"No, you don't like anyone watching you too closely. I'm beginning to see why."
"You don't know dick."
"No?" Tegan stared at him for a long moment, then slowly shook his head, exhaling a low curse. "Be careful, Lucan."
"Jesus Christ," he spat harshly, turning on the vampire in a black rage. "You giving me advice, T?"
"Whatever." The male lifted his shoulders in a negligent shrug. "Maybe it's a warning."
"A warning." Lucan's bark of laughter echoed into the cavernous space. "That's fucking rich. Coming from you."
"You're walking the edge, man. I can see it in your eyes." He shook his head, tawny hair falling down around his face. "The pit is a deep one, Lucan. I'd just hate to see you fall."
"Spare me the concern. You're the last person I need to hear it from."
"Yeah, you've got it all under control, right?"
"That's right."
"You keep telling yourself that, Lucan. Maybe you'll believe it. Because looking at you now, I sure as hell don't."
The accusation spiked Lucan's anger off the chart. In a blur of speed and fury, he fell on the other vampire, fangs bared in a vicious hiss. He didn't even realize he had a blade in his hand until he saw the silver edge of it pressing hard into Tegan's throat. "Get the fuck out of my face. You reading me clearly now?"
"You wanna cut me, Lucan? You need to make me bleed? Do it. Fucking do it, man. I could give a rat's ass."
Lucan threw the dagger down and roared, grabbing two fistsful of Tegan's shirt. Weapons were too easy. He needed to feel flesh and bone under his hands, feel them tearing and cracking, bowing to the beast that was so close to ruling his mind.
"Shit." Tegan started chuckling, his insolent gaze latching onto the frenzied wildness that was surely flashing in Lucan's eyes. "You've already got one foot in the hole. Don't you?"
"Fuck you," Lucan growled to the vampire who had once, long ago, been a trusted friend. "I should kill you. I should have killed you then."
Tegan didn't so much as flinch from the threat. "You're looking for enemies, Lucan? Then take a look in the mirror. That's the one son of a bitch who's going to beat you every time."
Lucan hauled Tegan around and slammed him against the opposite wall of the training room. The mirrored glass crunched with the impact, shattering outward around Tegan's shoulders and torso like a haloing starburst.
Despite his efforts to deny the truth in what he was hearing, Lucan caught his own savage reflection, replicated a hundred times in the network of broken pieces. He saw the slivered pupils, the glowing irises - a Rogue's eyes - staring back at him. His huge fangs were stretched long in his open mouth, his face contorted into a hideous mask.
He saw everything he hated, everything he had pledged his life to destroy, just like Tegan said he would.
And now, coming through the doors behind him and into the many reflections that had so transfixed him, Lucan saw Nikolai and Dante, their expressions wary as they strode into the training facility.
"Nobody told us we're having a party," Dante drawled, even though the look he shot between the two would-be combatants was anything but casual. "What's going on? Everything cool here?"
A long, tense silence fell over the room.
Lucan released Tegan from the punishing hold, slowly drawing away from him. He lowered his eyes, a knee-jerk reaction meant to shield their wildness from the other warriors. The shame he felt was something new to him. He didn't like the bitter taste of it; he couldn't speak for the bile that rose up from within him.
Finally, Tegan broke the silence. "Yeah," he said, his stare never leaving Lucan's face. "We're cool."
Lucan whirled away from Tegan and the others, his thigh smashing into the table of weapons and sending it into a metallic shudder as he stalked toward the exit.
"Damn, he's jacked up tonight," Niko murmured. "Smells like a fresh kill, too."
As he stepped through the training facility's doors to the hall outside, Lucan heard Dante's quiet reply. "No, man. He smells like overkill."
Chapter Eighteen
"More," the human female moaned, draping herself over his lap and arching her neck up under his mouth. She pulled at him with greedy hands at his nape, her eyes drooping as though drugged. "Please... take more of me. I want you to take it all!"