by Lora Leigh
mal refused to allow it.
The mark the man had made on her shoulder was just below the man’s mouth. Slowly, edging closer, the animal let its power seep into the man. Just a little bit. Just enough.
Seconds later, the animal rumbled its soft purr as the man licked at that wound. The taste of primal hunger filled the man’s mouth, the animal’s being. Its tongue felt thick, aching. He lapped at the woman’s shoulder, probed at the tiny wounds that sharp canines had made and spilled itself inside her body.
Not enough, just a bit. The taste of her was true warmth. The ice encasing the animal weakened, and as it licked at the soft flesh of her shoulder, it was as though that warmth sparked its strength.
Strength. It could be free now. It could struggle free of the bonds holding it, but if it did, if it moved too quickly, the man would fight.
The animal stepped back, aching, but stronger. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t strong enough for the battle the man might wage. And the man was ever diligent. Even now he was struggling past sleep, aware that something was different. That something moved inside him.
The animal hid in the cold darkness, the warmth of the woman so close. Its eyes closed. It forced itself to sleep. Because the woman was so close. And still, the animal was so weak . . . And danger was approaching.
Mercury came awake quickly. For a moment, he felt something he hadn’t felt inside himself for so many years that at first, he simply didn’t recognize it. That surge of feral adrenaline, rage tearing a hole through his mind as his claws flexed, but gentle, very gently because the soft flesh beneath them belonged to Ria.
And he didn’t dare move. Not yet.
The shadows were slipping past the door. There was no scent. Not the scent of human or the scent of Breed. There was the scent of clothing, of danger.
A silent snarl tugged at his lips; rage pumped through his system. He didn’t stop to think about feral displacement or the animal instincts suddenly rising to the fore.
He could smell the weapons they carried; that was enough for him. He could taste the danger surrounding the shadows stealing through the night.
He tracked them, his night vision no longer clouded as it usually was, but still it wasn’t perfect. Not quite as clear as it had been before the feral displacement. He couldn’t make out their faces, but he could track their bodies, watch them move.
They paused as they entered the room. The taller, broader form motioned the other to the side of the bed and indicated he would round it.
Not likely. If they separated, taking them down would be harder. Just another second.
He waited, muscles bunching, and then with a snarl of rage he was out of the bed.
He didn’t question the adrenaline rushing through him; the burst of power or the surge of strength that burned through his body.
They were there, in Ria’s room, too close to her. Too close to his woman. Too close to endangering her. And that was intolerable.
He slammed the first against the wall as Ria screamed. Beneath a well-placed powerful kick to his kidneys the second went down and rolled in pain.
The enemy should have been dead. Only a last-second thought saved him from it as the first shadow flew at Mercury.
It had to be a Breed. Nothing else could be so fucking strong.
Light flared in the room, momentarily blinding Mercury’s sight but not his senses.
His arm snaked out, throwing the Breed back, slamming into the dresser with enough force that wood cracked as he felt the second coming for his head.
His arm flashed out, his hand wrapping around a throat, the other knocking the weapon from the other’s hand. Slamming into the wall, his sight still fuzzy, adjusting from dark to light, Mercury snarled in the intruder’s face.
“You want to let him go, mate,” a hard voice informed him as the barrel of a gun pressed into his neck.
Mercury froze.
“Mercury.” The sound of Ria’s voice inflamed him.
Instinct had his hand flashing up, jerking the gun to the side as it discharged and his elbow slammed back at the same moment the voice penetrated his mind.
“Dane!” Ria screamed the name as Mercury’s vision cleared, his eyes locking on the pale blue gaze, the bulging eyes of Ryan DeSalvo, the bodyguard who traveled with Dane Vanderale.
Mercury loosened his grip only enough to keep from killing the other man before turning, his eyes falling to Dane himself as Ria bent over him, her gaze locked on Mercury in horror.
He loosened DeSalvo slowly, watching as the other man sort of slid down the wall, choking on the oxygen pouring back into his system.
Dane was also breathing.
Mercury snarled again as Ria lifted Dane’s head to her lap. He couldn’t stop himself. Naked, enraged, he gripped her arm, dragging her to the side of the bed as she fought him.
Her fists struck his chest, tears fell from her eyes.
“Do you want him to live?” he snarled into her face, the feral adrenaline still surging through his body as he gripped her shoulders and shook her just enough to force her to stare up at him. “Touch him, and he dies.” He didn’t recognize his own voice. “Do you understand me?”
“You’re crazy!” she screamed. “He wasn’t here to hurt me.”
“And I knew this how?” He meant only to yell, but it came out as a primal roar. “How did I know? No scent, Ria. No warning.” He shook her again. “How did I know?”
“I have to help him.” She was crying. Crying for another man and she had never shed tears for him.
He lowered his face until they were nose to nose.
“Touch him, and he dies.”
If she could have paled further, she did. Her face was stark white as he released her, growling. He was growling like a rabid animal. Releasing her slowly, his finger pointing at her as he stepped back for his clothes, warning her.
A movement from behind him had him turning and snarling furiously again. Half roar, half enraged growl. Ryan DeSalvo halted, his hand within touching distance of the weapon he had carried.
Behind Mercury, Ria’s sobs were wrenching, tearing him apart.
He kicked the gun beneath the bed, spared a glance for the still living Vanderale and jerked his pants from the floor.
As the zipper locked he jumped across the bed, ignoring Ria’s scream, and pressed her to the wall as the door slammed open and Breeds raced in.
Lawe and Rule, Jonas and Callan. They came to a jerking stop, staring in horrified shock at the tableau that met their eyes. Then swung to Mercury as he growled back at them warningly.
“Easy, Merc.” Jonas was breathing harshly as he jerked the silken robe Ria had worn earlier from the floor and tossed it to him. “Take care of your woman. We have this.”
Merc caught the robe, feeling his blood pounding in fury at the thought of anyone seeing Ria naked. Seeing her bend over Dane, naked, her long silken hair flowing around her, he had wanted to kill Dane. Rip his throat out. Had Dane been conscious, Mercury wondered if he wouldn’t have done just that.
He turned back to her, helping her into the robe as the tears continued to fall from her eyes.
“Keep crying for that bastard and I’m going to lose my mind,” he bit out, that hard, violent rasp of his voice causing her to flinch.
“You’ve already lost your mind.” She slapped his shoulder, hard. She could have punched him in the face and he knew it. The fact that she pulled back was a testament to her fear.
He tied her robe around her waist gently.
“Get dressed.” He was fighting the surge of adrenaline now. “Get enough clothes on that I don’t go crazy. Do it now.”
Ria stared up at him, swallowing tightly as the blue burned in his eyes now, mixing so deeply with the hammered gold that it was hard to tell the true color of his eyes. They glowed in the savage features of his face. Feral rage tightened every plane and angle and warned her that he hadn’t yet gotten control of the fury raging through him.
She slid a
round him, casting a look toward Dane despite Mercury’s growl of protest. He was alive. Bloody, but Callan and Jonas and the two Breeds surrounded him, as did Ryan. Or Rye, as Dane had a habit of calling him.
Rye was battered, bloodied, his shirt nearly torn from him and his throat bruised. Dane looked worse. Blood matted his tawny hair, smeared across his face, and his lips were bleeding, his nose.
She glanced back at Mercury. He had his back to her, his hands braced against the wall, ignoring all of it as he obviously fought to get hold of himself.
What the hell had happened?
She gathered her clothes together. Jeans and socks, a bulky sweater. Enough clothes that he wouldn’t lose his mind, he had warned her.
She slipped into the bathroom, uncertain what to think, what to feel. Uncertain who or what the animal was that her lover had turned into.
“Fuck.” Dane came around with a slow, slurred curse as Mercury dropped his hands from the wall and turned back to the room.
He stalked across the room, jerked a clean shirt from the dresser that had had its top cracked clean through, and tugged it on over his head.
It was tighter than normal. His jaw clenched. Feral displacement.
He pushed his fingers through his hair and fought it back. The need to kill was like a hunger burning inside him. He turned and focused on Ryan DeSalvo and Dane Vanderale, and his lips tugged into a primal, silent snarl.
“They slipped into the fucking room,” he bit out. “Nothing but shadow and they thought I wouldn’t attack?”
Ryan lifted his gaze from his boss, and Mercury saw the suspicion in his eyes. Just as he saw it in everyone else’s.
“He’s right.” Ryan shook his head and breathed out roughly. “Dane slipped in. He likes to play games with Ria. Hell, he thought it would be funny to scare the hell out of her. We didn’t know she had company until we were already in the room.”
“Li’l witch never has company.” Dane chose that moment to cough out the accusation. “She’s so damned grouchy no one can put up with her long enough to stay in a bed all night beside her.” He cracked his eyes opened and focused on Mercury. “Figures it’s you.”
Callan’s growl was intimidating, furious. “You slipped past her guards, broke into her cabin and thought for one damned minute that you could sneak up on the Breed sleeping with her?” He jerked to his feet, his long tawny hair unrestrained and flowing around his shoulders. “Son of a bitch. Do you know what? Vanderale can shove its fucking money because I’m sick of your games.” He jabbed his finger toward Dane. “Obviously genetics fucked up with you, Dane, because anyone of the first Leo would have better sense.”
“Hybrid,” Ryan snorted. “Just wait, Lyons, you’ll find out what fun raising a hybrid is.”
“He tries to slip up on me again and he’ll find out how a hybrid dies,” Mercury snapped, barely in control, but hanging on to it as Dane sat up slowly.
“Get him out of here.” Jonas rose to his feet, his gaze meeting Mercury’s, his silver eyes flat and hard. “Out to the living room and patch his ass up before I finish it off for him.”
He ran his hands over his short hair, and Mercury’s jaw bunched as they helped the other Breed to his feet.
“Dane.” That growl was still in his voice.
Dane turned his head painfully, wincing at the movement.
“Invade our bedroom again without warning, and I’ll kill you.”
“You’re not killing anyone. If you were, you would have done it tonight.” Ria stepped from the bathroom.
Mercury swung around, and something inside him stilled instantly.
She wasn’t pale or crying. Her eyes glittered with irritation, and a flush of anger mounted her cheeks. She was dressed in jeans and a bulky sweater and there was nothing to threaten whatever primal rage had built inside him at the thought of her nakedness being revealed in front of the others.
But she wasn’t happy with him either. He could hear it in her voice, seeing it in the look she shot him.
“Hell,” Dane muttered. “Rye, did we bring the knapsack?”
Rye grimaced. “It’s in the living room.”
“Don’t worry.” Dane was limping as they helped him from the room. “I have your fucking bribe.”
CHAPTER 13
Ria laid her bling on the cabinet. It was quite a nice haul: several nearly perfect diamonds, emeralds so brilliant they were nearly blinding and a tiger’s-eye stone that swirled with magic and majesty.
She slid the stones into a velvet bag, tied it off and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans, then flipped her sat phone closed and erased the speed dial set to go straight to Leo’s emergency number. Her threat to Dane. Had the bribe not pleased her, she would have called and tattled to hell and back.
She wasn’t mercenary. It wasn’t the worth of the stones or even the stones themselves. It was the fact that they seemed to keep Dane from involving her in games that were too messy to consider allowing Leo to catch them in. She was a sucker for the games herself, but she did have a bit of caution. Dane had none.
To say Mercury was upset over the payment was putting things mildly. There were still tiny, rumbling growls echoing in his throat. And those tiny sparks of blue hadn’t completely left his eyes.
Feral displacement was a phenomenon that Breeds couldn’t control, though, and he had all the signs of it, but it was firmly under control. Dane still had his heart in his chest, and Rye still had his head on his shoulders. Ria was contenting herself with that even though she suspected Dane might have lost more blood than was wise.
“Look at her, Rye.” His tone was amused despite the pain in it. “I’m surprised she didn’t pull her jeweler’s glass out.”
She turned to face him, her insides still shaking, the knowledge of how close Dane had actually come to dying horrified her.
“You have a trip scheduled to Asia next week,” she told him. “I expect natural pearls when you return.”
He gave her a hooded look and glanced at the velvet bag. “I just paid you a fortune.”
“Two fortunes aren’t enough for what you put me through tonight,” she snapped, feeling the tears clog her throat again. “You’ve lost your mind, Dane.” She couldn’t control the accent that slipped into her voice either, and she knew every man in the room could smell her pain and her fear.
Dane grimaced at that, his gaze sliding to where Mercury attempted to place her behind him once again.
“I’d say you’ve slipped the path a bit yourself, love,” he drawled. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’ve mated a feral?”
“There’s no mating.” Mercury snarled the denial, and Ria thought her heart was going to break.
Hell, he could have just remained silent.
Dane stared between them, his golden brown eyes thoughtful for long moments.
“My mistake,” he finally said slowly as he glanced to Rye. “She can’t do anything the easy way, can she?”
Rye laid his head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling while Dane settled into the corner and stared back at the other Breeds in the room. Especially his brothers.
“Don’t start,” she warned him as she slid around Mercury once again, certain Dane was going to begin baiting Callan and Jonas. “This has gone too far.”
Dane shrugged. “Very well. You called for extraction. Pack your bags and I’ll have the limo sent from the private airfield we landed at. Rye and I hiked in. I doubt you want to take that path out, though. We’ll have you safe and sound in your own bed within hours. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Her lonely, cold bed. Without Mercury’s hard, warm body.
She turned back to the others, her gaze moving over Callan and Jonas’s suspicious, savage expressions. They weren’t pleased, and they knew something was going on.
“It’s gone too far,” she told Dane.
He stared back at her coolly. “You’re going to get your heart broke, love. You know what that does to you. Makes Leo damned growly. And E
lizabeth will try to fuss over you. You know how you hate that.”
His voice was gentle, a reminder of how easily she could be hurt, and a warning. The warning came a second before Mercury’s arms surrounded her, warm and strong, and he pulled her close against his chest.
His head lowered, his lips at her ear. “You’re not leaving.” He nipped the shell of her ear after growling the demand against it.
Ria’s gaze remained locked with Dane’s, and she knew he saw what she was trying to hide even from herself.
“We have to finish this, Dane.” She let her hands grip Mercury’s wrists, aware of the suspicion directed on her now. “It can’t go any further.”
Mercury tensed behind her; Callan and Jonas watched her with hard, implacable expressions.
“Well then, I guess that’s that.” He relaxed farther back into the couch, a mocking smile crossing his lips. “If I don’t make it out of here alive, be sure to tell the Leo I did him proud,” he chuckled.
Ria shook her head and turned to Callan. “Pride Leader Lyons, it is my sincerest regret to inform you that I wasn’t sent here in any way to track expenditures by Sanctuary from the Vanderale support funds. As always, those have been given by the Leo, your father, and they have no strings attached.”
Callan rose slowly to his feet, power humming through him, his amber eyes brightening, glowing as animalistic anger began to surge inside him.
“What the hell have you two been doing in my fucking home?” He glared between them.
“Protecting it.” Dane surged to his feet as well, drawing Callan’s focus from Ria to him. “Remember, mate, she’s my employee. You have a problem with that, you’ll take it up with me.”
Callan swung back to Ria, the look on his face so filled with anger that for a moment she swore she was facing the Leo.
“Back down, Callan,” Mercury growled, trying to push her behind his larger body again. “Let’s see what she has to say first.”
“What she has to say?” Callan’s voice boomed through the cabin as Jonas moved warily to his feet. “You want me to hear what she has to say? She came into my home on a lie? Under this little bastard’s orders.” He shoved his finger toward Dane.
“I should point out, Leo and Elizabeth were wed before my conception.”
Callan turned and snarled in his face. Nose to nose. The rage emanating from him was a terrible thing to see.
“See why he brings me bribes,” Ria murmured to Callan. “This is what I have to put up with when Leo finds out I’ve helped him in one of his games. But it’s usually my face Leo’s screaming into.”
She moved to Mercury’s side, pushing at his restraining arm to no avail as Callan swung on her. He took one look at Mercury’s face before growling furiously and pacing to the other side of the room.
“That’s what Leo does when Elizabeth gets in front of him,” she whispered to Mercury. Almost amused. If it had been Leo, she might have been amused, but who knew which way Callan’s genetics had actually swung?
He turned back to them and glared at her. “I can hear every word out of your mouth,” he snapped.
“Keep snarling at me.” She watched him warily though her tone was airy. “I’ll get half a dozen perfect pearls next week rather than the few scrawny ones he would have brought me otherwise.” She shrugged, burying her fear. When one dealt with Breeds, one never admitted to fear. Even to oneself.
“What have you been doing in my home?” His tone sliced through the room, and Ria swallowed tightly. Even Dane appeared a bit wary.
“Tracking the person or persons responsible for slipping information about Breed mating heat and age depression to a pharmaceutical company researching a drug to exploit its ability to work on the human body. Three non-Breeds have already died and one is missing due to that research, and scientific information regarding it is leaking from your home, Pride Leader Lyons.”
“Impossible,” he snarled furiously. “Every transmission, every fax, every breath taken in that compound is monitored. There’s no way to slip that information out. Not without being caught.”
“There is, though,” she told him softly. “If you’re trained in creating a code to carry it, then you can slip anything out. Unless someone trained to break that code finds it. I found the code, Mr. Lyons; now I just have to break it.”
Silence filled the room. Jonas, Callan and Dane all stared at her in suspended disbelief.
“You can pay up when we get back to the office,” Rye commented to Dane from his position on the couch. “I told you she’d do it in less than a month.”
“Are you telling me someone within the estate house has been giving secrets to some fucking bastard Council researchers? And he knew about it?” His finger pointed imperiously to Dane.
She breathed in slowly. “No, Pride Leader. Someone is selling secrets concerning mating heat to a drug manufacturer who is now experimenting on non-Breeds. And they’re doing it for money.”
The roar of rage that shook the cabin had her flinching, and this time she stepped behind Mercury willingly. Because in over twenty years of dealing with the Leo, she had never, not even once, seen the rage in him that now filled his son.
And Leo had never, in all the years Dane had been an adult, jumped for Dane as Callan did. It took Jonas, Rye and Mercury to pull him back, as Dane rose slowly to his feet and Ria watched the compassion flicker across his features.
The moment he was pulled back, Callan jerked from the others’ hold, stalked to the other side of the room and fought for control.
She watched his shoulders bunching, tensing, as Mercury moved back to her, obviously protecting her.
“Perhaps we should have been a bit more delicate,” Dane commented with a snort. “It seems the pride leader has a bit of a temper.”
“Ms. Rodriquez, is the Leo’s number on your speed dial?” Jonas asked carefully.
Ria remained silent.
“He’s on mine, whelp,”