Page 1 of Wanted

ONE

RAPHAEL

The Future

Alena shoves my hands off her and snaps, “You are not the answer to all my problems!”

Then she starts to angrily stomp off.

Bullshit, I think to myself as I pounce on her, not letting her get away.

Jerking her into me, my mouth drops to her ear. “Want to bet?”

I push the memory of us kissing through the bond and feel her tremble against me.

“Bet what?” she asks, her voice coming out breathless.

Fighting back the urge to exert the full power of my vampiric will, I purr into her ear, “I can fix it all. All the pain. All the misery you suffer…”

I turn her in my arms so she can see my face. She needs to know everything I can offer. Not the lies she grew up believing.

Bending her back, I lean over her. “I can make it all go away.”

Staring into her eyes, my body aches with the pent-up need to finally feel complete. “I can fill the rest of your life with endless pleasures.”

She’s so close to giving in, I can taste it. But I must tread carefully.

If I force or manipulate her into immortality, she’ll hate me for eternity.

She chokes out, “How?”

What I’m offering is tempting and she wants to believe me. Even if she doesn’t know how to trust me yet.

Too many people in her past have betrayed her.

But I am the one who will always protect her. The one willing to sacrifice everything for her.

Even my life, if it comes to it.

Dipping my head closer, I breathe the answer against her lips. “Give yourself to me fully.”

Her eyes soften, and I can’t resist the impulse to tuck her hair behind her ear.

If only she could feel how I feel. If she opened the bond completely, allowing herself to feel me, she’d know I will forever love and cherish her.

I will give her everything she’s never had.

Wishing I could shatter the damn thing myself, I say, “Break down the wall between us and you’ll never need it again.”

Her reaction is immediate and surprising. Almost as if she’s under some kind of compulsion…

Shouting in my face, she shoves hard at my chest, trying to free herself. “No!”

But I don’t let her push me away this time.

She can’t keep running from the truth.

This wall she’s put up, blocking half of our connection, needs to come down for both our sakes.

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