Stygian's Honor

CHAPTER 9

She had to be dreaming.

Liza pinched the tender flesh on the inside of her arm.

Fuck, that hurt.

Looking down at the mark, she glared at the reddened area of skin the small wound had left.

Okay, so a pinch could actually hurt in a dream. She would go with that.

What else could prove it was a dream?

When she was younger, she had tricks she had used, just to assure herself that she was actually alive and not just a figment of someone’s imagination.

Or one of her parents’ nightmares.

She’d picked at her cuticles until they were raw.

That had always assured her she was actually a real person.

She looked at her nails.

Damn, her cuticles looked good too. Nice and healthy in ways they hadn’t been when she was a teenager.

What else could she do?

There wasn’t a lot left. After all, there came a point when she had to admit she was either asleep or awake. Surely she would reach that point soon.

If it hurt, it was supposed to be real.

Right?

She could kiss Stygian, some demonic imp suggested silently. Just kiss him hard and deep and see if that mating stuff was true.

If it was, then that would assure her she was alive.

“Liza?” Looking up from where she sat on the comfortable couch in the suite of the hotel the Breeds were pretty much staking claim to, she stared at the cup of coffee Rachel Broen-Wyatt, Jonas Wyatt’s wife, was setting on the table in front of her. “Here’s some coffee. It will help with the shock.”

Shock? They thought she was in shock?

Well, God bless their hearts.

Actually, they had no idea how little things had ever shocked her.

It wasn’t the shock, it was that sense that this simply could not be happening. She couldn’t be a target.

She was an anonymous person.

She was a nobody.

There was no reason in the world that the infamous Genetics Council should want to target her. Not even for information on the underground network she was a part of. Until the day before, the Breeds hadn’t been certain she was part of it.

Liza accepted the coffee. It was creamy and sweet. Strangely enough, just the way she liked it.

“Are you okay?” Rachel knelt beside her, dark eyes filled with abject concern.

“Fine.” She swallowed tightly before lifting the cup to sip at the hot, sweet liquid again.

It was warming her insides.

A little, anyway.

But it wasn’t easing that sense of unreality, and she really wasn’t in the mood to pinch herself again.

Besides, the director’s wife was watching, and that probably wouldn’t look rational in her eyes.

“I’m very sorry about this, Liza,” Rachel said softly, her gaze heavy with guilt. “I hate the danger you’re in now.”

“What do you have to do with it?” It made very little sense that this woman would feel guilt for something she hadn’t orchestrated.

Her husband perhaps, but not her.

“Amber is my child,” Rachel whispered. “She’s the reason we’re so desperate to find Gideon.”

Ah yes, the baby.

Liza breathed out roughly. “I just wish I could have helped. If it would ease whatever your baby is going through, Mrs. Wyatt, then maybe this would make a little more sense to me.”

“Please, call me Rachel.” Easing to the couch, Rachel turned to face her.

Liza sipped at the coffee again, hoping to buy herself some time and a bit more of her equilibrium before she was forced to actually converse and make sense.

“Unfortunately, no one but the four involved in the experiments that created the drug Amber was given can help.” Rachel grimaced as a young Breed female set another cup of coffee on the table for the director’s wife.

The petite Breed was smaller than most Breed females. She was dainty, almost fragile, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and soft green eyes.

“Thank you, Erin.” Rachel’s smile was tired as she looked up at the younger woman. “Is Amber still sleeping?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Erin answered with a nod. “And the fever seems to have eased a bit.”

Rachel’s lashes lowered in relief for long moments before they opened once again.

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” Erin told her before turning and heading to the other end of the room.

“Everyone is here to find more than just Gideon then?” Because that wasn’t the story the president of the Navajo Nation had been given.

Rachel shook her head. “Gideon is the only one of the group the Breeds have been able to track down. The other boy and two girls have simply vanished.” Her voice thickened. “The two girls are truly the ones we need information on, but if Gideon is all we can find, then perhaps he can remember something from his time with the girls and the treatments they were given. Anything, Liza, that he could remember is better than the nothing we have now.” Emotion filled her voice, and tears gathered in her eyes.

Liza reached out and took the coffee cup and saucer that was shaking dangerously in Rachel’s hands and placed it on the table.

Rachel’s distress wasn’t forced. Her love and her concern for her daughter went to her soul. For a moment, as strange as it seemed, Liza swore she could sense that pain, the desperation and fear the other woman was feeling.

Her heart was really breaking for the mother forced to watch her daughter suffer.

How horrible it must be, a nightmare beyond compare to have to watch, day by day, as your child grew sicker, weaker, more pale—

“I’m sorry.” Rachel’s smile was shaky as she quickly wiped her eyes and looked around the room. “Thank God Jonas isn’t in the room yet. We try to be strong for each other—”

She broke off as the door to the suite opened and Jonas entered, along with Stygian, Malachi, Isabelle, Isabelle’s father, Terran, and the president of the Nation, Ray Martinez. There was Lawe Justice and his new wife, Diane Broen-Justice. Behind them trailed Rule Breaker—hell of a name—and a small, dark-haired woman. Liza actually recognized her.

Elyiana Morrey was the Feline Breeds’ genetic and physiological specialist and their main medical expert. Behind her was another woman, her long black hair hanging in thin braids nearly to her waist, her café au lait skin tone only a shade lighter than Stygian’s.

It took a moment, but she’d seen her picture in an article on the Wolf Breed community of Haven. Dr. Nikki Armani, the Wolf Breed genetic and medical expert.

It was a Breed convention, and she had no idea how the hell she had managed a personal invitation.

“Ms. Johnson.” Jonas stepped forward. “I’ve been in contact with your father. He’s in New York on Navajo business.”

Liza let her eyes close briefly.

Was she suddenly ten again?

They were calling her parents?

Opening her eyes, she shot Stygian a fulminating look before glaring at Jonas.

“Why would you call my parents? I wasn’t harmed.”

“It’s a basic courtesy,” he answered coolly. “We’ve extended our offer to provide the protection needed to ensure that today’s and tonight’s occurrences don’t become a repeat. If the offer is acceptable to you, then he’s in agreement with the Bureau of Breed Affairs providing security until his return in a week’s time.”

Liza leaned back against the couch, crossed her arms over her breasts and turned her glare on Stygian once again.

She wasn’t having fun yet.

He was rather cute, though, as he grimaced before turning a much harsher glare back to Jonas.

But Jonas being who he was, the bastard he could be, simply ignored it.

And wasn’t it interesting that her father had agreed to the Breeds’ offer to protect her? He knew the cover story in place if anyone came in too close. Her status as an undercover agent for the Navajo Law Enforcement Agency gave her an excuse for many of the assignments she took with the Navajo Underground.

Hell, her father was the reason she was part of the underground—her and Claire both. He had actually convinced Claire’s father, Ray, that it would be in Claire’s best interests to know how to protect herself should an attempt be made to abduct her because of her father’s position.

“And who will my guard dog be?” she asked curiously. “Am I allowed to approve or veto your choice?”

“Well, the Bureau does provide such services for quite a high fee,” he stated coolly. “And this is pro bono, of sorts.”

“So the answer is no.” She gave a brief, amazed shake of her head before glancing at his mate.

Rachel would be of no help, Liza realized.

She was staring at him as though he was the sun, the moon and the stars all rolled into one too-arrogant male. As far as she was concerned, her husband could do no wrong. It was evident in her expression and in her adoring gaze that convincing her that her husband was being an asshole would be a waste of time.

“The answer is no,” Jonas agreed. “But I don’t think you’ll disagree with the options we’ve come up with.”

“And all without me having to worry my pretty little head over the discussion involving it.” Oh, yeah, this was really going over well with her.

It was going over so well that she was nearly shaking with the force of the anger it was sparking inside her.

Damn them! Everyone one of them.

She didn’t need the Breeds to take over her life and protect her.

She was a part of Cullen’s group for a reason.

She knew she should have excused herself to the ladies’ room before Jonas and his asshole enforcers arrived. All she needed was the earbud—

“I think I should inform you that from now on, whenever you’re in this room, the communications link you have with your friends will not be active. No other discussions involving Breed business will be overheard by Cullen Maverick, Reever and Steven Jacobs, or Klah Hunter,” Jonas informed her with his characteristic iciness.

She jerked her gaze back to Stygian. “Shall I assume you’re involved with this?”

A slow, confused frown creased his dark brow. “I assumed it would meet with your approval.”

Okay, this was simply enough. Moving instantly to her feet, she didn’t bother to hide the anger or her opinion of each and every one of them as well as their so-called plans.

“Arrogant asses,” she snapped furiously, her gaze encompassing the entire room full of men and the few women who had trailed in with them. “You had to make this decision behind closed doors without so much as my say-so? You called my father without so much as allowing me, his daughter, the victim in all this, the chance to even speak to him?”

She didn’t give them an opportunity to answer. She didn’t even want to hear it.

“I am so out of here.” Stepping around the small coffee table, she moved purposefully for the door.

“Liza,” Stygian growled as she quickly stalked across the room. “You can’t just walk out of here.”

Oh yeah?

“Just watch me, big boy.” Her lip curled in disgust. “I’ll show you just how quickly I can and will just walk right out of here.”

She was walking right the hell out of there and he could kiss her ass as she made her way right the hell out of the hotel along with it.

“Liza, come on, hear them out.” Isabelle, traitor that she was, lent her voice to the protest.

She couldn’t believe—

As a matter of fact—

She turned on her heel and glared at her friend. “I simply cannot believe, Isabelle, that you would be party to such a meeting and not demand they include me. What the hell was in your mind?” She slid a sneer toward the Breed at her side. “Or is that a question I even have to ask? Does he have you on such a short fucking leash with that mating bullshit that even friendship no longer matters?”

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream and rage at the betrayal that was eating her alive.

It burned clear to her soul, making her sick to her stomach with the evidence that nothing or no one mattered to her friend but that damned Breed who held her hostage with his kiss.

“I warned them you were going to be pissed.” Isabelle sighed, her gaze concerned if not exactly sympathetic to Liza and Claire’s dilemma.

“Damn it, Isabelle, you know better than this,” she cried out, her fists clenching at her side as the need to strike out began to override every other impulse slamming through her system.

Isabelle, above all others, knew exactly what Liza was involved in.

“Liza, I know you’re upset, but honestly, this was all done very hastily by conference call as we made our way here. There was no secret meeting and no deliberate decision made without you.” Isabelle’s dark eyes glittered with pain as Malachi moved to her, his arm sliding around her as though he knew, as though he felt, her pain. As though whatever there was to the matings she’d read about, the Breed’s first impulse was still the welfare of his lover.

It was really too damned bad Stygian couldn’t feel the same.

“Well, that’s exactly how it sounds to me,” she snapped, furious with herself for even considering that she could want such support from such a corrupt concept. “It doesn’t matter if it was done in the lobby, on the elevator or in a fucking boardroom, it was still done and it was still done without my consent.” She turned on Stygian, hurting, aching to such a depth that she felt as though a ragged gash had been sliced into her soul. “As though I were a damned child without the ability to garner help if I need it.”

“The help you had was a bit ineffective,” Stygian snarled, the pinpoints of blue that filled his gaze glittering with rage. “They were unarmed and completely unaware of the danger until Claire cried out for help. The two of you would have been abducted or dead by the time they arrived.”

“Still not your choice.” Stabbing a shaking finger in Jonas’s direction, she barely restrained the need to scream out her rage.

“And as I said, the decision is the same that would have been made had we waited until we arrived in this room to discuss it,” Jonas growled. “Something along the lines of Stygian snarling rather heatedly that his team and no one else would be providing your protection. Should you disagree with the decision, then you have my leave to take it up with him.”

“And you were on the phone with my father while all this was going on?” She waved her arm toward Jonas furiously. “That’s a lot of talking, demanding and snarling in the space of the time it took to meet in the lobby, get on the elevator and make your way to this to room, Mr. Wyatt.” Glaring back at Isabelle and her family, Liza’s lips curled in disgust. “And you still managed to call in the president, his attorney, and the only member of Claire’s family that you knew would side with her. The cousin that your Breed managed to hypnotize.”

“Oh, Liza.” Isabelle sighed painfully. “It wasn’t like that.”

“The call was made to your father seconds after Claire’s father was informed of the attack and her arrival at the hospital,” Stygian stated, his tone grating. “If you would throttle your independence for the amount of time it would take to make explanations, perhaps you could save that adrenaline you have tearing you apart for when you might actually need it.”

She was shaking, trembling with the knowledge that her life was slowly being taken over and there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.

“And maybe you might stop trying to take my life over entirely. You and your friends,” she demanded angrily as she flicked a look to Jonas and the other Alphas. “You’re making me feel like a shrew, Stygian, when I know damned good and well you could have consulted me before making any such decision about my life, my protection or who would be protecting me.”

That was exactly what she felt like. A shrew who had no idea how to be grateful for the fact that they were trying to protect her.

It felt more like they were attempting to use her. That somehow, they had brought that danger to her.

She knew, knew in her soul that it was time to step back and let Cullen and his team, as well as the Breeds take over the search for whoever or whatever was stalking her. She wasn’t experienced enough, not yet, to handle the danger surrounding her and Claire both.

But God, they could have at least allowed her to have a say in her own life.

“And perhaps that’s true, Ms. Johnson,” Jonas spoke, his tone calm, smooth and pleasant as he just patronized the hell right out of her. “We were merely attempting to expedite an order to lay in as many safeguards as possible for not just yourself, but also your friends Claire and Chelsea.”

As though she needed to be reminded that her friends were in danger as well. Hadn’t she been there with them? Hadn’t she seen Claire, unconscious, the bodies of those Coyotes—

She had to swallow tightly.

“Is Claire okay? Was she hurt?” she whispered. Her friend wasn’t a fighter, but she had learned how to handle a weapon like it was no one’s business.

Her training had paid off, but it had paid off with a price, and Liza wasn’t certain of the price Claire had finally paid.

Jonas nodded. “She did. Both shots were kill shots and both were meant to do damage. She knew what she was doing.”

“That’s the interesting part, Liza.” Terran stepped forward, his bronze face lined with not just the grief of the past, but also the concern that shimmered in his gaze. “My niece took out two highly trained killer Coyotes with a weapon that’s been outlawed for more than a decade. I’d like to know where she acquired it, considering the fact that neither you, nor Claire, should even have the contacts to acquire such dangerous weapons.”

Her lips parted before she quickly shut them.

Oh boy. Claire had used the Glock. And hadn’t she just forgotten they weren’t still fucking ten and answerable to guardians who had no idea who they were any longer?

Liza breathed in deeply, fighting to force back a fury that Terran really didn’t deserve. He was sincerely concerned and truly unaware of the life his niece had chosen to live. “I’d prefer she have an illegal Glock to kill them with than the alternative,” she snapped defensively, knowing there was no way in hell to cover the fact that Claire had had that weapon.

“We’re not debating that, Liza,” Stygian growled.

“No, we’re debating whether or not you’re going to be allowed to step in and take over my life,” she retorted combatively. “That seems to be the matter up for debate.” She flicked a look at Terran as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her suspiciously.

He and Joe Martinez were her father’s best friends.

She also suspected that Terran had once been commander of a team of underground agents as well. He would suspect what she was doing, who she was working with, but he could never question it unless he went to her father. And if he did, then her father would never lie to him. But, knowing the truth could perhaps do more damage, considering Terran had lost his sister more than thirty years before to the Genetics Council.

No doubt, for what it was worth, Stygian and his Breed buddies were going to run right over her objections. Because if she didn’t follow their plan, her parents would return from New York. Her father’s eyes would be filled with concern. Her mother would stare at her with fear and worry.

Neither were looks that she wanted to see. Just because her father knew she was part of the Breed Underground Network didn’t mean he wouldn’t have nightmares where her safety was concerned. There was a reason she had been placed with a support team rather than rescue or relocation.

“What are you going to do, Liza?” Stygian asked, thinking fast and hard, trying to keep her from actually doing or saying something she would regret.

Trying to keep her safe.

The Breeds around them inhaled again, obviously detecting the scent that Stygian had only caught the slightest hint of moments before.

A scent he hadn’t expected, not without a kiss. A touch. Something more than the contact they’d had to this point.

She glared at them before turning to Stygian, furious. “Tell them to stop that.”

Stygian’s jaw bunched as his lashes lowered over his blue-black eyes and he stared back at her. “I can’t make them stop.”

“Why?” Deliberately, her lips tight, she asked the one question he truly didn’t want to answer.

Hell.

His scent was already on her.

Shit! How did that happen?

Mating heat. It was impossible to hide from a Breed’s senses. Every Breed who came in contact with her would scent it and be warned by it.

Even he hadn’t detected it before he entered the room, but as Alpha Wolfe Gunnar, the Wolf Breed Alpha who had silently been awaiting their arrival, glanced between the two of them, his nostrils flaring, Stygian knew exactly what they were scenting.

“I hate Breeds!” she snarled.

God, just what he needed. The fury burning inside her was like throwing coal on a fire. It made the heat hotter, made it burn brighter, longer. And added to that now, was a resentment he couldn’t really blame her for.

Wolfe turned to Stygian, a quirk tugging at his lips.

“I have a feeling she doesn’t really hate Breeds,” he murmured in amusement.

And did his mate take to that comment easily?

“I used to like you.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, cocked her hip and glared at the Alpha. “Where’s your wife, anyway? And why the hell did she let you out alone?”

Wolfe chuckled at the insult and gave his head a little shake.

“Liza?” Stygian drew her attention back to him before she could actually offend his Alpha. Which was exactly what she was considering. “What are you going to do once you walk out of here? Many of the Council’s Coyotes are indistinguishable from humans except by other Breeds. You’ll never know who they are. You’ll never know when they’ll strike. When they take you, they’ll use you to drain your father dry. He’ll lie. He’ll cheat. He’ll steal. He’ll do whatever it takes—give them whatever information they ask for, whatever he might think they want—to make them stop hurting you. And they will hurt you.”

Seeing the terror that flashed in her eyes was almost more than he could bear.

Dragging in a hard, deep breath, his gaze locked with hers, forcing himself to see and to feel the pain clenching at her.

She was his mate. From this moment on, his acceptance of who and what she was to him would determine the love that would continue to grow between them.

He could damage her fragile female pride now, and watch the embers of love he had glimpsed heating between them wither to nothing; or he could slowly build those flames into the inferno that would see them through the decades to come. But now this moment, and how he handled it, would either stoke the embers or damage the fire forever.

Near immortality could be hell, he imagined, tied to a woman whose hatred stemmed from her mate’s refusal to respect and to honor her.

“Why?” There were no tears, only stoicism and a sense of reluctant resignation. “Tell me why they want me.”

She knew she couldn’t fight the protection, but as far as that was concerned, she didn’t have to accept it gracefully.

Or gratefully.

“It’s not you they want,” he promised her, his gaze sliding to Terran before returning to his mate’s. “As we told you, they want Honor Roberts, Fawn Corrigan and the two Bengal Breeds who were part of one of the most immoral experiments known to have been conducted in the history of Breed genetics. Like us, they followed Gideon, one of those Bengals. Here to Window Rock. They won’t leave until they’ve captured them, or we have them under Breed protection, as there is no evidence to be found that they’re dead.” He glanced at Terran Martinez.

The Navajo’s legal representative working to block the Breeds’ request to access the Navajo Genetic Database never outright lied to the Breeds, but the hint of deception was always there.

“This has nothing to do with me.” Liza clenched her teeth over the words, the anger and hurt clearly sensed by all the Breeds there.

Especially by Stygian.

“You, Claire and Chelsea now have everything to do with this, Liza.” Terran breathed out roughly, accepting the truth himself when before, he had fought it. “I’m sorry. If there was something I could do to stop this—”

She gave a hard shake of her head, obviously refusing to argue with Terran for some reason. “I understand.”

But did she?

Stygian could see her face, her eyes.

Understanding wasn’t there.

But neither was resentment. At least, not toward Terran.

“If we had the information we needed, if we had the genetic profiles in the database that matched Gideon’s, then we could find him. Find him, and we’ll find the others,” Stygian informed her. “Find them all, Liza, and this all goes away.”

The scent of Terran’s anger was unmistakable, just as the scent of Liza’s rejection of the solution swirled through the room. The energy tightened his chest.

She agreed with Terran’s decision.

Son of a bitch. She was agreeing to give in, to end this fight for her independence rather than see the Navajo open that Genetic Database to the Breeds. What the hell did those records hold that caused the Navajo to be so frightened?

He hadn’t met a single member of the Navajo Council or citizen of Window Rock who didn’t feel the same way. Every member in a position to aid the Breeds’ cause would die before giving up the information. Even for a cause as worthy as Amber’s.

“We have a message out to every member who has donated to the Genetic Database,” Terran stated roughly, “requesting any member willing to release their genetic information come forward. None have. Until the Breed in question makes that request, the database cannot be opened to match the profile.”

And only the requesting Breed could receive the information.

They could have made the idea work if they had known of a single Breed born of Gideon’s dam. Unfortunately, to their knowledge, those littermates had all been destroyed long ago.

The suspicion that Gideon would take refuge with blood relations was high. He would know the Breeds would encounter a roadblock in tracking him through bloodlines, just as Gideon would know Jonas would use every means possible to do just that.

Liza’s lips parted in an irate, feminine grimace that was uniquely charming and yet filled with such emotional distress that it was all Stygian could do to hold back a snarl of fury.

Now he knew exactly why Breeds were so damned irritable when their mates were.

“I want to go home.” She inhaled wearily, and suddenly, Stygian could feel the exhaustion pulling at her.

Weariness and uncertainty and a sense of defeat.

Because she knew she couldn’t go home. She knew the place she had called home would be denied to her until Honor, Fawn, Judd and Gideon were together.

The weariness and uncertainty he could understand. He could even allow it. The defeat was another thing entirely.

“Not tonight. The damage to the house hasn’t been repaired yet, and we’re still trying to track down a few leads concerning the two Breeds Claire killed. A room has been reserved here for you. You can return to the house when it’s safe again,” Stygian assured her, his fists clenching at his sides with the need to go to her.

That need was a hunger that raged and tore at his guts, yet he could sense the knowledge that doing so right now would do more harm than good. Liza didn’t want his strength at the moment, she needed her own. And she would never be certain she had done all she could to escape the obstacles fate had placed in her path at the moment.

“He’s right, Liza.” Terran turned to her as Stygian watched her lips part and the gleam of battle enter her gaze. “Let us get the windows repaired and get some additional security to the house. Then we’ll rethink the matter.”

Once again, she bowed down to Terran’s request when she was ready and eager to fight Stygian’s.

His back teeth clenched to the point that he was amazed his teeth didn’t shatter with the pressure.

“What will it really matter, Terran?” Liza asked then, the bitter disillusionment in her gaze beginning to bother Stygian in ways he couldn’t explain, even to himself. “The only difference between the Genetics Council and the Breeds is the manner in which they manage to extract the information from their victims.” She turned back to Jonas then. “It doesn’t matter how they hurt me, how they torture me or how much of it they make my father watch. There’s no way he can access that information, Mr. Wyatt. There’s no way I can access it.”

“Any information can be accessed, Ms. Johnson.” It was Rachel who stepped forward.

Somber. Her face pale from lack of sleep, the dark circles beneath her eyes attesting to her worry and concern for her daughter, she spoke with the heavy knowledge of certainty.

Liza shook her head. “Such information is too important to leave to chance, Rachel. The Navajo Genetic Database is the only one of its kind in the world. The only one that will allow the majority of the Breeds to find their place in the world. Just as their mothers, their grandmothers, their aunts and their cousins were taken from their home, their lands, their worlds.” The scent of her tears reached Stygian, as subtle as the first breeze of spring, as heated as summer’s kiss. “It’s the only way some families who lost relatives will ever learn what happened to them. Do you think the safeguards we have in place aren’t the best that could have been imagined or provided?”

Rachel clasped her hands in front of her as she hunched her shoulders defensively. An unconscious gesture toward the possibility that the plans her mate had put in place to find the answers to save her daughter could fail.

“It’s information,” Rachel said then. “Any time information is gathered, no matter where or by whom, when another knows of it, suspects it, then it’s in danger of discovery. The Navajo Genetic Database has been secure only because none knew of it outside a very small group and because those supplying their genetic information had a reason to remain quiet. But now, others who have no such loyalty to what you’ve gathered know of it, Liza. And unless it’s disbanded and all information destroyed, then it is at risk.”

It was at risk.

Liza stared back at the other woman and saw the tears shimmering in her eyes, the agony that resonated in her soul as she faced her daughter’s possible fate.

Liza would give anything to help her save that perfect, sweet little girl.

The database wasn’t going to save her, though.

Finding Gideon wouldn’t save Amber.

And Honor Roberts and Fawn Corrigan did not exist within the database.

They did not exist within the Nation.

“My father wouldn’t betray what he’s pledged himself to, even for me.” She turned to Stygian, that knowledge wrapping around in a certainty that raked across her already scarred soul. “He can’t betray what he himself has no access to. If you don’t believe me, ask Terran.”

She turned to Isabelle’s father with an arched brow.

Staring back at her for a long, silent moment, he finally nodded with a sharp motion of his head.

“That’s true enough,” he agreed—then he had to spoil it. “But I agree with the Breeds, Liza. The Genetics Council would believe otherwise and they wouldn’t flinch at the thought of torture to get the answers they believe could be attained.”

She felt betrayed. Betrayed and angry.

She needed to get home. If she were stuck here in this hotel, how was she supposed to do her job?

“Not to worry, Ms. Johnson, I’m certain your friends will find a way to stop by and say hello.” Jonas’s smile was tight and hard. “At least you left your comm-link home tonight.”

“If I had known the lovely meeting we would have, I would have made certain to pick it up before I left.”

“Cullen has no business pulling you into this,” Terran bit out. “I’m sure your father will have something to say about it.”

Lips tightening, she turned to Jonas. “And just what fairy tales have you been carrying to Terran, Mr. Wyatt?”

“I don’t deal in fairy tales, Ms. Johnson,” he assured her coolly. “I deal in facts and nothing more.” There wasn’t an ounce of apology in his gaze or in his voice.

Which left her only one alternative.

“Father has known about it since it began, Terran.” She sighed wearily. “He’s always stood behind my decision to do what I felt was needed. He won’t back down from that decision.”

God, she was tired.

Too damned tired to put up with this crap much longer.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her cotton pants, she slowly turned back to Stygian, forcing herself to meet his gaze. “I’m tired. Either take me home or show me my room. I think I’ve had enough for the day.”

“I can do that,” he agreed.

There was something about that agreement that just didn’t sit right with her.

Something that just smacked of a man with an agenda.

The arousal that burned between them was another warning.

She’d warned him not to mate her without her knowledge.

He hadn’t kissed her. He hadn’t taken her.

But still, she swore she could smell the subtle intensity of the hunger burning between them.

She shouldn’t be able to smell any such thing. But the delicate, barely there scent of a man and a woman merging still seemed to pique her sense of smell.

And that knowledge terrified her in ways she didn’t want to face at the moment.

“Where is my room then?” she asked.

His hand lifted, rubbing at the back of his neck before his expression turned pure, predatory male.

“With me,” he answered.

The breath stilled in her chest, her heart constricting, the shame and rage burning inside her like a trail of lava seeping from her soul.

His room.

She so wasn’t surprised.

“I don’t think so.” If she sounded belligerent, it might be because she was.

“You’re going to hurt my feelings if you keep rejecting me, Liza.” His lashes lowered, the heat in the glitter of his gaze seared her senses.

“You would have to have feelings first,” she snapped, certain that wasn’t at this moment.

No man, or Breed, with any clue to what emotions were, could possibly stand and do what he had done to her tonight.

Steal her independence.

Take everything she was and not even allow her the chance to fight for it.

“So where exactly would that be?” It was all she could do to force the word past her lips.

She wasn’t going to bother to argue or to refuse to stay. They weren’t going to let her out of there tonight, and she was smart enough to know it.

“Come on.” He held his hand out to her.

Liza couldn’t force herself to take it. She couldn’t allow herself to touch him.

Because she wanted him.

She wanted him in spite of the fact that she felt manipulated as hell. She wanted him in spite of the knowledge that she was being used.

Used to catch a killer.

Used to save a child.

But she was being used all the same.

Slowly, his hand lowered.

“This way.” Turning, he led her from Jonas’s suite as she ignored Isabelle’s whisper of her name.

Once the door closed behind them, he moved up the hall, glancing back only once to see if she followed.

While she was breaking apart inside and didn’t know why.

While her own screams echoed inside her head and she didn’t know where those screams came from, or why.

While she ached for him as she had never ached for anything in her life.

Liza followed.

“Are you returning?”

The harsh tone pierced at Audi Johnson’s heart.

He sat in the back of the SUV as it raced for the airport so torn inside that his soul felt ragged and raw.

He held the phone with one hand, his wife’s hand with the other and stared out the window at the city lights while the driver battled traffic, pedestrians and time.

“I’m heading for the airport now,” he answered.

“Claire is being guarded,” he was told. “Liza is under the protection of the Breeds.”

Audi’s eyes closed briefly before he opened them once again.

“Have the Six come together yet?” he asked.

“Only two have received the vision to return,” he was told. “That time is nearing, but it isn’t here yet.”

He had to fight back his tears and fight back the knowledge that when it happened, he would lose more than he had ever imagined possible.

He had never believed he would be unable to save his child from this. That once again, he would lose her. God knew he had fought, he had manipulated and used every string he could pull to save her from this day, always believing it was possible. Always believing he could keep her from ever hurting again.

Beside him, his wife fought back a sob that escaped despite the battle.

“We’ll be there as soon as possible,” he told the other man.

“We’ll be awaiting you.”

The call disconnected.

The feel of Jane’s shoulders trembling had him releasing her hand to wrap his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered tearfully, her fingers clenching the light jacket he wore as her tears dampened the cloth. “Please, Audi, don’t let me lose her again. Please.”

He had to fight back his own tears, his sense of failure.

“We have no choice.” The sound of his own voice, rough with the tears trapped inside him, scraped against his senses. “We agreed, Jane. For their lives, we agreed. And she’s our daughter. She needs us.”

Ah, God, it hurt.

His guts were shredding, his chest felt as though jagged nails were tearing across it with demonic satisfaction.

“She’s my baby,” Jane sobbed painfully, her pain another jagged tear into her heart. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, Audi. She wasn’t supposed to be taken from us again.”

“No one will take her. I’ll keep her safe,” he swore, yet he knew what he was facing. It was an empty promise at best, and Jane knew it.

“Why do they want her?” Her fists clenched against his chest as she trembled with her anger. “Why, Audi? Why would they come for her? Liza is nothing to them. There’s no way she can be of use to them. There’s no way anyone could know—” The last was barely a breath of sound.

Audi knew why, just as he knew the danger his daughter faced because of it.

“I’ll fix it, Jane,” he promised, closing his eyes and praying that he wasn’t lying to his wife for the second time in their marriage.

Just as he prayed this daughter didn’t pay for his failure to protect her as the first had. God help him, Liza was the child he and Jane had always dreamed of. She was a fighter, intelligent and adept, compassionate and loving. There wasn’t a manipulative bone in her body or a single death wish to torture her family.

She had given their lives purpose at a time when he had wondered if they would drift forever in a haze of guilt that never seemed to find relief.

Yet, from the moment she had opened her eyes and called him “Dad,” he had felt a healing begin. Just as Jane had.

She was a true mother to Liza.

Their daughter had learned to cook, to clean, to laugh and to tease. She had talked him into teaching her how to skate, how to rock climb, and finally, she had allowed him to teach her how to drive.

If he lost her—

God help them both if they lost her.