“Damn it, Marc, I’m sitting in this morning’s fresh-squeezed orange peels.”

He chuckled, crossing his arms over a black T-shirt, clinging to wel -defined pecs. “You nearly broke my ribs.”

“You’ll live.”

“No thanks to you.” He pushed himself awkwardly to his feet and held out a hand for me. When I ignored it, he rolled his eyes and pulled me up by my wrist.

“What’s with the kung fu routine, anyway?”

I yanked my arm from his grip and stepped back, glaring at him as I wiped orange pulp from the seat of my pants. “It’s tae kwon do, and you damn wel know it.” We’d trained together—alongside al four of my brothers—for nearly a decade.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kick your face in. What took you so fucking long? If you guys are going to hang around without permission, you might as wel make yourselves useful when I’m in mortal peril. That is what Daddy’s paying you for.”

“You handled yourself fine.”

“Like you’d know. I bet he was halfway to his car by the time you got here.”

“Only a quarter of the way,” Marc said, grinning. “Anyway, I was the one in real danger. I got cornered by a pack of wild sorority sisters in the food court.

Apparently it’s mating season.”

I frowned at him, picturing a throng of girls in matching pink T-shirts giggling as they vied for his attention. I could have told them they were wasting their time.

Marc had no use for human women, especial y sil y, flirtatious trophy wives-in-training. His dark curls and exotic brownish-gold eyes had always garnered him more attention than he real y wanted. And this time they’d kept him from doing his job.

“You’re a worthless bastard,” I said, not quite able to forgive him for being late, even though I didn’t want him there in the first place.

“And you’re a cal ous bitch.” He smiled, completely unaffected by my heartfelt insult. “We’re a matched set.”

I groaned. At least we were back in familiar territory. And it was kind of nice to see him too, though I would never have admitted it.

Turning my back on him, I grabbed my book bag and stomped to the other end of the al ey, then into the empty quad. Marc followed closely, murmuring beneath his breath in Spanish too fast for me to understand. Memories I’d successfully blocked for years came tumbling to the front of my mind, triggered by his whispered rant. He’d been doing that for as long as I could remember.

My patience long gone, I stopped in front of the student center in the same circle of light, and whirled around to face Marc. “Hey, you wanna drop back a few paces? Did you forget how spying works? You’re supposed to at least aim for unobtrusive. The others pretty much have it down, but you’re about as inconspicuous as a drag queen at a Girl Scout meeting.” I propped my hands on the hips of my low-rise jeans and scowled up at him, trying to remain unaffected by the thickly lashed eyes staring back at me.

Marc smiled, his expression casual, inviting, and utterly infuriating. “It’s nice to see you too.” A wistful look darted across his face as he glanced at my bare midriff, his gaze moving quickly over my snug red halter top to settle on the barrette nestled in my hair.

“Go home, Marc.”

“There’s no reason for you to be rude.”

“There’s no reason for you to be here.”

He frowned down at me, thick brows shadowing his eyes, and my mood improved. I’d gotten rid of his smile. Was I real y that petty? Hel , yeah.

“Look, if Daddy’s mad because I didn’t invite anyone to graduation, he can tel me himself. I don’t need an emissary to let me know he’s pissed.”

“He sent me to bring you home.” My expression hardened, and Marc held up one hand to cut off the argument he knew to expect. “I’m only following orders.”

Of course he was. That’s al he ever did.

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder, shaking my head. “Forget it. I’m not going.” I started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm. I jerked free of his grip, but only because he let me.

“Sara’s gone,” he said, his face carefully blank.

I blinked, surprised by what seemed to be a random comment.

Sara had left? Good for her. But if they thought they could blame me because she wanted more out of life than a husband and half a dozen babies, they had another think coming. Sara had a mind of her own; al I’d done was dust a few cobwebs from it. If she’d decided not to get married, so be it. That was her choice.

“She didn’t run out on the wedding, Faythe.” Marc’s eyes burned into mine like amber fire, and his meaning was unmistakable. It was always the same old fight with him, no matter where we were or how much time had passed. Some things never changed, and the rest only grew more irritating.

“You can wipe that smug look off your face,” I snapped. “You only think you stil know me wel enough to read my mind.” So what if he’d been right? That wasn’t the point.

Marc gave an exaggerated sigh, as if talking to me was exhausting, and not real y worth the effort. “She didn’t leave. She was taken.”

My pulse jumped, and I shook my head, giving in to denial as it surfaced. All around us, crickets chirped, fil ing the silence during my pause as I tried to formulate a coherent thought. “That’s impossible. No human could take a…” There was no need to finish the sentence, because that was one thought he most definitely could read. Sara might have been petite, but she was far from weak. She would have shredded any man who laid a hand on her. At least, any human man.