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are the second human I have ever bitten. My brothers have all bitten women, but our bite kills all but the one female meant for each of us. That female is our destined mate for life.”
    “And you chose me without my consent!”
    “We don’t choose. It simply is. My brother, Jordan, was in love four times and bit the women he loved. They all died. He now has his mate, Celeste. He tried to help her die because she floated in the ruins of a devastating shipwreck. She wouldn’t have lived much longer. Now they are beyond happy and in love. Even her grandmum lives on the Isle with us.”
    She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Unbelievable. “You are truly daft.” Yet something had happened to her. It had to be black magic. Maybe if she removed herself from him, everything would go back to normal.
    “I do sound the halfwit, don’t I?” He caressed the inside of her wrist with his thumb. The very spot where moments before she’d had burns.
    Shivers of pleasure quaked through her. Divine. More so than any touch she had ever experienced. Her tongue slid out, and she wet her lips.
    “Fina. I know you want to leave, but I can’t have that. You need me as much as I need you. We are to each other like the air that fire needs to burn.”
    “You think you can do this to me and expect me to accept it?”
    “For certain you are scared. You don’t know me. I have changed your life, as you stated, without your consent. We will make this work. You will see.”
    “I hate you. I have hated you for the last five years. Ever since you walked into my pa’s shop with the design you stole from him, I have hated you.”
    He frowned and then nodded. “Ah. You are Peter Byron’s daughter. That was where I remembered you from. I should have remembered those eyes.”
    He mocked her?
    “I did not steal anything, Fina. I am sorry your father saw my drawing that way. I am an inventor, and because of my elements, I have a very different view of time. Time for me, for us, is different. The piece I wanted your father to create was one I thought would have helped achieve my goal of rewinding time. It didn’t work anyway.”
    It didn’t work? Her pa never designed anything that didn’t work. “You ruined my family’s life,” she spat at him.
    “I seriously doubt showing you my workings ruined anything.”
    “My pa had a stroke immediately after you left. He no longer has the same use of his hands or his mind. Jonathan has to put together every clock we sell based on past designs. Peter Byron’s designs are now passed over as being out of fashion.”
    “Fina. I am sorry beyond words that his bad fate coincided with my visit. I realize you won’t believe me. Not now. Give me time. I can show you what I mean. I know you have no reason to do so, but please listen to yourself, mind and body, and give me something to hold on to. You can trust me and commit to me.”
    “Commit to you? I would rather commit to my pa’s apprentice, Jonathan, than you!”
    “Our ways are different than human ways. My bite on your neck says you are mine. There is nothing you can do to change that.”
    “Then you should have bitten a different girl.”
    “It does not work that way.”
    “So I have no choice?”
    “This is not pleasant, I am sure. But neither of us has a choice here. None.”
    She pushed to her feet, anger pulsing though her every fiber. “No.”
    He remained seated, his large hands fisted on his thighs. “Fina. Look around you. I can provide for your family for the rest of their lives.” He inclined his head toward the walls, and a swath of his ebony hair slid over his shoulder to pool in his lap.
    His hair covered his hands. She couldn’t look away. “None of that matters to me.”
    “It should.”
    Closing her eyes, she bit her lip. She would not look at him or the room.
    She forced her eyes open and glanced to the left and right. Polished wood surrounded her; even the walls shone, buffed to a sleek shine. Like his hair. She