.Chapter Ten .

Seriously, that man was such a coward.

Tessa shook her head to chase off the negativity. If he was easy, someone else would have grabbed him up by now. He wasn"t. He was cautious and thoughtful.

And annoying as hell. He'd done his thing with the clothing making it go poof. Afterward he'd reformed his own clothes. Then he'd bolted without making sure she wasn't stuck here in her semi-private office naked as a newborn.

She sighed. Luckily, she kept a couple changes of clothes down here for when she felt too lazy to head upstairs. But he didn't know that. She was going to make him pay for the oversight.

Good thing he was so sexy.

"Gotta train, my ass." He had just been retreating. Regrouping. It wasn"t as if he was saying no. He was just avoiding giving an answer at all.

Fine, fine. She"d just keep on proving how indispensable she was. The new program had turned out pretty damn well and she really wanted to try it out. But of course, Quinn more than suggested that she avoid doing anything dangerous, including seeking visions.

But she wasn"t the one that had to go out and deal with the dead bodies. Zeven might be oblivious to the murder scenes, but she was sure that Deven was affected by them. The sooner they stopped Soldier Boy, the fewer people would die. And that wasn"t a bad thing.

If the new program worked the way it was designed, then it should produce better accuracy than she"d had before. She might just be able to figure out where he was going even before he got there. Maybe even with enough time for the boys to get there and catch him.

A glance at the clock showed it was still only afternoon. She really couldn"t wake Quinn up just to ask him to supervise. Probably she should wait. The killer wasn"t likely to strike during daylight anyhow. Then again, if he was settled somewhere, now might be the perfect time to take him out.

Yeah, she"d test out the new program and lightly probe at the vision. If it worked properly then there wouldn"t be any risk at all.

With her mind made up she set up her materials at the table and sofa. Then she downloaded the new program onto her laptop. This should provide a better flow than the phone with its limited abilities. Once it was loaded, she opened up the file and set it up so that the screen was nearly flat.

Using blood as the activation medium worked well but that part did seem to be requiring more and more lately. And the laptop always needed about twice the blood than the phone did. It was also about twice as accurate.

But if she could spare a little blood and use it to save lives, it was worth it.

This time the magic activated after only about five drops. The new programing showed a lot of promise. The last time she"d used the laptop it had taken more than ten. This time the black swirls began writhing on the screen with warped images like reflections on a rippling pond. Street signs, road signs, stores... the images melted into sight and then washed away. But she"d memorized all the local maps and towns to help make sense of her visions. She was able to narrow down the location to a town south of Albuquerque, Los Lunas. It was a closed shop next to the supercenter. He"d holed up in it for the day.

It was still hours until dark. With this information they had a real chance of catching him. Maybe no one else would have to die.

She searched for the location information and printed it all out. If she called Deven, would he come back or try to avoid her? No, with it being about the job he"d come. She dialed his phone, and he picked up on the first ring sounding a bit out of breath.

"I"ve got a location."

"I"ll grab Zeven. You can update Quinn. Be there in a minute to get the intel."

She smiled as the phone clicked. He hadn"t asked any silly questions or doubted her for an instant. Instead, he"d take her work and turn it into a successful mission.

In under five minutes he was at the office. She passed him the folder expecting him to bolt out the door. Surprising her, he caught the back of her head in one large hand and pulled her into a sizzling kiss.

With a smirk he pulled away and strode out the door.

Son of a bitch... that man could kiss.

Her head was spinning. She felt overheated. But she needed to update Quinn before taking the time to think about that kiss. She turned to pick up the second folder full of information and that was when the dizziness hit her hard. She stumbled toward to the sofa.

The damn laptop was still swirling with its images. Why was it still activated? How much of her power had it already sapped away? She reached over to flip it off and the world tilted. She slid past the edge of the table and was out before she hit the floor.

* * *

Deven felt uneasy. He wasn"t sure why or what to do about it, but something had his wolf all riled up. He drove fast enough that even Zeven cautioned him to slow down. The result was making it to the area Tess had suggested almost impossibly quick.

Not that it helped much. Their soldier vamp was a slippery bastard. There was evidence of him having been in the closed down store. But from there the trail faded fast. He must have figured out ways to travel during daylight. It wasn"t impossible. But most newborn vampires didn"t even consider it after the first burn lesson. But this boy seemed to understand the value of being mobile.

After nearly two hours of searching, he had to figure that the vamp wasn"t going to be found.

"Come on, Zeven. This is getting us nowhere. Let"s head back."

"It was a good gamble."

He'd really gotten his hopes up. The data that Tess had provided had looked like the perfect set up. Now he'd have to go back and tell Tess they'd still missed him.

Zeven"s phone rang. "Hey babe. What"s up?"

"You need to get back here. Tessa collapsed. Quinn"s with her now but we"re not sure how badly she was hurt when she fell."

He wasn"t trying to eavesdrop, but wolf hearing didn"t allow for anything else. His heart was thundering in response. He waved Zeven toward the car but didn"t wait to see if he was following or not. Once they were inside and the motor was running, he couldn"t hear Harley as well.

Which forced him to hear his own thoughts as they circled endlessly. Why had he left her without questioning how she"d got the intel? Why hadn"t he expected her to do something so dangerous? What the hell was he going to do if he lost her?

Shit, had his wolf been restless all this time because it was already connected to Tessa? Had his wolf already claimed her as their mate while he was still making excuses?

What exactly had he been thinking... that he had all the time in the world to think things through and only then would he say what mattered. He was an idiot. He loved her. Even the thought of living a life without her in it tore him up inside. Yeah, he loved her. Everything about her. Even the part that made her push her own limits.

Because he was sure she"d done it for a damn good reason. He could see her making the argument now. She"d risked the visions in order to stop the murderer, to save lives. What did her pain matter if it got the information?

But to him... Yeah, he could logically put those comparisons out there, but he didn"t believe them. The idea of her hurting was far more important than the thought of some stranger being hurt or killed.

Quinn would probably not approve.

It was their job to stop the bad guys and protect the people. Even Tess understood that. She was willing to put her life on the line for the job. It mattered to her that much. And she trusted him to do the same. She"d handed him the intel and sent him out to face down a murdering vampire. She"d sent him into harm's way, for the job. He knew it wasn"t because she didn"t care. It probably upset her to send them into the path of danger. But she trusted them to be strong enough to come home again.

That faith was what he needed to find. Sure, she"d been hurt but she was strong. By the time they got back she"d probably be back at her computer listening to her music too loud and cracking jokes the same as always. He had to believe in her the same way she did in them.

"You don"t have to blow the engine. Quinn says she"s stable."

A dozen angry replies came to his mind, but he bit them back and forced himself to back off the gas pedal enough to at least be noticeable. There was no point in biting at Zeven. He probably understood the desperate feelings well enough.

"That"s better. I wasn"t sure we"d make it back to the freeway."

"Sorry."

"Don"t be." Zeven took their emergency flasher and stuck it on the roof of the car. "Go ahead and blow the doors off now."

They were only about thirty minutes away. But with his heart pounding at full speed, he was sure they could make it in twenty or less. Even so, the trip seemed to take far too long. He was pretty sure that his brother had talked to him a few times. He was too focused on driving and grinding his teeth in frustration.

After what felt like hours he pulled up in front of their home. He was out and up the stairs before Zeven finished getting out. He started for her office but skidded to a stop. She wouldn"t be there, would she? If not, then it would either be the medical room or her bedroom.

His wolf growled at him as if to say, quit being stupid. It was right of course. He opened his senses and immediately knew she was upstairs in her bedroom rather than downstairs in the medical treatment room. Taking the stairs two at a time he was down the hall and pushing open the door before he had time to think about what he was doing.

The door pushed open under his hand and there she was in the bed. Sitting up and staring at him with a cocky smirk.

Just like that... the anxiety drained away. His knees still felt weak, but his heart at least settled down to a more normal pace.

"You missed him, didn"t you?"

The job. She wanted to talk about the job. When he was drowning in a thousand other questions. He drew in a long deep breath and slowly let it out. She was an idiot, and he was an even bigger one.

"I"m sorry. I thought we"d have him this time." She shook her head and then winced. She had a small bandage taped over one temple. A small patch of blood had soaked through.

"It was a good try. If he was a normal baby vamp, we"d have had him. But he"s integrating all his military training and smart enough to work around normal vampire weaknesses."

"I guess that means he can travel during the day."

"Yeah." He settled into the seat beside her bed. "What exactly happened to you?"

She avoided his gaze. "I made a mistake in the code." She made it sound unimportant, as if she'd forgotten where she left a pen.

"More details." Somehow, he managed to keep his voice calm.

"I was testing out a new computer program for channeling my psychic visions. And the new code worked great. It really helped me focus on time accuracy and more specific details. The focus was fantastic just like I'd hoped. I"m a freaking genius." Despite her excited tone, both her hands were fisted on her lap.

"Except for the part that ends up with you nearly dying."

"It wasn"t that bad. The new program actually took less blood and didn't cause a headache at all. But I missed a line of code that controls the disconnection."

Some of his fear was being soothed by her obliviousness. He was almost calm enough to understand her process. "Meaning exactly what?"

"My medium was still open and devouring my magic while I was printing the results and sending you off. It sucked me pretty dry by the time I noticed. And I... umm... seems I passed out while trying to turn it off. Even that wouldn"t have been too bad, but I sort of bashed my head on the table as I fell."

He couldn"t believe her. She was joking about what could have ended her life. If he was picturing it correctly, she could have bled to death or had her magic drained to the point of... death. Either way, it ended the same.

"Joseph found me. He woke Quinn. Together with Harley, they got me all patched up."

And as if the danger of the accident wasn"t bad enough, but then a baby vampire who barely had his hunger under control was the one to find her with a bleeding head injury. Dammit. He really wanted to shake her.

"You look really mad right now."

"I"m not." Oh yeah, he was a wreck. But he wasn't going to show her how upset he was because it didn't" even make sense to him. "Should I let you get some sleep or is that out because of the bump on your head?"

"Nah, no concussion. I"m being encouraged to sleep."

"Good. Do that."

"Leaving again?" She reached out like she might grab his hand but then pulled back.

"Just to report to Quinn if Zeven hasn"t already."

"Okay. Don"t do anything too rash."

He thought about what she might consider rash. Maybe he should smash all her tech. Or at least unplug them. Or lock the door. But none of that would make any difference. She was too stubborn. That wouldn"t help keep her safe. She"d just go buy more and start all over.

He stepped outside her bedroom and carefully closed the door.

Quinn was waiting there for him. "How is she?"

"She's stubborn and self-sacrificing."

"Come with me. Let's get a drink." Quinn turned and led the way back downstairs to the mahogany room.

He followed without comment. It had been a while since he'd had a drink with Quinn. Life had just been too busy lately to take a moment to spend quietly together. He headed toward the whiskey cabinet, but Quinn waved him off.

"I'll get it. You sit down and try to remember that she's going to be okay."

He sat down in one of the two plush leather chairs. Unlike the sofas, they were soft and inviting.

Quinn set a glass on the table in front of him before returning for his own. He turned on the old gramophone in the corner to play one of his precious classical recordings. The music was quiet and soothing. Only then did he return and settle into the other seat.

He closed his eyes and let the ambiance calm his fears. More than just his worries, but his wolf's too. He didn't even know where to start to untangle his feelings. "She's okay this time." He hadn't even meant to say it out loud, but that didn't matter. He had and somehow it was a relief to share it.

Quinn took a sip of his own drink.

He needed to talk about more than just her dangerous behavior. This was the moment he should be honest about what he wanted from Tessa.

"I've met plenty of people like her over the years. Not all of them were as strong as Theresa. She's reckless but smart enough to usually know her limits."

"She was wrong this time." He downed half his glass. The alcohol wouldn't have much of an effect, but it would maybe be strong enough to calm him a little. "I wish she understood…"

"Understood what?"

"How her actions hurt others." He leaned over while struggling to find the right words. "Quinn, I don't know if I'm strong enough to watch her do this again."

"Drink the rest of that glass and then let me tell you a story." Quinn took another sip.

He couldn't imagine a story that would make this any less painful. But he was at least willing to finish the whiskey. He emptied the glass and waited.

"For a girl like her, she will always push her own limits. She will seek out reasons for her existence, need to know there is a purpose. Our kind of job isn't enough for her. She's not here for the paycheck. In her mind she is meant to support us and help save people."

It all made sense but where was the solution? "How can we change her?"

"We can't."

"Shit." The answer he'd been looking for didn't exist. All that remained was a different question. If she would never change, could he still love her? "Quinn, I'm interested in her as a woman, as a mate."

He wasn't sure what to expect, but Quinn just stared at him quietly for a moment. The music continued. Their gazes held.

And he felt calmer. Finally, all the inner worries that tangled together and left him feeling helpless all became less important. This moment when he was waiting for Quinn's response was all that mattered. Because just knowing that he wanted approval, meant that he was indeed still able to love her.

Quinn raised his glass and took a long draw.

"I was going to ask for permission to pursue Tessa but now I think that isn't what I needed at all. I had to reach the point when I knew what I wanted." He let out a long slow sigh. "I think I love her." It wasn't the confident confession that he'd intended but even saying that much out loud felt right.

"I'm happy for you. Even if she's not an easy one to love I will be wishing you both every happiness."

He stood and grabbed both glasses. After refilling them at the cabinet he returned to his seat. This time he was surprised by how different the moment felt. Once more he was just enjoying spending time with the man he most respected in the world.

Holding his glass out, Quinn toasted, "To love and all the ways it can drive us wild."