Zach shot her an incredulous stare. "So? He's a vampire. He probably saved us from the others so he could eat us himself."
Kaden couldn't blame them for their skepticism. He'd have been singing the same tune not long ago. "I don't want to eat you." He stepped away from them and the exit, because what he'd said wasn't entirely true. He'd like to eat them just for being assholes. "You need to go before the rest of the clan gets here." He grasped Andrea's arm and turned her into him. "You too."
"No. We stay and fight."
"That'll be suicide," Matthew broke in. "It was a trap. Probably set by Kaden."
Again, he couldn't blame Matthew for his line of thinking, but at this point, Andrea's safety was his prime concern. He wasn't going to let these guys put her in jeopardy because they were too blinded by training to see the truth.
Kaden swung around, baring his teeth and giving them an up-close and personal reminder of why they shouldn't fuck with him. "Get. Out," he said, with a calm he didn't feel. "I could kick your asses before, and you can't even begin to imagine what I can do to you now."
Matthew turned crimson with fury, Trey went wide-eyed with surprise, and Zach paled so fast Kaden thought he'd pass out.
Once again, Andrea put herself between Kaden and the three Guardians. It was a sweet gesture, but unnecessary. Kaden hadn't been kidding about being able to kick their asses.
"Go," she said firmly. "Wait outside the chamber. Give me two minutes."
She must have delivered her command with a side order of glare that dared them to argue, because they didn't. They filed out the doorway, but not without muttering obscenities under their breath at Kaden.
When they were gone, she turned to him, but he didn't give her a chance to speak. "You need to go too, Andrea."
Hurt blanketed her expression. "Not without you."
"I can't go back, and you know it."
"You're going to get killed if you stay and fight."
"And I'm going to get killed if I go back to The Aegis. I'd rather go down swinging." He couldn't bear the sadness in her eyes or the sudden, cavernous emptiness in his chest. Without thinking, he palmed the back of her neck and brought her in close. He dipped his head, and the moment their lips touched, he poured everything he felt for her into his kiss.
He just hoped she didn't feel his regrets, especially the big one, the one that had foolishly kept him from committing himself fully to her.
Then there was the other regret, the one in which he'd told her there would be a later.
Chapter Seven
The kiss was goodbye.
Andrea knew it to her very soul, and she felt it in a shiver over her entire body. Eyes stinging, she jerked away from Kaden, but she clung to his hand desperately, even when he tried to extricate himself from her death grip.
"I can't lose you," she said. Pleaded, really.
The resolve in his steel-cut eyes sliced through her like a razor blade. "We can't be together."
"I don't care what you are. I'm tired of losing people I love. I can't do it again."
He laughed bitterly. "Really, Andrea? You don't care what I am? How can you ever trust me? How can you think I won't turn into a ravenous beast and kill you?"
"Because you aren't Gabrielle." The words made his head snap back as if she'd slapped him, but she pressed the advantage, going right for his jugular, because they didn't have time for a leisurely chat. She had to get through to him now. "Gabrielle became a creature that couldn't recognize the person she loved, and she couldn't control her nature. But you can control yourself, Kaden. You were starving in that cell, and you could have killed me. You didn't. If anything, you wanted me. You've been turned, but you aren't evil. I don't care what The Aegis says. They aren't always right."
Strain put lines at the corners of his made-to-please mouth. "Even if what I've become isn't an issue for us, it'll be a damned big issue for The Aegis. They aren't going to welcome me with open arms."
"There has to be a way."
Her mind worked furiously, searching the darkest, dustiest corners of her brain for anything useful. She could leave The Aegis, but that would be a last resort. Hunting demons was the one thing she was good at, and after an entire life spent quitting jobs, clubs, and college, she didn't want to abandon this, either. Maybe she could transfer again. Someplace where having a vampire boyfriend wouldn't be a big deal. She almost laughed at that, because...wait...she sucked in a harsh breath at her sudden idea.
"I got it." Andrea bounced on her toes, excited for the first time since all of this began. "We can move to New York. One of the cells there is rumored to have a half-demon Regent. And remember how we heard that one of the Elders is married to a demon?"
Surely one of the twelve supreme Aegis leaders wasn't involved with a demon in any way, but the story had spread like wildfire.
"Those are just rumors." Kaden's voice was tired, resigned. Andrea's hope that they still had a shot at something began to wither.
"I know, but--"