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Not ever again He threw his head back and roared at the thought, and his voice turned loose a ball of white flaround a half-dozen feet fro the area in sparks and clumps of upheaved loam "Andreas, please," his woman cried "Let us help you" Fire danced all around her Tears filled her eyes, her hands treh the s down like snowflakes from the canopy of trees above "Andre, look atthe sober warnings of more than one of the o," she said fiercely, words that seemed to echo back at him like a ht? Had he been the one to say them to her? It didn’t matter He couldn’t let it matter She and the others with her--friends, his instinct called theo Except she wasn’t about to leave hih in the stubborn tilt of her jaw He groith fury, and felt the swell of another ball of heat building in his gut Incredibly, she h his mind as he watched her take yet another step toward hientle sesture of kindness
He saw a bright, innocent face offering him help and compassionjust before the fire that lived within hi precious and pure once before He would not do it again Bellowing his self-conteround in front of hi her back It wasn’t enough He needed her gone--needed to know that she was far away froone now He threw radually retreated, he saw the tear-streaked, beautiful face of the wo wall of flames that separated the to let you do this"
Heat gusted fro flames in front of Claire and the others Behind the wall of undulating fire, she watched Andreas’s face His eyes were filled with tor, bleak resolve s to drive her away fro--ht, fir to accept that Not after all they’d been through Not when she’d been waiting for hi hih to him There had to be so to look at the other Breedo with yourhireed "I saw it, too"
"I need you to do it again now" Nikolai stepped over, his expression grave "Renata’s talent is lethal, Claire It’s not so you want to mess around with, trust ht what? Kill him?" Claire felt hysteria bubble up inside her "Look at hi fast, then the pyro will kill him" She looked at Renata, desperate for even the sli Andreas "Pleaseplease, try" Renata gave a curt nod, then looked away to fix her attention on the formidable tower of heat and fla, focused like a laser Claire felt the air beside her shift almost imperceptibly as an unseen current leapt outward froet He reared back the instant it hit him
Claire’s heart lurched as he threw his head back and howled, all of his rabbed both sides of his head and doubled over as Renata held hi led, the glow that swa, Renata! Oh, " Claire heard more than one of the warriors curse fro, everyone as transfixed as Claire was as the mental blast Renata delivered continued to douse Andreas’s heat He dropped to his knees, buckled over, still holding his head in his hands He looked to be in co his li on," she whispered, her heart shredding to see him suffer so Her nerve faltered Just when she was about to tell Renata to stop, Andreas pitched forward and collapsed in a heavy, boneless sprawl "Claire, stay back!" so toward hiround and raced to Andreas’s side Energy crackled over his skin, raising goose buone The heat was cooled
"Andre," she sobbed, folding her legs and dropping down beside hiround She lifted his head onto her lap and stroked his bloodless cheek and brow He was cold Un Oh, God "Andre, can you hear me?" She cradled his broad shoulders and bent to press her face against his "Andreas, please don’t die Pleasecoht Praying she’d done the right thing Hoping he was still in there soamble she’d taken with his life hadn’t been the worst mistake she would ever make "Andre, I love you," she murmured, diathered around thean knelt down beside her and put his hand on the side of Andreas’s neck "He’s alive He’s breathing, but he’s out cold Got a strong pulse, at least" "Thank God," Renata whispered, clutching Niko in a tight embrace as she looked down at Claire in kinship and shared concern "We have to get hilanced up at Renata "Will you be able to keep him under control if he comes to on the ride back to Boston?" She nodded "Whatever it takes, yeah I’ll cover hiently as he crouched to heft Andreas’s heavy bulk onto his shoulder as he would care for any one of his fallen brothers in aroing to be okay now" Claire nodded nuside hi forest and obliterated bunker to the waiting vehicles She wanted to believe Tegan, but when she looked at Andreas’s unresponsive, ashen face, she couldn’t help feeling that where Andreas was concerned, everything was still a long way from okay
Chapter Thirty-Four
Dragos snapped his cell phone closed and jammed it into the pocket of his cashmere dress coat He stared up at the starlit sky above an industrial park off I-90 in Albany, New York, and hissed a violent oath Wilhel his calls Which os’s cameras and coone offline and ceased working meant that the bunker had been detonated as planned He could only hope that Roth had ed to ensure that a nu with the hastily abandoned lab As for Roth hios hadn’t actually cared if his German lieutenant survived the lab’s destruction; it was the ht aros moved away from his Minion-chauffeured sedan to inspect the work of Roth’s replaceeneration Breed male who’d been recruited froos’s assets--a persificationand persistent interference of the Order But Dragos hadn’t co a few speed bumps in his operation Alternatives had been explored and provided for years ago, and noasthe pieces that he already had in play The Order had cost him only a few days--a couple of weeks at ain Stronger than before Unstoppable, no s he had seen in the witchy eyes of the child seer all those weeks ago in Montreal "Are we ready tovampire nodded curtly where he stood behind one of several se to roll out of the industrial park to their appointed destinations The double doors of the one nearest his lieutenant were partially open yet, revealing the anxious faces of the Breedmates who’d been removed from their cells in the lab for transportation elsewhere They knew better than to screaos, manned by his Minions Besides, the chains and shackles that bound the wo very far, even if they were foolish enough to atteos said, watching in satisfaction as his lieutenant swung the doors closed and set the heavy steel bolt and locks A quick thump of the va rolling with one of Dragos’s Minions at the wheel Farther on in the yard, several os walked past the ones containing his many millions of dollars’ worth of state-of-the-art laboratory equipe white trailer at the far end of the line It was a refrigerated container, specially equipped for preserving the fragile cargo that was locked and sedated inside Two Gen One assassins had been stationed within the trailer to stand guard over the contents; another pair would ride up front with the Minion driver and Dragos’s West Coast associate to ensure the shipment encountered no proble of the container’s long journey would begin "Everything is ready, sire"
"Excellent," Dragos said "Contact me as soon as you arrive in Seattle to os watched as the fleet of trucks lurched into motion and exited the yard The Order may have disrupted his operation, but he was far fro at the corner of his lips, Dragos walked back to his waiting car He climbed into the backseat and waited in boredom as the driver closed the door behind hiht the lair he’d gone to great pains and expense to construct was gone, but Dragos preferred to think of it as a necessary step in the evolution of his plans Noould begin a new phase in his operation, and he could hardly wait to get started Dragos leaned his head back against the soft leather seat and watched through the rearas a thread of pale clouds skittered across thethe three-plus hours it took to drive back to the Order’s headquarters Nor the entire next day Claire heard Tess use the word "coma" in conversation with Gabrielle and Savannah when the three wo the private apart She couldn’t pretend it didn’t worry her, and the longer he stayed unconscious, the deeper her dread beca hiainst his pyrokinesis Claire held his hand as he lay un on the bed She kneas in there She could feel his bloodbeneath his skin, could see the occasional flicker of his closed eyelids when she spoke to hiently, drying her hands on a paper towel from the bathroom Dante’s mate was trained in veterinary ift for healing with her touch before her current pregnancy had inhibited her talent Now she laid her hand softly on Claire’s and offered a kind, coet so to the tray of uneaten food on the rollaway table brought up fro beside the bed "I’ in a little while I’ry I just want to sit with hier" Tess didn’t look convinced "I’ to come back and check on you in a couple of hours Pro on that plate" Claire just smiled with an assurance she only wished she felt "Please, don’t worry about ave her a faint nod
"Let soe in hihts and prayers right now, Claire" "Thank you," she murmured, touched by the kindness everyone in the compound had shown her They loved Andreas like one of their own, treated him like kin, and because of that, she loved them all, as well "I’ll see you in a couple of hours," Tess said as she slowly closed the door behind her Claire turned back to Andreas and s his tousled brown hair back fro where he was in his deep, trau when--and if--he would ever find the strength to return to her
"Oh, Andre," she whispered, gazing at the proud, handsoht her lips to his and kissed him, unable to stem the tear that rolled down her cheek when his ainst hers Claireto be closer Stretched alongside hiainst his shoulder and placed the pal beneath his sternuhts Andreas was alive So long as she could touch hiive up hope that he would be with her once again And if he wasn’t ready to coo to hi her eyes drift closed, she sought him out in the dream realm He wasn’t hard to find Claire walked into a bleak, black void, drawn to the glow of a fire burning hotly in the distance She was alone and naked, her bare feet walking over a length of cold, dark stone that see at the place where the flae streamers far ahead Andreas was up there, too