"Everything," Tony admonished. "Including what you've done to her."

"Whathave you done to me?" Mia asked.

Colin was far too aware of the crowd. "Not here."

Tony pointed toward the bedroom. Colin grabbed Mia's hand and hustled her inside. This time he was glad when the door shut behind them.

Once they were alone, he turned to her and gave her the blunt truth.

"I'm a vampire."

Chapter Eleven.

"No, you're not."

Her response certainly wasn't unexpected, but Colin couldn't help but be indignant. "What do you mean, No, you're not? I ought to know what I am: a vampire Prime of Clan Reynard."

She shook off his hand and backed away to look him up and down. "That's not possible."

Colin did his best to see the situation through her eyes, and tried to sound soothing. "I realize that you're confused."

"Oh, yes, I'm confused. But don't try to tell me that you're a vampire."

"It's not only me," he told her. "Everyone in the house is a vampire. Except Domini, and maybe a couple of the Primes' mortal bondmates, but they're special cases." He sighed, and held up a hand. "Never mind, I'm going too fast. Let's concentrate on you and me, and get this over with."

"Yes," she said. "Let's."

There was a gleam of anger in her eyes and in her spirit that stabbed at him. Maybe he was choosing his words wrongly, not being tactful enough. It was hard to tell with women. They were hard to talk to, but he'd been told to be honest.

"You've seen vampires," he reminded her. "I tried to make you forget that we exist."

There was a long moment where the sense of anger and betrayal sizzled around her, but she got it under control. "It didn't work.

Not for long, anyway." He was surprised by her mental resilience, and rather proud of her, despite the inconvenience. "That's the trouble with trying to manipulate psychics," he explained. "You can never be certain it's going to work. You seem to be getting stronger. What did you do, go to Tony when the false memories wore off? And why Tony? How'd you find him?"

A stubborn mask came over her features, and her mind. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to be doing the talking?"

"There's plenty of things you need to answer for."

"You first."

Her tone cut like a knife.

More than that, it excited him. Every fiery look from her, every word, stimulated him more. Though the pa.s.sion that seethed inside her was from anger, Colin knew instinctively how to channel and change it to the kind of pa.s.sion that brought pleasure, and completion.

"Mia. We can do better things than fight." His voice was full of sultry promise. He took a step toward his beautiful human, reaching for her. She gasped when his fingers touched the side of her throat and slid across her shoulders, and the familiar, delicious crackle of desire pa.s.sed between them.

Then she danced away to the far side of the room. She held her hands up before her when he would have followed. "I don't make love to vampires."

He smiled and glanced toward the king-sized bed in the center of the room. Just because they were stuck in here didn't mean they couldn't have some fun. He nodded toward it, all c.o.c.ky and sure of himself. Mia always came to him in the end, no matter how much they fought.

"Then maybe I won't confess to being one."

"Good. Because-"

"But that would be a lie. And I'm told that's not allowed."

He sat down on the end of the bed and patted the spot next to him for her to join him. "You've been making love to a vampire for months, Mia. Come and make love to one again."

Mia slowly turned her back on Colin, though she could still feel his gaze on her. For hours all she'd wanted was to be with him, but now she couldn't bear to look at him. But that didn't keep the memories from rising up to haunt her through all the layers of confusion.

She didn't take strangers home; she wasn't that kind of woman-but here they were in her bedroom, with no more conversation than the words they'd exchanged in the hospital. Somehow he knew the way to her home, into the most private place where she lived. She welcomed him into this sanctuary, and gave herself up to the desire that had been waiting for him to kindle.

He didn't touch her like a stranger, but as the lover who knew and fulfilled her every desire. When she touched him, she knew every hard-muscled inch of him. The scent and heat and taste of him was a homecoming rather than a revelation.

They were meant to fit together, and they did, falling onto the bed, ripping off each other's clothes, moving together, mouths and hands finding all the right places with frantic, fulfilling urgency. There was no gentleness in this coupling; they both rode the wildness, loved it. There were moments of pain that only intensified the pleasure. They clawed at each other as he thrust into her.

Clawed and scratched and- Bit.

Mia touched her right breast, as the memory of the first time it happened washed over her with erotic intensity that almost sent her to her knees.

"Youbit me."

"Upon occasion."

How could he sound so d.a.m.ned smug?

She whirled around and glared at Colin. His bitingher wasn't the only thing she remembered about their wild lovemaking, but she wasn't ready to face the rest of it.

"You bit me!"

"I tasted you," he corrected. "That's what we call it. We never take more than a few drops of blood at a time, but it heightens our partner's pleasure, and ours. You remember the pleasure, but not what we do."

How could he say that, when she was remembering it right now? She also remembered the taste of copper in her mouth. "You are so obtuse, Colin Foxe."

"But I'm s.e.xy."

s.e.xhad been the basis of their relationship. But s.e.x with a vampire? Her stomach twisted at the thought.

"Biting me doesn't make you a vampire," she said. "And vampires aren't s.e.xy. Except maybe Angel and Spike, but they're fictional. Real vampires are monsters. I've been attacked by them."

"Tribe vampires are monsters. I'm Clan."

Tribe. Clan. Family. She'd heard the terms. Her great-grandfather had told her that vampires divided themselves into three distinct types. He'd also told her that the distinctions made no difference. Vampires of any type were inimical parasites, meant to be killed by humans. That Colin knew about the different kinds of vampires frightened her.

"Is this some kind of test? I'm trying to find vampire hunters, but when I think I find the hunters, I'm told they're vampires. That doesn't make sense."

Colin stood up slowly, and he looked very annoyed. "What do you want with hunters?"

"Vampires have been attacking me," she reminded him.

This calmed him a little. "How do you know about the hunters?"

She wasn't ready to answer this. "I've seen you in the sunlight. Vampires can't bear the light."

She remembered being with him on the beach on the hottest day of the year. She remembered making love at midday in her garden, laughing about getting their b.u.t.ts burned if they weren't careful. They'd rubbed coconut-scented sun-block all over each other. She remembered the way his skin felt, slick with the cream and warmed by the sun.

And she remembered talking to Tony Crowe in his courtyard, how he'd turned his face up to the clear California sky. And how Colin and he had faced off in the middle of the bright Los Angeles afternoon.

"How can you all be vampires when you run around in the daylight?"

"We take drugs. Lots of drugs. This is the twenty-first century, woman. Do you think we haven't changed with the times?"

That was one of the things her great-grand-father wanted to know. That's why he wanted a live vampire to study. Maybe she should take Colin to her great-grandfather.

And if she could think like that, it must mean that she was beginning to believe he really was a vampire. Which would mean...

That she'd been sleeping with the enemy.

A wave of self-loathing overtook her, strong enough to drive her to her knees. Colin was beside her almost before she hit the floor. Then his hands were on her.

"Monster!" she shouted. "Get your hands off me, you disgusting parasite!"

He backed off, and there was hurt in his voice when he said, "Hey!"

She looked up at him, realized she was on her knees in front of a vampire, and got to her feet. She wasn't going to show weakness in front of him-in front ofit. Looking at him, even knowing what he was-what he proudly proclaimed to be-she still had trouble seeing past the man she'd cared for to the beast he truly was.

It made it worse that she couldn't look at him without wanting him. She'd have to put the yearning down to some sort of telepathic glamor he exerted on her, which made her want him. Because if wanting him was something that came from inside her, then she was a weak, perverted fool.

Mia was looking at him as if she'd never seen him before, and Colin accepted that. What ground on his temper was that she radiated intense hatred and anger-not only at him, but at herself. What was that about?

Maybe she wanted him to apologize for what he was, which was not going to happen. "I'm proud of being a vampire. We're faster, stronger, longer-lived, and have better sight, hearing, and vision than humans. We're psychic as h.e.l.l."

She sneered. "You're better than humans, is that it?"

"The Clans are protectors of humans, Mia. We look after your kind."

"Mykind. What arrogance." She crossed her arms. "And what's the bill for being so tenderly looked after by your superior species? Do you do it for free?"

"Yes, of course. Well-"

"Do you look after us like shepherds with their flocks?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Like that."

"Sheep end up being slaughtered, Foxe. They're protected until the shepherd decides they make a tasty stew."

"Oh, come on!"

"How many people have you slaughtered?"

"I'm acop. "

"Cops kill people, and get away with it. What a great cover for a vampire. Didn't you just shoot a couple of bank robbers in the line of duty?" She laughed bitterly. "And to think I was worried about how you reacted to killing those men. How many innocent peoples' blood have you taken while wearing the uniform?"

For now he'd accept that in her ignorance she could ridicule what it meant to be a Clan Prime. But there was no way he let her get away with accusing him of being a bad cop!Colin took a furious step toward her, only to spin toward the door when it opened.

"Time's up," Tony Crowe announced.

Chapter Twelve.

"Not now!" Colin shouted at Crowe.

Mia was relieved to have Colin's attention diverted from her. The wild look in his eyes when he came toward her had scared her.

She'd never been frightened by him before, and she cursed herself for rousing the temper of a monster when she didn't yet know how to defend herself against him.

d.a.m.n it! Why hadn't her great-grandfather been more helpful? Why hadn't she found the human vampire hunters before running into this nest of monsters?

She was such a fool for mistaking Colin, Tony, and all the rest for hunters just because they'd fought off the other vampires. Had she stumbled into the middle of some territorial dispute?

"I'm just the messenger," Tony answered Colin. "Did you tell her about us?"

"I've been trying to. She just called me a bad cop. A Prime has to defend his honor."

Tony gave her a disapproving look. "We're very proud that he qualified for SWAT at his tender age."

"He's thirty-two," Mia said. At least that's what he'd told her-as if anything Colin Foxe said about himself was true.

"They let you out of the creche awfully young, didn't they?" Tony said to Colin.

"I'm old enough to kick your a.s.s, old-timer."

"I might let you try, pup." Tony came farther into the room, and looked Mia up and down in a way that made her blush. "But you know what you'd be giving up if I won. I'm a hundred and three," he added to Mia. "Think of all the experience I have to offer you."

"Hey!" Colin put himself between Mia and the other vampire.