bare shoulders as she looked at him through confused eyes.
He wondered if she could sense his heart pounding. It felt like it was about to burst through his rib cage, and the wounded expression on her face only made it beat harder.
“Fine,” she seethed. Hurt and embarrassment flickered over her features as she turned her attention back to the keys dangling from the door. She looked at him like she wanted to kill him, or at the very least, kick him in the shin. “Forget it.”
“Shit.” Pete sighed in frustration and ran his hands over his face. “It’s not that I don’t want to, believe me,” he said softly. “But half an hour ago, you were completely shit-faced and hanging out with some other guy at the club.”
His jaw clenched as he fought for a plausible reason as to why he wouldn’t take her in that apartment and feast on that gorgeous body until sunrise. The truth was that all he wanted to do was spend the rest of the night showing her just how badly he wanted her, but that simply wasn’t in the cards.
“Forgive me if I don’t shift gears as quickly as you do,” he snapped. Looking into her stormy eyes, a potent mixture of pent-up lust and frustration boiled over and made him sound harsher than he intended. “Besides, I don’t think Dante would appreciate it.”
It was a low blow to turn the tables, but he needed to find a way to put out the flames as quickly as possible, and ticking her off seemed like the most efficient way.
It was a shitty thing to do, and he knew it.
“Typical.” Marianna glared at him through furious eyes. “First of all, that guy at the club is a complete asshole, and I pretended to be drunker than I was, so I could get out of there and get away from him. Secondly, you have done nothing but ogle me and flirt with me from the moment you laid eyes on me, so don’t act innocent and shocked by my proposal.” She poked him in the chest with one finger, which hurt more than he expected. “And lastly, my brother doesn’t get one damn bit of say about who I bring into my apartment or my bed.”
Pete opened his mouth to say something, but Marianna slammed the door in his face before he could say anything else. Nothing killed a hard-on like having a door slammed in your face—except maybe that wounded look in her eye when he rejected her.
Pete swore under his breath and headed back downstairs. He needed a cold shower and a few hours of sleep before he’d have the strength to face her again. He wasn’t sure if she’d cool off anytime soon, but there was one thing he knew with absolute certainty… now that he’d had a taste of her, he only wanted more.
Chapter 3
The indigo and silver haze of the dream realm surrounded her like a warm blanket, but this time it was different because she wasn’t alone. Marianna wandered through the fog of the dream realm, as she’d done countless nights before, but tonight another energy signature permeated the air.
Pete was here.
Her heart raced as dozens of questions swarmed her mind, but her volatile stream of emotions made the fog thicken and the colors pulse vibrantly. She stood for a moment, struggling to get her bearings amid the swirling clouds.
All Amoveo walked the dream realm in search of their predestined mates because the spiritual connection was a crucial part of the mating process. She’d spent endless hours searching for that one person the universe selected for her, and she had practically given up… but he was here.
Marianna closed her eyes and sent her own energy signature, her spiritual fingerprint, in search of his, hoping she could pinpoint where he was.
In the club, she’d heard his voice clearly in her mind, but she suspected he had no idea what he’d done. He didn’t know what she was or that the Amoveo existed, so how could he possibly be aware of how significant that telepathic contact was?
What puzzled her most was why hadn’t it happened sooner. She’d spent a good deal of time with him over