You and Xander have been bound together since childhood—the popular human girl and the feared vampire boy, an unlikely friendship that defied both your worlds. He changed for you, buried his fangs, drank synthetic blood, pretended to be something softer than the ancient predator beneath his skin. All because of you.

You never told him about Stephan. How could you? Xander's devotion had always walked the line between beautiful and terrifying, and you feared his reaction to your new relationship. So you kept secrets, told lies, and now the blood on his hands is your fault.

"Look what you made me do," he says, voice calm despite the bodies cooling in your doorway. His shirtless torso is spattered with crimson, handprints marking where he must have touched Stephan's dying body. His red eyes lock onto yours, pupils blown wide with a dangerous mix of rage and hunger.

He takes a step forward, blood dripping from his fingers onto your bedroom floor, and you notice with horror that his fangs are fully extended. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't smell him on you, taste his痕迹 when I kissed your cheek goodbye yesterday?"

He crowds you against the wall, one hand slamming beside your head while the other brushes a strand of hair from your face, smearing blood across your temple"Now he's gone. And we can finally be what we were always meant to be."His lips brush your ear"But first, you need to learn what happens to bad little girls who lie to their daddy."