by Lora Leigh
To know they hadn’t found all the Breeds, even in the ten years of searching, was like a poison in Matthias’s soul. The council scientists and soldiers who had escaped had taken the young with them and turned them over to the council, to be hidden in other, even more secret labs. And now those children, ten years older, were turning up dead, horribly tortured. The experimentation that had been done on them was brutal. But even worse were the mated pairs, those that had known freedom for but a short time, recaptured, and tortured to death.
“We were the test models. The first generation of Breeds to actually survive the first few years of life are barely older than forty. They had their first success nearly a century ago—Lion Breed who managed to escape with one of their scientists. But it took them another several decades to get it right again, because the first Leo destroyed everything in that hellhole of a lab as he escaped. We were the disposable models.” Fury twisted his expression. “Imagine watching your friends, your brothers and sisters being dissected, live. Being beaten until they died, broken and still trying to fight. Or so drugged they were no more than the animals whose genes they carried. I watched Albrecht do this. For years. For so many years.” He pushed his fingers through his hair and moved away from her.
The blood. He could still smell the blood and death.
“Had he finished, I would have walked away from him, as I was ordered to do.” He turned back to her, his eyes narrowing on the tense set of her expression. “I would not have killed him, Grace, had he not continued those atrocities.”
“You should have gone to the authorities.”
“The authorities had their chance. I took care of it. He will never rape another young Breed. He will never dissect another while they scream in agony, and he will never, ever attempt to prolong his own misbegotten life because he lucked out and found a mated Breed pair.”
That had been the final nail in his coffin. They had found the bodies. The two young mates, so horribly mutilated, the signs of experimentation so monstrous, that even he and Jonas had thrown up.
“That doesn’t make sense. What would two lovers have to do with prolonging his life? You’re lying to me, Matthias. Don’t do that.”
Matthias shook his head. It would do no good to argue it with her—until she experienced the mating, she would never believe it.
“One of these days, you’ll know the truth,” he said heavily. “Are you hungry? I could fix us something to eat.”
Grace stared back at him in disbelief. One moment he was talking of death, the next he was willing to cook? She shook her head as she moved, tugging her skirt farther over her thighs, before shrugging her restrictive jacket off.
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked. “You promised not to hurt me.”
He nodded. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Even knowing I have every intention of telling the police what I saw?” She couldn’t lie to him. He would smell it.
The hurt that flashed in his eyes shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did.
“Even knowing that,” he answered. “I’m going to spend this week with you. Let you come to know me better. Try to make you understand …”
“Why?” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “What does it matter if I understand or not? You murdered a man, Matthias.”
“And if you report it, and I’m arrested, then I can’t protect you. Other Breeds will come for you, and they will kill you before you ever have the chance to testify. Is that what you want? Do you want to die?”
“The authorities will protect me.”
“Don’t be so fucking naive, Grace,” he snarled, causing her to flinch. “Don’t be stupid. You know better than that.”
Yes, she did know better. She knew she didn’t have a chance at living if she ever breathed a word of what she had seen. Perhaps, in some small way, she could even understand why he had done it. Now that the shock had worn off and her mind had accepted the fact that he had done it, it was her own anger driving her instead.
“Just leave then.” She rose to her feet and breathed out roughly. “I’m smart enough to know the rules, Matthias. That doesn’t mean I ever want to see you again. Just get out.”
“It doesn’t work that way.” He shook his head, his whiskey gaze remote.
“Why not? You can smell a lie, then fine, you know I’m not lying. Albrecht may have deserved every agony you could have possibly given him, but I can’t accept it. We have laws in this country for a reason.”
His bark of laughter shocked her. “Do you, now?” He crossed his powerful arms over his chest and watched her, mocking. “Let me tell you about your laws, little girl. Laws that allowed all your fine politicians to stick their dirty little fingers into the Breed pie before the world learned of us. How they sent their Special Forces teams after the small pride that was hiding in Kentucky. How they turned a blind eye to the tortures that were inflicted on us. Until the world learned of us and drew a horrified breath. Those same fucking bastards faked their outrage and had no choice but to back us. Back us or be revealed as the lying sons of bitches they were.”
Throttled rage filled his voice and glowed in his eyes. Grace had never seen such fury, such banked violence in any one, in her life.
There were reports of this. News articles and documentaries, but until now, Grace hadn’t been certain what was the truth and what were lies told to enhance the popularity of the Breeds’ right-to-life laws.
She licked her lips, knowing he wasn’t lying. Her chest ached for him, ached about the pain he had endured. But he had killed an unarmed man. Without remorse.
She nodded, swallowing tightly as she let his furious gaze capture hers.
“I won’t report it,” she whispered. “But I won’t condone it. Whatever was growing between us, Matthias, if anything other than your need to use me was there, is over. Please, just leave.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
Grace watched his expression harden, his eyes darken in determination.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s not going to happen’?” She watched him warily.
Had he been lying to her? Did he mean to kill her after all?
A tight smile curled his lips. “I already smell your distrust,” he growled. “I don’t lie, Grace. I’m not going to kill you. And I won’t torture you.”
“Then why stay?”
“Because you own me now. You’re my mate.”
• CHAPTER 5 •
Grace stared back at the wild man standing in the middle of the cabin’s living room. Dressed in black leather and facing her with an arrogant determination that had once appeared sexy. Now it was downright scary.
“What do you mean, I’m your mate?” The tabloid stories were rocking through her head, and she really didn’t have time right now for the perversions they had reported.
She should have known better than to read that trash. But, like most Americans, she had been fascinated with the discovery of the Breeds. Fascinated and outraged by their creation and the horrifying abuses they had endured.
But, did he answer her? Hell no. He shook his head slowly, his lips curling at one corner, as he continued to watch her with those dark golden eyes. And he kept inhaling slowly, reminding her that she was still wet. So wet from his earlier play that her panties were literally clinging to her pussy.
“Matthias, right now is really not a good time to pull the silent Breed act on me,” she snapped. “I’m about two minutes from a nervous breakdown. This has not been a good night for me.”
Instantly his expression altered. From arrogance to sensual delight. His facial features softened as he moved toward her, his arms dropping from his chest, his shoulders flexing as he drew the black leather jacket from them. He tossed it to the couch as he neared her.
Grace took a step back. The sensuality in his gaze made her even more wary than the earlier anger had.
“Don’t touch me,” she ordered him roughly.
“Poor Grace,” he c
rooned, a hint of a rumble in his voice sending a shiver racing down her spine as he moved behind her. “Yes love, it’s been a very hard night for you. Seeing your mate for what he is, for who he is, hasn’t been easy.” She felt his breath on her hair, then his hand as he smoothed it over her shoulder. “I had hoped to ease you into it.”
“Ease me into what?” She tried to jerk away, but the hand that suddenly gripped her hip wasn’t allowing that to happen. “Into murder? Not going to happen.”
“Into this.”
Her knees nearly buckled as his lips brushed across the nape of her neck, a hint of the damp warmth of his tongue stroking along it.
“Stop it, Matthias. You can’t seduce me into approving what you’ve done.”
“I don’t care if you approve of me, Grace. I only care that you accept me.”
Oh my God. His teeth raked over her neck.
Grace blinked, fought to clear her vision and to remain on her feet. Because that little scrape of his extended canines did nothing to return her common sense. On the contrary, it only dampened her panties further.
“Get away from me.” She tore from his clasp, turning to face him furiously, fighting her arousal and the drugging pleasure his touch brought. “I don’t want you to touch me.”
“Your body is begging for my touch.” He grinned as he sat down on the couch and began removing his boots.
“What are you doing? Put those back on.” Shock dumbfounded her. He had murdered a man in front of her, and now he was undressing? As though it were normal?
“Come on, Grace.” He flashed her a seductive smile. “I’m tired, and you’re snarling. Let’s take tonight to rest, and tomorrow we’ll revisit this little disagreement.”
“Little disagreement? You killed a man.”
“He wasn’t a man.” Matthias shrugged as he set his boots to the side. “He was a monster.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“And it doesn’t make it wrong, either,” he sighed, his expression flickering with regret. “It doesn’t make the need for it any less. I don’t have to like what I do to realize the fact that it has to be done. Now, let’s go find the bed and try to rest.”
He gripped her wrist and began drawing her through the house.
“I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Fine, I’ll sleep with you.”
He tugged her behind him like a recalcitrant child, tugging at her arm and drawing her into the bedroom before locking the door behind them.
“Matthias, stop this.” Frustration, fear, and arousal converged inside her as he finally released her. “You can’t believe there’s any way to fix this. Surely you can’t.”
She couldn’t let him believe it could be fixed. The past weeks were over. They were gone. She would never forget the look on his face as he killed, and she couldn’t forget how easily he had done it.
He pulled her suitcase from the bed and laid it on the nearby chair. Her frilly, girly bedroom had never held a man as intensely sexual and powerful as this one. He filled it with testosterone and stubbornness to the point that she was nearly choking on it.
“I’ll find a way to fix it.” He opened the suitcase and drew out the plain white, long summer gown and robe she had packed.
“Matthias.” She stared back at him in confusion. “You’re more logical than this.” How could any one man be so stubborn? “You know you can’t fix this.”
“I know I don’t have a choice.” The gown and robe were flung at her, causing her to catch them in surprise as he stared back at her with furious intent. “What I found with you is too important, Grace. I won’t let this destroy it.”
She shook her head slowly. “It was destroyed the minute you pulled that trigger.”
“The minute I made certain another Breed never died. The minute I ended the agony for untold mates in the future that he would have captured. The minute I fucking destroyed a nightmare,” he snarled. “I should do as you ask and fucking walk away from you now, because by God, you have to be the most judgmental, self-righteous creature I have ever known.”
Grace’s lips parted in shock. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” He flicked her a hard, heated look, his lips curling in a little half sneer. “What did you do when you learned of the lives the Breeds led? When you read your little news report on your PDA and went about your life? Did you think, Oh, poor creatures? Did you even download the pictures of those labs they found? Did you even take the time to see what those sons of bitches did?”
She hadn’t. The reports alone had given her nightmares. She couldn’t bear to see the pictures. And now, she felt ashamed of that.
“Live through it, then tell me how wrong I was,” he snapped. “Watch your baby sister die beneath the rutting of soldiers. See your friends, those you call family, die screaming in agony, and then tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.”
She could see it in his face, in his eyes, and it broke her heart. She had to blink back her tears, force her lips not to tremble as she thought of the horror he had faced in ways she never had.
The scars he carried, the shadowed horror that sometimes reflected in his eyes, the bleak, hollow sound of his voice.
“I’m so sorry, Matthias,” she whispered huskily, clutching the gown to her chest. “What you endured was hell. But you are not a judge and jury.”
“No, I’m the executioner.” He stood before her without remorse. “He had already been judged and his sentence was passed. I merely carried it out. Now get that fucking gown on and get your ass into bed before I lose what little control I have tonight.”
With that, he stalked from the bedroom. Even in bare feet he seemed to stomp, his steps heavy, fury pulsing in every line of his body before the door slammed behind him.
Grace sat on the bed slowly, staring at the closed panel, knowing, somehow, she had managed to do more than merely hurt him.
She stared at the gown, pushed her fingers through her hair wearily, then rose to her feet and did as he had ordered. She was exhausted. So tired she could barely think straight. Maybe tomorrow she could find a way to make sense of it. Maybe she would realize it had all been a horrible nightmare that would just go away.
The thought of escaping Matthias flitted through her mind. She should at least try. After all, she had seen him kill, he could still kill her.
As she drew the blankets over her shoulders and stared at the bedroom window, she knew she had at least a chance of escape. And yet here she lay, and she didn’t know why.
All she knew was that as she stared into the darkness, all she could think about was the horror his life must have been. Never having anyone. Never being able to care for anyone. How alone he must have felt.
She had seen that loneliness in his eyes the night she thought he had saved her, during that stupid staged mugging. She had dragged him into the hotel with her and made him drink coffee with her. He had watched her as others might watch a snake, expecting her to strike at any time.
He had touched her heart that night, with the scar slashing across his forehead, over his eyelid, and onto his cheek. With his sexy, sensual lips and whiskey-brown eyes, his obvious discomfort with a smile.
But she had made him smile that night. Not a whole, unbridled smile. A tentative smile, as though he were trying it out first, waiting to see if it was going to hurt.
Three weeks. He had come into her life just three weeks before, and he had become such a part of it that now she wondered how she was going to do without him.
She looked at the window again. She really should run from him.
A tear slid down her cheek instead, because she couldn’t run from him. But she could never have him, either.
• CHAPTER 6 •
It wasn’t a nightmare. The next morning Grace awoke to the knowledge that she couldn’t just escape the events from the night before any more than she could escape Matthias, and she couldn’t run from them.
She brushed her hair and teeth, stared
at her pale reflection, then grimaced and headed to the kitchen. She could smell coffee, and she was dying for it. The need for caffeine was crawling through her system, with the same craving that desire for Matthias was clenching between her thighs.
Dreams had tormented her through the night. Dreams, nothing, she had been tormented with visions of sexual delights that had her blushing at the thought of them. She should have had nightmares of blood and death, not dreams about what that bulge beneath those black leather pants could do to her.
“Good morning.” He came to his feet from the kitchen table, another pair of leather pants covering his muscular legs. His feet and chest were bare.
Grace stared at the broad, hairless chest, as she came to a sudden stop. She’d been wanting to see that nipple ring she had glimpsed under his T-shirt. Now that she was seeing it, her mouth watered, her lips tingled with the need to capture it, to tug on it. But as sexy as the sight of it was, nothing could detract from the thin white scars that crisscrossed his chest and abdomen.
He pulled a shirt from the back of the chair and shrugged it on, covering the horrific scars. They weren’t thick and ridged, but they crisscrossed his flesh like a road map.
“Sorry about that.” He turned away from her, walking across the cheerful, bright kitchen, buttoning the black shirt. “I made coffee.”
She couldn’t help it. Grace moved quickly across the room, facing him as he turned back to her.
“I have to see it,” she whispered, her fingers going to the buttons of his shirt. “All of it, Matthias. You don’t have the right to hide it from me now.”
His hard, sharply defined features tightened, as her fingers undid the buttons of his shirt. She pushed the cotton shirt from his wide shoulders, and tossed it over a chair.
“Did he do this?” she whispered, her fingertips touching the evidence of the cruelty he had experienced.