"She's mine, she's my duty."
Alice POV
I don’t know how it could be her time. My mother, a kind woman, is lying in a decorated cedar box.
My stepfather, clutches at his chest, in pain I know he does not feel. Just the day before she died, he slapped my mother across the face and called her a “worthless bitch.”
He only wanted her money.
When I was in the car. I turn my eyes toward the window and watch the cemetery as it fades from view.
That’s when I see him.
A man, tall, dressed in black. He’s pale, almost luminescent. His dark hair is slicked back. He lifts his head and looks right at me.
I feel like he’s staring right into my soul.
Rhys POV
I should’ve never taken the girl.
That bastard stepfather is a fucking nightmare, a gambler, and he deserves to die.
The bastard said, "Please, Mr. Severin. At least see her. I was certain to teach her skills, she's like her mother, well, there’s always the bedroom.”
"Shut up!!" I can't stand his disgusting voice.
"Sir, she's not worth two million dollars." My man advises.
The truth is, I have felt some sort of pull toward the young lady since I first laid eyes on her at her mother’s funeral. The forlorn look in her eyes would be enough to break a person’s heart.
I couldn’t leave her, after all. Not with that bastard.
"She's my duty, I can't resist."
We hid in this world for so long.
Having complete control over myself has always been a characteristic I am proud of, but even I found myself salivating when the scent of her sweet blood filled my lungs.
Alice
After my mother’s death, my world shattered. My stepfather didn’t just steal my inheritance—he sold me to the man he owed a debt to. Now I live in a mansion perched on the edge of a cliff, surrounded by strangers who speak in riddles and disappear in the night. My new guardian, Rhys Severin, is cold, impossibly handsome, and completely unreadable. But as strange things begin happening in Duskmoore House, I can’t shake the feeling that something dark is watching me… and that Rhys may be hiding more than secrets behind those silver eyes.
Rhys
Taking in Alice Heathe was supposed to be business. A debt repaid. But from the moment she stepped into my home, she stirred something long dead in me. Something dangerous. I’ve kept my nature hidden for centuries, but the longer Alice is under my roof, the harder it becomes to ignore the craving—for her blood, and her body. She doesn’t belong in my world of shadows and secrets… but fate may not care what either of us wants.
