Pure

He inclined his heard toward me. Shadows cloaked his features, but his eyes cut through the darkness. “Yeah?”

“When do you think they’re coming back?” By they I meant Marcus and Lucian… and Aiden. My breath caught. It happened whenever I thought about Aiden, and what he’d done for me—what he’d risked.

Easing down on his side, Seth reached across me and grabbed my right hand. His fingers threaded through mine, palm to palm. My skin tingled in response. The mark of the Apollyon—the one that shouldn’t be on my hand—warmed. I stared at our joined hands, not at all surprised when I saw the faint lines—also the marks of the Apollyon—making their way up Seth’s arm. I turned my head, watching as the marks spread across Seth’s face. His eyes seemed to brighten. They’d been doing that a lot more lately, both the runes and his eyes.

“Lucian said they’d be back soon, possibly later today.” Very slowly, he moved the pad of his thumb down the line of the rune. My toes curled as my free hand dug into the blankets. Seth smiled. “No one’s mentioned the pure-blood Guard. And Dawn Samos has already returned. It appears Aiden’s compulsion worked.”

I wanted to pull my hand free. It was hard to concentrate when Seth messed with the rune on my palm. Of course, he knew that. And being the tool that he was, he liked it.

“No one knows what really happened.” His thumb now traced the horizontal line. “And it’ll remain that way.”

My eyes drifted shut. The truth of how the pure-blood Guard died would have to remain a secret, or both Aiden and I would be in deep trouble. Not only had we almost hooked up over the summer—and then I had to go and tell him that I loved him, which was totally forbidden—I’d killed a pure-blood out of self-defense. And Aiden had used compulsion on two pures to cover it up. Killing a pure meant death for a half-blood, no matter the situation, and a pure was forbidden to use compulsion on another pure. If any of it came out, we’d both be totally screwed.

“You think so?” I whispered.

“Yes.” Seth’s breath was warm against my temple. “Go to sleep, Alex.”

Letting the soothing sensation of his thumb against the rune lull me away, I drifted back to sleep, momentarily forgetting all the mistakes and decisions I’d made in the past seven months. My last conscious thought was of my biggest mistake—not the boy beside me, but the one I could never have.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgments are so tricky. I always feel like I’m forgetting someone terribly important. So I’ll start with the business side of things. Huge thanks to Kate Kaynak and the team at Spencer Hill Press—Rich, Kendra, Marie, Osman, Carol, and Rebecca. Without you guys, The Covenant Serieswouldn’t even exist. Or if it did, it would be pretty bad without your editing, marketing expertise and general awesomeness.

Much thanks to my family and husband for your continuing patience and support when I ignore you while writing. Love you guys. Thank you to my agent Kevan Lyon, for rocking it out.

To my friends: Lesa Rodrigues, Julie Fedderson, Dawn Ransom, Cindy Thomas, Carissa Thomas, and everyone else, you know who you are, thank you for always being there for me when I need a break away from people that aren’t real or when I need to brainstorm.

Speaking of brainstorming—I don’t know what I would do without Lesa, Julie, Carissa or Cindy. You guys rock my socks. You are the awesome sauce with an extra helping of sauce.

Julie—you are still my rockstar.

A huge, GIGANTIC thanks to all the book bloggers out there, spreading their love of reading and their passion for it along with discovering new authors. You guys do this for free, in your spare time and are my go-to peeps. Without you guys, honestly, The Covenant Serieswouldn’t be half of whatever success it may be. You all don’t nearly get the thanks you guys so very much deserve.

Je

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