Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [848]
To his complete irritation, his libido perked up with the eager suggestion that he turn back for Harmony and go find her again. Not that it should surprise him that thoughts of her simmered just beneath the surface of his consciousness. Their kiss still had him on fire inside—banked flames, but embers needing only the slightest trace of fuel to ignite.
And that was bad news.
Bad news to want the female so badly, especially when his mission depended on keeping her silent. Deflecting her suspicions, whatever the cost. Erasing the risk she posed to his mission, the Order’s goals, and the security of the Breed nation as a whole.
Whatever Alexandra Maguire knew about the killings in the bush—whatever she knew about Kade’s kind in general—had to be shut down, and shut down fast.
Had it only been earlier that day that he’d considered seducing the truth out of her, if necessary? Now that plan had a serious kink in it, because if their kiss had shown him anything, it was that letting himself get close to Alex—even in the name of duty—wasn’t going to be easy. She had an unanticipated effect on him already, from the mile-wide independent streak she wore like a carefully placed mask, to the threadbare hint of vulnerability he’d glimpsed in her tonight.
No, going back to find Alex at home right now was not an option. Besides, he doubted she’d look favorably on him stalking her after the way she bolted from him at Pete’s. Hell, for all he knew, Zach Tucker might still be with her. Obviously they were friends, and no doubt the clean-cut trooper appealed to her stated need to categorize everything into neat compartments. From his domed hat and meticulously pressed uniform to the tops of his precisely laced boots, Officer Tucker projected cut-and-dried, black-and-white, good-guy appeal.
Except something about the man bothered Kade. Partly the apparent ease of his relationship with Alex, although jealousy wasn’t something Kade caved to very often. That didn’t keep him from gritting his teeth thinking about the guy, or from wondering if maybe a quick trip back to Harmony just to look in on Alex wasn’t in order after all. Picking up where they’d left off in Pete’s parking lot was optional. Not to mention sorely tempting.
Before the idea could take root any more than it had already, Kade dismissed it with a curse muttered low under his breath.
Bad fucking news—that’s what this entire mission was shaping up to be.
With that thought dogging his heels, Kade slipped away from his surveillance of Skeeter Arnold and his new high-security pals, and started off in the direction of his father’s Darkhaven a few hours away on foot. He could wait out the daylight there, check in with headquarters in Boston about his findings so far, and see if Gideon could turn up anything of interest on the Coldstream Mining Company.
Skeeter Arnold had lost all track of time. He rode in the backseat of the black Hummer, surprised to see the clock on the expensive ride’s dashboard up front read 6:00 AM.
He’d been gone all night?
It felt as though he’d just left Pete’s tavern a few minutes ago and now here he was, back again. Only now everything was different.
He was different.
He felt it in the way his body sat so straight on the leather seat, his spine erect, shoulders lifted out of their usual heavy slump. He felt empowered somehow, and knew the source of that power was sitting beside him: motionless, silent, radiating dark menace and cool, lethal control.
Skeeter didn’t know his name. He couldn’t even recall if he’d been told.
It no longer mattered.
“You will tell no one of what transpired tonight,” said the airless voice from within the deep hood of a black-fur parka.