With those grim thoughts riding him, he nearly didn’t notice that Lucan had gone markedly quiet, still on his phone call at the other side of the jet’s cabin. But everyone else had stopped talking now too.
Lucan’s sober expression and silence drew more attention than if he’d been roaring vicious curses at the top of his lungs.
He ended the call and walked over, his grave eyes locked on Chase.
“What’s going on, Lucan?”
“It’s Carys.” Two words, spoken so seriously, it seemed to suck all the air out of the room. “She’s gone missing from the party in London.”
“Gone missing?”
Chase felt his veins freeze over. At the table with him, Aric exploded with a shout of disbelief and worry.
“What do you mean, gone missing?” Chase murmured. “For how long? Where would she go? For fuck’s sake, tell me we’re turning that house upside down looking for her right now.”
“Brynne searched the house. Gideon had Carys’s GPS signal on site and active, but when they located her earpiece . . .” Lucan shook his head. “It appears she’s been gone for more than an hour.”
“Someone took her?” Chase knew the answer without asking it. He knew who, as well, and the ice that had settled in his blood turned arctic. “Riordan.”
Lucan’s stark gaze confirmed it. “Gideon’s tap on the security cameras showed her arriving there with Ennis Riordan. She hasn’t been there long.”
“One second in that place is too goddamn long,” Chase muttered. “And we’re how far from touching down in Dublin?”
“A couple of hours. I’ve already told the pilot to push this bird as hard as he can.”
Chase thought about his mate, who’d stayed behind at headquarters with the other women. “Has Tavia been told?”
“Gideon thought you’d want to be the one to break the news to her.”
“Yeah. He’s right.” And Chase should have known Tavia hadn’t yet been informed. He would have felt her anguish through their blood bond. The way she was most certainly feeling his now. “It’ll be best if she hears it from me.”
As he got up from the table to make the dreaded call, he put his hand on his son’s strong shoulder. He couldn’t imagine what Carys’s twin must be feeling. The siblings had been so close as children. There had been strains in their bond recently, but it was on the mend now and their love had never dimmed.
Aric looked at him with eyes the same green shade as Tavia’s. His gaze was stark, unblinking. When he spoke, his deep voice was firm with resolve. “We’re gonna bring her back. She’s going to be all right. And those fucks who took her are going to pay in blood.”
The other warriors murmured their support, but the assurances did little to numb the dread clawing at Chase. He’d never felt so helpless, realizing that he was hundreds of miles and too many damn hours away from reaching her.
He knew Carys was strong. God knew she was stubborn. His daughter had never backed down from any fight, but she’d never been tested by something like this.
She had never faced the kind of evil that Fineas Riordan was reputed to deal in, and the thought of his little girl being taken—being touched by filth like Riordan—was almost too much for him to bear.
As the jet’s engines roared and the agonizing wait until landing began, Chase found himself pinning his hopes on an unlikely ally.
With him and the Order too far away to help, her best chance of survival could be Riordan’s own son. The same Breed male Chase had been reluctant to accept and all too quick to condemn.
Now, he never prayed so hard to be proven wrong.
~ ~ ~
“Carys!”
Rune’s panic flooded him like electricity in his veins.
Even though his mind knew she couldn’t be harmed by UV light, his heart had seized with horror when the invisible web overhead had exploded like a supernova.
His relief came just as swiftly as he watched Carys drop to the floor of the pit behind him, wholly intact. She landed on her feet with all the grace of a cat—and came out of her slight crouch with all the ferocity and power of a Breed female.
Her fangs glinted behind her parted lips. Her bright blue irises were devoured by crackling amber heat. She glanced past his shoulder in alarm.
“Rune—look out!”
His second of inattention cost him. The drugged vampire Riordan had released into the pit saw his chance to strike. He charged at Rune, taking him down to the floor on his back.
Carys roared. She grabbed at Rune’s opponent and tore the big male off as if he weighed nothing. Then she sent the snarling savage against the stone wall and pulled Rune to his feet.
Above them on the catwalk, Riordan gaped in shock. “What the fuck? She’s a goddamn daywalker!” He pointed into the pit and swung a furious look at his guard. “Shoot the bitch! Kill her!”
Bullets started hailing down in a rapid barrage.
Rune felt a round hit his side as he threw himself around Carys. The shot bit into him, but he leaned on his ability to absorb the pain and kept moving. He grabbed her hand, dragging her behind him so he could be her shield.
“Under the catwalk,” he shouted, racing for the scant cover with her.
The gunfire couldn’t reach them directly below Riordan and his guard, but they couldn’t hope to stay under the shelter forever.
Riordan bellowed in outrage. “Get her, you idiot!”
The bullets slowed as the guard ran from one side of the catwalk to the other, trying to get Carys in his sights.