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It should have been enough. It should have relieved her, giving her the chance to put him into an emotional compartment where he belonged: as her enemy. It should have provided some much-needed clarity about her duty as a warrior and her mission to ensure Jeremy Ackmeyer's safety versus her impossible wish to see Kellan somehow brought back into the fold with the Order.
Total fantasy, that.
And yet there was a part of her that refused to let him go, even now.
Especially now.
It outraged her that he could just walk away from her and assume she'd accept it. Still pushing her away, the same way he'd done as that sullen, broken thirteen-year-old boy who'd arrived at the Order's compound so full of pain and grief over the loss of his parents and kin. She hadn't stood for that then, at age eight, and she sure as hell wasn't about to stand for it now.
Mira glared at the closed door he'd stormed out of a few moments ago.
She thought about how hastily he'd gone - so hastily, she hadn't heard the lock tumble into place behind him. She crossed the floor and tried the latch. It was open.
Holy shit.
A number of choices presented themselves to her in rapid succession. One, she could simply stay put like he expected her to and fume until he decided what to do with her next. Which totally wasn't happening.
Two, she could consider his rejection a gift to her mission objectives and attempt an immediate escape with Jeremy Ackmeyer. A risk, considering she and her human package would have to get past Kellan and all of his well-armed rebel crew.
Or three, she could go after Kellan right now and make him face her. Force him to tell her that he cares nothing about her anymore, or if he does, then make him explain to her why he won't try to fix things so they could try to renew what they once had together.
No contest. She was taking Door Number Three.
Mira had years of practice pulling Kellan out from behind the walls he'd constructed around himself. She wasn't about to give up now.
She quickly tossed on his sweatpants under the oversized T-shirt she'd slept in, then slipped out the door and into the hallway outside.
The bunker was very still, little sign of early morning activity at this end of the stronghold. Mira headed in the direction she recalled would lead her to the base's main room, where she assumed she might find Kellan. Worst case, if she ran into one of his crew instead, they would no doubt immediately summon their leader to her.
But the place was so quiet, Mira wasn't even sure anyone was around.
Until she heard it . . . a soft sound, coming from up ahead, in one of the chambers off the corridor. The showers, where Candice had taken her to clean up last night.
The sound coming from inside that room now was muffled, wet.
Intimate.
Something went tight in Mira's stomach as her feet continued a silent trek up the hallway.
There was a low murmur of voices - a female, then a male. Mira's heart gave a heavy thud, like a clump of lead lodging in her rib cage. She knew that deep, low rumble. She knew the cadence of the softly spoken words. Private words. Caring words.
Ah, God.
Dread unlike any she'd known - not since the night she watched a warehouse go up in flames with Kellan inside it - seized her as she crept forward, agonizing, slow steps that eventually brought her to the open doorway.
Candice was inside, seated on a flat bench outside the showers. Her long black hair was damp and glossy against her thin white T-shirt, her head tipped back, eyes closed in a reverent kind of bliss.
And suckling at her wrist was Kellan. He crouched beside her, his dark head bent low over the human female's arm, his sharp white fangs sunk into the tattooed flames that rode from Candice's wrist to her forearm. With her free hand, Candice gently caressed his bare back with an easy familiarity that cut Mira straight to the bone.
No, she corrected, finding it impossible to catch her breath.
This cut straight to her broken heart.
Horrified, all the fight drained out of her in an instant. Mira backed away silently, grateful she'd been unnoticed.
Maybe this was why Kellan didn't want her help bringing him back to the Order. Maybe this was the reason he seemed determined to stay with the human rebels who saved his life eight years ago.
Maybe this was why he apparently found it so easy to turn his back on Mira and what they once had. Because he'd found someone else. Pretty, compassionate Candice.
