Aric smirked, reaching out to cuff his friend’s shoulder. “My condolences, brother. Sounds like you’ve got it bad.”
“Yeah. I guess I do.” He blew out a laugh, but his gaze was as solemn as Aric had ever seen it. “You want to hear something crazy? If I had to construct the perfect woman for myself, Siobhan is it to a T. I don’t know why fate decided to put her in my life, but now I can’t imagine letting her go.”
Aric chuckled. “Coming from you, that does sound crazy.”
In all the times they’d caroused together in Boston and more recently in D.C., Rafe had hardly given a second look to any of the countless women who’d tried to catch his eye. His blond mane and aquamarine eyes that turned heads everywhere he went had come from his beautiful mother, Tess. His magnetism with the fairer sex had been a gift passed down from his father, Dante, one of the Order’s most dangerous and revered commanders. With his fallen angel appeal and the dark charm and swagger of the devil himself, Rafe could have any woman he desired.
That the golden warrior was smitten with a timid little waif like Siobhan O’Shea made little sense to Aric, but who was he to question his friend’s heart?
“Gotta say, never thought I’d see the day you let a woman get under your skin like this,” he told him. “Be careful, brother, or you might end up falling in love.”
The fact that he didn’t deny it or at least come back with a smartass reply told Aric just how captivated he was with the Irish Breedmate.
“I just want to keep her safe,” Rafe murmured. “After the hell she’s been through, she deserves some happiness. I want her to know she can trust me to protect her.”
Aric nodded. He was getting a taste of that feeling himself when it came to Kaya. Except her trust seemed hard to win--maybe even impossible. And while she had definitely survived an awful past, she was far from in need of anyone’s rescue. It was a fact that made him respect her even more than if she had been a delicate innocent in search of a hero to save her.
In fact, if he had been pressed to describe his ideal mate she would be a lot like Kaya. Smart, driven, independent. Someone strong and resilient like his own mother, Tavia, or Renata, women who were indomitable despite their scars.
And it didn’t hurt that Kaya was a stunning brunette beauty with a killer body and legs that went on for days.
But he wasn’t looking for a mate. Unlike his friend Rafe, he wasn’t about to let himself careen head over heels just because he was having a good time with a woman any male would be damned lucky to have in his bed.
Or as his blood-bonded Breedmate.
Why the thought of Kaya with anyone else should set his teeth and fangs on edge, Aric didn’t know--and didn’t care to examine, either.
He was here to do a job, then get on with his life.
Which meant getting his ass back to D.C. as soon as possible, before he was tempted to let things get complicated with Kaya. So far, their relationship was simple. They worked well together. God knew they fit well together physically too. But that was as far as he could allow it to go with her. One and done. No strings attached and no promises of anything more.
Fortunately, Kaya seemed to feel likewise.
Aric told himself it was a good thing.
He glanced at Rafe, arching a brow. “So, what are you saying? You think she might be The One?”
“Like I said, crazy, right?” Rafe grew quiet, then expelled a long breath and stood up. “Listen, I didn’t come all the way down here just for relationship counseling.”
Aric snorted. “That’s a relief.”
“Niko wants to see us in his office in about ten minutes. Sounds like we’re going to be staying in Montreal until after the baby is born.”
“Shit. That could be days.” Just what he needed, more time under the same roof with the temptation of Kaya Laurent too close for his peace of mind.
Rafe studied him. “You got somewhere else pressing that you need to be?”
“If I were smart, anywhere but here,” he muttered under his breath as he rose from his chair.
They exited the war room and headed up the corridor that would take them to the living quarters of the attached mansion.
“I doubt it’s going to be days before the baby arrives,” Rafe told him as they walked. “The way Renata looked in the meeting yesterday, she could go anytime. Niko’s already asked to put me on standby to help out if she goes into labor before my mother and the rest of the Order arrives for the birth.”
Aric chuckled. “My sympathies to Renata and the baby, if you’re their best option for a midwife.”
“Fuck you very much,” Rafe said, grinning at the jab.
As they headed out toward the residential wing of the mansion, Rafe’s demeanor turned somber. “Speaking of infants and new mothers, Mira told me about the situation at that Darkhaven this morning. Jesus, what kind of monster ashes a baby in its crib?”
Aric’s blood seethed at the reminder. “The soon-to-be-dead kind, if I have anything to say about it. People like that won’t stop until they’ve seen our entire race scorched from existence.”
“People like Opus Nostrum,” Rafe said grimly.
Aric shrugged. “Opus may have supplied the ultraviolet rounds, but I’m not convinced they ordered this hit. Someone did this for kicks. Out of a sadistic glee. And if bastards like that have access to UV weapons, today’s slayings
