Loser pie is bitter, she thought sardonically, not really bothered that she’d only won one hand out of the lot. When she left, Cole and Ryder were still at it, seemingly equally matched and neither willing to call it quits till a clear winner had been named…or hell freezes over.

She headed toward the room where the hunter’s other victim was staying, where, after entering, she discovered, of all people, Dane was the one watching over her. Just to the right of the doorway, he stood fiercely rigid, jaw tight and arms crossed. His inherent imposing and intimidating visage hinted at violent tendencies. Hardly comforting on a good day.

The poor girl was curled on the bed with her back against the headboard, knees shoved up to her chin, and arms wrapped around her legs. Light-brown hair tangled around her face, shading her stark eyes. Naia guessed she was in her late twenties, maybe early thirties. She appeared to be staring at nothing, eyes slightly downcast, but Naia got the sense she had Dane in her peripheral.

He couldn’t be helping matters with his tough bouncer’s stance and biker’s build. If Naia wasn’t his sire’s bride, she wouldn’t feel safe alone with him either.

To his credit, he stood as far from the woman as the room allowed, though he could try to loosen up a bit.

She crossed toward the girl slowly, like one might approach a wounded animal so as not to alarm her. The girl’s mile-long stare didn’t waver, even when Naia sat down on the edge of the mattress.

“Hi,” she said softly.

No response. There was an angry ring of abrasions around the girl’s wrists like she’d been cuffed or tied up. Naia’s heart twisted with the need to kill the bastard all over again. Ryder said she’d fought like a wildcat when they’d tried to heal her. Looks like this small female had won that battle, to her own detriment. On closer inspection, there were some marks on her neck as well.

“My name is Naia,” she said, not sure if the stone-faced girl was even listening. “I know you’ve probably been told this already, but I want you to know you’re safe now. We’re here to help you. So if there’s anything you need, just let us know, okay?”

Again, there was no response, like the girl had just checked out.

“That man that took you,” Naia tried again. “He tried to take me too, but I killed him. He can never hurt you again. Not ever.”

It was like talking to a statue. The trauma this girl had endured must have been horrendous. Hopefully all she needed was time to process. The outward physical damage would eventually heal, erasing the evidence of her ordeal to the naked eye, but mental damage was a fracture to one’s very soul, longer lasting and more difficult to mend.

Naia sighed and rose to leave when delicate fingers clamped around her wrist. She gazed down at the woman’s surprisingly strong hold then met her dark-rimmed eyes. Though no words passed between them in that moment, Naia observed a shadow of something behind the woman’s olive-toned irises, a fusion of gratitude and relief.

Naia placed her hand over hers and employed a reassuring smile. “You see that guy over there?” She indicated Dane with a tick of her head. The woman didn’t look, but imposed a tighter grip on Naia’s arm. A signal that she was excruciatingly aware of the big bad-looking vampire.

“His name is Dane. He’s a really nice guy,” Naia said.

Dane raised a brow at that. The single experience she’d had with him was of him screaming in her face, venomously accusing her of plotting against Cortez. BFFs they might never be, but Cortez trusted him to keep this girl safe, and she trusted Cortez.

“He’s a teddy bear, really,” she chirped.

Da fuck? His expression said.

Over the top? Maybe. But if it helped to abate some of the white knuckling going on….? “He’s here for your protection. That’s all. And if I hadn’t killed that hunter, Dane here would have taken his head off.”

At the mention of her attacker, the girl’s arm returned to hug her legs and her chin dipped to her knees, but her eyes quickly darted toward Dane. He inclined his head once, still poised like a soldier ready to be deployed. Hardly encouraging, though a little tension did appear to seep from the girl’s extremities.

Naia examined the bags under her eyes. “You should try to get some sleep. I can come back and visit you later if you like.” She wasn’t expecting a response, but then there was the most minute nod. “Okay then. Maybe when I return you’ll actually talk to me, huh?”

No response.

Before leaving, she took the back of her hand and smacked Dane playfully on the arm. He glanced down at her like she was nuts.

“Try to loosen up, would you? This military thing you have going on here isn’t helping.” Her voice was low enough not to be heard across the room.

“I was charged with one task: keep the human alive.” He gestured toward the girl. The human is alive.

She shrugged. “Well okay. Do what you want. Just curious, though. Has she relaxed at all since you’ve been here?”

He didn’t respond, which was answer enough.

“I just get the feeling she’s going to be around for a while, at least if it were up to me, and, well, she might end up associating her trauma with your ugly mien, soldier boy. You probably don’t care about that, though, do you?”

“Nope,” he said, the picture of insensitivity. Yet, an instant later, his arms dropped to his sides. Then he scowled and crossed them again.

“It was you that found her, right?” she asked. Everyone already knew what had gone down up at that campground. This place was a den of gossip-mongers.

Dane had found her bound and gagged in the hunter’s tent, in a near catatonic state. He’d cut her free, carried her out, handed her off, and then proceeded to rage all over the hunter’s meager dwelling, rendering the campsite a litter of tattered debris.

When Naia had heard that, Dane had risen a bit in her esteem. She reached out and placed her palm on his rigid arm. “Thank you.” Then she left, leaving Dane looking slightly off balance, and went off in search of Cortez, feeling like she was going through withdrawals. All she wanted was to curl up in his arms and just be for as long as the world allowed. No worries or fears to cloud the moment. Merely the two of them, loving each other.

She had no idea what the future held for her and Cole, but for the first time in her life, uncertainty was muted. Cole was stronger than ever. He didn’t only have her, but an entire clan of badasses who’d have his back if he got into trouble, which he undoubtedly would. She had the love of the most amazing man she had ever known, who could conquer the world with one hand and tend her so gently with the other. A man who had smashed and ripped his way into the bow of her heart with all the grace of a fire-breathing kraken...

...A man who she couldn’t find.

She’d searched the main floor, passing spirited club goers dancing to industrial music, peeked into the quiet meeting rooms, checked around the many stages where shows were in full swing, and then stopped in the employee lounge before planning to head up to their suite.

Kenzi caught her first. “He asked me to give this to you.” She handed over a note written in Cortez’s element script: Meet me on the roof.

After thanking Kenzi, she wasted no time, following the path Cortez had shown her their first night together. The night everything had changed. The night reality had flipped over on her and turned into something too beautiful to comprehend.

The stairwell that lead to the roof was deceptively dark, so when she opened the door, a rush of warm daylight pelted her. She shielded her eyes, giving them a moment to adjust.

His back was to her as he stared out over the ledge at the pacific gleaming in the distance. He turned to her and smiled brightly, making her heart melt into her bones and her body tingle. Love this man.

The anguish of their distance forced them both forward, meeting halfway. In an impassioned embrace, their lips came into contact with hungry urgency as if they’d been parted for weeks rather than just a few hours. She sighed against his savory lips and relaxed against him.

“I missed you,” she said when they broke away.

“And I you,” he replied, almost confounded. “I’ve never missed anyone before. Not like this. It was tormenting not having you here those few days.”

Understatement. “Now you have me for always.”

“Be warned, my greed for you is insatiable.”

“I’m up for the challenge.” She twirled out of his grip and glanced back at him coyly. Then she added in a faux dramatic voice. “But you should know I killed my last boyfriend.”

He grinned at her wolfishly and followed her to one of the lounge chairs. “As I understand it, the man needed killing.”

As she relaxed back, he pulled her close till they were comfortably snuggled together, gazing at the blue sky painted with white cloudy wisps.

After a while, he asked. “What are you thinking?”

“How happy I am. But sometimes I worry this is all just a dream.”

“Oh? Because I’m too good to be true?” he teased.

She playfully bopped him on the chest.

He chuckled. “If it’s a dream, it’s one I hope to never wake from because being without you would be a nightmare.”

She kissed his cheek, “That’s more like it. So we’re in agreement. Let’s never wake up.”

He grunted. “Sounds like a plan. I’m eager to get this wedding over with so that I can have you all to myself again.”

“Where do you want to honeymoon?”

“Our island, of course. Would you like that?”

Just the two of them, alone, drowning in each other? Now that he knew what she was, her previous worries were moot. He’d make sure she was taken care of in every way that mattered. “I’d love that.”

“And I love you. Now and forever.”