As he hissed and coughed, she lowered her aim and blew out both of his knees. He dropped to the floor it utter misery, writhing and convulsing in a tight ball at her feet. “That’s for Rune and his sister, Kitty.”
Carys stood over him, her gun’s barrel leveled at the spot between his furious amber eyes.
Riordan snarled, thick spittle dripping from his open mouth and fangs. He stared at her in seething outrage. But Carys saw fear in his gaze now too. He was beaten and he knew there would be no coming back from it now.
“Just do it, you bitch! Kill me, you fucking daywalker freak!”
“No.” She shook her head. “A bullet would be too merciful. And I’m fresh out of mercy where you’re concerned.”
“Huh?” His confusion was short-lived.
Carys slung her weapon over her shoulder and reached down to grab Riordan by his collar. As soon as she started dragging him across the floor, he began screaming. He wailed and thrashed, begging her to let him go. All in vain.
She opened the door to the roof.
She hauled Rune’s tormentor outside, into the clear heat of the morning sun. She didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, merely watched in pitiless silence as the lethal rays devoured him.
~ ~ ~
Chase was at the head of the Order’s charge as the warriors poured through the exploded main gate in full UV gear. Debris and smoke plumed in front of his face shield. Bullets zipped past him as he and his comrades stormed the courtyard, returning fire on Riordan’s guards who shot at them from windows and arrow slits inside the fortress.
Lucan’s voice came over the shared audio link that fed into the warriors’ earpieces. “Units, fan out as discussed. First team, secure all entry and exit points. Second team, sweep every corner of this goddamn place until you locate Carys. We take out anyone who stands in our way, except Riordan. I want that bastard taken alive.”
So did Chase, because he wanted to be the one to kill him.
With the assigned units splitting off to carry out their missions, Chase, Lucan and Dante advanced on the castle’s main entrance along with Nathan, Aric and the team from Boston.
Half a dozen of Riordan’s guards confronted them as soon as they crashed through the door. A heavy gunfire exchange lit up the central corridor before the warriors mowed down their assailants.
More shots rang out deeper inside the fortress. Lucan motioned for Chase and the others to follow him toward the commotion. They took out a couple more gunmen in the corridor as they came up on the great hall. Nearing the arched entryway, Chase wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at.
The bodies of several gunmen lay scattered and bloodied across the wide expanse of the room. Three more guards crouched in various positions in the room, exchanging fire with another Breed male who was hunkered behind the massive stone shelter of the ancient fireplace.
The warriors picked off the trio of Riordan’s men one by one.
In the sudden quiet, the other shooter held up his weapon in surrender and slowly limped out from behind his cover. The immense, dark-haired male was gravely injured. He had a makeshift tourniquet tied around his blood-soaked thigh and was bleeding from too many other places to count. His face was bruised and lacerated, his eyes bleak, but hot with amber fire.
“Jesus Christ,” Aric gasped. “It’s him. Carys’s fighter.”
And from the look of him, he’d been busy taking on his father’s thugs alone until the Order arrived.
Chase lifted his face shield. “Where’s Carys?”
“She went after him.” He pointed to a stairwell entrance in the corner of the great hall. “She wouldn’t let me stop her.”
Dread and disbelief swamped Chase. “She’s gone after Riordan? Alone?”
No. Please . . . fuck, no.
“The stairs go up to the tower roof,” the fighter said, already moving in that direction despite his serious injuries.
Chase didn’t wait another second. Summoning every ounce of strength his Breed genetics had given him, he flashed into the stairwell with his heart in his throat.
Intense light poured out from the small chamber at the top of the stairs. He stepped into the room and immediately closed his visor, his arm raised to cover his eyes, even though they were shielded from the UV rays by his protective gear. It took a moment for his vision to adjust.
It took even longer for his mind to process what he was seeing.
The access door to the roof was wide open.
Carys stood outside in full sunlight.
She held something in her hand—a tattered shirt. Swirling around her in the morning breeze was a cloud of dark ashes. They scattered away into nothingness as Chase stared, dumbstruck.
Carys turned then. She looked over her shoulder at him, fangs bared, eyes ablaze with molten amber.
Chase could hardly breathe as he looked at her now. He’d been terrified that he would reach the top of the tower and find his beloved little girl destroyed by the evil that lived here. Instead, he found a vengeful Valkyrie, with the wind stirring her hair like a tempest, and the tattered remains of her enemy clutched in her unforgiving grasp.
Her eyes softened on him now. She let go of Riordan’s empty shirt and it fluttered away, forgotten.
“Daddy!” she cried, and rushed into his waiting arms.
Chase shut the door on the sun and lifted his face shield as he held her close. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured into her hair. “Your mother and I have been out of our minds these past several hours. When we heard you’d been taken, we thought . . .”
He let the worry go without finishing the sentence. She was safe. She was back in her family’s arms. Soon, she would be back home with Tavia and Aric and him.
But his little girl was gone, he realized as he held Carys now.
She’d been gone for a while, but he’d been too stubborn to see it.
He saw her clearly now. He saw a strong, courageous, impressive woman.
She was magnificent. Formidable.
And her father had never been more awed by her, nor more proud.
CHAPTER 40
“Holy shit,” someone murmured from behind Carys and her father.
She realized only then that they weren’t alone. Aric, Nathan and his team from Boston, even Lucan and Dante, stood just inside the room.
On a curse, her brother broke away from the group and moved in to hug her too. Carys wrapped her arms around him and her father, so grateful to be reunited with them.
The danger was over. Riordan was no more.
Relief and joy flooded her, but she couldn’t rest yet. Her heart still had somewhere else it needed to be.
She raised her head, peering past the thick knot of warriors to the top of the tower stairs.
And there he was.
“Rune.” Tears choked her when she saw him.
He was alive.
And he was looking at her with so much love, it stole her breath away.
She flew to him on a strangled cry. They kissed desperately, hugging each other close and murmuring private, tender words. She didn’t care that they had an audience. She didn’t care about anything except the fact that Rune was there with her, telling her that he loved her. Kissing her as if he never wanted to let her go.
But the scent of his blood was a potent reminder that he wasn’t out of danger yet. She drew away from him and glanced at the warriors.
“Rune needs help for his injuries. I gave him my blood a while ago, but it’s not enough.”
She saw her father’s chin lift in understanding. There was no disapproval in his eyes at the acknowledgment that Rune was bound to her now. Only concern as his gaze took in the extent of Rune’s wounds.
“Rafe,” he said, motioning to Dante’s son and a member of the Boston team. The blond warrior had inherited his mother’s gift for healing with a touch. He’d mended worse injuries than Rune’s before. He and Tess had even worked together to bring another of the Order’s family back from death not so long ago.
“I believe our introduction is overdue,” Chase said, stepping forward to extend his hand to Rune. “This isn’t the way I’d envisioned us meeting, but I can honestly say it’s an honor.”
Carys held on to Rune, resting her head against his bare chest and smiling as he took her father’s hand and shook it firmly. “An honor for me too, sir.”
“Call me Chase. Or Sterling.”
“Just don’t call him Harvard,” Dante drawled, grinning.
Chase chuckled. “Feel free to ignore anything that one tells you. It’s always worked for me.”
Rune’s laugh vibrated warmly against Carys’s ear. “All right. Chase it is.” He glanced down at Carys then, his gaze intense and meaningful. “My name is Rune.”
Chase nodded solemnly. “Thank you for protecting my daughter, Rune. Thank you for keeping her safe and alive.”
“Not at all, sir,” Rune said. “She’s the reason I’m alive. She is my reason for everything.”
He caressed her cheek and her heart was so full, she couldn’t resist lifting up to kiss him again.
When their lips parted, Aric stood before them. He shook Rune’s hand too. “I guess this is going to make us brothers now.”
“Aye,” Rune said. “Maybe in time we’ll even be friends.”
Aric smirked. “Got a feeling my sister won’t have it any other way.”
Now Lucan strode over and introduced himself. “I don’t know whether to thank you or offer condolences that things had to go this way.”
Rune shook his head. “This was the only way it could go with my father. I have no regrets, other than the fact that I didn’t end him a long time ago. Before he had the chance to hurt so many other people.”
Lucan grunted, his cool gray eyes thoughtful. “You and I have more in common than you know, Rune.” He turned that contemplative gaze on Carys. “And you deserve more credit than anyone has been willing to give you, myself included.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, both humbled and proud.
Rafe came over and began working on the worst of Rune’s injuries as the other Boston team members came forward too. They all greeted Rune and Carys with praise and genuine interest, falling into an easy camaraderie with both of them.
It felt good, being accepted by all of them. Oddly, it felt right. She didn’t know exactly what her future was going to look like after she got home to Boston, but she couldn’t help thinking that as much as it would include Rune, it was going to include the Order as well.
She had a feeling no one in the room with her now was going to tell her no again.
CHAPTER 41
A couple of hours after Rafe worked his magic, Rune was cleaned up and seated in the great hall with Carys, feeling as if his multiple gunshot wounds and broken bones had been nothing more than bee stings.
His body was healed and he was breathing a hell of a lot easier knowing Carys was safe and sound. She was nestled against him now, speaking on the phone to her mother who was waiting not so patiently for her family to return to the Order’s headquarters in D.C.
As Carys ended the call, she glanced up at Rune. “Yes, of course. I’ll tell him for her. We’ll see you soon. I love you.” She murmured a tender goodbye, then put the comm unit away.
“You’ll tell me what?”
“Nova wants you to know that she’ll be waiting to greet us as soon as we arrive, no matter what time it is. She’s very excited to see you.”
“Nova,” he said, testing out the name his sister had been using since she fled this place to begin her new life in London years ago.
Carys had explained what she knew of Nova’s journey from Dublin to London, and the circumstances that had brought her into Mathias Rowan’s orbit.
It seemed both Rune and his sister had wanted to deny where they had come from—to hide from the monster who’d terrorized their past. They had both learned the hard way that some monsters couldn’t be outrun. They had to be confronted and destroyed in order to truly break free of their hold.
“Are you nervous about seeing her?” Carys asked, softly caressing his bare chest.
Rune nodded. “I’m not sure how she’ll react to seeing me after all this time. I’m different now. I’m not the brother she remembers.”
Carys smiled. “I think you’ll find Nova to be something of a surprise too. A good one, though. Just as you’ll be a welcome surprise to her.”
Mathias Rowan had been a welcome surprise as well. Rune and the London commander for the Order had been introduced when the group came down from the tower. He seemed to be a good man. A Breed male who loved Rune’s sister with the same depth of feeling that Rune felt for Carys.
He wanted that for Nova. God knew, she deserved some kindness and decency after the hell she had endured in this place.
He glanced at the bloodstained floors and bullet-pocked walls of the room. The battle was over at last. The monster was dead. The bodies of the fallen had been cleared away to the courtyard where the sun would claim them. Now all that was left to do was take stock of whatever intel Fineas Riordan might have left behind.
Rune told the Order where to find the storage chamber of UV weaponry and narcotics his father had showed him. The warriors were busy assessing that cache and combing through all the other chambers for further evidence of his Opus Nostrum ties.
“Are you okay with all of this, Rune?”
He glanced down at her, idly stroking her arm as he held her. “I am. I feel freer than I ever have, knowing my father is gone. His evil can’t touch me or anyone else I care about. Now, we need to make the same thing true of Opus Nostrum.”
He considered all of the terror the organization had caused. All of the misery they could still deliver if they had arms and chemicals like the ones his father was stockpiling. He considered the war his father had boasted about, yearned to make happen.
“I’m ready to fight that battle,” Rune murmured. “Whether it’s as a part of the Order, or in any other way they can use me. All my life, I’ve been fighting inside a cage. Fighting for survival, then fighting for nothing because it was the only thing I knew how to do. I can still fight. Now, I just want it to mean something.”
Carys’s gaze was soft on him, but lit with a shared fire. He felt her flare of agreement through his bond to her. It sparked bright, then burned hot and unwavering. “I want that too, Rune. I can’t walk away from this fight now either.”
God, he loved her. He was proud to have her at his side and in his arms. In his corner, fearless and ready to stand with him against anything or anyone.
He bent his head to hers and claimed her mouth in a hungry kiss. His body stirred on contact, his arousal impossible to hide. She sat up, taking in the sudden churning of his dermaglyphs, and in the crackling heat that warmed his irises.
When she glanced down to his rather obvious erection, her eyebrows rose and her cheeks flamed a sexy shade of pink.
He chuckled, unashamed. “I’m feeling stronger now.”
“So I noticed.” She shook her head and leaned in close, her lips teasing, barely brushing his. “I should thank Rafe for your speedy recovery. It’s amazing what he was able to do with his ability.”
“Yes, it is, but I can’t give the warrior all the credit.” Rune grabbed the back of her neck and ended her teasing. He kissed her again, then rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes. “Your blood kept me alive. Your love kept me fighting, Carys. Now that I’m healed, I can’t wait to get you alone again and complete our bond. I want to lock you in forever, before you change your mind.”
“Never. I’m yours. I have been from the start.”
Their mouths met in a deeper joining, both of them relishing the closeness, the passion that ignited so swiftly and burned so strongly between them.
Things might have gotten embarrassing fast if not for the sound of approaching footsteps across the floor of the great hall.
Aric cleared his throat. “It’s going to take me a while to adjust to seeing thi
s without feeling like I need to step in and defend my sister’s virtue.”
Smiling, Carys gave him an arch look. “My virtue is none of your business. And we’d rather not have you watching us, so we’re all learning to cope here.”
Her brother laughed. “Fair enough. We should be ready to roll out soon. The other warriors are wrapping up the sweep of the place now.” Frowning, Aric glanced to Rune. “I saw the fighting pit. We also located a medieval torture chamber that looks like it’s seen recent use. Some fucked up shit here, man. If Carys hadn’t ashed Riordan, I would’ve gladly done it myself.”
As he spoke, Chase, Lucan and Mathias entered the room.
“We took a look at the crates of UV weaponry and narcotics,” Chase said. “We’re collecting samples of everything to analyze and will try to trace them back to their manufacturers.”
Lucan glanced at Carys. “We can’t interrogate Riordan about Opus’s activities, but recovering this cache could be even more important. Lots of Breed lives will be saved by keeping this shit off the streets.”
Mathias nodded. “Unfortunately, there’s too much of it to haul away.”
“And we can’t leave it behind either,” Chase added. “The risk of any of this shit leaking out to the public is too big to chance.”
“What will you do?” Carys asked.
“Destroy it,” Lucan said. “We’ll take our samples, but I want the rest of it neutralized before we leave here. The UV cylinders, the drugs, all of it.”
“We also located a hidden room in back of the storage chamber,” Chase said. “Riordan’s got a workstation and a secured communications system in there. Gideon’s been unable to hack into it so far, so we’re packing it all up and taking it back to D.C. with us.”
Carys sat at full attention. “Fielding has one of those rooms too. I found it just before Ennis Riordan grabbed me.”
“Gideon doesn’t know about it?” Lucan asked.
She shook her head. “My connection to him broke off as soon as I entered the room. It had the same kind of equipment in it, and the room was hidden, just like Riordan’s.”