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Noasto put a na the same trouble, which hy he stood in front of lossy black shoe box and a pair of the sexiest boots I’d ever seen Buttery black leather, nearly knee-high, with pointy toes and stiletto heels long and thin enough to be weapons on their own

I stared down at theers away froht me boots," I said for the fourth tirin, which was just as effective as the curls

"I don’t need boots"

He gaveanything? You have five pairs of black heels"

"And I’ve explained this a hundred tiers "Stilettos, kitten heels, patent, round toe, open toe A girl needs options"

"The point is," he said, "I don’t care if you need the boots I just want to see you in them And clothes are co"

"It’s not about need," he said "It’s about want I wanted to buy theht them for you There’s no expectation, Linds"

I kneas telling the truth It was clear in his expression, in his ifted--or cursed, depending on your perspective--with eift for a vampire, and not always a welcome one Every bad mood in the House leaked into my subconscious, and I’d had to learn to filter out others’ ehonest, and I could tell

But it wasn’t that simple

"Luc--," I said, but he shook his head

"I don’t want to talk about it again I don’t want to talk about h" He put the lid on the box, and the box on the bed, only a couple of steps away And then he pulled his best cowboy ainst him

He smiled cockily down at me "I’m not afraid of your issues, Linds"

"I don’t have issues," I said "And we need to get downstairs Maybe we should talk about this later"

"You’re a walking issue," Luc said, nipping atuard"

"I’ed carelessly, obviously trying to rile ht" He walked to the door, opened it, and gestured into the hallway "Let’s go"

--

Cadogan House was several stories of European opulence and vao, it was home to nearly ninety vampires Or, more accurately, ninety vahtly basis Their happiness, their sadness Their angst Their fear I lived in a cauldron of vahborhood of huest city in the country

Collectively, there were a lot of eh that I’d learned to turn down the volume, but each person’s mood still bobbed like a buoy in my brain Little tricks kept me sane For lack of a better word, "stuff" helped filter out the extra noise That’s whysouvenirs from my hundred and fifteen years as a vampire The knickknacks, pillows, posters, and other odds and ends worked like insulation, which was also the reason I spent so much time in the House basement

Granted, I worked down there, too, but that was mostly a coincidence

The first floor of the House held the offices and public rooms, and the second and third floors were priic happened Luc’s Operations Roo rooaloreand evenroouards, Kelley and Juliet, were already there and stretching for a workout, with Merit, the House Sentinel She wasn’t a guard per se, but the job was close enough that she trained with the rest of us Merit was a relative newbie to the world of va her place as Sentinel--and as the Master, Ethan Sullivan’s, girlfriend--but she was still learning thereenetics--transed her fro

Ethan was also already in the roo the same martial arts–style black pants that Luc favored While Merit, Juliet, and Kelley sat on the edge of the woven tatami mats that covered the floor, Ethan stood in thehis ar as he moved

I couldn’t fault Merit for her taste in eous, and imperious as fuck I appreciated the first three, but preferred a little less control freak in my relationships