Panic beat inside her rib cage like a trapped bird. She knew she could break loose from his hold if she tried. She was no mere mortal either. She had to be equal to him in terms of preternatural strength despite his larger size and muscular bulk. And while she didn’t actually think he would refuse to release her, she couldn’t summon the will to test him.
“When was the last time you let a man hold you?” he demanded softly. “How long has it been since you let a man make love to you?”
“That’s really none of your business.”
“Wrong.” His mouth curved, but that smile was anything but friendly. It was masculine and carnal, and it sent liquid heat curling through every fiber of her being. “You made it my business last night, Brynne. You kissed me like you needed it more than your next breath.”
She scoffed. “I was intoxicated, remember?”
“You’re not now, and I think you want it just as badly as you did last night. You want me. You want this, but you’re too hard-headed or terrified to admit it.”
“You’re insane.”
“Am I?”
Releasing her wrist to capture her face gently in his hands, he moved in close to her. Their bodies brushed against each other. His hard and demanding. Hers soft and yielding, melting under the heat of him.
Brynne parted her lips to say something—she didn’t know exactly what—nor did she get the chance.
“Oh,” a female voice blurted from behind them in the threshold. “Oh, shit! I’m so sorry.”
Carys wheeled around, giving them her back as if she’d just walked in on them both standing there naked.
Brynne winced. Had she arrived a few moments later, who knew what Carys might have seen. Who knew how far Brynne might have been tempted to let Zael go.
Abruptly stepping out of his embrace, she smoothed the front of her blouse feeling awkward as hell. “It’s all right, Carys. We were just…talking.”
She tried to ignore Zael’s disapproving growl as she walked to the open doorway and drew Carys back inside.
“Please forgive me for interrupting like this,” the young Breed female said. Her discomfort went deeper than chagrin. There was something troubling about the set of her mouth. And her face seemed paler than normal, stricken. “My mother sent me to find you both. There’s been another attack.”
Brynne’s stomach clenched. “In London?”
“No. Right here in D.C.” Carys swallowed. “The Global Nations Council building has been attacked in broad daylight.”
“Not another explosion,” Zael said. “We would’ve heard it. This close to the government center, we would have felt it.”
“No, nothing like that.” Carys gravely shook her head. “Assassins opened fire inside the building a few minutes ago. Every high-ranking member on site today was killed.”
CHAPTER 10
Although there had been little question as to who had been responsible for the slaughter that took place in the Global Nations Council office, it was still a shock to see the brazen claim of responsibility by Opus Nostrum spread across the Internet and social media mere moments after the attack took place. Unsatisfied to simply issue a statement after the fact, Opus’s boasting claims were accompanied by live bodycam video footage recorded by the perpetrators as the killings took place.
Lucan had already seen the footage once, but that didn’t make his blood boil any less as he watched again with the Order and everyone else present in the D.C. compound.
Acting in unison, three men posted on the GNC building security detail had abruptly stepped out of rank and mowed down an entire office wing full of high-ranking council members and diplomats before turning their weapons on themselves. Every horrific second had been captured on video and streamed across the Web.
The victims of the attack were all humans, representatives from around the world. Many of the men and women were colleagues Lucan knew personally in his role as chairman of the GNC.
All of them executed in cold blood at the hands of Opus and their followers.
“First JUSTIS, now the GNC,” Gabrielle said quietly from beside Lucan. There was fear in her voice, and in the blood bond that connected him to her. “Will the Order be next on Opus’s hit list?”
Lucan gently stroked her worried face. “Make no mistake, both of these attacks have been strikes against the Order.” He met the grim gazes of his fellow warriors. “Opus hasn’t come for us directly, and they don’t want to. They tried that at the GNC peace summit and failed, which cost them their leader when we killed Reginald Crowe.”
Sterling Chase nodded in agreement. “Each time they’ve come up against us, we’ve shut them down, weakened their foundation.”
“Opus doesn’t need to risk taking us on in a true contest,” Lucan said. “What they want is chaos. They want fear and mistrust between Breed and man.”
“To what end?”
Lucan turned to see Brynne standing behind him alongside Zael. The former JUSTIS investigator’s cheeks were flushed with color, though whether in reaction to the bloody attack playing on the monitors or from some other cause, he couldn’t be sure.
“We’ve seen that Opus has both Breed and human members,” she said. “How can they do this? Why unite with the purpose of killing innocent people from both of their races?”
“To profit off the strife,” Zael murmured. “There are always fortunes to be made in war, regardless of which side you’re on. Unfortunately, peace is a far less lucrative business.”
The Atlantean was right. And unless the Order found a way to clamp a lid on the panic before it got any further out of hand, Opus might damned well succeed.
Lucan cursed as more video of screaming civilians and stampeding workers inside the GNC building filled the monitors. The attackers were dead, but the panic was still at a fever pitch.
“I’m heading out to the government center,” he said, turning away from the images of carnage and terror.
Gabrielle anxiously caught his hand. “It’s the middle of the day.”
He didn’t particularly relish the idea of a daylight tour of duty either, given that
