Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [272]
Neither warrior denied it. There wasn’t a blood-bonded male alive who wouldn’t walk through a sea of fire for the woman he loved.
Lucan came toward him and held out his hand. “You honor her well.”
Dante clasped his leader’s strong Gen One hand—his friend’s hand—and shook it firmly. “Thank you. But to be honest, I’m doing this as much for myself as I am for Tess. I need her in my life. She has become…everything to me.”
Lucan nodded soberly. “Then go get her, my brother. We can celebrate your pairing when you and Tess return safely to the compound.”
Dante held Lucan’s regal gaze and slowly shook his head. “That is something I need to discuss with you. With all of you,” he said, looking to the other warriors as well. “Assuming I survive at all, if I am able to save Tess, and if she will have me as her mate—I intend to relocate to the Darkhavens with her.”
A long silence answered, his brethren staring at him in measured quiet.
Dante cleared his throat, knowing his decision must come as a shock to the warriors he’d fought alongside for more than a century. “She’s been through enough already—even before I met her and dragged her into our world against her will. She deserves happiness. She deserves a hell of a lot more than I can ever hope to give her. I just want her to be safe now, far away from any danger.”
“You would quit the Order for her?” Niko asked, the youngest only behind Dante, and a warrior who relished his duty perhaps even more than Dante had himself.
“I would quit breathing for her, if she asked it of me,” he replied, surprising even himself with the depth of his devotion. He looked to Chase, who still owed him that second favor from last night. “What do you think? You got any pull left in the Boston Darkhaven to help me get a spot with the Agency?”
Chase smirked, lifting his shoulder in a casual shrug. “I might.” He strode toward the weapons cabinet and took out a SIG Sauer. “But first things first, eh? We have to get your female back here in one piece so she can decide if she wants your sorry ass for a mate.”
“We?” Dante said, watching the former Darkhaven agent suit up with the SIG and another semiauto.
“Yeah, we. I’m going with you.”
“What the—”
“Me too,” Niko said, sauntering over and pulling out his own cache of weapons. The Russian grinned as he nodded toward Lucan, Gideon, and Tegan. “You’re not going to leave me down here with these Gen One geezers, are you?”
“No one’s coming with me. I wouldn’t ask it—”
“You never have to,” Niko said. “Like it or not, D, Chase and I are all you’ve got on this mission. You’re not doing this alone.”
Dante swore, humbled and grateful for the show of support. “All right, then. Let’s get moving.”
CHAPTER Thirty-five
With the knife biting into her neck to keep her silent, Ben forced Tess out of her building and into a waiting car on the street. He smelled bad, like soured blood and sweat and a hint of decay. His clothes were filthy and wrinkled, his normally golden hair unkempt, hanging lank and unwashed into his brow. As he shoved her into the backseat of the car, Tess caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were dull and flat, staring at her with a cold detachment that made her skin crawl.
And Ben wasn’t alone.
Two other men waited in the car, both seated in the front, both sharing the same vacant glint in their eyes.
“Where is it, Tess?” Ben asked as he closed the door and shut them inside the dark vehicle. “I left a little something at the clinic the other day, but now it’s not there. What did you do with it?”
The flash drive he’d lied about concealing. Which was currently in Dante’s possession. As much as she doubted Dante after all she had learned about him, what she felt for Ben now was even stronger. She met his disturbingly lifeless gaze and shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Wrong answer, Doc.”
Tess wasn’t at all