Page 34 of Midnight Kiss

“I didn’t say that.”

“I’m saying it,” he said. “I can’t stand to be around you anymore because all I can think of is him. And you. And … I can’t be friends with you if you’re not interested in something more with me.”

I gasped.

“So, what’s it going to be, Emily? Him or me?”

Him.

“Mike, I don’t want to lose you as a friend, but I am not interested in a relationship with you.”

“Then I’ll see you around, Emily. Good luck with your … whatever the hell he is. Your stalker.” And then he strode off, taking Reginald with him.

I pressed a hand to my stomach, a slow ache building alongside the nausea. I needed to get home and talk to Morgan about this. And study the book. You need the book.

12

ALEXANDER

“You have nothing?” Haldren paced back and forth behind his desk in his office, his jaw clenched. He wore the black uniform of the U.C. At this point, I was certain the man slept in it. His loyalty was unshakeable, partly because the U.C. had saved him, just like they had me. “Nothing. You have nothing.”

I lifted a large garnet off the end of Haldren’s desk—he used it as a paperweight—and held it in my hand, considering its crimson depths. I didn’t want to lie to him, but it was necessary.

The kiss with Emily had clarified things for me.

First, I had to find a way to protect her. Second, fulfilling my mission was paramount. If I let the U.C. know that I was attached to her in any way, she would become an issue for them. While the U.C. was about protecting humanity, they were willing to “crack a few eggs to make an omelet”.

My infatuation with her had to remain a secret until I could find a way to rid myself of it. Even standing here was a trial. I had made sure Emily had returned to the safety of her warded apartment, then had come here, hating that I had to be away from her.

The attachment to her had me by the throat. If I wasn’t careful, it would ruin everything, and that was exactly why I had to be rid of it.

And in order to do that, I had to remove the book from her without killing her. Then I could disappear. Wait out the pain of losing her.

Haldren continued pacing while I stood before him, unspeaking, perhaps because he was weighed down with disappointment.

He halted in front of his bookshelf and took a book down then slid it back into place, pressing his finger along the spine. A small compartment opened in the wall revealing two tumblers and a crystal decanter, stoppered and filled with blood.

“Haldren?”

He poured blood into a tumbler and handed it to me. “Here,” he said. “Take it. Drink.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“From a princess in Monaco,” he replied. “Kept temperature controlled. It will spoil if I don’t drink it, and since you’re about to throw away our lives, I thought now would be a good time for a toast.”

“For a military man,” I said, “you always had a flair for the dramatic.” I took a sip of the blood. It was delicious, but it didn’t sate me the way it should have. Because I wanted her blood. Only hers. The thought was alarming.

“And you have changed, Alexander,” he said. “What have you been up to these past weeks? I gave you a task, told you it was time sensitive, and you have yet to deliver results. The only reason I haven’t taken you off the mission is because no one else has captured the book either.”

“How can you possibly know that?” I asked.

“We have informants in the right places,” Haldren replied. “Even telling you that could land me in trouble. I’m under an immense amount of pressure from the higher-ups in our organization, Alexander. If you don’t deliver, it’s my head. All of our heads. You know this.”

“I know that,” I said, setting the glass aside. “But if you would tell me more about the book, it would help me find it.”

“Find it? She has it.”

“I know she has it, but I’ve yet to confirm that.” The lie tasted bland on my tongue. Effortless.