W
After nine hundred years of living, he was finally tast-
ing heaven.
He drank urgently, deeply, need overwhelming him as
Gabrielle’s quenching blood surged down his throat, into
flesh and bone and cell. His pulse hammered with re-
newal, pumping blood into fatigued limbs and healing his
recent wounds.
His sex had come alive with the first taste; now it
throbbed heavy and hard between his legs. Demanding
even more possession.
Gabrielle was stroking his hair, holding him close as he
drank from her. She moaned with each hard tug of his
mouth, her body melting, her scent going dark and humid
with desire.
“Lucan,” she gasped, shuddering around him. “Oh,
God . . .”
With a wordless snarl, he pressed her down beneath
him on the floor. He drank deeper, losing himself to the
erotic heat of the moment and to a frantic desperation that
terrified him.
Mine, he thought, selfish and utterly savage with the
idea.
It was too late to stop now.
This kiss had damned them both.
While the initial bite had been a shock, the sharp nick of
pain had quickly dissipated into something lush and intox-
icating. Pleasure bloomed all over her body from the inside
out, as if each long pull of Lucan’s mouth at her neck sent
a shaft of warm light back into her, reaching down
through her core to stroke her soul.
He covered her with his naked weight, their robes
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 359
Kiss of Midnight
W 359
askew as he took her to the floor with him. His hands were
rough as they sank into her hair, holding her head to the
side as he drank from her. Heedless of any pain his injuries
might be causing him, he pressed his bare chest against her
breasts. His lips never broke contact with her neck even for
a second. She could feel the intensity of his need in every
hard draw.
But she felt his strength, too. It was coming back, bit by
bit, renewing because of her.
“Don’t stop,” she murmured, speech slowed for the
mounting ecstasy that was building in her with each pul-
sating movement of his mouth. “You won’t hurt me,
Lucan. I trust you.”
The wet, succulent sounds of his hunger was the most
erotic thing she’d ever heard. She loved the heat of his lips
on her skin. The ungentle graze of his fangs as he drew her
blood into his mouth was a sensation that was both dan-
gerous and exciting.
She was already soaring toward a splintering orgasm
when she felt the thick head of Lucan’s erection nudging
against her sex. She was wet, aching for him. He drove in
deep with one thrust, filling her completely with rigid, vol-
canic heat. Detonating her in an instant. Gabrielle cried
out as he plunged hard and fast, his arms like a cage
around her, clutching her tightly. He was mindless in his
rhythm, a force of raw, magnificent desire.
And still he remained fastened at her neck, pulling her
into a blissful, creamy darkness.
She closed her eyes and let herself float away, toward a
beautiful obsidian fog.
From someplace distant, she felt Lucan buck and pound
above her, his strokes urgent, his large body vibrating with
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 360
3 6 0
L A R A A D R I A N
W
the power of his own release. He shouted something harsh
and went completely still.
The delicious pressure at her neck abruptly eased, then
vanished, leaving coldness in its wake.
Still drifting, still awash in the heady feel of Lucan
sheathed inside her, Gabrielle lifted her heavy lids. Lucan
was poised over her on his knees, staring down at her as
though frozen. His lips were bright red, his hair wild
around his head. His feral eyes were throwing off amber
sparks, they were so bright. His skin color was healthier,
the network of markings on his shoulders and torso glow-
ing a deep crimson-black.
“What is it?” she asked him, worried. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t speak for a long moment.
“Jesus Christ.” The rough growl of his voice was
tremulous, a pitch she’d never heard in him before. His
chest was heaving. “I thought you were . . . I thought I
had—”
“No,” she said, giving a lazy, sated shake of her head.
“No, Lucan. I’m fine.”
She couldn’t read his intense expression, but then he
didn’t give her a chance. He recoiled, sliding out of her.
There was a stricken look in his transformed eyes.
Her body felt cold and empty without his warmth. She
sat up, rubbing off her sudden chill. “It’s okay,” she as-
sured him. “Everything’s okay.”
“No.” He shook his head and vaulted to his feet. “No.
This was a mistake.”
“Lucan . . .”
“I never should have let this happen!” he bellowed.
With a furious roar, he stalked to the foot of the bed to
retrieve his clothes. He yanked the black camo pants and
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 361
Kiss of Midnight
W 361
nylon shirt on, then grabbed his weapons and boots, and
left the room in a tempest of seething rage.
Lucan could hardly catch his breath for the way his heart
was banging in his chest.
When he’d felt Gabrielle go slack beneath him as he
drank from her, a stark fear had torn through him, shred-
ding him from the inside out.
She trusted him, she had said while he had been drink-
ing feverishly at her neck. He’d felt the spurs of Bloodlust
jabbing into him as Gabrielle’s blood flowed into him. Her
voice had eased some of the pain. She was tender and car-
ing, her touch, her naked emotion—her presence itself—
grounding him when the animal part of him might have
slipped its reins.
She trusted him not to harm her, and that trust gave
him strength.
But then he’d felt her drifting away from him and he
feared . . . God, in that instant, how he’d feared.
It still gripped him, the black, cold terror that he might
have harmed her—could have killed her—if he’d let
things go any further than they had.
Because, for all his pushing her away, all his denial, he
belonged to her. Gabrielle owned him, down to his soul,
and not simply for the fact that her blood was nourishing
him now, healing his wounds and strengthening his body.
He had bonded to her, long before now. But the irrefutable
proof of it had come in that bleak instant a moment ago
when he feared he might have lost her.
He loved her.
Down to the darkest, loneliest part of him, he loved
Gabrielle.
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 362
3 6 2
L A R A A D R I A N
W
And he wanted her in his life. Selfishly, dangerously, he
wanted nothing more than to keep her with him for all the
rest of his days.
The realization made him weave in the corridor out-
side the tech lab. In truth, it nearly sent him to his knees.
“Whoa, easy there.” Dante came up to Lucan almost
without warning and grabbed him under the arm.
“Damn. You look like holy hell.”
Lucan couldn’t speak. Words were beyond him.
But Dante didn’t need an explanation. He took one
look at Lucan’s face and fangs and Dante’s nostrils flared
as they picked up the obvious scents of blood and sex. He
blew out a low whistle, a gleam of wry amusement flashing
in the warrior’s eyes.
“You gotta be kidding me—a Breedmate, Lucan?” He
chuckled, shaking his head as he clapped Lucan on the
shoulder. “Shit. Better you than me, brother. Better you
than me.”
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 363
C H A P T E R
W
Thirty
Three hours later, with night full upon them, Lucan and
the other warriors were geared up and sitting in a black
SUV parked about a half mile down the road from the old
asylum.
Gabrielle’s photographs had proven extremely useful in
planning the hit on the Rogue lair. In addition to several
exterior and ground-level, entry-point photos, she’d taken
interior shots of the boiler room, various corridors, stair-
wells, and even a few containing inadvertent images of
mounted security cameras that would need to be disabled
once the warriors gained access to the place.
“Getting in’s going to be the easy part,” Gideon said, as
the group of them began the final review of the operation.
“I’ll interrupt the security signal on the ground-level cam-
eras, but once we’re inside, planting those two dozen bars
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 364
3 6 4
L A R A A D R I A N
W
of C4 in critical areas without alerting the entire colony of
suckheads will prove a little trickier.”
“Not to mention the added problem of unwanted pub-
licity with the humans,” Dante said. “What the hell’s tak-
ing Niko so long to locate that gas main?”
“Here he comes,” Lucan said, spotting the vampire’s
dark shape nearing the SUV from the ridge of trees out-
side.
Nikolai opened the back door and climbed in next to
Tegan. He pulled off his black head covering, wintry blue
eyes alive with excitement. “Piece of cake. The main line is
in a lockbox on the west end of the complex. The suck-
heads may not need heat, but public service has plenty of
gas running to the buildings.”
Lucan met the warrior’s eager look. “So, we get in, set
up our party favors, clear the location—”
Niko nodded. “Signal me when the shit’s in place. I’ll
flip the main line, then detonate the C4 once we all ren-
dezvous back here. On the surface, it’ll look like a gas leak
caused the explosion. And if Homeland Security wants to
get involved, I’m sure some of Gabrielle’s photos of gang-
banger graffiti will send the humans sniffing around in cir-
cles for a while.”
Meanwhile, the warriors would be sending a big mes-
sage to their enemies, particularly the Gen One vampire
who Lucan suspected was at the helm of this new Rogue
insurgency. Blowing their headquarters into the next cen-
tury ought to be a sufficient invitation for the bastard to
come out into the open and dance.
Lucan was anxious to get started. Even more anxious
to finish the night’s mission because he had his own unfin-
ished business back at the compound. He hated leaving
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 365
Kiss of Midnight
W 365
Gabrielle like he had, knowing she had to be confused and
probably more than a little upset.
There were things to be said, certainly, things he hadn’t
even been prepared to think about much less discuss with
her in that moment when the stunning reality of his feel-
ings for her had hit him.
Now, his head was full of plans.
Reckless, stupid, hopeful plans, all of them centered
on her.
Around him in the vehicle, the other warriors were
checking their gear, loading up the bars of C4 into zip-
pered duffel bags and making final adjustments to the ear-
pieces and mics that would keep them in contact with one
another once they breached the asylum perimeter and split
up to place the explosives.
“Tonight, we do this for Con and Rio,” Dante said,
flipping one of his curved blades with nimble, black-gloved
fingers and stabbing it into the sheath on his hip. “Ven-
geance time.”
“Hell, yeah,” Niko replied, a sentiment echoed swiftly
by the others.
When they started to go for the doors, Lucan lifted his
hand.
“Hold up.” His grim voice stilled them all. “There’s
something you need to know. Since we’re about to go in
there and possibly get our asses handed to us, I suppose
now’s as good a time as any to be straight with you about a
couple of things . . . and I need a promise from each of
you.”
He met the faces of his brethren, warriors who’d been
fighting beside him, as tight as kin, for what seemed like
forever. They had always looked to him to lead, trusting
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 366
3 6 6
L A R A A D R I A N
W
him to make the hard calls, certain he would never be at a
loss for strategy or decision.
Now he wavered, hesitant, unsure of where to begin.
He raked a hand over his jaw, blew out a sharp sigh.
Gideon frowned at him, concerned. “Everything good,
Lucan? You took a pretty massive hit in the ambush last
night. If you want to sit this out—”
“No. No, that’s not it. I’m fine. My injuries are
healed . . . thanks to Gabrielle,” he said. “Earlier today, she
and I . . .”
“No shit,” Gideon replied when Lucan’s explanation
trailed off. Damn the vampire, but he was actually grin-
ning about it.
“You drank from her?” Niko asked.
Tegan grunted in the backseat. “That female’s a
Breedmate.”
“Yes,” Lucan said, answering with serious calm. “And if
she’ll have me, I mean to ask Gabrielle to take me as her
mate.”
Dante smirked at him, rolling his eyes. “Congrats, man.
Seriously.”
Gideon and Niko offered similar responses, clapping
Lucan on the shoulder
.
“That’s not all.”
Four pairs of eyes fixed on him, everyone but Tegan
looking at him with grim expectation.
“Last night, Eva had some choice things to say about
me—” There was an immediate defensive vocal barrage
from Gideon, Niko, and Dante. Lucan spoke over the an-
gry rumbles. “Her betrayal of Rio and the rest of us is in-
excusable, yes. But what she said about me. . . it was the
truth.”
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 367
Kiss of Midnight
W 367
Dante gave him a narrow look. “What are you talking
about?”
“Bloodlust,” Lucan replied. The word fell hard into the
silence of the SUV. “It’s ah . . . it’s a problem for me. Has
been for a long while. I’m dealing with it, but there are
times . . .” He dropped his chin, stared at the unlit floor of
the vehicle. “I don’t know if I can beat it. Maybe, with
Gabrielle at my side, I might stand a chance. I’m going to
fight it like hell, but if it gets worse—”
Gideon spat a vivid obscenity. “Ain’t gonna happen,
Lucan. Of all of us sitting here, you’re the strongest.
Always have been. Nothing’s gonna pull you down.”
Lucan shook his head. “I can’t pretend to be the one al-
ways in control anymore. I’m tired. I’m not invincible.
After nine hundred years of living the lie, it took Gabrielle
less than two weeks to tear my mask off. She’s forced me to
see myself as I truly am. I don’t like a lot of what I see, but
I want to be better . . . for her.”
Niko scowled. “Damn, Lucan. You talking about love
here?”
“Yeah,” he said solemnly. “I am. I love her. Which is
why I need to ask something of you. All of you.”
Gideon nodded. “Name it.”
“If things get bad with me—sometime soon, or down
the road—I need to know that I can count on you guys to
have my back. You see me lose it to Bloodlust, if you think
I’m going to turn . . . I’ve got to have your word that you’ll
take me out.”
“What?” Dante recoiled. “You can’t ask that of us,
man.”
“Listen to me.” He wasn’t accustomed to begging. The
plea was like gravel in his throat, but he needed to spit it
out. He was tired of carrying the burden alone. And the
PDF
Adri_9780553589375_3p_all_r1.qxp 2/9/07 2:54 PM Page 368
3 6 8
L A R A A D R I A N
W
very last thing he ever wanted was to fear that in his weak-
Midnight Breed - Book - 01 Page 39