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Dear God, had he been so close to biting her?
Tegan's hungry gaze tracked her every movement, and he looked savage enough to pounce if she hesitated so much as a second longer.
What are you waiting for? I said get the fuck out of here! he bellowed, the animal snarl jolting her into action.
Elise grabbed her sandals from the floor beside her and ran out of the boathouse as fast as her feet would carry her.
Tegan dropped into the nearest chair as soon as he heard the boathouse door bang shut on Elise's heels.
He was physically shaking from need of her, all of his Breed senses torqued off the charts with the depth of his hunger for the female. Jesus Christ, he'd been just a fraction of a second away from sinking his fangs into her.
That unintentional graze of her skin, which brought only the faintest taste of her blood to his tongue, had practically laid him out. He shuddered from the heather-and-roses sweetness that still lingered in his mouth. His fangs throbbed, along with another part of his anatomy, both equally ravenous. Both damning him for letting Elise get away.
The only thing that had snapped him back to his wits was her sudden flood of anxiety. Through the connection of touch, he felt the jolt of fear override her desire--and not a moment too soon. She'd been too pliant, too accepting, even when he was deliberately pushing, wanting her to understand just where he wanted to take things.
Where he still wanted to take things with her.
Yeah, straight to hell, with him leading the way.
He gripped the leather arms of the club chair, digging his fingers into the supple hide to keep from vaulting to his feet and going out after her. Which was the very thing he ached to do.
The part of him that was more savage than human railed at being forced to heel. He was a predator at heart, and he never felt it more than he did in that moment, with his vampire eyes reflecting back at him from the glass of the boathouse window, his fangs stretched long and sharp as razors.
Every dark instinct in him was tuned on one thing: Elise.
Barely a taste of her and he was on fire with the need for more. How lost would he be if he ever got the chance to fill his mouth with that lush nectar running through her tender veins? Ah, fuck. He was in seriously bad shape.
And he needed to feed.
Not for sustenance so much as distraction. Because if he didn't slake at least one of the hungers sticking its talons into him, he was going to have the luscious Elise flat on her back beneath him before the night was through.
Elise didn't stop running until she had circled the mansion and found the front entrance. She knew she should go inside. It was late and she was cold. Her bare feet were wet and freezing, her body trembling from the wintry night air. She knew how close she'd come to disaster with Tegan; she should be grateful that he gave her the opportunity to escape what could only prove to be a heartbreaking mistake in the end.
And yet...
She stood on the wide marble steps that led up to safety, and her hand refused to reach for the door. The fear she'd felt moments ago in the boathouse had muted into something else-- something that still unsettled her in many ways, but the sharp edge of it was gone.
She'd felt anxious, apprehensive in those passionate few minutes with Tegan. All too aware of his hunger for her, and stunned to realize how his hunger enflamed her. Now, having fled him like a coward, she felt...empty.
Elise backed away from the elegant manor house.
This wasn't what she wanted.
As soon as her soles hit the cold grass, she lifted her damp skirt and dashed back around the corner of the mansion. She cut across the long yard and gardens, breathless as she reached the dark brick-and-timber building near the water. She threw open the door and ran up the stairs to the loft, ready to let Tegan take whatever he wanted from her.
But the boathouse was empty.
He was already gone.
Tegan hoofed it back into the city, moving with the preternatural speed that made the Breed all but invisible to human eyes. He was glad for the long run from Reichen's lakeshore Darkhaven. He was glad for the chill snap in the air that helped clear his head after the near catastrophe with Elise.
But he was glad most of all for the thick clot of humanity that was prowling the darkened streets of Lichtenberg in Berlin's depressed Eastern District. Row upon row of twenty-story concrete high-rise eyesores towered over this former East Berlin sector, which only added to the general malaise of the place. There were few tourists here at this hour of night. Only grim-faced locals hurrying from late-shift jobs or the grimy brewhauses that catered to the working-class poor--folks who weren't leaving the GDR in this lifetime, wall or no wall.
Tegan scanned his surroundings with a hunter's eye. He was hardwired to look for Rogues, but he could tell at a glance there were no suckheads in the vicinity. While Boston had been practically overrun with the Bloodlusting bastards courtesy of Marek's recent reappearance, Berlin and most other major cities had been reporting only minimal Rogue activity for years.
And damn if that didn't suck ass.
Because right now, Tegan would have welcomed a good hard fight with his enemies-- several, if he had his choice about it.
