Hell, he probably ought to regret it, too, but that wasn’t the feeling he had when he looked at her. After reassuring himself for most of the morning that one taste of Kaya’s sweet body would be enough to sate him for the duration of his time in Montreal, he stood there now, riveted to the sight of her flushed cheeks and the pulse that ticked in a frantic rhythm at the base of her throat.
Renata glanced between them, her gaze shrewdly curious. “Are you two making much progress on the photos from the wedding?”
“As of now, we’ve got them narrowed down to a few hundred potentials,” Aric replied. “Assuming we can find Mercier’s Opus contact among the crowds of attendees in the images, all we’ll need to do is run a comparison against the guest list and we’ll have our man.”
“Unless the bastard wasn’t invited,” Rafe said, his fingers toying with a tendril of Siobhan’s strawberry-blonde hair.
“The wedding and reception were locked down as tight as a presidential visit,” Kaya interjected. “No one got through the gate without a thorough security check.”
Aric gave her an ironic look. “Not unless they had someone like Gideon to construct a reasonable cover for them, that is.”
Renata nodded. “And infiltrating an event like that wouldn’t be the boldest thing Opus has ever done. Their loyalists could be anywhere.”
“Even among the security detail at the Rousseau estate,” Rafe pointed out. He glanced at Kaya. “For all we know, that guard who confronted you and shot Aric could have been allegiant to Opus--or working as an operative. That could explain why he said he thought he knew you. The Order’s only been aware of Opus Nostrum for a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been studying us for far longer. Maybe they have more intel on the Order and our members than we realize.”
“Maybe,” she answered quietly, giving him a faint shrug.
Renata let out a curse. “It’s one thing for the bastards to come after us. What happened at that Darkhaven today has crossed a hard red line. If it turns out that Opus is putting ultraviolet rounds and weaponry into the hands of rebels or other hate-mongers, then we need to unleash hell on all of them.”
Siobhan glanced up at Rafe. “UV weapons? Oh, my God. What happened today?”
“Something terrible,” he answered gently. “But Opus and the rest of the animals who did it are going to pay--with a lot of blood and death if the Order has anything to say about it.”
As he spoke, Mira strode into the kitchen with Kellan, both of their faces lit with excitement.
“We just got a positive ID on our shredded delivery guy over in Pointe-Claire.” She held up a tablet displaying the face of the human corpse they’d found in the Darkhaven foyer this morning. “Rahul Gales. Or, ‘Repo,’ as he’s more commonly known to both law enforcement and the scumbags he runs with on a regular basis.”
Mira set the device down on the island countertop for everyone to see. Aric scrolled through the collection of mugshots, rap sheets, and other reports documenting a life of poverty, larceny, drug abuse, and assorted hate crimes.
“Do we know anything else about him?”
Kellan nodded. “Last week, Gales got picked up by JUSTIS for selling narcotics down in Dorval. The guy who bailed him out, Angus Mackie, is a real piece of work too. Most of his underlings call him ‘Big Mack.’ He owns a seedy bar in Dorval, a known hangout for gangs and other criminals.”
“Right,” Mira said. “Mackie’s only been in Montreal for the last decade, but he’s got a long record too.”
She touched the screen and brought up another photo and arrest record. Numerous felonies filled the display, everything from assault to murder. The fact that a killer like him wasn’t rotting in a prison cell somewhere was a question for another day. Because what struck Aric more than anything else was one of the evidence photos taken of Angus Mackie following one of his arrests.
The image showed the human bared from the waist up, covered in bruises and lacerations. A collection of tattoos rode Mackie’s chest and arms, crosses and stars and Gaelic symbols. But there was one tattoo on the criminal’s right pectoral that made Aric’s blood run cold.
He glanced up at Rafe. “Jesus Christ. Do you see that?”
“Holy hell.” His friend’s face hardened with grim realization. “A black scarab.”
Aric nodded. “He’s one of Riordan’s men.”
“Fineas Riordan?” Siobhan’s eyes went wide at the mention of the infamous crime lord from Dublin. “I thought he was dead. I thought the Order killed him recently.”
“We did,” Rafe replied, stroking her arm. “And if this Angus Mackie turns out to have received UV weaponry from the bastard before we took Riordan out, then Big Mack is next on the list for extermination.”
Renata eased herself up from her seat at the island. “I’ll go tell Niko what we’ve found. He’ll want to alert D.C. right away.”
“Hang on, Rennie. I’ll go with you,” Mira said, more than likely an excuse to ensure the pregnant Breedmate made the long walk without issues.
The prospect of closing in on someone not only involved in the Darkhaven attack but also linked to a known Opus member had Aric’s warrior instincts itching with the need for combat. But he couldn’t dismiss the fact that Kaya was still pointedly avoiding his gaze.
She tossed her half-eaten apple into the trash. “I should go clean up and get back to work on those photos.”
Aric nodded in acknowledgment, but when she slipped out of the kitchen without another word, he couldn’t resist following her to the hallway. He reached out and loosely caught her arm.
