by Sylvia Day
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…”
“…a known criminal and smuggler…”
“…tip came in about an assassination attempt…we’d hoped to prevent…”
“She’s not going to make it…”
“We’re losing her…”
Alex sank into hell with a vision of blue laser light burned in his mind.
Chapter Eight
“How did you know?” Derek asked.
Alex stood at the window of the Council embassy on Tolan, and took in the view of the brightly lit city and the night sky above. The horror of the previous week’s events would be forever burned onto his memory. He simply wanted to crawl between sheets still scented of Bree and sleep forever. An eternity without her was far too agonizing to consider.
“The blue laser,” he replied in a choked voice. “The droid used it earlier to signal Briana in the woods. When I saw it again I realized James had to be responsible. I’m glad I got that thought across before I lost consciousness.”
Derek spun his chair around to look at him. “Beaumont was able to track the droid programmer through the database files you forwarded to him. The woman responsible for corrupting the sex bot was apprehended last week, not long after the altercation in the transport hub.”
Swallowing hard, Alex’s hands clenched into fists. The authorities had shot him so full of tranquilizers he’d been asleep for a week, preventing him from personally seeing to the capture of the culprit responsible for Bree’s death.
“The programmer is a member of a relatively small faction of vamp haters. Apparently, when she realized who she was preparing the droid for, she seized the opportunity of a lifetime. She programmed the sex bot to kill Michaels in a way guaranteed to shed no suspicion on herself. From there the droid took over. It chose a vamp to blame and picked a busy public venue—like Thieves’ Cove and then the transport hub—so there could be no doubt that you were responsible. The plan would have worked if you’d been the criminal it thought you were.”
“Can I go now?” Alex asked, his voice hoarse. Who the hell cared about the droid or the bitch who programmed it? Ever since he’d woken up, all he’d wanted was to be left alone to grieve. Instead he’d been ordered to see Derek immediately.
“I need to discuss your next assignment. I’m transferring you to—”
“I don’t fucking care, Derek!” he shouted, turning away from the window. “She’s dead. I don’t care about assignments. I don’t care about the corps. I don’t give a shit about anything.” He stalked toward the door.
“Night. Damn it! Wait a minute.”
“Go to hell, Atkinson.” Alex slammed the door behind him.
His vision blurred as he ran with inhuman speed and endurance from the embassy to his ship. His heart throbbed with a sharp, endless ache and he screamed out his agony as he flew through the golden-leafed woods. The beast within him howled and clawed to get out, and he released it with relief, eager to tear apart anything that got in his way. He leapt from tree to tree, his claws sinking easily into the solid bark, marking his trail with scars that mirrored the ones on his heart.
He wanted off this planet, this place that Bree had called home. He wanted to pick a fight with someone, anyone who had the skills to end his misery. And he knew just where to go to make that happen.
Reaching his ship, Alex leapt inside before the ramp finished lowering. He landed in a crouch and took a deep breath, his nostrils filling with the scent of his lost love. Surrounded by cold metal, the memories of Bree warmed the space—echoes of laughter and throaty cries of pleasure that drove him insane.
Bree! he cried, shuddering with the depth of his pain. He felt her so keenly here, in the place where he’d loved her.
Following his instincts, he flew down the corridor and into his room. He leapt onto the velvet-draped bed and paused, his senses bombarded with the lingering essence of Briana. Closing his eyes, he pictured her loveliness spread across his sheets—the wild blonde curls on red satin, the sweetly parted lips that knew just how to please him, the heavy-lidded eyes that begged for more…he could almost hear her giggling as he tickled her and her smart-ass comments when he teased her…he could feel her hands on his skin, caressing and kneading…
In such a short time, they’d shared so much. Lost in bittersweet memories, he was openly vulnerable and completely unprepared for the tackle that came from behind.
Astonished, he reacted without thought, rolling across the large bed and pinning his attacker. Fangs fully bared and eager for a fight, he snarled, ready to kill. Instead he froze in shock.
“Bree?”
The momentary hesitation was all she needed. Throwing her leg over his hip, she twisted, taking the advantage. Beautifully naked, she straddled him and smiled, her beloved face framed with riotous golden locks. Dumbfounded, Alex glanced at her chest and saw the healing, fist-sized scar above her left breast. He touched it hesitantly, consumed with guilt that he’d failed to protect her.
“Hi, baby,” she said in a soft, breathy voice.
And then she bit him with her fangs.
Alex arched upward and hissed as the temporary discomfort melted into heated lust and endless relief. His cock swelled painfully, filling with his need for her.
Bree! He crushed her to him with pure, unadulterated joy while his stunned mind struggled to make sense of it all.
She was a vamp. Like him. Not gone. Not lost. But wonderfully, vibrantly, marvelously real.
Hush, she soothed, undulating her lithe body over his, rubbing the hard points of her nipples across his vest-covered chest.
How?
One of the other agents saved me. I’d lost so much blood, it was the only way.
No one told me.
President Atkinson commed me when you left his office. He thought you knew.
As she fed, she replayed the events of the past week in his mind while her soft silken hair brushed across his cheek. Awed by the feel of her, Alex arched his throat into her suckling mouth.
I love you, he moaned, intoxicated by the smell of her and the delight of finding she was not gone forever.
She lifted her head, licked her fangs and arched a wicked brow. “I trust you to protect me, Alexei. I want you to know that. You’re assigned to me now, as my personal pilot and guard.”
Alex swallowed hard and shook his head. “I failed you.”
“No, you
didn’t. You defied a direct order and sent your friend to protect my sister. No one could have done any more than you did.” She smoothed his brow. “I won’t take ‘No’ for an answer.”
“Oh, hell,” he breathed, a single tear slipping down his temple. His hands ran restlessly up and down her thighs. “Tell me I haven’t succumbed to grief-induced delirium.”
“Nah, you’re not crazy,” she said, her fingertips drifting across his chest and teasing the flat points of his nipples through his vest. “But I wouldn’t mind if you got a little wild. I’m a vamp now. I can take it.”
He reached up and brushed her curls back. “How do you feel about that? You seem to have taken to feeding without any trouble.”
“You’re yummy, babe. I’ve always thought so.”
“That’s nice to know.” Alex studied her features intently and searched her mind. She was putting on a brave face and trying to play it off, but she was still adjusting mentally and physically to the drastic change in her lifestyle. His love brushed across her jumbled thoughts soothingly.
Sighing, she sat back and settled over his aching cock. “Well, the way I see it is, I have this gorgeous vamp who just happens to have fallen in love with me.”
“Lucky girl.”
“Yes, I am. However, there was a slight caveat.”
“Oh?”
“See, he was destined for an eternity of heart-stopping hotness and I… Well, I was going to turn into a wrinkled old hag. Sucking blood was the least I could do to keep him interested.”
The tip of his finger slid down the valley between her breasts. “I bet he would love you anyway, no matter what you looked like.”
Bree’s eyes turned soft and liquid with adoration. “You know,” she murmured in a husky voice. “I think he would have.”
“Damn straight.” He lifted her palm to his lips. “But I’m still not reassured. What about your career?”
She shrugged. “I was pretty solidly situated in my seat and being a vamp won’t change that. PR-wise, it’s not as newsworthy for a vamp to champion the vampire cause as it is for a human to do it, but oh well. I am what I am.”
