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her.
    He wouldn’t worry about her. Unfortunately, their paths had crossed, and now he did have to deal with the situation. Find and seize? Unlikely.
    He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Acquisitions. It was late, and the office was overseas, which put their time early in the morning, but dispatch, a 24/7 position, answered. He asked her to patch him through to the director’s messages and left a short one.
    â€œThe Purgatory Heart is in someone’s chest. Unable to seize. I await further instructions.”
    If that didn’t get the point across he didn’t know what else would be required. The director would probably pull him from the mission. Bron had never taken an innocent life to gain an object he’d been assigned to retrieve. Not unless that life threatened him or others, that is. And in that case, it generally was not an innocent.
    But could he leave the heart—and the woman—just like that?
    Sitting on one of the two twin-size beds that had seen better days—probably better decades—and facing the bathroom door, he listened to the water splash in the sink. A vampire had almost sunk his fangs into her neck. Kisanthra Lewis was—and would be—pursued by every degenerate that could pick up on the universal vibrations. She was not safe. And while it wasn’t his job to play babysitter, he had inadvertently been the one to lead those aggressors to her.
    He couldn’t walk away. He had to ensure she was safe. Yet how to do that? So long as her heart beat in her chest, he felt sure she’d be a target.
    The director had said the heart had been grasped by a soul from Purgatory. How was that possible?
    There were a lot of times he didn’t completely understand the nature or power of the items he had been ordered to retrieve. Didn’t matter. He had a job; he carried it out. He looked forward to the next mission and the next. He enjoyed the adventure, the quest and, oftentimes, the race for the prize. The satisfaction in completing a task that very few could. He did not require accolades, only another assignment. The next fix.
    But never before in his nearly one hundred fifty years of working for Acquisitions had such a race to the prize involved ensuring the safety of a human woman. This was a twist he wasn’t sure how to handle. And even if he did, he didn’t want to.
    He didn’t get involved with human women romantically. That way lay heartbreak. And unfathomable grief. He would never be forgiven for one moment of indiscretion with a human woman and the results that had followed. Nor did he deserve such forgiveness.
    He hadn’t thought about that time for ages. Had been so involved in his work that he hadn’t afforded a moment for regret. And now, in the midst of a strange connection to this human woman, memory had chosen to bombard him with images of a sweet blond child, alone and...beyond hope. So precious and fragile.
    That horrible, horrible day. It had been his fault! All because he’d chosen to dally with a human woman.
    Pressing his hands to his temples and shaking his head, Bron shook away the image. The best thing he could do now was get Kizzy out of his life as quickly as possible. Because he didn’t need the grief of memory or the tease of her sexy scent. She was pretty and tough and independent. All things that attracted him to a woman.
    But she had no fangs or wings or the ability to shift, so that made her dangerous to his very soul.
    â€œI’ll take her home. Maybe Acquisitions can assign a watch to her for a few days.”
    He couldn’t be responsible for her safety. Because he wasn’t capable or, rather, didn’t want to remain in such close proximity to her.
    The bathroom door opened, and Kizzy wandered out, twisting her hair into a ponytail as she did. He hadn’t noticed if she’d worn makeup earlier, but now her face was clean and fresh. A sweet, fruity tease clung to her skin. More of