Like the first time he’d seen her in a parking lot in Anaheim, the look of her hit Elijah like a fist to the gut. His visceral response to her was so strong he sucked in a breath to push through it, then forced himself to exhale slowly.
Rachel growled, and he glanced her way. He took her sneer as his due, knowing how he would feel if their positions were reversed.
“Vashti.” He straightened. “This is Rachel, the mate of the lycan you kil ed. Rach, this is Vash, Syre’s second.”
He watched the two women careful y, painful y aware of how difficult it must be for Rachel to face her mate’s kil er and be forbidden to seek revenge by the very man who’d contributed to Micah’s death. His hand lifted to his chest, rubbing at the ache that shortened his breathing.
Vash dropped her duffel on the floor in front of his desk. “It won’t comfort you to hear that I know how you feel, Rachel, but I do. My mate was kil ed by lycans.”
“Was he mortal y wounded and left to die over the space of several days?” Rachel asked bitterly.
“No. He was disemboweled and had his vitals eaten while he was stil alive.”
“You lie,” Rachel spat. “Lycans don’t hunt that way.”
“Sure. Whatever you say.”
Elijah gestured at his Beta, who worked on a laptop at an adjacent desk. “That’s Stephan over there.”
“Hi, Beta,” she greeted him. Then she smiled at his upraised brows. “Takes one to know one.”
Stephan acknowledged her with a brisk nod.
Vashti kicked at a rock on the floor. “I love what you’ve done with the place, El. You take rustic charm to a whole ’nother level.”
The look he shot her said everything he needed to say about her sarcasm.
She stepped closer, looking down at the schematics with a wry twist to her mouth. “Cute. But you can put those away. We’re not staying here.”
He sank into his chair and reclined, waiting for her to get to her point.
She half sat on his desk. “I’m not sticking my guys on cave-watching duty. They’re not going to be happy about this al iance as it is. Besides, we need more power than generators are going to provide. No way you’ve got Internet or cel reception in this hole in the ground, and you’l need both to have the information and communication necessary to pul the packs together. And I need the same to keep track of my men and my agenda.”
“Which is?” Elijah glanced at Rachel, and his voice softened. “Let the others know we’l be vacating shortly.”
“Just like that?” she asked, wide-eyed. “She says jump and you do?”
“Look at it however you want.” As much as he regretted the position he was forced to put her in, he wasn’t going to argue his point with anyone.
His word had to be law if they were going to survive. “You can stay here, if you prefer. Tel the others they can stay with you or come with me—their choice.”
Stephan rose to his feet as Rachel stomped out. “I’l see to it, Alpha.”
“I’l have you fol ow up. For now, I’d like your input here.”
Vash shook her head. “I hope you can keep a lid on the drama. We have enough on our plates.”
“Such as? The time for showing your hand is now.”
She hesitated a moment, her lips pursing slightly as she considered whatever it was she had on her mind. “We have a situation.”
“Tel me something I don’t know. You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“I need to run some background checks, and I need bodies pounding the pavement during daylight hours. I don’t have enough of the Fal en to cover the ground necessary in the time we’ve got to work with.” Her fingertips drummed on the desktop, betraying her restlessness. “I’l cover your ass and provide safe passage for the lycans fleeing the other outposts. In return, you put those lycans to work helping me dig for information.”
Elijah waited for her to elaborate. In the interim, he took her in, noting the fine texture of her creamy skin and the darkness of her thick lashes. The amber of her eyes, a trait universal among al vampires, was striking against the brazenly bold hue of her hair. He wondered what she’d looked like with the flame-blue eyes of a seraph angel. Like a china dol , he imagined. There was an elegant fragility to her that wasn’t immediately apparent and total y lost at a distance. Her penchant for black leather and Lycra distracted one from noticing how softly feminine she real y was.
With a sigh, she capitulated and withdrew a flash drive from her cle**age. “This wil explain everything better than I can.”