He turned slowly back to her. “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“We need to know. Something with the Wraith Virus, perhaps?”
“What else?”
“Find out.” He left, his stride clipped with repressed violence.
Vash got to work on the composition of the teams she’d be sending out into the field in the morning. She’d hoped to tap Elijah for assistance with that, but he was stil gone and they were already a day behind schedule.
Sitting at one of the computer workstations, she started creating groups based on physical characteristics, trying to create wel -rounded teams of short and tal , big and smal , heavy and slender.
The moment El returned, she felt it. The air in the room became charged with his energy…and the stirring animosity of the vampires who smel ed him approaching.
He came back.
A shiver of excitement coursed through her, along with a flood of relief that nearly made her dizzy. She watched him approach with eyes that devoured every breathtakingly sexy inch, eyeing his confident stride and the sleek fluidity of his movements. And she wasn’t the only one awed by the air of command that clung to him. His path across the open space between them was tracked by everyone, but his eyes were locked on her. Hot and fiercely determined. Fil ed with admiration, but nothing close to deference.
God, he was gorgeous. Beautiful, real y, although she’d never cal him that to his face. He was too fiercely masculine to be even remotely pretty.
And his body…so hard and strong. Defined by slabs of powerful muscle. She remembered how it felt to have al that power against her. Over her.
Inside her… The other vampresses in the room eyed him with equal avidness, lust burning along with distrust and lingering resentment. She wasn’t completely off her rocker for being sexual y attracted to a lycan, but the quantity of female attention Elijah received was beginning to chafe. He wasn’t available for that kind of interest and she wanted everyone to know it. To respect it.
He paused by a table of vamps putting together travel packets of cash, debit cards, IDs, and cel phones. He thanked them for their hard work, offered to help, and smiled genuinely when it was refused with less hostility than had been displayed when he’d walked in.
The smile stayed in place as he headed toward her, but it took on a wicked, sexy edge that sizzled through her.
“Hey,” he said when he stopped beside her. He looked at the computer screen and shook his head. “You can’t put Luke and Thomas in the same group. They’l fight. And Nicodemus has a thing for Bethany and so does Horatio. It’s best if you don’t put her in a group with either one of them.”
“Fuck it al .” She pushed back from the desk. Of course he knew such personal details. He took the time to know everyone. “I’ve been working on this for over an hour.”
“You got the vamps lined up straight? Then don’t worry about the rest. I’l make the adjustments to the lycans.”
“By morning?” Studying him up close, she noted the exhaustion that rimmed his eyes and mouth. “You’re beat.”
“I could use sleep,” he agreed. “But it won’t take much.”
She stood and rocked back on her heels. What she real y wanted to do was step forward into him. He smel ed delicious. She knew he tasted that way, too. Al over. Inside and out. “Can I talk to you a moment?”
She led the way to one of the offices. It was dark inside, as was most of the warehouse, to accommodate the sleeping lycans. Neither she nor Elijah required light to see, which was working to her benefit now. By keeping the lights off, he would be less likely to read anything on her face she didn’t want him to.
The door had barely shut behind them when she found herself in his arms, his lips cool and firm on hers. Caught at the waist and nape, she was held immobile against him. Claimed. She gasped in surprised pleasure, and the kiss swiftly heated. His tongue slid deep and slow into her mouth, thrusting in a steady unhurried rhythm that made her ache for more. Much more, damn it.
She slid one hand through his hair and the other up beneath his shirt. He arched and groaned at her touch, as responsive to her as she was to him.
“Thank you,” he whispered huskily against her parted lips.
Vash swal owed, trying to hang on to the wits that would enable her to tel him about their altered working relationship. The exquisite taste of him sidetracked her, scattering her reason.
He nuzzled his nose against hers. “I brought back some news that might make you happier about keeping me alive.”
She was too happy about that. Already she was dreading his getting on a separate plane from her tomorrow, one that would take him to the opposite side of the country from where she’d be. She was glad now that she hadn’t plugged either of their names into her outlined groups. He would have seen straightaway, and they might be arguing now instead of kissing. Elijah was a damned good kisser. He took his time with it, as he did with everything, savoring the act as if he didn’t care if anything more intimate fol owed it.
But she cared. Sixty years without sexual desire and suddenly being naked with Elijah was damn near al she thought about.
“I want you.” The words were out of Vash’s mouth before she realized she’d thought them. Mortified, her head fel forward to press her forehead into his shoulder. She just had to get through another six hours until they parted, a few of which he’d sleep through. “Forget I said that.”