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Even when he’d gone on to explain the worst of the threats that faced him and the warriors of the Order.

He had told her about the enemy the Order was doggedly pursuing and committed to destroying, a second-generation Breed male called Dragos. Alex had listened in quiet but horrified comprehension as Kade had described the many evils Dragos had perpetrated, not the least of which being the mass abduction and abuse of an unknown number of women like her—Breedmates, tracked down and collected over a period of decades to be used as vessels for the personal army of assassins Dragos had bred.

What truly gave her pause, and what made her blood run cold in her veins, was one final truth that Kade revealed to her tonight. The fact that a creature not of this world—a creature far worse than the blood-addicted Rogues who’d killed her mom and Richie—was somehow loose in the Alaskan interior.

Even Kade was grim when he spoke of the Ancient to his friends at the Order’s Boston compound, describing to them the damaged freight container and the presence of vampires and Minion workers at the old mining company location. Although he kept his voice low, it was impossible for Alex to miss the fact that he and his brethren were preparing for battle against the new threat.

The thought of Kade walking into harm’s way made her breath come a little shorter, her heart beat a bit heavier. She couldn’t bear it if something happened to him. Not after the time they’d shared, an incredibly short time, in which he was somehow becoming an inextricable part of her life. In just a couple of days, he had become her friend and her lover, her confidant. Somehow he was coming to mean something even more than all of that.

Could she possibly be falling in love with him?

Falling in love … with a vampire.

No, he wasn’t that.

Kade was Breed, and that was different. He was different.

It was hard for her to reconcile that he was cut from the same fabric as the monsters that had attacked her family. Hard for her to believe that somewhere in his DNA, he carried the genes of something completely inhuman, unfathomably lethal. Something not of this Earth. It was hard for her to reconcile that the strong, proud, devastatingly sexy man prowling her modest little house was actually not a man at all, but something different. Something so much more.

Alex watched him in fascination, all the more so for what she’d seen him do outside the mining company grounds with the wolf. In an instant, he’d become part of the beautiful animal, connecting on some unspoken level that had left Alex gaping at him in awe. Even now, she marveled, feeling the current of wildness, of dark, commanding power, lingering in him still. He was intense and mysterious, strong and seductive. And yes, hot as hell.

Everything about Kade captivated her.

She merely had to look at him and she burned.

And he knew it, too. She saw the spark of awareness light the silver of his eyes as he wrapped up his call and set the phone down on the end table next to the sofa.

“How are you holding up?” he asked, seating himself beside her. “You must be exhausted. I know this is a lot to handle.”

She gave a vague shrug. “My head’s still spinning, but at least I have answers now. The things that never made sense to me before are clearer. Not exactly reason to jump up and cheer, but it’s good to finally have the truth, however terrifying it might be. So, thank you for that, Kade.”

He took her hand in his, their palms pressed together lightly as he ran his thumb over the thin skin of her wrist. His touch was warm, soothing. Achingly tender. “God, I hate that you’ve been dragged into this. There are places that you can go where you’ll be safe, Alex. The Breed has numerous Darkhavens that would take you in—secure communities where you would be welcomed and protected. Better than what I can do for you now. After seeing what we did out at the mine, this has all gotten too real. Too dangerous—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, curling her fingers around his and holding his grave gaze. “I’m not going to run. Don