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Fuck.

“What are we doing?” Melissa’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

“This,” she said. “What isthisbetween us?”

Great, I didn’t even know what this was. “You know I care about you. Let’s start there.”

Melissa frowned and moved over to the side of the table, standing closer to me. “All our relationship is, is just sex,” she said, instant guilt slamming me in the chest. “Caleb, I like you. I want to go on anactualdate.” She smiled and placed her hand over mine. I reciprocated and grabbed her hand, rubbing my thumb over her skin.

“How about dinner tonight at La Masseria?” I asked because I did want that. Sex was fantastic between Melissa and me, and every time I was with her, the more I desired to get to know her outside of the bedsheets.

“What about your coven?” she asked. “You’re usually with them on the weekends.”

I pulled from our touch and ran my hands through my hair. “I’m only training with the coven this afternoon, but we’ll be done early. I can pick you up at six.”

Melissa didn’t have to persuade me. I wanted to take her out. God, I really did. I’d wanted to ask her out for a long time but didn’t want to face the coven’s judgments or ruin what I thought would or could have happened with Mercy and me. I wasted my time on someone who would never love me back when I had this gorgeous woman in front of me who already cared.

I’m moving the fuck on.

_______________

WHILE DRIVING TOMelissa’s, my phone beeped, and I glanced at it quickly at a red light. Mercy’s name appeared on the screen.

It was about damn time.

Mercy:Someone broke into Alexander’s home last night. It’s not safe for me here anymore. I’m coming home.

She always did have the worst fucking timing.

Melissa opened the door wearing a lacy green dress that reached right above her knees. She had styled her hair in a braid wrapped around her shoulder and smiled as soon as she saw me standing there with a single red rose in my hand.

“Such a gentleman,” she said, taking the rose from me. “This was sweet. Thank you.”

I wore a sleek black suit and gray tie, and I’d shaved off the beard I had been growing for the last three weeks as I nervously waited for Mercy to check in with me. I cleared my thoughts and focused on the beautiful woman at the doorstep instead. She took my hand as I held it out.

Later that evening, after a few glasses of wine and La Masseria’s delicious spaghetti marinara, Melissa excused herself to the ladies’ room. I took the opportunity to respond to Mercy.

Me:What exactly happened last night?

She responded almost immediately, as if she had typed it all out, waiting for me to respond first.

Mercy:We woke up to broken glass near the balcony window. The room is three stories high, with no window or rooftop to connect to where the window sits, so either someone had thrown a rock through the window, or we’re dealing with something supernatural. You’d have to be Spiderman to scale that wall.

Melissa was rounding the corner, so I typed up my last text to her for the night.

Me:Stay at the mansion tonight. There’s a house key under the blue vase by the front door. I’ll turn off the alarm with my phone. Come in and make yourself at home. I’ll be back by nine.

I shut my phone down and glanced up at Melissa, who had rejoined me at the table.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

I let her know what was happening with Mercy, and given Melissa’s kind nature, she showed genuine concern. Still, when I mentioned Mercy would be staying with me tonight because of it, her body language changed instantly. Her shoulders slouched, and she bit her bottom lip. She didn’t whine or share her thoughts, but I knew she wanted to say something.

The rest of the evening, I gave Melissa my full attention, but my thoughts kept returning to the fact that I would see Mercy for the first time in three weeks. Yes, I was moving on, but since her Awakening, this was the longest we had gone without seeing each other.

Mercy’s safety had always been my number one concern. I didn’t know if this ruled out Alexander as the killer in East Greenwich for sure, but her father turning human again was undoubtedly a game changer unless, as Melissa had pointed out, he killed the last victim before he changed. But if that were the case, what was his motive? If it were to draw Mercy out, he had her within his grasp now. Was it to pull her back to him so he could return as a witch? It’s not like she’d refuse a vampire who wanted to be a human again.

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