beth put her purse down on the hall table, said hello to boo, and went into the bathroom. she eyed the shower, but decided against having one. even though her stiff body could have used some time under a hot spray, she loved the lingering smell of wrath on her skin. it was a wonderful, erotic perfume, a dark spice. like nothing she'd ever come across before, nothing she could possibly forget.

turning on the sink, she cleaned up, exquisitely sensitive and more than a little tender between her legs. not that she cared about the ache. wrath could do that to her anytime he wanted.

he was...

no words came to mind. just an image of him releasing into her, his massive, sweat-covered shoulders and chest seizing up as he gave himself to her. as he branded her as his.

which was what it had seemed like. she felt as though she'd been dominated and imprinted by a man. taken.

and she wanted that again. wanted him now.

but she shook her head, thinking that the unprotected sex had to stop. bad enough it had been twice. next time they were going to be safe.

on her way out of the bath, she caught her reflection in the mirror and stopped moving. she bent at the waist, bringing her face closer to the glass.

she still looked exactly as she had this morning. but she felt like a stranger.

opening her mouth, she examined her teeth. when she probed the two canines in front, sure enough, they were sore.

dear god, who was she? what was she?

she thought about wrath, after they'd been together. pushing himself away from her, his half-naked body straining, his muscles looking as if they were going to break through his skin. when he'd bared his teeth, his fangs had been longer than when she'd first seen them. as if they'd grown.

his beautiful face had been contorted with agony.

was that what she was in for?

a rapping noise came from the other room, as though someone was knocking on a window. she heard boo meow in welcome.

beth put her head cautiously around the doorjamb.

there was someone at the slider. someone big.

"wrath?" she rushed over and opened the door before she really looked.

when she saw what was on the other side, she wished she'd checked more carefully first.

it wasn't wrath, although the man looked a little like him. black hair was cut short. harsh face. intense dark blue eyes. a whole lot of leather.

his nostrils flared and he frowned, staring at her hard. but then he seemed to catch himself.

"beth?" his voice was deep, but friendly. and as the man smiled, fangs were revealed.

she didn't even jump.

damn, she was getting used to the weirdness already.

"i'm tohrment, a friend of wrath's." the guy stuck his hand out. "you can call me tohr."

she shook it, not sure what to say.

"i'm here to hang for a while. i'll just be outside if you need anything."

the man... vampire?ashit, whatever he was?aturned away and headed for the picnic table.

"wait," she said. "why don't you... please come in."

he shrugged. "okay."

as he stepped through the door, boo meowed loudly and pawed at the man's shitkickers. the two greeted each other like long-lost friends, and when the vampire straightened, his leather jacket fell open. daggers. just like wrath's. and she had a feeling that the kind of weapons butch had peeled off wrath were hiding in this man's pockets, too.

"would you like something to drink?" she winced. not blood. please don't say blood.

he grinned at her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "you got any beer?"

beer? he drank beer?

"ah, yeah. actually, i think i do." she disappeared into the kitchen. brought back two sam adamses. she needed a belt right about now, too.

after all, she was playing hostess to a vampire. her father had been a vampire.

her lover was a vampire.

she tilted the beer back and drank hard.

tohrment laughed softly. "long night?"

"you have no idea," she replied, wiping her mouth.

"oh, i might." the vampire sat down in her wing chair, his big body overflowing the arms and dwarfing the high back. "i'm glad i finally met you. your father talked about you a lot."

"he did?"

"he was so damn proud of you. and you've got to know?ahe stayed away to protect you, not because he didn't love you."

"that's what fritz said. wrath, too."

"how're you getting along with him?"

"wrath?"

"yeah."

she felt a blush hit her cheeks and headed to the kitchen so he didn't catch her reaction. she grabbed a bag of cookies from the top of the fridge and put some on a plate.

"he's... he's... how do i put it?" she tried to think of a good answer.

"actually, i think i know."

she came back and held out the plate. "would you like some?"

"oatmeal raisin," he said, taking three. "my favorite."

"you know, i thought vampires only drank blood."

"nah. necessary nutrients in it, but we need food, too."

"how about garlic?"

"bring it on." he leaned back in the chair, munching happily. "i love the stuff roasted with a little olive oil."

jeez. the guy was almost easygoing, she thought.

no, that wasn't right. his sharp eyes kept scanning the windows and the glass door, as if he were monitoring the periphery. she knew without a doubt that if he didn't like something he saw, he was going to be out of that chair in a heartbeat. and it wouldn't be to check locks. it'd be to attack.

he put another cookie in his mouth.

but at least he was relaxing to be around. relatively speaking.

"you're not like wrath," she blurted.

"no one's like wrath."

"yeah." she bit into her own cookie and sat down on the futon.

"he's a force of nature," tohr said, tilting back his beer. "and he's deadly, no mistaking that. but there's no one who will take better care of you, assuming he chooses to do so. which he has with you."

"how do you know?" she whispered, wondering what wrath had told him.

tohr cleared his throat, a flush hitting his cheeks. "he's marked you."

she frowned, looking down at herself.

"i can smell it," tohr said. "the warning's all over you."

"warning?"

"as if you were his shellan."

"his what?"

"his mate. that scent on your skin sends a powerful message to other males."

so she'd been right. about the sex they'd had and what it meant.

that really shouldn't please me as much as it does, she thought.

"you don't mind it, do you?" tohr said. "being his."

she didn't want to answer that. on one level she wanted to be wrath's. on another, she felt much safer being as she had always been. on her own.

"do you have one?" she asked. "a mate?"

the vampire's face lit with devotion. "her name's wellsie. we were promised to each other before our transitions. it was dumb luck that we fell in love. truth is, if i'd met her on the street, i would have chosen her. how's that for fate?"

"occasionally it works for us," she murmured.

"yeah. some males take more than one shellan, but i can't imagine ever being with another female. which is evidently why wrath called me."

she cocked an eyebrow at him. "sorry?"

"the other brothers, they have females they drink from, but they don't have any emotional ties. there'd be nothing to prevent them?a" he stopped and bit into another cookie. "well, given that you're..."

"i'm what?" she felt as though she hardly knew herself. and she was willing to even take hints from strangers at this point.

"beautiful. wrath wouldn't have wanted to put you in any of the others' care, because if they'd been tempted to make a move on you, there would be serious trouble." tohr shrugged. "well, and a couple of the brothers are just flat-out dangerous. you wouldn't want to leave any female alone with them, at least not one you cared about."

she wasn't sure she wanted to meet any of the brothers.

wait a minute, she thought.

"does wrath have a shellan already?" she asked.

tohr finished his beer. "i think you'd better talk to him about that."

which was not a no.

a sick feeling of disappointment set up shop in the middle of her chest, and she went back into the kitchen.

damn. she was getting emotional over wrath. they'd had sex twice, and already her head was a mess.

this one is going to hurt, she thought as she cracked open another beer. when things went sour between them, it was going to hurt like hell.

notwithstanding the whole turning-into-a-vampire thing.

oh, god.

"more munchies?" she called out.

"that would be great."

"beer?"

"naw. i'm good."

she brought the bag in from the kitchen, and they were silent as they polished off the cookies. even the broken ones at the bottom.

"you got anything else around here to eat?" he asked.

she stood, feeling peckish herself. "i'll see what i can dig up."

"you have cable?" he nodded toward her tv.

she tossed him the clicker. "sure do. and if i remember, there's a godzilla marathon on tbs tonight."

"sweet," the vampire said, kicking his legs out. "i always root for the monster."

she smiled at him. "me, too."