Only then did Aric release her. He answered the call, rising to his feet with a grim look on his face as he listened. “Christ. When?” He glanced at Kaya. “I’m actually with her now. All right, I’ll let her know. We’re on the way.”
Kaya stared at him in question as he ended the summons.
“That was Niko. Stephan Mercier’s dead. Someone cut out his tongue about an hour ago.”
CHAPTER 9
Although Mercier’s death was a disturbing development, the interruption couldn’t have come at a more ideal time. If Aric needed to be reminded of his duty--and it seemed damned clear that he did--Niko’s summons had been just the wakeup call he needed.
Not that his body agreed with that argument.
With his veins lit up and hot with desire, he waited for Kaya to slip a pair of shoes onto her injured feet, then followed her out of her quarters.
Touching her had been a mistake. He should have known that, considering how the memory of holding her earlier today--kissing her--had been driving him to distraction for the past several hours. All he’d done now was brush his fingers over her ankle and everything male in him was awake and pulsing with the need for more.
With the need for her.
As he walked the long corridor beside her, he tried to tell himself the need was merely animal attraction, nothing more. She was a beautiful woman and he was a man unaccustomed to denying himself any of life’s pleasures. It was only natural that the part of him that was purely male--and far from human--stirred with the need to possess her.
But what he felt looking into Kaya’s eyes just now spoke to something deeper inside him.
Her physical pain made him want to soothe her.
It was the other, deeper pain that alarmed Aric the most. Because seeing that made him want to protect Kaya, slay whatever demons had put such a hauntedness in her soft brown eyes.
Chivalric, she’d called him?
Like hell. He practically snorted at the idea as he watched her hips sway with each careful step, her long limbs and the trace cinnamon-and-roses scent of her skin putting a throb in his fangs that had nothing to do with heroism or honor.
The only thing saving him from proving that to her was a flight out of Montreal tonight.
He couldn’t wait for the wheels to be off the ground.
“Come in,” Niko said, his ice-blue eyes grave as he greeted Aric and Kaya at the door to the war room. “I’ve called everyone here to go over the news that just came in.”
Gathered around the large table were Kellan and Mira, her team of three Breed warriors seated across from them. Nikolai’s black-haired Breedmate Renata had taken the chair at the far end of the table, her slender hands resting atop her enormous baby bump.
Rafe had been called to the war room as well. Aric strode in and took the chair next to his friend, allowing Kaya to have the seat closest to Niko at the head of the meeting.
“As you’ve all been made aware, this morning’s op ran into a few... complications,” Niko said, his commanding tone conveying only cold acceptance, not censure. “Apparently, those complications got the attention of Opus. About an hour ago, we learned that Stephan Mercier’s vehicle was found in a parking garage downtown. His driver and bodyguards had been shot execution-style. Mercier’s death hadn’t been that merciful.”
Nikolai tapped a screen built into the glass surface beside him and a holographic image formed in the center of the long table. The photo was horrific. Mercier’s body lay sprawled across the blood-soaked leather backseat of his chauffeured car, his head tipped back at a grotesque angle. His mouth was agape, nothing but an empty black maw stretched into a permanent scream.
At the other end of the table, Renata made a gagging sound and turned her face askance. “Jesus.”
“Ah, shit.” Niko cut the visual at once. “Sorry, love.”
Mira reached over for the other woman’s hand. “Rennie, are you all right?”
Renata gave a wobbly nod, her chin-length bob swinging. “I will be, once this baby finally decides to arrive.”
“I don’t think it’ll be long now,” Mira said, smiling tenderly at the Breedmate who’d been both a friend and an adoptive mother to her since she was eight years old. “I can’t wait to hold my little brother.”
On the other side of Aric, Rafe grunted. “You may have to fight my mother to get to him.”
“Or mine,” Aric said, chuckling now. “Hell, even Carys is making plans to be here with the rest of the Order for the birth and presentation ceremony. That kid’s going to have no shortage of attention once he makes his appearance.”
Renata smiled. “It’ll be nice to have everyone together again.” She shot a wry glance up the table to her warrior mate. “And I’m looking forward to getting back out on patrols as soon as I’m able, too.”
It was no idle comment. Renata was one of the most fierce, skilled warriors in the Order. In addition to the quartet of daggers she was known to wield, or any of the other weapons she’d proven herself lethally qualified to use in combat, she was also gifted with an immense ability. Armed with just the power of her mind, Renata could immobilize and debilitate anyone who dared to cross her.
Pregnancy had muted that ability, as it did with all Breedmates, but once she had her baby that gift would resume. And it would also pass down to her child, who would be virtually unstoppable once he reached adulthood.
“I don’t know if I like that plan,” Nikolai said. His brow was knit with a frown, but the gaze he held his woman in was filled with adoration. “I like seeing you round in the middle with my child. Maybe we should have a dozen babies before I let you suit up for patrol again.”
“Before you let me, vampire?” She narrowed her jade-green eyes,
