Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed 8-Book Bundle (77 page)

“Can you be sure of that?” she asked. “Until last summer, everyone believed that Marek was dead too…”

Lucan gave a firm nod. “Dragos is dead, love. I saw his body with my own eyes. None of the Breed can resurrect when their head is taken.”

Tegan recalled that night as well. It was a moment that marked many losses, starting with Dragos’s Breedmate, who took her own life upon hearing the news of his death. Kassia had been a good, caring woman, as close as a sister to Sorcha. It wasn’t long after Kassia’s death that Tegan lost Sorcha as well. Dark times that he preferred not to think on, even now. He’d learned to suppress the pain, but he still had so many memories…

Tegan sharply cleared his throat. “Which brings us back to the name Odolf. Who is it? And what can it mean to Marek?”

“Maybe Gideon can turn something up in the IID,” Lucan suggested, handing the book back to Tegan as he got to his feet. “The database isn’t a complete record, but it’s all we’ve got.”

“You two run your search,” Gabrielle interjected when they reached the corridor outside. “I’m going to check in on Elise. It sounds like she’s been through a lot tonight. Maybe she could use some company and something to eat.”

Lucan’s eyes darkened as he held his woman’s gaze. He whispered something low in her ear, then pressed a kiss to her lips. There was a faint pink tint to her cheeks as she broke the embrace.

Tegan glanced away from the exchange and started the trek toward Gideon’s lab. Lucan was behind him in no time, Gabrielle heading in the opposite direction to look for Elise.

It was impossible not to notice the calm that enveloped the warrior whenever he was around his Breedmate. Not that long ago, Lucan had been a powder keg just looking for an open flame. He’d pretended an iron control, but Tegan knew him longer than any of the others at the compound, and he knew that Lucan had been only a few steps away from total disaster.

Bloodlust was the fatal flaw of all the Breed—a tipping point that could push even the most stable vampire over the edge into a permanent addiction. All of the Breed needed to consume blood to survive, but some took it too far. Some turned Rogue, and it had stunned Tegan to discover that Lucan was teetering on the very knife-edge of that abyss. He’d been nearly lost.

Until Gabrielle.

She grounded him somehow, gave Lucan what he needed through their blood bond, yet trusted him not to fall. She’d saved the warrior, and it was clear that she continued to do so every moment they shared together.

“You’re well mated,” Tegan said as Lucan caught up to him and strode along at his side in the corridor.

He’d meant it in praise, but it came out sounding harsh, almost an accusation. Lucan didn’t seem surprised by the rough tone, but he didn’t rise to the bait like he might have at one time either. “I think about you and Sorcha sometimes, when I look at Gabrielle and imagine what my life would be like without her. It’s sure as hell not a place I like to visit often. How you ever got through it—”

“It passes,” Tegan murmured, a bit too tightly even to his own ears. “And the only ghost I’m interested in talking about right now is Dragos.”

Lucan dropped the subject as the two of them entered the tech lab. Gideon was at his usual post behind the long console, keying something into one of the many computers. “What’ve you got?” he asked the moment they strode in, his eyes and fingers never leaving his task.

Tegan put the airbill and journal down on the table. “Need you to check the origin of this package, but first run a search of the IID records for the name Odolf.”

“You got it.” The vampire grabbed a wireless keyboard, dropped it into his lap, and started typing. “Am I looking for criminal records, birth records, death records…?”

“Any of the above,” Tegan said, watching the monitor screen fill with a scrolling list of data. It kept running and running, turning up zilch. Then one record stuck at the top of the screen while the program scrolled for more results. “You got one?”

“Deceased,” Gideon replied. “A one Reinhardt Odolf, of the Munich Darkhaven. Went Rogue in May 1946. Deceased the following year by solar suicide. Another entry, this one for Alfred Odolf, lost to Bloodlust in 1981. Hans Odolf, Bloodlust, 1993. A couple of missing persons on record…here’s one more for you: Petrov Odolf, Berlin Darkhaven.”

Lucan moved in to get a better look at the computer. “Also deceased?”

“Actually no. Not yet, anyway. Petrov Odolf, institutionalized for rehabilitation. According to the record, this boy’s been Rogue for the past few years and a ward of the Enforcement Agency in Germany.”

“Is he coherent?” Tegan demanded. “Can he be questioned? More importantly, can his answers be trusted to be valid?”

Gideon shook his head. “The record’s not complete about his current condition, other than he’s breathing and under the supervision of the institution in Berlin.”

“Berlin, eh?” Lucan turned a questioning look on Tegan. “Think you can call in any favors over there?”

Tegan turned away from the monitor and pulled out his cell phone. “Guess it’s as good a time as any to find out.”

CHAPTER
Eleven

E
lise looked down at the healed wound on her left arm, then over at Tess, whose gifted hands had erased all traces of the bleeding cut and mended the torn flesh with just a touch. “This is incredible. How long have you had this talent?”

“Pretty much all my life, I suppose.” Tess pushed a curling lock of honey-blond hair behind her ear and gave a small shrug. “For a long time, I didn’t use it. I just wished it would go away, you know? So I could be…normal.”

Elise nodded, understanding completely. “You’re lucky, though, Tess. Your ability is one of strength. It works for the good.”

Shadows seemed to crowd the Breedmate’s aqua eyes. “Now it does, yes. Thanks mostly to Dante, that is. Before I met him, I had no idea why I was so different from other women. I treated my talent like a curse. Now I wish it went deeper. There is so much more I wish I could do—like with Rio, for instance.”

Elise knew the warrior Tess referred to. She’d seen him in one of the other infirmary rooms when she was led down here by Gideon. As they passed his open door, Rio had looked up from where he lay on a hospital bed, one side of his face distorted by old burns, the muscles of his bare chest and torso riddled with shrapnel scars and healed gouges that indicated some very severe injuries. His topaz-colored eyes had been dull beneath the fall of his overlong, dark brown hair. Elise hadn’t wanted to stare, but the anguish she saw in his face was arresting—even more so than the ravaged condition of his person.

“I can’t take away old wounds and scars,” Tess said. “And some of the worst ones a person bears are on the inside. Rio is a good man, but he’s damaged in ways he may never recover from, and there is no Breedmate talent that can erase those kinds of hurts.”

“Maybe love?” Elise suggested hopefully.

Tess shook her head as she ran her hands under the counter tap and scrubbed up. “Love betrayed him once. That’s what left him the way he is now. I don’t think he’ll let anyone get that close again. All he’s living for is to get back out in the field with the other warriors. Dante and I are trying to convince him to take things slowly, but when you try to slow Rio down, he only pushes harder.”

In some small way, Elise could relate to the warrior’s determined need to take action, even if only in the name of revenge. She was driven by a similar need and, like Rio, hearing others advise her to step back didn’t make the need burn any less.

From outside the infirmary room came the soft gait of female footsteps, accompanied by the quick, rhythmic click of a four-footed companion. Savannah and a perky brown terrier appeared in the doorway. Gideon’s pretty Breedmate offered Elise a warm smile. “All set here?”

“We’ve just wrapped up,” Tess said, drying her hands with a paper towel and bending down to scratch the chin of the little dog who quite obviously adored her. The mutt jumped all over her, showering Tess with wet kisses.

Savannah came in and carefully ran her fingers over Elise’s healed arm. “Good as new. Amazing, isn’t she?”

“You’re all amazing,” Elise answered, meaning it totally.

She’d met Savannah and Gabrielle a short while before, when both women had come down to check on her soon after her arrival at the compound. Savannah with her gorgeous mocha complexion and velvet brown eyes, had instantly made Elise feel at home with her gentle, caring demeanor. Gabrielle was sweet as well, a ginger-haired beauty who seemed wise beyond her years. And then there was pretty, quiet Tess, who’d taken care of Elise as compassionately as she might her own kin.

Elise felt humbled before them all. Having been raised in the Darkhavens, where the warriors of the Order were considered at best to be an antiquated, dangerous faction within the vampire race—at worst, a deadly gang exercising vigilante justice—it was surprising to meet the intelligent, kind women who’d taken members of the Order as their mates. She couldn’t see any one of these women binding herself to anything less than a male of honor and integrity. They were too smart for that, too confident in themselves.

Surprisingly, they seemed so pleasant and warm, not unlike the Darkhaven females Elise considered her friends.

“Since you’re finished here, why don’t both of you come with me?” Savannah said, breaking into Elise’s thoughts. “Gabrielle and I just made some sandwiches and a fruit salad. You must be hungry, Elise.”

“I am…or at least, I should be,” she admitted quietly. It had been several hours since she’d eaten and her body felt depleted, in need of nourishment, but the idea of food held little appeal. Everything tasted bland, even the things she used to enjoy when Quentin was alive.

“How long has it been for you, Elise?” Savannah’s tone was cautious, concerned. “I’ve heard that you lost your mate about five years ago…”

She knew what the woman was asking, of course. Had she gone so long without blood? In the Darkhavens it would be considered rude to ask questions about another female’s blood bond with her mate—even worse to question a widow about whether or not she drew sustenance from another in her mate’s absence—but here, among these women, there seemed no reason to hide the truth.

“Quentin was killed by a Rogue in the line of duty five years and two months ago. I haven’t turned to anyone else for my needs—not any of them. Nor will I.”

“Five years without Breed blood in you is a long time,” Savannah acknowledged. Thankfully she didn’t bring up the other implication in Elise’s confession: that she hadn’t taken another lover in all that time either.

“Your body is aging,” Tess said, a look of curiosity in her eyes, maybe sadness. “If you don’t take another male as your mate—”

“Eventually I will die,” Elise answered. “Yes, I know. Without Breed blood to sustain me in a state of perfect health, I need to work my muscles and keep fit, just like any other human. And, like any other human, my body will start to progress in years—it already has. In time, like any other human, I will succumb to old age.”

Savannah’s dark eyes were sympathetic. “That doesn’t bother you, the thought of dying?”

“Only when I think that I might go to my grave without having made a difference in this world. That’s why I…” She glanced down, still finding it difficult to speak about the thing that motivated her to leave the Darkhaven and begin another life. “I lost my son four months ago. He got involved with Crimson, and the drug turned him Rogue.”

“Yes,” Savannah said, reaching out to softly touch her shoulder. “We heard what happened. And how he died. I’m so sorry.”

“So am I,” Tess added. “At least the Crimson lab has been destroyed. Tegan saw to it personally.”

Elise’s head shot up in surprise. “What do you mean, personally?”

“He razed the place,” Tess said. “It’s all that Nikolai, Kade, and Brock have been talking about since they got back. Evidently Tegan went in by himself and single-handedly shut the operation down before the others had even arrived on scene. Then he burned the building to the ground.”

“Tegan did that?” Elise was astonished. And she was fairly certain he’d implied the Order was responsible for shutting the lab down, not him personally. Why would he let her believe that if he had been the one responsible?

“Niko said Tegan came out of that burning warehouse like something out of a nightmare,” Tess went on. “Then he walked off into the night without any explanation.”

And from there he went to her apartment to look in on her, Elise realized now.

“Come on, let’s talk some more while you eat. Gabrielle’s waiting for us in the dining room upstairs.”

The three women left the infirmary, Tess’s little dog trotting after them, and walked a confusing maze of corridors into the heart of the Order’s subterranean compound. They were nearly to an elevator when a glass door whisked open somewhere nearby and deep male voices filled the area. Elise recognized Sterling’s voice among them, but he sounded rougher than normal, talking about night patrols and racking up his tally of Rogue kills like it was some kind of sport for him.

The other male’s voice rolled with an exotic accent, making Elise picture turquoise ocean waves and golden sunsets. It was Dante, she realized, as the two armed warriors rounded the corner and the one walking with Sterling moved in to sweep Tess into a tight embrace.

“Hello, angel,” he drawled and nuzzled his mouth against her neck while she laughed at the sudden amorous assault. His eyes flashed amber with the spark of his desire for his woman, emotion he didn’t even attempt to hide.

“I missed you,” she whispered, stroking his dark hair. “I always miss you.”

“Well, I’m home now.” The words were a deep rasp as he reached down and twined his fingers through hers. Elise could see the tips of his fangs when he gave his Breedmate a slow, crooked smile. “And I’m thirsty for you, Tess.”

The female’s smile was full of longing. “I was just on my way to have a bite with my friends.”

Savannah laughed. “I think you found something better. We’ll save you a sandwich. Lord knows, you’re probably going to need it.”

Tess beamed over her shoulder as Dante led her away. The couple strode off together, leaving no one in the room in doubt of what would soon transpire privately between them.

When Tess’s little terrier started barking as Dante led her away, Savannah bent down to pick up the dog. “Come on, you darling beast. I’ll find something for you too.” She glanced over at Elise. “I’m just going to go see what Gideon’s up to in the lab. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Elise nodded. And when she turned her head away from Dante and Tess’s retreat, it was to find Sterling staring at her from across the corridor. His eyes scathed her, taking in her appearance—from the top of her shorn hair to her bloodstained shirt, pants, and damp winter boots. There was disapproval in his eyes, even worse than Tegan’s initial reaction to her. She saw Sterling’s gaze drift down to her hands, to her fingers, which were twisting anxiously at the hem of her shirt. He stared at her wedding band, a muscle ticking in his beard-shadowed jaw.

“Aren’t you going to even say hello to me?” she asked him in the unbearable silence. “We have to talk to each other sometime, don’t we?”

But Sterling didn’t say a word.

With a vague shake of his head, he simply turned and strode away, leaving her alone in the long corridor.

Tegan tensed up as the lights flicked on over the estate’s indoor pool. He’d gone there after making his call to the Berlin Darkhaven, looking for solitude and means of working off some excess steam. He was pissed but not surprised that Gideon hadn’t been able to get a legitimate origin for Marek’s FedEx shipment. The vampire’s network of Minions had to be extensive. That journal had probably been handed off like a relay baton at half a dozen stops before arriving in Boston, just to muddy its trail.

As for the book itself, not even Savannah’s impressive psychic ability to read the emotional history of an object had proved helpful there. All Gideon’s Breedmate could cull from the journal was the deep madness—the mind-eating Bloodlust—of the one who had written on its pages.

Frustrated by it all, Tegan had swum a few laps, and now sat in the corner of the vaulted space, bare legs straddling a teakwood chaise, his hair and the brief black trunks clinging to his groin still damp from the water. He’d been enjoying the alone time and the darkness—or had been, until the rows of domed lights above the pool blinked on like interrogation room high beams.

He stood up, expecting to see Rio limp in with Tess for a round of therapy. But it wasn’t either of them who came out of the shower room into the pool area.

It was Elise.

She didn’t see him as she padded in barefoot, wearing a snow-white swimsuit that was sliced up the sides and held together by delicate bronze rings. The front of it plunged low, another ring centered between the perfect swell of her breasts. The daring suit was almost as big of a surprise as seeing her here; Tegan would never have guessed the reserved Darkhaven widow to look so right in such immodest clothing.

And goddamn, did she ever look right.

A deep, primal awareness stirred in him as he watched her draw away the spa towel she had slung around her neck. She let it fall to the tiles at the water’s edge, then stepped down onto the first submerged step at the shallow end of the pool.

Soundlessly, Tegan inched his way back into the corner, hardly breathing in the thin shadows that concealed him. Even though it was clear that her body was leaner than it should be from want of fortifying Breed blood, Elise was lovely. She was beautifully formed, from the grace of her long legs and the gentle flare of her hips, to the slender curves of her waist, breasts, and delicate shoulders.

He had seen hints of her figure when she’d come out of the shower in her apartment last night, and when she’d lain unconscious on the futon, but the thick robe had hidden more than it revealed. The scrap of elastic white material she wore now only accentuated her assets. In a big way.

She strode down into the water, then began a slow swim toward the center of the pool. Abruptly, she dove under, disappearing from his view until she reemerged at the far end to come up for air. As her face broke the surface of the water, she opened her eyes and spotted him. Her little gasp echoed in the cavernous room.