"Ah, Mouse." Another kiss, this one landing gently on her eyelid. His voice was a rough whisper, low and intimate, thick with emotion. "Letting go of you is the last thing I ever want to do. If there was a way to turn this around, believe me, I would."
As Kellan soothed her with tender words of good-bye, elsewhere in the Darkhaven came the muffled sounds of infiltration and struggle. Deep, familiar voices commanding Kellan's crew to cooperate with their arrest and no one would get hurt.
Boots thundered heavily down the hallway toward the bedroom.
"You lied to me," Kellan said to Nathan. "You said you came alone."
Nathan grunted. "I wasn't about to leave anything to chance. As you told me outside, this meeting you instigated tonight was about ensuring Mira's well-being. We had to make sure she'd come out of this safely too."
"Mira." Nikolai's low growl came toward her from the bedroom's now-open doorway.
"Daddy?"
She couldn't help herself from falling into his arms as he strode inside and pulled her into him for a tight embrace. She knew the instant he looked at her face - the instant he saw her clouded eyes. His snarl was fierce and animalistic, a lethal predator about to spring on the interloper who had wounded one of his young. "Son of a bitch. Fuck the arrest, I'll kill the bastard - "
Before Mira could say anything, Nathan stopped Nikolai with words alone. "She's bonded to him. Hurt Kellan, and you hurt her too."
"Is this true?" Niko asked her sternly. "Did you drink from him?"
"We're mated," she replied, clutching the sheet tightly around her under the cold blast of Niko's fury. "Our bond is complete."
The warrior's answering curse was vicious, rolling off the surrounding walls. "Get him out of my sight before I take his head where he stands."
Kellan didn't resist as movements indicated he was being taken into Order custody. Mira wished she could see his face. She needed to see him. Could not stand the idea that she might never look upon him again.
"Come on, baby," Nikolai said, wrapping her under the protective shelter of his arm. "Let's find some clothes for you and get you out of here. It's all over now. Let's get you home."
But it wasn't over.
Mira walked with him numbly, holding on to keep from stumbling as he slowly guided her out of the room.
For her, nothing was over yet. She walked in silence, having no voice to tell her father that once they arrived in D.C., the worst of her ordeal would be only beginning.
The Order's patrol teams arrived in D.C. from the old Darkhaven in Maine just before dawn, bringing with them Mira, Kellan Archer, and the three human rebels who had, incredibly, been serving under his command for the past several years.
Lucan had been brought up to speed on most of the situation some ten hours earlier, when Nathan called in the mission complete status from the field. Aside from the fact that the rebels were now in Order custody and Mira was recovered and on the way home, there hadn't been much good news to report. Lucan's head was still reeling from everything he'd heard, and after more than nine hundred years of living, it took a damn good lot to surprise him.
Still, the weight of the facts he'd been given hadn't quite set in for him until he stood in the mansion's foyer and watched as Niko ushered Mira inside. He was all but carrying the Breedmate, whose useless eyes were open but fixed on nothing as she shuffled slowly alongside her father, clinging to his arm for support and guidance across the smooth white marble floor.
The warriors' mates - all of the Order's women - converged on Mira en masse as soon as she entered the house. Lucan noted the rush of female concern and affection that poured onto the younger Breedmate as the women quickly escorted her away, all their focus centered on Mira's well-being. Lucan watched them go, knowing he would have his turn to visit with Mira later. When his head was cooler, and his blood was no longer seething with the need to do severe bodily harm to the bastard responsible for her abduction a few days ago and her current physical state.
The object of his fury entered the foyer now, shoved inside ungently by Tegan and Rio. Nathan and Rafe, along with the other two members of their team and Mira's squad of three, stalked in behind them.
"Chase and Hunter have the rebels outside," Nathan reported. "One of them is hobbled by a leg injury. It's had medical attention, but the wound is deep. She can't walk on the limb."
Lucan grunted. "Rafe," he said, glancing to Dante and Tess's son. "Help the woman inside. Have a look at her, see what can be done."
The blond warrior gifted with his mother's extraordinary healing touch gave a nod, then jogged off to carry out the order.
As for Kellan Archer, the eyes of a dozen-plus lethally skilled, pissed-off Breed warriors were fixed on him in barely restrained animosity as he was brought to a stop in the center of the glittering foyer. Damn, it was a shock to see him again, after believing him dead for going on a decade. Lucan had always liked the kid, but the outlaw standing before him now was making it hard for Lucan to resist adding some bruises of his own to the collection Kellan already sported.
And he wasn't alone in his outrage for what Kellan stood accused of. The rage of Lucan's brethren was a palpable thing, rolling off the group of vampires like a black wind.
"This way," Lucan said, before anyone was tempted to act on their impulses. His stern look set Kellan into motion and commanded the rest of the Order to hang back, letting the two of them proceed into Lucan's study alone.
Kellan walked to the center of the room and drew to a halt while Lucan closed the door behind them, then stalked back over to face the errant warrior one-on-one. Lucan could still see the courageous, forthright soldier in Kellan's steady hazel gaze and in the straight line of his spine and shoulders as he stood at grim attention before Lucan, ready to accept his wrath.
Prepared to face the truth that the path he'd chosen for himself had more than likely led to a literal grave end.