Stroke of Midnight Read online

  “What did you mean, Seraphina?”

  She glanced down at her hand where it rested on his chest. “When I was eighteen, I volunteered one winter at an orphanage about an hour away from our Darkhaven. My parents encouraged it, since I was orphaned as an infant too.”

  Jehan made an acknowledging sound. “A lot of Breedmates find their way into Breed households as abandoned and orphaned babies or young girls.”

  She nodded. She and her sister were both adopted by the Sanhajas in such a way. “I was lucky. Someone saw my birthmark and recognized that I was different. There was a place for me because of that. But there were no Breedmates in the orphanage I went to that year. Only human children. Many of them were refugees whose parents had been killed in wars or died of famine and disease.” She curled her fingers into a tight ball. “There was so much pain in that place. I felt it every time I held a crying baby or embraced one of those sweet, terrified kids.”

  “You felt it,” Jehan murmured, understanding fully now. He reached up to take her hand, bringing her knuckles to his lips. “You felt their emotional pain, because, like me, you’re an empath.”

  Every Breedmate, like every Breed male, was born with a unique extrasensory ability. Some were blessings, others were less of a gift. Where Jehan could register physical injuries, hers was the ability to feel emotional pain with a touch.

  “I thought I could handle it,” she said. “But everything I felt stayed with me. Until my time working at the orphanage that winter, I didn’t know how to help. Now I do what I can.”

  He’d gone quiet as she spoke, and Sera knew he understood. Given his own ability, Jehan probably understood her better than anyone else could.

  “You’re an incredible woman, Seraphina.” He shook his head, his thumb stroking idly over her jawline. “I think I recognized that the minute we met, but I was too busy looking for reasons to dislike you. I wanted to find hidden flaws, since it was obvious I wasn’t going to find any on the outside.”

  His praise warmed her. “I haven’t been able to find much fault in you either. And believe me, I tried. I called you a killer when I found out you were a warrior with the Order. That wasn’t fair. I know that now. I also thought your biggest personal flaw might be an overblown opinion of your own charms. I think you’ve proven the point tonight, though. I suppose I have to give credit where it’s due.”

  He chuckled. “If what I just did with you was charming, then just wait until you see my wicked side.”

  She grinned down at him. “When can I look forward to that?”

  “If you’re not careful, sooner than you think.”

  He grabbed her ass and gave it a playful smack. Then he tumbled her onto her back and covered her with his hard, fully aroused body. The crackling embers in his eyes promised he was about to make good on his threat right then and there.

  CHAPTER 12

  The storm had passed some time ago.

  Jehan lay on his back in the dark tent, holding Seraphina as she slept naked and draped over him in a boneless sprawl. He’d been awake for a while, listening to the calm outside and trying to convince himself that he needed to get out of bed.

  As much as he hated to disturb her sleep or forfeit the pleasant feel of her resting sated in his arms, he knew he should go out and check their vehicle, make sure it wasn’t buried under a mound of sand. With the weather cleared, he was eager to get on the road.

  He guessed it to be early morning, probably only two or three hours after midnight. If they didn’t delay too long, it was possible they could make it back to the villa before sunrise. Otherwise, it meant spending the day at the camp, waiting until sunset when it was safe for him to make the drive again.

  And while he could think of a lot of interesting ways to pass the hours with Seraphina alone in her tent, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he’d rather explore those options in the comfort of the villa.

  Which meant getting his ass out of her bed ASAP, so he could expedite that process.

  With care not to wake her, he eased himself out from under her and rolled away from the thin mattress on the floor.

  Dressing quietly, he then slipped out of the tent to begin the trek toward the place he’d parked the Rover. He was the only one outside so soon after the storm. He hoofed it through the quiet camp, his boots putting fresh tracks on the sand-drifted road that cut through the center of the tents and outbuildings.

  The Rover could have been worse. Sand coated the black vehicle and had blown into every crack and crevice. He dug it out and brushed it down as best he could and was just about to start it up when his preternatural hearing picked up the sound of men’s voices elsewhere in the dark. Somewhere near the main supply building.

  Jehan recognized Karsten Hemmings’s dramatic tenor instantly. The other man sounded like one of the helpers who’d assisted in unloading the delivery earlier tonight.

  Jehan listened, suspicion prickling his senses. On instinct, he reached into the Rover and retrieved the pair of daggers he’d stored under the driver’s seat. Although he had busted Seraphina’s pretty ass over the fact she’d brought her phone to the handfast, his breach of the terms by bringing his Order patrol blades was probably the worst of the two offenses.

  Right about now, he was damn glad he had the weapons.

  Tucking one into his boot and the other into the back waistband of his jeans, he stole around the rear of the tents and outbuildings, his senses trained on the pair of men. Sand sifted with their quick footsteps. Karsten issued orders to his accomplice in a low, urgent whisper.

  “Pick up the pace, Massoud! My contact has been waiting on this shit for days. We’ve got less than an hour to make the drop and collect our money.”

  What the hell?

  Karsten’s Jeep was parked at the rear of the outbuilding. The back hatch had been swung open, while Karsten and the other camp worker were apparently loading the vehicle with crates taken out of the main supply.

  Jehan crept through the shadows, peering at the contents of the Jeep while both men had gone back inside the building for more. Three crates labeled as canned meat sat in the back of the vehicle. Supplies that he and Seraphina had delivered earlier tonight.

  One of the crates had been pried apart, several of the cans inside opened. An odd blue glow emanated from inside the containers.

  At first, Jehan wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

  Not canned meats, that much was certain.

  Each container held a palm-sized electronic object comprised of a metal casing and a glass center chamber. Inside the glass was a milky blue substance that glowed like a vial of pure energy.

  Like a source of harnessed, weapons-grade ultraviolet light.

  Holy shit.

  The instant realization dawned on him, Karsten’s cohort came around the back of the building. He was empty-handed, but the second his eyes lit on Jehan, he reached for his gun and fired a panicked round. Reacting almost instantly, Jehan let his blade fly, dropping Massoud dead in the sand.

  The discharged bullet flew wild into the air. The cracking report of the gunshot echoed, shattering the sleepy calm of the camp. Screams and commotion stirred at once in some of the nearby tents.

  Karsten raced out of the supply building. “Massoud, for crissake—”

  He drew up short when he came face to face with Jehan holding his comrade’s gun.

  Jehan bared his fangs. “Doing a little dealing on the side, I see. What’s the going rate on UV grenades these days?”

  Karsten narrowed his eyes. “More than you could imagine, vampire.”

  The impulse to blow the human’s head off was nearly overwhelming. But caution warned him that this was also Seraphina’s longtime coworker. She considered Karsten Hemmings her friend.

  As much as Jehan wanted to waste the bastard for profiting off Breed-killing UV arms and using Seraphina’s goodwill to front it, that call wasn’t his to make. Not like this.

  “We both know you’re not going to use that gun on me
,” Karsten taunted. “She’ll hate you for it. Of course, if you pull that trigger, you’d better be prepared to die with me.”

  It was then that Jehan noticed the human held something tight in his fist. The blue glow poured out between his fingers.

  “The detonator is already tripped,” he confirmed. “The UV blast won’t give me more than a sunburn. You, however...”

  Jehan ignored the threat. He would deal with the fallout if and when it occurred. Right now, he wanted answers. If he had any chance of getting information to the Order, he needed answers.

  “Who’s waiting for this shipment, Karsten? Who’s paying you for this shit?”

  “Oh, come now. I think you know. Every warrior in the Order should know the answer to that question.” He chuckled. “Yes, I know you’re one of them. I did some checking tonight. Made a few calls. You’re part of the Rome unit.”

  Jehan glowered. “And you’re part of Opus Nostrum.”

  Karsten pursed his lips and gave a faint shake of his head. “Merely a businessman. And a like-minded individual. I despise your entire race of blood-sucking monsters. If Opus wants your kind eradicated and a war to make it happen, I’m only too happy to help send you all to your graves. Or into the light, as the case may be.”

  “Karsten?” Seraphina emerged out of the darkness, disheveled and confused. “Oh, my God. Jehan, what on earth is going—”

  “Seraphina, stay back!”

  Jehan’s warning came too late. She had already strayed right into the middle of the standoff.

  And Karsten seized his chance to let his weapon loose.

  The UV grenade went airborne.

  Jehan had precious little time to react. He dived under the Jeep as the light exploded all around him. The power of it was immense. Even from beneath the undercarriage of the vehicle, he could feel the searing energy of the solar detonation. It extinguished a moment later, plunging the desert back into darkness.

  He was shielded.

  He was alive.

  But the act of self-preservation had just cost him dearly.

  He heard Seraphina cry out, and he knew Karsten Hemmings had her.

  The realization tore his heart from his chest. He couldn’t let her be harmed. He couldn’t lose her.

  He never wanted to lose her.

  On a roar, Jehan rolled out to his feet to face the bastard. Karsten had a pistol on her, held against the back of her head. And Jehan had dropped his gun somewhere in the sand.

  “Let her go.”

  Karsten sneered. “Let her go so you can have her? She deserves better than you, vampire. Better than anything you can ever give her.”

  Jehan wasn’t going to argue when he was thinking the same thing now, miserable as he drank in the sight of her terrified face and her tender brown eyes pleading for him to help her.

  “Let her go, Karsten. If you do, maybe I’ll let you live. But only if Seraphina wants me to.”

  The human chuckled. “No, I don’t think so. We’re going to leave now. I’m going to make my drop and collect my money. Then Sera and I are going to get out of this godforsaken hellhole and enjoy our spoils.” He nestled his open mouth against her cheek, the nose of the gun still pressed against her skull. “You’ll see, my love. I can give you everything you need.”

  She winced and closed her eyes, a miserable sound curling up from her throat.

  Jehan couldn’t bear another second of her torment. He had to act. He had one chance to end this, but he couldn’t do it without her total faith in him.

  “Seraphina.” He spoke her name softly, reverently. Hoping she could hear how much she meant to him. “Look at me, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes opened and found his gaze through the dark.

  He couldn’t say the words out loud without betraying his plan, but he needed her to understand. He needed her to trust him.

  Do you trust me, Seraphina?

  He said it with his eyes. With his heart.

  Trust me, baby. Please...

  She gave him a nearly imperceptible nod.

  It was enough. It was all the permission he needed.

  Moving with every ounce of Breed agility and speed he possessed, Jehan reached around to his back and pulled out the dagger he’d stashed there. He let it fly from his fingertips.

  An instant later, Karsten Hemmings dropped to the ground, Jehan’s blade protruding from the space between his wide-open eyes.

  Jehan ran to Seraphina and pulled her into his arms.

  In that moment, nothing else mattered.

  Not Karsten Hemmings. Not the Jeep full of UV grenades, or Opus Nostrum.

  Not even the Order mattered as he drew Seraphina close and kissed her with all the relief and emotion—all the love—he felt for her.

  He stroked her beautiful face and stared down into the soft brown eyes that now owned his heart and his soul. “Come on,” he said, drawing her under the protection of his arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Sera was still numb with shock and disbelief several hours later, after Jehan had driven them back to the villa.

  Karsten’s betrayal cut deep. That he had used her to free up the supplies containing his hidden cargo was bad enough. But the idea that greed and hatred had poisoned his humanity so much that he was willing to kill—willing to traffic in weaponry designed for the wholesale slaughter of the Breed—was unthinkable. It was unforgivable.

  Countless innocent lives were saved today, now that the UV grenades had been diverted from their buyer and stowed safely inside the villa.

  As for Karsten and Massoud, when the other camp workers and residents came upon the scene and heard what the two men had been up to, there had been no shortage of volunteers offering to dispose of their bodies in the desert so that Sera and Jehan could get on the road as quickly as possible to beat the sunrise.

  Sera had considered Karsten a friend for years, but there wasn’t any part of her that mourned his death today even for a second. If not for Jehan’s quick thinking and speed with his blade, she had no doubt that Karsten would have killed her.

  He had almost killed Jehan too.

  The terror she’d felt at that possibility had nearly gutted her as she’d stood helplessly in Karsten’s grasp. Even now, the reality of how close she’d come to losing Jehan left her physically and emotionally shaken.

  But he was alive.

  Because of his warrior skills, they both were alive.

  “Are you all right, Sera?” His deep, caring voice wrapped around her as they stood inside the villa together. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  She shook her head but couldn’t keep from moving into the shelter of his arms. This was all she needed. His warmth enveloping her. His strong heartbeat pounding steadily against her ear as she rested her head on his muscled chest. She just needed...him.

  “You should call your brother,” she murmured. Marcel had left two messages on her phone in the past couple of hours, asking them to contact him as soon as possible. “We should let him know we’ve returned, at least so he can stop worrying that we’re going to break the pact.”

  Jehan’s chest rumbled with a sound of disregard. “I should call the Order too, and tell them what I’ll be bringing back to Rome with me in a few nights. But my brother and everyone else can wait. The only thing I’m concerned about right now is you.”

  He pulled back and looked at her, a dark storm brewing in the pale blue of his eyes. When he lifted her chin and took her mouth in a slow, savoring kiss, it was easy to imagine that what she saw in his gaze—what she felt in his embrace and in his tender kiss—was something deeper than concern or simple affection.

  It was easy to imagine it might be love.

  “You’re trembling, Seraphina.” He reached out to caress her face and shoulder. “And you’re cold too. Come on. Let me take care of you.”

  Maybe Leila had been right—that there was some brand of magic at work when it came to the pact between their families. Sera cou
ld almost believe it now because with Jehan leading her through the villa, his fingers laced with hers, it was far too easy to imagine that everything they shared since entering the handfast was somehow paving a path toward a future together. A future that might just last an eternity.

  She hadn’t missed his reference to the life waiting for him at the end of the handfast. She couldn’t pretend that her own life wasn’t waiting for her too.

  But for the next few nights, she wasn’t going to let reality intrude.

  Jehan brought her into the cavernous bathing room with its towering marble columns and steaming, spring-fed bath the size of a swimming pool. He sat her down on the edge, then crouched down in front of her to remove her shoes. The soft leather flats were caked with sand and spattered with Karsten’s dried blood. Jehan hissed a low curse as he set them aside.

  When he lifted his head to meet her gaze, there was doubt in his eyes. “Can you forgive me, Sera?”

  “For saving me from Karsten?” She shook her head. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

  “No.” His mouth flattened into a grim line. “I mean, for saving myself. For giving him the chance to get a hold of you in the first place.”

  Oh, God. Is that what he thought? Is that what weighed on his conscience now?

  Sera leaned forward to take his tormented, handsome face in her palms. His anguish was palpable. She could feel the dull pain of it through her empathic gift. “Jehan, when I saw that flash of light as Karsten let the grenade go, I knew it would be lethal to you. I thought I was about to watch you die. If you hadn’t protected yourself, we both would’ve been dead today. You saved me.”

  He studied her for a long moment, as if he wanted to say something more. Then he turned his face into her hand and placed a kiss in its center before drawing out of her loose grasp. “Let’s get these clothes off and get you warm.”

  He stood up, taking her with him. With careful hands, he undressed her, peeling off the rumpled linen tunic and her bra. Then he drew down the loose-fitting pants and her lacy panties beneath. His gaze drank her in slowly, his eyes crackling with amber sparks.