Defy the Dawn (Midnight Breed 14)

And then—a grim, but hopeful, sign.

A dead Breed male, his head twisted grotesquely as if by violent, monstrous strength.

One of Nathan’s kills, perhaps. Zael didn’t much care how the vampire met its end. One less Rogue was one less threat of danger to Brynne.

e’s smile was not her own. It belonged to the beast inside her. The one whose power surged inside her now, more lethal than anything this lowly blood addict would ever know.

She rose like a wraith in front of the Rogue. He had no chance to react, no chance to stop the violence that exploded out of her.

She lashed out, lightning-quick. Her fingers ripped through clothing, flesh, and bone. The Rogue roared as she opened his chest with slashing strikes of her hands, his agony only feeding her power.

His chest cavity shredded, the Rogue shrieked and convulsed on his feet. But that wasn’t enough for the monster raging within her now.

Grabbing a fistful of the vampire’s mangy hair, she bellowed with battle fury as she drove the vampire’s head into the bricks at her back. The skull caved in with a sickening crunch.

She smashed it again and again, lost to an unearthly violence that seethed through her veins like poison. She didn’t know what finally made her head clear enough to realize her opponent was dead.

But no, that wasn’t right.

She did know.

The scent of fresh blood lifted her chin from the revolting carnage she’d wrought.

On the ground nearby, the human was shuddering in a growing pool of red. He was dying. Easily only moments from the grave already.

But his blood was still alive.

And it called to her.

It called to the beast who’d been pacing its cage for too long—since the last time she’d finally broken down and fed. She hungered now. So severely she could hardly stand the agony of it.

Brynne drifted over to the man. His gaping, sightless eyes probably didn’t register the inhuman face looking down at him.

But Brynne saw what she looked like now.

In the scant light of the street, she saw her face reflected in the glossy surface of the dying man’s blood.

It made her want to weep, that reflection of who—and what—she truly was.

Instead, she knelt down beside her dying blood Host…and she fed.

CHAPTER 19

Zael sensed the sudden shift of energy in the Order’s headquarters even before he heard the heavy drum of boots on marble floors and the jangle of weapons. Following the sound down to the central artery of the command center, he found all of the warriors suited up and rolling out for patrols.

Or, rather, for battle.

“What’s going on?”

Lucan cut him a stark glance. “Rogues. We’ve got upwards of a dozen of them on the loose right now.”

Zael knew the derogatory term for a blood-addicted member of the Breed. In fact, there probably wasn’t a person alive in the past twenty years—mortal and immortal alike—who hadn’t at least heard of the violence and carnage Rogues had inflicted on the human population. But it had been a long time since they had posed any kind of threat¸ thanks in most part to the work of the Order.