I didn’t have time to duck as the flat of his hand swung. Pain shocked through my cheek, and I hit the floor. Al’s silver-buckled boots edged my vision. He was wearing white stockings, and there was lace where they met the bottom of his trousers.

Nausea rose. I touched my cheek, feeling it burn and hating him. I tried to rise, unable to when he put a foot on my shoulder and forced me down. Hating him all the more, I tossed my hair aside so I could see him. What difference did it make? “What do you want, master?”

I felt like I was going to vomit.

His thin lips curled up in a smile. Tugging the lace from his sleeves, he bent to solicitously help me up. I refused, but he yanked me up so fast that I found myself pressed against him, breathing in the scent of crushed velvet and burnt amber. “I want this,” he whispered, running a hand up under my sweater, searching.

My heart raced. Stiffening, I clenched my teeth. I’ll kill him. Somehow, I’ll kill him.

“Such a touching conversation with your roommate,” he said, and I twitched, as his voice had shifted to Ivy’s. Ever-after zinged through me as his appearance shifted while still touching me. Red goat eyes stared at me from Ivy’s perfect face. Lean and tight, the image of her body wrapped in leather pressed against me, pinning me to the counter. The last time, he had bitten me. Oh, God. Not again.

“But maybe you want this instead,” he said with her gray silk voice, and sweat started at the small of my back. Her long straight hair brushed my cheek, the silky whisper pulling an unstoppable shiver from my skin. Feeling it where our bodies touched, he leaned close until I recoiled.

“Don’t pull away,” he said with her voice, and my resolve grew. He was slime. He was a bastard. I’d kill him for this. “I’m sorry, Rachel.…” he breathed, long fingers burning into tingles where they touched, tracing a line from my shoulder to my hip. “I’m not angry. I understand you’re afraid. But the things I could teach you—if you knew the heights of passion we could find.” His breath shuddered. Ivy’s arms were around me cool and light—gentling me to him against my will. I could smell her rich scent of dark incense and ash. He had her perfectly.

“Let me show you?” the vision of Ivy whispered, and I closed my eyes. “Just a taste … I know I can change your mind.”

It was pleading, heavy with her vulnerable desires. It was everything she hadn’t said, everything she wouldn’t. My eyes opened as my scar flashed to life. God, no. Fire raced to my groin. Knees buckling, I tried to push away. Demon-red eyes shifted to a liquid brown, and his grip grew firmer, pulling me closer until his breath came and went on my neck. “Gently, Rachel,” her voice whispered. “I could be so gentle. I could be everything a man can’t be. Everything you want. Just one little word, Rachel. Tell me you will?”