"The Midnight Breed are as strong and compelling as ever!"
Reviewed by Sue Burke
Posted November 19, 2007
Paranormal | Romance Paranormal
A widow for five years, Darkhaven Breedmate Elise Chase's
life has revolved around her teenage son, Camden. Now Cam
is gone, too; victim to the drug Crimson, and Elise has
never been so alone. Leaving the Darkhaven community she's
called home for a century, Elise moves into a seedy
apartment and begins to hunt the Rogue Vampires and their
Minions, who she blames for the death of her husband and
only child. As one of the few surviving Gen One Breeds, Tegan is no
stranger to pain. When his Breedmate was cruelly taken from
him many centuries past, Tegan shut down emotionally. It
was the only way he knew to survive his loss. The most
deadly of the Breed Warriors, Tegan is truly alone. These two cross paths when Elise, out on one of her nightly
hunts, gets in over her head and Tegan comes to her rescue.
Elise suggests an alliance, but Tegan prefers to hunt
alone. Elise, refusing to back down from the warrior, pulls
a trump card. She's procured a diary that may be useful to
the Order in their fight against the Rogues. Their bond is
forged. Soon it will be inked in blood. Elise makes no
secret of her interest in the warrior, but Tegan stays
aloof. Tortured by the memory of the loss of his first
Breedmate, he cannot trust himself to love again. This is one of the best paranormal romance series around.
Adrian has put her own "alien" spin on the vampire legend
and gives her readers a little something new to read about.
Compelling characters and good world building make this a
must-read series.
SUMMARY
With a dagger in her hand and vengeance on her mind,
Darkhaven beauty Elise Chase prowls Boston’s streets in
search of retribution against the Rogue vampires who took
from her everything she cherished. Using an extraordinary
psychic gift, she tracks her prey, well aware that the
power she possesses is destroying her. She must learn to
harness this gift, and for that she can turn to only one
man—the deadliest of the Breed warriors, Tegan. No stranger to loss, Tegan knows Elise’s pain. He knows
fury, but when he slays his enemies it is with ice in his
veins. He is perfect in his self-control, until Elise
seeks his aid in her personal war. An unholy alliance is
forged—a bond that will link them by blood and vow—and
plunge them into a tempest of danger, desire, and the
darkest passions of the heart. . . .
ExcerptTegan tensed up as the lights flicked on over the estate's
indoor pool. He'd gone there after making his call to the
Berlin Darkhaven, looking for solitude and means of working
off some excess steam. He was pissed but not surprised that
Gideon hadn't been able to get a legitimate origin for
Marek's FedEx shipment. The vampire's network of Minions
had to be extensive. That journal had probably been handed
off like a relay baton at half a dozen stops before
arriving in Boston, just to muddy its trail. As for the
book itself, not even Savannah's impressive psychic ability
to read the emotional history of an object had proved
helpful there. All Gideon's Breedmate could cull from the
journal was the deep madness--the mind-eating Bloodlust--of
the one who had written on its pages. Frustrated by it all, Tegan had swum a few laps, and now
sat in the corner of the vaulted space, bare legs
straddling a teakwood chaise, his hair and the brief black
trunks clinging to his groin still damp from the water.
He'd been enjoying the alone time and the darkness--or had
been, until the rows of domed lights above the pool blinked
on like interrogation room high beams. He stood up, expecting to see Rio limp in with Tess for a
round of therapy. But it wasn't either of them who came out
of the shower room into the pool area. It was Elise. She didn't see him as she padded in barefoot, wearing a
snow white swimsuit that was sliced up the sides and held
together by delicate bronze rings. The front of it plunged
low, another ring centered between the perfect swell of her
breasts. The daring suit was almost as big of a surprise as
seeing her here; Tegan would never have guessed the
reserved Darkhaven widow to look so right in such immodest
clothing. And goddamn, did she ever look right. A deep, primal awareness stirred in him as he watched her
draw away the spa towel she had slung around her neck. She
let it fall to the tiles at the water's edge, then stepped
down onto the first submerged step at the shallow end of
the pool. Soundlessly, Tegan inched his way back into the corner,
hardly breathing in the thin shadows that concealed him.
Even though it was clear that her body was leaner than it
should be from want of fortifying Breed blood, Elise was
lovely. She was beautifully formed, from the grace of her
long legs and the gentle flare of her hips, to the slender
curves of her waist, breasts, and delicate shoulders. He had seen hints of her figure when she'd come out of the
shower in her apartment last night, and when she'd lain
unconscious on the futon, but the thick robe had hidden
more than it revealed. The scrap of elastic white material
she wore now only accentuated her assets. In a big way. She strode down into the water, then began a slow swim
toward the center of the pool. Abruptly, she dove under,
disappearing from his view until she reemerged at the far
end to come up for air. As her face broke the surface of
the water, she opened her eyes and spotted him. Her little
gasp echoed in the cavernous room. "Tegan." She brought her arm up to hold on to the edge of
the pool, but kept her body submerged as if the water could
shield her from his intrusive gaze. "I thought I was alone
in here." "So did I." He walked out under the lights, and didn't miss
the flush of color in her cheeks as she quickly averted her
eyes from his near nakedness. He drew closer to the edge and smirked a bit as she moved
away, going toward the center of the pool. "Your arm looks
better." "Tess took care of my wound," she said. "Gabrielle and
Savannah fed me and gave me some fresh clothes. Savannah
said it would be all right if I came up here for a
swim . . ." Tegan shrugged, watching her tread water, lithe arms and
legs moving sinuously beneath the surface. "Do what you
want. You don't need to explain anything to me." She held his gaze across the pool. "Then why do you make me
feel like I do?" "Do I?" Instead of answering, she pivoted and started swimming at
an easy pace, putting more distance between them. "Were you
able to find out anything about the journal?" "Looking to change the subject, are you?" He watched her
retreat toward the deep end, and for some absurd reason, it
took every ounce of impulse control for him to not dive in
and follow her. "We might have a lead on something in
Berlin. I'm heading there tomorrow night." "Berlin?" She reached for the lip of the pool and turned a
frown on him. "What's in Berlin?" "Someone we might be able to persuade into giving us
information. Unfortunately, our best lead right now is a
Rogue. He's been cooling his jets in a holding tank for the
past few years." "A rehabilitation facility?" Elise asked. At Tegan's nod,
she said, "Those places are controlled by the Enforcement
Agency." "So?" "So, what makes you think they'll permit you inside? I'm
sure you are aware that the Order doesn't have a lot of
admirers in the Darkhavens. They have never approved of
your methods when it comes to dealing with the problem of
Breed vampires going Rogue." He had to give the female credit: she was up on her
politics, and she was right about the Enforcement Agency
intending to block the Order's access to the captive Rogue.
Tegan's call to his old ally in Berlin, Andreas Reichen,
had only confirmed what he and Lucan expected. The only way
they were getting near Petrov Odolf was through a lot of
red tape and bureaucratic bullshit. Assuming Reichen could get Tegan an audience at all. Elise knew that, too. "I have connections in the Agency.
Maybe if I went with you . . . " Tegan scoffed. "No way." "Why not? Are you so stubborn that you would refuse my help
even in something like this?" "I work alone, that's why." "Even if it means banging your head against a wall?" Now
she laughed, stunning him with her open mockery. "I would
have thought you were smarter than that, Tegan." Anger pricked at him, but he held it back, refusing to let
her bait him. With a shake of her head, Elise pivoted
around and headed back for the shallow end, swimming with
determined strokes. "I should leave," she murmured. Tegan kept time with her, strolling along the edge of the
pool. "Don't let me interrupt your swim. I was just on my
way out anyway." "I mean, I should leave the compound. It's obvious I don't
belong here." "You can't go back to your apartment now," he informed her
curtly. "The Rogues will have turned the place inside out.
Marek will have his spies embedded all over the
neighborhood, looking for you." "I know that." Her slim body glided through the water,
nearly to the end of the pool. "I'm not foolish enough to
think I can return there." Tegan chuckled, satisfied that maybe she had come to her
senses at last. "Then I guess Harvard has convinced you to
go back to the Darkhaven?" "Harvard? Is that what Sterling goes by now that he's one
of you?" "One of us," Tegan said, hearing the accusation in her
clipped tone. Not that she tried to conceal it. She swam to the steps and came out of the water, evidently
too piqued to care that Tegan was staring openly at her wet
body. His eyes homed in on the birthmark riding the inner
edge of her thigh, drawn there unerringly like a heat-
seeking missile locked on target. Saliva surged into his mouth as he watched rivulets of
water slide down her smooth, bare thighs. His skin felt
tight all over, heat moving in his veins, and in the
dermaglyph markings that covered his body and declared him
one of the Breed. His gums ached with the sudden press of
his fangs. He clamped his jaws together, curbing the
startling jolt of hunger. He didn't want to look at the female, but damned if he
could tear his eyes away from her now. "Sterling hasn't convinced me of anything," she said as she
grabbed her towel and covered herself with it. "He won't
even speak to me, if you want to know the truth. I think he
must hate me after what happened last fall." Tegan studied her smart lavender eyes. "Is that really what
you think--that he hates you?" "Sterling was my mate's brother--by marriage, he is my
brother. It would be completely improper--" Tegan scoffed. "Men have gone to war with their own
brothers for want of the same woman. Desire could give a
damn about propriety." Elise held the towel closed between her breasts and paced
from him. "I don't like where this conversation is
heading." "Do you have feelings for him?" "Of course not." She looked at Tegan, clearly, rightfully,
appalled. "And what right have you to ask me that?" None at all, but suddenly it was important to him that he
know. He stood there, deliberately blocking her path if she
even thought to duck away from him. "He desires you. He
would take you into his bed if you'd let him. Hell, maybe
he wouldn't even need your permission." "Now you're just being rude." "I'm only stating the truth. Don't tell me you weren't
aware that Chase burns for you. Anyone with eyes in his
head can see that." "But only you would be coarse enough to speak it." That pale purple gaze flashed with outrage and for a second
he wondered if he was about to get slapped. He rather hoped
he would. He wanted her angry. Wanted her hating him,
especially now, when the scent of her warm, wet skin was
drilling into his senses. Every curve of her petite body
branding itself into his mind's eye. He was close enough to take her in his hands. Too close,
because at this intimate range, he could see the flutter of
her pulse drumming frantically at her throat, and he was
all too aware that there would be no one to stop him if he
pulled her into his arms and took a forbidden taste of her. "You hang your callousness on the excuse of truth," she
said, a fierceness creeping into her voice. "So maybe you
can tell me why you found it necessary to lie to me about
what happened with the Crimson lab." Tegan narrowed a hard look on her, the question raising
some kind of alarm within him. "I didn't lie to you about
anything." She didn't flinch under his glare, only held his gaze
steadier, challenging him. "It was you who destroyed the
lab, not the Order. You personally, Tegan. No one else. I
heard all about it." 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?"
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