Break the Day - Lara Adrian Page 0,44
for more than an hour inside that museum?”
Rafe cleared his throat. “After. Devony’s got the ability to siphon another’s ability and use it herself. But it costs her. She was weak and in a lot of pain afterward. I helped her. I followed her home later, and she eventually told me everything.”
As far as field reports went, his was light on details about that night. He didn’t think the blow-by-blow was going to make Lucan any happier. Not that the shrewd Gen One needed him to color everything in. From the grim look on his face, it was obvious he understood exactly what Rafe wasn’t saying.
“Does she know about your mission for the Order?”
“No. That part of my cover is intact. As far as she knows, I want to take Opus out for my own personal reasons.”
Lucan grunted. “I don’t think that’s all too far from the truth.”
“No, sir. You know I want to redeem myself. I’ve never made a secret of that. But my loyalty is with the Order. I’m not going to let you down again.”
“You didn’t let us down in Montreal, Rafe. That’s a burden you placed on your own shoulders.” Lucan studied him for a long moment, his brows flat over his measuring gaze. “This is your mission, Rafe. As long as you don’t compromise your cover with her, I’m going to let you call the shots where this female is concerned. But understand, that means you’ll live with the results.”
“Yes, sir.”
“So, what do you recommend we do about Devony Winters?”
Rafe knew all it would take was a word and Lucan would ensure she was placed under Order protection somewhere out of the blast range of Opus or anyone in their circle. She would be safe. She would be out of his way, somewhere he didn’t have to think about the prospect of her getting hurt or distracting him from his goal.
But all of those things would come at a price.
And as much as he wanted to think their partnership wasn’t real, the warrior in him recognized he wasn’t going to find a stronger ally in this quest.
“Devony stays. She’s mine to look after.”
Lucan gave him a grave nod. “All right, son. She’s yours.”
As he spoke, a chime went off on one of the devices on his desk. He glanced at it and scowled, a look of true concern on his face. His low, whispered curse spoke volumes.
“Is something wrong, sir?”
He started to shake his head, then slowly exhaled and met Rafe’s stare through the monitor. “We’ve been dealing with an issue in Europe for the past few days. It concerns the team doing some black ops work near Budapest.”
“Micah’s team,” Rafe said. He recalled that another of the Order’s elders, Tegan, had only recently come back from that region where his son had been deployed. “What’s going on?”
Lucan gave him a sober look. “Micah’s team went dark the other day.”
Holy hell. Rafe felt a jab of worry, even dread, for one of his closest friends. “Do you mean they’re MIA?”
“We’re not ready to call it that yet.”
But he didn’t have to. Rafe could see the truth in Lucan’s shadowed expression. No wonder he and Chase and Gideon had barked at him the other night for reporting in late. It wasn’t often the Order had to deal with the loss of one of their own, never mind an entire team that included a family member.
“Go take of your business, son. As soon as you have something solid to move on, you let me know. We’re going to get this done. I’ll be damned before I accept the alternative.”
CHAPTER 15
Rafe strode into Asylum around nine o’clock that night and headed to the pool tables in back where Cruz’s text had directed him to go.
The gang looked like they’d been there for a while, already settled in at one of the far banquettes with a round of beers half-consumed between them and a game of eight-ball nearing its completion on the billiards table.
Devony was with them, too, dressed in that hot-as-fuck black leather motorcycle jacket and a pair of dark jeans and high-heeled boots that made her legs look like they went on for days. Now, the sight of her in her long-sleeved turtleneck made him as hard as he would be if he saw her standing there in lacy lingerie. Mainly because he had no need to imagine what she was hiding under all of her concealing clothes.
He had touched every inch of her.
Had tasted every sweet