Midnight Breed - Book - 01
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It swung open wildly, flapping on its hinges as the whole
compartment shook and wobbled. Her captor was righting
himself, about to grab for her again. His sunglasses had
fallen off in the chaos. He glared at her with icy gray eyes,
full of malice.
“Tell Lucan this is far from over,” the leader of the
Rogues ordered her, hissing the words through an evil
smile.
“Go to hell,” Gabrielle shot back at him. In that same
instant, she lunged for the open space of the door and
dropped the several feet down onto the roof.
As soon as he saw her, Lucan let go of the helicopter’s
landing rail. The vehicle jolted upward, spinning crazily as
the pilot struggled to gain control of his ascent.
He raced to Gabrielle’s side and pulled her to her feet,
hands roaming all over her to make sure she was in one
piece. “Are you okay?”
She nodded jerkily. “Lucan behind you!”
On the roof, another Rogue was heading for them.
Lucan met the challenge with pleasure, now that Gabrielle
was with him, every muscle in his body primed for dealing
death. He drew another blade and pounded toward the
approaching threat.
The fight was savage and swift. With fists flying, blades
slashing, Lucan and the Rogue engaged in a deadly hand-
to-hand combat. Lucan took more than one hit, but he
was unstoppable. Gabrielle’s blood was still strong within
him, giving him a fury that would have been a match for
ten opponents at once. He struck hard and with lethal
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efficiency, dispatching the Rogue with a vertical slice to its
body.
Lucan didn’t wait to see the titanium do its thing. He
spun around and ran back to Gabrielle. Once he was in
reach of her, all he could do was pull her into his arms and
hold her fast against him. He could have stayed there all
night, just breathing her in, feeling her heart beat, stroking
her soft skin.
He lifted her chin and placed a fiercely tender kiss on
her lips. “We have to get out of here, baby. Right now.”
Above their heads, the helicopter was rising higher.
From out of the clear cockpit, the Gen One vampire
who’d taken Gabrielle stared down through the glass en-
closure. He gave Lucan a vague salute, grinning as his ride
ascended into the night sky.
“Oh, God, Lucan! I was so scared. If anything had
happened to you . . .”
Gabrielle’s whisper made him forget all about his es-
caping enemy. The only thing that mattered to him was
that she was able to talk to him. She was breathing.
Gabrielle was with him, and he hoped to God he could
keep her that way.
“How the hell did they get to you?” he asked, his voice
shaking with urgency and the sharp aftershocks of his fear.
“After you left the compound tonight, I needed to get
away and think. I went home. Kendra showed up. She had
Jamie held hostage in a car outside. I couldn’t let them hurt
him. Kendra is—was—a Minion, Lucan. They killed her.
My friend is dead.” Gabrielle gave a sudden sob. “But
Jamie got away, at least. He’s somewhere downtown, prob-
ably scared out of his mind. I need to find him and make
sure he’s all right.”
Lucan heard the low clip of the helicopter as it rose
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higher above them. He had to give Niko the signal to blow
the place before the Rogues inside had a chance to escape,
too.
“Let’s get out of here, then we’ll deal with the rest.”
Lucan scooped Gabrielle off her feet and up into his arms.
“Hold on to me, sweetheart. Tight as you can.”
“Okay.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
He kissed her again, relief flooding him to have her in
his arms.
“Don’t ever let go,” he said, looking into the shining,
beautiful eyes of his Breedmate.
Then he stepped over the edge of the roof and dropped
with her, as soft as he could manage, down to the ground
below.
“Lucan, talk to me, man!” Nikolai called over the ear-
piece. “Where are you? What the fuck is going on out
there?”
“Everything’s al right,” he answered, carrying Gabriel e
swiftly across the darkened grass of the property, toward
where the warriors’ SUV waited. “Everything’s going to
be all right now. Hit the detonator and let’s finish this
thing.”
Gabrielle was huddled under the strong curve of Lucan’s
arm as the SUV pulled onto the road leading to the com-
pound’s estate. He’d been holding her close to him since
they’d escaped the asylum grounds, shielding her eyes as
the entire complex of buildings had gone up in a hellish
ball of fire.
Lucan and his brethren had actually done it—they’d
taken out the Rogues’ headquarters in one awesome strike.
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The helicopter had managed to elude the explosion, van-
ishing skyward into the black smoke and cover of night.
Lucan was pensive, staring out the tinted window, up
into the canopy of stars. Gabrielle had seen his look of
surprise—of stunned disbelief—when he’d been up on the
roof and thrown open the helicopter’s cockpit door.
It was as if he’d seen a ghost.
The mood carried with him even now as they entered
the estate and Nikolai drove toward the garage. The war-
rior pulled the vehicle to a stop inside the huge hangar.
When he cut the engine, Lucan finally spoke.
“Tonight we scored an important victory against our
enemies.”
“Hell yeah,” Nikolai agreed. “And we avenged Conlan
and Rio. They would’ve loved to have been there to see
that place blow.”
Lucan nodded in the dark vehicle. “But make no mis-
take, we are entering a new phase of conflict with the
Rogues. This is war now, more than ever. Tonight we’ve
stirred the hornet’s nest. But the one we needed to get—
their leader—is still alive.”
“Let him run. We’ll get him,” Dante said, grinning
confidently.
But Lucan gave a grim shake of his head. “This one is
different. He won’t make it easy. He’ll anticipate our
moves. He’ll understand our tactics. The Order is going to
need to strengthen its strategies and increase its numbers.
We need to organize the few remaining cadres around the
world, bring in more warriors, the sooner the better.”
Gideon pivoted around in the front seat. “You think it’s
the Gen One out of the West Coast who’s leading the
&nbs
p; Rogues?”
“I’m sure of it,” Lucan answered. “He was in the
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helicopter on the roof tonight, where he was holding
Gabrielle.” He stroked her arm with tender affection,
pausing to look at her as if the mere sight of her reassured
him in some way. “And the bastard’s not a Rogue—not
now, if he ever was. Once, he was a warrior, like us. His
name is Marek.”
Gabrielle felt a cold blast coming from the SUV’s third
row of seats and knew that Tegan was looking at Lucan.
Lucan knew it, too. He swiveled his head to meet the
other warrior’s stare. “Marek is my brother.”
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The weight of Lucan’s revelation followed them as they
exited the vehicle and took the hangar’s elevator down into
the compound. Standing beside Lucan, Gabrielle laced
her fingers through his as they descended. Shock and sym-
pathy clawed at her heart, and when he glanced over at
her, she knew he could read the worry in her eyes.
Gabrielle saw similar looks of concern reflected in the
eyes of Lucan’s warrior brethren as well, an unspoken ac-
knowledgment of what the night’s discovery meant.
The time was going to come that Lucan would have to
face killing his own brother.
Or be killed by him.
Gabrielle hardly had a chance to absorb that cold fact
before the elevator doors opened on Savannah and
Danika, who were waiting anxiously for the warriors’ re-
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turn. There were relieved welcomes, dozens of questions
about the outcome of the night’s mission, as well as wor-
ried inquiries into what on earth had made Gabrielle leave
the compound without a word to anyone. Gabrielle was
too tired to answer, too exhausted from the entire ordeal to
even try to express what she was feeling.
But she knew she would have to provide some answers
soon, to Lucan at least.
She watched as he was ushered away by the other war-
riors amid talk of war tactics and new battle strategies to
be used against the Rogues. Gabrielle was swiftly pulled in
an opposite direction by Savannah and Danika. They fret-
ted over her sundry scrapes and bruises, insisting that she
take a warm meal and a long, hot bath.
Gabrielle reluctantly agreed, but not even Savannah’s
amazing cooking or the fragrant heat of the soak that fol-
lowed could relax her.
Her mind was spinning with thoughts about Lucan,
Jamie, and everything that had happened that night. She
owed Lucan her life. She loved him more than anything,
would always be grateful to him for his rescuing her, but it
didn’t change how she felt about the way things had been
going between them. She couldn’t stay at the compound
like this. And no matter what he said, she wasn’t about to
enter one of the Darkhavens.
So, what did that leave? She couldn’t go back to her
apartment, either. Her old life no longer fit. To return to it
meant she would have to deny everything she’d experi-
enced with Lucan these past weeks and work to forget him.
She would have to deny all that she now understood about
herself, and her connection to the Breed.
The truth was, she didn’t know where she belonged
now. She didn’t know where to begin looking, but as she
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walked the compound’s maze of corridors, Gabrielle
found herself standing outside Lucan’s private quarters.
The door to the main apartment was ajar; a soft light
glowed from within. Gabrielle pushed it open, then
stepped inside.
Candlelight flickered in the adjacent bedroom. She fol-
lowed the ambient warmth to the threshold and paused
there, marveling at what she saw. Lucan’s austere bedroom
had been transformed into something out of a dream.
Four tall black pillar candles set into intricate silver sconces
burned in each corner. Red silk draped the bed. On the
floor before the fireplace was a cushioned nest of fluffy pil-
lows and even more crimson silk. It looked so romantic, so
inviting.
A room intended for lovemaking.
She took a step farther inside. Behind her, the door
closed softly on its own.
No, not quite on its own. Lucan was there, standing on
the other side of the room, watching her. His hair was
damp from a shower. He wore a loosely tied, satiny red
robe that skated around his bare calves, and there was a
heated look in his eyes that melted her where she stood.
“For you,” he said, indicating the romantic setting. “For
us tonight. I want things to be special for you.”
Gabrielle was moved, instantly aroused by the sight of
him, but she couldn’t bear to make love the way things had
been left between them.
“When I left tonight, I wasn’t going to come back,” she
told him from the safety of distance. If she went any closer,
she didn’t think she’d have the strength to say what had to
be said. “I can’t do this anymore, Lucan. I need things
from you that you can’t give me.”
“Name them.” It was a soft command, but still a com-
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mand. He moved toward her with careful steps, as though
he sensed she might bolt on him at any second. “Tell me
what you need.”
She shook her head. “What would be the use?”
A few more slow steps. He paused just beyond an arm’s
length. “I’d like to know. I’m curious what it would take to
convince you to stay with me.”
“For the night?” she asked quietly, hating herself for
how badly she needed to feel his arms around her after
what she’d been through these past several hours.
“I want you, and I’m prepared to offer you anything,
Gabrielle. So, tell me what you need.”
“Your trust,” she said, tossing out something she felt
was well out of reach. “I can’t . . . do this anymore, when
you don’t trust me.”
“I do trust you,” he said, so solemnly she actually be-
lieved him. “You are the only one who’s ever really known
me, Gabrielle. There is nothing I can hide from you.
You’ve seen it all—the worst, certainly. I’d like the chance
to show you some of the good in me.” He moved closer.
She could feel heat coming off his body. She could sense
his desire. “I want you to feel as safe with me as you’ve al-
&nbs
p; lowed me to feel with you. So, the question is, can you trust
me, knowing everything about me that you do?”
“I’ve always trusted you, Lucan. I always will. But that’s
not—”
“What else, then?” he asked, cutting her denial short.
“Tell me what else I can give you to make you stay.”
“This isn’t going to work,” she said, inching backward.
“I can’t stay. Not like this. Not when my friend Jamie . . .”
“He is safe.” When Gabrielle looked at Lucan, con-
fused, he said, “I sent Dante topside to find him soon after
we arrived. He reported back a few minutes ago that he
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retrieved your friend from a police station downtown and
took him home.”
Relief flared in her, but it was quickly followed by con-
cern. “What did Dante tell him? Did he wipe Jamie’s
memory?”
Lucan shook his head. “I didn’t think it would be fair to
make that decision for you. Dante merely told him that
you were safe as well and that you would be in contact with
him soon to explain. Whatever you wish to tell your friend
is up to you. You see? Trust, Gabrielle.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, warmed by the consider-
ation. “Thank you for helping me tonight. You saved my
life.”
“Then why are you afraid of me now?”
“I’m not afraid,” she said, but she was moving away
from him, hardly aware of that fact until the bed came up
behind her, blocking her escape. In an instant, he was right
there in front of her.
“What more do you want from me, Gabrielle?”
“Nothing,” she said, hardly more than a whisper.
“Nothing at all?” he replied, his voice dark, demanding.
“Please. Don’t make me want to stay with you tonight
when you will only wish me gone tomorrow. Let me go
now, Lucan.”
“I can’t do that.” He took her hand and lifted it to his
lips. His mouth was warm and soft on her fingertips, weav-
ing a spell around her as only he could do. He brought her
hand closer, pressing her palm to his chest, to the heavy
throb that beat against his ribs like a drum. “I can’t ever let
you go, Gabrielle. Because whether you want it from me or
not, you have my heart. You have my love, too. If you’ll ac-
cept it.”
She swallowed hard. “What?”
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