Damien waited behind; when he and Julia were alone, he unlaced his fingers from hers and cupped her face in his hands "Jules, you did great today. I'll stop by tomorrow night and get you."

Her body went stiff, confusion rippled through her. His words were as tender as his touch. Julia closed her eyes for a second. She could feel the persistent voice inside of her scratching at the edges of her mind urging her to put Damien in his place and not to take things any further. Julia forced the voice back down, silencing its demands. She needed time and space to sort things out with Alex on her own.

Julia drew in a deep breath and let the air out. "Damien, you really don't have to do that. I can meet you guys in the basement."

"I know I don't, but I want to. Therefore, I'll pick you up at eight." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

Julia stood there rooted to the floor surprised. When he pulled away, she squeaked out, "Good night, Damien," as he turned and walked toward the window.

He smiled back at her, beaming as he jumped out of her window; leaving her to unscramble her brain and sift through the millions of thoughts bouncing around her head. She didn't have long to sort out her confused feelings, before she felt a familiar jolt of electricity running down her spine, sensing his presence before he stepped through her window.

Alex's face twisted into an odd look; it was a mixture of annoyance and longing with a hint of rage. He walked over to her and rubbed the spot where Damien had kissed her with his thumb. "I really wish you wouldn't let him do that. Every time he touches you like you're his girlfriend I want to rip his arms off."

Stunned by his words, it caught Julia in a vortex of conflicting emotions. She was beyond happy that he was there; being kind and caring. Yet pissed off at him for ignoring her for a week and she still wasn't sure she hadn't hallucinated what happened between them in the woods.

Summoning up all her strength she pulled away from him. Her whole body screamed out in protest at the loss of contact. But Julia had to stand her ground and get things straight for her own sanity.

"Why do you care what Damien does?" It was a simple question.

A fire blazed in his eyes, his face turned hard as he closed the gap between them. Towering over her, he looked straight into her eyes, "What do you mean, why should I care?" his tone razor-sharp. "Did what happened between us on Halloween mean nothing to you? Have you changed your mind? Don't tell me you prefer him."

Julia saw hurt flash in his eyes for a second before they hardened. Seeing this tore her heart out, the pain was more than she could take.

She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "No. Alex, I like you; it's always been you. Even when you were being a complete jerk to me it was you."

Alex's expression softened as he wrapped her in his strong arms, bent down and kissed her with longing and passion. It made the world drop from her feet, everything melted away. As their tongues entwined, and the kiss deepened, everything clicked back into place. The huge hole that was always present in her soul felt as if it was slowly being filled up by Alex and the love she had for him.

When they stopped kissing Julia felt foolish for doubting him. "I don't understand why you were avoiding me, Alex. It hurt; not to mention it made me doubt my sanity."

He gave her a look that told her he didn't understand "When you ignored me and went back to treating me the way you had been before Halloween. I thought I had hallucinated all of what happened between us in the woods. I started to think whatever Mormo gave me made me dream up the whole thing," she clarified.

Alex let out a glorious laugh that even made her laugh. Cradling her face in his hands he gazed into her eyes. "You really are an idiot. But you're my idiot. Never doubt the way I feel about you, Julia." Then he kissed her with a fiery passion that made her legs give out.

Alex picked her up in his strong arms, walked over to her bed and sat down with her. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I didn't mean to hurt you I was only trying to protect you."

She reached up and caressed his face. "What do you mean?"

He looked over at the clock; it was almost two in the morning, and then gently stroked her hair. "It's late you should get some rest."

Julia tightened her grip on him and rested the side of her face on his chiselled chest. The thought of him leaving made all other thoughts evaporate. Looking up at him with her big longing eyes she pleaded, "No; please don't go. My entire world has only just started to return to normal now that you're back. Please stay with me at least until I fall asleep."

Alex sighed and kissed her. "Silly girl, I wasn't going to go; so you can release me from your death grip." He chuckled as she loosened her hold on him. "Now why don't you lie down?"

Julia crawled to her usual spot on her bed, and watched as he kicked off his shoes then lay next to her, and wrapped her in his arms. She rested the side of her head against the crook of his neck and inhaled his sweet intoxicating scent as she listened to his slow rhythmic heartbeat. It was much slower than hers or Ren's and listing to it was soothing and hypnotic.

He kissed her temple and stroked her hair. "Julia, I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. I never intended to do that. But things have gotten somewhat complicated." He heaved a heavy sigh.

She nuzzled into him. "If you're talking about Damien-"

Alex gently hushed her. "Shhhhh. Damien is only a small part of the problem, and if it was only him, I would've told him already. I was going to have a talk with him before your mother told you about your father. But Véronique was acting like a spoiled brat as usual, and both Damien and I had to do damage control."

Julia's heart sank when she heard this and frowned, thinking about how much of a thorn in her side Véronique had been from the start. Julia knew how possessive Véronique could get over Alex; she was a dog with a juicy Alex bone and was hell-bent on keeping him.

Alex placed his fingers under her chin, tilted her face up and planted feather light kisses on her face. "She wasn't supposed to be at that meeting. But nothing Damien, Ren or I said could chase her away. In the end I made her make a blood oath with me. Foolishly, I thought if she made it with me she wouldn't break it. I should've just let Ren cast a spell on her to make her to leave."

"If it was that easy for him to do, then why didn't he do that in the first place?"

Alex chuckled. "It's not as easy as it sounds. Besides Damien and I would've had to hold her down so Ren's spell could hit her. Getting a dark faerie to stay put when they don't want to isn't easy. I didn't want to cause a commotion."

She could tell he regretted his decision and reached up and caressed his face. She wanted to comfort him, put his mind at ease and take away all of his troubles. "What do we do about Véronique? How much trouble could she possibly cause?"

He looked at her. "Julia, never underestimate her. Véronique is irrational and vindictive. I bear a lot of the reasonability for how she acts toward me. Please believe me when I say I've never liked her romantically. I know she's infatuated with me and I should've set her straight, but I haven't been myself in a very long time. I've been consumed with killing Thorsen that I've ignored everything else."

Julia wondered what happened in his past to cause Alex to peruse such a vendetta. She remembered Damien telling her Thorsen killed Alex's grandfather, yet she sensed there was more between the two men than he was letting on.

"Véronique is all about exacting revenge if she feels she's been wronged. I'm worried if she finds out about us; before I can make her understand I never had and never could like her, that she would hurt you. If she is pushed far enough, I wouldn't put it past her to break the blood oath and tell the senate or Thorsen about you, to hurt both of us."

Alex's words only confirmed what Julia already knew about how spiteful Véronique was. But she also got the feeling he was holding back the truth about his and Véronique's weird dynamic. The thought of them having been something more than friends, sent a jealous rage through her. She had to push those feelings deep down to get rid of them.

"What are we going to do about her?"

Alex kissed her once again and pulled her tighter to him. "We will have to keep our relationship a secret for a while. Don't worry; I won't let anyone hurt you. I swear to the gods I will protect you with my life if I have to."

Thinking about Alex laying down his life to protect her made her soul ache. She couldn't fathom living without him and prayed that would never happen. Just thinking about it left her feeling overwhelmed and drained. It had been a hectic night. Julia pushed all thoughts out of her mind and focused on the rhythmic beating of Alex's heart as she let sleep claim her.