Brown eyes worried, she curled her legs up under her to make herself look uncertain. It was a mien I didn’t see on her very often. Her eyes closed as she took a breath as if gathering herself. “You look nice,” she said, and I could almost feel my blood pressure drop. “Don’t let him bite you,” she added softly. “I don’t want to have to kill Kisten if he binds you to him.”

“You got it,” I said, trying to lighten her mood as I walked out, knowing she might. It would be the only way to reliably break his hold on me. Time and distance would do it eventually, too, but Ivy wasn’t one to take chances. And being bound to him after I had said no to her would be more than she could take. My heels clacked a little slower as I went back to my room to change into something more subdued. This outfit was asking for trouble.

Standing before my open closet, I pushed hangers around hoping something would jump out and say, “Wear me! Wear me!” I’d already been through everything and was starting to think I didn’t have anything that wasn’t too sexy and yet attractive enough for a night on the town. With all the money I’d spent filling my closet last month, there ought to have been something. My stomach tightened at the thought of my shrinking bank balance, but Quen had left his ten thousand on the kitchen floor. And I had agreed to baby-sit Trent…

The soft knock at my door startled me, and I spun, my hand to my collarbone.

“Um,” Ivy said, her closed-lipped smile telling me she found something funny in having surprised me. “I’m sorry. I know you aren’t going to let him bite you.” She raised a long hand in a gesture of exasperation. “It’s the vamp thing. That’s all.”

I nodded, understanding. I’d been living with Ivy long enough that her unconscious vampire instincts thought of me as her property even though her conscious mind knew different. It was why I didn’t spar with her anymore, wash my clothes with hers, bring up ties of family and blood, or follow her out of the room if she abruptly left in the middle of a conversation for no apparent reason. All pushed her vampire-instinct buttons and would put us right back where we were seven months ago, fumbling about as we figured out how to live with each other.

“Here,” Ivy said, coming one step into my room and holding out a fist-sized package wrapped in green foil and a purple bow. “It’s an early solstice gift. I thought you might like to use it on your date with Kisten.”

“Oh, Ivy!” I exclaimed, taking the elaborate, clearly store-wrapped package. “Thank you. I, ah, haven’t wrapped yours yet….” Wrapped? I hadn’t even bought it.