All four warriors nodded, their faces solemn yet determined. But then a further look passed between them. The exchange was unspoken, until Aric’s father took the lead.
“We’re agreed that we cannot wait to make our move on this new Opus lead, Lucan. But your mate is right to caution us that this is no ordinary mission. None of them are, now that Opus and their loyalists are in possession of UV weapons.”
Lucan Thorne’s scowl deepened to one of suspicion. “What are you trying to say, Harvard? If you’ve got something on your mind, spit it out.”
Chase nodded. “We’re going in to get Lars Scrully. Tonight. But we’re going without you.”
A growl erupted from the powerful Gen One. “The fuck you say. If you expect me to sit out on a mission with my dick in my hand--”
“You’re not going this time,” Dante said, his deep voice as firm as Chase’s had been.
Rio nodded. “The risk is too great. You’re Gen One, Lucan.”
“Yes,” he snarled. “And a blast of UV will kill any one of you the same as it will me.”
“But you’re the founder of the Order,” Nikolai added. “We can’t afford to lose you.”
He bellowed a sharp curse and shoved to his feet. “No. Fuck this. And fuck all of you if you think the Order will stop without me. We can’t afford to lose anyone, understood?”
“Lucan.” Gabrielle stood up and walked over to him. He stilled as she laid her hands on his broad chest. “They’re right. The Order can’t lose you. But you’re more than just the leader of these fine men and women who serve under your command. You’re the chairman of the Global Nations Council. Since First Dawn, whether you like it or not, you have become the voice of the entire Breed nation.”
His eyes flashed amber-bright with his barely banked rage. But Gabrielle’s words calmed him. It was clear to everyone in the room that this woman grounded him the way nothing else could.
“You’re staying behind this time.” Her demand was softly spoken, but brooking no argument.
He cupped her cheek in his big hand, his jaw clamped tight for a long moment. Then another low curse rumbled out of him.
Finally, he looked back at his comrades and Aric. “Tell everyone to assemble in the war room in ten minutes to receive their team assignments and mission directives. I want schematics of Scrully’s estate now, as in yesterday. Let’s go, people.”
As they all began to hop to his command, Lucan pointed a finger at Nikolai. “If I’m cooling my heels here tonight, then so are you. I’m not going to risk leaving that baby boy without a father in the first few hours of his life.”
Niko scowled, but after a moment, he gave a curt nod.
“Look alive,” Lucan ordered them all. “Time’s wasting already.”
CHAPTER 22
With a low-throated scream, a horned owl swooped off the bough of an immense pine in front of Kaya and her comrades as they crept into place in the forest that surrounded Lars Scrully’s enormous lakefront estate.
The warriors had split into three teams once they left the city. With Nikolai grounded alongside Lucan back at the command center, Mira and Sterling Chase were in charge of the unit tasked with surveillance as the other two teams got into place. Kaya, Mira, and Chase watched the northern border of the estate. Keeping an eye on the southern perimeter were Torin and Tavia, along with Lucan and Gabrielle’s son, Darion. Although Tavia had limited combat experience, it was the Breed female’s immunity to ultraviolet light that persuaded the Order’s commanders to permit her along on the mission.
For the same reason--along with the added bonus of her ability to shadow bend like Aric and her father--Carys Chase had been assigned to the second team of six, which was moving into position at various points around the property, running reconnaissance and waiting for the command to sweep onto the grounds and take out any guards who tried to block the assault. Led by Dante and Rio, the team also had the experience of Rafe and Kellan, both proven warriors. And while Carys’s mate Rune was new to the Order, he had earned his fighting skills in illegal cage matches back in Boston before he met her.
Rounding out the mission’s operatives was the third team, the vanguard consisting of Aric, Balthazar and Webb. None of the units were cleared to move in until Aric and his partners gave the all-clear.
“Shouldn’t we have heard from them by now?” Kaya could hardly keep the edge of worry from her quiet whisper to Mira.
Her friend nodded. “They should be approaching from the lake any minute now.”
As if on cue, the team’s earpieces crackled with an incoming transmission from elsewhere in the field. But instead of Aric’s deep voice announcing that he and Bal and Webb had emerged from the water as planned, it was Darion Thorne’s low growl that came over the communication link.
“Alpha. Bravo. We’ve got a problem down at the southern gate.”
Mira’s grave stare flicked to Kaya and Commander Chase. “What kind of problem?”
“Two security guards with acute lead poisoning. They’ve both been shot execution-style.”
“Shit.” Mira touched her ear and spoke with clipped urgency. “Torin, can you get close enough to pick up a reading for us?”
