Free Master of Darkness by Susan Sizemore Page B

her—then he grabbed her anyway. And kissed her.
    This time her arms slid around him, her body molded to his, and she kissed him back. Heat seared between them.
    Her eagerness and the intensity of his own need stunned him. He wanted
her
—body, blood, and soul.
    If Laurent hadn’t taught himself to keep control of his instincts, he would have had her then and there. Fighting back the rising hunger for Eden was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
    Needing anyone is the most dangerous trap in the world
.
    Laurent held Eden away by her shoulders. “We better get out of here.”
    It took her a moment to catch her breath and gather her wits. “We’ve turned the place into a crime scene,” she acknowledged. “I can get my people in to clean it up.” She glanced to her left. “But we can’t leave just yet.”
    Laurent looked at the sky. “You do remember that I don’t work days.”
    â€œI know.” She took his hand and tugged him toward the van that was skewed across the sidewalk.
    â€œAnd what happened to our original plan—partner? Weren’t we supposed to let them fight each other while we went for the computer?” He could scent the third vampire’s blood now and found this disturbing. “What did you do?”
    â€œI wounded one.” She paused for a moment and looked at Laurent contritely. “I’m sorry I acted on impulse. Your plan was a good one, but I saw a chance to get needed information and had to act on it.”
    She led him around the van, and he saw the wounded vampire lying between the van and the warehouse wall.
    â€œYou need to interrogate him.” Eden stepped back and made a call on her cell phone while Laurent stared between her and the bleeding Hydra Prime.
    â€œ
I
need to … ?”
    Then Laurent saw it from her point of view. The Hydra had come after her with intent to kill. To her, the bad guy was a dealer in a drug the humans considered dangerous. Besides, the minute the arrows were taken out, the Hydra would start to heal—and would likely try to attack Eden again. This war between mortals and Tribes had been going on for a long time, and neither side saw the other as sentient beings.
    Laurent didn’t know why he had any sympathyfor mortals himself, but he always had. Maybe because he’d been hunted by vampires himself. He could never completely be on the humans’ side, but face it, Tribe vampires
needed
the ruthlessness of the hunters to keep their savage behavior in check. His whole species would have gotten itself destroyed by humans long ago if the reckless Tribes weren’t kept in check.
    Eden was one tough chick: she did what she had to to get the job done. He shouldn’t admire her for that. Deadly, free-thinking women were
not
attractive. In fact, he’d recently given a Prime from Clan Reynard that advice about his dangerous bondmate—not that the Reynard had listened. It bothered Laurent that he was beginning to see why Colin Foxe had found his Mia so sexy.
    There was a certain edgy sexiness to Eden that made her incredibly hot to him. Making love to her would be risky business. The thought of it made his blood sing.
    Of course, the downside was that if she actually knew who he was, she’d turn all her deadly skills on him.
    Of course, dealing with that would be kind of fun, too.
    Laurent shook his head.
    â€œWell?” Eden said, stepping up beside him.
    He slid his arm around her waist and drew her close without a second thought. “Well, what?”
    â€œHave you found out anything?”
    â€œWhat I know is that dawn isn’t far away. Are your people coming?”
    â€œOn the way.”
    â€œThen we need to get going.”
    â€œYou’re a telepath,” she reminded him. “Have you talked to him?”
    Laurent was outraged. “That’s invasion of privacy! Vampires don’t do that to each other!”
    â€œYou do