“It’s about Duncan’s vision,” he said.
Her brows rose. “No fucking shit.” Her gaze shifted to Duncan and she acknowledged him with a slow dip of her chin. “So you’ve finally opened up a passage to the future again.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Luken expected Endelle to begin grilling Duncan on the details. Instead, she turned her attention back to Luken, fixing her unusual wooded brown gaze on him. Then, without saying another word, or making even one snide comment, she crossed to stand beside him.
He wondered if she knew she’d been doing that a lot lately, taking up a position next to him, side-by-side. So, what the hell was going on with Endelle? It was as though the whole team had been thrown up into the air and he wasn’t sure where any of them would land.
Owen, Joshua, and Alex leaned against the horizontal branch, and each stared at Endelle, brows lifted, eyes moving to take in the sum total of her outfit.
But after a moment, each man looked away. Though there was a ridiculous element to the warrior-type costume, it was also sexy as hell. None of the men wanted to be lusting after their leader. It wasn’t right.
Merl, not surprising, hung back from the group, his broad, muscular shoulders planted against the redwood wall. He held an unlit cigarette between his fingers and didn’t even look at Endelle; he didn’t look at anyone. The brother was damn lost. He was here, yet he wasn’t, and it irritated the hell out of Luken because he still didn’t know what was going on with Merl.
Rachel stood beside Duncan, her expression intrigued as she looked Endelle over. She didn’t smile or smirk and he liked that about Rachel. She was a good woman and now a dedicated warrior. She also looked better than she had the night before. And as Luken glanced at Duncan, he could see the brother was more relaxed and was now sticking close to Rachel. Both circumstances led Luken to believe the couple might have made some kind of peace, which was a good thing. The entire team had felt the difficult tension between the couple.
As a new thought occurred to him, Luken stood up a little straighter. The breh-hedden was a mystery in his world and from the first had been connected to the emerging powers of the couple involved. If Duncan had shared his bed with Rachel, was that the reason he’d suddenly had a vision? Even Merl had suggested the failure of Duncan’s gift had been a result of his discord with his woman.
And that would be something to consider as he continued building his team, especially if more women entered the picture. Given the history of the breh-hedden and its march through the Warriors of the Blood, he had no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen to the ops team as well, Rachel and Duncan being a prime example.
But it was time to get things moving, so he called out. “We’re all here, Duncan. What have you got for us?”
As Duncan began to speak, an odd vibration passed through the room, a wave of power that made the hair on Luken’s neck stand up. Duncan spoke of a portal in the Third grid and a sequence of numbers that took him straight into Yolanthe’s prison, the place where Duncan had been tortured.
The more he spoke and gave himself to recounting the vision to the team, dammit if Duncan’s body didn’t start to glow. Even Merl pushed away from the wall, his attention caught. Luken was pretty sure Merl mouthed the word ‘shit’ a couple of times.
This had to be the grayle power Merl kept talking about similar to what Warrior Samuel now possessed. As a bluish stream of smoke left Duncan’s body, it was clear Duncan had finally made at least one leap to Third Earth ability.
“Well, look at that,” Endelle murmured. “Holy fucking shit.”
“Yeah. It’s the grayle power.”
Luken took a deep breath. He wanted to feel hopeful, but this group was a long way from functioning as a unit. Duncan and Rachel had their ongoing issues, the rest of his team had gotten stuck at Second Earth What-Bee levels, and of course Merl was a goddam island.
When Duncan finished laying out the vision, Luken said, “But who is this veiled woman?”
Duncan said he had no idea. The vision hadn’t offered up a name or told him any details about her.
He shifted slightly and addressed Merl, “Do you know who she might be?”
Merl shrugged, then snorted. “How the hell should I know?”
Something snapped inside Luken. He’d had it with Merl’s insolence. Half-folding, half-running, Luken crossed the distance to Merl then landed his fist against his jaw. Caught off guard, the brother slid across and down the redwood paneled wall, landing on his ass. He glared up at Luken.
Joshua didn’t withhold his approval. “That should teach the bastard.”
Luken stood over Merl. “I’ve had enough of your shit. Pull it together. And yes, you might have a helluva lot more power than me, but I’m your goddam superior officer and I’m telling you to either quit the team right now or get over yourself.”
Merl glowered at Luken, his light blue eyes dark in the dimness of the chamber. With his Third Earth abilities, he could have taken Luken down to cinders. Instead, he showed respect by remaining where he was, on the floor, his jaw swelling. He settled his hand over the bruise and from the vibrations in the air, Luken knew Merl had started the self-healing process.
Endelle had moved with Luken and now flanked him on his left. Though he felt her anger revving up, to Luken’s surprise, she didn’t let loose; she was leaving this up to him.
Luken continued, “Once and for all, Merl, I need you to lose the attitude. You’ve been like a bear with a pack of wolves at your heels. What the hell is going on with you?”
Merl slid his gaze to Endelle, then made a once around the group. Luken glanced as well and saw that the entire team had formed a half-circle. Was there one of them who didn’t have a beef with Merl?
&n