He snapped the device shut on a black curse, cutting short the politic backpedaling that had begun on the heels of his threat.

The dermaglyphs at his wrist pulsed with the deep hue of his rage, colors shifting within the pattern of other markings that had been tattooed on his skin as a form of disguise. He scowled at the need to hide his lineage-his birthright-with crude ink and secrecy. He loathed the necessity of his shadowy existence, almost as much as he did all those who stood in the way of his goals.

He was fuming as he stalked back inside the main area of the club. Through the dark, his gaze lit at once on his lieutenant, the only Rogue in recent history to have looked Lucan Thorne in the eyes and lived to tell about it. He gestured for the huge male to come over, then gave him orders for carrying out the night's fun and games.

Regardless of his secret negotiations, when the smoke cleared tonight, he wanted Lucan and all of the other warriors with him to be dead.

CHAPTER Twenty-five

He avoided her the rest of the day, which Gabrielle figured was probably just as well. Now, just past dusk, Lucan and the five other warriors strode out of the training facility as a unit, each of them a picture of menace in black leather and deadly weaponry.

Even Gideon was joining in tonight's raid, going out in place of Conlan.

Waiting in the corridor to see them off, Savannah and Eva went to their mates and took them in long embraces. Soft, private words were exchanged in low, loving voices. Tender kisses spoke of a woman's fear and a man's strong rea.s.surances that he would return safely to her.

Gabrielle stood some distance away in the hall, feeling so much an outsider as she watched Lucan say something to Savannah.

The Breedmate nodded and he put a small object in her hand, his gaze trailing past her shoulder to light on Gabrielle. He said nothing, made no move to approach her, but his eyes lingered, drinking her in across the wide s.p.a.ce that separated them now.

And then he was gone.

Striding ahead of the others, Lucan turned a corner at the far end of the corridor and disappeared. The rest of his cadre followed, leaving nothing but the hard clip of boot heels and the metallic jangle of steel in their wake.

"You okay?" Savannah asked, coming up to Gabrielle and wrapping a gentle arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"He wanted me to give you this." She held out Gabrielle's cell phone. "A peace offering of some sort?"

Gabrielle took it, nodding her head in agreement. "Things aren't going well between us right now."

"I'm sorry. Lucan said he trusts you'll understand you can't leave the compound, or tell your friends where you are. But if you need to call them... "

"Thank you." She looked up at Gideon's mate and managed a small smile.

"If you want some privacy, just make yourself at home anywhere you like." Savannah hugged her briefly, then glanced to Eva as the other woman came over to join them.

"I don't know about anyone else," Eva said, her beautiful face drawn with worry, "but I could use a drink. Or three."

"Maybe we all could use a little wine and company," Savannah replied. "Gabrielle, you come join us when you're ready. We'll be in my place."

"Okay. Thanks."

The two women moved off together, speaking quietly, their arms linked as they walked up the snaking corridor toward Savannah's and Gideon's apartments. Gabrielle wandered in the other direction, not sure where she wanted to be.

That wasn't actually true. She wanted to be with Lucan, in his arms, but she'd better get over that desperate wish, and quick.

She wasn't about to beg him to want her, and a.s.suming he made it back from tonight 's raid in one piece, she had better prepare herself to put him out of her mind completely. She strolled toward an open door down one quiet, dimly lit spoke of the hallway. A candle burned somewhere inside the empty chamber, the only light in the place. The solitude, and the smells of faded incense and old wood drew her in. It was the compound's chapel; she remembered pa.s.sing it on her tour with Savannah.

Gabrielle walked between two rows of bench seats, toward a raised pedestal at the front of the chamber. It was there that the candle burned, a thick red pillar of slow-melting wax, its flame nestled deep in the core radiating a soft crimson glow. She sat down on one of the front row benches and simply breathed for a while, letting the peace of the sanctuary wash over her.

She flipped open her cell phone. The message symbol was blinking. Gabrielle hit the voicemail b.u.t.ton and listened to the first call.

It was from Megan, time stamped two days ago, around the same time she 'd been calling Gabrielle's apartment following the Minion attack in the park.

"Gabby, it's me again. I've left a bunch of messages for you at home, but you haven't called me back. Where are you?

I'm really getting worried! I don't think you should be alone after what happened. Call me back as soon as you get this- and I mean the very second you get this, okay?"

Gabrielle erased it and moved on to the next message, left last night at 11 P.M. Kendra's voice came on, sounding a little tired.

"Hey, there. You home? Pick up if you are. s.h.i.t, I guess it's kinda late-sorry about that. You're probably sleeping. So, I've been meaning to call you guys, try to hook up for drinks or something, maybe hit another club? How about tomorrow night? Call me."

Well, at least Kendra was safe as of a few hours ago. That took away some of Gabrielle's concern. But there was still the matter of the guy she'd been seeing. The Rogue, Gabrielle amended, feeling a shiver of fear for her friend's unwitting proximity to the same danger that was currently d.o.g.g.i.ng her own heels.

She skipped to the last message. Megan again, from just a couple of hours ago.

"Hi, sweetie. Just checking in. Are you ever going to call me and tell me how it went at the station the other night? I'm sure your detective was glad to see you, but you know I'm dying to hear in detail just how glad he was."

Megan's voice was calm and teasing, perfectly normal. Completely changed from the panic of her earlier messages at Gabrielle's home and on the cell.

G.o.d, that's right.

Because to her, and to her cop boyfriend as well, there was no reason to be alarmed about anything since Lucan had wiped their memories.

"Anyway, I'm meeting Jamie for dinner tonight at Ciao Bella-your favorite. If you can make it, swing by. We'll be there at seven. Save you a seat."

Gabrielle clicked erase and checked the clock on the cell phone: 7:20.

She owed it to her friends to at least call and let them know she was all right. And part of her longed to hear their voices, her only connection to the life she knew before Lucan Thorne turned her entire world upside down. She speed-dialed Megan's cell and waited anxiously as it rang. m.u.f.fled talking came over the receiver in the second before her friend said h.e.l.lo.

"Hi, Meg."

"Oh, hey-there you are! Jamie, it's Gabby!"

"Where is that girl? She coming, or what?" "I don't know yet. Gabby, are you gonna join us?"

Gabrielle listened to the familiar chaos of her friends' chatter and wished she could be there. She wished she could go back to the way things were, before...

"I, ah... I can't. Something's come up, and I... "

"She's busy," Megan told Jamie. "Where are you, anyway? Kendra called me looking for you today. She said she went by your apartment but it didn't look like you were home."

"Kendra stopped by? Have you seen her?"

"No, but she wants to get together with all of us. Sounds like she's done with that guy from the club."

"Brent," Jamie supplied loudly and dramatically over Megan's voice.

"They broke up?"

"I don't know," Megan replied. "I asked her how it was going and she just said she's not seeing him anymore."

"Good," Gabrielle said, so very relieved. "That's really good news."

"So, what about you? What's so important that you can't come out for dinner tonight?"

Gabrielle frowned, staring at her surroundings. The red candle's flame wobbled as the air in the chapel stirred slightly. She heard soft footsteps, then a quietly indrawn breath as whomever walked in realized the chamber was occupied. Gabrielle turned and saw a tall blond in the open doorway. The woman gave Gabrielle an apologetic look, then started to turn away.

"I'm, ah... out of town right now," she told her friends in a hushed voice. "I might be gone for a few days. Maybe longer."

"Doing what?"

"Um, I'm on a commission job," Gabrielle lied, hating to do it, but seeing no other choice. "I'll give you guys a call as soon as I can. Take care of each other. I love you."

"Gabrielle-"

She clicked off the call before she was forced to say anything more.

"I'm sorry," the blond woman said as Gabrielle came toward her. "I didn't realize the chapel was in use."

"It's not. Please stay. I was just... " Gabrielle released a pent-up sigh. "I just lied to my friends."

"Oh." Gentle pale blue eyes settled sympathetically on her.

Gabrielle closed the phone and smoothed her finger over the polished silver case. "I left my apartment in a rush the other night to come here with Lucan. None of my friends know where I am, or why I had to leave."

"I see. Maybe one day you can explain everything to them."

"I hope so. I just don't want to put them in danger by telling them the truth."

The halo of long, golden hair shifted as the woman nodded with understanding. "You must be Gabrielle? Savannah told me that Lucan had brought a female here under his protection. I'm Danika. I am-I was-Conlan's mate."

Gabrielle accepted the slender hand Danika offered in greeting. "I'm very sorry about your loss." Danika smiled, sadness swimming in her eyes. When she withdrew her hand from Gabrielle's grasp, it moved absently to cradle the nearly imperceptible swell of her abdomen. "I've been meaning to come and find you to say welcome, but I fear I 'm not the best company right now. I haven't much had the desire to leave my quarters these past few days. It's still very hard for me, trying to make this... adjustment. Everything is so different now."

"Of course."

"Lucan and the other warriors have been very generous to me. On their own, they've each sworn their protection if I should ever need it, wherever I am. For me, and my child."

"You're pregnant?"

"Fourteen weeks. I'd hoped this would be the first of many sons for Conlan and me. We were so excited about our future.

We'd waited a long time to start our family."

"Why did you wait?" Gabrielle winced as soon as the question left her lips. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry. I'm sure it's none of my business."

Danika dismissively clucked her tongue. "There's no need to apologize. I don't mind your questions, truly. It's good for me to talk about my Conlan. Come, let's sit awhile," she said, walking with Gabrielle to one of the chapel's long benches.

"I met Conlan when I was just a girl. My village in Denmark had been sacked by invaders, so we thought. It was actually a band of Rogues. They killed nearly everyone, slaughtered women and children, our village elders. No one was safe. A group of Breed warriors arrived in the middle of the attack. Conlan was one of them. They rescued as many of my people as they could. When my mark was discovered, I was taken into the nearest Darkhaven. It was there I learned all about the vampire nation and my place within it. But I couldn't stop thinking about my savior. As fate would have it, a few years later, Conlan came through the area again.

I was so excited to see him. Imagine my shock to discover that he'd never forgotten about me, either."

"How long ago was this?"

Danika hardly paused to calculate the time. "Conlan and I shared four hundred and two years together."

"My G.o.d," Gabrielle whispered. "So long... "

"It pa.s.sed in a blink, if you want to know the truth of it. I won 't lie and tell you that it was always easy being the mate of a warrior, but I wouldn't have traded a single moment. Conlan believed totally in what he was doing. He wanted a safer world, for me, and for our children to come."

"And so you waited all this time to conceive?"

"We wouldn't start our family so long as Conlan felt he needed to remain with the Order. The front lines are not the best place for children, which is why you don't see families among the warrior cla.s.s. The dangers are too great, and our mates need to be able to focus solely on their missions."

"Don't accidents happen?"

"Unplanned pregnancies are all but unheard of among the Breed, because it takes something more sacred than simple s.e.x for us to conceive. The fertile time for blood-bonded Breedmates revolves around the crescent moon. During this crucial period, if we wish to create a child, our bodies must have both our mate's seed and his blood flowing within us. It is a sacred ritual that no mated pair goes into lightly."

The very image of sharing this profoundly intimate act with Lucan made Gabrielle warm deep inside her core. The thought of bonding in that way with anyone else, growing large with anyone's child but Lucan's was a prospect she refused to consider. She would rather be alone, and likely would be. "What will you do now?" she asked, filling the quiet that made her imagine her own lonely future.

"I'm not sure yet," Danika replied. "I do know that I will never bond to another male."

"Don't you need a mate in order to stay young?"

"Conlan was my mate. With him gone, one lifetime will be long enough. If I refuse to bond in blood with another male, I will simply age normally from now on, like I did before I met Conlan. I will simply be... mortal."

"You'll die," Gabrielle said.

Danika's smile was resolved, but not entirely sad. "Eventually."

"Where will you go?"

"Conlan and I had been planning to retreat to one of the Darkhavens in Denmark, where I was born. He wanted that for me, but now I think I would rather raise his son in Scotland instead, so that our child can know something of his father through the land he loved so much. Lucan has already begun making arrangements for me, so that I can go whenever I decide that I'm ready."

"That was kind of him."

"Very kind. I couldn't believe it when he came to find me and give me the news, along with his pledge that my child and I would always have a direct line to him and the rest of the Order if we ever need anything. It was the day of the funeral, just hours afterward, so his burns were still extremely severe. Yet he was more concerned about my welfare."