Tegan cursed low under his breath. He had to get the hell out of there, and the way things were going, tomorrow night's flight to Berlin wasn't going to be soon enough.

He had somewhere he could go--the place he always went when shit started bearing down on him. Sometimes he'd disappear there for nights on end; none of his brethren in the Order had ever been there. It was his own private hell, a forsaken, hollow place, filled with death. Right about now, it sounded like a fucking holiday.

Elise stood in the center of a large, mostly vacant chamber in the compound, feeling as if she'd had the wind knocked out of her. She was still shaking from her confrontation with Tegan, but whether it was from humiliation or anger, she wasn't sure. What he'd done to her in front of his brethren was inexcusable, incredibly cold. He had to know that what he suggested was blasphemous and profanely insulting--not just to her, but to the warriors who'd been in the room to hear it. Only the lowest females living among the Breed would engage in a blood bond without a solemn commitment and a deeply shared love.

The blood bond was the most sacred communion between a Breedmate and the male she chose as her own. The ultimate intimacy, it was very often a sexual act, and one never entered into lightly. To use a vampire's blood only to further one's longevity and strength was simply not done. Not by anyone Elise knew.

But she couldn't deny that Tegan's observations of her had been the truth.

What he'd said was cruel and crude...and utterly accurate. She was willingly wasting away, which was her prerogative as a widowed Breedmate. But she wanted to have an active part in thwarting the Rogues, and it was foolish of her to think she could do so if she continued on as she was.

Elise glanced at the barren room around her. The white, windowless walls contained no color at all--no pleasing art or photographs, like she'd seen in the rest of the compound. No sofa, no electronic equipment or computers, no books. Nothing of personal expression at all.

Near the far wall stood a tall black cabinet, and a black wooden bench beside it, underneath which was two pairs of large black leather boots, arranged with military precision. There was a large bed in the adjacent room, but even that wasn't particularly inviting. Just gunmetal gray sheets and a coal-colored blanket folded neatly at the foot of the king-sized mattress. Elise had never seen a soldiers' barracks, but she imagined they'd look like this...maybe not this cold and impersonal.

She knew where she was, of course. She'd known where she was heading when she navigated the labyrinth of corridors after removing herself from the embarrassment she'd endured in the Order's control room.

She knew what she was about to do now, but that didn't make her heart skip any less frantically when she heard Tegan's hard gait approaching from outside the open door of his private quarters.

That long-legged stride slowed, then ceased altogether as the air stirred coldly, announcing his arrival. His immense body filled the door frame, muscular arms crossed over his chest, his powerful, denim-clad thighs spread in a battle stance. He didn't speak at first, but there was no need for words when his emerald-green eyes narrowed on her, as sharp as gemstones and as cold as a glacier.

Tegan--

If you're looking for an apology, you can forget it.

Elise held that menacing gaze as she forced herself to approach him. I'm not here for that, she told him, surprised there was no tremor in her voice for the way her pulse was skittering in her veins. I came here to tell you that you were right back there. I do need the strength of a blood bond, but I'm not looking for a mate. I need an uncomplicated arrangement, with someone who isn't going to care what I do, or when I walk away...so I choose you.

Chapter Thirteen

Every smartass, apathetic reply that might have sprung to his lips fled, along with all the blood in his brain. Tegan stood there in the doorway of his private apartments, struck stupid with shock at what he just heard.

He sure as hell never saw this coming.

And although all good sense told him to deny Elise's proposal--shut the goddamn idea down before another second passed--his mouth didn't seem capable of speech. An erotic mental image burned instantly into his mind: Elise's lips pressed against his skin, her sweet pink tongue lapping at him, her mouth drawing deeply from his vein.

He wanted that, he realized in a flash of disbelief.

Wanted it so bad he shuddered with the force of it.

Jesus Christ, he muttered, finding his voice at last. You're insane. And I'm leaving. I only came to grab a few of my things and I'm out of here.

When he stalked forward, meaning to dismiss her and her ludicrous suggestion without another word, Elise moved into his way. He glared down at her, but she didn't so much as flinch under the deadly look that would have withered warriors and Rogues alike.

What are you running from, Tegan? Soft lavender eyes fixed on him in defiant challenge. I'm sure it can't be me scaring you off.

He scoffed at the idea, refusing to let her see how close to the mark she might be. Do you know what you're asking for? If you take my blood, a part of you will be linked to me for as long as I'm alive. It's an unbreakable connection.

I know very well what the blood bond entails. All of it.

Her sudden flush seemed to indicate that she was also aware of the sexual nature of the act. Vampire blood had a highly aphrodisiac quality. In females without the Breedmate mark, the effect was often a rush of fierce desire; in females like Elise, who were capable of bearing Breed offspring, the drinking of Breed blood nearly always sent them into a heated sexual hunger that demanded to be slaked.

I'm not what you're used to, he told her sternly, the only warning he could think of now. Don't think that I'll be gentle with you. I wouldn't show you any mercy.

Her little smile was mocking. I'd hardly expect that you would.

With that, she turned and strode away from him, her spine impeccably erect as she went into his bedroom to await him. Tegan raked his fingers through his hair, knowing he had about two seconds to get a grip on himself and walk away from this certain disaster. Any longer for him to think about it, and he didn't know if he'd have the will to refuse her.

In the adjacent room, he heard the soft clop of Elise's shoes hitting the rug as she took them off. If he thought he could scare her out of going through with this, apparently all he'd done was fortify her resolve. She'd thrown a gauntlet here, and he had never been the kind of male to back down from a challenge.

Even now, when every survival instinct he possessed was clamoring for him to turn tail and run from a situation that had catastrophe written all over it.

Long moments ticked by.

And still she waited.

Tegan growled a dark oath.

Then, with hardly a conscious thought to command it, he brought the door to his apartments closed with the will of his mind and headed for the bedroom after her.

Some of Elise's resolve wavered as Tegan came in behind her to his bedroom. There was a savage intensity in his slow steady stride and in the unblinking gaze trained on her. Suddenly she felt as if she were standing before a predator while it measured its options, preparing to close in for the kill.

How do you want... She let the words trail off, uncertain how to proceed now that she actually had him here. Where shall I...?

The bed, came his flat reply.

He began pulling off his black knit shirt, baring his glyph-marked torso. Their normal henna hue was deepening now, no longer the neutral shade indicating a placid mood, but blushing darker, the patterns beginning to saturate. Elise sat down on the very edge of the mattress and turned her head to avert her eyes from him. She heard the crush of fabric as Tegan set the shirt aside and came nearer to the bed.

You're overdressed, he said, his warm breath tickling the side of her bare neck. His presence so close to her was almost as startling as his words. Elise turned an anxious glance on him. You mean for me to disrobe? I don't see why I sh--

You will, he said, leaving no room for argument. If I were a cultured Darkhaven male and not the crude warrior that I am, I doubt you'd expect me to receive you fully clothed.

It was true. Respect for the act of blood- bonding between vampire and Breedmate demanded that both parties come to each other without concealment, coercion, or reservation. Naked in body, commitment, and intent.

Tegan reached down to unfasten the zipper on his low-slung blue jeans.

As they sagged on his trim pelvis, Elise's eyes fell unwillingly to the ridges of taut muscle that defined him, and to the trailing pattern of dermaglyphs that quite obviously continued all the way down to his naked, swelling groin. He wore nothing beneath, she realized in a state of instant panic.

Please, she gasped. Tegan, please. Will you...leave them on?

He didn't reply, but he slowly pulled the denim back together and dragged the zipper up. She couldn't help noticing that the button at the top stayed undone, baring a small vee of his smooth tawny skin.

That's the only request you get tonight, he said in a deep rasp. You still have time to reconsider. But not much. Now disrobe, or ask me nicely to let you leave.

He was testing her. She knew he was deliberately pushing her now, probably so sure that he could make her change her mind with a few menacing words. Really, she should be afraid. Not just of being alone with a warrior like Tegan, but also of the intimate, sacred act she was about to defile by drinking from a male she had no intention of taking as her mate. Truly, she degraded them both by asking Tegan to service her like this, and if he was disgusted by the thought--or by her--she could hardly blame him.

What's it going to be, Elise?

She stood up, too aware of him watching her, waiting for her to bolt. With only the slightest tremble in her fingers, she began to lift the hem of her tunic and drew it up over her head.

Tegan's warm breath ceased. He went utterly still beside her, but she could feel heat rolling off him as she set her top down on the bed.

She crossed her arms over the modest white cotton bra she wore, and turned a questioning look on him.

When Tegan finally spoke, his voice was thick, obstructed by the points of his gleaming white fangs. Your pants too. You can keep the rest on for now.

She stripped out of her jeans as quickly as she could, then sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Move to the middle, and face me sitting on your knees.

As she scooted to the center of the king- sized mattress, Tegan came up onto the bed as well. He prowled forward on his knees, until only a foot of space separated them. The pupils in the heart of his green irises began to thin, narrowing down by degrees into vertical slits. When he parted his lips to speak, his fangs seemed enormous.

Last chance, Elise.

She gave a shake of her head, incapable of talk now. Tegan snarled something nasty under his breath, then brought his wrist up to his mouth. With his eyes on hers, he bared his fangs and sank them into the flesh below his palm.

Dark red blood dripped from the wound, falling softly, steadily, onto the gray sheets.

Come here, he said, holding his arm out to her, his lips stained crimson from his bite.

With her eyes closed, heart stuttering in her breast, Elise leaned forward. She put her hands under his thick forearm and carefully lifted his bleeding punctures to her mouth. There, she hesitated, knowing there would be no turning back. With one taste, she would be bound to this deadly male. Aware of him always, like a living warmth buzzing in her veins, until the time should come that one or the other of them would die.

But she would be stronger too.

Her psychic torment would be lessened, far easier to manage. Her body would rejuvenate, require less work to keep it fit and healthy.

Her promise to Camden wouldn't feel so hollow once she had some of Tegan's power coursing through her veins.

But to use him like this?

She glanced up and found him staring down at her, his lips peeled back and glistening, his breath raking coarsely through his teeth. His dermaglyphs were livid with color now, strikingly beautiful on so much sculpted muscle and golden skin.

Do it, he snarled, that fierce gaze daring her to take him to her mouth...damning her for it.

Elise bent down over his wrist and carefully opened her mouth to receive him. The instant her lips touched his skin, Tegan hissed, arcing sharply. Elise drew gently, using her tongue to lap at the twin openings in his skin. His blood was hot and tingly as it slid down her throat, filling her with a heat that soon became a roar of swelling, compounding power.

It hit her so fast, she moaned from the intensity, feeling instantly overwhelmed. Warmth boiled through her limbs and into her core, pulsing hard, rolling like a tide.

She hadn't been prepared for such a swift, stunning reaction. Inside she was molten, going liquid and boneless...wanton.

When she tried to pull away, Tegan placed his palm on the back of her head. His large fingers spanned her skull, burrowing through her hair. There was no denying his strength, yet the pressure he held her with was light. But it was also unyielding.

Elise glanced up at him, anxious now. Maybe this wasn't a good idea at all. Maybe she'd been wrong.

Tegan's eyes glittered, pupils swamped by fiery amber.

You shouldn't have started if you weren't prepared to finish. His face was starkly serious, unforgiving. Take more. You know you need it.

Her breath sawed out of her at his invitation. God help her, but she did need more. Already she could feel Tegan's blood mixing with her own, pounding in her temples. She licked her lips, savoring the wild, powerful taste of him on her tongue.

Tegan's jaw went visibly rigid.

Christ, he ground out tightly. His fingers were a searing presence across her nape and up along the back of her head. He could have pushed her down so easily, but he only held her there, tender beneath all that coiled Breed power. Take more of me, Elise. Panting now, every nerve ending firing off inside her like a hail of sensory explosions, she lowered her head and latched on to him once more.