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“Never. I’m yours. I have been from the start.”
Their mouths met in a deeper joining, both of them relishing the closeness, the passion that ignited so swiftly and burned so strongly between them.
Things might have gotten embarrassing fast if not for the sound of approaching footsteps across the floor of the great hall.
Aric cleared his throat. “It’s going to take me a while to adjust to seeing this without feeling like I need to step in and defend my sister’s virtue.”
Smiling, Carys gave him an arch look. “My virtue is none of your business. And we’d rather not have you watching us, so we’re all learning to cope here.”
Her brother laughed. “Fair enough. We should be ready to roll out soon. The other warriors are wrapping up the sweep of the place now.” Frowning, Aric glanced to Rune. “I saw the fighting pit. We also located a medieval torture chamber that looks like it’s seen recent use. Some fucked up shit here, man. If Carys hadn’t ashed Riordan, I would’ve gladly done it myself.”
As he spoke, Chase, Lucan and Mathias entered the room.
“We took a look at the crates of UV weaponry and narcotics,” Chase said. “We’re collecting samples of everything to analyze and will try to trace them back to their manufacturers.”
Lucan glanced at Carys. “We can’t interrogate Riordan about Opus’s activities, but recovering this cache could be even more important. Lots of Breed lives will be saved by keeping this shit off the streets.”
Mathias nodded. “Unfortunately, there’s too much of it to haul away.”
“And we can’t leave it behind either,” Chase added. “The risk of any of this shit leaking out to the public is too big to chance.”
“What will you do?” Carys asked.
“Destroy it,” Lucan said. “We’ll take our samples, but I want the rest of it neutralized before we leave here. The UV cylinders, the drugs, all of it.”
“We also located a hidden room in back of the storage chamber,” Chase said. “Riordan’s got a workstation and a secured communications system in there. Gideon’s been unable to hack into it so far, so we’re packing it all up and taking it back to D.C. with us.”
Carys sat at full attention. “Fielding has one of those rooms too. I found it just before Ennis Riordan grabbed me.”
“Gideon doesn’t know about it?” Lucan asked.
She shook her head. “My connection to him broke off as soon as I entered the room. It had the same kind of equipment in it, and the room was hidden, just like Riordan’s.”
The three Order commanders exchanged a grave look.
“What is it?” Carys asked. “What’s wrong?”
Chase exhaled a sigh. “Fielding is dead. We got the word from Brynne as we were touching down in Dublin. He killed himself, just like Hayden Ivers, that human lawyer you led us to.”
Nathan and Rafe strode into the great hall at that same moment.
“We’re loading up the vehicles now,” Nathan announced. “Tegan and Hunter want you to know we can be ready to roll out within the hour.”
“Good,” Lucan said. He turned a glance on Rune. “Like we said, the cache downstairs is too dangerous to be left behind. We need to destroy it before we go. This was your home at one point, so if there’s anything you want to take away from here—”
Rune gave a firm shake of his head. “This was never a home, not to anyone. And I already have the only thing I need to take with me,” he said, drawing Carys further under his arm. “When I left Boston two nights ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t come back until my father was dead and this place was razed to the ground.”
Lucan held his gaze solemnly, then nodded. “Okay. That’s all I needed to know.”
~ ~ ~
Less than an hour later, Rune sat in the back of a UV-shielded vehicle with Carys. Chase occupied the seat facing them in the big SUV. Up front, Aric was behind the wheel with Nathan riding shotgun.
Theirs was the last car in the line of idling vehicles parked in the castle’s sunlit courtyard. The other warriors in their UV gear had just finished packing up what they needed to take back with them to headquarters and were preparing to depart for the Dublin airport.
Chase touched his earpiece and listened for moment. “All right, Lucan,” he murmured into his mic. “We’re rolling out.”
Rune drew Carys close as the fleet started moving. She glanced back, looking out the rear window as they left the courtyard and the castle. He felt her faint shudder. Through his blood bond to her, he felt her overwhelming relief as the place they’d narrowly survived fell farther and farther in their wake.
