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Solid intel on just e os sends it to our doorstep" There were a few nods around the table, and more than one of the mated warriors shot Lucan a look that coht of the potential of their ith Dragos coht I want a sweep of the entire city," he said "We’ll pide up: Tegan, Hunter, and roup in case we run into more Gen Ones This is an exteros’s assassins is spotted, we take hie to that son of a bitch and drive him back Hard" "That could be exactly what he wants us to do," Tegan replied "Have you considered that what happened these past two nightsto pull us into street co after him?" Lucan nodded "It could be But if he’s sent assassins into the city, can we really afford to take that chance and not confront the threat head-on?" Very subtly, tenderly, Tegan slid his hand over to cover Elise’s "No, we can’t" "Okay," Lucan said "Let’s go over the ht’s patrol"
Reichen closed the cell phone and raked his hand over the top of his head "Jesus Christ" "Is it bad news?" Claire calistening with droplets of water fro up froht, and he’d been waiting for Claire to get cleaned up and dressed before he broached the subject of leaving Newport, when the disturbing call came in froht in a confrontation with one of Dragos’s henchmen" "Good lord," she whispered "I’ravely "They’re down oneto run intensive sweeps of the city toht to rout out any other potential threats" Claire inched over to join hi him, she wrapped her arms around herself He could feel her unease in both the tentative way she moved and the sudden spike of her adrenaline, which echoed in his own veins
"Do they believe Dragos is in Boston, then?" "I don’t know Bad enough he’s sent his Gen One assassins in to stir up probleeneration Breed?" Claire’s expression fell a little erous enereed "But Gen One assassins are only part of what s, too the Order believes he controls one of the Ancients, hidden somewhere in a location we’ve yet to uncover" Claire frowned "But all of the Ancients were killed during the Middle Ages It was the Order that declared war on thes Even I know that part of Breed history" Reichen slowly shook his head "One escaped the ith the Order He was secreted away in a crypt in Boheos had him removed I saw the empty crypt ue with so the Ancient was dead and dust by now, but he’s not Apparently Dragos has been keeping the creature alive for centuries, using hieneration of the h tios could craft his own personal ar" "Not if the Order can stop him," Claire said hopefully "We have to stop him," Reichen corrected "We have to strike at him wherever and however we can"
Claire watched him with cautious eyes "We? But you aren’t--" "I owe them," he said solemnly "The Order has been there for ed to them that I ao back on it" "What are you saying?" "They’re down one man in Boston now I need to step in and help the to Boston?" He didn’t knohy that should make her pulse lurch the way it did, but he felt her alarm echo in his own veins "But you’re not one of them, Andreas You’re not a warrior, so how could they ask that of you?" "They’ve asked nothing of me I’ve offered thelanced away froht ereI thought, after last night, after everything we said to each other" He laid his hand gently on the side of her face "It doesn’t change a thing about e’ve shared here, or how I feel about you I love you, Claire But this isn’t a choice between you and the with the Order toRoth, so ot up and paced away from him, across the room Her shoulders were held in a tense line Even if he hadn’t been linked to her by blood, he would have knoithout question that she was troubled by so she had said so far "I don’t want you to go, Andre
You can’t go to Boston Not now" "You had to know that neither one of us could stay here like this for long" He ently turned her around to face hi a vehicle It will be here within the hour" "You’ll be killed," she said, her voice cracking "Andreas, you will die if you go to Boston I can feel it in eance of yours doesn’t kill you, then your fury surely will" He lifted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes "I havefor death, but I can’t pretend I’ll have a moment’s peace until Roth and his ilk are wiped froo," sheto hear him When he started to shake his head in denial, she spoke with even o of your hatred of Wilhelm Roth? What if I were to ask you to choose--" "Don’t," he whispered "There is no choice for me toas though soers "If I stayed now--even if I set asidefor us? Because he will, Claire You know that as well as I do"
"Then ill face hiether When and if that tiether" Reichen shook his head slowly "This is my battle, not yours I wouldn’t want you anywhere near when I finally get reat a risk What do you think would happen to you if the fires inside ht about that awful scenario a hundred ti on that day in the far about it as recently as last night, and today, as well, when he could still feel the heated eive hiht any harain, more forcefully now "And I won’t let you risk it, either I want you to coht to the Order’s headquarters You’ll be protected in their compound, and you can stay there until--" "Until when?" She closed her eyes for a long ht of his words "Until you are either dead or very near to it? You want me to stand by and watch you pursue your own destruction, Andre? Now you are the one asking too much" He wanted to tell her that her fears were unfounded More than anything, he wanted to pro with Roth was going to work out He wished he could assure her that soh all of this in the end, that they could have a future together--the future Wilhelo But he couldn’t deceive her Taking down Roth ht demand the last of his thin control If he had to unleash his power to its hellish maximum in order to destroy the bastard, he would And if the situation called for that, he knew the odds of hi from it with any shred of his huazed down at her lovely face and tenderly smoothed a daht? We can talkbefore our ride arrives to pick us up And you are going with me, Claire Thatether and gave a faint shake of her head "I knohere Roth is, Andre" Reichen couldn’t speak as those words spilled out of hersense of rage forh ht, e first arrived in Boston" Her admission was calmly voiced and steady, filled with certainty It made him pause, even while his pulse slammed into a violent tempo "He’s here in the United States?" She nodded faintly "In Boston" Reichen’s blood began to sizzle "You knew this? You knew this, but you didn’t tell me" He didn’t mean for it to co to life within hi, and it was hard to do anything but fight to keep control of the kindling fire that was already starting to spread through his body Roth was a rasp "I couldn’t tell you, Andre I didn’t want to give you inforet you killed That’s why I left the airport without telling you But then you followed ether, the e used to, then I could convince you to give up your need for vengeance" Reichen could barely breathe His nostrils filled with the acrid tang of srowing hotter by the second "For fuck’s sake, Claire You should have told me about this I needed to know Goddamn it, the Order needed to know also" "I didn’t want er"
His vision beginning to bleed red with rage, he stalked away froer all this time With Roth so close, he had to know you were here, too He could have shown up on this doorstep at any time" "But he didn’t," she said quietly from behind him "I couldn’t tell you that I knehere he was, or you would have gone after him You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t have insisted I help you locate him, Andreas You’re so deter would it have taken you before you asked me to use my blood bond to lead you to him?" "Never," he said, appalled He spun around to face her then, his body tee with heat "I never would have used you Never God, don’t you know that?" "I suppose I wasn’t willing to find out," she replied "Andreas, please, don’t be angry withfurious with you!" he roared, unable to bite back the fear that had such a firm hold on his heart His chest heaved with every breath he pulled into his lungs He shook from a place deep within, a pit of dread so black and endless, it ht have sed him whole And the heat of his destructive power continued to rise, burning through his reason and self-control "I can’t be near you right now
I have to get the hell out of here" When he moved to walk past her, Claire’s hand shot out to hiers close around his hand She yelped in sudden pain and pulled back, cradling her palm to her chest Oh, God He’d burned her He had sto her in still another way Just as he feared he would do eventually He stepped past her and, with a few brisk strides, chewed up the distance to the door "Andreas," she called out behind him He didn’t look back His body lethal with the heat of his fury, he stormed out of the room and leapt off the second-floor balcony to the foyer below He heard her cry his naain, but he didn’t sonow, his pyrokinetic curse screah his veins and limbs, mind and soul, he threw open the front door with a sharp ht air without looking back
Chapter Nineteen
It took him the better part of an hour before he was able to rein in the worst of his pyrokinetic heat He was still angry with Claire by the time he returned to the house, but at least he couldn’t hurt her further Not that she wasn’t still feeling soed as he walked up the driveway and found her standing outside with the warrior who’d been sent from Boston to pick them up "Ah, you see?" Rio said when he spotted Reichen "I told you he would come back" The Breed male’s rich voice rolled with his Spanish accent, and when he flashed a welco, the scars that marred the left side of his face practically vanished "Good to see you, my friend" "And you, as well," Reichen said as he briefly clasped the warrior’s hand Rio’s pretty auburn-haired Breedave Reichen a casual kiss on the cheek "You had us all a bit worried here" "My apologies," hea look at Claire She would hardly look at hiers close to her chest Reichen felt sick that his curse had wounded her, even a little He wanted to tell her as much, but it was a conversation best done privately
She didn’t seeer to talk to hioing with him to the Order’s headquarters She followed Dylan to the vehicle and started to cliood?" Rio asked when the feo" "I’ll feel better once she’s safe in the compound," he said In truth, he’d feel better once he had a chance to hunt and slake the thirst that was still riding hi he needed was to be cooped up with Claire for the next hour or h he craved blood to cool the final few embers that still burned inside hi to curb his need if he was seated mere inches away from the woman he thirsted for above all others Rio seeether toward the SUV "Dylan won’t un," he said "She and Claire can ride together in back and get acquainted Dylan’s far better coue