Nathan and Rafe strode into the great hall at that same moment.
“We’re loading up the vehicles now,” Nathan announced. “Tegan and Hunter want you to know we can be ready to roll out within the hour.”
“Good,” Lucan said. He turned a glance on Rune. “Like we said, the cache downstairs is too dangerous to be left behind. We need to destroy it before we go. This was your home at one point, so if there’s anything you want to take away from here—”
Rune gave a firm shake of his head. “This was never a home, not to anyone. And I already have the only thing I need to take with me,” he said, drawing Carys further under his arm. “When I left Boston two nights ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t come back until my father was dead and this place was razed to the ground.”
Lucan held his gaze solemnly, then nodded. “Okay. That’s all I needed to know.”
~ ~ ~
Less than an hour later, Rune sat in the back of a UV-shielded vehicle with Carys. Chase occupied the seat facing them in the big SUV. Up front, Aric was behind the wheel with Nathan riding shotgun.
Theirs was the last car in the line of idling vehicles parked in the castle’s sunlit courtyard. The other warriors in their UV gear had just finished packing up what they needed to take back with them to headquarters and were preparing to depart for the Dublin airport.
Chase touched his earpiece and listened for moment. “All right, Lucan,” he murmured into his mic. “We’re rolling out.”
Rune drew Carys close as the fleet started moving. She glanced back, looking out the rear window as they left the courtyard and the castle. He felt her faint shudder. Through his blood bond to her, he felt her overwhelming relief as the place they’d narrowly survived fell farther and farther in their wake.
They’d come through fire together in that place.
They’d emerged stronger, inseparable. Invincible, as long as they had each other.
Rune had no need to look back. There was nothing to see there anymore.
His life lay ahead of him now. With Carys at his side.
As his mate.
A formality he intended to complete as soon as they arrived back in the States.
She pivoted back around and settled against him with a sigh. Rune stroked her cheek, then couldn’t resist lowering his head to kiss her. He didn’t even care that her father was sitting across from them.
When he glanced up, Chase’s blue eyes were locked on him. He held something in his hand. “Whenever you’re ready, son.”
Rune took the small remote detonator. As he stared at it, Carys looked up at him, her gaze filled with love and tenderness.
He held his future in his arms.
His past would never touch him again.
So, hell yeah. He was more than ready.
Rune pushed the button, then tossed the remote aside. As the percussion sounded in the distance behind them, he cupped Carys’s beautiful face in his palms and kissed her with all the love—and hope—he felt in his heart.
CHAPTER 42
When they arrived at the D.C. headquarters later that night, everyone was waiting to see them.
“Oh, my girl!” Tavia rushed to fold Carys into her tight embrace as soon as she entered the mansion.
When Carys turned to introduce Rune to her mother, Tavia ignored his extended hand and wrapped him in a warm hug too. Carys grinned as she watched her big, tough fighter get swamped by her mother’s boundless affection. He stood stiff and awkward at first, but eventually his strong arms relaxed and a smile curved his mouth.
There were a lot of relieved, happy tears from most of the Order’s women. A lot of worry and concern about everything Carys had endured. And a lot of questions about how she and Rune had managed to not only survive their ordeal in Riordan’s hands, but to triumph over him and his men virtually on their own.
All of the questions and buzzing conversation slowed to a pause the moment Nova quietly came around to the front of the noisy reunion. Her blue eyes were shy under the angular sweep of her blue-and-black hair. Her smile was uncertain as her tattooed hands fidgeted with the hem of her black shirt.
Rune stared. She glanced up at him and nodded mutely. That was all it took.
He stepped forward and scooped Nova into his arms with a shout of joy. When he set her down again, he held her face between his palms, drinking her in.
“You’re all grown up. You look amazing,” he said, his deep voice thick with emotion. “You look . . . happy.”
“I am,” she replied. “I’m happier now that you’re back in my life too, Aed—”
“Rune,” he said. “If that’s okay with you.”
She nodded. “Nova.”
The siblings hugged again. Rune reached out to snag Carys by the arm, pulling her into their happy family. Then Mathias drifted over to join his Breedmate. With one arm around Nova, he reached out and clasped Rune’s shoulder.
Soon, the fancy drawing room of the mansion was filled with the entire Order and all of their mates. Rune was introduced to all of the women, and Carys enjoyed the numerous, approving looks she got from the other warriors’ mates as they all greeted her man.
She held his hand, feeling so proud to belong to him. She couldn’t wait to begin their future, away from all of the commotion and the reality of all the dangerous missions that still lay ahead for the Order. Maybe even for Rune and her too.
As warm as their welcome was—and as grateful as she was for the love they were receiving from everyone there tonight—now that she was home with Rune, Carys couldn’t wait to be alone with him.
Gabrielle seemed to understand how she was feeling. Lucan’s mate came over to Carys and leaned in close to her ear. “There’s an empty guest room on the third floor at the end of the hall. If you and Rune would like
