Read Online Midnight Awakening by Lara Adrián - Free Book Online Page B

started to stalk away from her.
    “Why, because I’m female?”
    In a move so fast it stole her breath, Tegan wheeled around on her and pinned her with his fierce predator’s eyes. “Because you’re motivated by pain, and that’s a fatal weakness right out of the gate. You’re too raw. You’re too swamped in your own self-pity to be of use to anyone.”
    Fire flashed in his gaze, then banked as quickly as it had risen. Elise swallowed hard as she registered his cutting words. The assessment stung, but it was true. She blinked slowly, then gave an admitting nod of her head.
    “The best place for you is in the Darkhavens, Elise. Out here, like you are, you’re a liability—to yourself especially. I’m not saying it to be cruel.”
    “No, of course you aren’t,” she agreed softly. “Because even cruelty would imply some kind of feeling, wouldn’t it?”
    She didn’t say another word. Didn’t so much as look at him as she retrieved her plate from the counter and walked it to the sink.

     

    “What do you mean, it’s gone?” The leader of the Rogues sat forward in his leather chair, planting his elbows on the surface of a large mahogany desk and steepling his fingers as the voice of a nervous Minion cracked over the speaker phone.
    “The call came in to the firehouse late last night, sire. There was an explosion. Whole friggin’ warehouse went up like a Roman candle. No saving it, according to the guys who responded to the call. Initial reports say there appears to have been a gas leak—”
    With a snarl, Marek jabbed the End button, cutting off his human servant’s useless report.
    There was no way in hell the Crimson lab was destroyed by chance or faulty utilities. This bit of infuriating news had the Order written all over it. The only thing that surprised him was that it had taken this long for his brother Lucan and the warriors who fought alongside him to make their move on the place. But then, Marek had been keeping them busy fighting Rogues in the streets since last summer.
    Which was exactly where he wanted the Order’s focus to remain.
    Hold them off with one hand so the other could do the real work unnoticed and undisturbed.
    It was the reason he’d come to Boston in the first place. The reason this particular city was experiencing an increased Rogue problem. All just part of his plan to create havoc while he pursued a bigger prize. If he could take out the warriors in the process, so much the better, but keeping them distracted would serve him just as well. Once his true goal was achieved, even the Order would be powerless against him.
    And as much as the loss of the Crimson lab infuriated him, the even greater irritation was the fact that one of his other Minions had failed to report in as instructed. Marek was waiting on information—vital information—and his patience was thin even in the best of situations.
    It didn’t bode well that his Minion was late. The human he’d recruited for this particular job was volatile and arrogant, but he was also reliable. All Minions were. Drained to within a bare inch of life, the human mind slaves were under the complete control of the vampire who made them. Only the most powerful among the vampire race could create Minions, and Breed law had long prohibited the practice as barbaric.
    Marek scoffed with contempt at the self-imposed, bureaucratic castration of his kind.
    Just one more example of why the vampire realm was overdue for change. They needed strong new leadership to usher in a new age.
    The new age that would belong to him.

 

    CHAPTER
Seven

    H e had pissed her off, probably hurt her, and even though an apology perched at the tip of his tongue most of the day, Tegan held it back. He had nothing to be sorry about, after all. He didn’t owe the female anything, least of all explanations or excuses for why he came off like the callous bastard everyone knew him to be.
    And he wasn’t about to give so much as a second’s consideration to