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the orchid, remembering the flowers her father used to surprise her mother with. Her mother’s soft cry of delight, her father’s shy grin. Then she remembered the day she came home to find her younger sister sobbing with fear, her parents’ bodies lying on the floor.
    Blood pooling at their feet.
    The orchid shriveled, the delicate leaves curling and turning brown as it died.
    Nothing survives around me . Tears burned the back of her throat.
    She opened the sliders and stepped outside.
    Hands gripping the railing, Mara gazed at the delicate lace of the waves, the churning blue ocean. Her stomach felt like glass grinding in a blender.
    â€œThe orchid died because of your pain, not because you willed it.”
    Lucien. Stiffening her shoulders, she stared at the ocean. The vampire had the power to see inside her mind. She felt more exposed than when he’d forced her to yank her pants down. Mara gave an indifferent shrug.
    â€œI wanted it to die.”
    â€œUntrue. I can feel your grief. It’s like a hot wind, biting and sharp.”
    â€œYou don’t know anything about me.”
    â€œYou’re the oldest of triplet sisters whose mother and father paired in an illegal mating. Your parents were killed by a Society bounty hunter six years ago. To escape attention, you and your sisters went into hiding, living on the trust fund your parents left for you. You were the main caretaker for your sisters, but when you turned twenty-one, all three of you parted ways because your goals diverged. Samantha wants to use her growing dark powers to avenge your parents’ deaths, Ariana is determined to never use her dark powers and you want to fit into the human world. Or try. You recently began college courses and were abducted by Jones the second day of classes.”
    Tensing she curled her fingers on the concrete railing. “I knew the Society had a file on me. All because my father was a demon, they’ve written me off as one, too.”
    â€œYou are not your father, Mara. You must temper the darkness inside you or it will kill you instead.”
    â€œWho are you, my judge, jury and executioner?” she snapped.
    â€œI do not wish to be. I want to help you.”
    The gentleness of his voice nearly undid her. She must remain strong. The only person she could trust was herself. “I don’t need help.”
    â€œDon’t be so certain. The hunters avoided you until your twenty-first birthday. They will never stop stalking you until the Society is satisfied you aren’t a threat.”
    She turned to face him. “What do they want?”
    Hope fluttered inside her. If she could find a way to stop this, she could live a normal life. Please, she thought desperately. A normal life .
    After you kill Jones , the darkness whispered.
    â€œFor you and I to mate.”
    Mara stared.
    â€œThe reason I’m here. When we sexually bond, I will absorb your dark powers and diffuse them so you won’t harm Jones.” Lucien’s gaze remained steady even as a pulse beat wildly in his throat.
    â€œAnd if I refuse?” Mara choked out the words.
    â€œSimple. Then you will die.”

Chapter 5
    â€œYou would kill me?”
    Hot and bitter panic rose up in Mara’s throat. She’d willingly walked into his room. What an utter fool she was. Her chances were better on the street with the hunters trailing every move.
    â€œNo, Mara.” Emotion shadowed his gaze. “I would never allow that to happen.”
    â€œThen there’s only one choice. Having sex with you.”
    â€œYou must,” he said gently. “It is the only way.”
    He’d use his Ancient powers and overcome her, until she wanted and begged and pleaded. And then Lucien would overshadow her just as his naked body would dominate her in bed, siphoning away the part of her she feared, but the part she needed.
    The darkness that made her strong and brave.
    Without it she’d become