Harmony's Way

CHAPTER 20

She was pregnant. Being pregnant wasn’t something that an assassin should take lightly, Harmony was certain. It was something that frankly terrified her. And she hadn’t been terrified in a very long time.

As Jonas and his crew, lawyer included, left the office and flitted away in their spiffy little black heli-jet, Harmony moved to the couch across the room and sat down wearily.

Strangely, she didn’t feel any different. Shouldn’t she feel pregnant or something? Shouldn’t the world look different or her body feel different?

As Lance stalked to his desk and threw himself into his chair, Harmony leaned her head back against the cushions and contemplated. She didn’t like contemplating. She didn’t like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, but that was where she was. Thanks to Jonas.

Brother. She gritted her teeth at the thought of their kinship. Then ground them as the logical part of her brain agreed with him. She would have done the same thing. Protecting the Breeds was a precarious job at the moment, and if this mating heat/aging crap got out, then they were all screwed. Hell, it freaked her out, when she wasn’t one huge raging hormone intent on getting up close and personal with Lance. Not that she had really allowed herself to think about it to this point. Though dammit, she really should have thought about it by now.

She was so screwed. And not necessarily in a good way.

She was pregnant. She had another life to protect. A child. Lance’s child. How was she going to protect herself, her child and Lance? As long as Death was alive, then danger would be drawn to her.

And yet she couldn’t countenance betraying Dane either. It didn’t matter why he might or might not have been there to rescue her through the past ten years. The fact was that he had. He had cared for her, nursed her through potentially fatal wounds and given her a place to hide when she needed to heal.

He had cared about her. For whatever his reasons, whatever he might want from her, he did care for her. She might be madder than hell at him right now, but she knew that much.

God, could things get any worse? Alonzo was protesting outside the doors, Jonas was determined to capture the only friend she had ever known, and she was mated to a man determined not to let her go. And there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Lance would tie her up and lock her in one of his damned cells if that was what it took to keep her there.

Pregnant.

She laid her hand carefully over her abdomen, frowning as she tried to make sense of that. Evidently the hormonal therapies weren’t worth taking. They hadn’t stopped the heat and they hadn’t stopped conception. All they had done was keep her from running. And she would have run, wouldn’t she?

Okay, so she wouldn’t have run. She felt like kicking something. From the first night she met Lance she had been hooked and she knew it. Mating heat be damned, the man knew how to touch, how to hold, and how to make a woman addicted without her stupid hormones adding to it.

There had to be a way out of this. A way to give Jonas what he wanted without betraying Dane, and a way to ensure that Dane stayed safe. It wasn’t possible that he was the first Leo, no matter what Jonas claimed.

Most of the electronic files were encrypted, but the information on the first Leo had been hard copy. Pages and pages of genetic reports and training profiles. Unless there was more on those hard drives, within the files she had never been able to crack.

She wasn’t exactly a hacker. Electronics, unless they ran a security system or a weapon, weren’t her thing. Computers were a pain in the ass, and the handheld models just made her crazy. And cell phones were for people with a death wish. They could be hacked, traced and bugged, as she often tried to tell Dane. Therefore, she didn’t even have a cell phone to call him on. And she really needed to talk to him now. Because she wanted to know just what the fucking hell he was planning. Maybe she could slide into the connecting office and make a quick call…

“Not on your life.”

Harmony lifted her head and stared back at her mate. That alpha tone just made a girl’s nerve endings stand up and take notice, but really, this was no time for it.

“Stupid wind thing,” she half snarled. “That is so wrong, Lance. That’s worse than mind reading.”

“Get used to it.”

She lowered her brows at the grump that had taken the place of her normally indulgent lover. He sat, forearms braced on the desk as he went through a file. A thick file. Her eyes narrowed as he turned a page and she caught a name. Was that her file?

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out how to de-fang that bastard brother of yours,” he growled.

Harmony shrugged. “Dane. But he’s not the first Leo.”

“No shit!” Lance snarled, glaring back at her. “How do you know?”

Harmony rolled her eyes as she surged to her feet.

“For one thing, Dane isn’t mated. The first Leo is mated.”

“And you know this how?”

She tucked her hands in the back pocket of her jeans as she considered her options in the face of that question.

“Harmony?” There was that damned alpha tone again.

“Well, according to what you’ve said, once you’ve mated you don’t have sex with anyone else. Right?”

“Yes.” He snapped the word off.

“Well.” She shifted her shoulders, suddenly uncomfortable. “If Dane is the first Leo, then he broke that little rule.”

“Not possible,” he growled. “Braden says the males can’t even get ‘interested’ in other women. Now explain how Dane broke that little rule.”

She pursed her lips. “Well. Because.” She cleared her throat. This was damned uncomfortable. “I’ve slept with him.”

“Goddammit, I fucking knew it!” he snarled as he slammed the file closed. “And why didn’t you give this piece of information earlier? When it would have defused Jonas?”

“Because, maybe, it’s none of his business,” she snarled back, revealing her canines. Okay, now he was just going to piss her off.

“And you think it wouldn’t have helped if he knew Dane wasn’t the first Leo?”

“Well, I don’t know that for sure.” She frowned. “What happens if a mate dies? Though really, I don’t think he’s mated.” She was babbling. Harmony Lancaster, aka Death, was turning into a twit. She snapped her mouth closed.

“Look, Jonas isn’t going to just stand down,” she informed him as he glowered back at her. “Once he gets something into that knot head of his, it stays there. He was like that in the labs and he hasn’t changed since.”

“And calling your precious Dane will help this how?”

Harmony licked her lips. “Well. I could tell him what’s going on.”

“And this would help us how?” His voice had roughened, grown angrier.

“He could hide us both. Just until we figure this out…”

Lance dropped his head.

“He would do it, Lance,” she whispered. “Just until the baby…” She swallowed past a rush of tears. “Until it’s safe.”

She felt her hands trembling, felt emotion swamping her. Oh God, she couldn’t stand this.

He lifted his head long seconds later. The fury she expected was absent, but his expression wasn’t exactly encouraging.

“Lance, listen to me. He knows how to do it. He’s hidden me plenty of times…”

“If we run now, we’ll never stop running, Harmony.” His voice was gentler, but no less authoritative. “I won’t have that for us or our child.”

Harmony hunched her shoulders as she turned away from him then. What other answer was there?

“We need the files you stole,” he announced then.

Harmony swung around. “How will the files help? With the spy in Sanctuary, we can’t even do anything with them. There’s no way the Leo will be safe if his existence is revealed.”

“Jonas was right, Harmony,” he warned her. “The existence of the mating heat is a time bomb just waiting to explode. When it does, the Breeds will never know safety.”

“What do you suggest then?” She waved her hand mockingly. “Let’s just turn him right over to the Council while we’re at it. Because the Coyotes will beat the Breed Enforcers to him. There’s no way to keep him safe if knowledge of this reaches Sanctuary.”

“We get the information and go from there” he said. “With any luck, something about the mating heat will be contained in that hard drive or discs you found.”

His voice vibrated with the knowledge. God, this wind stuff was really going to drive her crazy.

She wiped her hands over her face, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes as she fought with her need not just to protect and find the first Leo but to protect her own reality as well.

“If he’s so good at hiding people, then perhaps this Dane is hiding the Leo as well,” Lance suggested then. “We could go through the information ourselves…”

“Most of it is encrypted.” She shook her head. “I can’t break the code.” She dropped her hands and stared back at him in despair.

Lance smiled as he rose from his desk.

“I have a cousin-in-law who just happens to excel at breaking Council encrypted files,” he said. “You can trust Braden, Harmony. We can trust him. We keep what you want to stay hidden and we bargain with Jonas on the rest. That will buy us the time we need to find your Leo.”

“We’re playing with the identity of the first Leo,” she whispered. “And his safety.”

“If he’s still alive, then he’s well experienced in protecting himself. Let’s see what you have, then we’ll decide. First we weigh our options, then we go from there.”

“Getting away from Dane and Jonas won’t be easy,” she murmured worriedly. “Not to mention whoever our friendly neighborhood copycat assassin is. They could be waiting on this. I still think we should tell Dane.”

Lance watched her silently, his gaze thoughtful.

“Oh, they definitely are.” He finally moved around the desk and stalked toward her. “But we have an ace up our sleeve, baby. We have the winds. And I have it on the highest authority that there’s this badass assassin who knows well how to avoid pesky little tails. Between the two, I think we’ll have them beat. As for telling Dane anything, have you considered that maybe he doesn’t know about the Leo? If he doesn’t, then you don’t want to reveal that information. And he’ll never leave without an explanation.”

“They’ll be waiting on me to go for the information. They’re going to expect this, Lance.” She stayed well clear of the area where she had hidden the leather satchel of information she had stolen. She had kept the hard drive for a while, until she gave up on figuring out how to open the encrypted files. She had packed it protectively then included it with the rest of the stash. That had been years ago.

“Harmony, we don’t have a choice.” His voice as well as his expression hardened. “I won’t let Jonas continue to jerk you around like this. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that son of a bitch Dane attempt to kidnap you and my child. This stops here!”

Harmony almost shivered at that tone of voice. She did cream. She could feel the juices gathering, heating between her thighs, preparing her. Who knew she could be so female? She sure hadn’t. She hadn’t been before Lance.

Drawing in a deep breath, she restrained herself from jumping his bones. She couldn’t even blame it on the mating heat. The heat flowing through her now was different, but it was also hotter. Brighter. And it was more destructive to her peace of mind than the mating heat had ever been.

Was there a part of her selectively programmed to submission? Or was this natural? Was this love?

“Harmony.” His voice was a warning growl as she realized she was still staring up at him with a frown.

“Fine. We get the information.” She shoved her hands into her pockets before turning away from him and pacing across the room to stand by the window.

The shade had been drawn, blocking the sight of the playground outside. It didn’t matter; she wouldn’t have seen the day reflected there anyway.

This was too unfamiliar. What the hell was she supposed to do now? A mate was one thing. She was getting used to the mate stuff. She was handling that, right?

Her hand dropped to her stomach again.

“I’m frightened,” she whispered as she lifted her hand and stared back at Lance.

Bitter amusement sliced through her. “I don’t think I’ve ever been frightened before, Lance.”

She had shot her way out of the labs, and not once had she known fear. She had gone against serial rapists, killers, crime figures and Coyotes, and she had never batted an eye at the danger she faced. But the thought of a child was terrifying her.

She fought back her tears as she glimpsed his expression. Anger lurked in his gaze, but overriding it was concern and dark determination.

Lance strode quickly across the room and folded her against his body, tucking her head against his chest as his arms held her close. God, how would he survive without her? From first sight she had begun worming her way into his heart and taking over his soul. She breathed life into his world, and he had no intention of allowing anyone to take that from him. Not Jonas, not the unknown Dane and sure as hell not the Genetics Council.

He felt her arms grip his back and the shudder that raced through her body as he pressed his face against her hair.

“Our child is going to be fine,” he whispered. “We’ll teach him how to play baseball and how to hunt. We’ll learn how to bake brownies for him, and how to make him laugh. And we’ll protect him, Harmony. I promise you.”

She trembled against him again, trying to duck her head as he leaned back to stare down at her.

“Trust me,” he whispered.

Her face lifted, her eyes, those beautiful pale green cat’s eyes, swimming with tears as she stared back at him.

“Being a woman sucks,” she whispered. “I never had this problem until you.”

He frowned in confusion. What the hell was she talking about?

“What problem?”

“Needing someone else,” she whispered. “Needing him more than I need freedom or need to run. Needing him more than I need what I’ve fought for, for so long.”

He smoothed her hair back from her face, feeling his chest tighten further as she broke his heart all over again. What other women took for granted—the love of a man, needing him, being close to him—his woman saw with an edge of wonder.

“I’ve always needed you,” he told her softly. “I’ve dreamed of you. Heard your cries whispering to me and felt a hint of your touch in the breeze that caressed me. I always knew, baby.”

A tear fell from her eye. “I know how to take life, Lance. I don’t know how to create life.”

She was going to rip the heart from his chest. Lance lowered his hand to her abdomen, feeling the warmth of her flesh, the tremor of response to his touch.

“You’ve already created life,” he whispered as he lowered his lips to her. “Beautiful sweet life, baby.”

Her lips opened for his as a little whimper escaped her throat. A sound filled with vulnerable need and aching hunger. A hunger he knew she felt solely for him. This was his woman, his mate. And by God, he would keep her safe.

But he had to taste her now. Her lips opened for him, taking his kiss as he felt her melt against him. Melt into him.

She was lost in Lance’s touch. Her hands pressed against his chest, once again drawing in his warmth, feeling the heated passion of his body and more. She could feel his protectiveness, the dominant inclination to shelter her, to ease her as his arms wrapped around her and pleasure began to build inside her.

One of his large, calloused palms slid into her hair, tugging at the strands as heated arcs of electric sensation began to whip through her nerve endings.

Oh, she liked this. This was pleasure. This was more pleasure than any one person should have to fear for, a pleasure she knew she would never again be able to live without.

“I want to take you home,” he whispered against her lips again. “I want to be inside you, Harmony. I want to feel you hot and wet, gripping me as you scream beneath me.”

Harmony felt her pussy clench in response.

“We could lock the office door.” She tried to capture his lips once again, to submerge herself in the pleasure and emotions that she only felt with Lance.

He chuckled as he pulled back farther. “No more office sex,” he growled. “I won’t be able to walk when we’re finished, let alone drive if that wicked little pussy of yours clamps down on me again like it did last night. You left me a wasted shell of a man, baby.”

She ran her hands over his chest, then to the powerful muscles of his arms.

“You don’t feel like a shell,” she whispered. “You feel hard and ready for me. But if you insist, I’ll drive for you.”

She almost laughed at the indecision on his face for a fleeting second. Then his expression creased into a smile as he shook his head slowly.

“We go home.” He gave his head a quick, hard shake as he stepped back from her. “Dave is qualified to replace me on a temporary basis. I completed the paperwork while you were staring at the ceiling growling.”

“I was not growling.” She frowned back at him fiercely.

“Sorry, baby, you were growling.” He pointed his finger back at her as he moved to his desk. “Cutest little sounds I think I’ve ever heard in my life, but they were definitely little growls.”

She did not remember any little growls.

“You’re hearing things.” She propped her hands on her hips, her frown turning to a glare as he collected a sheaf of papers from his desk and headed back toward her.

“Dream on, kitten.” He patted her butt as he moved past her. “Let’s go home. We have plans to make.”

Henry Richard Alonzo watched from the safety of a storefront as the Raider pulled from the back parking lot of the Sheriff’s Department and headed up the street. They were both in there. The sheriff and his harlot Breed female. The bitch flaunted her Breed status with that uniform she usually wore and with her sneer toward the world. She was a killer, just as all the females of those species were; he just had to prove it.

He had hoped the two killings he had sanctioned would throw enough suspicion on her to have her targeted by her own laws. She was young enough; similar enough to the Breed suspected in several vigilante killings. He had even received reports from his spy within Sanctuary that Death had been there, beneath Jonas’s supervision.

Had she been Death, he wouldn’t have had to have his man make the killings though. She would have struck quickly, without mercy.

He rubbed at his jaw and ground his teeth as the Raider disappeared from sight. That stupid sheriff was ruining everything. No doubt he was sleeping with her. Men could not resist the sexuality of the Feline females.

“Reverend.” Acker McQuire stepped up to him slowly, his tall, lanky frame moving into the doorway of the storefront. “What now, sir?”

Tall. Blond. A killer as merciless as the one called Death. He had been a Trainer in the labs; he had even spent several months at the French lab, though it had been after Death’s escape.

“We watch them,” he growled. “Jonas is up to something.”

“There was a report from Sanctuary. She could be Death. The heli-jet was tracked from Sanctuary to Carlsbad the night she left. The next day, Harmony Lancaster showed up here and within the Breed database.”

Could she be Death?

Henry Richard tucked his hands into the loose pockets of his slacks and stared in the direction the Raider had taken. She was about the right age and build. And there was a resemblance to the photos he had attained, though it was so slight he couldn’t countenance that she was Death.

But it was possible.

“Is there any information on how Jonas captured her, or why he has allowed her to live?”

Even the Breeds had placed a price on Death’s head.

“Just that she has something he wants.” Acker shook his head, the white-blond strands of his hair lifting in the breeze.

“Then it must be her,” he mused. “He would want the information she stole when she escaped.”

Jonas Wyatt wasn’t the only one who wanted that information. His men had managed to track her to a certain area, but no further. The information she had stolen from the labs the day she had killed the scientists working there had been so sensitive, so important, that millions had been spent trying to locate it.

“We could take her.”

Henry shook his head slowly. “We follow her. Jonas will overlook the murders he believes she committed in exchange for the information she has. It could explain why he left without her.”

“I duplicated her killings exactly.” Acker’s assurances didn’t matter. All that mattered was the results.

Henry nodded again. “Yes. This would explain everything. They definitely suspect her of the killings, so she may well be Death. Watch her. If they head out of town, then we know we have Death.”

Satisfaction raged through him. He was so very close to destroying the Breeds. He could feel it. If this was indeed Death, and Acker had committed the crimes in a manner similar enough to her M.O., then framing her would be that much easier. And satisfying. He would show her how unpredictable the Breeds were, how close to the merciless animals they had been created to be.

He would let nothing steal this chance from him. Enough had been stolen from him because of his grandfather’s perfidy in aiding in the creation of these monsters, these abominations against the All Mighty God.

How he wished his grandfather still lived. Henry Vanderal Demarcy had been a fool.

The daughter, H.R.’s mother, hadn’t been enough for her father. Vanderale Demarcy had wanted a son, rather than the grandson that would be born later. He had created his son. Allowed his seed to be tainted by Breed coding, so he could betray the daughter he had been given.

Henry Richard Vanderale Demarcy. The bastard. He was H.R.’s grandfather, H.R. had even been named after him, though he refused to use the name Henry Richard, or any part of it. He wanted no part of his patriarchal kin. If he were still alive, H.R. would have killed his grandfather himself. He had helped create these monsters so he would have his perfect son, had stolen most of his vast fortune to give to that son. In doing so, he had left H.R.’s grandmother with barely enough money to hold on to the estate she had been left. And her Vanderale kin in South Africa had certainly held no interest in helping her at the time.

Vanderale Industries was now one of the largest conglomerates in the world, and even they, bastards that they were, supported the Breeds. Though he should have expected no less. Evidently, Vanderale genetics carried a trace of insanity.

He would forgive them no more than he had forgiven his grandfather.

H.R. bared his teeth in fury. The first Leo. The first ever created, the first to escape. And in escaping, he had gained the fortune H.R.’s grandfather had secretly stolen from beneath his wife’s nose, then vanished without a trace.

The bastard. H.R.’s family had suffered. They had fought and scraped after his death, until H.R.’s mother had married into the powerful Alonzo family.

His grandfather had betrayed them for his animal son.

Henry swore again, as he had for decades, that each Breed would pay. That he would personally see to it that they were wiped from the face of the earth. They were abominations. Creatures. They had no right to life, and he would make certain they returned to the hell from which they had been spawned. They could join ole Henry Vanderale Demarcy within the fires of everlasting judgment. And he would be the one to send them there.