~ Kelsie (KELL-see) ~“Happy Birthday, Daniel. My present to you this year is… me.” My hands shook with nerves as I whispered the words to myself. I was hurrying up the stairs in Daniel’s college dorm, practicing how to say the words. Should I sound serious, or sexy? Should I sound excited?“Happy Birthday, Daniel! My present to you this year is me!” Shaking my head with embarrassment, I pulled my long winter jacket tightly around myself. It wasn’t cold enough yet for a jacket like this, but I didn’t want anyone to see that I was wearing nothing but lacy lingerie underneath it. My heart was pounding. I had been dating Daniel for two years. The first year was his senior year in high school. Back then, I was scared to sleep with him because he was older and I hadn’t done it before. If we had been at high school together last year, I probably would have given in. But Daniel was a year ahead of me and came here to university while I finished high school. Even though Chandler Universi

~ Kelsie ~Mom made me go to classes the next day. Because she said it was only the fourth day and my first session in an English class, which was my major.Villains and Anti-Heroes in Modern Fiction was technically a second-year class, but my Advisor let me take it because I’d won a President’s Award in English during my last year of high school. This class was the one I had been the most excited about for my first year. Yet, here I was creeping around campus, trying to get to the room without seeing anyone I knew. All while trying to ignore the tightness in my chest that had appeared yesterday when I’d talked to my very hot, but very insane neighbor.When he came at me on the porch I thought he might actually kill me. I had fled, terrified. But even when I calmed down later that night I still couldn’t relax. I wanted to be at the windows, looking for him. In my mind I kept seeing him pull himself up and over that railing on the porch. The strength he showed, his muscles rippling und

~ Cain ~ Since I was a professor it was very risky for me to be seen in the student’s dormitories. Especially since I knew this Melinda girl wasn’t afraid of public confrontations. She would draw a lot of attention if she got angry. But a surge of protective rage rose in me every time I thought about the way Kelsie had shrunk in on herself when she looked at that picture. It was very obvious she wasn’t afraid of confrontation either. Yet this simple picture had saturated her scent in shame. She should not feel shame. Even if she wasn’t my mate I would have taken her side in this conflict. But with my wolf howling for her, I could barely think straight. I was a bristling bundle of rage. I desperately needed to do something. So, I ignored the risk and hurried to the dormitories. I would not hurt the other girl. But I would make certain she never hurt Kelsie again. As I hurried toward the dormitories thought about the way the humans would discuss these things and their strange way o

SOUNDTRACK: Vampire by Fame on Fire. ***** ~ Kelsie ~ I snapped my head around to look up. The hair on my arms and neck stood up when I found Cain standing a few feet away. He wore dark gray pants that hugged his thighs, and a collared shirt with no tie. His shirt was open to bare his throat and his sleeves were rolled up to show his forearms. Our eyes met and my belly clenched. The muscles in his jaw twitched. Then he cut a look at Daniel that made my heated blood run cold. His bright eyes were fierce and threatening. Feral. Daniel straightened, no longer leaning on the wall behind me, but he didn’t move away, just shrugged. “There’s no problem. We’re just talking.” Cain looked at me intently like he was checking to see if I agreed. I stopped breathing. Something flickered in Cain’s eyes that was terrifying. But I knew it wasn’t directed at me. He looked like he was ready to kill Daniel. I shivered and slid out from against the wall, glaring at Daniel when he shifted his wei

~ Kelsie ~When I got home I ran up to my room and brushed my hair out. Then I put on leggings and a soft, white sweater I had worn last Christmas that had made Daniel’s eyes flash because it had a wide, low neckline that gave a hint of cleavage and hugged my boobs. He told me it was sexy.No one had ever described me as sexy before. I liked it.I’d almost slept with him that night. Thank God I hadn’t.Brimming with nervous tension, I trotted back down the stairs towards the kitchen. But I was only halfway down when the doorbell rang and my breath came even faster and shallower. I knew I was grinning so I tried to straighten my face before I opened the door.And then everything went still.Cain stood at the door under the porchlight, his hair shining and slicked back because it had gotten wet on the walk over. He’d obviously run his fingers through it, so it was laying back against his head. But a few strands had fallen down over his forehead and into his eyes.His cheeks had been clea