Rafe’s glance strayed to Siobhan, who shuddered beneath the comfort of her thin blanket at the mention of the terrorist brotherhood. She was one of very few people able to count herself lucky enough to survive Opus’s wrath. An innocent bystander, she had been beaten and left for dead in her flat outside Dublin just a few nights ago after Opus loyalists broke in and murdered her roommate, Iona Lynch.
Kaya smiled at the Breedmate. “Hi. We haven’t met yet.”
“Ah, shit,” Rafe said, raking a hand over his head. “Sorry about that. Kaya, this is Siobhan.”
The young woman tipped her chin down in acknowledgment. “Hello,” she murmured. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same,” Kaya said as she and Aric sat on the neighboring bench.
Rafe leaned forward, his forearms braced on his knees. “Listen, Kaya, I’m sorry if I came off overly interrogative during the meeting earlier tonight.”
She shrugged and shook her head. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” Aric said. “My friend was being a dick, so let him apologize.”
“What happened?” Siobhan asked, pivoting to face Kaya.
Rafe draped his arm around his companion’s petite shoulders. “We were talking about a mission that didn’t go as smoothly as it should have. I just wanted to be clear on some of the facts, but I think I was pushing Kaya too hard at times.”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“So, I noticed. Opus Nostrum is serious shit,” he added. “I guess it’s hard to turn off my training when it comes to those bastards and the worthless scum who are loyal to them.”
Kaya nodded. “I feel the same way. And if I could’ve changed anything that happened today, believe me, I would have.”
Rafe grinned. “I’d have rather heard this pompous daywalker took a bullet in his ass instead of his arm, but no one asked me.”
Aric snorted. “No one’s asking you now, either, nightcrawler.”
“Ignore him,” Rafe said. “I generally do.” He held out his hand to her. “Apology accepted?”
“Don’t let him off too easy, Kaya. Remember, you bled for that mission today too.”
Rafe frowned. “You did?”
“Not really. It was no big deal.”
Aric gave her a sober look. “I made her run barefoot for a couple of miles through wooded terrain.”
Rafe’s blond brows arched. “And you called me a dick?”
“Show him, Kaya.”
“What? No.” She shook her head, mortified that Aric was making a big deal out of a few scrapes and bruises. She’d endured worse injuries just trying to live day-by-day on the streets when she was a kid. “Really, I’m fine.”
Rafe was already off his bench and standing in front of her. “Let me see.”
“You should,” Siobhan chimed in. “Rafe can help you. He helped me too.”
Kaya sighed. Only because they were all giving her little choice, she removed her shoes and waited while Aric’s friend checked out her wounds. “Does this hurt?”
His palm pressed flat against her abused sole. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”
In fact, it felt pretty good. Warmth suffused her tender skin, soothing her.
Healing her.
“You feel that?” Aric asked, watching her face intently as his comrade took away her pain and her injuries.
She nodded. Rafe’s ability was amazing, but she was even more captivated by the tender, intimate look in Aric’s eyes.
“I feel it,” she murmured, unsure if she was talking about the heat and light restoring her body, or the greater sensation she felt every time she was close to this Breed male.
“Good as new,” Rafe announced a moment later, his deep voice slicing through the haze of her tangled emotions. “And just in time for a little dancing.”
Someone had turned up the volume on a slow song--Kellan, by the look of it. He held Mira’s hand and guided her into the center of the expansive terrace, spinning her and then drawing her up against him. The mated couple swayed in a close embrace, eyes locked on each other.
Rafe murmured something to Siobhan, then the two of them got up and joined Mira and Kellan. Kaya watched them all for a while, desperately, achingly aware of Aric’s thigh pressed against hers on the bench they shared. His body heat seeping into her skin and bones, into the rush of blood racing through her veins.
She was relieved to see Torin and Bal get up from their places around the fire pit and saunter over to her and Aric. Webb had already disappeared into the night, going wherever it was he preferred to spend his time after hours.
The two warriors nodded to Aric as they approached. “We’re going to head back into the city to look for blood Hosts before the feeding curfew,” Bal said. “Care to join us?”
“No, thanks.” Aric’s reply was immediate. “I fed before I left London. I’ll be back in D.C. before I need to find a vein again.”
The two vampires glanced at Kaya. Torin had the audacity to wink at her. It was all she could do not to leap up and pummel the amused look off his face.
“You should go,” she told Aric as her comrades strode away. “You don’t have to keep me company. I was just about to turn in for the night.”
Aric smiled. “Always trying to get rid of me.” He rose, then held his hand out to her. “Come on, Mrs. Bouchard. As I recall, we never finished our dance.”
CHAPTER 11
For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Aric found himself holding Kaya close in his arms while a crooner waxed on about true love and happy-ever-after. Sappy, fairy tale sentiments that should have made his molars ache with their impossible sweetness. But it wasn’t his molars that ached while Kaya swayed against him.
Everywhere their bodies brushed, currents of electric heat crackled beneath his skin. Instead of making jokes or searching for other ways to demonstrate that he wasn’t susceptible to the kind of hearts-and-flowers weaknesses that seemed to have overtaken the other two couples dancing nearby, Aric found himself riveted to Kaya’s lovely face in
