Fashionably Hotter Than Hell: Book Six, The Hot Damned Series by Robyn Peterman Page B

still want to defy me and force me to kill you, I shall grant you your wish."
     
    "Do I get to hear this story?" Astrid demanded as the light show around her amped up dangerously.
     
    "Yes, my love, you do," he said to his mate as he stared at me and waited.
     
    "You can have an hour," I told him coldly, knowing very little could dissuade me from the path I'd chosen.
     
    "Come with me," he said as he walked back toward the compound.
     
    I would give him an hour. No more. No less.
     

Chapter 10
     
    Astrid had insisted on choosing my attire, which was why I was in low riding sweats and no shirt. My wounds had healed in the hours I sat waiting.
     
    Juliet was still alive and being interrogated by Ethan and Astrid as I sat in my suite and waited. Each minute ticked by with excruciating slowness.
     
    I'd been invited to participate in the questioning but declined. I knew they would handle the situation in the way it should be handled.
     
    My conversation with Jean Paul had included an apology, which was something I did not give to anyone often. However, it was the right thing to do in this instance and I did it regardless of the hit to my pride.
     
    I also made several important phone calls and now felt at peace for the first time in ages.
     
    As I impatiently marked time until sunrise, I thought back on my very long existence and it seemed like a mere blip in time. The moment my life would start would soon arrive. Like any birth or rebirth it would come with some pain, but it would be worth it. Hopefully, there wouldn't be much blood or broken furniture.
     
    Raquel stirred on the bed as the sun rose. If I had any breath to take I would be holding it. Slowly her eyes opened and she peered around the room in alarm.
     
    "Where am I?" she muttered as she glanced around wildly.
     
    "Right where you're supposed to be," I said sternly as I rose from my darkened corner and approached her.
     
    Raquel watched me like an animal watches a predator and backed away until we stood on either side of my bed. Her gaze fell from mine and she stared nervously at the rumpled bedding.
     
    "Did Ethan tell you?"
     
    "Yes. He did."
     
    "Now you know why, now you understand," she whispered sadly.
     
    "No, actually I don't," I replied.
     
    Her eyes shot to mine and she shook her head in confusion.
     
    "I die, Heathcliff. I die every night and don’t live again until sunrise," she spat angrily. "What's not to get? I'm like a Vampyre from a fiction novel. I’m not worthy of anyone. I'm a liability to my race—to you. I may as well have a coffin and a black cape."
     
    "That's an interesting take but I have to disagree. Although you do look hot in black," I said calmly as I rounded the end of the bed and backed her up to the wall.
     
    I gave her some room, but not enough to run. She was going nowhere this time.
     
    "You've lost it," she said as she looked around for an escape route.
     
    "Nope, I do believe I've finally found it."
     
    "Found what?"
     
    "The last wall I have to break," I answered. "I told you before…you're mine."
     
    "I'm no one’s," Raquel insisted weakly as she closed her eyes and clenched her fists at her sides. "I will not risk doing this to you. You could end up dying every night or just simply dying."
     
    "Or we could both live out our immortality together—happily."
     
    "There are no guarantees about how the story will end," she insisted. "I'm a freak. There is no explanation for me. There is no telling what could happen to you."
     
    "Tell me why you die every night."
     
    Her chin dropped to her chest and her shoulders sagged forward. "It's a spell—a punishment I suppose. All I know is that I’m cursed. It was cast by someone shortly after I was turned."
     
    "Who?"
     
    "Ahh, there's the conundrum," she spat with hopelessness and fury. "I don't know. No one knows."
     
    "Can it be broken?" I asked, not caring either way.
     
    I would take Raquel any way I could get her. If I died at night with