Without warning, the war room plunged into sudden darkness. Lights and equipment blinked off momentarily, then came back online in a manner that seemed eerily familiar to Darion.
Everyone went still, including Nathan, who shrugged out of his brethren’s hold. “What’s going on?”
He had no sooner asked the question than the large screen monitor on the wall lit up with the face of the Atlantean queen.
Christ, she was gorgeous.
Darion had been haunted by her stunning face and brilliant blue eyes since the first time she overrode the headquarters’ technology network to make demands on the Order. His memories of her celestial beauty felt like crude sketches now that he was looking at her again.
Beautiful and dangerous, he reminded himself.
Behind that breathtaking face lurked an unpredictably ruthless immortal being. Her abduction of Jordana was evidence enough of that.
“You bitch,” Nathan growled, stalking toward the screen. “Where is she? Let me see Jordana. What the fuck have you done with my mate?”
Selene’s expression didn’t so much as flicker in acknowledgment. She stared straight ahead at Darion, her glacial gaze locked on him alone. A small, cold smile curved her pretty mouth.
“It seems I have come into the possession of something of value to the Order.”
Darion held the queen’s unflinching stare. “I’d heard your treachery had no bounds, Selene, but what you’ve done today sets a new low.”
“My treachery?” She scoffed. “That is rich, coming from one of your kind, Darion Thorne.”
Even though she spoke his name with sharp disdain, the sound of it on her lips stoked an unwanted awareness in him. Evidently, he needed to have his head examined. The last thing he should be feeling toward her was desire, but damn if he didn’t have a sudden, heated urge to make her say his name with a different kind of contempt. The kind he’d wring from her cruel mouth while she was spread beneath him in carnal surrender.
The impulse was so strong, so powerfully vivid, it took him aback.
“Where is Jordana?” Nathan demanded. “If you’ve hurt her, I swear I will make you regret it.”
“She’s safe. Safer with me and our people than she could ever be among your savage race.” Although the answer was directed at Nathan, Selene’s attention hadn’t wavered for a moment off Darion. A smug kind of challenge lit her gaze. “Didn’t I warn you once that you wouldn’t want to stand against me?”
“You did,” he admitted evenly. “And didn’t I warn you that only a fool believes she can never lose?”
Anger flared in those oceanic eyes. “So arrogant. I didn’t think it possible for anyone to exceed your father’s ego, but once again you manage to surprise me.”
He smiled at her, baring the tips of his emerging fangs. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Several of his comrades threw incredulous looks in his direction, but Darion hadn’t been able to curb his baiting remark. Selene was an ageless queen with a lethal temper, but she was also a woman. As powerful as she clearly was, Darion was willing to bet there were few willing to call her on her shit. Possibly no one.
He hated to do it while Jordana’s life was in Selene’s hands, but he actually believed her when she assured them Jordana was being kept safe within the Atlantean realm.
That didn’t change the fact that they needed to get her back.
“Where is Lucan Thorne?” Selene demanded. “I’m not about to waste my breath on anyone less than the Order’s leader.”
Darion felt the ripple of unease move over the other warriors at her query. They couldn’t let anyone discover Lucan’s compromised condition, least of all the immortal who’d made little secret of the fact that she’d like nothing better than to wipe the Order and all the rest of the Breed off the face of the Earth.
“If you have something you want to say, Selene, you can say it to me. Now, let us see Jordana. We need to know she’s as safe as you claim.”
“You do not make demands of me, vampire. If you want to see Jordana again, there is only one way. Give me the crystal the Order stole from me.”
More than one of the warriors at Darion’s back emitted a low snarl. Although Selene’s price didn’t come as a shock to him, it wasn’t something he or any other member of the Order was willing to surrender. Even Nathan remained quiet, though Darion could hear the grinding of the warrior’s molars as he glowered at Selene’s face on the monitor.
Darion shook his head. “You need to get your facts straight. The Order didn’t steal that crystal from you. It belongs to Jordana. Why don’t you ask her if she wants you to have it?”
Her face flashed with disbelief. “We are not negotiating, Darion Thorne.”
“No?” he asked, lifting a brow. “Then why’d you call? After our last virtual chat, I figured you might decide to lose my number.”
