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A low hiss leaked out of him. He drew back, knowing he was the one retreating now, but unable to stop his hedging backward momentum. Elise moved with him, her wet, nearly naked body too close. Too goddamn tempting.
Why would you do something like that, Tegan? I can't believe that you had any kind of personal stake in seeing the lab razed. So tell me. Why? Did you do it for me?
He said nothing, incapable of speech and edging dangerously close to an emotion he did not want to feel.
She stared up at him fiercely. The silence was heavy, immovable. Where's your truth now, warrior?
Tegan forced a scoff, hearing the humorless laugh scrape in his throat. I've warned you once, female. You're toying with fire. I won't be gentleman enough to warn you again.
Elise closed her eyes as Tegan snarled a curse and stalked away from her. She didn't dare move, hardly drew a breath in the moments Tegan's swift footsteps carried him to the pool's exit. She heard him leave. Only then did she allow herself to sag in relief. What on earth was she thinking? Had she completely lost her mind, provoking a warrior like him toward anger?
And it was anger she saw in his expression. An unmistakable, smoldering fury had lit his bright green eyes as he'd stared at her, probably no less than an instant away from lashing out at her. Was she suicidal, like he'd accused her last night? Because if his ruthless reputation was anything to go by, pushing him like she had was liable to get her killed.
Except it wasn't anger she'd been looking for just now. She had wanted to see some kind of feeling in him...
Feelings he might have toward her.
Which was utterly foolish.
Still, she wondered. Had been wondering, ever since that early November night when Tegan had taken her home from the compound. Elise didn't want to think there was anything between them. Lord knew, she didn't need a complication like that in her life right now.
But in the tense moments before Tegan left the room, something had indeed been there.
Despite his cool demeanor, color had risen in his Gen One dermaglyphs. The beautiful markings had swirled like elaborate, changeable tattoos across Tegan's muscular chest, arms, and torso...and down, beneath the tight black swimsuit that blatantly accentuated his profane sexuality.
And as she'd stood before him, close enough to feel his breath skate hotly across her skin, those incredible glyphs had begun to pulse in shades of burgundy, indigo, and gold--the colors of awakening desire.
Chapter Twelve
Hey, T. Looks like you're Berlin bound tomorrow night, Gideon said as Tegan entered the tech lab. He scrubbed a hand through his spiky blond hair, disheveling it even worse than it had been before and amping up his usual geeky-genius look. We just got FAA clearance for our private jet. The pilot will be waiting for you at Logan's corporate terminal at dusk. You'll have to stop to refuel in Paris, but you'll arrive in Berlin with about an hour to spare before dawn the following day.
Tegan acknowledged the news with a vague nod. It had been a couple of hours since his encounter with Elise at the pool, and his blood was still drumming in his temples, his body still alive with a tingling sense of awareness that was frankly starting to annoy him.
At least he had an escape plan. Tomorrow night he would be on his way out of the country, putting several thousand miles between him and the woman who was driving him to a very uncharacteristic distraction. It didn't look like his mission in Berlin was going to be easy; he would probably be gone for at least a week, maybe longer. Plenty of time for him to put Elise out of his mind.
Yeah, just like he'd done so effectively in the four months since he'd first met the female.
Taking her home that night from the compound had been a mistake. Stupid impulse-- something he rarely indulged in, and, on the occasions he did, generally lived to regret. The way he reacted to her earlier tonight only drove that point home like the sharp edge of a blade. He hungered for her, and he couldn't delude himself with the hope that she hadn't seen ample evidence of that fact. He hadn't been able to curb the transformation of his glyphs in her presence, let alone suppress his unwilling arousal just from being near her.
Jesus Christ, he needed to be gone, and gone soon.
Across the lab, Dante and Chase were going over tactics with Niko and the new recruits. A couple of heads lifted as Tegan strolled inside and dropped into a chair next to Gideon at the bank of computers and compound surveillance monitors.
You all right? Gideon asked, glancing at him from under an arched brow. You're throwing off heat like a radiator.
Never better. Tegan punched the speaker key on the telephone near his elbow. Let's give Reichen the flight details and see if he's been able to get anywhere with the suits in charge of the containment facility.
Tegan dialed the private line of the Berlin Darkhaven and was immediately put through to Andreas Reichen.
Everything is in order, he told the German vampire, not bothering with the pleasant hi-how-are-yas in his impatience to get the mission underway. Expected arrival at Tegel Airport is two days from now just before sunrise. Think you can get me to your place before I go crispy?
Reichen chuckled. Of course. I will have a car waiting to retrieve you. His deep, accented voice rolled through the speaker. It has been too long, Tegan. I have not forgotten my debt to you for your assistance with our little...problem over here a while ago.
Tegan remembered that time. The Berlin Darkhaven's little problem had entailed a string of Rogue attacks on its residents, several ending in grisly killings. Tegan had gone in as a one-man commando unit, tracking the Rogue cell into the thick forests of Grunewald then wiping out the Bloodlusting predators who'd been terrorizing the region. That had been, shit...almost two hundred years ago.
We'll be square if you can get me inside that Enforcement Agency facility, he told Reichen.
Ah, that is resolved, my friend. The head of security phoned only moments before you called. The Director of the Agency here in Berlin gave specific license for access to the facility. There is no issue with permitting your emissary into the facility to question Petrov Odolf.
