Even through the smoke and fog of his recovering mind, he could still recall how hard it had been to exercise control where his hunger for Claire was concerned. But hed been careful. As hard as it was, hed been a pillar of restraint, right to the end.
If hed known then that she was going to waste so little time giving herself to Wilhelm Roth
?
Reichen growled just thinking on it.
His fury wasnt so cooled that he didnt entertain the idea of slaking his thirst on her right there and then. He leaned in, unable to tear his hungering eyes away from the rhythmic beat of her pulse. Her scent beckoned him as much as the rush of her blood beneath her skin.
She was even more beautiful than he remembered. This close, she robbed him of breath. Made him ache to touch her.
Jesus Christ, she made him burn far worse than sunlight or fury.
It stunned him to realize that he wanted her still, after all this time. After all her mate had done to destroy him. He wanted Claire for his own
still.
Reichen drew in a rough breath of air, his lips peeling back off his fangs. He wanted her, and, by God, he would take her.
No, he growled to himself. Damn it, no.
Claires eyes snapped open and went wide. She gasped, drawing back as far as she could get from him with the chair blocking her escape. Her dark brown eyes searched his face, too intelligent to misunderstand what had nearly happened.
Reichen mentally yanked himself to heel, despite the hunger that was still making his gums throb with the urge to feed. Pleasant dreams, Frau Roth?
Not at all, she answered, staring hard at him. After what happened here last night, Im sure Ill be having nightmares for a long time to come.
A pang of shame jabbed him, but he ignored it. He had
to keep his eye on the ball. You didnt happen to pay a dreamtime visit to your mate just now, did you?
Claire didnt so much as blink. He could see the recollection in her steady gaze, the realization that although many years had passed since they last saw each other, Reichen had not forgotten her special psychic ability. Her cheeks darkened a bit, and he wondered if she was thinking of all the times she had dreamwalked into some of his most erotic REM fantasies during those intense, passionate few months in which theyd fallen in love.
He had not forgotten a single moment theyd shared, awake or joined in dreams, and he had damn sure tried.
Wilhelm doesnt like it when I intrude on his dreams, she murmured.
Thats not really a denial, Reichen replied. He kept his hands braced on the arms of the chair, trapping her there while he continued his interrogation. Where is he, Claire?
I told you, I dont know.
But you do have some idea, he said, trying not to be distracted by his hunger or his sudden, growing awareness of just how close their bodies were to each other. He could feel her heat mingling with his own, making his healing, irradiated skin feel as though it were being touched by flame. Make no mistake, I will find him. The others werent able to run, nor will he.
She looked wary, repelled. What
others?
His faithful hounds, the ones who carried out his orders with no regard for innocent lives. Ive put them all down, one by one. Not him, not yet. Ive saved him for last because I wanted him to know that I was coming. I wanted him to understand that he was going to have to pay for what he did.
Claire swallowed, gave a small shake of her head. What you said last nightthat Wilhelm is responsible for what happened to your Darkhaven
you are mistaken, Andreas. You have to be mistaken.
What I said is the truth.
It cant be
Why not? he snapped. Because that will mean youre mated not only to a known thug but a cold-blooded murderer, as well?
Her slender dark brows came together in an expression somewhere between pity and contempt. This coming from someone whose own hands are stained with more than a dozen lives?
Reichen reeled back, bristling at the reminder. He took a few steps away from her, then pivoted to begin a tense pace out of the room. He didnt know where he was going. He didnt damn well care. He knew he couldnt leave the house while it was daylight outside, and right now it felt like a cage.
Claire drifted out behind him, her footsteps all but silent on the polished marble floor of the hall. Andreas, I know you must be terribly hurt and confused after everything youve been through. We can try to sort all of this out later. Right now you need some peace and quiet while your body is healing from the UV burns. You need rest
What I need right now is blood, he snarled, swiveling a hard, amber-eyed look on her. Since youre so reluctant to surrender Roth to me, I dont suppose youd be willing to let me take my fill of you either.
She blanched, appalled, just as he wanted her to be.
Reichen continued his impatient prowl of the hallway, noting the assorted photographs and framed art on the walls. With his anger stoked, he looked for images of
Claire and Roth, the adoring couple, eager for more kindling for the fury that still burned in his gut. There were only a handful of photos of them together, often among a group of Darkhaven or Enforcement Agency members, or in front of ribbon-cutting ceremonies taking place at various evening events. Claires smile was perfect in each one: pleasant without being overly excited, polite without being overly cool.
Reichen didnt know that smile. It seemed as polished and brittle as the glass that overlaid it.
Where does Roth conduct his business here? he asked her, turning away from frozen, perfect Claire to look at the woman who stood behind him now, well out of arms reach. If he has computers here, or any type of files, I want to see them.
You wont find anything like that here, she said, simply stated fact. Wilhelm does all of his personal business from the Hamburg Darkhaven and an office he keeps in the city
as far as I know. Weve never discussed his business affairs.
Reichen grunted, unsurprised. He was already moving past another room off the hallway, glancing in at the casually sophisticated furnishings of a living room, then passing by an intimate ballroom that seemed a cavern of mirrored walls, polished parquet flooring, and a creamy, elegantly carved ceiling. In back was an ebony grand piano, its multiple reflections gleaming in all the surrounding polished glass.
Good to see some things havent changed, he muttered. Claire glanced into the ballroom but looked confused. The piano, he said. You have a gift for music, as I recall.
Her frown faltered slightly as she stared at him. Oh, I
dont
I havent played in a long time. I suppose I got busy with other, more important things. Music isnt really a part of my life anymore.
No, I guess not, he said, aware of how caustic it sounded. Is there anything left of you that I would remember, Claire?
A long silence spread between them. Reichen expected her to walk away, or maybe run away, out the front door and into the daylight where he couldnt follow. But she stood her ground, pierced him with her deep brown eyes. Tenacious as ever. How dare you. I didnt ask you to storm into my life and tear it apart, but here you are. I dont have to explain anything to you, or justify where life has taken me.
No, she didnt, and he knew he was being unfair here. Having those answers wasnt going to bring him any closer to Wilhelm Roth, either. Not that any of those arguments meant a damn thing when Claire was just an arms length away from him and seething with an anger hed seldom seen in her but rightly deserved.
We both moved on, didnt we, Andre?
You certainly did.
What did you expect me to do? You were the one who left, remember?
He thought about the abrupt way hed left things with her: unfinished, unexplained. He thought about his reasons, ironically none of which mattered anymore. Certainly not after what had happened last night. I couldnt stay.
You couldnt even tell me why? One day we were together and the next you were gone without a word.
I had things to work out, he said.
God, he hated that he was still able to feel the punch of
uncontainable fearof shock and overwhelming self-revulsionthat had forced him to run away from everything and everyone he knew and loved. After what happened to him the last time he saw Claire, hed had no choice but to leave her. He hadnt wanted to harm her, and he couldnt trust himself to be near her, or near anyone, until hed managed to control the horrific power that had been awakened in him for the first time all those years ago. By that time, he had already lost her to Roth.
He gave her a negligent shrug. I did come back, Claire.
More than a year later, she replied curtly Or so I heard, after friends in the Darkhavens told me you had finally turned up, back in Berlin again. She shook her head, regret shining in her gaze. I didnt think you would ever come back.
So you didnt wait.
Did you give me any reason to?
No, he said, letting the word slide slowly off his tongue.
There was more he wanted to say, things he probably owed her to say, but it was all pointless talk now. Claire was right. Theyd both moved on. Theyd both lived very separate lives, and despite the fact that those lives were converging now, in violence and bloodshed, nothing he could say would change a thing about the past or what might have been. He was here for one reason: to avenge the wrong that Wilhelm Roth had delivered on him.
Reichen started walking again.
Claire trailed him, hanging back now as though she didnt want to get too close. What are you doing?
I told you. Looking for any intel on your mates whereabouts.
And I told youyou wont find anything of his here. This is my home, not his.
Reichen heard the peculiar comment but he was already moving on. He saw a room filled with floor-to-ceiling bookcases and headed for that open door.
Andreas, Claire said from behind him. Please, stop this. The library is my space. Its private. You wont find anything important in
Then you wont mind if I have a look, he said, more intent than ever since she was practically insisting that he stay out.
What was she hiding in there? He strode past towering shelf after shelf packed with books, past the small sofa and the end table where a ginger-jar lamp still glowed from the night before. Farther into the room, he saw a dark walnut desk in a mild state of disarray, as if the work had been abandoned in haste.
And beyond the desk, spread out on a wide worktable, was some kind of architects scale model. Reichen guessed it to be some kind of Darkhaven projectsomething that would probably result in another photograph of Claire and her perfect smile, posing as the perfect mate next to Roth and a number of his cronies. But as he neared the model, the hairs at the back of his neck began to rise.
He knew this piece of land.
He knew the shape of it, the look of it
the feel of it.
It was his
.
The lakefront wedge of property on the model was the site of his Darkhaven. Or, rather, it had been, before Roths treachery and Reichens own despair had left it in ruined rubble.
What the hell is this?
Claire came up beside him, her expression anxious.
Andreas, everyone thought you were dead. There were no heirs alive to claim the property. It was going to be auctioned among the rest of the Berlin vampire community
This was my land. His voice took on an odd shake. This was my home.
I know, she said quickly. I know, and I couldnt let it be sold. When some of us in the region held the memorial service for you and your family a few weeks ago and I learned no one had come forward to claim the land, I purchased the property myself. No one knew. I wanted to put something special on it. I hoped it could be a kind of sanctuary in remembrance of the lives that were lost.
Reichen stared at the model of the tranquil park with its reflection pools and walking trails and meticulously plotted flower beds. The design was lovely. Perfect.
Claire had done this
for him
.
He was astonished. Struck speechless.
It probably wasnt my place to do it, she said. Im sorry. I just couldnt stand the thought of your homeand your kins livesbeing forgotten or sold off to the highest bidder. It didnt seem right. Then again, what I did probably doesnt seem right to you, either.
Reichen stood there, silent, unmoving To say he was shocked by Claires act of compassion was understatement in the extreme. He was movedmore deeply than he had been in more years than he cared to remember. He stared at the architects model, seeing all the detail, all the care and thought that had been put into the design.
For him, and for the memory of his kin.
He slowly turned to Claire, knowing his face must have been as rigid as stone by the way she took a step back.
Good
, he thought.
Good. Keep her away
.
Because all he wanted to do in that moment was drag her hard into his arms and kiss her until neither one of them could breathe.
But she was Roths mate.
His enemys mate.
And he was still dangerous, still too near the razors edge of hunger. If he touched Claire now, he didnt trust himself to stop there. If hed been honorable at one time in his life, the fire that had been reawakened inside him three months ago had all but devoured that part of him. He was a threat to Claire, in far more ways than one.
I need to be alone, he muttered, a throaty snarl of sound.
He meant that; he couldnt be around her right now. He didnt want to think about the brief but indelible past hed had with her, or how swiftly his bodyhis weak-willed heart, as wellstill responded to the mere presence of her.
