Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [297]
“What are you going to do?” Elise asked as the last of the devices disappeared into a deep inside pocket. “You’re not going to turn me in, are you?”
“I damn well should.” His flinty gaze raked her dismissively. “But what you do isn’t any of my concern so long as you keep your ass out of my way. And don’t expect the Order to ride to your rescue the next time you get in over your head.”
“I won’t. I don’t…expect anything, I mean.” She watched him head for the door, feeling awash in relief that she would soon be alone to contend with the tidal wave of pain that was roaring up on her swiftly. As the warrior opened the door and stepped out into the ratty hallway, Elise summoned what remained of her voice. “Tegan, thank you. This is just…something I have to do.”
She fell silent, thinking of Camden, and all the other Darkhaven youths who’d been lost to the poison of the Rogues. Even Quentin’s life had been cut short by a diseased member of the Breed who’d gone Rogue and attacked while in custody of the Agency.
Elise couldn’t bring any of the lost lives back; she knew that. But each day that she hunted, each Minion she eliminated meant one less weapon in the Rogues’ arsenal. The pain she suffered for the task was nothing compared to what her son and the others must have endured. True death for her would be in being forced to sit within the shelter of the Darkhaven and do nothing while the streets ran red with the blood of the innocent.
That, she couldn’t bear.
“This is important to me, Tegan. I made a promise. I mean to uphold it.”
He paused, slid a flat glance over his shoulder. “It’s your funeral,” he said, and pulled the door closed behind him.
CHAPTER
Four
Tegan threw the last of Elise’s hunting souvenirs into an isolated stretch of the Charles River and watched as the dark water rippled out and the cell phone vanished into the drink. Like all the rest that he and the other warriors had confiscated on their patrols, the encrypted cell phones would be of no use to the Order. And he sure as hell wasn’t about to leave them with Elise, GPS chips disabled or not.
Christ, he could not believe what the woman had been up to. Even more incredible was the fact that she’d been carrying out her lunatic vendetta for what had to be weeks, maybe even months. Obviously her brother-by-marriage had no idea, or the by-the-book ex–Darkhaven Enforcement Agent would have put a swift stop to it. Everyone in the Order knew that Sterling Chase had once had feelings for his brother’s widow—probably still did. Not that it was any of Tegan’s business. Nor was Elise’s apparent death wish.
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his unbuttoned coat, Tegan stalked back to the street, his breath rolling between his lips in a cloud of misting steam. It was snowing again in Boston. A blustery curtain of fine white flakes fell onto a city already frozen from weeks of an unusually frigid winter. Tegan knew it had to be pushing single digits with the windchill, but he didn’t feel the cold. He could hardly remember the last time he’d felt discomfort of any kind. Longer still, the last time he’d felt pleasure.
Hell, when was the last time he’d felt anything at all?
He remembered pain.
He remembered loss, the anger that had once consumed him…long, long ago.
He remembered Sorcha and how much he’d loved her. How sweetly innocent she was and how completely she had trusted him to keep her safe and protected.
God, how he’d failed her. He would never forget what had been done to her, how savagely she’d been abused. To survive the blow of her death, he had learned to detach from his grief, from his raw fury. But he could never forget. Would never