“Why were you running?” Gordon looked confused. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”Bite me,” I told him. He was so going to get charged with assault. I might even have to put a restraining order on his sorry ass. “Oh, wait a minute, you already did bite me, didn’t you… you psycho!”He rolled his eyes. “You’re really going to have to get over that if this relationship is going to have half a chance.”

“You bit me on the neck? What kind of a sorry-ass vampire wannabe are you, anyhow?”I grabbed for my dirt-covered purse that lay by my feet. I kept a can of pepper spray in it for protection, or at least I used to. Did I still have it? Did those things have an expiration date? Didn’t matter. If I had to, I’d just use it to bash him over the head.I’m not a wannabe.” He actually had the audacity to look insulted. “I am a vampire.”Psycho, I thought. Total psycho.”

“I don't think he can hurt. Wizards and witches go hand in hand, after all. Didn't you read Harry Potter?" Eden stared at him. "Well, yeah." "I didn't read the books," he continued. "But I did get to see the movies. A previous host was a fan. He even wore dress robes and pretended he'd been sorted into a house. Hufflepuff, if you can believe it. Who liked Hufflepuff best? I mean, seriously.”

“I stared blankly at Rhys for what felt like about three days.“Me?” I finally sputtered.He nodded.“You’re kidding, right?”“Not kidding.”I laughed then, and it sounded slightly hysterical. “I’m notgoing to marry you.”“I’m not asking you to.”“Good.”He eyed me. “And you can wipe that horrified look off yourface because it’s obviously not true.”“Do I look horrified?”“Yes, you do.”I grimaced. “Nothing personal, Rhys, but—”He held up a hand. “Say nothing else. I shouldn’t have evenmentioned it to you. I’ll find another dragon to help me.”“Second opinions are really important,” I said.He just glowered at that.We rode the rest of the way back to Erin Heights in silence.Now I had even more information crowding my already full brain.Maybe that Irena chick should go see a shrink, herself. She wasone crazy dragon lady.”

“I'm not going to marry you.""I'm not asking you to.""Good."He eyed me. "And you can wipe that horrified look off your face because it's obviously not true.”

“George walked into the room and looked at each of us in turn, ending with Thierry. "Hey, boss," he said as he lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke out slowly, "did Sarah really call you an asshole before"?"George!" I moaned. "Now? You habe to bring that up now?""Is this a bad time?" He didn't wait for an answer, or for the matter, a response to his first question. " I just figured that since I haven't heard any shooting in here, this might be a good time for me to take off.”

“Is your future faery bride too ugly for you?”Rhys leaned back against the head rest and studied the seatback in front of him. “That’s not it.”“Too old or too young?”“No.”I rolled my eyes, but smiled. This was why he was upset. Hehadn’t landed the perfect bride-to-be. “Her pretty faery wingsaren’t the right shade of sparkly lavender and pink?”His eyes flashed with anger. “Actually, she doesn’t have faerywings.”“She doesn’t?”“No. As a matter of fact, the dragon oracle tells me the girl I’msupposed to marry, the one destined to someday become the queenof the faery realm, isn’t a faery at all.”Okay, that was surprising. Not a faery?“She isn’t?” I said. “Then who is she?”His expression was severe as he turned to look me right in theeye.“You,” he said”