“…a known criminal and smuggler…”
“…tip came in about an assassination attempt…we’d hoped to prevent…”
“She’s not going to make it…”
“We’re losing her…”
Alex sank into hell with a vision of blue laser light burned in his mind.
Chapter Eight
“How did you know?” Derek asked.
Alex stood at the window of the Council embassy on Tolan, and took in the view of the brightly lit city and the night sky above. The horror of the previous week’s events would be forever burned onto his memory. He simply wanted to crawl between sheets still scented of Bree and sleep forever. An eternity without her was far too agonizing to consider.
“The blue laser,” he replied in a choked voice. “The droid used it earlier to signal Briana in the woods. When I saw it again I realized James had to be responsible. I’m glad I got that thought across before I lost consciousness.”
Derek spun his chair around to look at him. “Beaumont was able to track the droid programmer through the database files you forwarded to him. The woman responsible for corrupting the sex bot was apprehended last week, not long after the altercation in the transport hub.”
Swallowing hard, Alex’s hands clenched into fists. The authorities had shot him so full of tranquilizers he’d been asleep for a week, preventing him from personally seeing to the capture of the culprit responsible for Bree’s death.
“The programmer is a member of a relatively small faction of vamp haters. Apparently, when she realized who she was preparing the droid for, she seized the opportunity of a lifetime. She programmed the sex bot to kill Michaels in a way guaranteed to shed no suspicion on herself. From there the droid took over. It chose a vamp to blame and picked a busy public venue—like Thieves’ Cove and then the transport hub—so there could be no doubt that you were responsible. The plan would have worked if you’d been the criminal it thought you were.”
“Can I go now?” Alex asked, his voice hoarse. Who the hell cared about the droid or the bitch who programmed it? Ever since he’d woken up, all he’d wanted was to be left alone to grieve. Instead he’d been ordered to see Derek immediately.
“I need to discuss your next assignment. I’m transferring you to—”
“I don’t fucking care, Derek!” he shouted, turning away from the window. “She’s dead. I don’t care about assignments. I don’t care about the corps. I don’t give a shit about anything.” He stalked toward the door.
“Night. Damn it! Wait a minute.”
“Go to hell, Atkinson.” Alex slammed the door behind him.
His vision blurred as he ran with inhuman speed and endurance from the embassy to his ship. His heart throbbed with a sharp, endless ache and he screamed out his agony as he flew through the golden-leafed woods. The beast within him howled and clawed to get out, and he released it with relief, eager to tear apart anything that got in his way. He leapt from tree to tree, his claws sinking easily into the solid bark, marking his trail with scars that mirrored the ones on his heart.
He wanted off this planet, this place that Bree had called home. He wanted to pick a fight with someone, anyone who had the skills to end his misery. And he knew just where to go to make that happen.
Reaching his ship, Alex leapt inside before the ramp finished lowering. He landed in a crouch and took a deep breath, his nostrils filling with the scent of his lost love. Surrounded by cold metal, the memories of Bree warmed the space—echoes of laughter and throaty cries of pleasure that drove him insane.
Bree! he cried, shuddering with the depth of his pain. He felt her so keenly here, in the place where he’d loved her.
Following his instincts, he flew down the corridor and into his room. He leapt onto the velvet-draped bed and paused, his senses bombarded with the lingering essence of Briana. Closing his eyes, he pictured her loveliness spread across his sheets—the wild blonde curls on red satin, the sweetly parted lips that knew just how to please him, the heavy-lidded eyes that begged for more…he could almost hear her giggling as he tickled her and her smart-ass comments when he teased her…he could feel her hands on his skin, caressing and kneading…
In such a short time, they’d shared so much. Lost in bittersweet memories, he was openly vulnerable and completely unprepared for the tackle that came from behind.
Astonished, he reacted without thought, rolling across the large bed and pinning his attacker. Fangs fully bared and eager for a fight, he snarled, ready to kill. Instead he froze in shock.
“Bree?”
The momentary hesitation was all she needed. Throwing her leg over his hip, she twisted, taking the advantage. Beautifully naked, she straddled him and smiled, her beloved face framed with riotous golden locks. Dumbfounded, Alex glanced at her chest and saw the healing, fist-sized scar above her left breast. He touched it hesitantly, consumed with guilt that he’d failed to protect her.
“Hi, baby,” she said in a soft, breathy voice.
And then she bit him with her fangs.
Alex arched upward and hissed as the temporary discomfort melted into heated lust and endless relief. His cock swelled painfully, filling with his need for her.
Bree! He crushed her to him with pure, unadulterated joy while his stunned mind struggled to make sense of it all.
She was a vamp. Like him. Not gone. Not lost. But wonderfully, vibrantly, marvelously real.
Hush, she soothed, undulating her lithe body over his, rubbing the hard points of her nipples across his vest-covered chest.
How?
One of the other agents saved me. I’d lost so much blood, it was the only way.
No one told me.
President Atkinson commed me when you left his office. He thought you knew.
As she fed, she replayed the events of the past week in his mind while her soft silken hair brushed across his cheek. Awed by the feel of her, Alex arched his throat into her suckling mouth.
I love you, he moaned, intoxicated by the smell of her and the delight of finding she was not gone forever.
She lifted her head, licked her fangs and arched a wicked brow. “I trust you to protect me, Alexei. I want you to know that. You’re assigned to me now, as my personal pilot and guard.”
Alex swallowed hard and shook his head. “I failed you.”
“No, you
didn’t. You defied a direct order and sent your friend to protect my sister. No one could have done any more than you did.” She smoothed his brow. “I won’t take ‘No’ for an answer.”
“Oh, hell,” he breathed, a single tear slipping down his temple. His hands ran restlessly up and down her thighs. “Tell me I haven’t succumbed to grief-induced delirium.”
“Nah, you’re not crazy,” she said, her fingertips drifting across his chest and teasing the flat points of his nipples through his vest. “But I wouldn’t mind if you got a little wild. I’m a vamp now. I can take it.”
He reached up and brushed her curls back. “How do you feel about that? You seem to have taken to feeding without any trouble.”
“You’re yummy, babe. I’ve always thought so.”
“That’s nice to know.” Alex studied her features intently and searched her mind. She was putting on a brave face and trying to play it off, but she was still adjusting mentally and physically to the drastic change in her lifestyle. His love brushed across her jumbled thoughts soothingly.
Sighing, she sat back and settled over his aching cock. “Well, the way I see it is, I have this gorgeous vamp who just happens to have fallen in love with me.”
“Lucky girl.”
“Yes, I am. However, there was a slight caveat.”
“Oh?”
“See, he was destined for an eternity of heart-stopping hotness and I… Well, I was going to turn into a wrinkled old hag. Sucking blood was the least I could do to keep him interested.”
The tip of his finger slid down the valley between her breasts. “I bet he would love you anyway, no matter what you looked like.”
Bree’s eyes turned soft and liquid with adoration. “You know,” she murmured in a husky voice. “I think he would have.”
“Damn straight.” He lifted her palm to his lips. “But I’m still not reassured. What about your career?”
She shrugged. “I was pretty solidly situated in my seat and being a vamp won’t change that. PR-wise, it’s not as newsworthy for a vamp to champion the vampire cause as it is for a human to do it, but oh well. I am what I am.”