Edge of Dawn Page 0,13
fact she attributed to both her deep concentration on what she was doing and her friend’s unnerving furtiveness. Not that Nathan’s lethal silence came as any shock. Being Breed, he could move faster than any outside his kind could see, let alone match. But Nathan’s stealth went deeper than that.
He had been bred and raised in a madman’s laboratory, created for the sole purpose of dealing death, until he was recovered by his birth mother and taken in by the Order when he was just a teen. Mira had known Nathan from the time she was a child, had long ago come to hold him as dear and trusted as her own family. Still, she hid her face from him now, brushing the sweat and hot tears from her cheeks while keeping her back to him.
“Don’t look at me, Nathan.” Not because of her tears but for another, bigger reason. She gestured to the lens case that held her custom-made contacts. “My eyes. They’re bare. I thought I would be alone in here, so I left my Sight unshielded while I trained.”
Like all Breedmates and the Breed offspring they bore, Mira had an extrasensory gift unique to her. More powerful than many, hers was the ability to show someone a glimpse of their destiny in the reflection of her clear, mirrorlike irises. Often those glimpses were unwelcome, even horrifying. She couldn’t control what people saw, nor was she privy to the details of the vision herself. And the cost for using her gift was an incremental degeneration of her eyesight.
As a girl, she’d worn a short veil over her face to protect her vision and mute her Sight. After her parents, Nikolai and Renata, had brought her with them to live under the protection of the Order, Mira had been given special contacts like the ones she wore to this day.
The air behind her stirred subtly with Nathan’s movement, then the smooth plastic lens case was pressed into her palm. “Why didn’t you let me stand with you when Lucan called tonight? You didn’t have to face him alone. I would have vouched for you, shouldered some of the blame for what happened.”
“I would never ask you to do that nor allow you to,” she said, dismissing the idea outright as she put the violet-colored contacts into her eyes. The last thing she would’ve wanted was for Nathan or any member of their two squads to be undeservedly penalized for her actions. The only one she’d like to see hurting was the rebel sympathizer she let slip through her fingers earlier tonight. “Has there been any word about Rooster? I suppose the JUSTIS detail has released him back into the wild by now.”
When she swiveled around to look at Nathan, he gave a vague shake of his head. “He’d committed no crime, has no outstanding warrants. There was no cause to hold him, so he was free to go.”
“Damn it,” she muttered, ignoring the Breed warrior’s assessing look. “Who knows how long it will take before the bastard resurfaces again.”
Without waiting for his reply, she strode away from Nathan, down the length of the target range to retrieve her blades. When she returned, he was watching her in his cool, detached way, studying her as he might a tactical plan or a puzzle in need of solving. “I hear it didn’t go well for you with Lucan.”
She lifted her shoulder in acknowledgment. “He was right to be upset with me. I acted out of line, and that’s unacceptable. I should have been more careful. If I wanted to take care of that human rubbish, I should’ve done it out of the public eye. Next time, I’ll know to be more discreet.”
“Next time.” Nathan swore low under his breath. “You’ve been relieved of duty until further notice, Mira. There can be no next time, or you can expect to find yourself pulled from the ranks permanently. That’s not what anyone wants. I know that’s not what you want.”
“No,” she said. “What I want is vengeance.”
“And so you charge into every battle with a head full of fury, guns blazing, knives flying, and damn the consequences.” At another time, she might have taken it as a compliment to her bravery, but the indictment in her friend’s expression was impossible to deny. He was silent for a long moment, studying her. “A warrior driven by such selfish means is not a warrior fit to lead others into battle. Maybe unfit to serve at