Dash was dressed in an evening suit, Elizabeth in a gorgeous gray silk gown that smoothed over her br**sts and hips and gave her a seductive appearance.
Cassie wore black once more, a shimmery fabric that gleamed and glowed as she moved. Thin straps extended from the snug bodice, and the material displayed her curved figure without appearing too seductive or alluring. The dress was like Cassie herself, understated and shielding the secrets it covered. Seth nodded, took her hand and led her to the fairly private table they had taken across the room. Cassie wasn’t dancing. Her father’s stern, forbidding expression kept the admirers held back for the moment. As Dawn and Seth neared the table, Dash rose, resplendent in black evening clothes, his black hair pulled back at his nape, his brown eyes glittering in anger.
“You look gorgeous, Dawn,” he murmured as he shook Seth’s hand.
“And you look ready to explode,” she pointed out. “Is everything okay?”
She carried her weapon and her link in her bag, and she knew Dash hadn’t tried to contact her before coming down. The link would have vibrated and warned her of his attempt to do so.
“It will be.” Dash nodded. “Elizabeth and Cassie and I will be leaving first thing in the morning. We need to get back to Sanctuary.”
Not just to their home. Dash wouldn’t consider the brief stop at the Breed compound to collect his son as getting back there.
Dawn’s eyes flickered to Elizabeth’s concerned gaze and Cassie’s averted one.
“Is anything wrong?” She turned back to Dash. “What’s happened?”
“Ihappened,” Cassie drawled then, her soft voice stiff, bordering on angry. “I don’t obey so well anymore. Perhaps there’s been an error in my training program.”
Dash’s eyes flashed with pain as Elizabeth’s lips compressed.
“She won’t stay off that f**king balcony,” Dash muttered. “She was out there this morning when we returned to the suite, shaking like a leaf.”
“Shewas thinking and attempting to make sense of things.” Cassie shrugged. “And it was a little chilly.”
Her father cast her a fuming look as Dawn glanced at her in surprise. Cassie never disobeyed her father’s orders when it came to her safety. She well knew what awaited her if all protection failed and the Council managed to get their hands on her.
“Cassie?” Dawn questioned her softly, staring back at her quietly. They had been friends. Cassie was always invading her space when the dreams were rising hard inside her in the past. With her spooky little riddles, her compassion and the knowledge that others’ pain hurt her as well, Cassie had never been one to deliberately make things harder on those around her. Especially her parents.
“I’m fine, Dawn.” She rolled her eyes, but Dawn could feel the tension in the other girl. There was also a certainty that Cassie had no intention of discussing it. It was in her eyes, in her closed expression. As Cassie turned back to Dash, he merely shook his head; the frustration he was feeling was clearly evident in his expression.
“If you need anything, just let us know.” Seth nodded then. “We’ll circulate a bit more and then perhaps return to our suite for drinks. I’d like to talk to you before you leave.”
Dash nodded again before moving back to his seat, his hand finding his wife’s naturally as Seth and Dawn moved away from the table.
“What’s going on?” Seth asked her quietly, his gaze sharp, picking up, she knew, on the tension rising inside her now.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “But whatever is going to happen, it’s going to happen tonight, Seth.” She knew that as well as she knew her love for Seth. It burned clear to her soul.
Seth paused, his hand dropping hers to allow his arm to curve around her back and pull her to him.
“We’ll get through it,” he promised her.
“I can only pray.” And for the first time in ten years she was doing just that. She was praying hard, praying with everything inside her. Because losing him now wasn’t something she could consider. Losing him now would kill her.
She stayed at Seth’s side through the hours they chatted, danced and celebrated not just the end of the board meetings and an agreement in Seth’s favor, but also the engagement that she had dreamed of. They were watched closely. Some gazes were angry, some surprised, others genuinely happy for them. As they moved about the room, Dawn instinctively used a set of silent signals to the other Breeds there, keeping them carefully around Seth and close enough to stop a bullet if they had to. Breed physiology could survive wounds that the human body couldn’t. They were more resilient, better able to endure as well as heal from life-threatening wounds. They weren’t just stronger and faster, they were created for abuse and trained within it.
That training had killed more Breeds than lived now. More than a century of the scientists’ work had created bodies and internal organs that could continue to fight under circumstances that would leave a normal human dead hours before. It was the reason they were created. To endure and to succeed despite all odds.
“Seth.” Brian Phelps moved toward them, a smile on his face despite the concern in his hazel eyes.
“Congratulations again. She’s a beautiful woman.” He nodded to Seth and handed Dawn a glass of champagne before taking one for himself.
“She is indeed, Brian.” Seth smiled.
“I just received a report from one of my people in Los Angeles,” Brian told him. “Valere landed and immediately called a press conference. It’s a few more hours before it’s due to air. I’d hoped he wouldn’t do it.”
Seth shook his head as Dawn felt, scented, his regret.