Lawe's Justice

*CHAPTER 4*

Somewhere between point A and point B, she had managed to lose her fucking mind.

Somewhere between Lawe moving behind her and a release that had erupted like a volcano inside her, her common sense had taken a vacation and left her libido in charge.

Bad idea.

Very, very bad idea.

Because her libido had no common sense and it sure as hell had no self-preservation instincts.

Standing beneath the pounding spray the next morning, her eyes closed as water sluiced over her body, Diane admitted that she may have made the worse mistake of her life when she allowed herself those few moments of pleasure.

Yes indeed, allowing Lawe Justice a window into a woman’s greatest weakness was a no-no. His touch was her greatest weakness, his kiss her fantasy, his possession an aching hunger that tore at her senses.

And he would be her destruction if she allowed it.

Last night had to have been some sort of breakdown. That was the only way she would have allowed it to happen, she assured herself. After all, her common sense was normally firmly intact. Her uncle hadn’t raised her to be no man’s dummy or his favorite pet.

And she could so easily see Lawe attempting to turn her into his favorite little pet.

She shuddered in horror at the thought. But it had nearly happened last night. She had allowed him to do far more than touch. She had allowed far more than the weakness that came with a moment of pleasure.

He had actually made her regret her unwillingness to be a Breed pet for all of—how many seconds had she been locked in her orgasm? Okay, for however long the rapture had held her in its grip, that was how long she had regretted it.

The sensitivity of her flesh this morning was irritating, though. The feel of a phantom caress against her tender nipples, the need for his kiss tempting her senses. All those things were something she simply didn’t need right now.

Because she knew exactly what it was.

It was mating heat.

She let the water hit her full in the face, wondering if she could possibly wash away the knowledge that somehow those savage animal genetics Lawe possessed had chosen her as his mate.

Should she be honored?

How insulted would he be to know she wasn’t, she wondered as she smacked the shower wall and let a more human growl of outrage pass her lips.

She so, so just did not need this.

She wasn’t about to deny it, though, and see herself in much more trouble than she was actually in. Denying the fact that mating heat was ready to begin burning like a wildfire through their senses was the worst thing she could do.

Denying it would only cause an even larger mistake to be made. Perhaps a kiss to be shared, or even the ultimate transgression—that they would actually have sex and then the agony of the heat would sweep through her and Lawe with a strength that would be destructive to them both.

Diane shivered at the thought. A wave of weakening hunger swept through her, causing her knees to dip at the very thought of having that primal male moving over her.

Moving in her.

Stretching her inner flesh—

Taking her—

Fucking her like a man possessed by the beast his genetics were derived from.

Oh yeah, she could so get into the pleasure.

It was the thought of that ultimate possession that had her completely freaking out, though.

It was the thought of being bound. Helpless. Watching death steal those she knew, those she loved, and being unable to stop it.

Her parents, because she had been too young.

Her uncle, because he hadn’t trusted her to help him.

And Padric. Padric with his smiling eyes, his devil-may-care grin and his love of poetry. She hadn’t been able to save him because neither he nor her uncle had heeded her warnings that the past would never completely go away.

Giving her head a hard shake, Diane stepped from the shower and quickly toweled dry before dressing in jeans, a white silk sleeveless camp shirt and the scuffed, worn leather half boots she preferred.

Fixing her hair was a simple matter of running her fingers through it as she spread a light gel and arranged the heavy waves as they fell to her shoulders.

The primping wasn’t exactly normal for her, but at the moment she needed all the feminine self-confidence she could steal. Facing Lawe at that meeting with Jonas was not going to be easy.

As a matter of fact, it was going to be killer arousing. It was going to flush her entire body with heat and cause every erogenous zone in her body to light up like the Fourth of July.

Dammit.

All she was going to be able to think about was riding that hard, powerful body. Moving above him. Taking him inside her. Feeling him working the engorged length of his cock into her—

Controlling all that exquisite, exceptional, male power—

She shivered again, glanced in the mirror then grimaced at the completely feminine image she saw in the mirror.

In the eyes of the men she fought with and commanded, there was a difference between being weak and feminine weakness. Just as there was a difference between being a woman and possessing a girlie side that had never affected her ability to lead them, and being a submissive woman. And submissive was something Diane knew she could never be. So it hadn’t affected their willingness to follow her.

A light application of makeup followed, just a dusting of a powder foundation. She spent more time on smoky hues of shadow applied to her eyes and a light application of mascara to lengthen and thicken her lashes. A coating of gloss to her lips, then a light misting of her favorite perfume.

The woman that stared back at her wasn’t the woman who had checked into the hotel the night before. Worn, exhausted and struggling to haul her bags to her room, she had felt as though she would never get enough rest.

This morning, rested, bright-eyed and approaching a clear mind, she drew in a deep breath and gave a brief nod to her image. Her determination to never allow his touch may have been compromised, but so far, she was dealing with the consequences of it.

Her pussy was wet and heated, longing for his touch.

Her nipples were tight and hard, aching for his lips, the stroke of his tongue, the sucking heat of his mouth and the rasp of his teeth.

Every cell in her body longed for the warmth of his, but it wasn’t agonizing. It was irritating. Damned irritating. It was close to a compulsion, but she was handling it.

And she would continue to handle it, she promised herself. Staring at the image in the mirror, she decided she was now ready to face the day.

Or Lawe.

A flush raced over her face and down her neck at the memory of the searing pleasure that had shot through her body at the culmination of his touch the night before. A pleasure that had suffused her entire body. It had been so unexpected, so hot, she’d been helpless against it.

It had weakened her, heated her, marked a part of her she couldn’t explain.

And the release . . .

Was that a moan that slipped past her lips?

Gripping the counter tight, she breathed in sharply and fought back the insidious ache that insisted on tormenting the most feminine parts of her body.

She had to stop.

She could feel her pussy dampening, clenching, preparing for the ultimate possession by the ultimate male animal.

And she had to stop it from happening.

Now.

She could not go into this meeting with Jonas Wyatt smelling of sexual need and the inability to concentrate.

She couldn’t allow Lawe Justice to turn her mind into mush like this.

There was too much at stake for that, not just for the Breeds but for her sister and her niece too.

The serum that the medical research giant Phillip Brandenmore had injected her niece with was so unknown that they had no idea what it would do to the child.

Diane knew there were changes in Amber. She could see them when she spent more than a few weeks away from the baby. And then there had been the night when Rachel called her on a secured sat line while Diane had been out of the country on a mission.

Rachel had been sobbing.

Her daughter was purring, she had cried, and the other children hissed and snapped at the babe whenever she was around, causing Amber to cry.

Amber wasn’t a Breed, but she was acting like a Breed, and she was becoming frightened of the other children because of their reaction to her. She was withdrawn, whimpering whenever Rachel took her around the other children because of their reactions to her. Amber was now frightened of all children, and she was barely eight months old. She was too little, too young, to have to face such an instinctive and primal reaction from others her own age.

Rachel had been nearly hysterical and trying to hold back her pain and fear from her mate, Jonas. Rachel had called her sister instead and spilled out the pain building inside her and the pain tormenting her.

The agony tearing her apart as the changes in her baby became more noticeable was destroying her. Sobbing, she had begged Diane to just make what was happening to Amber stop, when they both knew that if it could be stopped, then Jonas would have already done whatever was necessary to put a halt to it.

The mother inside her sister had splintered and wept for the changes in her baby. Changes that were so uncertain and unknown.

Brave, strong, resilient Rachel had waited until her mate had left for D.C. and then she had broken down. It was then she had finally called her sister and told her what was happening to Amber after Brandenmore had attempted to kidnap her that night.

Diane had rushed back to the States in the middle of a mission despite her men’s anger, and returned to her sister’s side.

What she had seen for herself had shocked her to her very core, and terrified her.

At five months old Amber had watched her with an intelligence and understanding that Diane couldn’t seem to process.

Amber wasn’t talking yet, but Diane had had the most intense feeling that Amber would have known exactly what she wanted to say if she could have spoken.

The fear that Amber would be harmed in the future was ripping those who loved her apart. So much so that Diane had begun immediately investigating Phillip Brandenmore in the search for the scientists that had helped him create the serum.

Jonas had his own investigation going, but, as she had told him, Amber wouldn’t have been his first victim. A scientist never used his most important research subject for the first trial. And Amber had been very important for some reason. A reason Diane had yet to find.

There would have been others.

Diane wanted answers and she was in a position to push buttons and go further than the Breeds. They were watched with the same intensity as any experiment under a microscope. They could only work in the shadows, but the type of social interaction Diane was an expert in, they hadn’t really been raised to do. That type came with the life Diane had been born to as a child and lived until she was a teenager.

She could charm, bribe and threaten people the Breeds had a harder time getting to in those more social settings. And she could do it without having to kill later. After all, there was no way to hurt the Breeds by going after her. They would only hurt her sister. And themselves, if the world learned they had harmed the wife of the director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs.

Diane had found in the past three months exactly what she had suspected. She had found proof that Brandenmore had done the same experiment before, and more than once. The first test subjects had been more than twenty years ago, and terminated when the serum had resulted in feral fever. With the second set, there had been success, of sorts. At least, there would have been if he hadn’t lost the test subjects he had used to help create his serum.

The same serum he had given Amber.

Three children. A male Bengal Breed, the daughter of a young woman who had been thrown out by her influential family when she had been diagnosed HIV positive, and a child reported to have been kidnapped from her very influential military family and held for five years. Those had been his second test subjects.

The Breed and the child of the homeless woman were to have been terminated once the experiments on the serum were considered a success and the scientists moved on to adult subjects. The daughter of the military family had been returned to her family, free of the rapidly spreading, fatal leukemia she had been diagnosed with at age two.

It began with those children. Children who were now adults and, according to an anonymous message she had received via a contact she’d found in New York before leaving for Argentina, were still living. They were doing more than living—they were thriving. And they held the answers to the dangers, and the changes, Amber now faced. Moving to the sitting area of the hotel suite, Diane grabbed the backpack she carried wherever she went and headed to the door.

She was reaching for the doorknob when a heavy knock sounded on the other side. She knew that knock. Thor wasn’t exactly timid.

A grin tilted her lips as she pulled the door open and met the gazes of the four men she had led since her uncle’s death five years before.

And that damned warning that had been slipped beneath her hotel door haunted her.

There was a spy close to her. These four men were the closest and the only people, besides her sister, that Diane trusted. And she couldn’t discount the fact that each time she had thought she had found someone who would know something, and she had shared that information with her men, something had happened to her sources.

“Had a feeling you’d be ready to roll before a humanly decent hour,” Thor grunted, his gaze clear but his demeanor his early morning normal. Grouchy as hell.

That was the problem. She couldn’t imagine any of her men betraying her. Hell. She felt like a traitor herself for even considering one of them could betray her.

“Did you miss your coffee this morning, Thor?” she asked archly as he glared back at her silently.

“Come on, I hear Jonas has Rachel in town with him. She always makes sure he has excellent coffee at his office.” Closing the door firmly behind her she moved out ahead of the others as she ignored the hope that lightened his morose expression.

“Any new information come in, boss?” Brick asked as they headed for the elevators. “I’m ready to head home for a little vacay if not.”

Diane had put out a few feelers before leaving Argentina. She had found several of the scientists and research technicians that had worked at the Omega lab in the Andes as well as one that had worked briefly in a little-known lab in Alaska in the Denali mountains.

Getting any of them to talk once she had managed to slip away from her men hadn’t been simple, though. Fear was a hell of a silencer and working around it wasn’t often easy.

Blackmail was such a dirty word, and so very effective when those scientists and research assistants were terrified of the world learning they had worked with Brandenmore or the Genetics Council.

It was then that Diane had learned of the three research subjects from Brandenmore labs who had disappeared. Research subjects who had been treated for years with the serum Brandenmore had created.

If those three had lived, that meant the answers she needed for Amber were out there as well. That night, Diane had found the warning note in her room. A location and the warning that she was being betrayed by someone close to her. It had been signed, The Executioner. The Breed rumored to be killing the scientists and some researchers who had worked in the secretive Brandenmore labs assigned to Breed research.

“Evidently not,” Thor answered, his tone disgusted when she didn’t speak. “It’s like they dropped off the face of the earth, Diane. There’s not even a hint as to where they could be.”

Oh, there was a hint, Diane knew, but she just couldn’t share it yet. Not until she managed to check it out herself and figure out exactly what was going on.

She hated distrusting her men, but she wasn’t stupid either. There was something that simply didn’t feel right since her capture in the Middle East sixteen months before. Something that had never set just right with her.

Her uncle’s enemies should never have found her while she was in Syria. They hadn’t known what she had looked like. She had used a fake passport and credentials, and she had none of her own contacts there. She hadn’t reached out to any of her uncle’s contacts either.

So how had they known not only where she was, but also who she was pretending to be at the time?

She’d had a feeling she had been betrayed then, but only her men had known where she was that day, and what she was doing. No one else had known, and she sure as hell hadn’t given up her location herself.

Her thoughts were cut off as the elevator door opened, depositing them out into the busy lobby of the hotel.

“Too damned bad that fucker Brandenmore died,” Malcolm muttered behind her. “We could have just beaten the information out of him.”

That had been Malcolm’s suggestion from the beginning. Hell, his Christmas wish had been for two minutes with the dead man to ensure he suffered before he killed him again.

A grown man who still made Christmas wishes. It never failed to amuse her.

Just as the thought of Brandenmore never failed to piss her off.

Brandenmore had been in bed with the Genetics Council well before he’d even realized it. His father and his grandfather both had supported the Genetics Council and hoped to benefit from the experiments and creations the Council had conceived.

Through his connection to them and the revelation of the aging retardation with Breed matings, Brandenmore had been drawn in to research the phenomenon.

A phenomenon he had found reason to suspect could not only retard aging but would also cure any human diseases the human mate may have.

Once any female child given the serum hit puberty, Brandenmore had theorized, then she would possess the ability to mate with any Breed as well. That the serum would slow her aging once she hit her sexual maturity, cure any disease, and also ensure Breed hybrid conception and possibly help Brandenmore find the cure to the cancer that ran in his family

Which wasn’t exactly true, as Diane understood it. Mating heat did much more than Brandenmore’s serum, and much less, if his files and the information Rachel had given her were anything to go by.

Breeds mated for life, Rachel had told her. The Breeds known to have lost a mate and survived that loss lived sad, miserable lives. The serum wasn’t a mating. It couldn’t ease or cure a mating. And in Brandenmore’s case, it had caused a painful and horrifying death.

“Wyatt is sending a car for us,” Aaron informed her as they crossed the lobby and headed for the front exit. “It’s supposed to be waiting outside the hotel.”

Diane nodded rather than making the scathing comment she would have at any other time.

This meeting with Jonas was too important to chance any transportation other than the Bureau’s. She just hoped he had gotten the hint and found a way to distract her men before the meeting began.

“One of my contacts called last night.” Thor leaned close as the other men moved ahead. “I need to meet with him tonight. He may have some information where General Roberts and his daughter are concerned.”

She glanced up at him, suddenly aware of the fact that he was ensuring no one heard him but her.

“How reliable is your contact?” she asked Thor, once again patting herself on the back for making him her lieutenant. If what he was telling her were the truth and not a betrayal.

He’d become an information magnet since achieving the small raise in pay. Suspicion aside, he had never failed to find whatever they needed, no matter the mission they were on.

“Reliable,” he said softly. “But I’d prefer to keep this between us for the moment. No sense in disappointing the others while they’re dreaming of vacations,” he snorted.

Diane forced a grin, though she had to admit, the others were anticipating that vacation if Jonas himself hadn’t learned anything.

Would a man determined to betray her be so eager to escape her presence?

“Let me know when you leave,” she told him quietly. “Do you need backup?”

“I shouldn’t,” he answered. “But I’ll let you know once I check a few things out.”

That was odd for Thor. He rarely went without backup, and never had she seen that dark glimmer of suspicion that she saw in his eyes now. Despite the excuses he was giving, there were other reasons he wasn’t informing the others of the meeting he was setting up. Looking at each man, she couldn’t imagine any of them betraying her, though she knew, to the soles of her feet, she knew someone had betrayed her in Syria. She also knew she was being watched in the past months. That suspicion, an itch at the back of her neck, wouldn’t go away.

Moving through the exit, Diane paused, her gaze moving up and down the crowded D.C. street as a frown began to pull at her brow.

Jonas was never late, and neither were his Enforcers or drivers.

“Car’s not here,” Thor muttered, his confusion and his concern evident in his voice as well.

“Traffic jam maybe?” Malcolm queried as he too began to tense.

Diane felt it then, that peculiar itch at the back of her neck, that early warning that wasn’t so early.

Riding fast on its heels was the feeling of having a target painted on her head. Right between her eyes. A finger on the trigger and that finger wasn’t going to wait.

Live by the sword, die by the sword, she’d once read. When the hunter became experienced enough, they became immediately aware of becoming the hunted. Her uncle had told her that just weeks before he was killed in that warehouse explosion.

She wasn’t just being watched. She wasn’t just being tracked. That finger was literally tightening on the trigger.

“Move!” She screamed the order even as her gaze was whipping around, ascertaining the innocents in the line of fire as she moved to push one older lady to the safety of the hotel doors.

The sound of the bullet whipping past her head was a whine of danger and death just before it exploded into the cement and stone wall of the building behind her.

Screams began to ricochet around the sidewalk as another burst of gunfire sounded and it began raining bullets. Cries of shock and fear began to fill the busy early-morning crowd that rushed to work or errands. They were now rushing to save their lives as another barrage of automatic gunfire began to spatter through the busy streets.

Car horns were sounding, the crash of metal against metal and the screams of hysteria echoed through her head as she scrambled to pull a terrified teenager from the side of the street and into the hotel entrance.

Diane was scrambling for the entrance, holding the door open as she pushed the kid in, then watched Malcolm and Thor suddenly grab Aaron under the arm as a bloom of red began to soak the fabric of his slacks over his thigh.

“Move! Move!” Diane yelled to the bystanders, ducking as the large window at her side exploded and glass began to rain around her.

The bastard was shooting at her.

She was only distantly aware of the shouts, sirens and more gunfire.

It was a crowded street no more than blocks away from the White House. The immediate response that would converge on the area would be thick with secret service, ATF, FBI and any other law enforcement alphabet agency currently based in the city.

But the bullets were still whining as Diane yelled at Thor to move his ass while she dragged a young professional through the door and hysteria threatened to overwhelm the young woman.

As she turned, searching for her men to ensure they had made it to safety, she was suddenly grabbed around the waist, hauled against a hard chest and tossed through the entrance as shards of cement exploded around her. The side of the building where her head had been looked like an iron fist had slammed inside it. Then she was flying through the air and thumping against a hard chest on the lobby floor.

“Thor!” She was aware of Lawe jumping to his feet in a graceful feline move she highly envied as she rushed for the wounded Aaron. “How is he?”

“I’ll fucking live,” Aaron snarled, his rough face tight with pain and fury.

He was stretched out on the floor as Brick fashioned a quick tourniquet around his thigh with a belt.

Cries, shouted orders and Breeds were filling the area. Cold, hard-eyed, armed and swarming through the hotel and onto the street before disappearing entirely as Diane turned, her gaze going to Lawe in narrow-eyed knowledge.

“They were shooting at me.” And she wasn’t armed. “Dammit, I told Jonas I needed that public weapons permit.”

Anger suddenly suffused her as she stared around at the wounded, weeping and shocked victims that had found safety inside the hotel.

“What the fuck is going on? What did you find, Diane?” Lawe was suddenly in her face, his canines flashing, and for once, his icy blue eyes weren’t icy.

They were burning. An inner blue flame flickered inside his eyes burning hot and furious as he gripped her shoulders and gave her a tight little shake.

“The hell if I know,” she yelled back furiously as she jerked away from him and scrambled across the floor to her men. “Where was my driver? If Jonas had his shit together and my driver had been out there, then I wouldn’t have been fucking shot at and my men wouldn’t be wounded.”

Aaron wasn’t the only one who had been hit. Brick and Malcolm were both bleeding, though Aaron’s wounds appeared to be the worst.

All three had taken rounds in their legs. Aaron’s hit was in the thigh, Brick’s appeared to be a flesh wound, while Malcolm was tying off a tourniquet on his lower leg. None of the injuries were life threatening, but they were definitely enough to ground them for a good while.

Lawe grimaced, his expression savage as he once again stared around the room while the sound of sirens outside grew shrill. “The hell if I know, but I promise you I will find out.”

The sound of gunfire had ceased, as though with the chance of picking her off with one of the bullets gone, the shooter had found better things to do than play with his gun.

“How bad is it?” she questioned Thor as she moved closer to check out her men.

“Bad enough.” Disgust filled the behemoth’s voice. “All three of them are out of commission. They’ll be getting that vacation whether they want it or not.”

It also ensured if any of the three were attempting to follow, or betray her further, that their efforts would be delayed.

Aaron, Brick and Malcolm didn’t look happy either. They were glaring at her, lips pressed tightly together, their gazes shuttered. “What the fuck is going on, boss?” Aaron growled.

Diane gave a quick shake of her head. “I don’t know, Aaron, but I intend to find out.”

“You won’t be doing anything,” Lawe snapped behind her as his fingers suddenly gripped her arm, pulling her to a stop. “The five of you are out of this. The rest of you go home.” Then he turned to Thor. “Take Diane to Sanctuary. A heli-jet will be here within the hour to transport you there, and then the pilot will fly you wherever you need to go.”

Diane froze.

Her gaze met Thor’s as Lawe began shouting orders to the Breeds still in the lobby. Most of those orders centered around protecting her.

Like hell.

She was aware of her men watching her. Brick, Aaron, Thor and Malcolm remained silent as she stared back at them.

She could feel the sudden distrust, see a glimmer of it in their gazes.

She wasn’t going to be protected. It had taken far too many years to prove to her men that she could lead them. That she could protect them.

Unfortunately, for the moment, she needed them away from her. Until she found out what was going on, it was for the best.

Lawe stalked away as though his orders were all that mattered.

“Boss?” Thor questioned her softly. “What do we do?”

“Sounds to me like we’re heading home.” Brick snorted as he shot her an accusing glare.

In that second, so easily, Lawe had damaged the very foundation of her life.

“Boss?” Thor asked again, his pale blue eyes narrowed.

“We haven’t found anything yet, Thor,” she stated, keeping her voice low. “If we don’t have more information before morning, then it sounds like vacation time.”

Her smile was tight. She felt icy inside. Frozen.

She knew where she was going. She didn’t have to turn over what she knew; it could wait. If she found who or what she was looking for, then she could call Jonas in. Perhaps by then she would know which of her men was the traitor. Not that there was a chance of gaining any help from them now. Lawe was another story.

How dare he think he could rule her life so easily? That he could make such decisions and force her to follow them.

“Since when do we obey Breeds?” Malcolm bit out furiously as Thor’s nostrils flared and Malcolm cursed under his breath, while Aaron laid back, his eyes closing in disgust.

She was very aware of their perception of her, but even more, Diane was aware of her perception of herself, and her determination to never be weak again. Let them believe Lawe could weaken her, for the moment anyway. Until she found out what she was dealing with and what the hell was going on, then it was for the best perhaps.

“Looks like we’re all taking a vacation,” she stated. “There’s nothing we can do with the three of you wounded anyway.” She nodded to the three stretched out on the floor.

“He’s weakened you,” Aaron muttered without opening his eyes. “Hell of a way to be taken out of the game.”

“Is that what you really think?” she asked, her chin lifting as she deliberately kept her voice soft, her expression clear.

“What else could I think?” he grunted, refusing to even give her the consideration of opening his eyes.

“You could think, ‘I hope you have a nice vacation, boss. See you when we’re all healed,’” she told him softly before informing him, “You’ll get your pay when we’re back to work.”

Once, long, long ago, she had been weak. She hadn’t been able to protect herself or Rachel, and she hadn’t been strong when it had mattered the most.

She had sworn it wouldn’t happen again.

Never again would she allow herself to be so weak and so dependent on someone else that if they failed her, then it could destroy her.

Hell, maybe she should have just let Thor carry her bags last night after all. Then she could have gotten used to that edge of suspicion in their gazes.

She couldn’t deny the charge though. The sudden opportunity the wounds provided her couldn’t be wasted. That didn’t mean she had to take Aaron’s insults.

His eyes opened slowly. “If you were a man . . .”

“What?” She actually laughed at him. “I kicked your ass the last time, Aaron. You’re stronger, but I’m smaller, and your balls are damned vulnerable. Remember that one.”

His nostrils flared with instinctive anger before he glared at her with silent resentment.

“Anyone else?” She met each man’s gaze steadily.

“That’s all well and good, Di,” Brick said softly. “You control the money and you can put us on the ground, we get that. But there are other ways to be weak, and right now, those Breeds are making you weak.”

Diane shrugged. “Your opinion. Now, I hope you all enjoy your vacation. I intend to enjoy mine.”

“We will.” Malcolm nodded slowly, the amused quirk at his lips only slightly mocking. “We might be available when you call us back.”

“Your choice,” Diane assured him, as though she didn’t doubt for a moment they would all jump at her command.

Turning her gaze to Thor she lifted her brow inquisitively. “You have anything to say?”

Thor nodded slowly as he watched her, his eyes narrowed, the icy blue intent, thoughtful. What that nod meant, she wasn’t certain and she wasn’t about to ask.

“I’ll be waiting, boss,” he finally stated. “I suck at vacations, just like the rest of these morons do.” He nodded at the other men. “But today ain’t my stupid day, so I’ll just say we’ll miss you.”

She almost grinned. Damn smart-ass. At least they didn’t suspect her of having plans of her own. After the meeting with Jonas, she would head out and see if Honor Roberts was where she suspected her to be, without anyone being the wiser.

If Lawe wanted to convince himself that she was on her way to Sanctuary, then hell, whatever helped him sleep at night, right?

But she wasn’t going to Sanctuary.

She was going hunting.

And she would go alone. Her uncle had trained her how to protect herself first. How to track alone, hunt alone, how to slip out of sight and do what had to be done if something happened and his men weren’t with her.

Working alone wasn’t her preferred course, but the only man she trusted at this point was Lawe. And Lawe would never allow the hunt for which she was preparing.

Malcolm drew her attention. “I wonder how long your Breed has been watching your back. I wondered how we were all so damned lucky these past six months. A few of those jobs you took us on should have been suicide missions. His Breeds were protecting us though, weren’t they?”

“Not to my knowledge at the time, Malcolm, but if he and his men want to save us from a few bullets, then that suits me fine.”

Malcolm gave a mocking snort. “Didn’t save us this time, did he? Makes me wonder if maybe he didn’t arrange it. Keeps you out of the line of fire, doesn’t it?”

It did.

“Only for the moment,” she told him shortly. “That I promise you, only for the moment.”