Rule Breaker

EPILOGUE

“She was the child we did not believe we would be blessed with.” Orrin Martinez sat with his two sons and their families. Their wives and children.

President of the Navajo Nation, Ray Running Wolf Martinez; his wife, Maria; and daughter, Claire. Orrin’s younger son and legal advisor, the widowed Terran Martinez, and his two daughters, Isabelle and Chelsea. Behind Isabelle stood her mate, the Coyote Breed negotiator, Malachi Morgan. Sitting just behind Orrin and to his side was the Navajo Nation Headquarters head of security, Audi Johnson. Behind him stood his wife, Jane, and their daughter, Liza Johnson, as well as Liza’s Wolf Breed mate, Stygian Black.

The entire family of Orrin Martinez as well as his lawyer faced two Lion Breeds and their mates, who had been summoned by the head of the chiefs of the Six Tribes to answer the question of their declaration of kinship to the Martinez family.

Rule sure hoped Isabelle had a little thankfulness in her heart after the secret he’d revealed for her. To save her father from a rash decision that would have destroyed her, based on another’s lies, Rule had admitted to Terran that Malachi had never been in the labs where his baby sister, Morningstar Martinez, had been held captive for so many years before she was murdered beneath the cruel scalpel of the scientists that worked there.

Rule and Lawe had been in those labs, and they knew Malachi hadn’t been there. They were the children of Morningstar, and whoever had come in contact with her during those years, they had known of it.

Rule and Lawe sat in front of the wide desk of the head of the chiefs of the Six Tribes, facing the family Orrin claimed. They were part of this family by blood, separated from them by intent.

As Orrin was one of the chiefs of the Six Tribes, his position on the Nation Council was assured. His opinion was highly respected. Orrin was well known for his honesty, his integrity. His son Ray had gained the vote as president of the Nation mainly because of his father’s backing. But Orrin was also known just as well for his missing daughter and his determined search for her until twelve years past, when the Breeds had officially notified him of her death.

“Her mother, Aliva,” Orrin continued, “died of grief two months after we received news that she had died.” He shook his head, his voice thickening. “I, Ray, and especially Terran, we followed every lead, searched every place on this Earth we could search and we could not find our precious Star. The grief was more than her mother could bear.”

It was all Rule could do not to sneer. The only thing that held the curl of disgust from his lips was confusion. Confusion because Orrin knew he had received all the information he had needed to find his precious Star, and he had ignored it. Yet the old man sat across from him, his face weathered and lined, his black eyes filled with tears that were blinked back quickly, and his scent one of honesty.

For his mate, for his Gypsy, he waited and listened. Feeling her hand on his shoulder, her silent support at his side, he did as he’d promised and listened with an open mind.

Orrin Martinez was one of the few whose scent was untainted by more deceit than truth, and Rule was damned if he knew how the old man did it.

He listened silently, his gaze drawn to the DNA results Orrin had demanded and now held in his gnarled hand. That hand shook, trembling so hard the chief finally laid it as well as the papers on the desk. Propping his elbow on the arm of the chair he sat in, Orrin bent his arm and covered his lips with his hand to hide the slight, supposedly uncontrollable tremor there.

He was lying, Rule knew he was lying, but he was damned if he could smell the scent of it. That shouldn’t be possible.

He and Lawe both had risked not just their lives, but the lives of their younger brother and sister to send the proof of Morningstar’s existence, her location and the fate she would soon face were she not rescued quickly.

And no one had come for her.

She and her Coyote mate, Elder, had died in an agony worse than any Rule could envision.

He stared at Orrin now, the long, thick gray braids that fell over the front of his shoulders, a traditional style that the Navajo males rarely used now. The appearance of tradition would have been comforting if Rule didn’t know the man he was facing. If he wasn’t well aware how the Martinez family had turned their backs on his and Lawe’s mother while pretending to search so desperately for her.

It sickened him.

“This report states there were four children.” Orrin’s head lifted then, his gaze moving to Rule rather than Lawe, the older twin by several minutes.

Rule was slouched back in his chair, one booted foot propped on his knee, his black uniform pants still smeared with dirt along one side. Unlike Lawe, who had changed into fresh jeans and a white shirt that his mate, Diane, had waiting for him when they came in from yet another search in the desert for the Coyote teams amassing there.

Diane stood with Lawe, as Gypsy stood with Rule. The women stood between them, silent, listening, a steady strength for their mates.

Lawe sighed as though weary when Rule refused to answer the question concerning that younger brother and sister.

“There were four children.” Lawe finally spoke. “Before fertilization, the DNA of the sperm and ova used were mutated with the Lion DNA. Using the same patriarchal samples, years later, the scientists mutated those with Cheetah and Coyote DNA. The Coyote DNA was that of the one called Elder, the head of their security forces who died with her. Our brother and sister were taken from the labs and moved only days after Morningstar’s and Elder’s deaths.”

“Why were they moved?” Orrin asked, his gaze going once again in Rule’s direction.

Not once did anyone ask why a Coyote was murdered with Morningstar. And Rule had no intention of answering any of the questions directed at him.

“They wouldn’t stop crying.” Lawe finally answered that one as well.

Rule remembered far too well those hours and days after Morningstar’s screams had been silenced. The quiet, inconsolable sobs of the two youths refused to be silenced.

“What do you mean? They wouldn’t stop crying?” Orrin tuned to Lawe, obviously tiring of his game and his attempt to force Rule to answer his questions.

At that point, Rule was damned sick of the charade, though. He leaned forward, dropping his foot to the floor, his gaze locked on the old man.

“Rule,” Lawe muttered warningly.

Beside him, Gypsy tensed, her fingers caressing his shoulder where they lay.

“Have you watched the documentaries?” he asked the chief coolly.

“Rule.” Malachi, the Coyote Breed that Terran Martinez’s daughter Isabelle had mated, moved as though to step forward, or to protest.

Orrin’s hand jerked up in a gesture of silence.

“Let him speak,” he bit out, anger heating his expression as Rule’s gaze locked with his.

“When we cried, when we showed emotion we were taught from birth not to show, then at that age, there were three options.” He held up three fingers as Lawe growled his name once more. “They use that Breed as ‘prey’ in a hunt for the older Breeds, usually Breeds at their home lab. Those raised with them, to test the older littermates’ savagery and lack of loyalty to their own.” He lowered his little finger, leaving his ring and middle fingers raised.

“Dammit, Rule,” Lawe bit out, his warning strengthened with an underlying growl.

Rule smiled, cold, hard, and continued. “They can transfer the Breed to another lab for research, or if they’re considered worth rehabilitating, then they’re retrained.” His ring finger went down, leaving only the insult of the middle finger lifted in unconcern. “Or they’re just taken out and shot like a rabid animal of no worth.” He took his good old easy time lowering his middle finger.

For a moment, a surge of agony filled the room. Male and female pain alike whipped around them. But in that second of uncontrollable emotion, there was also the briefest sense of smug satisfaction.

Someone here knew the truth, knew Morningstar’s fate and the horror of how she had died.

“You are a disrespectful little bastard,” Orrin snapped out painfully.

“And you’re a coldhearted son of a bitch to sit here before your family and pretend you knew nothing of your daughter’s fate or the children she left behind when you were the one who ignored the plea we sent to you!” He stabbed his finger in the old man’s direction. “To ignore the knowledge that she would die were she not rescued.” Rule came furiously to his feet with a snarl as his mate’s concern reached out to him, wrapped around him. “You received the file, the maps, the pictures, all of it, nearly two weeks before the scientists dissected the living bodies of both your daughter and the Breed who gave his life to try to save her. And yes, old man,” he sneered. “Her youngest cried. Sobs that would not be silenced, and for that, they were in all likelihood killed as well.”

He was furious, enraged. Slapping his hands down on the desk as he leaned forward, nearly staggering beneath the shock rippling through the room, he snarled into Orrin’s pale face. “Now, what else would you like to fucking know?”

“Rule, this isn’t helping,” Gypsy whispered, and he could smell her tears, feel them along the link he shared with her. A pain she felt for his suffering, for the fears that still haunted him.

Moving to the opposite side, Gypsy pressed her forehead against his back, letting him know she was there and the strength of her love open to him if he needed it.

“Rule, enough!” Lawe surged to his feet, his hand landing firmly on Rule’s shoulder, but rather than pulling him back, his fingers gripped it for a long second in shared pain, and in warning. “Enough, brother.” He leaned closer. “Sense what I sense.”

Rule pulled back. His senses merged with his brother’s, something that rarely happened now that they both had their mates.

The shock was horrifying. It rolled and built, pulled from the hearts and souls of those who had loved Morningstar.

All but one, and that one wasn’t Orrin.

Rule focused on each, finally following Lawe’s gaze to the son standing still and silent behind his father, between the wife and daughter there to support him.

“How horrible,” Ray whispered, as though they expected a reaction from him.

A Coyote growl rumbled through the room, followed by a Wolf’s, as both Malachi and Stygian began sensing what Rule and Lawe had already tracked.

“You stink of a lie, President Martinez.” Malachi turned slowly to face the other man with icy suspicion.

“No . . .” Orrin came quickly to his feet, disbelief surging from him as he stared at his son.

“We have proof the package was sent, and proof that it was signed for,” Lawe stated, facing Ray as the president stared back at him with all the cunning deceit of the most depraved mind. “By Orrin Martinez.”

“No . . .” Orrin whispered, shaking with such strength that he seemed to shudder. “I saw no package. I saw no proof that my precious daughter lived.”

Ray’s eyes flicked between the four Breeds facing him. “I signed for nothing . . .”

“Do not lie.” Malachi, closest to him, caught the scent first. “Already I smell the stink of your deception, Ray, and it goes deep. What betrayal have you given the father you owe for your life and for your freedoms?”

“There were pictures of her children,” Lawe stated softly. “Especially of the girl. The baby. She was only five. She was the one Morningstar called her precious Little Bit, because she was so tiny.”

Orrin appeared to stumble, pain resonating from him as he stared back at Ray in shock.

“What have you done, Ray?” he whispered. “She was your sister. She loved you as she loved no other.”

“There’s proof someone of the Nation was supplying the Genetics Council with the names of Navajo girls whose family line showed a strong psychic connection,” Lawe stated softly.

Rule could feel a part of his soul bleeding. He had treated this old man with disgust and disrespect, despite the truth that resonated even in his scent, because of the deception of the son.

“Morningstar cried for her brother.” Rule couldn’t hold back the rumble of the animal’s growl. “From the time we were babes she would cry for her Ray,” he sneered. “She would vow that her brother, so strong and loving, was coming for her. And all that time, it was the brother she so loved who destroyed her.”

Ray stood, staring back at them all with icy disdain, refusing to speak.

“One of our own was selling our girls to the evil of those labs?” Orrin whispered painfully. “No. Ray. Tell them you did not do this horrible thing. Tell them.”

“You know I wouldn’t, Father.” Sincerity filled his expression despite the coolness in his voice. “Star was my sister. I loved her . . .”

No Breed refuted the words, but the stench of the lie had all four losing control of the dangerous, predatory growls that rumbled in their chests.

“He’s lying.” It was Terran who spoke up, tears escaping his eyes as his daughters moved to surround him. “I came to him with the proof of my suspicions that someone within Window Rock was working with the Genetics Council since before Star was taken. He took the file I’d been putting together for decades and later swore it had been stolen. As though I’m so stupid as to not keep a backup.” Fists clenched and rage poured from him. “You bastard. You bastard. We could have saved her. We could have brought her home.”

Malachi and Stygian both jumped for Terran as he moved to grab his brother, murder firing in his eyes as the scent of vengeance began to pour from him. Like a sweet-smelling acid, it burned at the senses and the knowledge that given the chance, Terran would indeed kill him.

Even Ray’s daughter, Claire, and wife, Maria, had stepped back from him, staring at him in horror.

Sneering at his brother, Ray straightened his jacket with a jerk. “I’ll be damned if I have to stand here and listen to this.” Turning to his wife and daughter, he snapped, “We’re leaving.”

Gripping his wife’s arm and pulling her behind him, he was halfway to the door before he realized Claire hadn’t followed.

Pausing, he glared back at his daughter to spit furiously, “Now, Claire.”

Terran reached out for the girl who stood alone, tears whispering down her pale cheeks, her arms wrapped around her chest as though to hold back her pain.

Pulling her to him, between his own daughters and the protection of the Breed who stood with them, he sheltered her as Rule and Lawe had heard he always protected her.

“She’s always come to me to escape the cruelty you pretended was so misunderstood,” he stated, his voice heavy with pain. “She’ll stay with me now.”

Terran held her as she buried her face against his chest, her thin shoulders shaking with her silent sobs.

“And she’ll regret it.” A retaliatory sneer curled Ray’s lips before he turned to Audi, Jane, Liza and the Breed who now stood with them. “They’ll both regret it,” he promised, his voice soft.

“Don’t do it, Ray.” Audi glared back at him. “Don’t compound the horror of what you’ve already done.”

As Audi spoke, Maria Martinez jerked from her husband’s grip, quickly avoiding his attempt to grab her again as she stumbled against the back of Rule’s chair.

Before either Rule or Lawe could steady her, Diane was there. Placing herself between the larger, broader Ray Martinez and his petite wife, icy contempt filling her eyes, she stared back at the Navajo president with a jeering smile.

“Touch her,” Diane whispered, “and I’ll take immense satisfaction in castrating you.”

“You’ll all regret it,” Ray promised, his gaze slicing to Audi. “You especially.”

With the final warning, he turned and stalked from the chief’s office.

“Dog, keep an eye on President Martinez.” Lawe activated the clip at his ear as the door slammed behind the other man. “If he leaves the building, I want to know where he goes. Lock jamming on all communication devices he attempts to use and inform me immediately if he attempts to contact any Council sources.”

“Affirmative.” Dog’s reply came back immediately.

Breathing out heavily, Rule turned back to the Martinez family, his gaze going to the man who could have been his grandfather. If he had been born a man rather than a Breed.

Orrin sat down slowly, his gaze meeting Rule’s, those endless dark eyes filled with nearly forty years of misery.

“You came to this office when first you arrived and spoke to my son, to request the help of the Navajo Nation in finding a rogue,” Orrin whispered, shaking his head. “In your eyes I saw a carefully veiled contempt, and I agreed with Ray’s suggestion that nothing good could come of helping you.”

“He convinced us all, Grandfather,” Audi spoke then, the title Orrin had given him use of when he was but a boy slipping from him as he stared at the old man in regret.

There was love here now, Rule thought. The tendrils of deceit and malice that he hadn’t been able to pinpoint finally identified. Now, only love and aching regret remained.

Orrin nodded slowly, still holding Rule’s gaze.

“I have ached for the day that if the children of my daughter existed, they would come to her family. That they would reach out and allow us to extend to them all the love we felt for our precious Star, and more besides.” A tear slipped past his cheek. “I would pray that the day would come that you would extend me your hand, grandson, and grant me the chance to show you the truth of my words.”

Rule glanced at Lawe, knowing his brother had hoped this would be the greeting they received when they first arrived.

Lawe nodded slowly. Rule turned to him and slowly extended his hand. “I look forward to knowing you, sir.”

To that, Orrin smiled sadly. “Ah, my daughter’s son, I look forward to knowing my grandson.” He turned to Lawe then, took his hand and whispered, “Both my grandsons, as well as the women they so love.”

Orrin turned to his family then. “Liza, could you, Chelsea, Claire and Isabelle step into the outer office with your and Claire’s mothers?” Audi Johnson asked heavily as he slowly moved his arm from where he’d held his wife to his side.

“Come on, girls,” Jane Johnson ordered, holding her arms out to Claire as Terran released her. “Let’s let them talk.”

“About us?” Isabelle rolled her eyes, but kissed her father’s damp cheek and did as Audi asked.

When the room had cleared of all but the Martinez men, Audi Johnson, Lawe’s mate, and the four Breeds, Orrin clasped his hands on the desk and breathed out shakily.

“Audi, you must tell them all that you know,” he ordered, lifting his gaze to meet his grandson’s. “Then I will tell them of a ritual that was enacted on two young women whose souls were already passing, and lay to sleep the souls of two young women who would have died otherwise. Perhaps then, they will know how to protect these children who are so much a part of our hearts, no matter their names, no matter from where they came. They are ours now, and we will not give them up, our children, especially our daughters, without a fight.”