Yvette rose and ran her hand through her short, spiky, black hair. “I know. It’s just … well, I’m just impatient.” And damn it if she didn’t feel a tad bit guilty about having kept her prior medical history from Maya, but she couldn’t divulge that information—or the pain and hurt that was so closely associated with those events. Nobody needed to know that as a woman she was a failure. It was enough that she faced the cold truth every day. And the truth was she wasn’t woman enough to give a man everything he wanted. Not as a human, and certainly not now as a vampire.

“I’ll do everything I can.”

“Thank you.” With a last nod to Maya, she strode out the door and took the stairs to the main floor of the Victorian mansion, relieved to leave the examination room behind her.

After bonding a few months earlier, Gabriel and Maya had bought a large, old Victorian home on Nob Hill, not too far from Samson’s house. Ah, Samson, Scanguards’ founder. He was another one who’d found love and happiness—with a human woman, a woman who was expecting thier first child. Envy sliced through her like a knife. It wasn’t a child she craved, but the love of a man. And how could any man truly love her for eternity if she couldn’t give him everything he wanted? If she couldn’t satisfy his every need?

“Just the person I wanted to see,” Gabriel’s gravelly voice greeted her as she reached the foyer.

Yvette looked at her boss. As was the case so often, he was dressed in black jeans and a white shirt. His long brown hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. He wasn’t even trying to hide the long scar on his face, which stretched from the top of his right ear to his chin. It gave him a dangerous look. Yet underneath it all, he was handsome and kinder than anybody could imagine. Which couldn’t be said for the man who stood next to him: Zane.

Just like her, Zane was one of the bodyguards employed at Scanguards, the security company owned by Samson Woodford. Zane was as tall as Gabriel, but his head was shaved bald, and apart from one single time, Yvette had never seen him smile or laugh. To say that Zane was brutal and violent would be a gross understatement, yet, at the same time, he was family, just like the rest of the vampires who worked for Scanguards. They were the only family she knew. The only one she was likely to ever have.

“What can I do for you, Gabriel?”

“Everything okay?” he asked and motioned downstairs, indicating Maya’s medical practice.

Yvette’s spine stiffened. “Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”

“Good, good.”

“Listen, Gabriel, I don’t think we need to get Yvette involved,” Zane interrupted, his feet impatiently grating against the wood floor.

Gabriel cut him off with an impatient hand movement. “We’ve discussed this. You won’t use mind control on our client. I won’t allow it. If she’s afraid of you, it’s better we assign somebody else.”

Yvette raised an eyebrow. A client Zane was protecting was afraid of his—or if she heard correctly, her—bodyguard? Well, that certainly wasn’t anything new. “You have an assignment for me?”

“Yes. The agent of a young actress has approached us to protect her while she is on a publicity tour here in the Bay Area. She’s had some threats against her. I originally assigned Zane, but it turns out the girl is intimidated by him.”

“Go figure,” Yvette muttered under her breath. Zane shot her a furious glare which didn’t bode well for her immediate future.

“I could easily influence her, and she won’t even realize that she can’t stand me,” Zane offered. She knew her fellow bodyguard well enough to know that he didn’t give a rat’s ass about whether somebody liked him or not—more often not—but that his ego was bruised because he’d been taken off a job. Zane wasn’t a quitter. A lot of bad things could be said about him—hell, Yvette had a whole litany of things she could rattle off right now—but she had to concede one thing: he was loyal and determined to a fault.

“You won’t use your powers on her. There’s no need; Yvette can take over your job, and I’ll assign you to somebody else.”

“Fine by me,” Yvette answered. “Any other things I should know?” She ignored Zane’s grunt.

“Her name’s Kimberly. She’s young, early twenties, an up-and-coming actress. Her latest movie has just hit the theatres, and it’s making a big splash. There are bound to be lots of crazies around who think themselves in love with her. Just watch her back for stalkers and keep the paparazzi at bay. She isn’t used to all the attention yet.”