Lindsay’s dark eyes brightened. “You’ve heard of it.”

“Raguel is an old acquaintance.” He began planning the steps required to research her history from birth until this moment. There were no coincidences in his world. He found Shadoe in every reincarnation not due to chance, but because they were destined to cross paths. But to move so near to his headquarters and end up in an angel’s employ…? Raguel owned properties all over the world, including resorts closer to her home on the East Coast. It could not be accidental that circumstances contrived to bring her to Orange County.

Adrian needed to know the opportunities and decisions that led her so directly into his life. The discovery process was one he undertook whenever she returned. He looked for routines or patterns applicable to her former lives. He gained knowledge used to build her trust and affection. And he searched for any sign that they were being manipulated, because the time was fast approaching when he would have to pay for his hubris. He had committed the transgression he’d censured others for: he had fallen in love with Shadoe-a naphil, the child of a mortal woman and the angel her father had once been-and he’d succumbed, countless times, to the decadent sins of her flesh.

He had personally punished her father for the same offense. He’d severed the wings from the fallen angel, an act that took Syre’s soul and made him the first of the vampires.

The consequences of Adrian’s hypocrisy would eventually catch up with him; it was an inevitability he’d accepted long ago. If Raguel was the means the Creator intended to use to rebuke him, Adrian needed to know and be prepared. He had to ensure that Shadoe would be taken care of when his time came.