"I won't hurt you, Vanda. You can trust me."
She shook her head. "I can't…" She zipped her catsuit shut. Her red-tinted eyes glimmered with moisture.
"I understand why you're afraid. You lost everyone in your family. Except Marta. And you probably felt betrayed by her."
"What?" Vanda stepped back, her face pale. "How—How did you…?"
"The interview you did a few years ago for the reality show. Maggie found it at the townhouse and we watched it."
Vanda stiffened with an appalled expression. "Maggie helped you spy on me?"
"We weren't spying. We're trying to help you. If we can find a way for you to deal with the unresolved issues from your past—"
"My past is none of your business!" she snapped.
"It is. I'm supposed to help you learn how to manage your anger, and we can do that by confronting whatever trauma you—"
"No! I am not a psychological experiment. And I have to question your motives, Doctor Phil. Are you trying to help me out of the goodness of your heart, or do you just want to get laid?"
He tamped down on his growing anger. "I want you to have a happy, fulfilled life. It is your fear that is causing you to insult me, and we can get rid of that fear by examining the trauma—"
"You leave my trauma the hell alone!" She adjusted the whip around her waist. "I'm not afraid of anything."
He raised his hands in a supplicating gesture. "It's normal for you to resist reliving those painful memories."
She gritted her teeth. "Don't patronize me. I'm not reliving anything."
"Then you want to stay afraid? Do you want to endure life for centuries afraid to love another person?"
She flinched as if he'd hit her.
"Vanda, I'm sorry." He stepped toward her.
"No." She lifted a hand to stop him. "Do you know how many people I've lost?" A pink tear rolled down her cheek. "My mother and father. My little sister. Every one of my brothers. Karl."
"Who's Karl?" Phil couldn't remember that name from the TV interview.
Vanda's outstretched hand curled into a fist. Her voice shook. "The wolves got him."
Phil froze.
Vanda's arm dropped to her side and her face crumpled. "He was my first love. A mortal. The mortals always die." She wiped her face. "Can't you see? I can't go through this again."
Shit. This would be the perfect time to tell her he was a shape shifter who could easily live another four to five hundred years. But she would want to know what he shifted into. "Vanda, none of us are immortal. You came close to dying the other day. Doesn't that tell you that we should seize the moment and live each night like it was our last?"
"But it won't last. And I can't endure the pain. I'm sorry."
"Vanda, we—"
She disappeared, leaving his hand extended close to where her face had been.
He lowered his arm. Poor Vanda. She was fighting a war between desire and fear. Her desire for him was strong. It had caused her eyes to glow red. It had made her clutch at him with passion. But tonight fear had won the battle.
"I'm not giving up on you," he whispered.
CHAPTER 8
Lots of people here tonight," Maggie said as Vanda inched her Corvette closer to the entrance of Romatech.
Vanda checked the rearview mirror. She couldn't see herself, but spotted several cars in line behind them. Two in front. All the local Vamps seemed to be here for Jack's engagement party. "I hate parties."
Maggie scoffed. "It'll be good for you. You've been working too hard."
"Friday nights are always busy at the club. I should be there."
"You'll only be gone a few hours. Cora Lee and Pamela were happy to take care of things," Maggie said. "Besides, you need a break. You've had a rough week."
The guard let another car through the gate, and Vanda moved the Corvette closer.
Maggie smoothed the skirt of her red taffeta cocktail dress. "Isn't it fun to dress up for a change? If I was home tonight, I'd be helping my husband shovel bat guano."
"Sounds better than this," Vanda grumbled.
"Don't be such a party pooper. You look lovely in that dress."
Vanda groaned. She should have never agreed to borrow one of Pamela's dresses. Maggie, Pamela, and Cora Lee had ganged up on her, insisting she wear it. But she was taller than Pamela, so the silver satin dress was too short, hitting her at mid-thigh. The bodice was too low. She tugged at a spaghetti strap. "This dress is too revealing."