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Devyn turned a corner, his friend’s apart into view One of the newer structures, it boasted sturdy stone and h for the people inside to evacuate safely Not much to look at, but the people of Earth cared ht the war of the species, he couldn’t blah he did prefer the open beauty of his own planet, Targonia

A planet he could return to, and often did, but one he no longer ruled Thank God Oh, he still had his title, still had his army, but as interplanetary travel had become more prevalent, his people had been introduced to life without a h interworld worovern their own lives So he’d let the an example of all that was "pure"

Not that they’d seen much of his purity those last few years

Now, he spentAIR At one ti the very people who policed thehable But over the past year, the powers that be had realized the only way to control certain dominant races ith, well, certain do Devyn on their side, and they paid hih the money wasn’t the reason he stuck around He didn’t need it Being king caes, and one of those was the cash to set himself up on whatever planet he desired in the style he was accustoents he worked with Eden, of course, was included in their numbers

For the first time in his vast existence, he was treated as an equal No one lived their life based on what he said or did No one was scandalized or humiliated by the actions of him and his "beast" No one bowed to hi Eden Black And probably Bride Daone, out of reach

Here, he wasn’t a leader, an example, or a , and freedoe of black-as-night hair, eyes of brilliant green fire, lips stained red with blood Everyto keep her from his mind Why’d the little firecracker have to be a va that kept hi that kept the pain of his palace days, of being denied everything, beaten to the back of his mind

He sto, the cool night air giving way to warmth and laden with the scent of lee area co chair, a coffee table and a crea

Not the wisest of choices, as the pale fabric was already stained with dirt Dirt He shuddered He was a clean freak and wasn’t ashah he knew the preference stehtened, cowed, utterly repressed boy he’d once been

Behind the half-uard nodded, clearly expecting hi him to pass without a word As he pounded up the stairs to the fifth floor--no cramped elevator for hihs Physical exertion of any kind was always a pleasure

A pretty girl, probably in her early twenties, stopped and gaped when she spotted him She was human, with pale hair and brown eyes A little plump, but he liked and welcoes If he hadn’t sa harder and harder--not in the literal sense, unfortunately--to find new bed partners

"Hi," she said, a little breathless

He nodded in greeting, but didn’t smile, didn’t flirt No reason to lead her on Like vaht vampires, he’d already had his fill of hu off," as Dallas would say, was aze bored into his back all the way down the hall Maybe that was because he’d frozen her in place He never gave his back to a person without doing so It was habit now, fro to cleave his head fro him naked and would have raced over to flirt with him if allowed Either way, he freed her only when he was in front of Dallas’s door and she had his profile

Dallas Gutierrez was already standing in the opened entry, eyes narrowed, arress He was a handsome man with dark hair, dark skin, and eyes so pale a blue they were almost translucent He wasn’t quite as tall as Devyn, but was just as bulked with muscle

"You’re late," Dallas said, clearly irritated "The girls have already left"

"I know I ran into Macy, Mishka, and Mia a few blocks down Andwould havehe’d taken, and he didn’t "Security call and let you knoas on my way up?"

"No" There was a wealth of resentment in that one word

Which er--abilities the agent had only recently acquired and despised with every ounce of his being The more powerful his abilities, the less breakable his bond to the alien responsible for them

A while back, Dallas had been shot with pyre-fire There’d been a hole in his chest, his skin and organs charred and unable to regenerate Kyrin en Arr, an Arcadian king, had sliced his orist and fed Dallas his blood That blood had saved Dallas’s life, causing his body to supernaturally heal And now, Devyn knew, as he saw a future he’d never been able to see before, Dallas feared the blood inside hi hihten the mood "I’ether forever"

"Fuck you"

"Proof we aren’t really ether, I suppose My mate would never talk to me like that" Dallas bared his perfect white teeth in a scowl "Can you take nothing seriously?"

"There’ll be tih for serious when I’m dead" Truth His father had ruled for two hundred years, concerned only with his reputation, bound by the opinion of others And his father had died, not a laugh line on his face,all that he’d missed, all that he could have had

On the flip side, his mother had lived for her own happiness, no one else’s, and she had died with a smile on her face, her merriment imprinted on every wall in the palace