She opened the door to the roof.
She hauled Rune’s tormentor outside, into the clear heat of the morning sun. She didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, merely watched in pitiless silence as the lethal rays devoured him.
~ ~ ~
Chase was at the head of the Order’s charge as the warriors poured through the exploded main gate in full UV gear. Debris and smoke plumed in front of his face shield. Bullets zipped past him as he and his comrades stormed the courtyard, returning fire on Riordan’s guards who shot at them from windows and arrow slits inside the fortress.
Lucan’s voice came over the shared audio link that fed into the warriors’ earpieces. “Units, fan out as discussed. First team, secure all entry and exit points. Second team, sweep every corner of this goddamn place until you locate Carys. We take out anyone who stands in our way, except Riordan. I want that bastard taken alive.”
So did Chase, because he wanted to be the one to kill him.
With the assigned units splitting off to carry out their missions, Chase, Lucan and Dante advanced on the castle’s main entrance along with Nathan, Aric and the team from Boston.
Half a dozen of Riordan’s guards confronted them as soon as they crashed through the door. A heavy gunfire exchange lit up the central corridor before the warriors mowed down their assailants.
More shots rang out deeper inside the fortress. Lucan motioned for Chase and the others to follow him toward the commotion. They took out a couple more gunmen in the corridor as they came up on the great hall. Nearing the arched entryway, Chase wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at.
The bodies of several gunmen lay scattered and bloodied across the wide expanse of the room. Three more guards crouched in various positions in the room, exchanging fire with another Breed male who was hunkered behind the massive stone shelter of the ancient fireplace.
The warriors picked off the trio of Riordan’s men one by one.
In the sudden quiet, the other shooter held up his weapon in surrender and slowly limped out from behind his cover. The immense, dark-haired male was gravely injured. He had a makeshift tourniquet tied around his blood-soaked thigh and was bleeding from too many other places to count. His face was bruised and lacerated, his eyes bleak, but hot with amber fire.
“Jesus Christ,” Aric gasped. “It’s him. Carys’s fighter.”
And from the look of him, he’d been busy taking on his father’s thugs alone until the Order arrived.
Chase lifted his face shield. “Where’s Carys?”
“She went after him.” He pointed to a stairwell entrance in the corner of the great hall. “She wouldn’t let me stop her.”
Dread and disbelief swamped Chase. “She’s gone after Riordan? Alone?”
No. Please . . . fuck, no.
“The stairs go up to the tower roof,” the fighter said, already moving in that direction despite his serious injuries.
Chase didn’t wait another second. Summoning every ounce of strength his Breed genetics had given him, he flashed into the stairwell with his heart in his throat.
Intense light poured out from the small chamber at the top of the stairs. He stepped into the room and immediately closed his visor, his arm raised to cover his eyes, even though they were shielded from the UV rays by his protective gear. It took a moment for his vision to adjust.
It took even longer for his mind to process what he was seeing.
The access door to the roof was wide open.
Carys stood outside in full sunlight.
She held something in her hand—a tattered shirt. Swirling around her in the morning breeze was a cloud of dark ashes. They scattered away into nothingness as Chase stared, dumbstruck.
Carys turned then. She looked over her shoulder at him, fangs bared, eyes ablaze with molten amber.
Chase could hardly breathe as he looked at her now. He’d been terrified that he would reach the top of the tower and find his beloved little girl destroyed by the evil that lived here. Instead, he found a vengeful Valkyrie, with the wind stirring her hair like a tempest, and the tattered remains of her enemy clutched in her unforgiving grasp.
Her eyes softened on him now. She let go of Riordan’s empty shirt and it fluttered away, forgotten.
“Daddy!” she cried, and rushed into his waiting arms.
Chase shut the door on the sun and lifted his face shield as he held her close. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured into her hair. “Your mother and I have been out of our minds these past several hours. When we heard you’d been taken, we thought . . .”
He let the worry go without finishing the sentence. She was safe. She was back in her family’s arms. Soon, she would be back home with Tavia and Aric and him.
But his little girl was gone, he realized as he held Carys now.
She’d been gone for a while, but he’d been too stubborn to see it.
He saw her clearly now. He saw a strong, courageous, impressive woman.
She was magnificent. Formidable.
And her father had never been more awed by her, nor more proud.
CHAPTER 40
“Holy shit,” someone murmured from behind Carys and her father.
She realized only then that they weren’t alone. Aric, Nathan and his team from Boston, even Lucan and Dante, stood just inside the room.
On a curse, her brother broke away from the group and moved in to hug her too. Carys wrapped her arms around him and her father, so grateful to be reunited with them.
The danger was over. Riordan was no more.
Relief and joy flooded her, but she couldn’t rest yet. Her heart still had somewhere else it needed to be.
She raised her head, peering past the thick knot of warriors to the top of the tower stairs.
And there he was.
“Rune.” Tears choked her when she saw him.
He
