by Lara Adrian
A portly dark-haired man casually making his way out of the reception.
Without looking back, he walked up the marble stairs and through the open French doors of the mansion.
Whoever he was, he was determined to get out of there without drawing attention to himself.
Which only made Kaya’s curiosity deepen.
“Thanks for the dance,” Mercier muttered. He released her as if he’d been burned, their connection instantly severed.
She no further use of it, anyway. Right now, she had her sights locked on bigger game.
There wasn’t a second to waste.
Not even to signal to Aric somewhere on the dance floor that their mission objective had suddenly taken a sharp left turn. Her conversation with Mercier was a problem they would have to clean up later. Right now, there was only one thing Kaya had to do and that was ID the man currently attempting to leave the reception unnoticed.
Kaya stepped away from the pavilion to cut an arrow’s path across the grass then up the stairs to the mansion. A smattering of wedding guests congregated inside, their conversation and laughter punctuated by the rapid tick of her high-heeled sandals as she hurried through, her gaze searching for Mercier’s Opus contact.
Holy hell, there he was. Several yards ahead of her, weaving around Phillipe Rousseau and a circle of well-dressed gentlemen chatting and smoking cigars just off the foyer. Kaya picked up her pace. She’d chase the bastard down in the parking area if she had to. Anything to get a glimpse of his face. Better yet, a glimpse into his mind.
Although how she would manage that with a small army of guards posted all over the estate and the surrounding grounds, she wasn’t certain. She only knew she had to try.
One of those uniformed men watched her intently as she strode toward the foyer. She recognized him from their arrival. Beneath his cap of close-shorn red hair, his gaze held on her with pointed interest, even suspicion.
“Can I help you with anything, ma’am?”
Kaya smiled and shook her head, her feet still moving in the direction of her target. “I just... forgot something in the car. But thank you.”
He didn’t return her smile.
She kept walking, alarm seeping into her when she sensed him behind her now, following at her heels. When his strong hand clamped around her arm and forced her steps to halt, every nerve ending in her body jangled with sudden dread.
Dammit. Had Mercier sicced security on her? But then, if he had, she would likely be facing a team of armed guards on orders to escort her off the property, not just one man who seemed to have a more than passing interest in her.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, trying to wrench out of his grasp without success.
“A better question is, what are you doing?” He kept his voice down as if to avoid upsetting the other guests, but his hold on her left no room for negotiation. “I’m going to need you to come with me now.”
Given little choice unless she wanted to create a very public scene, Kaya walked with him. He brought her into a vacant room down one of the main floor’s hallways, pushing her inside. He shut the door behind him, then turned around to face her.
Kaya crossed her arms, her heart racing. “Have I done something wrong?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes scrutinized her with a familiarity that unnerved her. “You and I both know you’re not who you say you are.”
Oh. God. Kaya swallowed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He chuckled. “Damn, you’re good. But then, you always were.” He reached behind him and turned the lock. Then he started to advance toward her. “It’s been a long time. Two years, is it? Three, maybe?”
She shook her head. “I swear, I’ve never seen you before today.”
Another chuckle, but this one had a menacing edge. “You can drop the act now. Just what kind of game are you running here, Raven?”
CHAPTER 7
Where the hell had she gone?
Aric saw Kaya abruptly leave the pavilion. Her pace had been purposeful, even verging on urgent. If there had been any graceful way to extricate himself from his dance with Mercier’s bride, Aric would have gone after her immediately.
Now, she’d been inside the mansion for several minutes and counting.
Something wasn’t right.
With murmured excuses as soon as the song ended, he left the dance floor and weaved through the clusters of swaying couples, his warrior instincts growing increasingly taut with each brisk step he took.
No sign of Kaya among the other reception guests inside. He scanned each cluster of well-dressed attendees, searching for a splash of dusty rose silk or Kaya’s long dark hair.
It was as if she had simply vanished.
And then he heard it.
Just the slightest bump of noise coming from one of the closed rooms along the main floor’s hallway. To any of the humans in attendance the sound was too muted to register at all. But to his Breed ears, it was unmistakable.
The sound of a scuffle.
His senses on high alert, he ducked into the passageway. Behind one of the ornately carved doors, another tangle of movement sounded. Followed by the unmistakable thump of a body hitting the floor.
Fuck.
Aric freed the lock with sharp mental command. Then he threw the door open.
Holy shit.
“Kaya.”
She straddled the big body of one of the estate’s security detail. The guard who’d cleared them through the metal detectors when they arrived lay supine on the room’s thick Oriental rug, his face splotched red as he struggled and sputtered under Kaya--no easy feat when her bent knee was jammed against his throat.
Her pretty dress was torn in several places, her glossy dark hair drooping into her face in wrecked disarray. Her breath gusted through her parted lips, one of which was split open and bleeding.
A growl exploded out of Aric. There was no stopping the battle rage that flooded him as he flicked his furious gaze back to the man who’d hurt her. His vision burned instantly, hotly, amber. His fangs ripped out of his gums, not only in anger, but in reaction to the sudden olfactory blast of Kaya’s blood.
The guard’s eyes flew wide when he realized what Aric was. There was horror in those human eyes, but there was hatred too. “Fucking bloodsucker!”
In a panicked scramble beneath Kaya’s hold on him, the man somehow managed to free his service pistol as Aric stalked forward.
The shot he squeezed off was wild, aimless. But it was lucky. Aric felt the bullet’s sting as it grazed his shoulder. He glanced down in reflex, and when he looked back at Kaya it was just in time to watch her crush the guard’s throat under her knee.
Her fury was swift and cold. Lethally so.
“I had no choice,” she murmured softly, while outside the room the sound of gunfire had ignited panic among the reception. She looked up at Aric, her eyes stark, but without apology. “The son of a bitch was on to us.”
He frowned. “How?”
She shook her head as she climbed off the body. “I don’t know. He seemed to believe he knew me.”
“Did he?”
Her gaze strayed to the dead man on the floor. “I never saw him before in my life.”
Aric had questions for his partner, dozens of them. But they would have to sort everything out later. Right now, they had a bigger problem to deal with.
Screams of frightened wedding guests and the cattle stomp of rapidly moving feet filled the air. But not everyone was fleeing the mansion. Guards swarmed. Their heavy boot falls and low shouts sounded in the hallway just outside the room.
“The shot came from somewhere down here,” one of them called to his comrades.
Damn it.
They were too close already. Aric might elude them by calling upon his Breed genetics to speed him past the men like a chill breeze, but Kaya didn’t have that gift. And he’d be damned if he left a partner behind--even if she was the one who brought this trouble down on t
hem.
Aric ground out a curse and grabbed Kaya by the wrist, stepping away from the body and pulling her into a corner of the room just as a trio of uniformed men burst inside.
Her eyes rounded as he held her tightly against him, with one arm keeping her close, the other bent between them, his index finger pressed over her lips to encourage her silence.
“It’s Portman,” one of the guards said. “Shit. He’s dead.”
Another let out a hissed curse. “Who the hell did he piss off? Looks like someone drove a hammer into the poor bastard’s larynx.”
Dread seeped into the dark brown pools of Kaya’s eyes as the men spoke only a few feet away from them. Aric willed her to stay calm. Any movement could betray them now. He didn’t blink, just held her uncertain gaze as steadily as he held the rest of her, unmoving, with barely an inch of space between her face and his.
He understood her worry. Kaya couldn’t see the shadows that hid them from the armed men searching the room. Aric had to count on her to trust him now, to trust his ability. With Kaya melded against him, he bent the gloom of the small chamber, gathering it around them like a cloak. All while trying to ignore the erotic sensation of her soft curves fused against the front of his body.
His skin felt too hot, too tight, burning everywhere they touched.
“We got blood over here,” announced the third man. “At least Portman left us something to go on. Looks like his final shot hit its mark.”
“Call it in,” ordered one of the others. “Alert the gate too. As of right now, this whole fucking place is on lockdown. Nobody leaves the estate until we’ve turned every corner inside out.”
Aric kept the shadows close even after the men had gone. “Are you okay?”
Kaya nodded. “What about you? Your arm--”
“Already healing,” he said with a shrug, showing her the vanishing wound.
“You just saved our lives, Aric.”
He gave a grim shake of his head. “Not yet. We still have get off the property. Driving out of here is no longer an option, so that means we’re leaving on foot.”
“How? You heard those guards. They’re putting men at every corner of the estate as we speak.”
“There’s three hundred acres of woods abutting the property to the north.”
“Yes,” Kaya agreed. “All of it surrounded by a ten-foot high electric fence.”
He wasn’t going to mention that technicality, but it didn’t surprise him that she was already aware of it given the way she’d devoured the rest of the operation intel. And damn if he wasn’t impressed, despite the gravity of their current situation.
“Let me worry about the logistics. I just need you to stick close to me and do what I say. Think you can handle that?”
She didn’t even attempt to argue. That’s when he knew she was truly afraid. For all of her toughness and apparent need to be in control, what happened between her and the man who assaulted her in this room had Kaya Laurent rattled.
He gently caught her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “You can trust me. Okay?”
“Okay.”
As she quickly slipped out of her heels, he crept toward the open door and looked out. The hallway was empty now. The mansion was being cleared of wedding guests and all but a handful of security personnel.
“Come on,” Aric said, taking her free hand. “The only way we’re getting out of here is by getting lost inside the crowd.”
He saw the flicker of apprehension in her eyes, but when the time came to make their dash between the clusters of people being corralled back out to the gardens, she proved herself a match for both his pace and his nerve.
It wasn’t easy keeping the shadows gathered around them as they hurried out to the sunlit lawn. The pack of moving bodies all around them was the only thing he had to work with, and once he and Kaya made their break for the perimeter of the massive property, he wouldn’t even have that small advantage on his side.
Aric took the first opportunity he had to veer away from the crowd, using the shade behind one of the large white catering tents for cover. “Shit,” he bit off in a harsh whisper. “The closest edge of the tree line is about a hundred yards from here. I can’t shield both of us that far in open daylight, so we’re going to have to make a run for it.”
Kaya’s beautiful face was set in a look of pure determination. “I’m ready.”
God help him, it was all he could do to resist touching her now. There was chaos and danger churning all around them, but all he wanted to do was bury his hands in her tangled hair and kiss her. Instead he dragged his hungry gaze from her trusting brown eyes and measured their chances of escaping without being caught.
The odds weren’t good. Guards fanned out over the rolling lawn and gardens, some trying to calm anxious guests while others prowled the grounds like soldiers eager for a fight. Aric cursed under his breath. If he and Kaya didn’t get out of there fast, their fucked up mission was heading straight into the catastrophe zone.
“Okay,” he uttered quietly, spotting a narrow break. “Now, Kaya.”
Together, they dashed for the next tent several yards away. When the coast was clear for another brief moment, they hunkered low and scrambled another few yards along the edge of the gardens, using the shadows behind elaborate topiary and fountains to hide them as they arduously worked their way toward the thick forest that rose up like a wall along the furthest edge of the estate.
“We made it,” Kaya said, breathless as they ducked into the cool shade of the towering trees.
Aric didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise. He reached down and grabbed a fistful of her gauzy pink skirt, making her gasp when he tore a long piece loose.
She frowned as she watched him jog in the opposite direction of where they were headed and stuff the scrap into some of the bramble. “What’s that for?”
“The dogs.”
He’d been hearing them for several minutes, barking in the distance as the canine units were loosed along the perimeter of the property.
Now Kaya heard them too. He saw her dread deepen as the baying and howling grew louder.
Closer.
He took her hand. “Let’s go. We can reach the fence before they’re on top of us. If the guards send more dogs in from behind, your scent on that piece of silk will keep them occupied for a few minutes. Long enough to give us a chance to get on the other side.”
Or so he hoped.
While bending shadows would shield them from being seen, it was useless against the scent-tracking capabilities of a pack of highly trained dogs.
“This way,” he said, leading Kaya deeper into the thicket.
They raced hell for leather over the uneven ground, dodging low branches and sharp switches that lashed them as they passed. She still held her sandals in her hand, which would have been little help to her anyway on the loamy carpet and rock-strewn path they cut through the woods.
If Kaya was uncomfortable, she didn’t seem to notice or care. She navigated the terrain as ably as he did, never mind that she was doing it barefoot in a dress. She’d make one hell of a warrior one day, provided this botched mission didn’t get both of them bounced right out of the running.
“There it is, Aric.” She pointed ahead of them to where a tall hedge of silver links topped with razor wire gleamed in the sparse light of the woods.
Not only was it electrified, but also equipped with small surveillance cameras. Aric disabled them with a focused mental command. The fence would require a bit more effort.
“Give me one of your shoes,” he told her as they neared the structure. She handed over one of the delicate designer sandals and he tossed it at the fence.
At the instant of contact, a loud pop exploded, sending sparks shooting out in all directions like fireworks. Even though the ten-thousand volts was expected, Aric cursed in frustration. He could probably short it out with his mind, but only for a few seconds. Not long enough that he’d be willing to risk Kaya’s life by asking he
r to climb it.
“Put your arms around me.”
She gave him a dubious look. “What for?”
“So I can save your pretty ass. Hold on to me, Kaya. Now.”
As soon as she’d looped her arms around his neck, he brought her close then leapt straight into the air and over the ten-foot top of the lethal barricade.
When they dropped softly onto the ground on the other side, Aric found it difficult to let her go. Their hearts were racing in similar tempo, a heavy throb that couldn’t be blamed entirely on adrenaline. He could feel her blood rushing through her veins as he held her. Everything Breed in him responded to that steady drum of her pulse.
Everything male in him was painfully, rigidly aware of the abundance of lush curves and firm muscle now pressed deliciously against the length of him.
Kaya stared at him, the darkening of her deep brown eyes making her face look even softer, less the courageous, capable partner and more the strong, beautiful woman he was doing his damnedest to resist.
He cleared his throat around the emerging tips of his fangs. “You can thank me now,” he murmured, unable to resist the sardonic jab.
If he didn’t make a joke guaranteed to piss her off, he was probably going to kiss her right then and there.
She backed out of his loose hold and crossed her arms, though not quite fast enough to conceal the way her pebbled nipples pressed against the snug bodice of her dress. “Now that we’re half a mile in the woods, got any brilliant plans for how we’re going get back to the command center?”
“Only thing we can do. Hike another couple of miles inland. There’s an old logging road that cuts into the forest up there.” He fetched his phone from the pocket of his suit pants. “I’m calling in to base to send someone to meet us there for an evac. Then you and I are going to have to face Lucan Thorne and Niko to explain why we’re coming back from this mission empty-handed.”
“We’re not.”
“What do you mean?” He frowned at her, already holding the device to his ear. “We’re not, what?”
“Returning empty-handed. I got what the Order wanted from Mercier. Not only that, I got a partial visual on an Opus member. He was here at the reception. I was chasing him down just before that guard confronted me.”