Bound by Night(87)

“And if kars doesn’t take you in trade?”
“He will.”
“You do this,” Baddon said, his voice as bleak as a graveyard at midnight, “and you’re a dead man.”
“If I don’t do this, then we’re all dead.” Riker turned back to Hunter. “I’m going to need your word that Bastien will be taken care of.”
“Of course,” Hunter said.
“And no one harms Nicole.” He locked his sights on every warrior in the room, one by one. “You will all treat her like a clan mate. Can I count on you?”
Everyone nodded. Including Hunter.
“Then let’s get this over with.”
Taggart grabbed his arm. “There’s got to be another way.”
Riker clapped Tag on the shoulder. “If there is, you can get me out of there. I’ll try to stay alive until you do.”
“That’s not funny, man,” Baddon growled. “Not fucking funny.”
All eyes latched onto Riker, and too many of them were red-rimmed. A few guys were shaking their heads, cursing. He had to get out of here.
“Let’s rethink—”
Riker cut Hunter off. “I’m ready. Alpha Mike Foxtrot.” Adios, Mother Fuckers, as his sniper buddies used to say. Said to friends, it meant good luck, but Riker figured his luck had run out. Best to go before anyone got sappy.
Which was why there was no way Riker could say good-bye to anyone, let alone Bastien and Nicole. He liked to think he was strong, but if one or both of them asked him to stay, he’d lose it. He’d fucking lose it. And if he’d learned anything in his life, it was that the last time you saw someone, you didn’t want it to be ugly.
Better that Bastien remembered Riker as trying to put together a relationship with him. Nicole . . . she’d remember him angry and being an asshole.
But it was far better than remembering him as an emotionally compromised male who ignored her pleas to stay.#p#分页标题#e#
Or worse, for him to remember her telling him to go.

Chapter 27
What in the hell was going on? Nicole hadstepped out of her chambers to visit Bastienand had nearly been fl attened by a group of males andfemales charging through the hall. The guard at herdoor was gone, but katina skidded around a corner, hersilver eyes bloodshot and rimmed with red.
“Come on,” katina shouted as she ran past. “Bastien is already in the lab.”
“What’s happening?”
“We’re getting children and . . . ah . . . humans tosafety.”
“Safety?”
“ShadowSpawn is coming.”
Oh, God. She let katina guide her to Grant’s lab, where children and a few adults with obvious injuries or illnesses that would prevent them from fi ghting had gathered. Bastien appeared to be occupied by something under a microscope, but Grant was pacing nervously around the lab, practically wringing his hands.
Grant looked up from the pallet in the corner,where he was smoothing ointment on a badly woundedfemale. He uttered a few whispered words to the injured vampire and then hurried over to join them.
“I want to go,” he said. “I can fight.”
“Sorry, man.” katina threw one booted foot up ona chair and tugged the laces tight. It didn’t escape Nicole’s notice that katina’s hands trembled. “We needyou to take everyone to safety.”
“Do I look like a babysitter?” Grant made a sweeping gesture at the lab equipment. “Maybe I can givethe kids flasks of acid and Petri dishes of bacteria toplay with?”
“Are you deranged?” katina straightened. “I’dsave those for snacks.”
“Funny,” Grant muttered.
“You’re the closest thing we have to a doctor,” katina said. “Hunter needs you here. Nicole too.”
At the invocation of Hunter’s name, Grant cursedbut stopped arguing. “Are we going to the alternatesite?”
Katina shook her head. “It’s possible the site hasbeen compromised. Plan B.”
“Hide everyone in the secret passage? That’ll be comfortable.”
“You don’t have to go yet. Not until you know the compound has been breached.” katina touched her finger to the hilt of the dagger at her hip. “We hope it won’t come to that. If Riker’s plan works, we’ll be spared.”
At the mention of Riker, Nicole’s heart skipped a beat. Apparently, it hadn’t gotten the same message her brain did, that he didn’t want anything to do with any part of her body. “Riker’s plan?”
“He’s giving himself up in exchange for Lucy and as payment for Neriya’s death.”
Nicole couldn’t speak. She could barely breathe.
Riker was giving himself up? “He can’t. They’ll kill him!”