Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed 8-Book Bundle (156 page)

As the secretary whispered the rest of his message,
Fabien was glad for the dark hood that concealed his reaction from the others. He kept his stance relaxed, every muscle loose and at ease, as he was informed that one of his Minions from the city was waiting outside with unanticipated, but critical, news that could not be delayed. News about a Breed male and an injured woman in his company, who, from the description, could be none other than the pair who’d escaped the containment facility.

“Will you all excuse me?” Fabien said, his smile tight beneath his disguise. “I’ve a small matter to attend to outside. I won’t be a moment.”

A few dark heads inclined as Fabien pivoted to stroll out of the room.

Once the reception room door was closed and he and his secretary had walked several yards down the long hallway, Fabien tore off his hood. “Where is he?”

“Awaiting you in the front vestibule, sir.”

Fabien stormed off in that direction, wringing the black hood in his hands. As he reached the door, his secretary rushed up ahead to hold it open for him. The Minion was leaning against the wall, engrossed in chewing his fingernails down the quick, his unkempt, overlong bangs hanging into his eyes. When he looked up and saw his Master enter, the human’s disgusting sloth was replaced with a hound’s eagerness to please.

“I have brought you some news, Master.”

Fabien grunted. “So I’ve heard. Speak, Curtis. Tell me what you saw.”

The Minion explained how earlier in the day he’d gone to ask a question of his human employer—a homeless shelter operator who’d hired Curtis to work on his computers— and unexpectedly discovered that the vampire warrior was hiding in the shelter’s garage apartment. Curtis hadn’t been
able to get a close look, but had gotten near enough to tell that the huge male was Breed. It wasn’t until just a short while ago that he confirmed his suspicions. Apparently the warrior and the female who was with him had become rather friendly. The pair were too busy in bed to notice when Curtis later sneaked back up to the garage and spied them together through the window.

The Minion had gotten an eyeful, and was able to provide a very detailed physical description of both the warrior Nikolai and the Breedmate Renata.

“You’re certain neither of them is aware that you were there?” Fabien asked.

The Minion chuckled. “No, Master. Trust me, they weren’t paying attention to anything but each other.”

Fabien nodded and glanced at his watch. It would be dusk within the hour. He’d already assigned a team of Enforcement Agents to head out on another cleanup task for him tonight. Perhaps he should send a second unit into the city with Curtis. Bad enough that the warrior had managed to escape him at the containment facility. The news hadn’t gone over well when Fabien had informed Dragos of the problem, but the bungle would be cushioned somewhat if he could assure him that the warrior had been dealt with—swiftly and permanently

Yes, Fabien thought, as he reached into his suit coat pocket for his cell phone and dialed the Enforcement Agency detail who reported to him.

Tonight he would clean the slate of a couple recent mistakes, and when he presented himself to Dragos at the gathering, he would do so bearing fortuitous news and a charming little gift that his new commander was certain to enjoy.

CHAPTER
Twenty-two

D
o you think he’ll hurt her?”

Renata’s voice was quiet, breaking the prolonged silence in the humid apartment. She was seated across from Nikolai at the card table, wearing an extra-large gray T-shirt and her own jeans, laundered and returned earlier in the day, courtesy of Jack. Her shoulder wound was looking a hell of a lot better, and every time Niko had asked, she insisted she wasn’t feeling much pain. He figured his blood would carry her for a few hours at least. They’d been out of bed for a while now, both of them bathed and dressed, and carefully avoiding the subject of all that had happened between them today.

Instead, Nikolai kept himself busy cleaning and prepping
Jack’s twin Colt .45s, while he and Renata put plans together for their trek out to Yakut’s lodge shortly. Although Niko doubted Lex would willingly cough up information on his alliance with Edgar Fabien, he had a feeling a few strategically placed rounds would loosen the bastard’s tongue.

He hoped so, because without a solid lead on the Darkhaven leader’s probable location, the odds of finding Mira unscathed by Fabien’s twisted proclivities were diminishing by the second.

“Do you think he will… do anything to her?”

Niko looked over and saw the dread in Renata’s eyes. “Fabien’s not a good man. I honestly don’t know what he intends for her.”

She glanced down at that, her slim dark brows drawn together. “You didn’t tell me everything your friends back in Boston learned about him.”

Shit. He should have known Renata would call him on this. He’d deliberately skimmed over the worst of what Gideon had told him, figuring the sordid details wouldn’t help them locate Mira any faster and would only make Renata worry more. But he respected her too much to lie to her.

“No, I didn’t tell you everything,” he admitted. “Do you really want to know all of it?”

“I think I need to know.” She met his gaze again, her pale green eyes sober, as steady as a warrior girded for battle. “What did the Order find out about him?”

“He’s second-generation Breed, easily several hundred years old,” Niko said, starting with the least of Fabien’s offenses. “He’s been the leader of the Montreal Darkhaven for the past century and a half, and he’s also got far-reaching ties into the upper tiers of the Enforcement Agency, which means he’s politically connected too.”

Renata scoffed quietly. “That’s a resume, Nikolai. You know what I’m asking. Give it to me straight.”

“All right.” He nodded, not bothering to hide his admiration. Or his concern. “Even though he’s got a lot of friends in high places, Edgar Fabien’s not what you’d call a model citizen. Apparently he’s got some fairly sick kinks that have caused him a bit of trouble over the years.”

“Kinks,” Renata said, all but spitting the word.

“His tastes tend to run on the sadistic side, and he… well, he’s been known to enjoy the company of children from time to time. Particularly young girls.”

‘Jesus Christ,” Renata exclaimed in a tight rush of her breath. She closed her eyes and turned her face aside, all of her going very still, as though it took some work to keep from breaking down. When she finally looked back at Niko, there was a murderous glint in her unblinking jade-green gaze. “I’ll kill him. I swear it, Nikolai. I will fucking kill him if he’s done anything to her.”

“We’re gonna get him,” he assured her. “We’re going to find him, and we’re going to get Mira back.”

“I can’t fail her, Nikolai.”

“Hey,” he said, reaching out to cover her hand with his.
“We
won’t fail her. Got it? I’m with you on this. We’re gonna get her back.”

She looked at him in silence for a long moment. Then, very slowly, she flipped her hand over and linked her fingers through his. “She’s going to be safe … right?”

A trace of uncertainty, one of the first times he’d heard it in her voice. He wanted to erase the doubt for her, and the worry, but all he could offer was his promise. “We’re going to get her back, Renata. You’ve got my word on that.”

“Okay,” she said. Then, more resolutely, “Okay Nikolai. Thank you.”

“You’re really something, you know that?” She started to shake her head in denial, but Niko gave her hand a gentle squeeze, keeping her centered. “You’re strong, Renata. Stronger than you know. Mira’s lucky to have you on her side. Hell, so am I.”

Her answering smile was faint and slightly sad. “I hope you’re right.”

“I’m hardly ever wrong,” he said, grinning at her and barely resisting the urge to lean across the little table and kiss her. But that would only lead to one thing—something that his libido was already imagining in explicit detail.

“So, how long are you going to fondle those Colts before you let me have a look at one?”

Niko leaned back in the metal folding chair and chuckled. “Take your pick. You sure you know how to handle—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish the thought. Renata reached out for the gun nearest to her and a full magazine of rounds. She had the weapon loaded, locked, and ready for action in three seconds flat. Niko had never seen anything sexier in his life.

“Impressive.”

She set the pistol down on the table and arched one slim dark brow at him. “You want help with yours now too?”

He started to laugh, but swallowed the sound before it left his mouth.

They weren’t alone.

Renata followed his gaze upward, to where Nikolai could swear he heard a muted thud. It came again, then a small creak of the garage roof.

“We’ve got company,” he whispered to her.

Renata gave him a nod, already getting up from her chair. She slid the loaded .45 to him across the table and moved in swift, efficient silence to begin loading the other.

No sooner had Nikolai picked up the gun than the garage apartment door burst inward, kicked off its hinges. A huge vampire in the black SWAT gear of the Enforcement Agency rushed inside, the laser sights of his silenced automatic rifle locked on Renata.

“Son of a bitch!” Niko shouted. “Renata, shoot him!”

For an awful second, she didn’t move. Nikolai thought she had frozen up in shock, but then the Agent let out a howl of pain and dropped his weapon to clutch at his temples. He went down on his knees, but there were two more armed males right behind him. They leapt over the shrieking obstacle and opened fire in the small space. Renata took cover behind one of the metal file cabinets, firing on the Agent in the lead. Niko targeted the second newcomer, but his shot went wild as the small window above the bed shattered and yet another Enforcement Agent dropped into the fray, armed to the gills.

“Nikolai—behind you!” Renata called.

She hit this latest arrival with a debilitating blast of her mind’s power, and the bastard crumpled to the floor, writhing and convulsing before Niko stilled him with a couple of rounds to the head.

Renata crippled one of the others with a shot to the knee, then took him out completely with a dead-aim bullet between the eyes. Nikolai killed another, and realized belatedly that he’d completely lost sight of the first male who’d come through the door. The son of a bitch was no longer whimpering where Renata had dropped him.

To Niko’s horror, the huge vampire had Renata in his hands, lifting her off the ground and throwing her into the nearest wall. The Breed male’s strength was immense, like all of their kind. Renata crashed against the solid surface,
then fell hard to the floor. She lay there unmoving, obviously too dazed to retaliate.

Nikolai’s roar of fury rattled the feeble table and chairs. His vision went nuclear with the sudden flood of amber into his eyes, and his fangs punched hard from his gums, stretching long and sharp in his anger. He sprang on the other vampire from behind, grabbing the big head in his hands and twisting savagely. The crunch of splitting bone and shredding tendons wasn’t enough for him. As the lifeless Agent slumped over, Niko kicked his body away from Renata and pumped his skull full of lead.

“Renata,” he said, hunkering down in front of her and pulling her into his arms. “Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

She moaned, but managed a shaky nod. Her eyes opened, then went wide as she stared past him to the ruined doorway. Niko swung his head around and locked gazes with a human male he’d seen once before—the human who’d tried to get a look at Nikolai when Jack had come up to the apartment that morning. Jack had called him Curtis, said the kid was doing some work for him in the house.

As Niko looked into that emotionless face that showed no reaction whatsoever to Niko’s glowing eyes and bared fangs, he knew what he was seeing now …

“Minion,” he growled. He released Renata gently as he got back to his feet. “Stay put. I’ll handle him.”

The Minion knew he’d made a grave mistake showing his face after the melee he’d probably instigated. He pivoted toward the night outside and started running down the stairs two at a time.

Nikolai grunted, seeing red as he bolted out of the apartment in pursuit. He vaulted over the railing of the
second-story staircase, going airborne as the Minion’s feet were just getting their taste of pavement. Nikolai landed right on top of him, tackling him down to the black asphalt of the driveway.

“Who made you?” he demanded, knocking the human’s face against the rough pavement. “Who’s your Master, goddamn you! Is it Fabien?”

The Minion didn’t answer, but Niko knew the truth anyway. He flipped him over and slammed his spine down hard. “Where is he? Tell me where to find Fabien. Talk, you son of a bitch, or I’ll gut you right here and now.”

Distantly, Nikolai heard the bang of a screen door. Footsteps running through the grass.

Then Renata’s voice rang out from above him in the wrecked doorway of the garage apartment. “Jack, no! Go back inside!”

Nikolai glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the old man’s horrified expression. Jack’s eyes held his in utter disbelief, his grizzled jaw going slack. “Jesus Christ,” he murmured, his feet slowing to a halt. “What the… hell…”