Even if it means banging your head against a wall? Now she laughed, stunning him with her open mockery. I would have thought you were smarter than that, Tegan.
Anger pricked at him, but he held it back, refusing to let her bait him. With a shake of her head, Elise pivoted around and headed back for the shallow end, swimming with determined strokes. I should leave, she murmured.
Tegan kept time with her, strolling along the edge of the pool. Don't let me interrupt your swim. I was just on my way out anyway.
I mean, I should leave the compound. It's obvious I don't belong here.
You can't go back to your apartment now, he informed her curtly. The Rogues will have turned the place inside out. Marek will have his spies embedded all over the neighborhood, looking for you. I know that. Her slim body glided through the water, nearly to the end of the pool. I'm not foolish enough to think I can return there.
Tegan chuckled, satisfied that maybe she had come to her senses at last. Then I guess Harvard has convinced you to go back to the Darkhaven?
Harvard? Is that what Sterling goes by now that he's one of you?
One of us, Tegan said, hearing the accusation in her clipped tone.
Not that she tried to conceal it.
She swam to the steps and came out of the water, evidently too piqued to care that Tegan was staring openly at her wet body. His eyes homed in on the birthmark riding the inner edge of her thigh, drawn there unerringly like a heat-seeking missile locked on target.
Saliva surged into his mouth as he watched rivulets of water slide down her smooth, bare thighs. His skin felt tight all over, heat moving in his veins, and in the dermaglyph markings that covered his body and declared him one of the Breed. His gums ached with the sudden press of his fangs. He clamped his jaws together, curbing the startling jolt of hunger.
He didn't want to look at the female, but damned if he could tear his eyes away from her now.
Sterling hasn't convinced me of anything, she said as she grabbed her towel and covered herself with it. He won't even speak to me, if you want to know the truth. I think he must hate me after what happened last fall.
Tegan studied her smart lavender eyes. Is that really what you think--that he hates you? Sterling was my mate's brother--by marriage, he is my brother. It would be completely improper--
Tegan scoffed. Men have gone to war with their own brothers for want of the same woman. Desire could give a damn about propriety.
Elise held the towel closed between her br**sts and paced from him. I don't like where this conversation is heading.
Do you have feelings for him?
Of course not. She looked at Tegan, clearly, rightfully, appalled. And what right have you to ask me that?
None at all, but suddenly it was important to him that he know. He stood there, deliberately blocking her path if she even thought to duck away from him. He desires you. He would take you into his bed if you'd let him. Hell, maybe he wouldn't even need your permission.
Now you're just being rude.
I'm only stating the truth. Don't tell me you weren't aware that Chase burns for you. Anyone with eyes in his head can see that.
But only you would be coarse enough to speak it.
That pale purple gaze flashed with outrage and for a second he wondered if he was about to get slapped. He rather hoped he would. He wanted her angry. Wanted her hating him, especially now, when the scent of her warm, wet skin was drilling into his senses. Every curve of her petite body branding itself into his mind's eye.
He was close enough to take her in his hands. Too close, because at this intimate range, he could see the flutter of her pulse drumming frantically at her throat, and he was all too aware that there would be no one to stop him if he pulled her into his arms and took a forbidden taste of her. You hang your callousness on the excuse of truth, she said, a fierceness creeping into her voice. So maybe you can tell me why you found it necessary to lie to me about what happened with the Crimson lab.
Tegan narrowed a hard look on her, the question raising some kind of alarm within him. I didn't lie to you about anything.
She didn't flinch under his glare, only held his gaze steadier, challenging him. It was you who destroyed the lab, not the Order. You personally, Tegan. No one else. I heard all about it.
A low hiss leaked out of him. He drew back, knowing he was the one retreating now, but unable to stop his hedging backward momentum. Elise moved with him, her wet, nearly na**d body too close. Too goddamn tempting.
Why would you do something like that, Tegan? I can't believe that you had any kind of personal stake in seeing the lab razed. So tell me. Why? Did you do it for me?
He said nothing, incapable of speech and edging dangerously close to an emotion he did not want to feel.
She stared up at him fiercely. The silence was heavy, immovable. Where's your truth now, warrior?
Tegan forced a scoff, hearing the humorless laugh scrape in his throat. I've warned you once, female. You're toying with fire. I won't be gentleman enough to warn you again.
Elise closed her eyes as Tegan snarled a curse and stalked away from her. She didn't dare move, hardly drew a breath in the moments Tegan's swift footsteps carried him to the pool's exit. She heard him leave. Only then did she allow herself to sag in relief. What on earth was she thinking? Had she completely lost her mind, provoking a warrior like him toward anger?
And it was anger she saw in his expression. An unmistakable, smoldering fury had lit his bright green eyes as he'd stared at her, probably no less than an instant away from lashing out at her. Was she suicidal, like he'd accused her last night? Because if his ruthless reputation was anything to go by, pushing him like she had was liable to get her killed.
Except it wasn't anger she'd been looking for just now. She had wanted to see some kind of feeling in him...