Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [585]
He had the terrible feeling, deep in his gut, that this was only the beginning. Darker days were coming. Perhaps they had been coming for a long time already and he’d been too ignorant—too caught up in his own personal pleasures—to notice.
One of those pleasures came up behind him now, her elegant stride unmistakable as she walked through the estate’s manicured gardens and down onto the grass.
Helene’s lithe arms wrapped around his shoulders. “Hello, darling.”
Reichen reached up to caress her warm skin as she bent over him and kissed him. Her mouth was soft, lingering, her long dark hair fragrant with the lightest trace of rose oil.
“Your nephew told me when I arrived that you’ve been out here for the past couple of hours,” she murmured, lifting her head to gaze out at the lake. “I can see why. It’s a lovely view.”
“It just got lovelier,” Reichen said, as he tipped his chin up and looked at her.
She smiled without coyness, having long become accustomed to his flattery. “Something is troubling you, Andreas. It’s not like you to sit alone and brood.”
Could she know him so well? They had been lovers for the past year, a casual dalliance that had somehow turned into something deeper if not entirely exclusive. Reichen knew Helene had other men in her life—human men—as he also occasionally took his pleasure with other women. Theirs was not a relationship plagued by jealousies or possessiveness. But that didn’t mean it was devoid of affection. They shared a mutual concern for each other, and a bond of trust that extended beyond the barriers that generally made human and Breed relationships impossible.
Helene had become a friend and, of late, an indispensable partner in Reichen’s important remote work with the warriors back in Boston.
Helene came around to the front of the chair and seated herself on the broad arm. “Have you relayed the news to the Order about the recent assassination in Paris?”
Reichen nodded. “I did, yes. And they tell me there was also an attempted killing in Montreal a few nights ago. At least that one failed, by some miracle of fate. But there will be others. I fear there will be many more deaths to come before the smoke finally clears. The Order is convinced they will put a stop to the madness, but there are times when I wonder if the evil at work here isn’t greater than any amount of good.”
“You’re letting this consume you,” Helene said as she idly petted his hair off his brow. “You know, if you were looking for something to do with your time, you could have come to me instead of the Order. I could have put you to work at the club as my personal assistant. It’s not too late to change your mind. And I assure you, the fringe benefits alone would be worth it.”
Reichen chuckled. “Tempting, indeed.”
Helene bent down and nibbled his earlobe, her breath tickling and heated on his skin. “It would only be a temporary position, of course. Say twenty or thirty years—a blink of time to you. But by then I will be wrinkled and gray, and you will be eager for a new, more appealing plaything who can still keep up with your wicked demands.”
Reichen was surprised to hear the twinge of wistfulness in Helene’s voice. She’d never talked about the future with him, nor he with her. It was more or less understood that there could never be a future, given that she was mortal with a finite life span and he—barring prolonged UV exposure or massive bodily harm—would continue living for something close to eternity.
“What are you doing wasting your time with me when you could have your pick of any man?” he asked her, running his fingers along the smooth line of her shoulder. “You could be married to someone who adores you, raising a litter of clever, beautiful children.”
Helene arched a flawlessly manicured brow. “I suppose I never was one to make the conventional choice.”
Neither was he, in fact. Reichen acknowledged that it would