by Lora Leigh
But she sighed. “Dane would pout. He’s not nice when he pouts.”
“Callan doesn’t pout,” Mercury laughed. “Games aren’t his style. He would understand.” He touched her hair, smoothed his hands down it. “But I’d probably lose vacation time. That fun in the sun you were talking about.”
“Hell. Figures. Dane just gets stingy with the bribes. He doesn’t bother revoking my vacation time.”
“Do you ever take vacation time? Somehow I doubt you do.” He helped her to her feet before dragging himself from the floor.
He looked at her then—her messed hair, torn clothes—and couldn’t believe the hunger that had swept through him as they entered the cabin.
She wrinkled her nose mockingly. “Know-it-all.”
He stared back at her, knowing he was totally besotted with her. “You will be now. I promise you, Ria. You’re going to be begging for vacation time now.”
If she stayed with Vanderale Industries. Sanctuary needed her more than Dane or Leo Vanderale. And Mercury needed her with him. He would do what she needed to do, what she wanted to do, but he didn’t think she was as happy working for Dane as she would be here.
“Damn parties,” she muttered, turning away from him and walking toward the bedroom before casting him a heated little look over her shoulder. “Want to shower with me?”
“Wrong question,” he growled. “Because you keep me from it.”
He followed after as she laughed, the thought of playing with Ria in the shower again causing his cock to jerk in anticipation.
Hell, it might not be mating heat, but it was damned close. For now, for tonight, he would content himself with that. But he was going to have to stop rubbing his tongue against his teeth, hoping. Because he swore he was making it raw.
Later that evening, as Ria stepped from the bathroom, clipping the pearl earrings to her ears that she had chosen to wear, her hair pinned behind her head, it was all Mercury could do to hold back his growl.
He was in his dress uniform. The severe black pants and jacket were confining enough. The dress boots were a pain in the ass, but he tolerated them when he had to. He wore the insignia of his rank, that of second commander, a narrow golden bar attached to the left shoulder of his jacket. On the right was the gold lion’s head denoting his genetic ranking, and below it the brass Bureau of Breed Affairs pin, a simple brass pin with the initials BBA.
The dress uniform was a necessary evil. Ria’s hair pinned up wasn’t.
“Take your hair down.” He’d meant to make it a request as his gaze swept over the simple black gown she wore. The long sleeves covered her arms, while the material reached to the base of her neck in back.
The front was cut lower, scooped and rounded over her breasts, leaving the barest hint of cleavage.
She wore pearls around her neck to match the earrings, and nothing more.
“I’m not taking down my hair.” She moved to sit on the bureau and checked her earrings. “It would be . . . Mercury.”
As she talked, he had moved behind her, pulled the anchoring pins and watched that thick, silken mass of hair as it unraveled down her back.
“You did not do that.” She turned on him, incredulous. “Damn you!”
His eyes narrowed back at her. “Get as mad as you like. I want it down.”
Her eyes narrowed back at him. “I want that damned cheesecake I mentioned before. Doesn’t mean I’m going to get it.”
He growled. “There will be four different kinds of cheesecake on the buffet. I requested it. Just for you. All chocolate.”
For a second he could have sworn her eyes glazed with something akin to approaching ecstasy.
“I’m going to revise my opinion of you.” She pouted with charming irritation. “You’re a cruel, evil man. Teasing me with cheesecake. I’ll get you back. You watch.”
He smiled back at her, his brows arching as he pushed his fingers through her hair and restrained the need to kiss her. If he kissed her, he would never get out of that cabin with her.
He let his gaze go over her again, noticing as he did so that the cut of her dress hid the bite he had placed on her shoulder. For some reason, that bothered him.
“Leave the hair down,” he told her. “We’ll discuss the dress later.”
“Yeah, with a whip and a chair in my hand,” she informed him archly. “Don’t start giving orders, Mercury. I don’t obey so well.”
Ria allowed him to get away with the hair, simply because she was learning how much he enjoyed it down. But her clothes, as much as she sometimes disliked them herself, were imperative.
Clothing style, makeup and presence were a hazard in her job, and at parties such as the one Sanctuary was hosting tonight she met many of the people she was sent to investigate.
“You should be able to dress as you like,” he growled. “I swear, Ria, I can feel your dissatisfaction with that dress.”
She looked at him sharply. She hated this dress. It was simple, the cut and design elegant enough. And it was unassuming. She had never hated unassuming as much as she did tonight.
“The dress is like your dress uniform, less threatening and more civilized in ways than the uniform you work in. My line of work requires that I appear unthreatening at all times. No matter the job or the event.”
She moved to the closet and pulled a pair of low heels from the shelf inside. She had to keep herself from staring at them in regret. As with the dress. Simple. Unassuming.
She put them on anyway and turned back to Mercury.
He was staring at her, his expression somber, his eyes that odd color once more, as though something lived inside him that he wasn’t always aware of.
“I won’t tolerate it,” he suddenly bit out.
“Tolerate what?” she retorted. “My refusal to do as you order?”
If he turned arrogant Breed on her now, she was going to get violent herself.
“Your refusal to do as you wish,” he snapped. “That dress. Those shoes. I didn’t even have to see your face to feel how much you hated those damned things. Where are the pretty clothes, Ria?” He stalked to the closet and looked in, growling at the sight of more of the same. Simple clothes. Dowdy skirts. “Where are the clothes you want to wear?”
“In the stores.” Her voice was clipped, her own anger rising now. “Where they belong. If they’re here, I’ll wear them. That simple. I told you, Mercury, I can’t risk the people I investigate suspecting that there’s more to me than they’ve always believed. The Vanderales’ poor orphan employee could never afford those clothes. A paper pusher? Really! How long do you think they would believe that if they saw me dressed in the clothes you’re talking about?”
“Who put that in your head?” He raged, stalking from the closet, stomping from it actually. “Dane? The Leo? I’ll be damned if it will continue. You’re a beautiful woman and you love pretty things. Why shouldn’t you have them?”
“Because it’s detrimental to my job,” she pointed out, her voice rising. “My job, Mercury. Remember? Would you have believed I was no more than a paper pusher researching your damned accounts if I had arrived dressed in silk and heels?”
He stared back at her, the blue lights in his eyes firing deeper, darker. “I wouldn’t have had the brainpower to think,” he finally muttered. “I’d have been too busy fucking you before you ever arrived at Sanctuary.”
She wanted to roll her eyes at him. “Neither you nor Jonas would have ever taken me seriously.”
He pushed his fingers through his hair, his gaze raking over her. “That’s a cop-out,” he informed her. “One look at you, Ria, and anyone knows better than that. Do you think the reason the companies you investigate aren’t suspicious of you is your clothes? That’s not true, Ria. They’re not suspicious of you because they’re arrogant and too certain of their own intelligence to believe anyone could be smarter than they are.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want to hear this. It wasn’t true. It was the job, and it was t
hat simple. She owed the Vanderales. They had kept her safe until she was grown, they had given her a job, they had given her a life when she was alone, deserted.
“You hide, Ria,” he stated. “Those clothes aren’t because of your job. Those clothes, your demeanor, the way you dress—it’s so you can hide.”
She shot him a scathing glare before pulling away from him and jerking her wrap from the end of the bed.
“Are you ready to go?” She pulled the heavy cape over the dress and latched the closure at her throat.
“It didn’t keep me away, did it, Ria?” he asked her as he continued to watch her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The dowdy clothes. Your hair twisted into that perfect, tight little bun. It keeps everyone at a distance. It shouts Go away. But I didn’t go away.”
Not yet he hadn’t.
“No, you haven’t gone away,” she finally whispered. And she wondered what she would do when he did.
That small warning instinct inside her wouldn’t stop. It continued to echo caution, and she continued to ignore it.
But she hated the dress and the shoes more than she had when she put them on. His arguments had made her remember the few dresses she owned that made her feel alive. The ones she longed to dress in, the ones that fit the makeup she preferred, the heels she loved. And she was reminded each time she “dressed up” that she was alone. There was no one to see her. Because she had always been safer alone.
She couldn’t be broken, if no one knew her well enough to break her.
Until now.
Through the ride back to Sanctuary, and their entrance into the secured glittering beauty of the mansion, Mercury’s accusations played within her mind.
She glimpsed Dane across the ballroom, immersed in talks with several of the high-level corporate shareholders she had investigated in the past. Dane moved among the crowd, his silver eyes watching everything, the blond lawyer he was rumored to be involved with at his side.
Breeds filled the mansion in dress uniform, as did Kane Tyler’s personal security force, the men he had brought with him when he came to Sanctuary in those first steps the Breeds had taken into the world.
She moved through the room with Mercury, watching the gazes that slid over her, dismissing her. They always dismissed her, and until now she had never realized how much she hated dressing down to allow for it.
Mercury saw something completely different. As they moved around the room and he introduced her to the men and women present for the party, he saw how many recognized her name or her.
He saw how easily her cool, stark beauty intimidated others. The women saw the simplicity of her clothes and the regal grace that showed through, and they moved on. The men took one look at her on Mercury’s arm, and most knew fear at the thought of tempting a Breed’s anger over his woman. It wasn’t done. To become forward with a Breed mate was to take one’s life in one’s own hands.
And he felt her dissatisfaction. Her need to let all that wildfire inside her free. She only let herself go when he was taking her, loving her. But that fire burned inside her eternally.
He could see her in reds—garnets and the vivid scarlet. She would light up the night with her long hair, high heels and the dresses he knew she would love. And she would light up everyone around her.
But she was frightened. He could feel her fear, and it pricked at the animal he could feel stretching inside himself, called free by that primal response in the woman he loved.
He hadn’t felt that instinct in over eleven years. Until her fear. Until the smell of it as they entered Sanctuary drifted around him and he felt it come awake inside him, stretching past the bonds of control, easing into his mind. Watching. Waiting.
And more. He felt something more, and it made no sense.
As they mingled and talked, she sipped at her champagne and watched the CEO of Engalls Pharmaceuticals as closely as decorum allowed.
She could feel Mercury’s tension beside her, increasing as they chatted, working closer to Horace Engalls, one of the men information was flowing to, and his snobbish wife, Cara Brandenmore Engalls.
Ria ran the information she had on the woman through her head quickly. There was nothing significantly important about Cara. She was on the board of both Engalls Pharmaceuticals and Brandenmore Research, of which Engalls was a division.
She was the daughter of Phillip Brandenmore, married to the man her father had chosen for her. She was younger than Engalls by ten years and her voice had risen against Breed law when it came up for vote several years before. She was a powerful figure in her own little set, regarded with wariness and considered a formidable enemy.
Horace Engalls had begun courting Sanctuary years ago in the hopes of acquiring Breeds to strengthen his security on his labs. He’d been turned down repeatedly. But he and Brandenmore both were associates of a very powerful senator that Sanctuary liked to keep happy. Which meant the two men had the invitations the senator requested for them.
Ria knew Cara well, just as she had known Cara’s mother before Phillip Brandenmore divorced her.
“Ria, my dear, what are you doing here?” Cara’s cool, superior smile hid the heart of a viper as she glanced at where Ria’s hand rested on Mercury’s arm. “And with a . . . man.” The pause had Ria’s eyes narrowing. “I’m surprised Dane allowed it.”
Ria arched her brow. “Dane’s my employer, Cara, not my brother.”
“I always assumed much more.” Cara’s laughter was light, vicious. “Perhaps I was wrong?”
“Perhaps you were,” Ria told her. “I haven’t seen Phillip tonight, though.” She glanced around the room, looking for Cara’s father. “I’d hoped to say hello to him.”
“He had an unexpected stop to make at the airport on the way.” Cara’s lips curved in smug satisfaction. “His newest little playmate, I believe, was delayed. He should be here momentarily.”
“I hope to see him before I leave then.” Ria smiled tightly, nodding to her as well as Horace. “Perhaps we can get a chance to talk later.”
“Oh, I’m sure we will, dear.” Cara’s tinkling laughter grated on Ria’s nerves. “I’ll make certain of it.”
Ria’s gaze sharpened on the other woman before moving away. The feeling of panic sweeping through her intensified.
“How is security holding?” she asked Mercury, keeping her voice low as they moved through the ballroom and he drew her onto the dance floor.
He danced as well as he made love, she thought, restraining her sigh, waiting as he checked the security points.
“Everything’s holding,” he murmured in her ear. “What’s wrong, baby?”
The endearment weakened her knees. Which was silly. Dane called her sweetheart or baby often. He always had. Yet the effect had never been the same.
She shook her head, lowering it as she let him draw her closer.
“Ria, we need to talk soon,” he told her softly, his voice deepening, almost a growl as she flicked her earlobe with his tongue. “Very soon.”
She closed her eyes and smiled. She could feel his erection beneath his dress jacket. She could feel him, warm and aroused, holding her as close as convention allowed.
“Do we have to stay very long?”
“Longer than we’re going to stay. Damn,” he cursed, his head lifting. “Let’s go. Jonas has just ordered us to Callan’s office.”
As he released her, she glanced at the minute receiver barely visible at his ear.
“What’s wrong?”
His hand settled in the small of her back, pressing her forward toward the ballroom doors.
“Hell if I know,” he muttered. “He’s not saying.”
The panic intensified. Ria couldn’t explain it; she couldn’t force him not to go to that office, but every feminine instinct she possessed was screaming out at her, demanding that she run, that she escape.
That instinct was a part of her. She always heeded it. The few times she hadn’t
had seen her heart broken, her pride in shambles. And she had seen the pity for her weakness in Leo and Dane’s eyes. Always the sad, poor little orphan.
“Ria?” Mercury questioned her as they entered the foyer and moved to the back of the hall. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” She sent him a smile she hoped wasn’t as brittle as she felt. “I think the shoes are pinching my feet or something.”
Or something. The closer they moved to that office, the more she had to restrain herself not to turn and run.
“I hate it when you lie to me,” he snarled softly.
“I hate it when you ask me questions I don’t know how to answer,” she hissed back. “I’ve had a bad feeling all day.”
She clutched the side of her dress, lifting the long skirt as they moved closer to their destination. She could run now, she told herself.
Like hell. She wasn’t a coward. And it wasn’t physical danger she could feel awaiting her. She couldn’t explain the premonition. She had never been able to explain them.
“Jonas, Callan and Dane are waiting in Jonas’s office,” he told her. “Dane wouldn’t allow you to walk into danger.”
She shook her head. “It’s not danger.”
She could see the door. It was closed. They moved closer and she wanted to scream. She licked her lips nervously, ignored her sweating palms and waited as Mercury knocked on the door.
It opened, but only partially. Dane stepped outside.
“Mercury, I’ll stand outside with Ria.” His expression was livid.
“The hell you will.” Mercury tugged her closer to his side. “She doesn’t need a babysitter.”
The door swung open.
“Mercury.” The soft, feminine sigh shattered her as she stared back at the other woman in horror.
Shoulder-length golden hair, hazel brown eyes shadowed with a light dusting of bronze over the lids. High cheekbones, exotic eyes and a smile that trembled. And a face Ria had seen in her nightmares over the past weeks. Except that face had been younger, softer—and death had taken her years ago. Or it was supposed to have.
“Alaiya?” Shock filled Mercury’s voice, and seared Ria’s heart.
She stood still. Frozen.
Another woman’s arms touched his face, caressed it, though he almost pulled back. Another woman’s arms wrapped around his neck, and another woman snuggled against his chest.
“Oh, Mercury. It’s been so long.”
Those eyes blinked back at Ria, and for a moment she could have sworn she glimpsed malicious pleasure in the eyes of Mercury’s mate.
CHAPTER 18
She was going to disintegrate into a million pieces. Shards and fragments of her soul would be found on worlds light-years from Earth before the pain completed its journey.
She had been so certain she was his. So certain she had finally found a place to belong, because he owned her soul, and no one else ever had.
She felt Mercury pull away from her. His hand slid from the small of her back, and she heard a growl. An angry sound of pain that she wondered if she might have made herself.
She wanted to smash her fist into that perfect face. She wanted to tear all those perfect hairs from the woman’s head. She wanted to howl in rage, fear and pain.
“Ria, sweetheart.” Dane’s voice was at her ear. She could have sworn it was thick with grief. “Darling. Hold on. You don’t want to break here.”
She shook her head and stepped back, pulling her arm from his grip. She didn’t want him touching her. She couldn’t bear to be touched, not right now. Not while the pain was exploding in her brain, shattering her heart, nearly stopping it.
The slow, sluggish beat reminded her. It had done that the moment she realized her mother was never returning to her. That she would always be alone. She should have remembered, should have known it couldn’t be real.
“If you break here, you’ll never forgive yourself.” Dane’s voice lashed at her, a quiet male hiss of fury as Alaiya tilted her head up to Mercury and spoke.
“I knew when I read the tabloid stories what happened.” She sighed against Mercury. “Mates. That’s what we are, aren’t we? That’s why I never forgot you, Mercury.”
Ria couldn’t breathe. Oh God. It hurt. It was knifing through her chest, shredding flesh and bone, and she was going to scream with the rage and the pain of it.
Don’t touch him!
The words were whipping through her mind as Mercury gripped the other woman’s wrists and pushed her back. Just a little. Just enough to keep Ria from collapsing, from begging him not to hold her.
“Alaiya?” There was a wealth of surprise, shock and perhaps anger.
Of course he would be angry. Eleven years they had been separated and here she was, mere hours after he had pledged himself to another woman. To some stupid human that just couldn’t understand where her place was.
“Ria.” Dane’s arm was around her shoulders.
He was trying to shelter her. He had done that when she was a little girl, every time he saw her. He would wrap his arm around her shoulder and try to shelter her from whatever had hurt her while he was away. There was no way to shelter her from this.
Ragged, gaping wounds tore through her soul. She could feel herself bleeding from the inside out, ripping apart and not a sound was made.
“What the fucking hell is going on here?” Guttural, ragged and filled with fury, Mercury’s voice echoed around her. Sliced into her. She looked into his eyes, and they were nearly blue. They weren’t amber. They weren’t hammered gold. They were blue, the color they had been when he showed the first signs of mating Alaiya in the labs.
Alaiya was back. And, it appeared, so was Mercury’s animal.
“You need to take care of this,” she whispered to him, glancing at Alaiya. “I know it’s been a long time.” She backed away from him. “You’ll need to”—she waved her hand helplessly—“talk.” She couldn’t imagine anything else. If she did, she would die. Right there, she would lose her will to live.
She couldn’t bear it. It hurt. Nothing—no desertion, no vicious words from cold, cutting lips—had ever hurt as this hurt.