As if that were possible. She couldn’t keep him bound to her and available for her pleasure like James was, although the thought was wickedly tempting. Alex had chosen his path a long time ago, just as she had. Their paths had converged briefly for this voyage, but in the long run there could never be anything lasting between them. She was mortal and he wasn’t. He had friends and a life she could never fit into. Which reminded her…
“Alex. Who have you been talking to about me?”
Arching a brow, he asked, “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play innocent.” She slapped his wandering hands away. “Someone knew we were approaching Tolan and they knew I was with you. I certainly didn’t tell anybody, so that leaves only you.”
He caught her chin and studied her carefully. Not just her features, but in the deep recesses of her thoughts. “You trusted me.” The pure pleasure on his face made her breath catch.
She sighed. It really should be illegal to be that yummy.
Thank you, sweetness. I think you’re pretty tasty, too.
“While I’m sure reading minds is a neat trick if you’re the one who has the ability,” she mumbled, uncomfortable with how deeply he affected her. “On my end, it sucks.”
“Whatever,” he said dismissively. “All women want men to read their minds. You’re damn lucky to have me. Eventually you’ll realize that.”
He made it sound like they had a future. Bree bit her lower lip to hide the giddy thrill his words gave her, but the glimmer in his eyes said he knew.
“Despite the suspicious evidence to the contrary you never once thought I’d sell you out.” His smile was brilliant, the brush of his fingertips along her face reverent.
She was captured by the moment and his obvious relief, her mind twisting and turning in an effort to make sense of her riotous feelings. Crazy wild thoughts swirled through her head. There had to be a way for her to explore these emotions. How could she go on, wondering what could have been between them if she’d only given them a chance?
“You shouldn’t be here.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t want you here.”
“I know,” he said agreeably, “and I love that you—a human—want to protect me, a vampire. Bashing me over the head and leaving me behind was actually a pretty romantic thing to do, Bree. In a fucked-up kind of way.”
“Don’t tease, Alex. This is not your fight.”
“The hell it isn’t. You’re involved, that means I’m involved.”
“I can’t think when you’re around,” she complained, squelching the flare of pleasure his words gave her.
“You can’t tell me that you don’t feel better with me here.” You can’t lie to me.
A bright pinpoint beam of blue light cut through the trees.
“It’s James,” Bree whispered. “It’s time.”
“I know.” Alex’s thumb brushed across her bottom lip. “You’re nervous. Don’t be. Your family is safe.”
“What?” She stared up into his beautiful face and knew without a doubt that the vamp was not only telling the truth, but he was also crazy about her. Something inside her melted.
Feel that?
“Yes.” He was there, in her thoughts. A warm, loving, comforting presence.
I’ll be with you the whole time. You let me handle the muscle, okay?
“I didn’t hire you to go this far, Alexei. I don’t want you hurt or injured. I-I couldn’t bear it.”
He lowered his head and took her mouth. The desperation in his kiss, the deep licks of his tongue, the shaking hands that cupped her face… It all broke her heart. She leaned into him, aligning her curves to his hardness, sharing her heat with his much cooler body.
I hate this, Bree. I can’t bear to have you in danger. I wish there was another way. Any other way.
But there wasn’t and they both knew it.
She pulled back reluctantly. Then following the urgings of her heart, she surged against him again and pressed a lingering kiss to his lips that said all the things she couldn’t find the words for.
I love you, he replied, his voice husky and raw in her mind.
She left him, brushing tears from her lashes.
As Briana made her way through the brush to the hub below, she had the portentous feeling that something horrible was going to happen. And though Alex tried to reassure her, she knew he felt it too.
Chapter Seven
Alex watched Bree move with graceful efficiency down to the busy hub while the hunger within him howled at her loss. His fear for her caused his chest to heave with labored breaths and nearly destroyed his sanity. The woman he loved was walking straight into danger and he could only stand here, helpless.
Her thoughts and affection echoed in his mind, filling his heart with both joy and despair. She didn’t love him, not like he loved her, but the possibility was there and he tucked that tiny promise close to his heart. If they could get through this mission, he’d find a way to be with her. Whatever the cost.
Closing his eyes, Alex sensed the other vamp corps agents around him, but the Shinite assassin, if he or she was down there, remained focused and therefore undetectable.
Briana was out in the open. Dressed in the trappings of her rank, she stood out and made an obvious target. There were built-in shields in her official garment, which would protect her from most indirect blaster fire, but it would never stave off the full assault of a laser sword and she had no protection from a direct shot to her head. His only comfort was the thought that she would be useless to them dead. Perhaps the attempt in Thieves’ Cove had simply been a warning. He had to believe it was, because if he didn’t, there was no way in hell he’d let her go down there.
Shaking off the foreboding that wouldn’t leave him, he studied the buildings below. The transport hub was built in the universal design—four outlying concourses with an open-air center courtyard easily reached by any of four intersecting pathways. On planets with more dangerous atmospheres, the courtyard would be covered in UV-deflecting glass, but Tolan was known for its fresh air which was maintained by the abundance of golden-treed forests. It was a beautiful world and one he’d like to explore with Bree.
With that thought in mind, Alex slipped through the brush and leapt to the nearest rooftop. From his vantage in the darkness, he had an unhindered view of the brightly lit courtyard below. Crowds milled around Bree, who waited by the row of public comm links. He released the hunger to heighten his senses. He tuned out the steady paging of flight information and heard only the quickened rate of Bree’s breathing and the rapid thudding of her heart.
His gaze raked restlessly over the people and he stiffened as several stopped to speak with Briana, whose public persona slipped over her with ease, despite the situation. Before his eyes, she changed from the passionate beauty he knew so intimately into a reserved politician, but whatever guise she wore he loved her just the same. What a fascinating woman she was, cut with so many facets, a person he admired more than any other being in the universe.
Despite his unwavering attention to Bree and the people conversing with her, in the back of his mind Alex maintained the awareness of the other agents assigned to back him up. They moved among the busy throng undetected. Like him, they didn’t know what to expect. Because they were vamps, they were as cognizant of him as he was of them, and they queried him about why he was there and what he was doing. He brushed them off impatiently.
Pay attention to Michaels, he growled.
The comm closest to Bree began to beep and she excused herself from her admirers. Alex’s muscles tensed so tightly with fear and apprehension they ached.
Something wasn’t right. The tiny hairs on his nape stood on end and an icy sweat misted upon his skin.
As she picked up the phone, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a blue laser sight as it brushed over her golden chignon.
His heart nearly exploded in his chest.
Get down! he yelled as he drew his blaster and leapt from the roof.
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His body stretched out and flew through the air, rapidly traversing the distance between them. In mindless horror he saw Bree turn toward him in surprise and the brilliant blue light settled directly over her heart.
The blood roaring through his ears made hearing impossible. Alex released an inhuman scream of agony as the light grew brighter and then flashed, leaving behind a gaping hole in her chest. The gap between them lessened with torturous slowness and he could only watch as she crumbled before him…
The moment before he was engulfed in a net.
Bound and helpless, he crashed to the ground. He howled, his claws ripping through the netting in his panic. Bree lay a few steps away, unmoving as her precious blood flowed freely from her wound to stain the stone floor of the courtyard.
“That’s the vamp assassin! Tranq him before he escapes!”
Sharp stings pelted his thigh. Once. Twice. His pain and rage escaped in cries that rent the air while frightened travelers scattered madly, leaving him alone with the woman he loved so desperately. Unable to look away or reach her, Alex was arrested by the sight of Briana, her beautiful face still and pale in repose. Lost in anguish, he scarcely registered the local authorities who fired tranquilizer darts at him from several meters away.
While Bree lay dying with no one to care for her.
He fought the net like a man possessed, but the more he struggled the more tangled he became. His vision faded, his muscles grew weak. He reached for her mind and found nothing but darkness. Inside him the despair was killing him, his heart so shattered he wished he could die.
“He matches the description exactly…”