms immobile while the other covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

The person behind her started to pull her backward and she dug her feet in and tried to make some sort of noise, but no one seemed to pay attention to her muffled cries for help. Her struggles didn’t bother any of the dancing and drinking clubbers, so no one even glanced in her direction. The one holding Gena lifted her so her feet couldn’t touch the ground. She tried to do some damage to his shins, but whenever she did get a good blow in, he was unfazed.

A cool breeze hit her and she knew she was being pulled out of the club through a back entrance. She tried to give even more power to her kicks, but to no avail.

The one who had his arms around her let go, and she found herself on a deserted street surrounded by three huge men. There were few lights in the dark alley, and she tried to focus on the men so she could give a good description if she needed to.

The men could have been triplets, they looked so similar. They all had dark and shaggy hair that fell messily around their faces and tattoos on most of their bare skin. Gena tried to make out the designs but couldn’t see clearly enough through the dark. She wouldn’t have been able to tell they had tattoos at all if their skin wasn’t so pale that the dark markings distinctly stood out.

She tried to keep the fear out of her face, but if they looked close enough, she was sure they would see her shaking. She turned in a circle, but a man blocked off each possible exit. The one in front of her took a strong inhale through his nose, and a sickening smile lit his face. A gravelly voice said, “Smells like Marcus has already had a taste.”

She didn’t smell any food, but a sinking realization filled her. Vlad said she reeked of blood. These men must be able to smell it as well. A new wave of terror snaked through her at the thought. She really didn’t want to die again. Twice in one week was two too many times.

She took her chances at running. She faked a lunge to her left and took off in the opposite direction. She got about three footfalls in but wasn’t fast enough. A painful grip locked on her arm and yanked her backward.

The hand on her arm let her go and momentum carried her straight into the chest of one of the thugs. He laughed as he caught her with a hand on each shoulder and pushed her again. Her body crashed painfully into another man. She didn’t understand how they could push her with so much force that it felt as though she were running into brick walls, but she could barely stop to think before she was tossed aside again.

She tried to control her rapidly increasing fear and think of a logical way to fight, but just when she took a gulp of air, a hand that felt like a baseball bat on her chest sent her flying five feet back into another swinging arm. The blow knocked the air out of her lungs, and she coughed while she tried to protect herself from more blows.

This time the punishing hand didn’t strike her, but wrapped in her hair and pulled her head back. Her hands reached up to try to relieve some of the pressure he inflicted on her scalp, and her eyes connected with the brute’s unmerciful glare. “Your neck is clean,” he said with that gravelly voice.

What the hell... Aren’t most people’s necks relatively clean? She tried to think of something smart to say, but her jumbled brain couldn’t form any words.

“Are you Marcus’s human? How often does he feed on you?” asked the one who stood across from her.

Gena tried to make sense of the question. The only thing that came to mind was, “I haven’t eaten with Marcus.”

The grip on her hair tightened and she exclaimed in pain. Gravelly voice looked to the man who’d asked the question. “Do you want me to make her tell us if she is under his control or do you want to play with her first?”

Terror ran through Gena. “I’m not hiding anything. I’ll tell you whatever I can,” she tried to reason.

The interrogator walked up to her. She tried to shrink away, but the hand on her hair ensured she couldn’t move even an inch. He took a big sniff of the air by her neck and said, “You smell too good.”

He flashed her a quick smile, grabbed her arm and pushed her hard into the silent man. Gravelly voice loosened his grip on her hair as she was flung away, but some of her hair was still ripped out. She reached her arms out to catch herself as she collided with the man with a force that made her feel as though she’d been hit by a car.

Before her momentum had ended, the third man pushed her away and she flew backward. She had nothing to break her collision with a warm chest. She mentally braced herself to be pushed away again but this time, two arms wrapped around her to hold her close.

She immediately tensed and tried to move away, but the arms tightened. A hand touched her chin and moved her face to look at the man who held her.

Marcus’s angelic blue eyes stared down at her. She tried to catch her breath as she sorted out whether she should be relieved or terrified to see him.

“Look at me.” His eyes met hers. It wasn’t a hard request to follow. She’d rather look at his beautiful face than any of the ugly things that surrounded her on the street.

His voice wrapped around her head in calm and soothing tones. “You are okay. These men are friends of mine having a smoke. They did nothing to you. You have no fear of them or me.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. They did do something to her, and she was filled with panic that they might touch her again. Marcus seemed to realize her mind was working overtime and his grip on her chin tightened. Not enough to hurt, but enough to get her attention. He continued, “You trust that you’re safe with me and that you are in no danger.”

Gena still had no idea what he was talking about, but she was willing to take a chance on Marcus if it meant she’d avoid being killed for the third time in two days. She nodded her head. “I’m safe,” she said.

Her breathing calmed a bit under the spell of Marcus’s voice, but her heart still beat a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

Marcus turned his attention to the three men across from them. “Vlad said you were looking for me.”

Gena cautiously looked at the thugs. They didn’t seem too disappointed that Marcus had stopped them, and Marcus didn’t appear very outraged that she was being battered in a dark alleyway. It was a wonder Marcus didn’t have his own set of guards if these were the men he associated with.

She needed to get the hell out of there.

Gravelly voice took a step forward. “We were looking for you. He said you were out for a moment. We got bored.” He shot a glance at Gena.

Gena felt a rumble against her back and realized Marcus was growling. Who growls?

“You got bored so you stole her?” he asked with an angry tone.

How could they steal her if she didn’t belong to anyone? But she couldn’t deny she was thankful he sounded angry on her behalf.

Gravelly voice didn’t seem intimidated by Marcus. “We checked her neck first. She was unmarked.”

Gena lifted a hand to her neck. She didn’t have any marks on her neck, be it tattoos or birthmarks, but what did that have to do with anything?

She shifted nervously in Marcus’s arms and he loosened his grip. She didn’t want him to let her go. These men stopped when he came, and she wanted him to stay with her as long as there was a threat. Instead of removing his hands, he raised them to the top of his jacket she still wore.

His fingers reached for the zipper and her hands covered his. Before she could protest, his warm breath whispered in her ear, “Relax.”

Fat chance. She did keep her mouth shut as Marcus started to unzip the black leather. The sound of the metal on metal seemed much too loud in the crowded alley. The farther the zipper moved down, the more of her blood-covered chest was bared to the three brutes who stared at her.

Her top still covered all the important bits, but her attackers seemed fascinated by the large amounts of red that covered her front. One of them even licked his lips at the sight.

They said they smelled the blood. Gena took a deep swallow as she came to the realization that her blood made these men hungry. They had asked whether Marcus had ever fed ON her.

She looked behind her to study Marcus’s face. “As you can see, she’s mine. If we are done here, I am going back to the party.”

He moved away from the alley, pulling her along with him, and broke her view of his face. She let out a silent sigh of relief, but a gravelly voice chimed in. “We know why you’re here.”

Marcus stopped moving, and Gena wanted to shake him and order him to get her out of this situation as quickly as possible. “My circumstances aren’t exactly a secret,” he pointed out.

Gena couldn’t help but wonder what those circumstances were. She still wanted out, but her ears perked up.

“Aleksander betrayed you. You’ve been a loyal follower of his for years, and on a whim he banishes you. I know you had nothing to do with the attack on the queen.”

Gena felt Marcus take in a deep breath. She wished she could get a good view of him to decipher what he was thinking.

“Aleksander’s a dick. I have known it for years.”

The interrogator of the group nodded. “You aren’t the only one who knows it. There are plenty of like-minded individuals who want to see Aleksander gone.”

“Like Fredrick?” asked Marcus. “Last I saw him, he was missing his head. Even if I wanted Aleksander gone, there’s nothing I could do about that now.”

The interrogator shrugged. “Aleksander will welcome you back soon enough. There’s no evidence you had any involvement with Fredrick.”

“What makes you so sure?”

The speaker smiled. “I’m sure because Fredrick was working with us.”

There was a tense pause when no one spoke. Gena could practically feel Marcus consider his options. Whoever this Aleksander was, Marcus had motive to make him “gone,” and these men wanted him to do it. What would they do if he said no?

“I can take care of Aleksander on my own, and I don’t need some fucking dinner-snatching strangers to help me do it,” replied Marcus.

Marcus finally walked away and pulled her with him. His arms had fallen from their previous positioning wrapped around her, and she immediately felt the loss of body heat. However, one of his now free hands grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him. He took long strides and she almost had to jog to keep up with him, but she’d happily run to get away from that alley.

“Wait!” called a voice from behind them.

Marcus stopped, but Gena tugged at his arm, urging him to walk away. Marcus nodded to her in acknowledgment but still looked back to the men with an impatient glare.

The speaker threw something toward her and Marcus. She flinched and held up a defensive arm over her face, but Marcus just reached out and grabbed the flying object out of the air. His arm moved so fast it appeared as a blur in front of her eyes.

As he lowered his hand at a perfectly normal speed, Gena saw that the object was a cheap cell phone. The interrogator said, “We will be in touch.”

Marcus didn’t respond, but just turned away from the three and finally led Gena from her attackers.

The farther they moved from the threat, the calmer Gena’s breathing became. Marcus periodically glanced over his shoulder and she did the same. She didn’t see any sign of the three men behind her.

Instead of going back to the club like he’d said, Marcus led her along the dark streets of the city. After a few blocks, the shock of the evening faded and Gena slowly collected her wits. She tried to free her wrist from Marcus’s grasp, but he just held on tighter.

“Let me go,” she said quietly but firmly. She wasn’t going to be manhandled again tonight.

Marcus stopped and turned his gaze to her small wrist wrapped in his large hand. It almost looked as though he forgot he was still holding her. His fingers released her, but his voice reached her through the quiet night. “Stay with me,” he ordered and moved again.

Gena followed. “Where are you taking me? I need to go back to Hope. I promised her I’d be back to her apartment before dawn.”

Marcus shot her a surprised glance. “You want to go back to your friend? Don’t you have any questions about what just happened back there?”

She shook her head, but he was looking at the street and not her. “I don’t need to know. I just need to go home. I could use a shower.” She immediately regretted the words that reminded them both about her blood-covered chest and the two bullet holes that had disappeared.

He glanced over at her chest briefly, but it was again covered with his jacket. “There’s a shower at my place you can use.”

“What the hell? Why would I go to your place?”

“It’s safer there. I can protect you.”

Gena rolled her eyes. “I haven’t been safe one moment since I met you,” she pointed out.

“That man who shot you had nothing to do with me.”

“Just because one attempt on my life wasn’t because of you doesn’t make you safe!” She knew that she was not safe anywhere. Not as long as Ryan was hunting her and her body was doing things that shouldn’t be possible.

She wanted Marcus to leave her alone. She wanted to go back to Hope’s apartment, see Lady’s happy face and wagging tail, and take a long, long nap. She decided to try a different angle. “Besides, why would I want to be alone with someone like you?”

Marcus studied her carefully. “What do you mean by that?”

She gave him a knowing look. “You asked if I have any questions about what happened. Well, I do, but I do not want to know why you can move as fast as you do or why those men and Vlad could smell the blood on me. I don’t want to know why you were unfazed by Ryan waving a gun at you or why those men, who by the way were trying to convince you to help them murder this ‘Aleksander,’ looked hungry when they saw my blood.”

Marcus remained quiet. She’d secretly been hoping he’d jump in with a rational explanation for everything she listed. “I have enough strange things happening to me already without spending any more time around anyone who raises the types of questions you do.”

Marcus set a hand on her arm. It was a light touch, so she didn’t make him move it. She could feel the warmth of him even through his jacket. She glanced up to his face and saw those ocean blue eyes look seriously at her. “You don’t understand. You’ve been caught up in the middle of something that has nothing to do with you.”

Gena shook her head. “I’m not caught up in anything. I can walk away right now and you will never see or hear from me again. I promise I won’t cause you any more trouble.”

“You’re not causing me trouble. Those men who attacked you are very dangerous, but they’re not alone. For years we’ve lived in secret and, for the most part, in harmony with humans.”

Gena put her hands to his chest in protest. “Just stop talking! I don’t want to know any more about this!”

Marcus continued, “But now there’s this whole faction that has come out of nowhere to start a war. It won’t just be vampires who die.”

Gena was speechless. She couldn’t believe he actually spoke the word out loud.

“I work for Aleksander. I was sent here to infiltrate their group and find out who they are and how they stayed hidden for so long.”

Gena attempted to wrap her head around this. “While I agree this sounds like a very bad situation for everyone involved, I fail to see what it specifically has to do with me.”

Marcus took a deep breath before he broke it down for her. “They expect me to be a heartless bastard who would betray his king and cares nothing for humans. I saved you tonight by making it clear you were mine. When I see them again, they’ll expect you to be with me.”

Gena smiled at how ridiculous it sounded. “Just tell them you killed me. Wouldn’t that only help your image? I don’t understand what’s so complicated about this.”

“If you were so disposable to me, why wouldn’t I have let them take turns with you?”

“Because you’re greedy? I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s something you could tell them,” she said.

“If I told them I killed you with no proof, they would make me establish myself in other ways. If I’m lucky, it would just be one person they would force me to kill. It could be a whole busload.”

She fisted her fingers in Marcus’s shirt out of frustration. “You can’t blame that on me! It’s not my fault if those men kill someone.”

Marcus’s hands covered hers. “It might not be your fault, but it will happen,” he said gently.

“So are you saying it’s okay for me to die? To put my life at risk?” She hated to sound dramatic, but he had no right to put this on her.

“I don’t think you need to die. You can survive bullets and are impervious to our control. You might just be the secret weapon I need,” Marcus gently pointed out.

“Just because I didn’t die doesn’t mean I can’t. I’m playing a game that I don’t even know the rules to.”

“You won’t have to do much. Just be around when they come knocking at my door. Say hello and leave the room. I won’t be taking you to their headquarters or have you spying. I just need you to be around,” he said.

Gena removed her hands from his. She couldn’t give him what he wanted. It was too much for her to absorb in one night. “I can’t,” she whispered.

She saw his lips harden and his back straighten. “Be as scared as you want,” he said. “The fact is, you need me. You need my connections to find out why you can do the things you can.”

“I’d rather be alive and ignorant than know the truth and be dead.”

Marcus cocked a brow. “Really? What happens if ten years from now you realize you haven’t aged a day? What happens to you the next time you go to the doctor, and they decide they want to see exactly what it takes to make you die? Do you think you’re capable of having children? If you are, do you think birth control will even work? Do you really think you can go months or years or decades without knowing?”

Gena was shocked into silence at all the questions he brought up. Questions she’d never considered. He was right. She really knew nothing about this body she was trapped in. How long could she really go without knowing? How long would she be able to go without someone finding out about her? Someone who was not as understanding as Hope. What lengths would people go through to find out how she cheated death?

Marcus continued, “Besides that, you still have a crazed human chasing you. He obviously followed you to Fang, so he probably also knows where you’re staying. Where do you plan on hiding from him?”

Gena couldn’t take it anymore. “Shut up!” she shouted. “What the hell do you want from me?”

Marcus placed his hands on her shoulders. She supposed he was trying to comfort her, but it sure as hell wasn’t working. “All you have to do is stay with me. I’ll keep you safe. I will show you the city and make sure we find out exactly what is happening to you.”

Gena finally brought her gaze up to meet his. “You can try to keep me safe, but you can’t promise me anything, can you?”

Marcus straightened his shoulders and looked down at her and flashed her a smile that showed off two razor-sharp white fangs poking out from under his top lip. “Don’t underestimate my protection.”

She nodded but noted he still hadn’t promised her anything. “If you need me so badly, I think I deserve to get more out of this deal.”

He smirked at her. “Negotiating, are we? What is it you want?”

“Well, for all intents and purposes, I’m dead. No savings accounts, no driver’s license, and no Social Security number. So I need an identity and money.”

Marcus nodded. “The identity might take a while, but it’s doable. How much cash are you thinking?”

Gena drew a blank. She had no idea how much to ask for. “Umm, ten thousand?”

Marcus laughed out loud. “How about one grand a day?” he asked. “Minimum of ten and maximum of one hundred.”

Gena’s jaw dropped. “Do you even have that kind of money?”

Marcus shot her his charming smile once again. “Yes, I do have that kind of money. But you’ll be working for Aleksander, not me. It’s his money you’ll be getting.” He winked.

Gena felt a rush of relief that the problem of money had been taken care of. She couldn’t live off of Hope’s charity forever. There was only one more thing that needed to be taken care of before she could leave with Marcus.

“I have one more request,” she told Marcus.