With one slender brow arching, she nipped at his lower lip then slid out of his embrace before he could rise to her challenge. Not that he wasn't already rising. Gabrielle smiled, fully aware of his condition as she pivoted around and began to walk back toward the library and her waiting guest.
Lucan paused until she was out of the room, working to regroup his thoughts. Clearing his throat, he took Rowan off hold and put the phone back to his ear. He'd let the Agent hang in uncertain silence for long enough.
"Mathias," he said. "I want you to know that the Order appreciates all you've done to assist us thus far. As for what happened tonight in that club, I assure you it had not been my intent. I realize being the Agency's director for the region, this puts you in an uncomfortable position."
It was as close to an apology as he could muster. Although the long-standing, if unwritten, policy between Lucan's warriors and the Agency's members had been to refrain as best as they could from shitting in one another's yards, circumstances of late had changed. As in changed everything, and drastically.
"I'm not worried about myself," Rowan replied. "And I don't regret my decision to help you. I want Dragos apprehended, whatever it takes. Even if that means making a few enemies of my own inside the Agency."
Lucan grunted in acknowledgment of the vow. "You're a good man, Mathias."
"After all the bastard's done, especially the terror of last week, how could I not want him stopped just as badly as you and your warriors do?" Rowan's voice was edged with a passion Lucan understood very well. "It doesn't shock me that there is corruption within the Agency, least of all that a Neanderthal like Freyne would ally himself with a twisted madman like Dragos. I only wish I'd seen that possibility before it blew up in my face the night of Kellan Archer's rescue."
"You aren't alone in that regret," Lucan replied, sober at the thought. He'd sent several warriors out on that mission as well, added insurance that the Darkhaven youth would be brought home safely from his abductors - a trio of Gen One assassins who'd taken the boy on Dragos's orders. That primary objective had been achieved, but not without a lot of collateral damage and disturbing questions rising in its wake. "How is the boy?" Rowan asked. "Still recovering in our infirmary." Kellan Archer's physical abuse had been severe, but it was the mental anguish he'd suffered during and after his abduction that had Lucan even more concerned for the young Breed male's long-term well-being. "And his grandfather?"
Lucan considered the elder Archer male in grim silence for a moment. Lazaro Archer was one of the few remaining Gen Ones in the Breed population, and an aged one at that. Nearly a thousand years old, he had lived an esteemed, peaceful life, the last couple of centuries spent in New England as the head of his family Darkhaven. He had raised strong sons who had raised sons of their own - Lucan wasn't even sure how many progeny Lazaro and his lifelong Breedmate could claim.
Not that it mattered.
Not anymore.
In a single blood-soaked evening, Lazaro's mate and all their kin who made the Boston Darkhaven their home had been wiped out. One of Lazaro's sons, the boy's father, Christophe, had been murdered at close range by Freyne, the traitor who'd been part of Kellan's Enforcement Agency rescue detail. Lazaro and Kellan were all that remained of the Archer bloodline, although their survival had not yet been made public.
"Both the boy and his grandfather are doing as well as can be expected," Lucan replied.
"Until I can determine why they were targeted by Dragos, they can't be safe anywhere but here, in the compound."
"Of course," Rowan answered. There was a pause on his end, then a quiet inhalation of his breath. "Knowing Chase, I'm sure he blames himself for part of what occurred during the rescue mission ..."
Lucan felt his brows draw tight at the reminder of yet another of Chase's recent troubles while on duty. "Let me worry about my men, Mathias. You keep a close eye on your own."
"Certainly," he replied, even-toned and professional. "I'll handle any fallout from the incident at the club tonight. If anything interesting turns up in the meantime about Freyne or his connection to Dragos, rest assured I'll be in touch."
Lucan murmured his thanks. If Rowan hadn't carved such a solid career for himself within the upper ranks of the Agency, he might have made a fine warrior instead. God knew the Order could use extra hands and a few more level heads if things got any worse in their war with Dragos.
Or if things continued to go south with a certain member of their current team. No sooner had the thought put a hard tick in Lucan's jaw, the compound's internal line rang with a call from the tech lab. He ended his conversation with Rowan, then punched the speaker button on the intercom.
"They're here," Gideon announced before Lucan had the chance to bark out a hello. "Just watched them roll through the gates of the estate. Got them on surveillance cameras as we speak. They're driving around to the fleet hangar right now."
"About f**king time," Lucan snarled.
He cut off the intercom and stalked out of his quarters. The pound of his black combat boots echoed down the lengths of snaking, white marble passageways that ran like a central nervous system through the heart of the underground compound. He rounded a corner and chewed up the distance toward the tech lab where Gideon was stationed practically 24/7 these days.
Up ahead of him, his acute hearing picked up the whispered hydraulic whine of the secure elevator as it made its descent from the garage located topside to the compound a few hundred feet belowground.
As he passed the tech lab, Gideon came out to meet him in the hallway. The British-born warrior and resident genius of the compound was letting his inner geek have its freedom tonight, dressed in slouchy gray jeans, green Chuck Taylor sneakers, and a yellow Hellboy T-shirt. His cropped blond hair was more disheveled than usual, as if he'd raked his hands over his scalp more than once during the wait for news of Hunter and Chase.