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matched her
    fur mantle.
    It'd been the only time she'd seen him clean-shaven. His dark eyes had scorched her as he
    stared at her and uttered the words that would bind them together before God.
    What she hadn't known then was that Velkan's mother had been a sorceress who'd taught
    her son well. And while he and Retta had taken holy vows, he'd bound her to him with the
    darkest of arts.
    Without telling her.
    What he'd done was unforgivable. So why then did a part of her ache to forgive him?
    Retta tilted her head as she heard a light scratching at her door.
    " Velkan ?" she whispered. Her heart leaped at the prospect of it being him again.
    Before she could stop herself, she rushed to the door and opened it. Her jaw dropped at the
    sight of the last person she'd expected to be there.
    Tall and blond, he was a far cry from her darkly sinister husband. And for the first time, she
    realized he was pale in comparison to the man she'd left behind.
    "Stephen? What are you doing here?"
    His light blue eyes were filled with sympathy. "My name is not Stephen, Retta . It's Stefan."
    Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he blew something into her face.
    Retta staggered back as her senses dulled. Everything shifted around her. Reacting on
    instinct, she kicked her foot out, catching him right between the legs. He doubled over
    immediately. But as she tried to close her door, her sight went black and she fell to the floor.
    Chapter Four
    Velkan landed on the balcony of his mansion that overlooked the quiet valley, and shifted
    back into human form. Five hundred years ago, this place had been accessible by a dirt
    road that led up the mountainside to his courtyard. It was a road he'd closed and let be
    overgrown two hundred years ago when he realized how often he watched it, waiting for
    Esperetta to return.
    Now that road was completely covered by brambles and vines as the forest had reclaimed
    it. The only way to venture here was by flight or teleportation. Two things that helped to keep
    away anyone who had no business here.
    Velkan paused on the carved-stone balcony to look back toward town. He'd already cleared
    out the Daimons who'd come to town to prey on the tourists and he still had hours before
    dawn. His house was completely dark and silent in the night. Viktor had chosen to stay at the
    hotel with his family—no doubt in fear of Velkan's mood.
    And the man had every right to be afraid. Velkan didn't like surprises and Esperetta's arrival
    had definitely qualified as that. The Weres should have told him to expect her. What they'd
    done was unforgivable to him.
     
    The gilded French doors to his room opened silently at his approach, then slammed shut
    behind him. Long ago, his wife had been terrified of his supernatural powers. What he had
    now made a mockery of the ones he'd borne as a mortal man. Back then, he'd been limited
    to simple premonitions, curses, potions, and spells that had to be worked with blood and
    ritual.
    Now his powers were truly fierce. Telekinesis, shape-shifting, and pyrokinetics . Over the
    centuries, he'd become the monster Esperetta had feared. He held his hand out and the
    bottle of bourbon flew to him. Uncorking it, he drank the bourbon straight from the bottle as
    he walked past a mirror that didn't cast his reflection.
    He laughed at that. Until he neared the fireplace where Esperetta's painting hung. The look
    on her face froze him to the spot. And as always, it took his breath.
    He'd commissioned it right before their wedding. He'd hired Gentile Bellini and had
    practically been forced to abduct the man out of Venice for the work. But Velkan had known
    that no one other than that artist would have ever been able to capture her youth and
    innocence.
    Bellini hadn't disappointed. If anything, he'd excelled past all of Velkan's expectations.
    Esperetta had been so nervous that day. With bright summer flowers in her dark auburn hair
    and dressed in a light gold gown, she'd been an