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  Leo took a moment to search her face for any clues that something may have gone wrong with the conversion when he instantly started to pick up the change in her demeanor. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek but Shelby smacked at it and as nimble as a cat, she jumped out of the bed.

  Leo sat up and watched his pretty little bride. She looked like a fawn caught in the headlights.

  “Shelby, my love…calm down. No one is going to hurt you,” he told her as smoothly as possible. He could smell her fear and it cut him to the bone to know that she feared him.

  Shelby stood and took baby steps toward the door. Two things raced through her mind. She had to get out of that place and she had to get away from that man. She glanced to the left and then to the right, looking for any alternate escape routes but came up empty. Her only option was the door.

  “Shelby, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Leo warned seeing in her mind and knowing exactly what she was thinking. They were definitely going to have to work on their communication issues.

  Her head snapped back to his for a moment before she swung it back to the door. She only had seconds to try and escape. It was now or never. Holding her breath, she turned and darted for the door. She prayed to any higher being that might be out there to give her an extra hand.

  It was all for naught though. As soon as Shelby reached the doorknob, she felt his hard body pressing up against hers. Strangely enough, it felt so good that she had to bite back the moan that was threatening to spill from her mouth.

  Instead, she determinedly turned around in his arms and looked into those dark knowing eyes that seemed to see much more of her than she would want any man to see. He flashed a breathtaking grin and she did the one thing that any other sensible girl in her situation would obviously do—she screamed bloody murder.

  Chapter 9

  Leo jumped back as if he had been burned something fierce while Shelby continued to scream like a woman possessed. He held his hands up in surrender not sure what it was that he should do next. She was screaming so loud that her face was beginning to turn a peculiar shade of ruby red and at one point he had thought that she was about to stop but instead she had taken a deep breath and continued to scream again and impossibly louder the second time around.

  Knowing that he needed to do something and do it rather quickly before everyone in the house stormed into his room, Leo took a tentative step forward and lifted his hand, only meaning to calm her, when Shelby suddenly stopped screaming and stared at his hand as if it contained the black plague. Frowning at the sudden change, he dropped his hand back to his side and just stood there for a moment to see what she would do next.

  “Shelby,” he said her name questioningly and then very cautiously took another baby step towards her. “Are you okay?”

  Shelby couldn’t believe that this man, no, this monster she corrected herself. He had the gall to even ask her that question. She took a step towards Leo so that they were now standing toe-to-toe. For the briefest of seconds she had to fight the suddenly strange urge to wrap her arms around his neck thereby plastering her body against his. Taking a deep breath, she regained her composure by blowing out a deep breath and roughly shoving her pointer finger in his chest.

  “Am I alright? Are you seriously asking me if I’m okay?” she all but yelled at him.

  Leo’s eyes widened at her spark of outrage. He began to try and speak to her before she held up her hand up in front of him, palm facing out, cutting off any words that he was getting ready to say. She was by no means finished and was more then eager to start again.

  “Hell no, I’m not okay! Look at me!” she said pointing back to herself. “Look at what you’ve done to me for crying out loud! I have fangs for Christ’s sakes! Long pointy teeth that at one time I thought I would only see in a bad Hollywood movie. Now all I have to do is look in the mirror. And I even drank your blood! Tell me, mister…what in the world would make you think that I would be okay with any of this?”

  Shelby’s chest was heaving from the exertion of her rant and Leo’s eyes were instantly drawn to her breasts. For a minute all he could think about was cupping those glorious globes of hers in his hands and how soft they would feel when he fondled them.

  “Ugh!” she groaned again. It was clear to Leo that his lack of attention had rubbed her the wrong way.

  Honestly, he couldn’t even understand exactly what Shelby’s problem was. He gave her the one thing that any other human would have loved to have. Many had killed trying to get it. It was such a rare and powerful gift—immortality.

  “Sweetheart,” he started and again went to try and touch her only to have his hand conveniently smacked away, “I don’t understand. You are a superior being now. You’re absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. What is all of this nonsense that has you so upset? Are you hungry? Do you need to feed?”

  Leo was grasping at straws. All he wanted was for his partner to be happy.

  He watched her with nothing but concern etched onto his face and that obvious concern was the one thing that threw Shelby for a loop. How could a monster like that dark brooding man with such an air of arrogance surrounding him possibly shed an ounce of concern for a woman like her?

  Shelby closed her eyes and tried to remind herself exactly who this man or more like what this man really was but his scent, a mixture of exotic and spice, called to her in a way that she couldn’t explain. She felt drawn to him and yet she couldn’t make heads or tails out of the situation.

  How will I ever face anyone in public again? How can I ever be normal now that I’m so different? I’m not even human anymore.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes and was instantly met by his black orbs.

  “Why are you watching me like that?” she asked, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious about herself. She wrapped her arms across her chest and quickly averted her gaze to anything but him.

  Leo sighed.

  “Look, I understand that everything is really different to you now. Your senses are magnified tenfold and that can be pretty alarming to someone who’s ill-prepared for something like this. Why don’t we go and find you something to eat and then surely you’ll feel better about everything.”

  Not likely, Shelby thought.

  However, she was feeling a little faint after her bout of screaming and thought that maybe something with a little sugar or even some extra carbohydrates might do her some good. Taking a step back, thus putting more distance between her and Leo, she nodded her head in agreement.

  “Maybe you’re right,” she said softly.

  She was still not willing to look in those damnable eyes that always seemed to pull her in. As long as she didn't look, then she didn’t have to worry about being sucked into his spell. “I probably could use a little something to settle my nerves.”

  Leo then offered her a breathtaking smile and before she even realized his intent, he was on her with his hands gently framing her face and his lips pressed securely against hers. Her first response was to stiffen up and freeze but when he flicked out that wicked tongue of his and licked the seam along her bottom lip, she was a total goner. She was lost to everything except the man that held her; the very same one that surrounded her.

  For the briefest of moments she tried uselessly to tell herself that the man that was so thoroughly kissing her was not human, but those thoughts were quickly banished when his tongue slid sensually alongside hers, causing a burst of pleasure to pool deep in her belly and explode outward through every cell of her body. It was a mind-numbing experience to say the least and it had been all from a simple kiss.

  A very dangerous kiss, she thought to herself as Leo slowly pulled away from her and watched her with a smugness that she wanted to wipe clear off of his face.

  “That can’t happen again, Mr.-,” and she looked up at him expectantly.

  Shelby knew that he had told her his name. At least she thought that he had but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what his name was.

&
nbsp; Leo took her arm in his and walked her towards the door.

  “My dear Shelby, just call me Leo.”

  “Leo,” she repeated this name, trying it out on her own tongue. Leo perked up when his name spilled from her lips. He loved the way that it simply rolled off of her tongue.

  “Leo,” he confirmed once again and patted the hand that rested on his arm while he guided her out of the room and down the halls of his home.

  Leo was excited to take her out on her first hunt. It was the type of thing that he looked forward to teaching his beautiful bride. He had a feeling that she would be stealthy when taking down her prey and the image of her controlling a mere human incited things inside him that he had never before thought he would feel. At least, that was until he found his sweet Shelby.

  Shelby took in her surroundings with complete fascination. The paintings that lined the walls were phenomenal in both color and technique and she had no doubt that the paintings she was looking at were worth quite a large sum of money. They literally screamed classic.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, not realizing that she had spoken aloud.

  Her eyes studied everything as they descended down a majestic spiral staircase, even the angelic looking figure that stood at the bottom of the stairs watching them as the pair came down.

  “Not as beautiful as you, darling,” Leo rebutted, not once taking his eyes from Shelby.

  He was enthralled with the beautiful woman that held onto him and didn’t think that he could have been any happier than he was right then.

  “Leo,” the angelic figure below them spoke with a lilt as harmonious as the most enchanted songbird.

  Leo turned to the voice and spotted Tatiana instantly.

  He pulled Shelby closer to him and pasted a smile on his face for hospitable purposes. He had remained true to his word and stayed with Shelby throughout the rest of her conversion and he had yet to greet Tatiana since her arrival. If it were up to him, he would have put the inevitable greeting off until tomorrow. But, being who he was and what family he came from, it just wasn’t possible.

  “Tatiana, it’s good to see you again,” he said once they reached the bottom of the stairs and stood facing her.

  She hadn’t changed at all in the last thirty years since he had last seen her. Of course she was extremely beautiful as all of their kind tended to be but compared to his Shelby, she was barely a blip on his radar.

  Tatiana never even spared a single glance at Shelby and when Leo was close enough, she leaned in, stood on her toes and kissed him full on the mouth. Leo jerked back and pulled Shelby so that she was standing in front of him and wrapped both of his arms possessively around her, making a clear statement to Tatiana.

  “Let me introduce you to my bride—Shelby,” Leo said with a certain amount of pride in his voice.

  If the fact that Shelby was not a blood born surprised Tatiana in the least, she didn’t show it. In fact, she didn’t even acknowledge Shelby at all.

  Shelby was about to protest his referral to her as his bride when something flashed across the other woman’s face. It stopped her from saying a word. But she did make a mental note to have a discussion with Leo, later. She was not, nor would she ever be his bride and it was high time that he got that through that thick skull of his.

  “Leo,” Tatiana started and posed with a seductive grin painted on her face, “would you like to join me for dinner? We have so much to catch up on. It’s been far too long since we’ve last seen each other and that’s an absolute shame, don’t you think?”

  Leo remained composed just as a gentleman of his stature should, with a forced smile firmly in place on his face.

  “I’m sorry Tatiana but regrettably, I must decline because I was just getting ready to take my sweet Shelby here,” he said, turning to her and tenderly covering her hand which was latched on to his arm with his own, “on her first hunt.”

  Shelby could sense the tension rising in the room. She paid careful attention to both the other woman and Leo’s interaction. Something told her to hold her head up high and smile like it was nobody’s business, to not let anything that was said bother her in the slightest. And she was doing really well with that up until Leo mentioned the one word—hunt.

  Suddenly, she felt the blood literally drain from her face. Shelby had a pretty good idea of what Leo meant by hunt and she was pretty sure that they were not going to be hunting Bambi or Peter Cottontail. Leo was more than likely referring to humans considering his monstrous nature.

  When she looked back up to the other woman, she quickly realized her mistake. Tatiana smiled knowingly at her.

  “The first hunt you say…hmm?” she started and rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Do you think you need another tutor, for teaching purposes I mean? I would be glad to help out in any way that you may need, especially since this is your new bride and all.”

  Shelby could already tell that she didn’t like the woman. The two of them would more than likely have words before she found a way to escape this crazy dream she had suddenly found herself in. But what concerned her more at the moment was the fact that Leo expected her to hunt. That was not going to happen. From this point on, Shelby refused to ever drink another drop of blood for the rest of her natural-born life.

  Leo shook his head at Tatiana.

  “Not this time. This being her first hunt, I really want it to just be me alone to show her the way of our world.”

  Tatiana gave him another one of her sickly sweet smiles and said, “Of course. Just know that I’m here if you need me.” Then she turned to Shelby and something in her eyes flashed darker than the inky black color of her orbs; so dark, so cold that Shelby shivered in its wake. “And you too dear. If you need anything, feel free to just ask. I live,” she paused dramatically,” to make life easier for the fledglings of our world.”

  Shelby raised a brow at the woman’s statement. She was certain that the only thing Tatiana lived for was herself and nothing more. She didn’t give a damn about Shelby or any other fledgling that she ever came across.

  “We must go,” Leo said abruptly and without further ado he started to pull Shelby along, toward the front door. To Shelby’s surprise, Leo didn’t reach for the handle to open it. Instead, he waved his hand in front of both him and Shelby and in the blink of an eye everything surrounding Shelby went black. She prepared herself for yet another blood curling scream when all of a sudden they re-appeared at the back of an alley somewhere in town.

  Shelby took several deep breaths before rounding on Leo.

  “What the hell was that?” she squealed.

  She was feeling disoriented and thrown slightly off-kilter by his little magic trick and on top of everything else that had happened to her since she had roused, Shelby had finally met her limit for how much she could handle.

  Leo was taken aback by her angry outburst.

  “Sweetie,” he started and went to reach for her only to get soundly smacked for the second time of the evening. “Ouch! Will you please stop that?” he asked annoyed. “What is it that I did wrong this time?” Frustration seeped out of his tone. It seemed that Leo had too met the finish line of his own patience.

  “That was for that little magical voodoo trick you just pulled on me and I’m warning you now, if you ever do it again, I will personally rip out every one of your pubic hairs, one by one. And believe me, buddy; that’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

  Even in anger Leo was fascinated with his bride. Not only was she beautiful but she had spunk and gusto which made her rather fitting as his life partner.

  “Misty travel?” he finally volunteered after realizing that she was still staring at him expectantly.

  “Misty travel or whatever else you want to call it. Just know that if you do it again, you will pay.” Shelby was dead serious with her threat. All he had to do was try it and she would show him how unmerciful she could be.

  After a long minute of silence passed between them, Leo threw his head back and
laughed.

  “You, my sweet, are quite the enigma to me. It seems that I’ve chosen well when I chose you to be my wife. You promise to be quite the bright light in my life for years to come and my dear, I am so looking forward to our many years.”

  “I am looking forward to our many years,” Shelby repeated his words mockingly, with a grumble under her breath. “Just remember what I said,” she told him pointedly and turned away from him.

  Leo chuckled and held out his hand for Shelby.

  “Come on; let’s teach you how to hunt.”

  Shelby swung her head back around with a vengeance and took a step back. She fisted her hands on her hips.

  “No!” she told him determinedly and with her glare, she dared him to say something otherwise.

  Leo raised his brow. He wasn’t used to being told no by anyone.

  “No?” he asked.

  “I said no,” Shelby confirmed and added, “And before you even think about trying another one of those little voodoo tricks that you have up those fancy sleeves of yours, Count Dracula,” she mocked, “you better remember my warning. I will make you pay and enjoy every second of it while I am doing it.”

  Leo glared back at his bride. For the first time in his life he knew that he was up against quite a challenge. He found it rather amusing that he was actually excited to take on such a thing that his bride posed him. It would be a way for the two of them to bond and better understand each other. One thing was for sure though, he found Shelby intriguing and for what it’s worth, he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to unravel everything that was Shelby. He had all of the material facts when it came to her. What he wanted to know most was what exactly made Shelby tick.

  Leo casually leaned his tall frame up against the wall in the alley that they stood in and crossed his arms over his chest.