Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [767]
She turned to Claire to explain. “A few months ago, when Rio and I met, I discovered that my special talent is seeing dead people. Well, dead people who happen to be Breedmates, that is. I saw several at the shelter where my mom used to work. They asked me to help their captive sisters—to save them before he killed them all. They told me there were more, still alive, being kept underground, in darkness. They gave me the name of their captor, too: Dragos.”
“Oh, my God,” Claire whispered, astonished.
“Finding them has become a bit of an obsession for me. Ever since then, we’ve been searching missing persons’ records, trying to follow up on leads to see where some of these women might have last been seen, where they might have gone. Maybe we can find them. If we can save just one life, it will be worth it.”
“I will help you however I can,” Claire said. “If I have to cover the entire length and breadth of the United States and Germany combined to find Wilhelm Roth and force him to give up Dragos, then I’ll do it.”
Dylan smiled. “I like you already.”
“That’s not a bad idea, you know.” Gideon launched out of his swivel chair and jogged over to one of the large New England maps that hung on the wall. He pointed to a red pin stuck into a location near the New York and Connecticut border. “We know where Dragos has been seen recently. We know that he once had a residence in New York under one of his aliases. If we start searching in this region and sweep out toward the coast, maybe we’ll find something.” He looked at Claire. “It’s too close to dawn to do anything tonight yet, but would you be willing to come along on a recon sweep and use your blood bond to see if you can get a reading on Roth’s whereabouts?”
“Of course.” She pretended she couldn’t hear the low, barely audible growl that emanated from Andreas’s direction. He could try to dissuade her, but her mind was made up. She was in this battle now, too, no matter if he liked it or not. “I can be ready anytime.”
CHAPTER
Twenty-three
Reichen caught up to Claire as the meeting in the tech lab dispersed. He hung back while the rest of the warriors filed out of the room to prepare for the night’s last mission in the city, his gaze locked on to Claire in a volatile mix of outrage and absolute fear.
“What the hell was that all about?” he demanded as she and Gabrielle and Savannah exited the lab together. “When Tegan told me a few minutes ago that you had made contact with Roth, I didn’t believe him. What the fuck were you thinking, Claire? More to the point, were you thinking at all?”
She swallowed hard under the verbal assault, but she didn’t flinch. “It’s all right,” she told the two Breedmates accompanying her. “Andreas and I should talk alone.”
Reichen’s fury simmered as Lucan and Gideon’s mates departed and left him standing in the corridor with a very defiant, very unfazed Claire.
“My God,” he said, feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of him. The same feeling he’d had when Tegan broke the news of Claire’s dreamwalk visit to her mate after the encounter that had ended so clumsily in the compound’s chapel. “What did you think to accomplish by approaching Roth like you did?”
“I had my reasons,” she answered evenly.
“Such as?”
“It doesn’t matter. He wasn’t interested in negotiating. I’m sure that comes as little surprise to you.”
Reichen scoffed. “Roth never negotiates. He takes. And where he can’t simply take, he steals. He kills, Claire. What the hell did you possibly think you could gain by seeking him out, even in a dream?”
She started to move past him, as if she intended to leave him standing in the hallway without an answer. Before she could take two steps, he grabbed her by the arm and drew her back to him.
“What did you ask him for, Claire? Your freedom? His mercy?” He scowled,