I liked that the woman was willing to talk back. I didn’t want a servant or anyone so compliant. Besides, if that’s all I required of a mate, the issue would’ve been solved centuries ago. Celeste was challenging and clearly quite clever. I didn’t want her to be spiteful, but I didn’t want her to lose her spirit, either.
And even if I wanted to let her go, I couldn’t. Not right now. My island was quite a way off the coast of Panama, and it wouldn’t be safe to leave via ship or helicopter until the storm passed. That didn’t even consider the issue of Faulkner, as well. He was an old vampire, and while I’d assumed he was smart enough not encroach on my territory, he’d grown ballsy enough to set himself up near my mate. My mate: the one whose impression of me couldn’t be worse right now.
Onc
