He knew this was a long shot but savored the moment nonetheless.
Gifted ones born in previous centuries had always refused to be transformed. Even those who had fallen in love with immortals had steadfastly remained mortal, fearing what transforming would mean for their soul. The church had long deemed vampires minions of Satan. And until modern medicine had enabled immortals to better understand why they were the way they were, immortals had assumed the same rules applied to them. So they had never pushed the women they loved to transform for them because they didn’t want to be responsible for damning them.
But in the past century or so, their mortal doctor and scientist friends had identified the virus that infected both immortals and vampires as well as the advanced DNA that made gifted ones and immortals different, easing their fears.
Then Sarah Bingham had shocked the immortal world by doing what Aidan and the others had believed no mortal ever would. She had asked to be transformed so she could spend the rest of eternity with Roland Warbrook.
And hope had surfaced.
All Aidan had to do was find the right gifted one—a woman he could love, who could love him in return and who would be willing to transform for him—and he could view the future as more than just an endless stretch of days in which he slew vampires every night, then went to bed alone.
Strolling forward, he pushed open the door. A bell dinged as he ducked and stepped inside.
At the sound of the bell, Dana Pembroke turned around and felt her jaw drop.
Holy crap.
The man who stood just inside the door had to be three or four inches above six feet. His thick black hair was short and so wavy it almost curled. But it by no means lent him a feminine air. His strong jaw bore just a hint of a five-o’clock shadow. Deep brown eyes captured hers and sparkled with amusement beneath dark brows.
Because she was drooling over him?
She let her gaze dip lower.
What woman wouldn’t drool over him? He was freaking hot.
A black T-shirt stretched taut over broad shoulders, revealing a very muscled chest and thick biceps. Casual black slacks hugged slim hips, what she guessed would be a really nice ass if he turned around, and muscular thighs.
His lips stretched in a friendly smile. “Good evening.”
His lovely bass voice flowed through her like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night.
Straightening, she struck a dramatic pose and touched her fingertips to one temple in much the same way Shawn Spencer did in the television series Psych. “Aidan O’Byrne?” she intoned.
His smile broadened, revealing straight white teeth. “Aye. Let me guess. You saw me coming.”
Grinning, she abandoned her pose and shrugged. “Kind of hard not to when you make an appointment.”
He laughed. “Would you be the charming lass I spoke with over the phone then?”
Damned if she didn’t feel a little blush of pleasure heat her cheeks as she strode forward and offered her hand. “That would be me.” And his accent was even sexier in person. “Dana Pembroke.”
He took her hand in his much larger one and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She didn’t think a man had ever kissed her hand before. Why did that make her insides go all gooey?
Staring up at him, she offered no protest when he didn’t immediately release her hand.
Damn, he was handsome. And he had one of those smiles that made it impossible to resist smiling back.
Until blood abruptly splattered across his face and neck.
She gasped.
A deep slash opened on his chest. Another opened on his left arm, then his right. The hand holding hers grew slick with warm, wet blood.
Fear streaking through her, Dana yanked her hand out of his grasp. She looked down at her trembling fingers.
No blood stained them, but she could still feel the warm wetness of it.
When she looked up, Aidan was as he had been before she had touched him, his handsome face clean, his clothing flawless, his flesh unmarred. No blood. No cuts.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
His smile faltered. “Dana?”
Had she just seen the future? His future?
“Are you okay?” he asked, concern darkening his pretty brown eyes.
The future had never come to her so quickly or clearly before.
She forced a smile. “I’m fine. I’m sorry.”
He tilted his head to one side, his gaze turning watchful. “You saw something.”
For once she found herself at a loss for words. Normally she would have denied it, unwilling to inform a client she had just met that she’d foreseen his death. But something told her this man would recognize the lie. “Yes.”
“It disturbed you.”
“Yes.”
“Past or future?”
She considered it a moment. “I’m pretty sure it was the future.”
“But you do sometimes see the past?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see me wounded?”
“Yes.”
“Badly?”
Her eyes clung to his. “Yes.”
He nodded, strangely unconcerned. “I’m guessing you saw a slash across my chest. About here.” He drew a line across his chest. “A couple more on my arms.” He traced two paths on his arms exactly where she had seen the cuts in the remarkably clear vision.
Relief suffused her, relaxing the muscles she hadn’t even realized had bunched up in her shoulders. “Yes.” She smiled. “So it was the past. Good.”
He smiled.
Realizing what she’d just said, she hastened to clarify, “I mean, not good that you were wounded. I just…”
“Thought you were about to lose a client?” he suggested with a wink.
She laughed. “Well, I didn’t think you’d want to come back if the first thing I told you was that you’re going to be seriously, perhaps fatally, wounded.”
He grinned. “I was in the army in my youth. And since then I’ve been working in the private security business. Both have proven to be dangerous on occasion, so I’ve had my fair share of nicks and bruises over the years.”
That had been one hell of a nick. “Private security?” She motioned for him to accompany her and began strolling toward the back of her small shop.
He shrugged. “There always seems to be someone out there who wants to kill or kidnap someone else. I, and my brothers, offer protection to those who need it.”
“Your brothers? Do you have a big family then?”
“They’re brothers in spirit, not by blood. Most of us don’t have families of our own, so we consider each other family.”
Dana had no family of her own either, so she could appreciate that. An only child, she had lost all her grandparents before she turned seven. Then, after reaching adulthood, she lost both parents in a car accident. “Is this the first time you’ve consulted a psychic?”