Several moments passed before he replied. Tell me where you are before someone gets hurt.

Her heart sank. Was he really threatening her?

Andrus glanced at her several times, before saying, "It's your vampire, isn't it? He's threatening you."

"He's just mad. It's the bond, that's all. He'll get over it once it's broken." Ironically, she felt embarrassed by his behavior.

Andrus raised one brow. "I'm sorry. I know your situation is not easy."

Helena shrugged. "I'm sorry, too. I wish things had ended differently." She ran her hands through her tangled curls and flipped down the sun visor to inspect her face. The bags under her eyes said it all. "So, which airport are we going to? Midway or O'Hare?"

Andrus smiled at her unexpectedly. "We are driving. I don't fly."

"Don't fly?"

He shook his head. "No. It is...unnatural."

Okay. That was strange coming from someone who was obviously so...unnatural or, well, supernatural. "But driving to San Francisco will take days."

"Yes," he said firmly. "This will give us plenty of time to talk. I will teach you what you need to know, and you will answer my questions."

Why did Helena suddenly feel like she was betraying Niccolo by spending several days alone in a car with a devastatingly gorgeous man? Her mouth went dry. She turned her head toward the backseat to grab her water bottle from her pack. "Oh. Come on! I left my backpack on the bus."

According to Darwin, you're a prime candidate for extinction. Too stupid to live! Could she be any more forgetful and ridiculous? How about predictable? She let out a long sigh. Cut yourself some slack, you've gone through some major trauma. Well, what did it matter? She was going to have to leave her life behind anyway. Again.

As if reading her thoughts, Andrus said, "Material things are replaceable, Helena. You can always start over as long as you have control of your life."

He was right. That's what she needed, to be in control again. She wasn't a helpless victim of this bond she now shared with a vampire. She was smart-yes, yes. Forgetful at times, too, but-she was also resilient, resourceful, and determined.

"What do you want to know first?" she asked.

Helena was beginning to notice how everything Andrus said was devoid of emotion. He'd asked simple questions about Niccolo and Helena's day-to-day life-not much to tell. He asked about Niccolo's work patterns, how many men guarded her, and if she'd ever heard any particularly strange conversations.

"Am I boring you?" she finally asked.

Andrus made a little shrug.

"Well," she said. "I never promised you any juicy information. It's not my fault they wouldn't tell me anything."

Andrus nodded. "It is strictly forbid for humans to know anything about their world. Leaking such information is punishable by death."

"Why can you tell me everything, but he can't?"

Andrus answered, "I tell you what you need to know, not everything."

"Even so."

He shrugged. "There is no punishment anyone can inflict worse than what's already been done."

His answer made Helena's skin crawl. "Done?"

Andrus turned his head, his golden eyes reflecting the hatred lurking inside him. "They stole something from me."

Who's they? Helena asked him to elaborate, but he ignored the question. Helena let it go. Clearly, talking about it pained him.

After several quiet moments, Andrus abruptly turned off the highway and insisted she buy supplies. Their first stop had been the drugstore for toothpaste and other toiletries. Now he wanted her to buy clothes.

Helena reluctantly took the roll of bills from Andrus as he ushered her towards the front door of the trendy looking boutique just east of Chicago in the burbs. "I'm paying you back for this-"

"No need," he objected. "You're doing me a favor. Three days in a car together, remember? Please, the store is closing in fifteen minutes, and more importantly, it is now dark. I do not know how closely they are following behind, nor how many he'll send," Andrus' voice held no hint of concern. He was merely stating the facts.

Andrus crossed his arms over his broad chest and turned his back to stand guard in front of the store.

She then noticed how tall he was; maybe six-three? The heavy leather boots he wore made him appear taller.

"My boyfriend loathes shopping, too."

Helena turned and saw a thin brunette with heavy, black eye make-up standing behind the counter. Helena chuckled nervously. "Oh, he's..." not my boyfriend, she was about to say. Never mind, doesn't matter. "Yeah, he's completely allergic to shopping."

The clerk smiled. "The shop closes in ten. But if you need a few extra minutes, I'm just straightening up; so no problem."

Helena nodded and headed straight for the stack of jeans and tees. They had a small selection of sexy little lace bras and thongs. Right now she'd give anything for a pair of comfort grannies and cotton tank-bras, but there were none. She shrugged, added a black thirty-four C pushup to the pile in her arms, and then followed the sign to the dressing rooms.

She hung the items on the hook, removed her sweater, and tried on the bra. It was just like one she'd purchased recently, hoping Niccolo might see her in it. But he never had. Technically, they'd barely been to first base. That was outrageous considering they were technically married in vampire-world. And weren't vampires supposed to live for seduction? Maybe she wasn't good- "That bra is delectable on you."

Helena jumped. Niccolo stood directly behind her, elegantly poised against the full-length mirror, arms casually crossed over his powerful chest. He wore plain low-slung jeans-blue for once, not black-and a snug light gray sweater. His thick black hair was loose, slightly wild, and hanging below his collar. He looked incredibly sexy. And angry.

"But how-how the hell did you find-"

He lunged forward, grabbed her by the shoulders, and gave her one furious shake, making her teeth clack. "Inferno sacro, woman!"

Before she had a chance to protest, he moved his hands to the sides of her head and took her mouth in a possessive kiss. Helena's toes instantly curled. Every muscle in her body devolved into ebbs and flows of warm molasses. His lips were like two demons of temptation sent to coax all rational thought from her mind and replace them with hard, hot lust.

His rough hands slid down to her bare neck and shoulders to her waist and then slowly raked their way back up over her stomach to cup both breasts. His thumbs toyed with Helena's nipples through the thin black lace of her bra. His touch was like being struck with a searing bolt of erotic electricity.

Stunned by her body's potent reaction. Helena broke the kiss and sucked in a sharp breath. Their eyes locked, and in that fleeting moment of silence, something happened. A wordless exchange of raw emotion. Acknowledgment of their connection. Time seemed to stand still as she felt his light-his soul-mingling with hers. She was inside him. He was inside her. For that one fragile instant, everything between them was pure, honest, and strangely primal. Two living creatures connected.

The bond.

Then, like a dust storm whipping through the wide-open desert, the moment of clarity was swept away. Her mind fogged with a blaze of raging lust.

Niccolo, as though caught in the same mindless storm, effortlessly lifted her body and plastered her to the wall with his weight, wrapping her legs around his waist. The hard ridge of his erection pushed against her. He growled and ground his hips between her thighs, sparking bursts of flutters into the depths of her core.

He took her breath away.

Oh God, now she couldn't remember why she'd ever left him. She needed him. More than air or sunlight and beaches, definitely more than garlic. Hell, she just needed him. She flung her arms around his neck, silently inviting him to take everything from her.

"Please, Helena," he panted in between smoldering thrusts of his tongue. "I'm sorry...for the way I behaved...I wasn't...myself. Please come back. I promise...everything will make sense." He continued rubbing his thick erection through her pants, thrusting his tongue into her mouth in time with his hips.

His rough touch and grinding through her jeans almost pushed her over the edge. What does he do with those hands to make them so rough? she wondered in a fleeting thought. Ask him later. Yes, later. "Don't stop...please, don't stop," she moaned with a breath.

His pace quickened. She couldn't believe it, but she was so close, almost there... Something about this man drove her insane. He was a walking aphrodisiac.

"Yes!" she gasped, nails digging in deep through the fabric of his sweater into his shoulders. Pulses of ecstasy ripped through her body.

Niccolo's solid frame suddenly froze, his whole body taut and straining against hers, still pinning her to the wall. He groaned loudly, clearly lost to the thunderous release crashing through him.

Absurdly, Helena felt proud. She had been able push this experienced, sexy vampire over the edge. They weren't even naked.

Brow glistening with sweat, he made a soft chuckle in her ear and peppered her cheek with light kisses, "Not once in my entire thirteen hundred years has a woman turned me into a raving, hormonal lunatic such as you've done to me." He slowly released her, and she lazily slid down the length of his solid frame. He bent his forehead to hers, cupping the back of her head. "What you do to me, woman. Santo, you're addictive."

Ditto. "How did you find me?" she whispered.

"I will always find you, Helena. You are mine now. Not just by vampire law. We are connected by the same bonds that forged the universe. Do you not feel it?"

She sucked in a breath. Yes, yes she did. What did it really mean? "Please, tell me what's going on. What just happened?"

He pulled his head back. Hardness struck his eyes. "I will tell you everything I know after your transformation, I promise. Please, come back with me now. We'll still have the wedding ceremony in six days."

Helena felt like she'd been slapped by reality's cold, unwelcome hand. She was such an idiot! He had no intention of telling her anything. Nothing had changed.

Helena let out a quick huff and bent down to grab a t-shirt from the rainbow colored pile. She slipped a pink tee over hear head, grabbed the clothes, and slipped her feet into her Uggs. She pulled the latch to one side and stepped out of the dressing room.

"Helena," he scolded in a whispered voice, "where are you going?"

Someplace where you can't hurt me again. She turned on her heel. "I told you. I don't want to be with you, so don't even think of following me again. It's over."

She suddenly found herself caged between two arms, the same ones she'd just been helplessly clutching in ecstasy moments earlier.

Niccolo was staring down at her with pure frustration. "You do not mean that, my sweet. I know you are lying."

Yes. Maybe. Crap! I don't..."No. You're the one hiding behind wall after wall of rules and vows, and I don't know what other crap-excuses."

"I've never lied to you, Helena. Never. I simply cannot tell you what you want to know, but that doesn't mean I do not care for you. What do I have to do to prove myself? Why don't you trust me?"

"Trust you?" She wanted to scream. "Trust you?" Oh, wasn't that nice. He wanted her to trust him, yet... Helena paused for one short moment, then, "If I'm so goddamned important...break one of your stupid rules!"

"But I cannot, there would be-"

"Consequences? Shocking answer." Helena rolled her eyes then snapped her arms away. "Goodbye, Niccolo. It's over. You and I aren't even the same species, and we're definitely not meant for each other. The universe made a mistake."

Niccolo snarled, "The universe does not make mistakes."

"Oh yeah?" Helena retorted. "Tell that to the...to the..." Oh, heck. Why can't I think of anything? "The dinosaurs!"

Niccolo frowned. "You compare our relationship to-"

"Ma'am? Were you calling me?" the store clerk called out, approaching quickly.

Niccolo squeezed his hands on Helena's shoulders, but his look of anger turned to confusion.

Had he just tried to sift her away?

"Ma'am?" the young woman came around the corner just as Niccolo disappeared.

Helena placed her palm on her flushed cheek. "Um-no. I'm good. If you don't mind, I'm going to..." She paused, realizing how strange her words were about to sound, but she hadn't had time to put her own garments back on. "Wear the t-shirt and bra now. They're really comfy." She handed the rest of the new clothes to the clerk and tried to pull herself together.

Helena chucked her overflowing shopping bags in the backseat and then slammed the door shut.

Andrus turned the engine and gave her a suspicious look. "You smell like..." He shifted into drive.

"What?"

"Nothing, but-did something happen inside?"

Could he really smell...that?

He crinkled his nose. "Your face is red and your scent is..."

Oh, God. He can! Kill me now! Giant bomb, falling tree, spontaneous combustion...anything!

Even worse than her embarrassment was the fact that she herself couldn't understand what happened. Her soon to be ex-accidental-vampire-husband just appeared in the fitting room. They went nuts, dry-humped like a couple of wild, horny bunnies, he tried to sift her away, and then she told him to pound sand.

Yes, a proud, proud moment in my life. If only that could go on my Facebook timeline!

She had to find a way to undo this, this...thing between them before his emotional grip tightened further. With Niccolo she was exposed, vulnerable. She'd fallen for him hard and taken an enormous leap of faith. But like everything in her life, it hadn't turned out. No father, no husband...no true love.

Going back to the pity party again, are you? You should be grateful. Life gave her some very wonderful people-her mother, her friends-and a great education with a bright future.

But that man...he just gave you a taste of something more. Are you forgetting the connection you felt? Could she really live her life without experiencing it just one more time? She craved it. She craved him.

She brought her fingertips to her lips and savored the memory of his delicious.

He doesn't love you. He'll hurt you, she reminded herself. He's controlling, arrogant, and too closed off. Not what you want from a man.

"Niccolo tried to take me," she finally confessed after a few seconds of stewing.

Andrus slammed on the breaks and reached for something below the seat. Helena threw out her arms to avoid slamming into the dash.

"He was here? Now?" Andrus screamed.

Helena grumbled and slid back into her seat. "Yes! But he's gone. Okay? And did you have to do that? I'm mortal, remember?" She pulled the seat belt strap across her chest and buckled in.

"What did he say?" He released his hand from whatever was under his seat.