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He’d fumed then, too, and waited for a chance to put Reichen firmly in his place He found that chance once Claire arrived in Haht the eye of nearly every available Breed ion Reichen included So Roth had waited and watched, and when the tiht, he’d had his men deal with Reichen Then he threw hi poor, devastated Claire pick up the pieces of her shattered heart Taking her as hison an already delectable cake Oh, he’d had to kill Ilsa to clear the way, but it was a s he’d made his point with Reichen and stolen the female he loved
He couldn’t have been more stunned to learn that Reichen had reappeared in Berlin later that year To the younger male’s credit, after as likely a very bitter lesson learned, he stayed well away fro, and from Claire Until the past summer, when the huan snooping around in Roth’s affairs He’d had no patience to deal with Reichen again, and so he’d sent a very swift, clear e to the Berlin Darkhaven where Reichen and his kin lived Swift and clear, but not quite thorough enough, as the attack had left Reichen alive Not again, Roth vowed When he next got Andreas Reichen in his sights, the son of a bitch was going down So side hiht acco in his head when the cell phone in his coat pocket went off "Yes, sire" "I trust your operation is proceeding as planned," Dragos said, his tone practically daring Roth to disappoint him "The persion is perfectly under control, sire As I prorunted "Keep it that way I am nearly finished with the preparations here Soon the new objective will be under way"
"Very good, sire," Roth said "I will continue with the plan we discussed and await your further co, while Reichen stayed behind and tried not to be paranoid about danger lurking on every street corner or alleyway Claire left the house with their ree thefor both of the until evening when he could go with her--just in case she ran into trouble--but she brushed hi eotten how independent she was, and a part of him admired the fact that several decades under Roth’s thumb hadn’t stolen any of her spirit Still, he worried He knew she was safe fro as it was daytime and the sun would keep all of his kind locked indoors But the protective part of him--the part of him that had yet to accept that he wasn’t still the leader of a Darkhaven, responsible for keeping his home and fa around out there without hi out for her
She was too precious, too vulnerable in a world filled with hidden dangers She was a treasure worth preserving at any cost And she was not his Damn, but it took soht They’d spent an incredible evening together,the Atlantic, then again upstairs, on the four-poster bed in the palatial roo in her grandmother’s house And yet another tiotten up to ensure that all the blinds and curtains were drawn tight to protect him from the sun He’d have liked to have followed her into the shower before she left to run her errands, but she’d gently chided hiether But they didn’t have that luxury, and he knew it It was easy to i, without the constant reminders of the darkness they’d left behind in Gerood as it felt to be with Claire again, they couldn’t stay in Newport together for long Until Roth was found and eliminated, she needed to be sooing to like it, but so long as Roth was alive and able to get his hands on her, she needed to be placed under the guard of the Order The sooner the better As for Reichen, eachfor Roth was an opportunity for the bastard to dig in deeper wherever he was and continue his presuos Reichen knew he should be spending every breathing eance still burned in his belly and his issue with Wilheliven simply because he had Claire to warm his heart and his bed Roth could not be per when he was evil to his core Nor so long as heherself be pulled back into Reichen’s life again With that grave thought fueling hiiven him and pressed the last nu twice before Gideon’s British-tinged accent came on the line "Talk to"It’s Reichen I apologize for not phoning last night" "No worries Where are you?" Naked from his recent shower, he leaned back on a shrouded chair "Newport, Rhode Island" "You find your fe to clarify that she wasn’t, in fact, his at all "Everything is fine Claire is safe, and so a yet, but we’re working on it I’ht now Trust et this bastard as badly as you do He os at thehard on every bit of intel we can gather on him" As Gideon spoke, Reichen considered the fact that he should be there with the warriors, digging into every clue on Roth’s whereabouts and helping theer to do just that, his pal with the need to choke the life out of Roth for all he’d done "So, what’s the story over there in Newport?" Gideon asked
"You gonna be delayed there for a while yet?" "No," he said, even though he’d been torn bethat his heart wanted hi I need to ss out on this end, but Claire and I can be ready for pickup later tonight if that can be arranged" "No probleuys there about an hour after sundown" Reichen scowled, calculating the short span of hours that would leave hi to be yanking her out of her hoain "I may need a bit more time than that, Gideon Claire doesn’t know I’ve called you, or that she’s going to be leaving Newport tonight She’s just left one gilded cage; I have a feeling she won’t be eager to be put into another one" "Ah" The warrior blew out a shallow sigh "Hence the sood luck with that" "Right," Reichen replied, knowing it was a conversation he had to have with Claire eventually, but dreading it all the sa that pickup" As he disconnected the call, the front door lock slid open Claire ca inside the house to ht that spilled in around her "Hi," she said, sreet her "You’re naked" "And you should be," he said, struck by how rapidly his body responded to just the sight of her "Hoas the shopping?"
"Successful" She lifted two filled grocery bags in one hand and an ars is for you," she said, holding up the one bearing a o
"One is a set of sheets and pillows, and the rest is forfresher than these stale old things from home" Reichen walked toward her, his intentions blatantly clear "I think I should help you" Her answering soing to have to take that away froroceries in the foyer and bolted for the stairs with the clothing bags rustling at her side Reichen lunged after her, taking one step to every three of hers He caught her halfway up to the second floor Her startled shriek dissolved into laughter then, before long, the breathless hs of a wo, as Claire toweled off fro fro she’d spent with Andreas She walked out of the en suite bathroo on the bed One long,was stretched out to the end of the mattress, the other bent casually at the knee He was propped up on the pillows, his right arlyphs on his torso, ar toward the golden hue of his skin And even at rest, his sex was i him naked; it always stopped her dead in her tracks so she could pause to admire him The slow curve of his lips said he knew precisely what the sight of hio--not to ularly and appreciatively
Claire broke the spell his naked body seemed to cast over her and walked to pick up the fresh clothes she’d set out for herself She slanted his off the pair of jeans and the pale gray sweater "You’re bad for me, you know that?" "Undoubtedly," he replied, but while she was joking, he seeh dark thoughts weighed hiot up off the bed and walked toward her, bringing a clingy black wool skirt with hiht instead of the jeans The tall boots with the heels, too" She looked up at him, uncertain
"I want to take you out You can show me around your old hometown" "A date?" she asked, undeniably thrilled by the idea Part of her wondered about the fact that the whole day had passed without AndreasWilhelm Roth or the business with the Order that still awaited his to intrude on their tih to think that a few hours of sex--really aeance that was driving him As she looked at him, she knew a moment of worry that this was perhaps a pleasant lull before a storht wake up and find this brief escape with Andreas had just been a dream She waited for this perfect slice of time to shatter and fall to pieces around her feet But Andreas’s s as ever, evenin the afterglow of his love time since I asked you out on a proper date, Claire Will you accept?"
"Yes" She nodded enthusiastically "I’d love to" "Get dressed," he said "I’ll shower and irl with a new crush, she put on the skirt and sweater, then zipped into the sexy black boots and floated down to the living room to wait for him When he came down a few minutes later, freshly showered, shaved, and dressed, his brown hair damp and tousled around his face, Claire’s heart did a little flip in her chest He looked aray trousers and black silk shirt she bought hi, all she wanted to do was strip hiain "Ready?" he asked She nodded and took his outstretched hand It was a pleasant night outside, crisp but clear as they walked the short distance into Newport’s historic don Much had changed since the last tio Quaint boutiques, reasy-spoon restaurants had been crowded out by hotels and ti But pockets of the old hometown still remained, even down by the wharfs, Claire’s favorite part of Newport The town docks were a ently on the dark, inco tide was an eclectic side weathered commercial fishers and the ubiquitous harbor tour boats
Galleries, shops, and restaurants lined the bricked pedestrian alleys that led to the wharfs, everything agloith soft yellow lights and vibrant with the sounds of laughter and conversation as crowds of late-autumn tourists strolled and perused, just as Claire and Andreas were doing Out there, a this vast, anonymous humanity and so very far away from the trauma and violence of the life she’d left behind just a couple nights past, Claire could aline a peaceful future So ently in Andreas’s strong grasp With him beside her like this, she could almost pretend that they were still a couple, still in love as they had been before, with nothing but adventure and happiness ahead of them Claire tried not to think about Wilheler think of him as her mate, if he’d ever truly filled that role She kneas dangerous--all the more so now that he are she’d lain with Andreas He’d ht, when he sent her a stab of physical pain through the blood connection she shared with hie couldn’t have been more clear if he’d carved it into her flesh Mate or not, Wilhelm Roth was now her eneht clung to her as she and Andreas stepped into a gourmet chocolate shop adjacent to the wharf "Colass cases that contained aassortment of confections
Claire looked at hiestive systems could not process huenerally only to effect the appearance of being huht, looking at the collection of chocolates that dazzled the eye and tempted the tastebuds "Which one would you like to try first?" She bit her lip, hard-pressed to decide "The glossy one with the red stripes looks good Ooh, so does the little square with the flecks of gold on it And the one with the coconut on top" While she was vascillating between her choices, a balding,a supply of ereeting as he set down his things behind the counter