by Adrian, Lara
Because after just one day Aric Chase had done something no other man had managed before him.
He’d made her feel safe with him.
And that was the most dangerous thing of all.
When he came to stand in front of her, Kaya dodged, stepping down onto the floor. The soft rug was cushiony beneath her bare feet, but that didn’t keep her from wincing with discomfort.
Aric scowled. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” His brow rankled further. “Sit down. Let me see your feet.”
He didn’t give her a choice. Taking her shoulders in his strong hands, he set her back on the edge of the mattress then crouched in front of her on the floor, taking one of her feet tenderly into his hands.
He sucked in a hissed breath as he examined the contused and lacerated soles of her feet. “Jesus Christ.”
“It’s not that bad.”
His gaze flicked up at her, sober, even angry. “You should have said something to me. I wouldn’t have pushed you so hard through those woods, Kaya. For fuck’s sake, I could have carried you--”
“Like hell you could have.” She scowled at the suggestion. “I never would’ve asked you to do that for me.”
“No shit. You’re far too stubborn for that.”
The gentleness in his voice only made her outrage spike hotter. She tried to draw out of his grasp, but he held her ankle firmly in the palm of his hand. His touch was warm, careful. His handsome face grave with concern.
She didn’t want to acknowledge how good his hands felt on her, nor how even his light touch as he continued to inspect the cuts and bruises on her skin made her heart race in her breast, her blood rushing like molten liquid through her veins.
When he glanced up now, she could see some of the same tension and awareness in his taut expression. And in the faint flicker of amber that lit the depths of his bright green irises.
He swallowed as if his tongue had become thick in his mouth. When he finally spoke, there was a rasp in his deep voice that caressed her senses like velvet.
“I’ll ask Rafe to come see you before we leave. He can heal this for you.”
Aric’s touch lingered even after he said it, his thumb idly stroking the fine bones of her ankle. God help her, she could hardly breathe under the friction of his fingers on her skin. She wanted him to touch her everywhere. To kiss her without the pretense of a covert mission.
She wanted these things even though she knew any one of them could be her undoing.
“Aric . . .” she murmured, uncertain what she meant to say.
The sound of their comm units buzzing at the same time saved her from tumbling headlong into another disaster with him today.
Only then did Aric release her. He answered the call, rising to his feet with a grim look on his face as he listened. “Christ. When?” He glanced at Kaya. “I’m actually with her now. All right, I’ll let her know. We’re on the way.”
Kaya stared at him in question as he ended the summons.
“That was Niko. Stephan Mercier’s dead. Someone cut out his tongue about an hour ago.”
CHAPTER 9
Although Mercier’s death was a disturbing development, the interruption couldn’t have come at a more ideal time. If Aric needed to be reminded of his duty--and it seemed damned clear that he did--Niko’s summons had been just the wakeup call he needed.
Not that his body agreed with that argument.
With his veins lit up and hot with desire, he waited for Kaya to slip a pair of shoes onto her injured feet, then followed her out of her quarters.
Touching her had been a mistake. He should have known that, considering how the memory of holding her earlier today--kissing her--had been driving him to distraction for the past several hours. All he’d done now was brush his fingers over her ankle and everything male in him was awake and pulsing with the need for more.
With the need for her.
As he walked the long corridor beside her, he tried to tell himself the need was merely animal attraction, nothing more. She was a beautiful woman and he was a man unaccustomed to denying himself any of life’s pleasures. It was only natural that the part of him that was purely male--and far from human--stirred with the need to possess her.
But what he felt looking into Kaya’s eyes just now spoke to something deeper inside him.
Her physical pain made him want to soothe her.
It was the other, deeper pain that alarmed Aric the most. Because seeing that made him want to protect Kaya, slay whatever demons had put such a hauntedness in her soft brown eyes.
Chivalric, she’d called him?
Like hell. He practically snorted at the idea as he watched her hips sway with each careful step, her long limbs and the trace cinnamon-and-roses scent of her skin putting a throb in his fangs that had nothing to do with heroism or honor.
The only thing saving him from proving that to her was a flight out of Montreal tonight.
He couldn’t wait for the wheels to be off the ground.
“Come in,” Niko said, his ice-blue eyes grave as he greeted Aric and Kaya at the door to the war room. “I’ve called everyone here to go over the news that just came in.”
Gathered around the large table were Kellan and Mira, her team of three Breed warriors seated across from them. Nikolai’s black-haired Breedmate Renata had taken the chair at the far end of the table, her slender hands resting atop her enormous baby bump.
Rafe had been called to the war room as well. Aric strode in and took the chair next to his friend, allowing Kaya to have the seat closest to Niko at the head of the meeting.
“As you’ve all been made aware, this morning’s op ran into a few... complications,” Niko said, his commanding tone conveying only cold acceptance, not censure. “Apparently, those complications got the attention of Opus. About an hour ago, we learned that Stephan Mercier’s vehicle was found in a parking garage downtown. His driver and bodyguards had been shot execution-style. Mercier’s death hadn’t been that merciful.”
Nikolai tapped a screen built into the glass surface beside him and a holographic image formed in the center of the long table. The photo was horrific. Mercier’s body lay sprawled across the blood-soaked leather backseat of his chauffeured car, his head tipped back at a grotesque angle. His mouth was agape, nothing but an empty black maw stretched into a permanent scream.
At the other end of the table, Renata made a gagging sound and turned her face askance. “Jesus.”
“Ah, shit.” Niko cut the visual at once. “Sorry, love.”
Mira reached over for the other woman’s hand. “Rennie, are you all right?”
Renata gave a wobbly nod, her chin-length bob swinging. “I will be, once this baby finally decides to arrive.”
“I don’t think it’ll be long now,” Mira said, smiling tenderly at the Breedmate who’d been both a friend and an adoptive mother to her since she was eight years old. “I can’t wait to hold my little brother.”
On the other side of Aric, Rafe grunted. “You may have to fight my mother to get to him.”
“Or mine,” Aric said, chuckling now. “Hell, even Carys is making plans to be here with the rest of the Order for the birth and presentation ceremony. That kid’s going to have no shortage of attention once he makes his appearance.”
Renata smiled. “It’ll be nice to have everyone together again.” She shot a wry glance up the table to her warrior mate. “And I’m looking forward to getting back out on patrols as soon as I’m able, too.”
It was no idle comment. Renata was one of the most fierce, skilled warriors in the Order. In addition to the quartet of daggers she was known to wield, or any of the other weapons she’d proven herself lethally qualified to use in combat, she was also gifted with an immense ability. Armed with just the power of her mind, Renata could immobilize and debilitate anyone who dared to cross her.
Pregnancy had muted that ability, as it did with all Breedmates, but
once she had her baby that gift would resume. And it would also pass down to her child, who would be virtually unstoppable once he reached adulthood.
“I don’t know if I like that plan,” Nikolai said. His brow was knit with a frown, but the gaze he held his woman in was filled with adoration. “I like seeing you round in the middle with my child. Maybe we should have a dozen babies before I let you suit up for patrol again.”
“Before you let me, vampire?” She narrowed her jade-green eyes, even as a smile stretched her lips. “Maybe instead of giving you a dozen babies, I should string you up and use my blades to--”
“All right,” he said, laughing with her. “I can see this won’t be an easy negotiation. Not that anything ever was easy with you, love.”
She arched a dark brow. “You get bored when things are too easy. That’s why you can’t live without me.”
He gave her a private, intimate look. “Only one of many reasons.”
Although he tried to resist, Aric’s glance strayed to Kaya. She watched the exchange between her commander and his mate in silence, a small smile tilting the corners of her mouth. Aric had a feeling she would be the kind of woman to keep her mate on his toes too. And why the notion of Kaya with another Breed male should needle him with a pang of annoyance, he didn’t want to know.
“Anyway,” Renata said to Nikolai, gesturing for him to go on. “You were telling us about poor Stephan Mercier and his missing tongue.”
“Yes.” The commander cleared his throat and went back to the business at hand. “There’s no need to guess who killed him. Whether Opus suspects he was compromised by us, or whether they know it for a fact, these people don’t leave loose threads.”
“No, they don’t,” Rafe agreed. He looked around Aric to pin Kaya in a shrewd stare. “You spoke with Mercier the longest. Did you give him any reason to think you were an Order operative?”
“Jesus, Rafe. Of course, she didn’t.” Aric’s response sounded defensive, even to his own ears.
“Just trying to piece things together in my head,” Rafe said.
And while his question wasn’t out of bounds, Aric knew his friend too well and for too long to dismiss the probing intensity of the gaze that had yet to leave Kaya.
“Maybe you tipped your hand to Mercier without realizing it,” Rafe suggested.
Aric waited to hear Kaya deny it, but when he glanced at her, he found her expression less than certain. “I don’t think he knew I was with the Order. Not that he conveyed to me through his thoughts, anyway.”
“But you can’t be sure?” Rafe pressed.
She hesitated. “No. I can’t be sure. He said some things about the Breed--he thought some things--that I couldn’t let lie.”
“Such as?”
“That the Breed are monsters. A scourge that deserves to be erased from existence.”
Aric grunted. “Not the first time we’ve heard that.”
“Nor will it be the last,” Nikolai finished grimly.
Kaya shook her head, angry color rising in her cheeks. “Mercier meant it. He was gleeful about the idea that he could have something to do with making war happen between the humans and the Breed. I couldn’t stand there and let him spew his hatred in front of me. I guess I felt the asshole needed to be set straight on a few things.”
“Hey, I’ve been there before, too, Kaya.” Mira gave her friend a gentle look from across the table. “But as a warrior, you have to check your emotion at the door.”
“Or risk the entire mission,” Rafe added.
“I didn’t mean to put anything or anyone at risk,” Kaya replied, openly contrite. “Mercier was unjustly deriding the people I care about, people I would lay down my life for. He was wrong, so I reminded him that it was Opus Nostrum who’d been behind all of the recent violence and division.”
“And now we’ve lost the very lead you went there to confirm,” Rafe pointed out. “It was a rookie mistake. Covert op means always staying within your cover.”
“Yes.” Kaya held his scrutinizing gaze. “I know what it means.”
“Damn, Rafe.” Aric shot his comrade a hard look. “Go easy on her, man. This was her first field mission and she did great. So, we lost Mercier. He was a bottom-feeding scum. At least Kaya siphoned some useful intel off him. And she also provided us with an even stronger lead on Opus.”
“That’s right,” Niko agreed. “That is, if we can ID the man she saw leaving the reception.”
Kaya’s brow pinched with regret. “I wish I’d gotten a look at his face. Even a glimpse would’ve been something useful.”
“You would have, if it hadn’t been for that security guard getting in your way,” Aric pointed out.
“What do we know about him?” Renata asked from the far end of the table, her hand idly caressing the swell of her belly. “Have we been able dig anything up?”
“We have,” Kellan offered from beside Mira. “His name was Jacob Portman. Real piece of shit, if you’ll pardon my French. He’d been on the Rousseau security detail for about a year. Got his training as a JUSTIS officer doing port patrols on the river a few years back, but he got bounced for excessive force after killing an unarmed Breed youth down on the docks. Emptied his service pistol into the kid’s back, according to the files.”
Aric met Kaya’s sickened look. “Sounds like you did the world a favor taking out that heap of garbage.”
“That’s not all,” Mira added. “Tell them what else you uncovered on him, Kellan.”
He nodded. “Portman used to run with an assortment of militant groups when he was a teen. They called him ‘Red’ back then.”
“How original,” Aric drawled, picturing the human’s crown of bright ginger hair.
“According to his juvie file, his fellow gangbangers called him that mainly because he liked to watch things bleed,” Kellan said. “Especially things with fangs.”
Nikolai cursed low under his breath. “Sounds like Portman could’ve been ripe for indoctrination by Opus too. Do you think he confronted you because he suspected you were part of the Order, Kaya?”
She had gone very quiet, very still. She glanced up now, almost as if she’d drifted off somewhere. “I’m sorry?”
“Portman,” Niko prompted. “You said he thought he knew you from somewhere.”
“That’s what he said. But he was wrong.” Her answer was resolute, without a second’s hesitation. “I’d never seen him before today. And I swear to you he’d never seen me before, either.”
“You think he was lying?” Mira asked. “Or was he just mistaken?”
Kaya shook her head. “I can’t say for sure. Maybe I just have one of those faces.”
Aric gave her a reassuring glance. “Not a face I’d ever mistake for another.”
Her gaze lingered on his for a long moment before dropping away, color suffusing her cheeks. When she spoke, her voice was soft and sober.
“I failed everyone today, and I’m sorry. The last thing I ever wanted to do was let any of you down. Now, I’ve messed everything up. The reception footage has gone viral. Opus Nostrum is all but certain to know they’re in the Order’s crosshairs again. Mercier’s dead, and the only lead we might’ve taken away from all of this escaped the premises before I could get close enough to ID him.”
“Maybe not.” Niko leaned forward in his chair. He touched the panel again and this time a display full of data and photo files appeared in the center of the table. “Gideon sent over every surveillance still and video feed captured at the Rousseau estate today. We’ve got the guest list from the wedding and the reception, as well as registrations for every vehicle that passed through the gates. All you have to do is comb through all of it until you find our subject unknown.”
“There must be thousands of photos and records,” Kaya murmured.
Niko’s mouth quirked. “Consider it penance. You too, Aric.”
“Sir?” He frowned. “I’m supposed to be returning to D.C.”
“And you will. Afte
r you and Kaya get through that intel.” Niko glanced at Rafe. “You’re sticking around too. I’ve already cleared it with Lucan. Now that we know we’ve got an Opus lead here in Montreal, I could use an extra pair of boots on the ground.”
“You got it,” Rafe said. “Nothing I’d rather do than help put another Opus member in the ground.”
“I don’t know about that.” Aric smirked at his friend. “Seems like there is one thing you’d rather be doing.”
Rafe’s intensity of a moment ago diffused at the quip--and at the reference to the female he’d been spending nearly all of his time with since they’d arrived in Montreal. He sent a light punch into Aric’s shoulder, but he didn’t seem able to hold back his smile.
Across the table from them, Mira lifted her brows. “So, it is true? Don’t tell me the untamable Rafe Malebranche may have finally met his match.”
That he didn’t deny it outright or try to deflect with any one of the dozens of reasons he’d used in the past to explain why he had no interest in settling down was answer enough for Aric.
“Holy shit,” Aric uttered, shocked and amazed. “Are you falling in love with Siobhan O’Shea?”
Rafe didn’t get the chance to answer. At that same moment, Renata hissed, her face constricting in pain.
“Sweetheart.” Niko flew out of his seat and was at her side in a flash of movement. He crouched down beside her, a look of pure terror in his eyes. “Are you okay? Is it the baby? Ah, fuck. Is he coming right now?”
“Relax,” she said, her voice gusting around a sigh. “It’s a contraction, that’s all.”
Niko scowled. “You’ve been getting them on and off for the past couple of days.”
“Yes.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. “I’m fine. Trust me, you’ll know when it’s time for our son to make his grand entrance.”
“Either way, I’m taking you to bed,” Niko growled. He glanced over his shoulder at Mira. “Will you handle the night’s patrol plans for me?”