Alone in her room, Valentina paced restlessly, her mind racing despite her best efforts to quiet it. She ran her hands through her hair, frustrated at how Lucian seemed to invade her thoughts no matter how hard she tried to push him out.
"I hate vampires," she muttered to herself, gripping the edge of her desk as if that would somehow ground her.
His piercing gaze, the way he moved so fluidly between danger and charm—it made her heart race in a way she wasn't ready to admit. She tried to convince herself that it was just the anger she felt toward him for tricking her, for making her think he was something harmless when he was anything but. But deep down, she knew it was more than that.
She hated how he made her feel—like the world wasn't so black and white. Like maybe there was more to vampires than the stories she had been told.
And when he kissed her…
