“Holy shit.” Aric raked a hand over his head. “You serious?”
She nodded. “We’ve got enough on Mercier to satisfy headquarters, and we have a new lead on Opus Nostrum right here in Montreal.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did.” She gave him a wry look over her shoulder as she started walking ahead of him, the tilt of her mouth smug. “You can thank me now.”
CHAPTER 8
Four hours later, Kaya’s bravado had evaporated as she stepped out of the shower in her private quarters back at the command center and wrapped herself in a thick terry robe. The soles of her feet were a bruised, abraded mess after the narrow escape through the woods outside the Rousseau estate, but it was her pride that stung the most after enduring a long debriefing session upon her return to base with Aric.
The two of them had been interviewed separately by Nikolai in the war room and Lucan Thorne reporting in via video from D.C. Kaya had done her best to give a thorough, honest account of the operation that had started out so well, then ended in gunfire, death, and chaos.
All because of her.
She could only imagine what Aric told the Order commanders in his recount of their mission. He’d been summoned first, and had been dismissed from the meeting room before she’d been brought in to tell her side of the story. Not that she would blame him if he threw her under the bus. She couldn’t have foreseen her unexpected confrontation by the guard, but she damn well could have handled it better than she had. Now, instead of a surgical mission to extract intel and cover their tracks afterward, they’d been the cause of a spectacle making headlines all over the world.
Kaya groaned. Her humiliation only deepened when she thought of the awful news coverage Niko and Lucan had played for her during her debriefing. Multiple phone cameras had captured the pandemonium. Reception guests screaming in terror. Tables and chairs toppled over as if a tornado had swept through the garden. Uniformed security officers brandishing weapons as they corralled elegantly dressed attendees like cattle while still other guards combed the grounds for an unknown killer at large.
It was only by some miracle--and Aric’s shadow-bending--that they managed to avoid being detected, or worse, taken into custody.
Although the two grim Order leaders had been impossible to read during their questioning of her, Kaya had been preparing herself for the worst. Her duffel bag was already packed with her few personal belongings. On her bed was a thin sweater and pair of jeans she planned to wear for the moment when someone eventually came to escort her off the property.
She flinched when a knock sounded on her door not even five minutes after she’d slipped into her clothes. Apparently, they weren’t going to waste any time cutting her loose.
“It’s open,” she said, walking gingerly on her bare feet to the closet to retrieve her boots.
She’d been hoping Nikolai might send Mira to deliver the bad news, but when she turned around to see who’d come in, her stomach did a little flip to find Aric standing there.
“Thought I’d come by and see how it went for you with Niko and Lucan.”
He looked incredible, freshly showered and dressed in a muscle-hugging black T-shirt and workout pants that rode enticingly low on his trim hips. His golden-brown hair was still damp, the ends of the thick waves curling at his nape and over his arresting leaf-green eyes.
If he’d come out of his meeting with the same feeling of discouragement that she had, he certainly didn’t show it. Cool and calm as ever, he leaned one bulky shoulder against the door jamb as he studied her.
When she didn’t immediately answer his question about her debriefing, his glance moved from the boots in her hand to the packed duffel resting on the floor. “Going somewhere?”
She attempted an indifferent shrug. “Just getting ready in case it turns out I am.”
He strode farther inside without waiting for her permission, bringing with him the woodsy scent of his clean skin and hair, and that more elusive masculine spice that twined around her sense like a drug.
“I didn’t take you for the type to give up that easily on something you want.”
“Well, life is full of little disappointments. I find it helps to be prepared.” She placed her boots on the floor, then seated herself on the edge of the bed to relieve some of the pain in her abused soles. “Did they show you the news reports from this morning?”
“I saw them. I think the whole world’s seen them by now.”
“God.” Kaya exhaled a quiet curse. “I’m sorry, Aric. I really screwed things up today. Probably for both of us.”
He lifted his shoulder. “Our exit strategy could have used more finesse, but things could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.”
“I killed that guard,” she reminded him.
“Only after he fired at your partner. Our mission objective was fucked as soon as that gun went off. Nothing you did after that would’ve changed the way it all went to hell. Besides, we still managed to come out of there with valuable intel that not only gives the Order license to go after Mercier, but also brings us closer than ever to one of Opus Nostrum’s members. And that’s all credit to you, Kaya.”
She slanted him a wary look. “Are you just trying to make me feel good? If so, don’t bother.”
“If I was trying to make you feel good, believe me, you wouldn’t have to ask. You’d know it.”
Her cheeks flared hot at the way his low voice caressed those words. She didn’t want to acknowledge the awareness that had sparked between them from the instant they first met--awareness that had only intensified during their shared mission today.
“You don’t have to be nice to me, Aric. I own my mistakes.”
“So do I,” he said. “And we both made some critical ones today. You may have complicated things for us by taking out that guard, but under the same circumstances I would’ve done the same thing. And that’s what I told Lucan and Nikolai today.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I also told them I was the one who fucked up even more by not scrubbing Stephan Mercier’s memories before I left the pavilion to look for you. That was my job, and I didn’t do it. He’s probably already been in touch with Opus Nostrum to let them know something wasn’t right about us.”
Kaya had considered that unfortunate likelihood before now too. “I said it was my fault you didn’t have time to scrub him. If I had paused long enough to let you know what I was doing, you wouldn’t have needed to come looking for me. You could have been erasing our tracks with Mercier while I went after his Opus contact at the reception.”
Aric grunted, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You saying you covered my ass, partner? Here I was, thinking you only wanted to drop me on it.”
She laughed in spite of the weight of her worries. Her chances of making the Order as a teammate may have dried up today, but at this moment, she relished the feeling of camaraderie she shared with Aric Chase. She had dismissed him as an arrogant, entitled jackass when they met, but looking at him now she felt a strengthening respect that surprised her.
And the start of a caring she wasn’t prepared for at all.
“You did good today,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure I told you that before I clear out of here and head back to D.C.”
“You’re leaving?” Why the hell that idea should put a pang of disappointment in her breast, she had no idea. “When will you go?”
“As soon as tonight, probably. This trip to Montreal was just a detour. Until Lucan called me with the Mercier assignment, Rafe and I were on our way to D.C. with the woman we brought with us from London.”
“Oh. Right, of course.” Kaya hadn’t been introduced to Siobhan O’Shea, but Mira had filled her in on the awful ordeal the shy Breedmate had endured the night that Aric and Rafe had rescued her and taken her into the protective custody of the Order. “Your friend seems to like her quite a bit.”
That Rafe was attracted to the pretty strawberry-blonde wa
s obvious to anyone who saw the pair together for even a few minutes.
Aric smirked. “My friend’s got a thing for damsels in distress.”
“What about you?”
He slowly shook his head. “I don’t have a type.”
Kaya snorted. “Of course not. You’re more of a free agent, I’ll bet.”
His gaze stayed locked on hers. “More or less.”
If she had to guess, she’d go with more. After all, she’d felt the heat of this Breed male’s allure firsthand. Aric Chase was charismatic, magnetic. And damn if he didn’t kiss like the devil too.
She should be relieved he was leaving Montreal.
Especially after what happened today.
Her encounter with that security officer had left her more rattled than it should have. She had never seen the man before, but the fact that he’d been so certain he knew her--by a name she hadn’t heard in years--continued to bother Kaya even now, for reasons she preferred not to consider.
She had secrets no one knew.
Old secrets, but still powerful enough to destroy everything she’d worked for.
And if anyone at the Order uncovered them, there would be no place for her on any team. No, they would condemn her as a liar for all the time she’d kept those secrets buried.
Worse, they would have every right to consider her an enemy.
Letting herself get sidetracked by a charming player like Aric was a mistake she refused to make. It was good that he wasn’t sticking around. If she were smart, she’d wish him gone from Montreal immediately.
And Kaya was smart.
It was the only way she’d survived this long.
She gave Aric a wry smile. “I’m sure the women of Washington, D.C., will be delighted to have you back.”
He stared as if he wanted to say something more, then thought better of it. “Actually, I don’t expect I’ll stay in D.C. for long. The plan has always been for me to join one of teams in Seattle once I’m cleared for patrols.”
Which would put him even farther away from Montreal. And so much the better. “What’s in Seattle?”
“Rafe’s father, Dante, heads up the command center out there. He and my father have been like brothers for the past twenty years. It only seemed fitting that I serve under Dante since Rafe is normally a member of one of my father’s teams in Boston.”
“You mean, when he’s not being sent off to Ireland with you to rescue random damsels in distress?”
Aric grinned. “Something like that, yeah.”
“How very chivalric,” she tossed back, enjoying their back-and-forth despite her determination to keep him at arm’s length for however many hours he would remain in Montreal. “I guess chivalry’s to be expected when we’re talking about the Order’s golden prince.”
He scoffed. “Prince?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t pretend you don’t know. The only name that carries more weight in the Order than your family’s is Lucan Thorne’s.” Kaya studied his handsome face, all those sharp angles and broad slopes that combined to give him a classic, regal look that few women could resist. “Who else do you know who can say they’re not only the son of the first daywalking Breed female in existence and the hero of the Order who killed that madman, Dragos, two decades ago?”
“My father would never take all the credit for that. He had the entire Order with him that day, including Niko and Renata.” Nevertheless, Aric’s eyes danced with familial pride. “And there is one other person I know who can make the same claim as me. My sister, Carys.”
Kaya nodded at the mention of his fraternal twin. “Is she a lot like you?”
“Too much,” he said, a loving smile tilting his sculpted lips. “My sister is a force of nature, always has been. You’d like her, I think. The two of you have a lot in common.”
“Such as?”
“Intelligence. Determination. Courage. Beauty.” He smirked. “Carys got all the good traits between us. I guess that makes me the bad twin.”
Kaya smiled. “I don’t know about that,” she said, weathering a wistful sense of envy for the way he spoke so adoringly about his sibling. “I think you’ve got a few passable qualities too.”
“Care to elaborate? I’ve got a couple of hours to spare.”
She laughed. “No way. You don’t need anyone helping to make your head swell. Least of all me.”
His grin widened. “Why not let me be the judge of that?”
It wasn’t until he started to move closer to her seat on the edge of the bed that Kaya realized she was losing control of the situation. It was so easy to get swept up into banter with him. Easier still to forget that they really weren’t friends, that they would never be something more either. She could not allow that. Not with anyone, but especially him.
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 d
evelopment, 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.”