He would find Jordana.
There would be no failing that mission.
There would be no failing her, not ever again.
He had never been more committed to any goal in all his life. Jordana was all that mattered to him. If she were found harmed—if the man who took her tonight inflicted even the smallest pain on her—Nathan would eviscerate the son of a bitch.
Slowly.
He knew countless ways to kill, incrementally when necessary. If Jordana was hurt in any way, her abductor was going to suffer the full, merciless force of Nathan’s wrath.
He readied the last of his weapons and threw a hard look on his team. “Let’s go.”
Leading the way, he stalked out to the corridor with Rafe, Jax, and Eli.
They were halfway up the winding hallway when Carys came rushing around a corner, her face stricken and grave. She clutched her comm unit in a white-knuckled grasp. “Nathan, wait. Something’s happened.”
The female’s fearful voice just about stopped his heart. He was almost afraid to guess at this new, obviously bad news. “Jordana?”
Carys shook her head. “There was an attack at La Notte a few minutes ago. Syn’s been killed. Rune wants to talk to you.”
Normally, the death of a Breed cage fighter would be the last of the Order’s concern. And neither Syn nor Rune had many friends among the warriors. But this was a night unlike any other, and a deadly attack on Cassian Gray’s club within hours of Jordana having gone missing was far from coincidental.
Without slowing down, Nathan grabbed the comm unit and put it to his ear. “What happened?”
“That’s what I wanna know.” Rune’s breath was tight, shallow. His deep, growling voice held an edge of wariness that Nathan had never heard before. “We just took a bad hit down here at the club. Couple of thugs tossed Cass’s office. They f**king killed Syn, broke every bone in his body.”
Like Rune, Syn was a proven champion in the cages. It would take a hell of an opponent to knock him down. “You see who did it?” Almost too much to hope.
Rune grunted. “Yeah, I saw them. Heard a ruckus in the office above the arena, then I smelled blood. Lots of blood. Found three men tearing the place up. Syn was already in bad shape, no more fight left in him. I dropped one of the bastards, but the other two got away.” Rune paused. “The one I killed? He didn’t go down easy, man. Not until I took his f**king head from his shoulders. Then the whole damn place lit up with the glow he threw off as he died. Sure as hell wasn’t human, but he wasn’t Breed either.”
No, Nathan thought, grave with understanding. They were Atlanteans.
“Any idea what they were looking for?”
“Yeah,” Rune replied. “When I found the f**kers hammering on Syn, they kept demanding that he tell them where Cass’s daughter was.”
Nathan cursed and drew up short in the corridor.
“Syn kept telling them Cass didn’t have any family, but they wouldn’t believe him.”
Nathan stood there, frozen, his mind racing to process everything he was hearing. “This just happened, you say? These men—they were there just now?”
“Aye,” Rune said. “The corpse of the one I killed is still warm.”
Rafe drew up next to Nathan, the blond warrior frowning in question. “What is it?”
“You’re certain they were looking for Cass’s daughter?”
“Dead certain.” The fighter was quiet for a moment, menace radiating through the comm. “Carys just told me what happened to her and Jordana a little while ago. Goddamn it, Nathan. I’m sorry about Jordana. And I hate like hell that Syn is gone. But these f**ks—whoever, whatever, they are—put their hands on my woman tonight. This shit just got personal.”
“Tell me about it,” Nathan replied grimly.
With a murmured end to the conversation, he handed the comm unit back to Carys. She pivoted away, speaking to her lover in hushed, private tones.
Outside the war room, Nathan and his team were joined by Sterling Chase and Tavia, their expressions indicating they knew the weight of the information he’d just received.
Martin Gates drifted over too. “What is it? Has there been news about Jordana?”
Nathan glanced grimly from his commander and teammates to Jordana’s distraught father. “Three men just broke into Cass’s office at La Notte. They killed one of the fighters. Rune said they’re looking for Jordana.”
“Atlanteans,” Gates murmured woodenly.
Nathan gave a sober nod but turned a look on Chase and the other warriors. “So, if Cass’s enemies don’t already have Jordana …”
“Then who took her?” Tavia asked.
Nathan glanced back at Gates. “Was there anyone else Cass might have trusted to know about Jordana living in Boston? One of his own kind?”
Martin Gates considered for a moment, then gave a shaky nod. “Yes, there is one other person who knew. Oh, my God. Dare I hope she’s with him?”
“It may be all we’ve got,” Chase replied.
Gates met Nathan’s unblinking stare. “If she’s been taken somewhere safe, I believe I know where you’ll find her.”
Jordana wiped some of the steam from her shower off the large mirror in the villa’s master bathroom suite. She stared at her reflection for a moment, trying to understand how the pale blue eyes and familiar face looking back at her could feel so much a stranger now.
It had been only a few hours since her conversation that morning with Zael. A few hours since everything she thought she knew about herself had been peeled away.