Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [581]
“No shit.” Gideon chuckled around another low curse. “You coming back in to Boston, then?”
“I see no reason to linger. Unless you figure Lucan will look the other way if I decide to go back and put a torch to Yakut’s house of horrors. Put him out of business, at least for a while.”
He was kidding… mostly. But Gideon’s answering silence told him that his fellow warrior knew the wheels were turning inside Niko’s head.
“You know you can’t do anything of the sort, my man. Way out of bounds.”
“And doesn’t that suck,” Nikolai muttered.
“Yeah, it does. But this kind of thing belongs to the Enforcement Agency, not us.”
“Tell me how Yakut is any different from the Rogues we take off the streets, Gid. Hell, from what I’ve seen of him, he’s worse. At least the Rogues can blame their savagery on Bloodlust. Yakut can’t even cling to blood addiction as his excuse for hunting those humans out there. He’s a predator, a killer.”
“He is protected,” Gideon said, firmly now. “Even if he wasn’t Gen One, he’s still a civilian, still a member of the Breed. We can’t touch him, Niko. Not without a lot of serious shit hitting the fan. So, whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
Nikolai exhaled sharply. “Forget I said it. What time should I plan on catching a ride back to Boston tonight?”
“I’ll have to make a couple of calls to get a flight plan filed on short notice, but the private jet’s still waiting for you at the airport. I can text you the time once I have it firmed up.”
“Okay. I’ll chill and wait for your go.”
“Where are you at, anyway?”
Nikolai glanced at the coffin behind him, the other one across from him, and the bronze urn gathering dust on a pedestal against the back wall of the dark mausoleum. “I found a quiet little place to grab a rest in the north end of the city. Slept like the dead, in fact. Or with them, at any rate.”
“Speaking of dead,” Gideon said, “we’ve got a report of another Gen One killing overseas.”
“Christ. Picking them off like flies, aren’t they?”
“Or trying to, from the looks of it. Reichen’s following up on the report from Berlin. Got an e-mail from him that he’ll be calling in later today with an update.”
“Good to know we’ve got eyes and ears that we can trust over there,” Niko said. “Shit, Gideon. Never would have thought I’d have any use for a Darkhaven civilian, but Andreas Reichen is proving to be a damn good ally. Maybe Lucan ought to officially recruit him into the Order?”
Gideon chuckled. “Don’t think he hasn’t considered it. Alas, we’re just a part-time gig for Reichen. He may have the soul of a warrior, but his heart belongs to his Berlin Darkhaven.”
And a certain human female, from what Nikolai understood. According to Tegan and Rio, the two warriors who’d spent the most time with Andreas Reichen at his Berlin headquarters, the German Darkhaven leader was romantically involved with a brothel owner named Helene.
It was unusual for a Breed male to have more than a casual, short-term relationship with a mortal woman, but Niko wasn’t about to question it since Helene was also proving instrumental in the Order’s intelligence-gathering efforts overseas.
“So, listen,” Gideon said. “Cool your heels where you are, and I’ll let you know once I have your departure info for tonight. Sound good?”
“Yeah. You know how to find me.”
The murmur of a velvety female voice, soft from sleep, carried vaguely through the receiver.
“Ah, hell, Gid. Don’t tell me you’re in bed with Savannah.”
“I was,” he replied, leaning hard on the past tense. “Now that she’s awake, she says she’s tossing me over for a hot shower and a cup of strong coffee.”
Nikolai groaned. “Shit. Tell her I’m sorry for the interruption.”
“Hey babe,” Gideon called to his beloved, blood-bonded mate of some thirty-odd years. “Niko says he’s sorry for being such a rude bastard and waking you up at this ungodly hour.”
“Thanks,” Niko muttered.
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll check in with you again from the plane heading home.”
“Sounds good,” Gideon said. Then, to Savannah on the side: “Hey love?