But he was already drifting away from her, being pulled by unseen hands that wouldn't release him. She felt their blood bond stretch tight, thinner and thinner, a gossamer strand that couldn't be reeled back in, no matter how hard she willed it.
And then it broke.
She felt the pluck of shock as the connection severed. Felt her heart go numb and empty, set adrift in her breast.
Oh, God. She'd lost him.
Lost him all over again.
"Kellan, no," she cried, choking on hot, stinging tears. "No!"
She couldn't hold back her sobs. Her grief tore out of her, jagged and raw, as she collapsed atop his lifeless body and wept.
Kellan was gone.
Dead.
Just like her vision had shown her.
She wailed his name over and over again, out of her head with sorrow and soul-shredding anguish. She didn't want to believe that he was gone, but his hand was limp in hers, his strong body motionless, drenched in his spilled blood. So full of grievous, terrible wounds.
They'd killed him.
Her love.
Her mate.
Her best friend, her partner . . . her everything.
Gone.
Mira barely registered the hands that came to rest lightly on her shoulders as she clung to Kellan's lifeless body, bereft and sobbing. She barely heard Nikolai's low voice, his careful, quiet tone making the horror of it all seem even more real. "Mira," he said gently.
Renata was with him too, both of them trying to give her comfort. Rennie's fingers caressed the back of her head. "Come on, Mouse. Let him go, sweetheart."
"No," she growled, batting away the hands that had always provided her so much comfort as a child. Niko and Renata had always been able to make things better for her when she was a little girl. They were her parents in every way that mattered, the strong shoulders and loving arms she could forever count on whenever she needed them. But not today. Not now. They couldn't fix this, couldn't make it go away.
"They killed him," she murmured, miserable with despair. "Oh, God . . . They killed him."
She swung her head around to look up at Nikolai and Renata. Lucan and most of the Order were there too, the warriors and their Breedmates gathering solemnly around Kellan's body. Silent, shocked, everyone at a loss for words.
And behind them all, gaping in morbid curiosity, the members of the GNC - most of whom had needed no convincing to call for Kellan's death. They stared now, Breed and human alike, bobbing heads jockeying to get a glimpse of their reviled villain's body. Mira felt venom seethe through her veins at the sight of the Council members. They were as much to blame for Kellan's death as the JUSTIS guards who opened fire on him.
Contempt boiled up inside her, erupting on an anguished roar. "Get out of here," she snarled at the Council. "Get away from him, all of you!"
She launched herself at them, but Niko caught her in a sure grasp, held her back when every cell in her body was screaming for vengeance. Her despairing wail sounded animal, even to her own ears. She sagged into Nikolai's arms, tears flooding her vision.
"Take her back to headquarters," Lucan told Niko and Renata, his deep voice grave but low with sympathy. "See that she's comfortable. Whatever she needs."
Mira couldn't fight the arms that drew her away now. She had no strength, no will. No feeling at all.
Her chest seemed as though it were cracked open and filled with a cold, numbing wind.
Kellan was dead.
Mira walked woodenly, not even sure she was breathing anymore, as Nikolai and Renata led her out of the silent chamber.
Lucan threw a glower at the gawking GNC members as Mira was taken away from the scene. His vision was hot, sparking amber. His fangs felt sharp against his tongue when he spoke, his voice vibrating with lethal rage. "Show's over. You got your pound of flesh. Now get the f**k out of here."
The group scattered, silent and afraid. As they fled the chamber, Dante came in from the back where Benson had escaped. "The director's dead, Lucan. Found him in the rear corridor just now. Shot three times, point blank in the head. No sign of the JUSTIS officers who followed him out."
"Son of a bitch." Lucan raked a hand over his scalp. Benson had known something about Ackmeyer's UV technology. He'd practically confessed as much in the seconds before Kellan leapt at him. Benson had apparently known enough about Morningstar, and whoever now had their hands on the tech, for someone to make sure he didn't get the opportunity to say anything more. But who, and why?
And just how far did this conspiracy reach?
Now there was another question that needed swift answers as well: Who, or what, was Opus Nostrum?
Lucan glanced back at Kellan, at the dozens of gunshot wounds that took the young male down. "It didn't have to go like this, goddamn it. He deserved better. He deserved a chance at something more - he and Mira both."
Dante nodded grimly. "Maybe there's a way to make it right."
The warrior sent a meaningful look to his Breedmate, Tess, who stood with the rest of the Order and their mates. Before either Lucan or Dante could say another word, Tess was in action, picking up on the thought and dropping down beside Kellan to run her healing hands over him. "His blood's still warm, but his heart is stopped."
"Can you jump it?" Lucan recalled an event Dante had described to him from Tess's life before she met her warrior mate. As a young woman, she'd once revived someone who'd passed suddenly from heart failure. Later, in her work as a veterinarian, she'd even cured a sickly little mutt of its cancer and other ailments using her extraordinary Breedmate talent.
God knew, the female had repaired more than her share of combat injuries for the Order over the past two decades.