Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) by K. S. Haigwood, Ella Medler

over your face, so you can stop pretending in front of me. Just don’t let Julia catch you looking at him.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ariana interrupted Becky’s speech, eyes glued to the table top. “Abe is just… really nice looking, that’s all. It’s not a crime to appreciate the appearance of another person. His eyes… He has eyes like the ocean, kind of a blue-green that you can see through, so clear. I’ve never seen anything like ’em.”
    “Uh-huh. Whatever you say, babe. I’ve been here two years and I’ve never noticed what color his eyes are. Come on, let’s go see if Rainey figured out how to turn your brain off, and collect your start-up fund so we can go shopping.”
    “It’s not what you think, Becky. Honestly.” Becky made a face and stared back unblinking. “Okay, there’s no point in arguing with you anyway, is there?”
    “Nope, I always win.”

C HAPTER 15
    Abe had been lying in bed for hours trying to count those damn sheep. Three hours later he decided to start shooting the sheep. After four hundred twenty-seven thousand one hundred and thirty-two dead sheep, he had lost count how many times he had tossed and turned. He gave it up, got out of bed and went to the shower.
    He let the scalding water run down his back for fifteen minutes without moving. He just couldn’t get Ariana out of his mind and it was pissing him off that she was this close to him and he couldn’t even say ‘hi’. How long was he going to have to wait? Abe turned off the shower, towel dried and put his pajama bottoms back on. Surely Rainey was awake by now, he thought to himself as he headed to her lair.
    Abe got in the elevator and pushed the button for the basement. He noticed too late that the elevator was going to stop on the first floor to pick up someone else; he should have put a shirt on. When the doors opened his stomach shot up in his throat so fast he couldn’t say a word. Ariana and that Becky girl stood staring wide-eyed at him.
    Becky found her voice first. “Sorry, My Lord, we will get the next one.” She pulled Ariana a step back.
    Abe stumbled forward, trying to keep the doors from closing. “No! I mean… N-no need. Join me, please.”
    The girls stepped into the elevator and immediately Abe caught the scent of Ariana’s blood. His mouth watered and his fangs elongated. He shifted back until he bumped into the elevator wall. Abe noticed Ariana was standing very still and looking at the floor. Her hair was up in one of those clippie things, baring her neck and that throbbing jugular vein. He just couldn’t stop staring at her. Becky’s voice was rambling on in the background about shopping and different places to eat, and then he heard her say ‘Code Red’ – that snapped him back to reality. He started listening to what she was saying.
    “I figure we will get there around ten o’clock. That’s when all the hot guys start showing up. I have a lot of friends. I’ll call some of them and have them meet us there so you can get to know some more people on the island besides me and Rainey.
    Abe almost came undone. There would be no other guys flirting with Ariana. He was going to make damn sure of that. He grabbed the steel rail along the elevator wall and it bent under the pressure of his hand. Ariana glanced at him, then hurriedly put her head back down.
    The elevator dinged letting them know they had arrived at their destination. Abe considered letting the girls get off and riding the elevator back up to his room, but Ariana’s intoxicating scent had him walking forward.
    Becky pushed Rainey’s door bell.
    “What time is it, anyway? It’s been so long since I had a decent sleep. This nonsense going on in my head is confusing me. It feels like it’s mid-afternoon,” Ariana said.
    If this was the only thing Abe could offer Ariana, the time of day, then he would give it to her. “It’s one thirty,” he said and wondered about the nonsense that was