Break the Day - Lara Adrian Page 0,5

beneath the tousled waves of his dark honey-blond hair. She had never been inspired to call a man beautiful before. Especially not a dangerous looking Breed male who stood six-and-a-half feet tall and whose immense body was wrapped in heavy muscle and a low-simmering menace.

But this male was beautiful. His handsome face carved in lean angles, his squared jaw bristled with the thick shadow of a beard. His lips were decadently lush, almost too tender-looking on a man. But that was where the softness of his face ended.

Those questioning blue eyes held a trace of disdain. It was the same edge of couched contempt she felt radiating off him from the moment he first walked into Asylum tonight and spotted Cruz and the rest of them at the back of the tavern.

Maybe she wasn’t the only one with something to hide.

“Feeling better?” His deep voice rolled over her senses like a caress. “You still look a little green, if you ask me.”

The uninvited observation drew the attention of Cruz and the others. They all stared at her now. Expectant, waiting to see how she would respond.

Alarm shot into her veins. For one jolting heartbeat, she worried that the Breed male could see through her. That he might be able to tell she wasn’t quite what she seemed.

But a surreptitious flick of her tongue along the edge of her teeth assured her that her fangs had receded completely. And her vision held no trace of amber anymore.

To him and the other men looking at her, there was nothing to give her away.

“I didn’t ask you,” she muttered tightly. “And how I feel is no concern of yours.”

She gave him her back for a moment and finished the shot of whisky she’d been nursing most of the night. Being a daywalker, her uncommon genetics allowed her to consume human food and drink. Right now, with the heat of his eyes still boring into her from behind, she was eager to look as commonly human as possible.

What she really wanted was to get the hell out of Asylum and as far away from this male as she could.

From her peripheral, she watched with a growing sense of concern as the exchange between the men continued, becoming chummier and more relaxed by the minute. It wasn’t good. Passing herself off as human with Cruz and his gang took some effort, but it would be nearly impossible to hide what she was for long from another member of the Breed.

The fact that he’d been trained as an Order warrior only made her dread—and her suspicion—intensify.

The last thing she needed was him hanging around the group any more than he already had tonight. She wanted him gone, and the sooner the better.

Setting the glass down on the table, she folded her arms over her breasts and eyed the Breed male with a mistrust she hoped would be picked up by her comrades. “Healing seems like an ironic skill for one of your kind.”

Her comment halted the conversation as effectively as another round of gunfire.

“One of my kind?” he asked, those sharp eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly. “You mean Breed?”

She arched a brow. “I meant an Order warrior, but now that you mention it . . .”

He stared at her. “Well, newsflash in case you missed it, sweetheart. I’m not a warrior anymore. As for my genetics, I take it you don’t approve.”

She lifted her shoulder. “Your words, not mine.”

“Sure.” A smile tugged at the edge of his beautiful mouth. “Don’t knock what you haven’t tried.”

The men chuckled. Devony’s face burned, and for an instant she wanted nothing more than to give them all a flash of her fangs—right before she leapt on the Breed male to take his arrogant ass down a peg or ten.

Fish guffawed and clapped his new best friend on the shoulder. “Hey, man, word to the wise. Don’t piss off Brinks here, or next thing you know she’ll be serving your balls to you on the end of her dagger.”

Brinks was the nickname they’d given her, the one she’d had to work damn hard to earn in order to be part of them. And now here was this smirking vampire—this former Order warrior—making jokes at her expense and ingratiating himself with the gang in a matter of minutes.

She didn’t like it.

And she damn well did not like him.

Ignoring their amusement, she caught Cruz’s gaze. “I thought we had somewhere to be tonight. We going, or what?”

He nodded. “She’s right. Let’s pack it up