I stood up straight and met each vampire’s gaze with one lifted eyebrow.

Tad stayed behind me. “What the hell did Merlin make you that you can’t be rolled?”

“I’m a naga, like you. Maybe the females are just naturally stronger.” I didn’t want to say I didn’t know. But I didn’t want to say nothing. Tad shot a look at me and I shrugged. “Well, it is a possibility.”

Dahlia motioned for us to follow her. “Come on. We didn’t get what we were looking for at the SDMP, so Remo is not going to be happy.”

Max put a hand on my arm, tugging me forward. “All the more reason to distract him with your friend here. Right, Alena?”

He pulled me in the opposite direction from Dahlia, and I went along. Not because I wanted to, I just didn’t want to fight if I didn’t have to. He led Tad and me into the castle, and I realized again everyone else was bundled up, whereas I was completely comfortable in my tiny dress. “Tad, how are you doing?”

“Fine. Embarrassed. You know I hate redheads. They’re stupid, and just from kissing her I could catch the dumbs.”

I gasped, spun, and slapped him hard, knocking him back several steps. “Don’t you talk about Dahlia like she’s a horrible person. As far as I’m concerned she’s one of my best friends. So you just shut your fat mouth.”

He lifted his eyes to mine, shock filtering through. “I came back to you from the dead only a few hours ago, and you’d put your friend you’ve known for weeks ahead of me?”

I stepped closer to him and lowered my voice. Not because I thought it would actually keep the vamps from hearing. No, that wasn’t it at all. “I lost you five years ago. I cried every day for years. Every. Day. You were my best friend, Tad. If it had been reversed, I would have sent a letter or called, or just shown up. Something to tell you I was okay. That I was alive. I wouldn’t have let you grieve like that.”

His face paled. “I couldn’t get out until recently.”

“Buffalo balls.” I spit and spun on a heel. “You are in my bad book, Mr. Budrene.”

“I paid for you to be turned!” he yelled. I whipped around, my hair flying out in a twirl along with my skirt.

“You owe Merlin a favor. You didn’t pay him.”

Tad stepped closer to me so we were nose to nose. “I did pay him. You turned him down. I had to offer him a favor in order to get you another chance.”

Chagrin flowed through me. I put a hand to my forehead. “I’ll fix it, then. You won’t owe him anything.”

“How?”

“Merlin can have the favor from me.”

A low, sensual laugh rolled out from behind us, and I slowly turned.

The man who walked toward us was not what I’d expected. A vampire mob boss made me think of the old Italian bloodlines, fine-boned men with heavy accents and suits custom made for their slim builds. Maybe an extra-long mustache.

This man who approached us was anything but that. He was taller than me by a good five inches, which put him easily at six five, and was built as though the person in charge of his genetics were making a Viking warrior. Thick muscles in his arms and chest strained against the long-sleeved pale-gray shirt he wore. His hair was shorn close to his head, a perfect buzz cut that gave off only a hint of color. Light brown, I was guessing. In his chin were two piercings that looked like fangs hanging from the middle of his bottom lip. He lifted his top lip in a tight snarl, and the effect was obvious. What was better than two fangs as a vampire? Four, of course. As he drew closer, the tattoos on his neck were visible, a curl of dark ink I couldn’t fully make out other than it started from somewhere under his shirt.

I finally locked eyes with him. Dark eyes, like the night in which we stood right down to the hint of purple that flickered in their depths. Damn, he made Roger look like a total pansy. Not that Roger wasn’t a pansy, but if I stood them side by side, my husband would have fit in this man’s shadow in more ways than one.

He frowned and I frowned back. “Who are you?”

“Alena.” I lifted an eyebrow. “And who are you?”

Around us a quiet, collective groan rose in the air. He smiled, though it was a mere hard line of his lips. “Remo. And I am master here, so watch how you speak to me, Alena.”

Something in his tone reminded me of the pastor at our church. Like I was not good enough to stand in his presence, let alone disagree with him. Anger snapped through me. No more, I was not going to let another man try to put me in my place.

I pulled myself up to my full height and tipped my chin in his direction. “I will dang well say what I want, to whom I want, regardless of how important they think they are.”

The crowd around us shifted back with another low groan. Remo stepped closer and I put out a hand, stopping him, poking him in the chest with a single finger. Even that much contact sent a flare of awareness through me. This man was dangerous.

And a part of me rather liked that fact.

“Personal space. Respect it.”

Both his eyebrows shot up. “What are you?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not telling.” I wanted to groan, because the words did not deter him but only seemed to draw him closer. Dang it all. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. What was I saying?

“I think I could make you tell me.” His eyes roved my body once, sliding down and then back up to stare into my own again. “Anything I wanted.”