Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [112]
How long did he think he could carry on with her without falling? More to the point, how did he ever think he was going to handle the thought of letting her go? Of sending her away with the idea that she would be paired with someone else?
Things were getting too goddamned complicated.
He hissed a curse. Fired off another bunch of rounds, relishing the blast of hot metal and acrid smoke as his target’s chest exploded from the impact.
“What do you think?” Nikolai asked, his crisp wintry eyes glittering. “Sweet little piece, isn’t it? Responsive as hell, too.”
“Yeah. Feels good. I like it.” Lucan flipped on the safety and gave the new handgun another look. “Beretta 92FS converted to full auto with a drop-in unit? Nice work, man. Real nice.”
Niko grinned. “I haven’t even told you about the custom rounds that bad boy’s carrying. I tricked out some hollowpoint polycarbonate-tipped bullets. Took the shot out of the poly tips, added titanium powder in its place.”
“That ought to make a nasty mess when it hits a suckhead’s blood system,” Dante added from where he sat sharpening his blades on the edge of a weapons cabinet.
No doubt, the vampire was right about that. In the Old Times, the cleanest way to kill a Rogue was by separating its head from its body. That worked fine while swords were the weapon of choice, but modern technology brought new challenges for both sides.
It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the Breed discovered the uniquely corrosive effect of titanium on the overactive blood systems of Rogue vampires. Thanks to an allergy that was amplified by cellular mutations in their blood, Rogues reacted to titanium the way Alka-Seltzer reacted to water.
Niko took the weapon back from Lucan and pet it like a prize. “What you got here is one kickass Rogue blaster.”
“When can we test it out?” Rio asked.
“How about tonight?” Tegan strode in without making a sound, but his voice cut through the room like the growl of a coming storm.
“You talking about that location you scouted down by the harbor?” Dante asked.
Tegan nodded. “Probable lair, housing maybe a dozen individuals, give or take. I’m guessing they’re still green, just turned Rogue. Be no big thing to take them out.”
“Been a while since we cleaned house on a raid,” Rio drawled, his smile broad and eager. “Sounds like a party to me.”
Lucan passed the weapon back to Niko and gave the others a scowl. “Why the hell am I just hearing about this?”
Tegan slid a flat stare his direction. “You need to do a little catch-up, man. While you were holed up with your female all night, the rest of us were topside doing our jobs.”
“That’s a low blow,” Rio said. “Even for you, Tegan.”
Lucan considered the slam in measured silence. “No, he’s right. I should have been up there taking care of business. I had some things to handle back here. And now they’re handled. It’s not going to be an issue anymore.”
Tegan smirked. “Is that right? Because I gotta tell you, when I saw the Breedmate in the hall a few minutes ago, she was looking pretty upset. Felt like someone had torn the poor girl’s heart out. Felt to me like she needed someone to make things better for her.”
Lucan roared up on the vampire in a furious, black rage. “What did you say to her? Did you touch her? So help me, if you did anything to her—”
Tegan chuckled, genuinely amused. “Easy, man. No need to come off your chain about it. Your female’s none of my concern.”
“You remember that,” Lucan said. He whirled around to meet the curious gazes of the other warriors. “She’s no concern for any of you, are we clear? Gabrielle Maxwell is under my personal protection while she is in this compound. Once she leaves for the Darkhavens, she’ll no longer be my concern, either.”
It took him a minute to simmer down and not give in to the urge to go head-to-head with Tegan. One day, it was probably going to come to that. And Lucan couldn’t totally blame the male for holding a grudge. If Tegan was a mean-ass