pause on his end, then a quiet inhalation of his breath. "Knowing Chase, I'm sure he blames himself for part of what occurred during the rescue mission ..."
Lucan felt his brows draw tight at the reminder of yet another of Chase's recent troubles while on duty. "Let me worry about my men, Mathias. You keep a close eye on your own."
"Certainly," he replied, even-toned and professional. "I'll handle any fallout from the incident at the club tonight. If anything interesting turns up in the meantime about Freyne or his connection to Dragos, rest assured I'll be in touch."
Lucan murmured his thanks. If Rowan hadn't carved such a solid career for himself within the upper ranks of the Agency, he might have made a fine warrior instead. God knew the Order could use extra hands and a few more level heads if things got any worse in their war with Dragos.
Or if things continued to go south with a certain member of their current team. No sooner had the thought put a hard tick in Lucan's jaw, the compound's internal line rang with a call from the tech lab. He ended his conversation with Rowan, then punched the speaker button on the intercom.
"They're here," Gideon announced before Lucan had the chance to bark out a hello. "Just watched them roll through the gates of the estate. Got them on surveillance cameras as we speak. They're driving around to the fleet hangar right now."
"About fucking time," Lucan snarled.
He cut off the intercom and stalked out of his quarters. The pound of his black combat boots echoed down the lengths of snaking, white marble passageways that ran like a central nervous system through the heart of the underground compound. He rounded a corner and chewed up the distance toward the tech lab where Gideon was stationed practically 24/7 these days.
Up ahead of him, his acute hearing picked up the whispered hydraulic whine of the secure elevator as it made its descent from the garage located topside to the compound a few hundred feet belowground.
As he passed the tech lab, Gideon came out to meet him in the hallway. The British-born warrior and resident genius of the compound was letting his inner geek have its freedom tonight, dressed in slouchy gray jeans, green Chuck Taylor sneakers, and a yellow Hellboy T-shirt. His cropped blond hair was more disheveled than usual, as if he'd raked his hands over his scalp more than once during the wait for news of Hunter and Chase.
"Been a long time since I saw that murderous scowl," Gideon said, his blue gaze sharp over the pale lenses of his rimless shades. "Looks like you're about to chew these guys up and spit them out."
"Smells like someone already did that for me," Lucan growled, his nostrils tingling with the scent of freshly spilled Breed blood even before the polished steel doors of the elevator had opened to let out the pair of errant warriors.
Chapter Three
Are you sure I can't get you something else to eat or drink?"
Gabrielle came back into the library, her cheeks flushed, her brown eyes seeming somehow brighter than they had been when she'd left with the tea tray a few minutes ago. Her gaze drifting for a moment, Lucan Thorne's Breedmate brought her fingertips to her lips in an absent gesture that did not quite hide the small, private smile that curved her mouth. She blinked it away an instant later and walked over to resume her seat on the sofa.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Lucan and I got caught up in a small negotiation," she said, as kind and hospitable as an old friend, despite the fact that they'd been complete strangers until just a few hours earlier that evening. "Is it too cold for you in here? Look at you, you're shivering."
"It's nothing." Corinne Bishop burrowed deeper into her pale gray wrap cardigan and shook her head, even as a further tremor rattled deep within her bones. "I'm all right, really."
Her discomfort had nothing to do with the temperature inside the Order's compound. Luxury and warmth surrounded her here, the likes of which she could hardly comprehend. She had marveled at the astonishingly expansive underground headquarters from the moment she'd arrived, and certainly the elegant library where she was seated now with Gabrielle was the most exquisite room she'd been in for quite some time.
Her home for the past many years had been little better than a tomb. From the moment of her abduction when