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Roseline nodded, blushing furiously at his nearness.
 
She quickly found herself wrapped around him, grinding in ways that felt completely inappropriate but she was starting to get the hang of it.
 
The music rose to ear splitting levels as a new song came on.
 
Hands rose in the air and the tempo increased.
 

The crowd closed in as more and more people arrived.
 
The dance floor was jam packed and it was getting harder to move.
 
Roseline closed her eyes, feeling the beat of the bass thump in her chest, and began to sway her hips, dipping and grinding.
 
Roseline laughed, feeling more liberated in that moment than she ever had before.

But the more she danced the more attention she attracted.
 
The scent of her hormones drew the males to her, leaving their dates fuming on the sidelines.
 
Before he knew it, William was surrounded by a group of guys, all trying to get a turn with Roseline.
 

“You’re getting it,” William shouted breathlessly, knocking another guy off of her.
 
 
Blood surged through their veins as adrenaline made them delirious with desire.
 
William tried his best to protect Roseline, but he was proving useless against the tide of dancers.
 

“What’s going on” William asked, glancing nervously around.
 

Roseline opened her eyes and immediately noticed the problem.
 
She’s been so lost to the music, to the ecstasy of her careless abandon that she’d failed to pay attention to her surroundings.
 

“Let’s grab a drink and cool off.
 
All this dancing has worn me out,” Roseline shouted in his ear.
 
She grabbed his hand and pushed her way through the chorus of heart beats pounding against her ear drum.
 
A splitting headache was hovering on the horizon.

And then it all stopped.
 
Her body jolted, nearly knocking her off her feet as every hormone she’d been sending out snapped back into her like a rubber band.
 
William instantly scooped her into his arms and carried her out of the gyrating crowd.
 

“Rose?
 
Are you ok?” he questioned, brushing back the sweaty strands of hair from her face.

She nodded, craning her neck to see around William.
 
She knew Gabriel was there.
 
Roseline could feel him.
 
“Oh no,” she groaned.
 
She could feel his fury.

“What are you looking at,” William cut off as Gabriel shoved him back.

“Get your hands off her Will,” Gabriel growled, pulling Roseline out of his grasp.
 
Her quick reflexes counteracted her fall.
 

William rebounded.
 
“Hey!
 
She’s with me tonight Gabe.
 
Leave her alone.”

Roseline clinched her eyes tightly shut.
 
Too many hormones.
 
Too many frantic heart beats.
 
Too much pumping blood.
 
The smells were too much to cope with.
 
Roseline felt her control slipping and panicked.
 

“Stop it!” Roseline screamed, halting both guys in their tracks.
 

“Rose?” Gabriel questioned, shocked.

The memory of Gabriel’s betrayal wound tightly with the truth of his ancestry.
 
Gabriel was Lucien’s son.
 
No wonder he was special!
 
And extremely dangerous.
 
Fane had been right.
 
She’d been too foolish to listen to him.

Roseline had to get away from Gabriel; the thought of hurting him shredded her heart.
 
But what choice did she have?
 
Roseline turned an icy glare on Gabriel.
 
“I think Claire’s waiting for you.”
 
Gabriel’s jaw clenched, hesitating for a moment before he nodded.
 
“Well then don’t keep her waiting on my account,” she said coldly, grasping William’s arm.

William followed her lead, shocked by what’d just happened.
 
He’d assumed that he was either about to have his face smashed in or lose his date.
 
No way could he have predicted this outcome!

 
“Come on, let’s dance,” Roseline ordered, pulling him back onto the dance floor.

Roseline wished she could curl up into a little ball and wait for the pain to fade away, but her anger overrode that.
 
She needed to prove to Gabriel that she could have a good time without him, that she could live without him.
 
But more than that she needed to prove it to herself.

She slid her arms down William’s neck as she lowered herself until she was pressed intimately against him.
 
Roseline tried to tune everything out apart from William’s racing heartbeat.
 
As she moved against him, she could smell his desire; feel his self control as he fumbled with where to put his hands.
 
She turned around, wrapped herself around his leg and bumped against him.
 
William’s heart burst out of the starting gate, racing like a prize stallion.

“Oh man,” William groaned, closing his eyes as he tried to fight off his body’s reaction.
 
“What are you doing to me Rose?”

“Shh,” she whispered, placing her finger over his lips as she continued to writhe.
 
She glanced across the dance floor, watching as Claire rubbed herself up against an uninterested Gabriel.
 
His eyes were locked onto Roseline, face red with fury as he watched her body move against William.
 
She felt his jealousy and smiled at him coyly.
 
He was getting the message.

Claire noticed his gaze.
 
She shot icy daggers towards Roseline before she mounted Gabriel’s leg; doing everything she could to attract his attention.
 
Her tiny dress did little to hide the assets she was trying to pawn off on Gabriel but he didn’t even glance at her.

Just as William’s hand landed a bit too close to her cleavage, Roseline flew backwards.
 
Her feet came off the floor with such force that Roseline knew it wasn’t a human behind her.
 
She whirled in mid air, her leg aimed directly at her attacker’s head.
 
William sprawled to the floor, blinking furiously as he came down from Roseline’s hormone high.

Her attacker grabbed her leg and pinned her close to his body, chuckling.
 
“Nice to see you too, Roseline.”

All fight went out of her as she dropped to the floor.
 
Her mouth gaped open.
 
“Fane? Is it really you?”

“Boy you look pleased to see me,” Fane laughed, pulling Roseline into a hug.
 
He molded around her, leaving not an inch of breathing room.
 
“I’ve missed you so much.”

Roseline wanted to return the sentiment but her tongue was tied in knots, much like her stomach.
 
“How did you…why are you here?”

Fane frowned.
 
“You knew I’d come.”

“But how did you track me?”

Fane held up his cell phone.
 
“You shouldn’t have stayed on so long Roseline.
 
You know better than that.”
 
Roseline groaned, holding her forehead.
 
“Who’s this guy?”

Roseline turned as William finally reached her side.
 
His shirt was dirty, like he’d been trampled a couple times before he’d returned to his feet.
 
“I could ask you the same thing,” William bristled.
 
“You know this guy, Rose?”

“I’m sorry William.
 
This is Fane.
 
He’s a friend from back home.”

“Yeah,” Fane grinned, pinching Roseline’s side.
 
“Roseline and I go way back.”

Roseline shoved Fane away, turning her attention back to William.
 
“I’m so sorry for him. He’s not normally like this.
 
Can you give us a minute?
 
I really need to catch up with him.”

William glanced warily at the stunning man before him.
 
Fane’s long blond hair was tied at his back, his broad chest boasting of great strength.
 
William decided he wouldn’t fair too well in a fight.
 
“Sure.
 
I’ll just go grab us something to drink.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Fane grinned, tucking his arm around Roseline’s waist.

Her smile faded the instant William turned.
 
“Why are you here,” she hissed, shoving Fane into a more secluded section of the ball room.
 
The shadows were a perfect hiding space for them since human eyes would be hampered by the dark.
 

“I came for you of course.
 
I couldn’t just leave you with that guy.”
 
Fane’s head ducked to the side in search of William.
 
“I gotta tell you Roseline, I think you’re taste in men has really fallen over the last few years.
 
Please tell me he’s not the guy.”

Roseline rolled her eyes.
 
“Of course he’s not.
 
He’s just a friend.”

“Is that how you treat all your friends?” Fane asked.
 
Roseline flushed, embarrassed by the show she’d put on for him.

“You were spying on me?” she hissed.

Fane rolled his eyes.
 
“Oh come on Roseline.
 
Every male in this room was glued to your skimpy little outfit.”

“Whatever,” Roseline snapped.
 

“Where’s the other guy?
 
The one you called me crying over?” Fane pressed, raising his head to scan the room.
 
“I figured he’d be the one you were plastered to.”

“We are not talking about this here Fane.
 
You can’t just burst into my life and assume I’ll be happy to see you.”

Fane raised his hand, gently brushing it along her jaw.
 
Roseline closed her eyes, swaying slightly.
 
“But you are happy to see me.”

Sighing, Roseline nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
But you can be so infuriating at times!”

“Of course,” Fane grinned.
 
“It’s one of my better qualities.”

Roseline glanced up into Fane’s eyes, as green as a spring meadow.
 
She used to spend hours staring into his eyes, reading every thought before he could say it.
 
For the first hundred years they’d been nearly inseparable.
 
He’d taught her how to fight, how to heal and how to love.
 
She knew him better than anyone else. Fane had never been able to keep anything from her.

His fingers flickered on her arm, tensing and releasing.
 
His black pupils were dilated.
 
The muscle along his jaw twitched.

“You’re not here to rescue me, are you?” Roseline whispered.

 
“You always could read my thoughts,” Fane said softly, cupping her cheek in his hand.
 
“No, I’m here to take you back.”

Roseline’s shriek was masked by the loud bass pumping from a nearby speaker.
 
“Why Fane?
 
You know what he’ll do to me when he finds me.”

The reminder of the pain she would endure when she arrived home made Fane’s façade crumble.
 
He nodded, face pinched with anguish.
 
“Yes.
 
But it will be far better than if he finds you here.
 
Look around you Roseline,” Fane ordered, waving his arm around the ballroom.
 
“You’re friends, your new life…he will slaughter every one of them.
 
You know that.
 
Remember what happened last time?”