Midnight Rising (Midnight Breed 4)

"Good. Nice work, man."

The unwarranted praise made him clamp his teeth together hard. And the combination of his churning hunger and the spin of his head made him suck in a ragged breath of air. He let it back out on a low curse.

"You all right, Rio?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, my ass," Gideon said. Not only was the vampire a genius when it came to technology, but he also had the uncanny ability to smell a load of horseshit when it was being shoveled at him. Even when it was being shoveled at him from another continent away. "What's going on with you? You don't sound good at all, amigo."

Rio rubbed his drumming temple. "Don't worry about me. We've got a bigger problem over here. Turns out the female reporter is a Breedmate, Gideon."

"Ah, fuck. Are you serious?"

"I saw her birthmark with my own eyes," Rio replied.

Gideon murmured something urgent yet indiscernible to someone else apparently in the lab with him. The answering deep growl of a cool Gen One voice could belong to none other than Lucan, the Order's founder and leader.

Great, Rio thought. Although it wasn't as if he was planning to keep the news from the highest-ranking warrior of the group, so he might as well clue him in on all the facts now.

"Lucan's here," Gideon informed him, in case he missed that fact. "You alone over there, Rio?"

"Yep. Sitting all by my lonesome in Reichen's study."

"All right. Hang on. I'm gonna put you on video telecom."

Rio's mouth twisted grimly. "I thought you might."

He glanced up as the large flat-panel blinked on across from him. Like a window opened on a next-door room, the screen filled with a real-time image of Gideon and Lucan seated in the Boston compound's tech lab. Gideon's eyes were intense as he gazed over the rims of his pale blue shades, his cropped blond hair a spiky, mad-scientist mess, as usual.

Under Lucan's furrowed black brows, his gaze was also serious, his light gray eyes narrowed as he leaned back in one of the big leather chairs that circled the Order's conference table.

"The female is safe here at the Darkhaven, and she has not been harmed in any way," Rio began without preamble. "Her name is Dylan Alexander, and from what I've gathered off her computer files she lives and works in New York City. I'm guessing she is in her late twenties, but there's a chance she could be near thirty - "

"Rio." Lucan leaned forward, peering intently at the video screen where Rio's image was being projected back home. "We'll get to her in a minute. What's going on with you, man? You've been out of contact since February, and no offense, but you look like hell."

Rio shook his head, raked a hand through his sweat-dampened hair. "I'm good. Just want to take care of this problem and be done with it, you know?"

He wasn't sure if he was talking about Dylan Alexander and her photos, or the other, longer-term problems he'd been dealing with since the warehouse explosion that might have killed him. Should have killed him, damn it.

"Everything's cool with me, Lucan."

The vampire's expression held steady, measuring on the other end of the video feed. "I don't appreciate being lied to, my friend. I need to know if the Order can still count on you. Are you still with us?"

"The Order is all I have, Lucan. You know that."

It was the truth, and it seemed to satisfy the shrewd Gen One. For now.

"So, the reporter you're holding over there is a Breedmate." Lucan sighed, rubbing his palm over his strong square jaw. "You're going to have to bring her in, Rio. To Boston. You need to explain a few things to her beforehand, about the Breed and about her link to us, and then you need to bring her in. Gideon will handle the transportation."

The other warrior was already typing away furiously at his keyboard, making it happen. "I can have our private jet waiting to pick you up at Tegel Airport tomorrow night."

Rio acknowledged the plans with a firm nod, but there were still a few loose ends to consider. "She was booked on a flight out of Prague to New York today. She has family and friends who'll be expecting her home."

"You've got access to her e-mail," Gideon put in.

"Send a group message using her account, explaining that she's been delayed for a few days and will be in contact as soon as possible."

"What about the pictures she took of the cave?" Rio asked.