Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed 3)

What are you going to do between now and then--solicit the vein of a vampire to bolster your strength? Because that's what it would take.

Her cheeks went suddenly awash in color.

Maybe one of them will offer to service you, Tegan said, ruthless now, indicating the other warriors who were watching the exchange in tense silence.

Shit, Tegan, Gideon cautioned beside him. Lighten up, for crissake.

Tegan tuned out everything but the Darkhaven female's shocked expression. That's what it would take, Elise--Breed blood coursing through your body. Nothing less. Without it, your talent will continue to rule you, as it does now. You'll only be a liability.

He saw the outrage spark in her eyes, but it was her humiliation that struck him like a blow to the gut. It was considered crass in the extreme to speak publicly of the blood bonds between a female and her mate--even worse, to speak of it in mixed company.

To suggest that an unbonded Breedmate take a male for sustenance alone was beyond profane.

I am a widow, she said quietly. I am in mourning--

Five years, Tegan reminded her, his voice sounding tight even to his own ears. Where will you be in another five? Or ten? You're letting yourself die on your feet and you know it. Don't ask me to help you get there faster.

She stared up at him mutely, her delicate throat working as she swallowed what was likely a sob. Maybe a curse that he go straight to hell, which was probably where he was heading even before this ugly display.

You're right, Tegan, she whispered, not a trace of weakness or any hitch in her voice. You are right...and I concede that you've made your point.

With squared shoulders, she pivoted around and walked calmly out of the lab, a vision of stoic dignity. Tegan felt like an ass, watching her leave in rigid silence. After she disappeared from view, he exhaled a sharp curse.

What the fuck are you looking at? he barked to Chase, who had risen from the table he'd been seated at. The ex-Darkhaven agent had his hand curled around the butt of a handgun that was holstered across his chest. His expression was nothing short of murderous.

Screw this, Tegan growled. I'm outta here.

Not surprisingly, Chase was right on his heels. He gave Tegan's shoulder a hard shove as the two of them exited to the corridor outside the lab.

You son of a bitch. She didn't deserve that kind of treatment--least of all from someone like you.

No, she didn't. But it was necessary. There was no way in hell he was going to put himself in close quarters again with Elise, let alone make her his accomplice on this mission to Berlin. He'd needed to shut her down, and shut her down hard. So what if he'd made himself into a bigger asshole for doing it publicly. He'd only fortified what everyone already thought of him.

Tegan met Chase's furious look and affected a callous smile. You care so much about the female, Harvard? Why don't you go console her like you're burning to do. Just do us all a favor and keep her the fuck away from me.

Chase got up in his face, blue eyes flashing raw anger. You're a real dick, you know that?

Yeah? Tegan shrugged. Last time I checked, I wasn't campaigning for any Mr. Congeniality awards.

Arrogant motherf--

Parting his lips, Tegan hissed through his lengthening fangs as he bore down on Chase, cutting off the further round of insult. He half hoped the irate vampire would push him into a fight. Part of him craved to know Chase's feelings of torment and rage, and as torqued as he was right now, he wouldn't turn down a chance to bruise his knuckles in a little hand-to-hand.

But Dante smoothly intervened, coming out of the lab at that very second to grab Chase's arm and physically pull the warrior out of Tegan's path. Shit, Harvard. Don't go getting yourself killed now that I've almost got you trained. What a friggin' waste that would be, eh?

After a few seconds of interference, Chase simmered down, but his eyes were still hot on Tegan even as Dante tugged him up the corridor. In the lab, Gideon was back at his keyboard. Nikolai, Brock, and Kade got back to business too, all of them acting as though Tegan hadn't just come off like a heartless bastard in front of a defenseless female.

Tegan cursed low under his breath. He had to get the hell out of there, and the way things were going, tomorrow night's flight to Berlin wasn't going to be soon enough.

He had somewhere he could go--the place he always went when shit started bearing down on him. Sometimes he'd disappear there for nights on end; none of his brethren in the Order had ever been there. It was his own private hell, a forsaken, hollow place, filled with death. Right about now, it sounded like a fucking holiday.

Elise stood in the center of a large, mostly vacant chamber in the compound, feeling as if she'd had the wind knocked out of her. She was still shaking from her confrontation with Tegan, but whether it was from humiliation or anger, she wasn't sure. What he'd done to her in front of his brethren was inexcusable, incredibly cold. He had to know that what he suggested was blasphemous and profanely insulting--not just to her, but to the warriors who'd been in the room to hear it. Only the lowest females living among the Breed would engage in a blood bond without a solemn commitment and a deeply shared love.

The blood bond was the most sacred communion between a Breedmate and the male she chose as her own. The ultimate intimacy, it was very often a sexual act, and one never entered into lightly. To use a vampire's blood only to further one's longevity and strength was simply not done. Not by anyone Elise knew.

But she couldn't deny that Tegan's observations of her had been the truth.

What he'd said was cruel and crude...and utterly accurate. She was willingly wasting away, which was her prerogative as a widowed Breedmate. But she wanted to have an active part in thwarting the Rogues, and it was foolish of her to think she could do so if she continued on as she was.