Stryker paced his office furiously. His commanders were gathered there as he reamed them all.

Including Urian.

“They’re mortal. Mere Apollites. How in the name of Hades can they continue to elude my best strike teams? You are Illuminati, are you not?”

Allegra and Trates turned away.

Urian met his gaze without flinching. Mostly because he was the reason. He’d personally killed two of the Daimons his father had sent after Phoebe. But he wasn’t about to tell him that.

His father would gut him on the spot.

He curled his lips at them. “Get out of my sight!”

Urian headed out the doors, but not before Trates took his arm.

“Why are they failing?”

Urian shrugged as he gave Trates a reason other than the truth—that he’d killed them. “Jefferson Peters has a lot of resources. He’s spending them all to protect his daughters.”

Trates shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Life seldom does.” And that was an understatement. Especially here lately. Nothing about his life made any kind of sense at all. He was living all kinds of lies and having to hide from everyone around him.

Apollymi. His father.

Even Davyn.

Whenever he was away from Phoebe, he began to doubt his sanity for throwing his life into this kind of chaos. And for what?

They hadn’t even slept together.

Then just when he had himself convinced that he would sever the ties and break it off, he’d see her and all rationale fled. One smile. One frown.

He was undone.

And her tears absolutely devastated him.

I’m so screwed.

Sighing, he stepped into the portal and headed to Zurich. Phoebe had sent over a Vax note with her new address a short time ago. Her parents would kill her if they knew what she was doing.

That she was sending their updated addresses to the very leader of the group out to kill them all.

But it was a risk they were both willing to take.

Urian straightened his jacket the minute he was out of the portal and in Zurich. He checked the time.

“Here, you little inkblot.”

A tic started in his jaw as he heard that lovely little insult some jack-off Dark-Hunter had come up with for them, thinking it was cute. It stemmed from the dark mark over their heart from the souls.

Pursing his lips, Urian crossed his arms and turned toward the tall, muscular beast and let out a bored sigh. “What? Did you burn out your last remaining brain cell coming up with that one?”

The Dark-Hunter flicked his wrist to release a spring-loaded dagger. “And here I thought I’d have a long patrol tonight. Where are your friends?”

“Got bored. Ate them. Decided I’d troll for bottom feeders, and I found you—lowest of the low. Lucky me.”

The Dark-Hunter lunged at him.

Urian tsked. “What? Are you rusty or new?”

Shrieking in rage, he countered with an upward cut. Urian blocked it with his hands and used his toes to release the dagger in his boot. He scissor-kicked the Dark-Hunter and slashed him across the chest.

He hissed in pain and staggered back.

“You might want to call your Squire and let him know you won’t be coming home.”

The Dark-Hunter rushed him.

Urian released his razor wire from his vambrace and caught him around the neck. With one twist and a sidestep, he snapped the Dark-Hunter’s head from his body.

Luckily, they tended to decay almost as fast as a Daimon. They just left a bigger pile of dust that quickly blew away.

“Sorry.” Urian sighed as he knelt down to collect the Hunter’s weapon and ID. He always made sure to notify the Squire’s Council that oversaw Dark-Hunter care whenever they killed one so that they’d know who died.

It was an odd thing to do, but he felt like he owed it to them. While Dark-Hunters didn’t have families per se, they did have Squires and other Hunters who were attached to them.

The worst thing in the world was to not know what happened to someone you loved. To be left waiting for them to come home again.

His stomach grew tight as he thought about Xyn. Even after all these centuries, he still missed her and wondered what had happened. If maybe, by some miracle, one day he’d pass her on the street.

It was stupid, but he couldn’t help it. The not knowing was its own form of hell. And that endless, miserable hope.

Yeah, he couldn’t do that to someone else. So he always made sure to let them know they had a Hunter KIA. As a soldier, he considered it an act of mutual respect for a comrade-in-arms. While they might be enemies, they were both fighting for what they thought was right.

Both protecting what they loved.

Urian looked at the Hunter’s license to see his grim smile. Cuthbert Ruriksen. Yeah, he looked like a Viking bastard from back in the day.

Remembering how they’d been in more primitive times, he slid the license and sword into his pocket and drifted back into the darkness.

By the time he finally found Phoebe’s new apartment, it was late. He’d expected to have to try to find a way to get her attention.

Instead, she was on the street and almost ran into him in her mindless rush to nowhere particular.

“Hey! What’s going on?”

She threw herself against him. “Take me home with you! Now!”

Urian held her against his chest and scowled. “Um, okay. Sure. My father would probably eat you alive, but sure. I could do that for you if suicide is really what you’re going for.”

She hit his chest with her fist. Not hard enough to hurt, but just out of frustration. “I don’t want to stay here, Uri. I’m done!”

Seriously concerned, he cupped her face in his hands. “What’s going on?”

With a ragged sigh, she gestured back toward the apartment building she’d been fleeing. “You don’t know what it’s like to have so many rules and dictates. All the time! I live under a microscope! I can’t change my mind without permission!”

“Yeah, no idea what that’s like. At all.” His voice dripped sarcasm.

She glared at him. “Not the same.”

He arched a smug brow at her.

“Don’t look so gorgeous at me. I’m not in the mood. Be angry on my behalf.”

He bared his fangs.

She laughed and hugged him.

Closing his eyes as he sighed in contentment, Urian cuddled her close and rested his chin against her head. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yes. They want me to wear body armor.”

“I want you to wear body armor.”

“Not funny.”

“Dead serious.”

He could actually feel Phoebe rolling her eyes against his chest. “So where were you heading just now?”

She pulled back to glare up at him. “You’re not really going to lecture me, too, are you?”

“Of course I am.”

“Don’t make me rack you. I’m a lot closer to your balls right now, buddy.”

“Well, if that’s what it takes to get you to touch them …”

She gaped at him. “You did not just go there while we’re arguing.”

“I’m a man. Of course I went there. And it’s not my fault, anyway. You’re the one who brought my balls into it first.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” His voice dropped an octave. Not that it was his fault. Unlike him, she could eat real food and take transfusions for her blood cravings.

Since they’d started seeing each other, he’d stopped feeding from anyone other than Phoebe. And since he couldn’t see her every day, it meant that when he did get to see her, he was starving.

Like now.

Phoebe bit her lip. “I have bad news, by the way.”

“What?”

“I have to share a room with my sister in the new apartment. It’s tiny.”

That was bad news.

“But …” She jerked her chin down the street in the direction she’d been headed. “I found a hotel nearby.”

“So you did have a destination.”

“Of course. I’m not completely stupid. I am a Peters, you know? Armed with a credit card and ready to charge like a demon.” She winked. “Checked in earlier today.” She pulled the key out of her pocket and handed it to him. “Room 1452.”

“All right. I still worry about you.”

“Good, ’cause I worry about you.”

When he went to drape his arm around her shoulders, she gasped. “Is that blood?”

Too late, Urian realized he’d left a little Dark-Hunter DNA on his sleeve. “Um … maybe.”

“Yours?”

He started to lie, but she was the one person he didn’t want to lie to. “No.”

Her eyes flared with fury. “Who was she? Huh?” She shoved him back.

Now there was a place he hadn’t expected her mind to go. Stunned, he gaped at her accusation that reminded him a lot of one of Xanthia’s irrational rants. “She was a he, and he tried to kill me on my way over.” He pulled the ID out of his pocket to show it to her. Now he was twice as grateful he’d gone to the trouble of getting it. “A huge Dark-Hunter bastard.”

“Was he really six foot nine? Three hundred pounds?”

“Sounds about right. Though that was muscle weight. He had arms like tree trunks.”

“He could have crushed you!”

“Trust me, I know. I had a brother about his size. Ophie used to sit on me for hours just to piss me off when we were kids. Him and Archie both would take turns slinging me around the yard like a rag doll.”

Reaching up, she pulled his lips to hers. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to get so angry. I just can’t stand the thought of you with another woman.”

“I would never do that to you.”

With a smile, she nibbled his lips. “Take me to the room.”

Urian was tempted to use his powers, but since he’d never been in the hotel before, that was a bad idea. His luck, he’d land them inside a wall or something a lot worse.

So he had to pretend he was “human.” Gah, the horror of that!

But at least she’d chosen an elegant hotel. Victorian in style, it was quaint and lush.

Urian expected Phoebe to lead him to a regular room. Instead, she’d booked the penthouse suite. While it was true that he’d grown up in a palace and a temple, they were rather cold and austere.

He’d never seen anything like the luxuries in this place. Nor lights so bright. He held his hand up to shield his eyes as they watered in protest of the giant crystal chandelier.

“Sorry!” Phoebe immediately began turning lights down or off. “I forgot how sensitive your eyes are.”

Urian rubbed his eyes as he walked around. “What is that?”

She scowled at him. “The couch?”

“Yeah. Is it a bed?”

Phoebe was stunned until she realized something. “You don’t ever stay out in my world, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. You visit here to nab a soul and then immediately leave, don’t you? You’ve never watched TV or really taken time to experience any real part of it.”

He shook his head.

Her heart broke for him. All the history he’d lived through but not experienced. Heartbroken, she reached for the remote and turned the television on.

To that, he gave her an irritated glare. “I know about TV, Pheebs. Not an idiot. They have those everywhere. Even bars.”

“Oh.” Yeah, that would be the one place he’d have spent a lot of time. Der. She should have thought of that. She felt like a fool now.

Until she thought of one thing she knew they didn’t have in a bar …

“Bet you’ve never had a Jacuzzi bath.”

“A what?”

“Yeah … a what!” Crooking her finger, she motioned for him to follow her.

She also watched the way his gorgeous blues darted around the moldings and art, as well as the wall decorations. He ran his finger down the gold flocked wallpaper to the marble bathroom, where he gasped. “Yeah, indoor plumbing.”

He cast her another droll stare.

“Okay, so you’ve probably visited a men’s room, too.”

“A few times, yeah.”

“But not this!” She plugged the tub and began to run water from the ornate faucet shaped like a swan. While it ran, she turned on music through the intercom and began to slowly peel her clothes off.

If she lived to be a thousand years old, she’d never forget the look on his face as he stood in the doorway, completely catatonic. Laughing, she approached him and hooked her fingers in the belt loops of his jeans. “Charonte got your tongue?”

Urian had no response as she slowly unzipped his pants. Her pace was excruciating. And when she dipped her hand down low to cup him, he thought he’d die on the spot. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had touched him so intimately—decades? Centuries? He knew this was all kinds of wrong. But one look in those innocent eyes and he was lost.

Laughing, she rose up to kiss him.

He cupped her face and then trailed his hands down her shoulders and over her soft skin, to her back and buttocks to press her closer to him so that he could feel her curves meld to his body. He leaned his head back as she peeled his coat off, then pulled his shirt off over his head.

Phoebe hesitated as she saw the scars that marred the perfection of Urian’s chest. She’d never seen him unclothed before. Because he’d always visited her in her room, they hadn’t dared.

But damn. While she’d known he was battle hardened, seeing it was a different story. There were fresh and healing bruises as well as scratches, all over him. Her heart wrenched at the sight. Biting her lip, she traced them with her fingertips, until she got to the Daimon mark at the center of his chest, over his heart. “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

It looked like a big bruise. One that was larger than her hand. No wonder it was so easy for a Dark-Hunter to kill them. “Do they have to pierce it in the center or just nick it anywhere?”

He tilted his head to look down at her hand. “You know, I’ve never really thought about that. Thanks, Phee, for giving me something else to worry about in a fight.”

She laughed. “Well, you do have to think about it, you know?”

“Hmmm.”

Kissing his mark, she tongued her way across his chest to his peculiar phoenix-dragon tattoo. “What’s this for?”

“My Spathi unit that I lead. The Stygian Thánati.”

“Ooo, that sounds so impressive.”

“Glad you think so.” He glanced past her to the tub. “Is it supposed to do that?”

“Do wha—” She gasped as she realized it was spilling over the edge. “Ah, crap! You distracted me!” She ran to turn the water off and grab towels to mop up the overflow.

Urian took a moment to admire the view of her bare bottom as she bent over to clean the mess. Damn, that woman had the one of the nicest asses …

Trying not to think about it, he went to help her mop up some of the water. But that was as useless as trying to resist her. The moment he was near her and his hand accidentally brushed hers, he was lost and he knew it.

But then that had happened the moment he’d first seen her, when his father had sent him in to slaughter her and her sisters.

Just like now—one second they were cleaning water off the floor, the next Urian was in the tub, naked and holding her as he fed and cradled her in his arms in the warm water. He didn’t know what it was about Phoebe, but she held magick over him.

Sighing in contentment, Urian savored the sensation of her fingers playing in his wet hair while she held him nestled between her bare thighs and breasts.

“Urian?”

Blood-drunk, he could barely recognize the sound of his own name on her lips. “Hmmm?”

“Would you let me make love to you tonight?”

Urian licked her neck as he struggled for sense and control. He wanted to deny her. They were playing a dangerous game that would blow up in both their faces. He knew it.

It wasn’t fair to either of them.

His father would kill him. But his gaze drifted over her glistening body—down her damp, golden hair that curled around her impish face. Her creamy, bare shoulders where droplets of water caught and glittered like jewels on her alabaster skin. And those breasts that begged for a lover’s touch …

He was damned and he knew it.

“Phoebe,” he breathed. “What if—”

“Shh.” She kissed him to cut off his words. “Not another word.” She raked him with a ravenous hunger in her eyes. “I promise you, I won’t change my mind.”

Maybe not, but Urian knew this was a profoundly bad idea. In every sense of the word. If he had an ounce of decency in him, he’d get up and leave.

But then, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever been noble or decent. If he had, those traits had died a long time ago.

And before he could find some semblance of decency inside him, she became treacherous to his cause and reached down to run her hand over his chest, across his own taut nipple, dragging her nails ever so gently over his flesh. A thousand chills erupted in the wake of her caress, burning him from the inside out.

She moved her hand from his lips, then dipped her head to where she could draw his nipple into her mouth and suckle it ever so tenderly.

And by that, he was undone.

Urian moaned from the pleasure she gave him. Especially when she dipped her hand beneath the water and cupped him there with gentle fingers that danced and played with the tenderest part of his body.

Dizzy and on fire, he was past the point of rational thought. All he could think about was finally sating the deep hunger that had gnawed at him incessantly since the moment he had first seen her on that fire escape and she primly left him there.

Cupping her face in his hands, he tilted her head up so that he could claim her lips with his own. Brushing his fangs with her tongue, Phoebe moaned into his mouth as she continued to stroke his swollen cock with her hand.

She feared she might faint as her head swam from the taste of her dangerous Daimon, from the silken feel of his rigidness under her fingers. Never had she imagined what a man would feel like. He was so strangely soft and hard at the same time. Like velvet stretched over steel.

“You had this all planned, didn’t you?” he asked with a light, humorous note in his voice.

She nodded.

“What if I had turned you away?”

“I wouldn’t let you,” she whispered, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head to hers for another long, deep, and satisfying kiss.

Urian didn’t disappoint her as he deepened his passion and kissed her until she lost her breath from it. She sighed in contentment and ran her hands down his lean, hard back.

Oh, but the man felt good and he tasted even better.

He left her lips and trailed a scorching kiss to her neck, where he suckled and teased her flesh with his fangs and tongue. Phoebe arched her back, writhing in pleasure as his hands skimmed over her body. Down her arms, over her waist to where he cupped her hips in his hands.

As he moved toward her breasts, she stopped him. He looked up with a frown.

“This is my fantasy,” Phoebe said with a smile. Then she forced him to the opposite end of the oversized tub and straddled his waist.

Stunned and excited, Urian stared up in awe of her as he felt her hairs gently teasing the flesh of his belly. “And just what does this so-called fantasy of yours include? Hot wax? Whips? Handcuffs?”

Blushing at his suggestions, she dipped her head toward his and instead of giving him the kiss he expected, she lowered her mouth on his throat.

Urian tensed as he felt her fangs scraping his skin. “Don’t bite me, love.”

“I know. Relax. I promise I won’t break the skin.”

Forcing himself to trust her, Urian groaned at the heat of her mouth as she slowly explored his body with her lips. Her tongue darted over the stubble of his neck, teasing and tormenting him with wave after wave of pleasure.

She leaned forward until her breasts were flattened against his chest. Then she moved lower. Slowly, thoroughly, she covered his chest and arms with her scorching kisses.

Phoebe savored the sounds of Urian’s pleasure. She should probably be worried about her actions, given that he was a Daimon, but she had made her mind up. Her life had a ticking time bomb on it. Unlike her sisters, she didn’t want to get married and have kids to give them this miserable life that had been theirs.

Running scared. Dreading every day and night. Always looking over their shoulders as they were uprooted and relocated because someone or something was trying to kill them. In spite of all their father’s money, their life had been misery and fear, and she’d hated every fucking minute of it.

Until Urian.

For the first time in her life, she had happiness. Someone she loved, who loved her. With him, she felt like she belonged. And when they were apart, all she did was count down the heartbeats until she saw him again.

She didn’t live when he was gone. She endured.

And she was over it.

No, Urian was what she wanted and she was going to do this. Completely and without reservations. Before this night ended, she wanted to know him from the top of his head all the way down to the bottom of his Daimon toes.

That thought foremost in her mind, she began draining the water so that she could dip her mouth to the flesh of his hip bone. Urian sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as he quivered beneath her. Phoebe laughed as she continued her relentless exploration of him.

She was going to claim him tonight. And she made a vow to herself that when he left here after this, he would forever be hers and no one else’s.

And it must have been working since a second later his eyes flashed red and he transported them from the tub to the bed.

Phoebe looked up with a startled gasp. “How do you do that?”

He shrugged. “A lot of practice and a little prayer that I don’t fuck it up.”

Laughing, she returned to nibbling that succulent hip bone and exploring a six-pack of defined abs she didn’t think a man could have unless they were airbrushed in by an artist.

Urian buried his hand in Phoebe’s hair as he fought the urge to take control. He wanted to be inside her so badly that he could barely stand it. It was an overwhelming craving. But he refused to take this from her, especially because it was her first time and he wanted it to be as special as she was. She meant so much more to him than his base urges. So he would hold back, even if it killed him.

And the way he felt, right now, it damn well might. Because this was hard. And getting harder by the minute.

Along with a certain piece of his anatomy …

Curious and sweet, she moved her hand again to cup him as she explored his body with the inquisitiveness that was part science experiment and passion. He’d never had a lover be so strangely attentive to his body. Almost as if she wanted to commit it to memory.

And then to his utter amazement, she moved her head and took him fully into her mouth.

With a fierce, deep growl, Urian shook all over as her tongue toyed with him. Oh dear gods! Panting and weak, he stared in awe of her golden head buried between his thighs.

To hell with this, he couldn’t take it anymore.

Phoebe looked up in surprise as Urian shifted his body. What was he doing?

With a devilish grin, he stretched out beside her and positioned his hips even with her head. She was completely baffled by what he was doing and what he intended.

His blue eyes turned warm and wicked. “Don’t stop, love.” Before she could respond, he nudged her thighs apart and buried his lips against her.

With a cry of supreme pleasure, she closed her eyes as he slid his tongue deep inside her. Dear God in heaven! It was incredulous. Never had she experienced anything like this! Forget the crap her sister read and kept shoving in her face! Nia was an idiot! Cassandra an even bigger one! They didn’t know anything about men! And she’d never listen to them again.

Her head spinning from it, she opened her legs wider. He took her invitation. Wanting to return the favor for him, she dipped her head and went back to what she’d been doing because if this felt half as good to him …

Yeah, she wanted to keep him happy and make sure he never belonged to any woman but her again.

Urian’s head spun as he again felt her mouth and tongue close around him. He cupped her hips to him as he ran his tongue over her and felt her quiver in his arms. His little angel was incredible. And to think he’d actually considered killing her.

You were an idiot!

Yeah, he was. But then he’d never had a lot of brains to begin with. For so long now, he’d been running on empty. Just doing whatever his father told him. A mindless tool that killed on command.

He’d become the very thing Sheba had wanted him to be.

An attack dog.

Urian Deathbringer. Thánatago.

But with Phoebe Peters, he was something more. Something better.

For the first time since Xyn’s death, he felt alive again. He found a reason to breathe. To get up in the evening and to let himself feel real emotions.

He wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or curse her for it.

Phoebe couldn’t believe what was happening to her. Where she found the courage to do these things with a cold-blooded Daimon, she didn’t know. She’d been told her entire life to run from creatures like Urian. That they would kill her and her family.

Yet she’d never felt safer.

More wanted or beautiful.

The heat of his mouth seared her as he teased and suckled. And even more incredible was the feel of his fingers plunging inside her. In and out and around. Her body quivered and jerked as her head reeled from the sensations.

She closed her eyes. It was too much for her. And just as she was sure she would die from it, her body exploded with more pleasure than she would have thought anyone could ever feel.

Throwing her head back, she screamed out in release as the entire world spun around. Never, never had she experienced such a thing.

And still his tongue tormented her and made it even more intense and incredible. “Oh God, Urian!” she gasped.

He let out an evil laugh as he kissed her thigh. “Don’t think for one minute that I’m done with you, agapi mou.”

“Agah who?”

He laughed. “Uh-gah-pay moo. My love.”

Closing her eyes, she savored every syllable. “I love your accent so much. You speak and I melt!”

He rose up between her legs and positioned his body over her. Phoebe reached up and buried her hands in his hair as he used his knees to spread her legs wider.

Cupping her face with his hand, Urian kissed her tenderly, then gently plunged himself deep inside.

Phoebe froze as pain overrode her pleasure. “Uri?”

“Shh, agapi mou,” he whispered against her lips. “Give it a second.”

He leaned back ever so slightly and reached his hand down between their bodies so that he could stroke her and help her focus on something else.

Phoebe bit her lip as she quickly forgot the pain while he gently toyed with her body, building her pleasure again.

Instinctively, she rubbed herself against him, impaling herself even more deeply than before.

Urian sighed in pleasure as she began moving against him. “That’s it,” he breathed, closing his eyes to savor the warm, tight heat of her body around his.

His breathing ragged, he let her take control of the moment as she milked his body with hers.

Opening his eyes, he watched the wonder play out on her face. Yeah, she liked being in charge. Probably because she’d had so little control over anything else in her life. Her parents never let her have any decision. About anything. Even her foods were tasted before they trusted her to eat them.

She’d lived her entire life in a vacuum, and under scrutiny.

So he let her have this one. Smiling, Urian rolled over without withdrawing from her.

In awe of this new vantage point, Phoebe groaned as she found herself on top of him. She wiggled her hips at the strange sensation of his body inside hers and between her legs.

His eyes dark and gentle, he reached up and cupped her breasts in his hands. Smiling even wider, she covered his hands with her own, then lifted her body up, drawing herself down his cock.

And then his hand returned to cup her between her legs as she rode him hard and fast.

And this time when she came, he joined her with a deep guttural growl that left her a little scared for a second. But after a second, she realized that he wasn’t going to harm her and she relaxed again.

Sated and exhausted, Phoebe stretched out on his chest and simply enjoyed the feel of his arms around her as his breath stirred her hair.

Urian leaned his head back, shaken by what had occurred between them. Her passion humbled him. But worse, he was far from sated. If anything, he wanted her more than he ever had before. Because now that he’d tasted the Katateros that was Phoebe, he knew she truly had no equal.

And that scared the Kalosis out of him.

Phoebe lifted her head up to look down at him. “Is something wrong?” she asked, her brows drawn together into a deep V.

Shaking his head, he ran his hands over her back. It wasn’t really a lie.

In truth, things had never been more right.

And likewise, they had never, ever been more wrong. Because in the back of his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that if his father ever learned about this, he would kill them both.