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Behind her Alec tensed, his body heating around her, but she didn’t turn to look back at him.
Wordlessly, he took her hand in his and gripped it tightly. while she took in everyone’s frozen expression. None of the other vamps made a sound. Seconds stretched to a full minute before anyone stirred.
It was Daviel Saturne, of House Saturne, who finally spoke. “This is unexpected. Are you sure?”
Diana shot him a speaking glance, and he coughed apologetically. “I mean, an Elemental has never taken a vampire for a mate. A Fire Elemental has never. . .”
The poor guy couldn’t think of anything else to follow that.
She shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Socar took a steadying breath and stood. “Your association with Alec is a. . .an honor to his house,” he finally said with a
