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Even though his body yearned for action, his e And the history contained in this rooh to keep hi, since it had taken a full twenty years to collect it The library representedfroins of the Breed and their alien forebears, their language and custoe here on Earth, to their often-violent past as powerful, savage beings perched at the top of the food chain The wealth of insight was nothing short of staggering

And Jenna Tucker-Darrow, the wo more volumes all the time

"If you spend anyabouthis head up at the sound of Jenna’s voice She was s a little black dress and strappy high heels Her brown hair was shorn close to her scalp, showing off her lean cheekbones and big hazel eyes She was dressed for a date, no doubt with her warrior mate, Brock, but she carried what looked to be a newly completed journal in her hand

"I don’t think you ever have to worry about job security," Dare told her "No one can do what you do"

She winked at hi over to a bookcase far across the room, she slipped the journal onto one of the shelves, carefully selecting its placement It was hard not to stare at the female, and not only because she was beautiful and Dare was a ether unique reason as well

Her si her pale, slender neck and spine, both of which were covered in a graceful tangle of deriven that Jenna was neither Breed nor Breedmate

She’d been fully huo, when the last of the alien fathers of the Breed transplanted a biotech chip from his own body into Jenna’s The Ancient likely had his reasons for leaving behind a piece of himself before he was killed by the Order For Jenna, that bit of alien DNA and technology had es, coupled withto her

It was those memories that now filled the countless volu the built-in bookcases of the archive chamber

"I hadn’t heard you and Brock had arrived froers across the spines of several journals on the shelf, pausing to rearrange one that apparently had beenI wanted to come early, do some work in here before the suht Tegan and Elise too Everyone else should be arriving over the next couple of nights, from what I understand"

Dare nodded Lucan had infor of all the Order elders and their mates from their various districts of coain The warriors and their mates were as close as kin to hi the fact that the su ated by the GNC members A means for them to show the world that the Order endorsed the peace summit wholeheartedly and would abide by the GNC’s terusted hiarded hiala reception too, Darion?"

He grunted "Me, in a s I’d rather do than stand around kissing the rings of those posturing GNC blowhards That goes double for kissing their useless asses"

Jenna’s brows arched upward "You’re a lot like your father, you know that?"

"I’ to let the huile egos, when the world would be a better place - a safer place for e"

"And if you ask the huue the opposite Sooner or later, it would be war" Jenna strode over to his were different before First Dawn, simpler The Breed kept their own counsel, lived in the shadows Now that we’re out to the humans, we have more freedoms We have more power now that we don’t have to hide our existence, but there are trade-offs And the line we must walk to maintain peace is even thinner Lucan’s actions impact the entire Breed nation now He doesn’t take that responsibility lightly"

"He doesn’t trust anyone to help hilanced away froave a curt shake of his head "He doesn’t give anyone the credit that they could be useful, ave them half a chance to prove it"

When he looked back up at her, Jenna held hi that same battle with him, are you? He’ll come around one day, Darion"

He scoffed "Have you met my father? He doesn’t bend"

"Neither does his son, fro, she leaned over to see what he was reading in the open journal "Ah, that’s one of the oldest volu on that one before First Dawn"

The frustrations of politics and parental s fell away as Dare returned his attention to the journal he’d been studying for the past couple of weeks "Do you knohat this nuht be?"

Jenna peered at the handwritten page and gave a s I record don’t always make sense Sometimes there are symbols or nu to h the Ancient’s memories, I make sure to write them down"

Dare nodded, but it wasn’t the answer he was hoping for "This isn’t the only occurrence of this same sequence in the journals"

"Really?" Jenna’s eyes brightened with interest

"The same one appears in two other volumes that I’ve found so far," Dare told her "I’ I’ll eventually find it infor? Let’s see if you’re right" Jenna slid off the table and started heading for one of the nearby bookcases She kicked off her delicate sandals and raised up on her toes to reach for a high shelf "We should start on the older volumes first, then work our way forward in time"

Dare felt the air shift in the second before Brock’s deep voice rolled into the rooht’ve known I’d find you in here" The i to Darion, but his dark-brown eyes were on histhis woet a coray suit and deep wine-colored shirt, left unbuttoned at the neck where the arcing tails of his derlyphs rode on his dark skin Dare had seldoear, and as ht of him all spit-shined and civilized, it was obvious froetup was all for her

Her answering smile as she pivoted around to face him said she knew it too "Work? Who needs work?" She picked up her sandals and went into his waiting are to play hooky"

Brock grinned, shooting Darion a brief, sly look "I like the sound of that Maybe we should skip the dinner date routine and go straight to the hooky part"

Jenna laughed "What, and waste this killer dress?"