Lucan grunted at the reminder of the Siberian-born warrior with a penchant for weapons and explosives. “Things were different for us then. It’s a hell of a lot easier to put a lid on isolated strikes by one or two enemies at a time. Opus is global. And they’re making damned sure we feel the pressure from all sides.”

As if the presence of Rogues in a major metropolitan city in the States wasn’t troubling enough, before the Order had rolled out of headquarters tonight, they had gotten more bad news. Gideon had received word that all three European commanders were reporting a spike in Rogue activity in their regions as well.

“The hits keep coming,” Dante remarked, a grim look in his eyes. “I hate to guess what Opus thinks they can do while they’re keeping us busy playing Whack-a-Mole with Rogues and lone wolf attacks on government and law enforcement organizations.”

Lucan didn’t want to guess either, but they had to if they meant to stay ahead of them enough to take the brotherhood down. “Unless Gideon cracks that encryption on their communications network, we don’t have many cards left to play.”

“We’ve got the Breedmate in custody with Rafe and Aric,” Dante pointed out. “If she can ID the men who killed Iona Lynch, we can start there and follow the trail back to Opus from that end.”

He had a point. But the panicked recollections of a shaken and injured eyewitness were hardly the kind of odds Lucan preferred. Still, Siobhan O’Shea was a better lead than nothing at all. Which is why he’d given instructions for Rafe and Aric to keep her close for the time being.

The group was currently en route from Ireland to the command center in London. They needed to keep Iona Lynch’s roommate safe, and that meant ensuring Opus didn’t discover she was in Order hands.

And while Lucan hoped things wouldn’t get bad enough to demand it, the Order also had another card to play against Opus if they had to.

The Atlantean crystal.

After witnessing its power with Zael and Jenna the other day, Lucan could not deny that he’d been thinking of little else. If two crystals had been used by the Ancients to destroy the entire realm of Atlantis, then nothing—and no one—would be able to stop the Order if they had another in their possession.

Zael had divulged when they met for the first time that a group of Atlanteans who fled the realm and formed their own hidden colony had taken a crystal with them. The Order had Zael’s alliance, but Lucan dreaded that there might come a day—and soon—that they would also need his help in building a weapon capable of ending any war before it even had a chance to start.

As the thought churned in his mind, Chase emerged from out of the shadows of a side street and headed their way.

“Any sign of Brynne?” Lucan asked.

Chase shook his head. “Found the SUV where Nathan said it would be, but it’s empty. Looks like she got out on her own and fled on foot. No sign of her anywhere, from what I could find.”

Dante shrugged, smirking. “The way Zael poofed out of headquarters at the mention of her, I have a feeling when we find him, we’ve located Brynne too. Also, where do I sign up to get one of those cool Atlantean transporter bracelets?”

Chase chuckled, but Lucan had a hard time feeling the humor. “Whatever is going on between Zael and Brynne, they picked a damned lousy time for it. We can’t afford distractions like this at headquarters when everything is going to shit around us.”

Dante quirked a brow. “Talk about old times. I recall you saying that to more than a few of us back in the day. No doubt you told yourself that same shit when it came to Gabrielle too.”

Yeah, he did and he had. It was an argument he wouldn’t win now, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Keep an eye out for both of them,” he instructed the two warriors. As he spoke, his comm unit buzzed his ear with an incoming call from Tegan, who was commanding another of the patrol teams that had fanned out to cover more ground. “What’ve you got?”

“Six Rogues ashed between the park and the university,” Tegan said. “We’re all clear here. Rio and Kade are with Nathan near the government center and they’ve spotted another gang of Rogues over there.”

Lucan swore under his breath. At this rate, it was going to be another long night.

“I’m with Chase and Dante. We’re on our way there now.”

 

 

CHAPTER 21

 

If she needed confirmation of how hideous she was now—a monster—she had it.

Zael went utterly still the instant his eyes locked on her transformation. He cursed something low under his breath, something in a language that she didn’t understand.

“Brynne,” he murmured. “My God…”

Her heart twisted at the stunned tone of his deep voice. She knew what he was seeing. She knew what she was—the flawed, imbalanced result of a DNA experiment that never should have happened.

An anomaly.

A mistake.

An abomination.

She slowly pulled herself up from her crouch in the corner of the old fire escape. Zael watched her move, caution in his stance and in his confused expression. The predator in her took great satisfaction in seeing a powerful being like Zael on guard as she rose to her feet. It was that part of her that worried her, too, because once the monster took hold of her, not even she could fully rein it in.

“Stay away, Zael. I’m warning you.”

“Tell me what happened. It’s okay, Brynne. I only want to understand.”

She scoffed, certain the softness that crept into his tone was based on pity or revulsion. The inhuman part of her preferred his wariness over this tender attempt to put her at ease.

She took a sideways step, following the railing of the fire escape.

“Are you hurt?” he asked gently. “Tell me what’s wrong with you so I can try to help you.”

She couldn’t contain the miserable moan that leaked out of her at the sincerity of his plea.

He couldn’t help her, and she couldn’t stay near him. Not when she was like this.

Not ever again, now that he knew the ugly secret she could no longer hide from him.

“Brynne, please.” His brows drew together over tender, determined eyes. “Are you injured? Did those Bloodlusting fucks… Did they do this to you somehow?”

A laugh burst out of her, caustic, coarse as gravel in her throat. “Those Rogues couldn’t harm me if they tried. Can’t you see that?”