“Thank you,” Jordana whispered, pressing her lips together. “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced my mate. This is Nathan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Phaedra said.
“Likewise.” He was strikingly handsome, a study in black from his leather combat gear and boots, to his glossy, short hair. No doubt he was deadly, but there was no denying the tender feeling in his gaze when he looked at Jordana.
“Hey, is this a private party over here, or can anyone crash?” The whiskey-smooth drawl came from another of the warriors who’d just arrived. He walked with an easy swagger, and grinned with all the charm of a good-looking man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted. “I’m Eli.”
“Phaedra,” she replied, finding it impossible not to return the warrior’s megawatt smile.
He gestured to the last of the Breed males who’d come in with the group and was now heading over with Darion Thorne. “That’s Jax. He’s far less interesting than me.”
Athletically built and almost too beautiful for a man with his almond-shaped eyes and a curtain of sleek black hair falling around his shoulders and down his back, Jax prowled toward their little group with the grace of a cat. He wore the same black combat gear and weapons as his comrades, but slung across his muscular body was a leather strap bristling with razor-sharp throwing stars.
“Don’t judge the rest of us based on this asshole,” Jax said, winking at Phaedra as he jabbed an elbow into Eli’s side. “We just keep him around for laughs.”
Phaedra smiled. “Hi, Jax.”
“Pleasure,” he replied, with a small bow of his head.
They all talked for a few minutes, then Gabrielle came over and offered to introduce Phaedra to the people she had yet to meet. First was Sterling Chase, the leader of the Order’s Boston command center, and his mate, Tavia, who was also the half-sister to Brynne. Then came Micah’s mother and Tegan’s mate, Elise.
“It’s very nice to meet you all,” Phaedra said, finding the group of them to be unexpectedly hospitable to the stranger in their midst.
All except Micah, that was.
He hung back while his mother clasped Phaedra’s hand in greeting. “Tegan’s told me what happened with you and Micah. The dream, the Deadlands . . . all of it.” She glanced behind her to Micah for a moment, then brought her soft lavender eyes back to Phaedra again. “I don’t know how it was that you ended up in those woods with my son. All I do know is, he’s alive. If your being there that night has anything to do with bringing him home, then you will always have my gratitude, Phaedra.”
The low rumble of Micah’s voice dropped like a hammer on the tender exchange. “If we still have to meet with Jenna tonight, we should get to it.”
The gruff comment turned Jenna’s head away from the conversation she was having with Savannah and Brock. “I’m ready whenever the two of you want to get started. We can meet up in the archive room.”
Micah gave her a curt nod. “All right. Let’s get this over with.”
He pivoted away and stalked out the door. His exit prompted the rest of the gathering to start breaking up too.
As the warriors and their mates began filing out of the war room, Jordana came up behind Phaedra. “I’d love to talk with you some more. I have so many things I’d like to ask you.”
“Why don’t you join us?” Jenna suggested. “I was just about to take Phaedra for a visit to Cyborg Central.”
Jordana smiled. “You haven’t seen Jenna’s archives yet?”
“Uh, no I haven’t.”
“Then prepare to be amazed.”
CHAPTER 10
As a boy, Micah had known only a passing interest in the headquarters’ chamber reserved for Jenna’s work. When he visited the Order’s D.C. compound with his parents, he’d always been far more intrigued with the weapons room than the floor-to-ceiling bookcases housing the journals Jenna had begun using to record the history and culture of the Ancients, as shown to her by the alien DNA-infused implant embedded inside her body.
Firearms, throwing stars, explosives.
A gleaming blade crafted of Rogue-killing titanium.
Those were his passions.
Leave it to others, like Darion, to straddle the line between scholar and soldier with equal skill. Micah’s expertise had led him down a single path, and he was damn good at what he did. He didn’t need anything but the feel of a weapon in his hand and the knowledge that his dark work made the world a better place for everyone else.
Still, as he stepped inside the large room that had been Jenna’s personal workspace for the past two decades, he couldn’t help but be impressed.
