Cinn closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of patience. She should‘ve warned him before he entered the greenhouse, but she‘d been too anxious to see her plants. She turned to look at him.

“That‘s Carla. She has aggression issues.” Cinn winced. Dark blood dripped from his finger. But even as she watched, the wound closed and the bleeding stopped. “I thought you encouraged scars.”

“I choose the scars I carry.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Now tell me about Carla before I rip her up by her roots.”

Anger blazed in her. “Is that how you solve everything? Kill?”

“Works for me.”

She tried to calm herself. Cinn didn‘t doubt he could destroy every one of her plants if he went on a rampage. God, she hoped her fear didn‘t show in her eyes. She felt the brush of his mind a moment before he spoke.

“You‘re crazy, do you know that? You‘re more afraid for these plants than you are for yourself.” He shook his head at what he‘d consider stupidity beyond understanding. “Now tell me about Carla.”

“Carla is a Venus flytrap.”

“I‘ve seen pictures of Venus flytraps, and this isn‘t one.”

“Yes, well, she grew a little bigger than normal.”

“You think? She‘s at least six feet tall.” Dacian glared at the plant. “She‘s dangerous.”

“Pot, kettle?”

His smile was merely a baring of his teeth. “But you expect me to bite you, sweetheart.” His smile eased into something more sensual. “I always like to rise to those kinds of expectations.”

She refused to react. Okay, how to explain Carla and the rest of her rejects to someone who probably never had a soft feeling in his entire life? “I made mistakes with a few of my plants. They weren‘t as calm and friendly as I‘d hoped. But I couldn‘t destroy them. They were alive. They didn‘t want to die.” She realized she was twisting the bottom of her T-shirt nervously and stopped. “I keep them in a corner of the greenhouse. They‘re my weed warriors.”

He didn‘t smile. “Better put up a warning sign.” Then he did smile. “On second thought, don‘t. I‘d like to see the face of the first person who leaves with Carla‘s teeth marks in him. I‘d like to follow him outside and listen as he tries to explain to his friends how he got the bite.”

Cinn didn‘t register anything after that smile. Sure, he‘d smiled before, but this was a real smile.

And for the first time she got a glimpse of the beautiful man he must‘ve been before bitterness, cynicism, and probably just being a vampire had leached all the emotion except rage from him.