by Adrian, Lara
“Of course.” She nodded, her smile full of love and compassion for the couple who were her parents and her friends. “I’ve got this. You take care of Rennie.”
With the commander and his mate having exited the war room, Mira gathered Rafe and Kellan and her team to one of the conversation areas away from the conference table.
Aric glanced at Kaya, both of them left to their own devices as the squad began talking tactics and territory assignments.
“I guess we should get started too.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here a bit longer. I know how badly you were hoping to get back to your life in D.C.”
“I can think of worse things.”
He was joking, but she didn’t smile. Instead she touched the panel embedded in the glass in front of her at the table and opened the first of countless data files.
“Shall we get started?” she asked when he merely watched for a long moment. Her face was utterly indifferent, impossible to read. “The sooner we get through all of this, the sooner we can both get on with our lives.”
“Yeah,” Aric agreed, telling himself the sting he felt was merely wounded male pride and nothing deeper. “I guess you’re right. Let’s get it over with.”
CHAPTER 10
“How many more image files left in that folder you’re working on, Kaya?”
She looked at the unopened count on her tablet display and groaned. “Twenty-four hundred and sixty-two.”
“Great,” Aric said. “That means we’re halfway finished.”
She swung a hopeful glance at him. “We are?”
“With the first batch,” he said, a flash of dimples in his unfatigued face.
Kaya slumped in her chair and exhaled a long sigh.
They had been working in the war room for more than five hours with barely a break. At some point, she had resorted to strong coffee, just to keep her lids open and her eyes uncrossed as she and Aric scoured file after file of photos and video stills taken during Stephan Mercier and Anastasia Rousseau’s wedding and reception.
“Why couldn’t Mercier’s Opus contact have done us a favor and smiled right into any one of the scores of surveillance cameras rigged all over the estate?”
Aric chuckled. “Where’s the challenge in that? Can’t blame the guy for hiding out in the crowds and keeping his face averted every time he was in a camera’s vicinity. Opus members don’t tend to live long once the Order gets wind of who they are.”
Kaya pulled a frown. “Well, I find his caution annoying.”
Beside her at the conference table, Aric flipped through his open file of images, barely pausing more than a moment on any one of them. She watched, fascinated by how quickly his mind worked. His flawless memory may have been inherited from his mother, but Aric’s keen intellect and razor focus was all his own.
And damn if it wasn’t sexy as hell.
He slid his tablet toward her and pointed to a squatty, dark-haired man in the photo on the display. “That him?”
She shook her head. “I swear, if I have to spend another minute looking at pompous, entitled rich people drinking gallons of champagne and eating plates of thousand-dollar-an-ounce caviar, I’m going to scream.”
“You got something against rich people? Or just people having a good time?”
“I have nothing against people having a good time.”
“That’s a relief.” He chuckled and she made the mistake of looking up at him. He was staring at her now, studying her with an unhurried interest that made her stomach flip. “So, it’s only pompous, entitled rich people that make you want to scream?”
To mask her sudden awareness of him, she gave him an arch look. “If the shoe fits.”
“Excuse me?” He swiveled in his chair to face her full-on, his brows furrowed. “Did you just call me rich?”
Laughing, she picked up her half-empty mug of cold coffee and held it close as she looked at him. “Well, aren’t you? Rich, I mean.”
“Hell, no. Not me. I’m just a grunt trying to find my own way doing something I believe in.” He leaned back in his seat, looking casual and far too attractive for her peace of mind. “If you mean my family, though, they’ve done all right. But the Chases worked hard for everything they have. Most of the men in my family made their livings in public service. My father was the first of our line to join the Order.”
“I didn’t know that.” Kaya shrugged. “I’ve heard some of the Order commanders call him ‘Harvard’ so I guess I just assumed...”
“The nickname came from Rafe’s father, Dante. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment, but it stuck.” A grin pulled his mouth into a charming tilt. “Now only my father’s closest friends call him that.”
Kaya smiled, thinking about the easy friendship Aric seemed to have with Rafe. “I suppose it makes sense that you and Rafe are so close. You two act like brothers.”
He nodded. “In all the ways that matter, we are.”
She waited for his searching gaze to release her, but it only held firmer. That penetrating stare seemed as sharp as a razor as it studied her.
“What about you, Kaya?”
“What about me?” She glanced away when the intensity of his scrutiny became too much. Instead, she busied herself with another image from the reception taken before the party had erupted in chaos.
Aric’s eyes lingered on her, as steady and certain as a caress. “You’ve got friends in the Order, but who were your friends before you came here? Where is your family?”
“I have all the friends I need here at the command center. They’re the only family I need.”
“Is that why it means so much to you to be part of the team?” he asked gently. “Because the Order is the only family you have?”
“Yes.” A shaky breath leaked out of her before she could hold it back. “And because without the Order, I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She surprised herself, giving him that truth. She’d been friends with Mira for longer than a year and she’d never said those words out loud to her.
But saying them to Aric felt safe somehow. Maybe because he would be leaving soon.
Maybe because he was looking at her with such care and genuine interest, she couldn’t deny him if she tried.
And that was a dangerous thing.
He leaned forward, shocking her when his hand covered hers atop the table. Her heart slammed against her ribs as his thumb stroked the backs of her fingers. She knew she should pull away from his uninvited touch, but God help her, she could hardly move.
She could hardly form a logical thought when his other hand reached up to caress her face. His palm was warm and strong against her cheek, his fingers achingly tender. But there was no softness in his eyes. They glowed with predatory hunger, amber flecks of light swiftly devouring the bright green of his irises.
Kaya swallowed. The shift in the air between them had changed so suddenly, turning into something dark and seductive. They had been on the verge of this same steep plummet earlier tonight in her quarters, before Niko’s call had interrupted them. She’d been counting that narrow escape as a blessing, but now she realized the postponement had only heightened the craving she had for this man.
For this powerful Breed male who was making her yearn for something more than just duty and drive. Aric’s heated, hungry gaze as it slid from her face down to the pulse that hammered frantically in the column of her throat made her long for all the things she’d never dreamed she could have.
And never would.
Not when a blood bond would lay all her secrets bare, leaving her nowhere to hide.
“Kaya.” He spoke her name in a hushed growl, otherworldly and dark. He drew her toward him.
Before she realized what she was doing, her whole body arched into his coaxing touch, moving slowly, unresistingly, into his kiss.
His lips brushed over hers, the motion unraveling something deep inside her. Heat spiraled along her nerve endings and into her blood, igniting a ca
uldron in her core. She gasped at the swiftness of her response to him. Arousal so powerful it staggered her. He captured her wordless cry with his mouth, his tongue spearing past her parted lips on a hungered moan.
Kaya didn’t fight the power he had over her senses.
She craved the feeling of surrender she felt in his arms.
She wanted him--so much so, the sound of laughter and conversation drifting down the corridor took several seconds to register in her mind.
Mira and Kellan. Along with Torin and Balthazar and Webb.
Oh, God. The whole team was back from patrol and now heading this way.
Kaya pulled out of Aric’s reach, scrambling back into her seat. What the hell was wrong with her? Mortified at her lapse in judgment and control, it was all she could do to collect herself and prepare to face her comrades as the group of them converged on the war room.
Aric, however, showed no outward signs of humility. Leaning back in his chair, his eyes still glimmering with fiery sparks, he looked only at Kaya as the warriors poured inside.
“Hey, you two!” Mira strode in under the shelter of Kellan’s arm, laughter dancing in her eyes. She was freshly showered and dressed in casual clothes like her mate and the rest of her squad. “See, you guys? I told you they’d still be here working.”
“Or something,” Torin said, earning low chuckles from Bal and Webb.
Kaya groaned inwardly, knowing it was useless trying to deny anything. Especially around Torin, whose unique Breed gift allowed him to read the emotional barometer of any space he walked into. If the tall vampire with the glorious mane of long hair decided to read the room’s heated emotional state now, his face gave nothing away.
Kaya cleared her throat. “We were just about to take a break. Isn’t that right, Aric?”
He merely grunted in reply, an arrogant smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. Although his friends might pretend not to notice, she could see the fullness of his fangs behind his sensual lips. Just the idea made her pulse kick with an unwanted thrill.
Mira’s gaze ricocheted between them in question. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Well, we’re all going to hang out for a while on the back terrace. Since you were ready to take a break from... whatever you were in the middle of... come join us. That means you too, Aric.”
Without waiting for further argument, the petite captain strode out of the war room with her mate and comrades flanking her.
Kaya remained seated after they’d gone. “Go on, if you’d like. I’m going to stay and try to get through some more of these files.”
It took Aric a long moment before he moved. Then he got up from his chair and rolled it back into place at the table. Kaya closed her eyes, holding back the breath that was frozen in her throat as she waited to hear his booted feet cross the floor. In the unending silence, she reached for her tablet and tapped to open another of the image folders.
Aric’s hands came to rest gently on her shoulders. “The work can wait a while.”
She swiveled her head, prepared to make a dozen excuses as to why she preferred to stay. Aric’s crooked smile made every one of those lame protests dry up before they reached her tongue. He stood behind her, a wall of heat and muscle and dangerous temptation.
And those devastating dimples were going to be her doom.
“Come out there with me,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Rumor has it, you’ve got nothing against people having a good time.”
Her pent-up breath escaped on a small laugh. Against all better judgment and the countless warning bells that told her she’d better guard her heart as much as any other part of her anatomy around this male, she closed her files then walked with Aric out to the moonlit terrace behind the command center mansion.
It was a balmy summer night, just a trace breeze blowing over the courtyard and expansive patio where a burning fire pit and tall torches illuminated the group gathered there. Mira and Kellan and the three Breed males on her squad were seated around the pit, laughing and talking like family.
Rafe was there too. And he wasn’t alone. The Irish Breedmate, Siobhan, occupied a small stone bench along with him. Huddled against his side, she was wrapped in a blanket in spite of the warm night. If the sweetly shy looks the strawberry-blonde beauty gave Rafe were anything to go on, Kaya suspected any chill she may have felt was mainly an excuse to stay close to the handsome Breed male.
Rafe sent up a nod of greeting when he noticed Aric and Kaya coming to join them. Like the rest of the team, he had taken time to shower and change out of his patrol gear and weapons. Dressed in faded jeans and a dark T-shirt, Rafe had effortless, golden good looks but the shrewd instincts of a warrior. Kaya had gotten a taste of that latter side in the war room earlier tonight.
“Come on,” Aric said, encouraging her to follow him when she hesitated.
She went along, if only because the only remaining seat was the other little bench situated next to Rafe and Siobhan.
Kaya saw Mira smile then whisper something to Kellan as she watched her cross the terrace bricks with Aric. Music flowed out of the sound system, joining the comforting lull of conversations and the occasional bark of laughter. It was one of the things Kaya loved most about nights like this, the post-patrol ritual the squad often enjoyed. Even though she had yet to accompany the team on a formal mission, Kaya relished the time she got to spend with Mira and the others upon their return to base each night.
But tonight everything was different.
Walking alongside Aric then taking a seat next to him on the bench made her feel part of a different unit too. One that she didn’t belong to, nor ever could.
“How’d it go out there in the city tonight?” Aric asked his friend.
Rafe lifted his shoulder. “Uneventful. Not the kind of night we were looking for. We shook down some of the usual suspects for information, but no one seems to know anything about Mercier aside from him making headlines with his marriage into the Rousseau family. And his abrupt exit from it.”
“Or else they’re not talking,” Kaya interjected.
Aric nodded. “Good chance of that. Especially after Opus made it crystal clear how they feel about potential leaks in their ranks. Hard to tell Opus secrets when you’re missing your tongue.”
Rafe’s glance strayed to Siobhan, who shuddered beneath the comfort of her thin blanket at the mention of the terrorist brotherhood. She was one of very few people able to count herself lucky enough to survive Opus’s wrath. An innocent bystander, she had been beaten and left for dead in her flat outside Dublin just a few nights ago after Opus loyalists broke in and murdered her roommate, Iona Lynch.
Kaya smiled at the Breedmate. “Hi. We haven’t met yet.”
“Ah, shit,” Rafe said, raking a hand over his head. “Sorry about that. Kaya, this is Siobhan.”
The young woman tipped her chin down in acknowledgment. “Hello,” she murmured. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same,” Kaya said as she and Aric sat on the neighboring bench.
Rafe leaned forward, his forearms braced on his knees. “Listen, Kaya, I’m sorry if I came off overly interrogative during the meeting earlier tonight.”
She shrugged and shook her head. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” Aric said. “My friend was being a dick, so let him apologize.”
“What happened?” Siobhan asked, pivoting to face Kaya.
Rafe draped his arm around his companion’s petite shoulders. “We were talking about a mission that didn’t go as smoothly as it should have. I just wanted to be clear on some of the facts, but I think I was pushing Kaya too hard at times.”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“So, I noticed. Opus Nostrum is serious shit,” he added. “I guess it’s hard to turn off my training when it comes to those bastards and the worthless scum who are loyal to them.”
Kaya nodded. “I feel the same way. And if I could’ve changed anything that happened today, believe me, I would have.”
&n
bsp; Rafe grinned. “I’d have rather heard this pompous daywalker took a bullet in his ass instead of his arm, but no one asked me.”
Aric snorted. “No one’s asking you now, either, nightcrawler.”
“Ignore him,” Rafe said. “I generally do.” He held out his hand to her. “Apology accepted?”
“Don’t let him off too easy, Kaya. Remember, you bled for that mission today too.”
Rafe frowned. “You did?”
“Not really. It was no big deal.”
Aric gave her a sober look. “I made her run barefoot for a couple of miles through wooded terrain.”
Rafe’s blond brows arched. “And you called me a dick?”
“Show him, Kaya.”
“What? No.” She shook her head, mortified that Aric was making a big deal out of a few scrapes and bruises. She’d endured worse injuries just trying to live day-by-day on the streets when she was a kid. “Really, I’m fine.”
Rafe was already off his bench and standing in front of her. “Let me see.”
“You should,” Siobhan chimed in. “Rafe can help you. He helped me too.”
Kaya sighed. Only because they were all giving her little choice, she removed her shoes and waited while Aric’s friend checked out her wounds. “Does this hurt?”
His palm pressed flat against her abused sole. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”
In fact, it felt pretty good. Warmth suffused her tender skin, soothing her.
Healing her.
“You feel that?” Aric asked, watching her face intently as his comrade took away her pain and her injuries.
She nodded. Rafe’s ability was amazing, but she was even more captivated by the tender, intimate look in Aric’s eyes.
“I feel it,” she murmured, unsure if she was talking about the heat and light restoring her body, or the greater sensation she felt every time she was close to this Breed male.
“Good as new,” Rafe announced a moment later, his deep voice slicing through the haze of her tangled emotions. “And just in time for a little dancing.”
Someone had turned up the volume on a slow song--Kellan, by the look of it. He held Mira’s hand and guided her into the center of the expansive terrace, spinning her and then drawing her up against him. The mated couple swayed in a close embrace, eyes locked on each other.