by Lora Leigh
She hoped it hurt him.
She hoped his balls actually ached with the need to come.
“We’re definitely going to discuss this later,” he warned her as he took her arm and led her through the wide glass doors of Council headquarters.
“Sure we will,” she muttered. “I’m going home tonight. I refuse to be locked in a tiny hotel room with you ever again.”
“We’ll have a suite tonight,” he assured her. “That room was only temporary.”
“Not happening.” Jerking her arm from his grip, she turned and flashed her badge at the security guard on duty before Stygian did the same.
“The hell it isn’t. Haven’t you seen yet that your home isn’t secure, Liza?”
“I’ve seen that unless I lock myself in a box I’ll never be safe again.” She didn’t like the surge of fear that raced through her at the knowledge.
“That’s not necessarily true,” he assured her as he led her to the bank of elevators.
“Isn’t it?” Suddenly, a sense of weariness overshadowed the anger. “Come on, Stygian, you know it’s true. Once the Genetics Council targets a victim, they disappear, one way or the other. That, or they’ve ended up married to a Breed and placed behind the walls of Sanctuary or Haven. They don’t have little brick houses with white picket fences—”
“Not true.” The elevator opened, empty for a change, and they stepped inside. “There are several couples living in residential America. Adapting isn’t always necessary, but possible.”
She shot him a knowing look.
“Tarek and Lyra Jordan don’t count.” She sighed. “That residential street has become yet another Breed-designated area with more than three-quarters of the homes taken by Breed couples where one partner or the other is Breed.”
His lips tightened.
“Tell me I can go home when all this is over and just adapt a little bit and be safe.”
His jaw flexed as his expression darkened.
Liza didn’t say more. There was nothing more to say, she had made her point. Her life would never be the same and they both knew it.
They arrived on the third and last floor of the Nation’s headquarters with a soft ping of the elevator.
A second later, the doors slid open silently.
And Liza nearly punched the button to return to the lobby.
“Liza.” Her mother jumped from the settee in the receiving lounge, her expressive blue eyes filled with fear and concern as Stygian led Liza from the elevator.
Almost as though he were aware of her inclination to run.
Jane Johnson rushed to her, her arms wrapping around her as Liza returned the embrace, her eyes closing for one thankful moment as her mother’s warmth and love surrounded her.
“We came home as soon as possible.” Her mother held her shoulders as she leaned back, her blue eyes filled with tears as she cupped Liza’s cheek, her soft hand trembling as she tucked the side of Liza’s hair back over her shoulder.
It was a habit her mother had. She would tuck Liza’s hair back as though to be certain she could see her entire face. “Are you okay, baby? Daddy and I were terrified when Jonas Wyatt called last night.”
“Mom, I’m fine.” She hadn’t realized how hurt she had been when Jonas Wyatt had told her that her parents had agreed to stay in New York if the Breeds provided her protection. A part of her had known her parents would come running no matter their trust in her, simply because they loved her. The idea that they weren’t coming home had caused a hidden ache to begin building inside her, one she had refused to acknowledge until now.
She hadn’t known until this moment how much she had needed her parents.
“That Jonas Wyatt just kept talking right over your father as though he wasn’t even speaking,” Jane told her irritably, a frown creasing her delicate face. “So he just shut up and let the director talk and agreed to the protection, and whatever else that arrogant man was promising. Then he hung up the phone and we left. Of course, you know I was packing as they spoke.” She laughed in delight as she then slid her arm around her daughter’s waist and pulled Liza to her affectionately. “As though we’d ever stay away at such a time.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Liza stopped and let her mother hug her again, feeling a security she’d always depended so heavily on.
Her parents were always there, and their love had always been assured. Liza realized that the past days’ uncertainties had been worse simply because she had known her parents weren’t close enough to touch, to run to.
“And here’s your father.” Jane released her, stopping long enough to give her a loving kiss on her cheek before Liza saw her father moving from Ray Martinez’s office.
Tall and broad, at fifty-six her father was still a handsome, powerful man.
A full head of dark blond hair was cut to a short, almost military length, while the hard, chiseled features of his face softened at the sight of his daughter.
Liza didn’t wait.
She moved quickly across the room to find herself enveloped in her father’s strong arms as he bent to receive her.
“Daddy,” she whispered, uncertain of what to say as his arms tightened around her.
“I have you, baby.” She felt his kiss at her brow, the warmth of his love and concern.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger,” she whispered against his chest. “I’m sorry I couldn’t figure this out before they called you.”
She’d never wanted the life she chose to worry her parents, and had prayed she would have the training she needed if she ever came against a situation that would endanger her life.
“Sweetheart,” he chastised her gently as he cupped the back of her head and held her to his heart. “It wouldn’t matter if you were my daughter, or my son or how strong you were, I’d come running the minute I knew you were in trouble. Don’t you know that?”
She had always known it, and that knowledge had always given her a confidence that had helped her make more than one decision in her life.
“You and Momma didn’t have to come back so soon,” she said, knowing that the quickly hidden feeling of loss she had felt when Jonas told her they weren’t coming would have only built inside her.
“Didn’t I?” He pulled back to stare down at her with one of those soft, approving smiles that always filled her with such a sense of accomplishment. “Sweetheart, a battalion of Coyotes couldn’t have kept me away.” He kissed her brow again before looking over her shoulder. “I understand I have this young man to thank for your safety?”
“Well, he’s not so young,” she muttered, flicking a glare over her shoulder. At the last second, her father saw the softening of that glare though, the warmth in her gaze and the way her gaze lingered on the Breed that had taken a protective stance just inside the door of the anteroom.
She was in love.
That realization pricked at his father’s heart even as it filled him with pride but also a fury born of fear. Because he couldn’t allow it. This man would destroy his daughter’s life.
He had read the report on this Breed.
Stygian Black was a powerful enforcer, but he was also one who stood by his word and his own code. He was a man—a Breed—that Audi knew would follow his daughter into any battle she chose and always watch her back, protect her too-delicate body, and guard her too-compassionate heart.
He would also, Audi knew, instigate the revelation of secrets Audi had prayed would never need to be revealed.
And he hated the Breed for that. Hated him for the fact that he knew Stygian Black would take his daughter away from him. By time the Breeds finished in Window Rock, the child he loved, the child he would die for, would no longer even exist. And that knowledge made him wish he was the man he had been thirty years before. The man who could kill and not suffer a conscience born of the soul he had found when he’d met his Jane.
“To me, he’s young.” Her father chuckled as he pulled her close to his side and extended his hand to Stygian. “Mr. Bla
ck? It’s good to finally meet you,” he lied convincingly enough that his daughter relaxed in relief.
“You as well, sir.” Stygian stepped forward and accepted her father’s handshake, his expression as respectful as his demeanor. “I hope you were able to complete your business?”
“Everything’s fine.” Her father nodded.
Liza knew her father, though, and she knew he would be spending the better part of his time on the phone now that he was back, completing that business.
“You can go back now, Dad.” She looked up at him, knowing she would be okay now.
He had come for her, he was here to protect her, to support her. Knowing he had made that sacrifice, as much as she regretted it, still soothed the little girl who would always need her father’s guidance and offer of protection.
“The hell I can.” He all but glared down at her as her mother gave her a firm look. “I think I’ll be right here, Liza. There’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere while this is going on. Ray filled me in on the attacks, and it sounds to me as though it’s a little more dangerous than Mr. Wyatt let on.” His glare shifted uncontrollably to Stygian and deepened. “He ignored my calls this morning by the way. It took forever to get ahold of him.”
Stygian rubbed uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “Mr. Wyatt does have a tendency to do that,” he agreed. “I’ll contact his wife and make certain he gets in touch.”
“No need.” Her father grunted. “Mr. Wyatt and I have spoken. I’ve had to listen to his preaching about making the situation more dangerous by returning. I swear, Jane already had us packed and ready to leave before that man finished telling me all reasons why I wasn’t needed here, and I just had to listen to it again. Last night, I just agreed with him, got off the phone and headed straight for the airport. It’s more than obvious he has some growing to do as a father if he ever imagined I wouldn’t be here as quickly as possible.”
Stygian watched Audi and Jane Johnson with their daughter, but he paid more attention to Liza. To the scent of her relief and the easing of that tightly held fear inside her.
She had needed them here, he realized.
She had known she was safe, known Stygian would never allow her to be harmed, but her father had always been her protector, and she needed him as well. Stygian realized then he should never have agreed with Jonas’s decision to assure the father it was fine to conclude his business before returning.
“I’d like to discuss the security you’re using to ensure her protection,” Mr. Johnson informed him as Liza moved from his hold and headed to her office doorway.
Stygian could sense the other man’s tightly leashed anger, and his dislike. He was fooling no one but Liza, and possibly his wife. That knowledge had Stygian steeling himself for what he knew was to come later.
They followed her to the small sitting area across from her as she moved to her desk, her mother following close behind and chatting quietly about the trip to New York.
“I’d also like to know what you’ve learned about the assassin that shot at her.” Audi’s rage was so heavy now Stygian swore it would begin glowing red around him any moment. The fact that he was restraining it, hiding it so well from his daughter, was a testament to the control he’d honed as a younger man in Black Ops.
“Yes, sir.” Stygian nodded, remaining polite, respectful.
An assassin with the Bureau of Breed Affairs, Mathias Slaughter, had once told him that should his mate’s father ever decide he wasn’t good enough for his daughter, Mathias would still treat the man with the utmost respect and consideration simply because his mate would always love that man as her father. The pain she would feel if her mate and father should ever dislike each other would be too great, the assassin had stated. The Wolf inside him had sensed the little girl that every woman was, who needed to always have the illusion that her father could do no wrong. It was a security, a safety net that even a Breed couldn’t provide.
Stygian hadn’t understood the reasoning at the time, but now, as he sensed Liza’s father’s disapproval of him, it made more sense. Never did he want his mate to hurt, to lose that innocent, vulnerable part of her inner self that her love for her father kept alive.
For just a second in the elevator he’d felt her reluctance to face her parents. That part of her had been terrified that her father would disapprove of her actions and her choices as an adult, and Stygian had sensed her need for that parental approval.
Now, it was as though part of that deepening pain she had felt was slowly easing away. The fear of her parents’ disapproval had eased away, leaving her stronger, more confident in herself. The arousal was still burning through her senses, but that sense of desertion had eased away.
She was close to her parents, and they were dedicated to her.
Taking his mate from her home and those she loved would be as Malachi had said of Isabelle: like stealing a part of her soul from her body.
“Mr. Black. The president and I would like to discuss with you the Breeds’ security measures for our daughters.” Audi Johnson turned to him then, his expression relaxed and friendly, though his eyes told another tale.
The Breeds’ report that Audi Johnson had been in Army Intelligence with Ray Martinez years before hadn’t been exaggerated.
Just what he needed, an outraged father. No doubt he had clearly sensed Stygian’s interest in his daughter.
“Yes, sir.” The inquisition.
Her father wasn’t in the least pleased over how this situation had been handled or the attacks on his daughter, and it was clear the Breeds were being held responsible for the attention she had suddenly garnered from the Genetics Council.
Stygian almost allowed his lips to quirk into a grin at the latent anger and air of determined antagonism he could suddenly feel coming from Liza’s father. Jonas had created a situation here, and as usual, one of his enforcers would be forced to face the flames he had lit.
“Daddy.” Soft, a daughter’s gentle tone with a hint of reprimand.
Audi turned to her. “I have to make certain they know what they’re doing, sweetheart. That’s my job.”
And she didn’t believe him for a moment.
“Trust me,” she said softly, but even Stygian heard the edge of steel in her tone.
Slowly, her father’s demeanor softened, but only slightly. Giving his daughter a quick nod, he glanced back at Stygian and indicated the Navajo president’s office.
With a last glance to Liza’s concerned expression, he gave her a reassuring smile before following her father.
With a brief knock on the president’s office door, Audi Johnson opened it before leading the way inside.
The tension inside the room was thick enough to cut with a knife, as the saying went.
Nation president Ray Running Wolf Martinez wasn’t alone. Sitting behind the heavy walnut desk, he was glaring at the man sitting before it.
Jonas Wyatt.
Standing to the side of the room, between two wide, tall windows, stood Rule Breaker and the Russian Breed known only as Cavalier. The Lion and Coyote Breeds didn’t always get along, unless they were working with Jonas. And they only worked together with Jonas when the situation was likely to become explosive.
Stygian nodded to the two high-level enforcers before staring back at Jonas with silent demand.
“Your boss lied to us,” Audi stated as he moved to stand behind Ray Martinez as he cast a short glare to Jonas. “He attempted to downplay the danger that our daughters are facing, as well as the reasons for it.”
“You should have expected that.” Stygian suspected that was exactly the reason they were all there now.
Jonas hadn’t expected Johnson’s return, Stygian knew. He’d clearly believed Liza’s father would bow to his wisdom and stay put in New York where he couldn’t interfere or begin calling in his own contacts or instigating his own investigation.
“I returned for a reason,” Audi grunted.
Jonas, as arrogant as always, sat u
ncharacteristically silent, his expression curious as he watched the two men behind the desk.
“This is not a situation I appreciate,” Audi Johnson stated, his gaze encompassing them all.
“Liza needed your return for the sake of her heart, not for her safety,” Stygian inserted, wondering if the other man intended to try to pull his daughter from Breed protection. And he could, Stygian feared. Liza trusted her parents above anyone and everyone, and it would be a stupid man that doubted that. “My life stands before her and any danger that could stalk her, Mr. Johnson.”
He wasn’t certain what to say or how to say it. He was a Breed trained to kill in silence, not to seduce or to trick. He wasn’t given to flowery statements nor was he given to reassuring anyone in any way. All he had was his strength and the truth. The pure determination to ensure his mate survived, no matter the obstacles.
Both Ray and Audi watched him carefully, though they said nothing.
In Liza’s father’s eyes, Stygian saw an easing, slight though it was, of the antagonism that had gleamed there.
“Very pretty,” Jonas murmured, though his words lacked his customary mockery, before he turned to the other two men. “Are we finished now, gentlemen?”
The president glared back at him. “Director Wyatt, this Nation is not your personal playground,” he stated with icy disdain. “And I resent your attitude that it is.”
Jonas rose slowly to his feet.
Tension increased tenfold as his expression tightened. Expressionless, his mercury gaze lacking emotion, he was the Breed he had been created to be: merciless, powerful, expertly engineered manipulator with a full agenda where the Navajo were concerned.
These two men had every right not only to distrust him, but also to be highly suspicious of any and all motives Jonas may present. He was a man fighting for more than his own life, or the survival of the Breeds now. And he had been dangerous enough with those agendas. Now, he was fighting for the life of his child, and that child was more precious to him than even his own soul.
Audi Johnson’s gaze narrowed as the Navajo president slowly followed suit and rose to his feet as well.
“My daughter lies with a fever high enough to kill another child.” His tone was so harsh, so grating, Johnson and Martinez flinched. Stygian stared back at him, surprised to see him laying his cards so clearly on the table. An unheard-of move for Jonas. “My child lies in pain and stares up at me, gentlemen, and asks, as only a two-year-old can, why it hurts so bad and why Daddy can’t fix this.” For a second unheard-of occurrence that Stygian knew would never be mentioned, Jonas’s gaze gleamed with the dampness of an emotion that went far beyond tears. “So don’t think for one moment that I won’t be here, taking over where I can, testing your weaknesses and betraying whoever I have to betray to save my child. Just as you would. So let us not misunderstand each other now, nor in the future. That child is more important to me than your entire fucking Nation, and your lack of cooperation is something I find not only reprehensible but immoral.”
Stygian felt his chest tighten. He’d seen it himself. Seen the pain and fear in the little girl’s eyes when the feverish episodes descended on her. And he knew, if that child were his and Liza’s—his by adoption or by blood would make no difference—he would do whatever it took, however he had to do it, to ensure that pain was never felt again.
“There’s nothing we can do.” Ray Martinez’s voice rang with the truth as a sudden angry conflict seemed to battle inside him. Understanding gleamed in his gaze, was emphasized by the clench of his fists and the frustration in his voice. “We’ve made the request of the people and none have come back with an agreement. I don’t have the access codes into the database, Director Wyatt. I cannot access it for you.”
“I want Honor Roberts and Fawn Corrigan.” The kid gloves were off as Jonas made the demand. “Fuck your database, Mr. President. I couldn’t care less about it, any more than Gideon Cross could. He’s here for the same thing, and by God, if I don’t find those girls first, then he may kill them once he does find them.” He leaned against the desk, palms flat, his expression savage. “Is that what you want?”
Both Johnson’s and Martinez’s gazes flashed with fear before they could hide it.
There was no way Jonas missed it. And Stygian had no doubt the director wasn’t certain exactly what that fear was. What Stygian did know was that, somehow, the pair was hiding something.
Liza’s father straightened his shoulders. “Twelve years ago,” he stated heavily, “there was a crash in the desert several nights before our daughters crashed into a high ravine in the desert. Two girls died in that first crash.”
Jonas’s growl was rife with violence. “There was no report of it.”
“A young Breed was traveling with them. He told us the girls were running from the Genetics Council and begged us not to report it. No one else knew of the crash or the deaths. We elected to follow the Breed’s request to give him time to run. When no one came looking for them, we decided to keep it out of the reports. Until you arrived, Director Wyatt, no one seemed to care.”
Stygian narrowed his gaze.
They weren’t lying. There was the scent of truth and overwhelming sadness, almost of grief, as though they had known the girls. But there was no reason to believe they were lying.
Jonas stared between the two men; both Rule and Cavalier watched them closely as well.
“What did you do with the bodies?” Jonas’s voice sounded strangled.
“They were incinerated in the desert, presumably to hide their existence there,” Audi stated. “The young Breed walked away that night and stated that even his own past was gone. We assumed the two girls were Breeds as well, and from the same lab as he.”
“And you are only now telling me this, why?” Jonas asked.
“Because you’re only now telling us the truth of why you’re here,” President Martinez stated implacably. “Had you been honest to begin with, Director Wyatt, perhaps you would have been told sooner.”
“I want to see the area where the bodies were burned,” Jonas informed them, his tone implying he wouldn’t be denied. “We’ll leave at first light in the morning.” He turned to Stygian. “I’ll need you there, but to ensure Ms. Johnson’s protection, perhaps you should bring her as well.”
“There’s no need for that,” Audi Johnson rejected the idea instantly. “I’ll take care of her while he’s gone.”
Jonas’s smile was cold. “You’ll be with us. And so will she.”
With that, he turned, motioned to the two Breeds with him and stalked from the room.
As the door closed rather loudly behind him, both men turned to Stygian, their gazes accusing, as though it were his fault they had been forced to face the director.
He gave a quick shake of his head. “I rarely agree with him, but I wouldn’t go head-to-head with him, so I rather doubt the two of you would have any luck with it.”
Only Jonas’s mate was known to have been able to outargue or outyell him when the situation warranted it.
“Then you should talk to him,” Audi announced. “Number one, there’s no reason for Liza to be in the desert