Chapter Two

Two hours earlier: Community of ??ran?, 1:15 p.m.

Dev Nichita stood at paraderest in front of the U-shaped conference table, his hands locked at the small of his back and his legs spread wide, every muscle in his body tensed rock-hard. Earlier, the locker room mirror had confirmed that he was a scary-assed vision in black, from the trim cut of his hair and goatee, to his form-fitting shirt, fatigues, and the broad cut of his trench coat, all the way down to his thick, steel-toed combat boots. The only sign of color on him were his trademark small, gold hoop earring dangling from his left lobe, and his silver eyes, the heat at the back of them suggesting they were lit up with excitement. Yeah, he was pumped for this, trickles of adrenaline already swirling through his blood like a drug. Finally, a chance to lead his own team…

Ifhe could get past the damned Council, that was, the four primary members of which he was facing right now.

"I really don't see why this mission is necessary."

Dev stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but only just. Roth Mihnea, a man of Dev's own race and one of the leaders of this hidden underground community called ??ran?, was the Nervous Nellie of the group, making him Dev's biggest obstacle. Roth's over-protectiveness was somewhat understandable, considering the man had seen enough death among their people to last two lifetimes, but also damned annoying when it led him to balk at extremely important shit. Like this.

"What's your reticence, Roth?" Dr. Toni Parthen asked this without looking up at her co-leader of the community. She was still frowning down at the email Alex, her geeky computer expert brother, had handed to her. It was an intercepted communiqué sent from their new Half-R?u/half-Fey enemies, who lived topside, to their long-standing enemies, the demonic Om R?u, who were the community's neighbors. Apparently, the Topside Om R?u were handing over four women to the Underground Om R?u at a warehouse in a couple of hours. No one knew why. Dev couldn't give a flying fuck why.

Toni looked up at Roth now, lowering the email to the conference table. There weren't many women who were a perfect dime, but Toni came as close as a girl could get, with a stunner of a face and a killer rack to back it. Her lush strawberry-blonde hair was currently piled on top of her head, a few loose strands drifting around her face. The hairstyle was distracting as hell to the men around here, just as bad as seeing a girl's tits racked-and-stacked into some low-cut number. Toni should know that, of course, after nearly five months of living in their culture, which meant she was probably just trying to aggravate her husband, as wives seemed to totally love doing. And even though Jacken Brun, the leader of ??ran?'s Warrior Class and Dev's immediate superior, was completely focused on the problem at hand, he was also multi-tasking and letting his eyes stray along the delicious curve of her throat from time to time.

Hard to believe that just a little over four months ago Dev had been one of Toni's mate-choice options, and seriously focused on getting into her pants. Really glad that hadn't worked out. He didn't have anything against strong women—preferred them, in fact—but Toni was turning out to be, er, way more woman than he felt equipped to handle. Better that the job of husband had fallen to Jacken, who, thanks to that healthy dollop of Om R?u in his blood, was probably the only man with the strength and discipline to effectively straddle the fence of husband and co-worker without falling to either side. Dev and Toni had been left to become good friends, which they'd done.

Roth ran a pen through his long fingers. "This mission is too risky for the indefinite benefits it would bring us. We've brought eight women into the community just yesterday, whereas the four we discuss now are a complete unknown. We don't know if they fit the required parameters, or if they're even remotely interested in joining us. I say our resources are overburdened enough already."

Dev caught back a grimace. Well, that part was kinda true. Never had so many newbies been in ??ran? at once, and the community's first responsibility was to their safety. Lorke and Josnic, the two leaders of the Underground Om R?u—??ran?'s neighbors—had a nasty habit of trying to steal whatever females the community managed to bring in; fodder for quite a bit of warring between their two races over the years. The fear of a massive invasion was causing a town-wide case of nerves, not to mention the community residents were worried about slipping up and saying or doing something that might give away that they were actually a fang-bearing race called Varcolac. A shock-fest bit of info that—it'd been decided after much debate—would be kept secret from the newbies. For now.

Alex adjusted the set of his gold-rimmed glasses and leaned forward in his seat. "Thing is, Roth, those eight were the only women off an original list of fifty who accepted our offer. Do we really have the luxury to ignore any we can lay our hands on? They're the key to the salvation of your race."

Hallelujah and thank you very much, Alex Parthen, for that important reality check. These weren't just any run-of-the-mill women, but females in possession of a special bloodline inherited from an ancient, extinct race called Dragon. Special, in that these were the only people Dev's kind could breed with successfully. Without such Dragons—all blond and stunningly attractive, all in possession of a small, telltale brown piece of dragon tattoo on their backs—then the single and genetically viable Varcolac in this town didn't have a hope in hell of ever having a spouse, a home, children.

Himself fucking included.

Roth gestured curtly. "Many of those fifty have expressed an interest in joining us at a later date, when the timing in their lives is better." He snapped his chair straight. "I assure all of you, I don't underestimate the value of these women. How many years have I lived with the threat of extinction of my own race? But need I remind you that on this mission, our warriors would be facing down members of both the Underground and the Topside Om R?u." Roth swept his gray eyes over the other three Council members. "We have no idea how many men that could be, although I think it's fair to assume that their numbers would grossly exceed ours. We can only spare the barest number of warriors for Mr. Nichita's team. The safety of our current eight is our first obligation."

Not a pretty picture being painted here, especially the part about Roth voicing Dev's own concerns. The warriors were primarily needed in the heart of ??ran?.

Toni leaned back in her chair, the line of her cheek taut. "You bring up all good points, Roth, but here's the thing that's itching at my conscience. Four women are about to be handed over to some extremely unsavory men and we're privileged to know that. Do you really feel comfortable just sitting back and doing nothing to save these poor women, regardless of whether or not they bring us a direct benefit? Because I'm not sure I do, not after my own experiences with these Topside Om R?u."

A long, slow breath eased from Dev's chest. Yes, Toni!

Roth's black brows slashed together, his mouth pinching.

Toni looked at her husband across the U, probably wanting some support. As much as it was the general consensus that Toni was the true muscle behind ??ran?'s leadership, she didn't like to bully Roth into her way. "Can you give us a risk assessment, Jacken?"

On a good day, Jacken had the hardest jaw Dev had ever seen; right now it was cement-like with impatience over all of this waste-of-precious-time back-and-forthing. "What do you want me to tell you?" he snapped. "The pucker factor on this mission's going to be damned high, but, as you just said, does it really fucking matter?"

Toni's eyelashes flickered down, the covert glance she cast Jacken from beneath them was something along the lines of, Gee, thanks, Rude Dude. You made everything so much better.

"This mission is do-able." Jacken laid a forearm on the conference table, showcasing the long, interlocking teeth tattoos that were the exclusive markings of anyone with a genetic link to the dark Om R?u leader, Lorke. "I wouldn't have put Nichita in charge if I wasn't sure he could handle it."

The back of Dev's neck heated. Well…shit…he hadn't expected to hear that. He'd sort of figured he'd earned this position by default, seeing as Arc Costache—a senior warrior just as worthy of the position—hadn't wanted to go on topside missions anymore now that his wife was five months pregnant.

"And who will Mr. Nichita be leading?" Roth asked brusquely.

Toni turned her blue eyes toward Dev.

"Thomal Costache, Gábor Pavenic, and Sedge St?nescu," he answered.

"Only four men in total?" Roth raked his stare back over to Toni. "You're actually supporting this?"

"It's what the warriors train for, Roth." Toni's voice was quiet and soothing, almost nurturing. No bullying here, but—Dev's heart leapt—she would get her way. "I trust in their abilities." She looked at her husband again. "This is ultimately a decision for the head of security, though. It's your men who'll be in danger, Jacken."

Oh, sweet. She'd just handed Dev a lock. If he wouldn't have ended up flat as a Frisbee for it, he'd have run over and given her a big smooch.

Jacken scraped to his feet and leveled his eyes at Dev. "Put your team in the field."

"Yes, sir." Catching back a huge grin, Dev about-faced and left the Council's conference room.