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wasn’t who she really wanted. The gentle male from AKM, Io, who had brushed her hair and made her feel things she had never felt—that was who she wanted. She had been thinking a lot about him. What did his lips feel like? How did he taste? Would he be afraid to touch her like all the others, or would he be brave enough to break the rules with her? Io. With his hypnotic gaze and his tattoo and his easy manner. Why did she suspect he wasn’t as gentle as he had seemed? Was it the glint in his eye or the way he seemed to smile out of one side of his mouth as if he had a secret? Whatever it was, Io was the one she really wanted to kiss and get to know better.
    “So? You going to see him again?” Persephone said, as if reading her mind.
    Miriam snapped out of her fantasy and smiled. She would love to see Io again. He was handsome and tragic in an odd sort of way that made her feel like she had more in common with him than the fact that they were both vampires. The male had demons haunting him just as she did. She could see it in his eyes. And what amazing eyes he had. Green and golden brown mixed, and intense in a way that touched her all the way to her soul. It warmed her to think about him and the short time they had shared while she had been recovering at AKM from her overdose.
    And it had been obvious he had been attracted to her, too. However, reality made it clear that she and Io had about as much chance at seeing each other again as a fly had against a fly swatter. As in, zilch. No chance. Nada.
    “Yeah, Seph, like that will happen,” she said, rolling her eyes.
    “You never know.”
    “Pah-lease. Do you want to know what would happen to Io if I saw him again? Father would ruin him. Io would lose his job, his credibility, his livelihood, everything. Maybe even his life.”
    It sucked having the king as a father. He did a decent job ruling the race, but he was a lousy dad. Domineering, controlling, completely out of touch. The simple fact that he had made reference to ruling her earlier was a huge clue that he needed parenting lessons in the most severe way. His idea of parenting was keeping Miriam under lock and key and preventing any male from touching her.
    And if she saw Io again, she would most definitely encourage his touching her, which was why Io would never survive if she somehow managed to find her way back to him. Father would destroy him.
    Her thoughts went back to that day two weeks ago, when Io had been brushing her hair while she had been in AKM’s medical ward. Io’s boss had busted in and reprimanded him for being so casual with her. You’re not allowed to touch her, he had said. The words had echoed like the lyrics of a bad song that had engrained itself in her mind, playing over and over ever since.
    No one was allowed to touch her. As if she were some paper-thin, crystal egg shell.
    “Still, you like him, Miri. I can see it all over your face.” Seph’s voice was soft. “I’ve never seen you so starry-eyed over a guy.”
    Okay, so Seph was right. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Io since meeting him. “He brushed my hair,” she said, blushing.
    Seph’s face screwed up in a cheesy half-frown, half-grin. “What? You didn’t tell me this before.” She sounded accusatory, but in a playful way.
    “I know, I know. It sounds lame, but….” She sighed wistfully. “It was the most romantic thing, Seph. He brushed my hair. He got right up on the bed and sat behind me and just…brushed my hair.” She could still feel how tenderly Io had smoothed his palm over her hair as he swept the brush through it. His body heat had been intoxicating behind her and she could have sworn at one point he had wanted to reach his arm around her waist and hold her. Damn, her nipples hardened even now at the thought.
    “Oh boy, you’re completely smitten,” Seph said.
    “I am not.”
    “Are to.”
    Miriam giggled. “Okay, maybe a little.”
    She had needed this. After the fight with her