Veiled by Caris Roane

most Luken really knew was both sides of the conflict on Third had wanted Merl dead. He’d been exiled to Second Earth where he’d lived for fifty years.
    What Luken really couldn’t figure out, however, was how to get the team up to a basic Third battling level. And like Merl, every instinct told Luken their time was almost up.
    ~
    Duncan lay on the floor of his workout room, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. The memory of his mother leaving had come back like a train that jumped the rails and kept throwing cars off the tracks.
    When he sat up, he rocked, trying to dispel the pain engulfing him.
    His father, Carlyon, had never shown him photos of his mother so he’d never had any kind of image of her in his head. And even though he could recall her voice as she clung to him, and watch her back as she left, he still didn’t know what she looked like.
    His father hadn’t helped, of course. Carlyon had expressed his hatred of her hundreds of times. He’d made it clear repeatedly that Duncan had been abandoned because his mother had never loved him, never wanted him.
    But he wasn’t a child any longer as he considered the memory. He was a grown man, one who had come to despise Carlyon for the brute he was.
    As he lay on the floor, he reviewed her words again: You have to understand, Duncan. You’ll be safe, but only if I leave.
    Was it possible she hadn’t wanted to leave? Until this moment, he’d never considered anything other than what Carlyon had told him.
    He couldn’t pretend to understand what it was like for a woman who’d been abused and beaten by her husband, the man who’d sworn to love and protect her. But Rachel had shared many details about her experience as Grieg’s wife, and how abusive men often applied a process of terror and guilt, threatening not just the woman’s life but the lives of those she loved as well.
    Carlyon wouldn’t have hesitated to use Duncan in his battle to control Duncan’s mother.
    He finally rose to his feet, his mind caught in the past and focused on the night his mother had left him in the hands of a monster. Would Carlyon have killed them both if his mother had stayed?
    He headed back to the shower, and once more let the heat of the water work some kind of ease into his body. Afterward, he donned pajama bottoms and sat outside on the back patio in the early morning light. Paradise Lake was beautiful with sunlight glittering on the water.
    He drank a sports drink to replenish his fluids. He needed his bed, but he damn well knew sleep wouldn’t come, not this morning.
    His thoughts slipped back to just before dawn when he’d caught Rachel lusting after her teammates. Her scent had reached him well down the hallway, when he’d finally decided to make an appearance at the Ops Cave. Her mating scent, thick with pheromones only he could perceive, had sent desire trailing down his abdomen into his groin.
    He’d taken in the picture immediately. Rachel was staring at Owen’s flexed arm. The rest of the men, built like all hell, had no doubt worked for her like a club full of male strippers.
    He knew women had needs and the breh-hedden had sent hers into overdrive, just like his. He’d reacted like a caveman, all but dragging her into the hall and calling her out because her garden scent had told its own tale. But what right did he have to condemn her when he refused to take care of her himself?
    None.
    Rachel.
    Oh, God, Rachel.
    He’d wanted her badly. She’d looked beautiful with her skin flushed and her blue eyes sparkling with need.
    He was badly tempted to go to her now, but how could he without making some kind of commitment?
    Even thinking about moving in her direction, caused the snake to hiss, You’re not good enough, Duncan. You never will be. And she’ll leave you. Women always leave.
    But even as the snake threatened to hurt him again, Rachel’s scent suddenly rolled from the open door of the great room onto the patio. He rose to his feet, turning to face