Hot tears burned Simone’s eyes as she slipped away from the crowd and hurried down the beach. They were all so staggered by everything Nathan had revealed and all that had happened, they didn’t notice her leaving.

She wished she had Kadence’s courage to flee the stronghold. Wished she could go out into the world, forge her way, and never look back. Anything would be better than facing the hunters she’d just been humiliated in front of again.

All her life, she’d done everything right! She excelled in her classes, she never disobeyed, she worked to make herself as perfect as she could be, and to become the wife and mother a hunter would be proud to have to take care of his children and home.

A perfect wife for Nathan. Since they were babies, everyone had known he was the hunter she was to marry. The most perfect student and the most beautiful woman available had to be destined for their leader. What a perfect couple they would make.

Instead, he’d tossed her aside for a vampire!

Had he been with the vampire woman? The idea of the man who was supposed to be her husband lying with one of those creatures made her glad he hadn’t gone through with the ceremony. If he’d come to her and kissed her after that woman….

Thinking about it made her nauseous, and the unfairness of it all caused anger to burn in her chest. She’d occasionally experienced some anger before, but she’d never seen a reason for the emotion. It didn’t solve anything, and it was not the way a proper hunter woman should react to anything.

Calm, demure, poised, agreeable, loving, perfect those were the things she’d been raised to be, and anger had no place in perfection.

But she was angry now. No, not angry, she was fuming! Her whole life she’d prepared herself for her husband, and now she had no idea who that husband would be. It certainly wouldn’t be Nathan.

She didn’t love Nathan; her dreams were in ruins, but her heart wasn’t. They’d known each other their entire lives, but never well enough for love to develop between them. However, she had loved the dream of being with the head of all the hunters.

She’d often daydreamed about being married to Nathan and the input her marriage would give her into the ceremonies and the way things were done in the stronghold. Everyone would look up to her, tell her how lucky she was, and hopefully one day, she would have children. When their son rose to become leader, everyone would still revere her.

After working tirelessly at being a woman who mostly went unnoticed, she wanted to be noticed by her husband and her people. There were no other men in the stronghold who could give her the same opportunities Nathan would have.

No matter who she married now, she would be as she’d always been—one of the many women who lived only for her husband—and that vampire would be the one standing by Nathan’s side.

She wiped her tears away and practically stomped her way down the beach. She felt like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum, but the break in her calm façade felt amazingly better than she’d ever thought it would. For the first time in her life, she almost felt free.

She went to throw open her arms and spin in circles but restrained herself. A tiny fit was one thing; such abandon couldn’t be tolerated. Nathan may not become her husband, but there would be another man, and she would make him the perfect wife.

Perhaps it would be Asher. He was kind, funny, and would make a good father; she could see herself married to him. She hoped it wasn’t Logan. She liked him well enough, but it was obvious he’d been in love with Kadence, and she’d prefer not to be married to a man who secretly pined for her best friend. That would be more unfair than Nathan’s betrayal of their ways.

Sighing, Simone halted and looked out to the ocean. She wasn’t being fair. Nathan hadn’t betrayed their ways. He was trying to do what he felt best for them, and she agreed with him that working with the vampires might be the only way to save them all.

Kadence and Nathan had chosen those creatures over their kind, but she’d seen the way Nathan looked at the female vampire, and the way Ronan and Kadence were with each other. The obvious love between them made her heart ache. She would never get to experience a love like that. Her marriage would be one of convenience and breeding, but she hoped she’d grow to love her husband.

“What are you doing out here?” a gruff voice demanded.

Simone spun and gasped when she spotted the man standing behind her. He was less than a foot away, but she’d never heard him approach. Behind him, a rocky outcropping cut through two of the dunes; he must have come from there.

His golden eyes were stunning but cold as they flicked dismissively over her. About seven inches taller than her five-eight frame, he loomed over her when he stepped closer.

As her shock over his sudden appearance waned, Simone absorbed more details about him. A scar ran straight down from his deep brown hairline to the center of his cheek. Despite the disfigurement and his obvious dislike of her, she found him a little intriguing. When she took a deep breath, the resin scent of him filled her nose, and she found herself eagerly inhaling it as the corner of his full lip curled into a sneer.

“Did you hear me, hunter?”

He spat the word hunter like it was something foul, had the attitude of an ogre, and exuded the warmth of a corpse, so why wasn’t she afraid of him?

“I heard you,” she replied.

This time, when his gaze ran over her, his more leisurely perusal of her body made her nerve endings tingle.

“What are you doing out here?” he demanded again.

“Walking,” she replied and gestured toward the beach.

“Not out here and not alone, not after what happened with the rest of your idiot brethren.”

Simone’s shoulders went back, and for the first time in her life, she glared at another. “We’re not idiots,” she retorted.

He grunted in response.

“I’m guessing you’re one of Ronan’s men, a trainee.”

“Hardly a trainee, little dolly. I’ve been a Defender since before your grandmother was a thought.”

“Well, goody for you.” Whoa, she’d surprised herself with that response, but something about this man made it impossible for her to retain her years of training. She’d had a bad enough day without having to deal with this arrogant jerk too. “You vampires are idiots.” Oh, darn it, now she sounded like a two-year-old. “And it’s none of your business what I’m doing here!”

“It is my business when it affects my life and the lives of my friends. It’s not exactly intelligent to be tromping around alone when three of your strongholds have fallen and you’re in hiding, or have you forgotten? Wait, do they still not tell you delicate little female hunters the perils of the world?”

“Who are you?” she demanded instead of answering him.

His scarred right brow lifting in amusement infuriated her more than Nathan’s rebuttal of their engagement.

“Killean,” he replied. “And you are?”

“Simone.”

Killean surveyed the beautiful hunter once more. He’d never seen her before, but then, he’d seen few of their women. As soon as he could get away from them, he’d gone far from the hunters to keep watch, until she’d come stomping into his territory.

The knowledge she was a hunter made his blood boil, but he couldn’t deny she was gorgeous. Her refreshing scent of eucalyptus wafted out to ensnare him, and for the first time in years, he found his cock stirring as her presence awoke a passion he’d believed doused by blood and death. Unable to stop himself, he stepped closer to her.

He expected the docile little hunter to tuck tail and run. He terrified men twice her size and had caused more than a few to piss themselves with one look. Instead, her clover-colored eyes widened, but she held her ground. When her tongue darted out to nervously lick her lips, his gaze fastened on it and blood engorged his shaft.

He almost groaned aloud as the simple pleasure of an erection returned to him. Would he be able to get off again, or would it be like the last few times he’d tried to ease himself only to discover nothing worked?

When his gaze dipped to the swell of her breasts, barely visible beneath her plain, baggy blouse, he knew he’d have no problem coming between them.

For years, his more primitive instincts had ruled him, and they did so now. Before he could think, his hand lashed out and wrapped around the back of her head. He pulled her against him and claimed her mouth with his.

Simone cried out as she stiffened against him. She hadn’t been expecting the ill-tempered vampire to touch her, let alone drag her against him and kiss her. They were all brutal monsters, ruled by their filthy urges and uncaring of who they hurt, but he’d seemed about as interested in her as pumpkin pie.

Her hands flattened against his chest to shove him away, but when his tongue touched her lips, the heat and disbelief flooding her froze her movements. What is he doing? That can’t be….

Oh! Her entire body went limp when his tongue slid into her mouth. She’d never been kissed before, didn’t understand what to do, but when instinct had her hesitatingly meeting his tongue with hers, she thrilled at the carnal sound he emitted.

Simone melted against him as unfamiliar emotions and sensations came to life within her. He was a revolting vampire, but for the first time in her life, she felt passion for something.

Then, reality returned, and she pushed at his chest. She couldn’t lose herself to one of them. She was to be a hunter bride.

She shoved at him again and tore her lips away. His head rested against her temple as his shoulders heaved and his warm breath tickled her ear. She should step further away from him, but she didn’t trust her wobbly knees to support her enough to do so.

Killean’s lips skimmed back when realization over what she was to him slammed home.

A hunter! A FUCKING hunter! Life had been exceptionally cruel to him over the years, but this was the cruelest blow it ever delivered him.

“Get back to the hotel, Simone!” he snarled as he abruptly released her.

Simone staggered back when red bled into his golden eyes and he bared his lethal fangs at her. She was more humiliated by him than frightened of him. For a second, she’d actually thought he desired her, but she was so horribly wrong. It was one more slap in the face today.

She wanted to scream at him, to punch him and tell him he had no right to treat her this way, but years of training surged forth to bury her indignation.

Folding her hands demurely before her, she didn’t acknowledge him as she turned to walk back the way she’d come. She felt his eyes burning into her back with every step she took, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking back or scurrying away.

Killean stood on the beach, his hands fisted as his body shook with the rage battering it. He’d never expected to find his mate, and in his life, he had no room for a woman, but he certainly hadn’t expected his mate to be a hunter.

And he knew from the lingering taste of her on his lips, and his compelling need to go after her, that’s exactly what she was to him—his mate.

No. He would not allow it. Never would he crawl into bed with one of them. He’d die first.

Turning, he stalked back to where he’d been sitting on the rocks. He had to kill, to shred, to feel the blood pouring down his throat and easing the hunger burning his veins every day since he’d reached maturity.

He couldn’t leave here to kill though. He may not care enough about himself to worry about death, but he still cared about his friends. When that caring went away, he would take his life, but until then, he would help guard over the hunters, a species of mortals he despised with every ounce of his being.

Killean touched his scar as he settled onto one of the rocks. The feel of it brought back the memory of how it happened, but he was unwilling to travel that path. With the mood he was in, he’d kill all the hunters in the stronghold and consequences be damned if he opened that memory again.