Harmony's Way

CHAPTER I5

“I wanted to save Jonas. She was going to kill him.”

Drowsy, immeasurably sad, Harmony spoke into the predawn light that filtered through the crack in the dark curtains of the room.

Lance held her close against his chest, his chin resting against her head, his arms wrapped around her, pressing her back against his chest and abdomen.

“Who was going to kill him, Harmony?”

“Jonas,” she whispered after a long pause. “Madame LaRue gave birth to him. She cuddled him as a babe and as a toddler. He was given the best of everything the labs could provide, but he was kind. He would brush my hair when he returned from a mission. LaRue always ordered my tests while he was gone. She didn’t want him to know the extent of her cruelty. He believed the other scientists controlled her, forced her to the acts she committed in the name of science.”

He would brush her hair. It sounded simple, a small enough gesture, but Lance heard the reverence in her voice when she said it. “When Jonas captured me last month, his scientist Elyiana had to take blood and swabs. I hate that. I hate the needles poking into me. He came to my cell a while later. He still had the brush he used when I was at the labs. And he brushed my hair.”

Her voice was thick with emotion, and Lance had to blink to force back the rush of moisture as he let her talk. The tone of her voice, reflective, husky, tore at his soul.

“Madame LaRue was going to kill him.” Her hands tightened on his arms. “All but a few of us were ordered to die. The other Breeds in that room, the ones I killed, they had been betraying Jonas for months as he planned an escape for all of us. Even Madame.” A small shudder raced through her body. “He was her personal experiment, and he could never see it. I was her child as well, but only Jonas knew peace within those labs. Only he knew gentleness. And I wanted to preserve the kindness I saw in him. The memory of a mother. Such memories are precious, aren’t they?”

“You wanted to protect him,” he whispered. “Because you loved him.”

Her breath caught as a silent sob shook her body.

“Within weeks, his personal guards, two Coyotes known for their viciousness, found me. He had sent them. Their final words to me were the message he sent. Rogues die. The last words he said as I ran from the room where I had killed his mother.”

Lance swallowed tightly. God help him, he wanted nothing more than to tear Jonas apart. The bastard had no idea what he had done to the child who had risked her life for him.

“You have proof of what she was,” he said then. He knew she did. “Why didn’t you give it to him?”

She was silent for long moments. “There was so little that we had to hold onto.” She inhaled roughly, her voice rasping on her tears. “We knew we were creations of man, rather than of God. That we were created to kill. But Jonas, he had a mother. He had gentle touches and soft words. He had something to dim the hatred and the pain, the brutality of our lives. And giving him the information wouldn’t change anything.”

She trembled again, her breathing jerky as she pressed tighter against him, and he felt her hunger for all the things she had mentioned. She had fought to protect Jonas’s vision of a mother that was a monster because she had hungered so desperately for the illusion herself.

“I couldn’t let her kill him,” she whispered raggedly. “He brushed my hair…” He had given her the one bit of warmth and gentleness in a dark, horrific world.

Lance pulled her closer to him, tucking her in as tight as possible as he buried his face against her hair.

“And now, there’s you,” she whispered tearfully. “Honorable. Patient. What do I do, Lance, if you die because of me? If the monsters find you and destroy the life that burns so pure inside you?”

And what would he do without her?

“I’m a child of the earth,” he told her softly, feeling her still against him. “The winds call to me, the very air around me whispers the secrets of others at my ear. It warns me of danger and it protects me when others would have seen me fall. It led me to that bar the night I met you. As I sat outside, wondering what the hell I was doing there, it whispered your name.”

She turned to him slowly, staring up at him with tortured pale green eyes as he lifted himself on an elbow. He wanted to surround her. He wanted to wrap himself around her in such a way that she would never be alone again.

“You have something Jonas wants,” he told her then. “I hear the knowledge of it each time I see Jonas, each time you mention his name. A secret or secrets that go far beyond the mother you share.”

Lance watched as her face paled and fear filled her eyes.

“Jonas doesn’t want revenge, Harmony. The only reason he’s still alive is the fact that there’s no true malice in him when he’s around you. But he does want whatever you’re hiding from him. And he wants it bad enough that he’ll use you, or me, to get it.”

She shook her head slowly as he watched her expression. It went from fear to confusion, her eyes shadowing as she frowned back at him.

“He can’t know what I have,” she said. “No one knew but the scientists in that office, and I killed them.”

“Knew what, Harmony?”

“That the first Breed created still lives.” Her voice lowered until it was no more than a breath of sound.

Unknown secrets. What came before and still is. The words whispered at his ear, breathed across his mind.

“There’s more.” Lance ran his hand comfortingly down her arm as she trembled beneath him again. “But considering it’s Jonas, only God knows what he wants.”

“And if we can’t afford to wait to learn what he’s after?”

Lance felt her fear then.

“Alonzo knew me as Death, when I was younger. If he recognizes me now, my cover is blown. If that happens, every Coyote still alive and working with the Council will be after me. The price on my head is very high.”

God, could it get much worse?

“What was he doing there? How was he involved?” Lance asked.

“I’m not sure what role he played.” She sighed. “But he was very important to Madame LaRue, and I know he provided vast amounts of money toward the Breed project.”

“Do you have proof Alonzo was part of the Council?” He would love to see the good reverend taken down.

She shook her head. “I don’t have that proof. But he was at the lab several times and met with Madame and my trainer. If he recognizes me, Lance…”

“Then we’ll have to make certain Alonzo doesn’t find out.” He could feel that danger intensifying around them then, and heard the whisper of relief at his ear, even as the air warned of the danger Alonzo could represent. He didn’t know who Harmony was, and that was all that mattered at this point.

A small smile tipped her lips. “Are you listening to the winds?”

He smoothed her hair back from her cheek. “Finally,” he acknowledged ruefully. “Grandfather would be pleased with me.”

“The Council searched for women who had gifts such as yours,” she said. “They were perceived as the perfect incubators for the implanted Breed embryos. It was believed that the women who carried the creations added an element to the final makeup of the Breed. Psychic power is one of the elements they believed could be transferred in such ways.”

Embryos and creations. Never babes or children. God help him, but the rage burning in him against those who had scarred her soul from birth terrified him.

He had known that many psychics and Native American women were taken, held captive until the children they were implanted with were born, then released. The women they used in such ways had come from all over the world, and Jonas knew they had searched heavily for psychics.

“I won’t let you leave me,” he finally said.

“How do I stay?”

He held himself still, silent, staring down at her as she reached up, running the tips of her fingers down his cheek.

“I’ve never had anyone,” she whispered. “I knew better. I knew they would be used to capture me. They’ll take you, they’ll torture you, and they’ll make certain I know. I would give my life for you, but all it would do is ease the pain you would experience because of me. You would die anyway.”

A tear fell from her eyes, creating a silvery track down her cheek as her lips trembled.

Lance felt his chest jerk, felt the emotion that welled within him like a cruel fist, clenching around his heart. “We fight to survive. To love. What the earth wills will be, Harmony. Running won’t change that. It won’t save either of us.”

Her face twisted in agony as she turned from him, huddling on her side, her body trembling as he pulled her close once again.

“You’ve fought to live,” he said gently as he wrapped his body around her, feeling his heat flow to her, his soul easing around her. “Fight for us now, Harmony. You’ve fought for your life, now help me fight for our love.”

Their love.

Harmony stared into the room, watching as pale fingers of dawn peeked from the sides of the dark curtains. Was that what she was feeling? Was that what she had been feeling all along? Was this why she couldn’t walk away from him?

It wasn’t her way to stay when she knew the danger outweighed the chances of escape. It wasn’t her way to allow anyone to breach her inner defenses. But Lance had done just that—with the warmth of his body that flowed into her, the pleasure from his touch, the aching realization that Lance had been created for her.

A mating. And he had accepted that mating, accepted her as though he had known her all her life. Because the winds whispered to him.

“What do they say?” she asked. “The winds. What do they tell you about me?”

“That you’re wild and incorrigible.” A thread of amusement filled his voice.

Her lips kicked up in a grin as she turned back to him. “I’m serious.”

“Seriously.” His hand cupped her cheek while his thumb smoothed over her parted lips. “I hear your cries echo around me. I hear a whisper of strength and of need and sorrow. I hear your heart. Each time you’ve denied me I’ve heard your soul crying out for me. The wind doesn’t speak in words, or in explanations. It speaks in laughter, a cry, a wailing denial or a whisper of strength. And I hear all that as the air flows around us, pulling me to you no matter how many times you’ve pushed me away.”

He kissed her lips gently before rising to stare down at her once again.

“I don’t know what to do.” Her lips trembled as she fought to find a way to make him understand what she felt. But she didn’t understand it herself.

“Just be you.” He lay beside her again, pulling her against him and letting his warmth wrap around her. “Just be Harmony.”

That night patrol was destined to be boring. Lance was stuck at the office with paperwork and she was covering for one of the officers who had taken off for family concerns. The dark surrounded her, cocooned her, and left her with too much time to think.

Just be Harmony. Not for the first time, she wondered who Harmony was.

As she made her way through the quiet streets of the main section of Broken Butte, Harmony frowned at the thought.

She had always known who Death was; there was no question there. Death was vengeance. She was the shadow that slid through the night and brought justice to those the law had somehow missed.

She was dark, wrathful, cold and merciless. She didn’t regret and she had no second thoughts. As she came to a stop at a red light, she frowned into the lamplit street. But who was Harmony?

She had taken the name as a lark. Harmony Lancaster. Harmony, because that was what was left in Death’s wake. Lancaster was the name of the street where she had taken the last innocent life she had allowed the Council to foist on her.

That night was engraved on her memory, stamped into it with the force of a burning brand.

“Let me help you. I can, I can get you to safety.” The woman had watched her with such compassion, such fierce determination that Harmony had almost believed it was true.

But her Trainer had warned her that the operative was a master at deceit. At fourteen, trained as Death, she had known only what the “proof” had given her. And that proof marked this woman as a vindictive peddler of juveniles. A woman who ripped innocent children from their homes and sold them to the highest bidder.

“Let me help you.” A trembling hand had reached out to Death. “Let me get you to safety.”

Death had struck. She gripped the woman’s hand, using it as leverage, and let her knife answer for her. She had followed her Trainer’s orders, but as she watched the woman crumple lifelessly to the ground, she knew she had shed innocent blood.

Harmony shook the memory from her mind before it could tear through her soul as it did each time she allowed it free. The woman she had killed had been a CIA agent investigating the shadowy group known as the Genetics Council. She had a husband and a child. She had been one of the good guys, and Death had taken her life.

As the light turned green, Harmony turned up another well-lit street, her gaze searching the shadows as she patrolled the quiet. Lights blazed from within the houses; some residents still sat on their porches enjoying the late evening air. The scent of barbecues drifted in the air, and the laughter of children.

This was what Lance fought for. The peace that echoed here, that drifted through the half-lowered windows and wrapped around her.

This was what the agent had fought for as well.

Shaking her head, she pulled onto Community Street. The full block held the community center, ball courts, a tennis court and a public pool that had closed for the night. The lights within the basketball court were still on though, as were the tennis courts’, and both were in use.

She pulled the Raider to a stop as she watched the young men play, laughter and teasing insults drifting to her.

“Hey, man, that was just a sissy throw,” one youth laughed as he caught the ball. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

He fumbled the ball, to the delight of his friends and the one who stole it from his hands.

“Man. That is so wrong.” Laughter, happiness.

Death had no place here, but Harmony could feel the peace of it wrapping around her. She leaned against the steering wheel, watching the game, a smile pulling at her lips as the boys postured and groaned, grunted and playfully struggled as all young men do when challenging one another.

It wasn’t much different than the young male cubs at the labs, she realized. There had been moments between training sessions when they were allowed to rest beneath the warmth of the sun as a gentle breeze played around them. And they had laughed, teased one another and tested their strength. And sometimes they hadn’t been punished for it.

She sighed as she rested her chin against the hands that gripped the steering wheel. She had never played. She had never laughed and tested herself in such a teasing way.

“Unit four, is everything okay?” Lenny, the eagle eye watching the unit displays at the office, came over the communications link in the dash.

“Just watching a game, Lenny,” she reported as she straightened in her seat. “The boys are out at the community court.”

“They’re too young for you, Deputy.” Lance’s teasing voice replaced Lenny’s.

Harmony smiled, though she found she wanted to laugh.

“That’s affirmative, Sheriff,” she drawled, for once, refusing to fight the warmth rising inside her.

She couldn’t fight him. She had known last night that her own personal battle to deny the bonding between them was over.

“I’m heading out,” she reported. “So far everything’s quiet. Is it ever not quiet?”

“Oh, we have the occasional fire, fistfight and rocking family dispute,” Lance assured her. “They save most of them for the weekends though.”

She shook her head. She had answered a call to an attempted burglary that turned out to be a raccoon, and a dispute between a would-be Lothario and the parents of the young girl he was courting. Not that there hadn’t been trouble in other areas, just not in her area. Yet.

“I’m going to finish my round then head in. Reports.” She grimaced at the paperwork waiting for her back at the office. “Maybe I should try meter maid tomorrow. I bet they don’t fill out paperwork.”

“You’d be surprised.” Lance chuckled. “See you when you get in. Control out.”

“Unit four out.” She pulled the Raider back onto the street and completed her area before turning and heading back to the Sheriff’s Department.

It had been a reasonably quiet night, so it didn’t really surprise her to see Dane step from the shadows at the side of the building as she moved from the Raider.

He leaned against the corner of the building, uncaring who might see him, his expression thoughtful as he watched her. For a moment she considered ignoring him. She should ignore him, she thought in frustration; she wasn’t in the mood for him, or Jonas.

Narrowing her eyes, she stared around the parking lot before moving quickly toward the darker area where he awaited her.

“What are you doing here?” She stepped into the shadows, stilling immediately as she realized he hadn’t come alone.

“It’s time to pull you out, Harmony.” His voice was dark, edged with dominance. “It’s time to go.”

She jerked back as he reached for her.

“Like hell,” she hissed, her hand settling on the butt of her weapon as she kept him and Ryan, his partner, within sight. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Dane. I told you that.”

“Even if it means your life?” he bit out. “Listen to me, Harmony, you don’t want what’s going to come down here. And I don’t have time to break you out of a fucking cell again. Now, let’s go before that sheriff of yours comes looking for you.”

“What’s coming down, Dane?” She moved when Ryan shifted as though to get behind her. “Ryan, stay where the hell you are. Don’t make me fight you.”

Both men stilled then. Ryan wasn’t as tall as Dane, but he was muscular and quick. Short, dark brown hair framed his sun-darkened face, and pale blue eyes watched her carefully.

“You’ve never questioned me before,” Dane mused. “When I’ve come to take you away from trouble, you’ve always followed me.”

“I always understood the trouble you were taking me away from. I’m not in any trouble yet, Dane.” And he had always been there.

“It’s coming, Harmony.” He sighed. “You know it as well as I do.”

“Then maybe you can tell me what to look for,” she suggested softly. “And while you’re at it, why have you always done it?”

“Done what?” His gaze narrowed on her thoughtfully.

“Why you’ve always gotten me out of trouble. How you’ve always known I was in trouble. How do you track me, Dane?”

His lips quirked slowly. “I’m intuitive.”

“You’re full of shit.” She should have thought of it before. “How do you know?”

“Let’s just say I have certain contacts.” He finally shrugged. “Enough contacts to know that after that killing a few days ago, Alonzo is going to try to pin Death to your name.”

“He has no proof.”

“Harmony, you’re risking your sheriff’s life…”

“I can’t leave him, Dane,” she snapped. “You don’t understand.”

“Do you think I don’t know you’ve mated the son of a bitch?” He snarled then. “For God’s sake, Harmony. Why didn’t you let me take you out when I tried the first time?”

“It was too late.” She shook her head furiously. “And it doesn’t matter now. I can’t run anymore. I’m tired of running.”

He stared at her silently, frustration marking his face as their gazes clashed.

“I don’t want to force you to leave, Harmony.” He sighed again. “But I will.”

She stepped back. “Why?”

He grimaced tightly. “Isn’t it enough that I care about you?” he questioned roughly. “Watching you commit suicide is a pain in the ass.”

“Not good enough.” Her hand tightened on her weapon.

“Goddammit, it’s going to be enough though.”

She jumped to the side as he moved, placing herself clearly into the well-lit parking lot as he stilled in the shadows.

“It’s not enough. Try to force me and you’ll make an enemy of me, Dane. Don’t do that. For both our sakes.” Turning, she stalked to the entrance, her heart leaping to her throat as Lance stepped from the wide doors, his hand on the weapon at his side, his body tense, prepared.

She could smell the danger surrounding him, the determination as he strode down the steps, gripped her arm without a word and began to move her toward the entrance.

“Lance…”

“Lie to me and I’ll tan your hide,” he snapped. “Get into my office and, by God, explanations are due.”

Dane ground his teeth together at the sound of the sheriff’s voice, before motioning Ryan through the shadows of the adjoining park.

No sooner had they moved from the side of the building than two deputies rounded a corner as overhead lights flared on.

The sheriff was a cautious man, and a damned uncanny one at that. How could he have suspected?

Sliding through the shadows, he and Ryan made their way back to the dark SUV parked on the opposite block.

“What now?” Ryan asked as they closed the doors behind them.

“Hell!” Dane clenched the steering wheel as frustration ate at him. “She’s never disobeyed me like this.”

She would have left immediately at any other time.

“The mating is strong,” Ryan murmured. “You can smell him all over her. It’s even changed her scent.”

“It’s going to get her killed.” He started the SUV, slid it into gear and pulled silently into the street before turning the headlights on. “That killing in Pinon was just a warning.”

“Should we call the old man?”

Dane growled. “Do that and we’ll end up with a war here. He’s fond of the girl, Rye, you know that.”

“He’ll kick your ass if she gets hurt,” Ryan pointed out.

That wasn’t an understatement.

“Shit. We’ll take turns and keep an eye on her.” He shook his head in resignation. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken her home that time. Big, big mistake.”

Unfortunately, it had been take her home or let her die. Letting her die hadn’t been an option.

“Why not just ask her for the files and be done with it?” Ryan suggested. “Tell her the truth.”

Dane shook his head. “She won’t give those files up that easily. Besides, it wouldn’t save her life. She has the information in her head as well. And Jonas knows it. What Jonas knows, that fucking spy in Sanctuary knows. I’ll drop you off at the hotel and pull duty tonight. Let’s just hope we can take care of this fast; otherwise the old man just might decide to check it out himself anyway.”

That situation was seriously getting on his nerves. If it weren’t for the danger Harmony was in at present, he would clean house there himself. He just might do it anyway once this little job was over. His father was getting riled, and when the old man got worked up, his mother wasn’t far behind. And in her condition, that wasn’t good for any of them.

One of these days, Dane promised himself, Jonas was going to have quite a bit to answer for.