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unlock at any time based on his whim. In an apartment she couldn’t get out of. With a light system that he could control with a mere word.
    As if on cue, the door opened. Roland stood on the other side of the threshold, his scowling face illuminated by the dim lamp beside the bed, the dark shadows from the pitch-black hall behind him caressing his figure like the creature of the night he was.
    Oh, God.
    “…so, you can either come out and spend your day out here while I sleep in there, or…” his scowling lips curved up, exposing sharp canines, “…you can share the bed with me.”

Chapter 4
     
    Roland had never seen a human move so fast. She was off the bed and flat against the far wall of the room in a split second, her gaze falling longingly at the dark hall beyond his shoulder.
    Guess it was no contest. The dark trumped sharing space with him. The logical part of him understood this—woman plus vampire, hello —but another part, that which had awoken unexpectedly as of last night, wanted to stomp and scream and tear up a few things…and then pin her down and force her to accept him because, God damn it, she was his mate.
    He shook his head violently to the side, as if he could dislodge the urge to claim her by doing so. Don’t go there, Roland. Doesn’t matter if she could have been your bond mate. She can’t be.
    Bond mate. He rolled his shoulders, the tension in them running down his back. He’d been purposefully avoiding thinking about her in those terms. Yet now that he had, he knew it was true, and with that came a confusing mix of anger and confusion.
    Why her? Why now and not before…before he’d become a monster?
    The unfairness of it caused a growl to rise in his throat. He just barely managed to cut it off. A quick glance showed her still plastered like wallpaper against the wall, her eyes watching him warily. Monster indeed.
    Moving carefully so as to not totally freak her out, he crossed the room to his bed. He peeled off his T-shirt—she gasped—and stepped out of his jeans—a shocked cry. Normally he would have dropped his boxers too, but the sight of her, her body held perfectly rigid, like some damn bunny trying to avoid notice, stayed his hands.
    He flopped down onto the bed instead, lacing his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. He supposed he could have pulled up the covers, hide the erection tenting out his boxers, but he’d be damned if he would hide his desire for her. She was just going to have to get used to it—and him.
    Damn it, Roland. When are you going to get this through your thick head? She cannot be your woman!
    And because she couldn’t, he needed to drive her away before his vampire instincts took over and he did something incredibly stupid—like open his eyes and try to enthrall her.
    “Coming to bed, mon chaton ?” he asked, purposefully lowering his voice into a husky drawl.
    His answer was a rapid beat of her feet as she ran from the room and down the dark hall.
    ***
     
    Hours later Karissa’s heart was pounding with fear, her body tingling. She shook her head, trying to dispel the image of the vampire’s evident desire. She told herself if he’d been planning on following her, dragging her back to the bed, and having his way with her, he’d have done it by now. Therefore, she was safe.
    But for how long? Why hadn’t he bitten her yet? Why hadn’t he taken advantage of the enthrallment and had his wicked way with her? It was his nature to do so, yet he hadn’t. She immediately rejected the idea that it could be because he was an honorable vampire. She didn’t need to remember her papa’s teachings to know there wasn’t such a thing, not when just yesterday the proof had been shown to her in the most brutal of ways.
    Nope, there must have been some reason her host hadn’t sucked her dry yet. And the weird gut-level pull he seemed to have on her must be something he was doing to keep her quiet, or more likely keep her off-kilter. She could