Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Sean took a step toward him. “Do you want me to—”

Jared vanished.

“—go with you?” he finished.

Nicole met his gaze. “Arm up in case he needs you.”

“You, too.” Sean slammed the door and darted into the armory. By the time Nicole caught up with him, he wore hunting blacks and was pulling on his coat.

Nicole always kept it loaded with weapons and was pleased to see that Cliff had done the same in her absence. “Do you think Tessa’s okay?”

His brows drew down. “I don’t know. She should be. She’s gotten better about not letting vampires circle around behind her when she fights more than one or two at a time. But—”

“It’s weird that she isn’t answering her phone.”

“I’m more concerned about her not being here after telling Jared she planned to drop by. Tessa knows how important it is for new immortals to make their whereabouts known at all times. I had to do the same after I transformed. Before you became my Second, someone always had to know my whereabouts. Krysta. Étienne. Melanie. Bastien. Richart. The one time I forgot, Reordon and Seth gave me an ass-chewing that ensured I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. It’s a rule you just don’t break.”

Nicole exchanged her tank and shorts for bikini panties and a sports bra, topping them with a pair of black cargo pants and a long-sleeved turtleneck. Every Immortal Guardian’s home armory included both weapons and hunting garb so they could gear up faster in an emergency.

Sitting on the padded bench, she tugged on boots and swiftly laced them up.

“Are you getting that feeling?” he asked again.

“No. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, because I don’t know Tessa well.”

“And it doesn’t warn you when you’re the one in danger?” His words carried a bite that left no doubt of the anger that roused.

“Right.”

“I was going to head to Duke to help Jared look for her,” he said, temporarily dropping the subject, “but I don’t want to leave you alone.”

Shaking her head, Nicole rose and donned a two-gun shoulder holster. “Jared can search the entire campus in the time it would take you to run there.”

“Good point. Call Cliff.”

Nicole hurried to the kitchen, retrieved her phone, and called Cliff.

“Hey, Nicole,” he answered genially.

“Hey. Sorry to cut your evening short, but we may have a situation.”

“Hang on.” His voice lowered. “Get dressed.”

“Okay,” Emma murmured in the background.

Cliff switched to speaker phone. “What’s up?” he asked, all business now. Rustling ensued.

“Jared just came by. He said he wanted to see if Tessa was ready to go back to network headquarters. Apparently, she told him she was heading our way. But we haven’t seen her.”

“I assume you checked with the network?”

“Yes. Todd said she hasn’t been back since she left with Jared.”

“Where was she the last time Jared saw her?”

“Duke.”

He swore. “Okay. I’m going to have Aidan teleport me to you.”

“Us,” his wife corrected. “He’ll teleport us.”

“I don’t want to put you in danger,” he told her.

“I’ve trained with weapons, honey,” Emma said, “and can handle myself in a fight. I’m going with you.”

More curses. “We’ll be there in a few.”

Nicole looked up at Sean as she pocketed the phone. “You heard that?”

“Yeah.”

“Can Emma really handle herself?” Emma worked a desk job at network headquarters, arranging transfers for Immortal Guardians and their Seconds. That didn’t exactly prepare one for battle.

He nodded. “Cliff said that after mercenaries attacked the original network headquarters, she wanted to get as strong as possible so she could help others if it happened again.”

Nicole had been there that morning. Though she had worked hard with the other soldiers and guards to evacuate the building, some employees hadn’t made it out safely.

“Part of the ground floor collapsed on her,” Sean continued, “and she couldn’t get out. By the time Cliff found her, mercenaries were already infiltrating the building. And a couple of Emma’s work friends were dead. She doesn’t want a repeat of that, so she started lifting weights and worked with every hand-to-hand combat instructor at the network.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

She smiled. “That’s awesome. Go, Emma!”

Jared appeared beside them.

Nicole jumped and let out a startled squeak.

Water flattened his midnight hair to his skull, sluiced off his coat, and puddled on the floor. “She wasn’t there. Is she here? Did I miss her?” Gone was his usual reserve. He now looked frantic.

Nicole shook her head. “We still haven’t seen her.”

“Seth!” he shouted.

Seth appeared beside them. “A little louder next time?” he drawled, then frowned when he noted Jared’s waterlogged form and realized Nicole and Sean had geared up for battle. “What happened?”

“Tessa’s missing,” Jared blurted. “I was with her at Duke but got called away to help Caleb in Toronto. She said she was going to run here to see Sean and Nicole. I planned to join her but got another call, then another and another.”