Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [1038]
At his pledge, Brock and the other warriors also rose from their seats around the table in a show of solidarity. Even Hunter, the Gen One who knew firsthand how ruthless Dragos and his assassins truly were, stood in support of their new mission.
Christophe turned a hard gaze on the Order’s leader. “Thank you. There is nothing more I can ask.”
“And there is nothing I won’t give,” Lazaro said, joining his son and Lucan near the back of the room. “The Order has my faith and my full trust. I cannot forgive myself for ignoring your advice a year ago, Lucan. Just look what it’s costing me now.” He shook his head sadly. “Perhaps I have lived too long, if an evil individual like Dragos can exist among us. Is this what is to become of the Breed? Making war on one another, letting greed and power corrupt us, just like humankind. Perhaps we’re not so different from them, after all. For that matter, are we any different from the savage otherworlders who spawned us?”
Lucan’s steel gray gaze had never looked more resolute. “I’m counting on it.”
Lazaro Archer nodded. “And I am counting on you,” he said, sweeping a look over each warrior and the females who now stood with them. “I am counting on all of you.”
CHAPTER
Twenty-three
The Order continued the meeting for another couple of hours after Lazaro and Christophe Archer left. Sometime earlier, Jenna and the rest of the women had gone to have their dinner elsewhere in the compound, leaving the warriors to discuss their limited options and tactics for how they might go about searching for the abducted boy.
Although Brock listened and offered suggestions when he had them, his mind—and his heart—was distracted. A lot of his focus had walked out of the room when Jenna left, and since then, he’d been counting down the minutes until he could be with her again. As soon as the meeting in the tech lab broke up, he headed out to the corridor to find her.
Alex was coming out of his quarters, closing the door behind her as he approached. She smiled knowingly when she saw him.
“How is she doing?” he asked.
“A lot better than I would be after what she went through today. She’s dead on her feet, but you know Jen. She would never say as much.”
“Yeah,” he said, returning Alex’s smile. “I do know that.”
“She’s more concerned about you, I think. She told me what you did, Brock. How you came after her, driving into the full light of day.”
He shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. “I had the proper gear. My burns were minimal. They were healed by the time we got back to the compound.”
“That’s not the point.” Alex’s mouth curved warmly. Then she abruptly went up on her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for saving my friend.”
When he stood there, unsure how to respond, Alex rolled her eyes. “What are you waiting for? Go on in and see her for yourself.”
He waited until Kade’s mate had gone before he rapped his knuckles on the door. It took a few moments before Jenna opened it. She was barefoot, dressed in his white terry bathrobe, he was guessing, with little to nothing more beneath it.
“Hi,” she said, giving him a welcoming smile that made his blood fire to life in his veins. “I was just about to get in the shower.”
Oh, he definitely didn’t need that tempting mental image to make his body burn any hotter.
“I wanted to come by and check on you,” he murmured, a thick rasp in his voice as he recalled the feminine curves and long, luscious limbs that were hiding under the oversize robe. A robe fastened only by the loosely tied sash around her slender waist. He cleared his throat. “But if you’re tired—”
“I’m not.” She pivoted away from the door, leaving it open behind her in unspoken invitation.
Brock stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
He hadn’t gone there with ideas about seducing her, but he had to admit it seemed like a really stellar idea now that he was close