Darion appeared in the open doorway of the drawing room. Lucan could tell just from a glimpse at the young warrior’s serious expression that more shit was about to rain down on them.
“What is it, son?”
“Director Benson,” Dare replied, his deep voice tight with barely restrained outrage. “He’s just made a public statement. It’s on all the news outlets right now. The GNC was offered—and has accepted—a private security detail from Crowe Enterprises for the summit gathering. According to Benson, Crowe’s team will augment and oversee the Order’s involvement, effective immediately.”
A few of the Breedmates gasped, punctuating the other, more vivid responses from the rest of the warriors gathered in the room.
Lucan grunted. “We’ll see about that.” While he absorbed the bullshit development with an air of stone-cold fortitude, inside he was seething. And the brunt of his contempt settled on the unknown face of the rebel leader who’d incited this entire fiasco.
Lucan grabbed his comm unit and hit Nathan’s number. “Head into base now and await further command. This kill op is gonna go full-scale mission, with as many teams on the ground as needed to find Bowman and bring Mira home. He and his rebels need to be shut down hard, preferably in full public view. And I mean they need to be shut down permanently.”
Kellan sat alone on the cool, moonlit thatch of overgrown grass that covered the stone mound of the seaside bunker. He and Mira had been back at the rebel base for several hours, after news of Jeremy Ackmeyer’s death broke and the reaction in the city began to turn ugly fast. He didn’t want Mira anywhere near an upset, volatile public, but Kellan was also more than a bit concerned about the prospect of an Order death squad working its way closer to him with every second.
Sooner or later, regardless of how cautious he’d been all these years, someone was going to mention the name Bowman and point a finger in the direction of the New Bedford base camp. And when that moment came, Kellan intended to meet it alone, sparing Mira and his remaining crew—his friends—from becoming collateral damage.
The fact that Cassian from La Notte insisted he’d recognized him from somewhere only increased Kellan’s sense of ill ease. Ignoring the fact that the club owner had betrayed nothing of himself to Kellan’s Breed talent, Kellan got the clear sense that the man was dangerous. Perhaps all the more so because he’d proven unreadable.
Kellan hadn’t had a lot of time to worry about what his encounter with Cassian might mean down the road. His more pressing concerns were Mira and the handful of people who were counting on him to protect them. To lead them, even though he had never felt less equipped to navigate a safe course through what was becoming a fast-rising tide of wreckage.
He’d delivered word of the laboratory explosion that killed both Vince and Ackmeyer, along with news of the resulting public uproar to his crew when he and Mira had arrived. Then Doc and Nina had helped Kellan bury their dead while Mira assisted Candice outside for the ceremony. Chaz’s grave on the grounds of the old bunker carried the scent of freshly turned earth, mingling with the pungent brine of the damp ocean breeze that rolled in off the cove to where Kellan sat, keeping watch through the night.
From his post on the broad point where the retired fort and gun batteries stood, Kellan stared out at the distant city lights of Boston. The bunker that had been built as a military stronghold during the humans’ Civil War, and had survived nearly two hundred years afterward, now felt vulnerable and exposed. The Order could strike at any moment in the dark. In the daylight hours, the base was an easy target for raids by trigger-happy JUSTIS officers.
Kellan didn’t know what time it was at the moment—early morning, certainly. But still dark. And so he waited. He watched. Prepared himself for what he had to do to keep Mira and his crew safe.
“Hey.” Her soft voice caught him unaware, her movement quiet as she climbed up the side of the mound to join him. “Everyone’s sleeping. Were you ever coming back inside?”
“In a while.” He extended his arm and she crawled in close beside him. Her body fit so comfortably, her blond head a pleasant weight against his chest, her hair sweet and silky from a recent shower. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, closing his eyes