“No, you can’t expect me to forgive everything overnight, if ever.”

In a second Byron went from soft and emotional to angry. Her eyes shone deeper red, and dark veins appeared on the side of her forehead. She grabbed a vase from a side table and threw it across the room.

“Byron, what are you doing? What’s wrong with you?”

“Why are you so angry with me. I did what was right,” Byron roared.

“I’m angry because you never showed me who you really are. It would have been a shock but I could have gotten over that. Instead you lied and never showed me the truth.”

Byron emptied her glass of whiskey and poured another. She strode over to Amelia angry, frustrated, and hungry. “Did you really want to know who I was? The signs were all there but you ignored them. You wanted Byron Debrek the mysterious international banker. You wanted flash and glam, not the bloodthirsty vampire I truly am.”

Amelia’s eyes started to fill with tears. “I wanted to know everything. I was so frightened of losing you that I didn’t even tell you I loved you for the longest time. I walked on eggshells around you, worried about what little thing would make you run.”

“Why did you think I’d run?”

“Because you’d never had a relationship before. Everyone kept telling me how you’d never done this or gone this far with a woman before. I loved you and I was convinced you’d leave me—and you did.”

“I would have never left you if the Dreds hadn’t become a problem again.” Byron cupped her cheek and that one touch started to make the hunger for Amelia burn in her veins. She saw discomfort in her ex-lover’s eyes. Apparently Amelia was feeling it too. “I sacrificed our love to save your life.”

“How very noble of you to decide that for me, Byron. You always have to be in control, don’t you.”

Before Amelia knew it, she was across the room pushed up against the wall. Byron was inches from her face, her teeth had erupted, and she looked wild. Amelia felt an urge she couldn’t explain, to pull Byron to her neck and let her feed. It was an impulse from her heart and her blood, and she had to use all of her control not to.

“Byron, what are you doing. I know you won’t hurt me,” Amelia said.

It appeared as if Byron was not quite present, and that part of her was in some other memory.

Byron looked down beside where they were standing and saw Rose bleeding onto the floor. “The last woman I cared about died against this wall, along with Alexis’s wife-to-be. Victorija came here while we were out, and killed every one of my staff, and the woman closest to me.”