Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed 3)

Evidently the Darkhaven male's personal business was of a very personal nature.

The woman's glossy mouth curved into a catlike smile at his charm. She didn't wait at the car for him to leave, but pivoted on staggeringly tall silver stiletto heels and sauntered back into a red, unmarked door of the building where Reichen's car sat idling.

My thanks for the curb service, the German said as he crawled into the limousine and took a seat opposite Tegan and Elise. Not to imply I don't enjoy your company, but I rather hoped you might be longer at your appointment. You finished quickly.

Tegan smirked. So did you, from the looks of it.

Reichen chuckled, unabashed as he lounged back in the seat and the car took off. He smelled like expensive perfume, blood, and sex. Not that he cared, Elise thought as she considered him. His broad, sated grin said he couldn't be in a happier, more familiar state.

Andreas Reichen was a very attractive male, mysterious and sophisticated, but even his smoldering sensuality paled next to Tegan's raw appeal. Elise practically burned from the heat of Tegan's thigh where it pressed unassumingly against hers. His head was tilted down, eyes hooded beneath the thick fringe of his eyelashes.

He kept his arms crossed over his chest now, and she missed the warm feel of his touch. She craved it, especially as the limousine navigated through the busy city streets and her Breedmate gift continued to buffet her senses. Instead she tried to use the brief lesson he'd given her, taking what he'd shown her and wielding it against the crush of her psychic pain.

More than anything, she wanted to grab Tegan's hand again and feel his calming strength.

But he only put a measure of distance between them. He moved away from her on the seat, a subtle shift of his thigh that left a gap of space in its place. When they arrived a short while later at the lakeshore Darkhaven, Tegan leaped out of the car almost as soon as Klaus slowed to a stop on the front driveway.

I have to report in to the compound, he said, keeping his gaze averted. He stalked off before either Elise or Reichen could get out of the car.

All business, that one, Reichen remarked with a shake of his head. May I get you something to eat in the house, Elise? You must be hungry.

She was famished, actually, having last eaten around noon. That would be lovely, thank you.

Elise let Reichen help her out of the vehicle, and took his proffered arm as they walked up to the main entrance of the estate. But all the while, her thoughts were fixed on Tegan, and on quelling the strong--evidently onesided--desire he stirred in her.

Chapter Twenty-one

Tegan closed his cell phone after reporting in to the compound and leaned back on the ridiculously froufrou velvet settee in his private room of the Darkhaven. He was pissed off that the night had resulted in a stalemate with Petrov Odolf, and more rattled than he cared to admit by the Bloodlust reality check he'd gotten at the facility. Seeing Odolf and the other Rogues was a damn good reminder of the fire he'd walked through after Sorcha's death.

He'd managed to beat his Bloodlust all those years ago, but the fight had been brutal. And the hunger was always with him, even when he was trying his hardest to deny it.

Being near Elise only magnified his craving. Damn, but that female put his blood on a slow, rising boil.

That moment alone with her in Reichen's car--touching her, walking her through her psychic distress--had been a colossal mistake. It only made him realize how deeply he wanted to help her. That he didn't want to see her in pain.

That despite centuries of religiously honed apathy, he was starting to care. He was genuinely beginning to have feelings for her, a bold and complicated Darkhaven beauty who could have her choice of any male, Breed or otherwise. He truly cared about Elise. He wanted her...and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he went after her like the predator he was.

Touching her soft skin had made him recall how good it had been to feel her body pressed against him, how delicious her mouth fit his own...how sweet even the smallest taste of her blood had been on the tip of his tongue.

Christ.

He hadn't been able to bolt out of the car fast enough.

And the hour he'd spent alone up here in his guest room hadn't done much to cool the need that urged him to go downstairs and find Elise. Sate himself with her the way Reichen had so freely been able to do with the woman in the city.

The fire Elise had stoked in him from nearly the moment he set eyes on her was banked, but still burning.

Maybe he could douse it, Tegan thought, stalking into the bathroom to turn on the shower. God knew he wanted to get the feel of the containment facility off his skin as well. Seeing those incarcerated, mostly catatonic Rogues had pulled him back to an ugly time in his own life-- one he had no desire to relive, even in passing memory. That part of him was buried deep, where it belonged.

He stripped off his shirt and weapons and dropped the lot of it on a chair beside the settee. His fingers were working the zipper of his black fatigues when a knock sounded on the closed door to the hall. He ignored it, wondering if it might be Reichen looking to drag him into a few hours of sin back in the city. Part of him was tempted by the thought--anything to slake the coiling hunger he had for Elise.

The knock came again, and this time Tegan threw open the door without a thought.

As the panel swung wide, he was surprised--and not a little furious--to see the subject of his frustration standing there. Just what he didn't need right now. Gorgeous as ever, still wearing the proper navy pantsuit she had on at the clinic, the sight of Elise was a major dose of gasoline tossed on his fire.

What the hell are you doing up here? His voice was harsh, more rough than he intended.

Elise didn't so much as flinch. I thought we might talk.