by Lora Leigh
And the animal inside paced in fury because he hadn’t.
She jumped against him, suddenly moving to tear away from him, to escape his grip as she whirled around to face him.
“No.”
No.
His lips quirked. No was no. It was intrinsic, whether it was a game or not. It had the same meaning.
He would heed it. This time.
“We have a meeting with Jonas, Callan and Leo tomorrow,” he told her instead. “You’ll be there to give your report.”
She nodded sharply, the scent of her heat nearly drugging him with the nearly overpowering need to taste her as only her mate could do.
Turning, he stalked to the door and left without a good-bye, without a hint of the primal response to her that he was quickly losing control of.
One second more. So much as another breath scented with the flowering lust that wrapped around her and he would have forgotten she said no. He would have forgotten that edge of fear he’d sensed inside her.
He would have forgotten it all and he would have taken his mate.
•CHAPTER 6•
“I’m sorry, Diane,” Rachel spoke from her bed where she lay curled around the little girl who blinked back at Diane as she stood beside the bed.
Amber awakened even before Diane had disabled the digital window lock and wiggled through the narrow opening. Her little head had lifted, her eyes focusing on the window as Diane had stood on the ledge outside considering the lock and the occupants of the room beyond the window.
She watched the baby now as a sleepy little smile curled her tiny lips. Tugging at a soft curl beside her face, Amber watched her, gaze somber, as though she could sense her aunt’s heavy heart.
“Why turn on me, Rachel?” Diane asked softly as she sat down on the mattress, her fingers reaching out to touch her niece’s downy cheek. “Why didn’t you speak to me tonight? Why couldn’t you stand with me rather than against me?”
Why had her sister turned on her? She had shown her loyalty was with Jonas and Lawe by standing across the room in hushed conversation with them rather than standing next to the sister who had been with her all her life.
“Was it because I wasn’t here when you needed me? When Amber needed me?” Diane asked, the ragged pain of that memory tearing at her when her sister didn’t speak.
“God no,” Rachel exclaimed, her voice still hushed and now filled with tears and pain. “I could never blame you for that, Diane. There was nothing you could have done when Brandenmore struck.”
Rachel’s eyes closed briefly as her hold on her daughter seemed to tighten.
The pain of that memory still had the power to bring tears to Diane’s eyes, as well as sending a shaft of pain striking at her heart. Her gaze slid to Amber. She was so sweet and innocent, and Diane was well aware that she had failed the child.
As Diane watched, she saw the glimmer of tears on her sister’s cheek a second before a tiny, almost silent little rumble of a purr emitted from Amber’s tiny chest.
The only sign Rachel gave that she heard it was a brief tremble of her lips as Diane gave a surprised start. It was the first time she had heard the sound and found it to be completely endearing. But with her mother’s reaction, a whimper left Amber’s lips as they puckered in the threat of tears.
“Jonas says she can feel it when we’re frightened, or if something causes us pain,” Rachel’s voice was jagged, obviously causing the confused cry and the tears that dampened the little girl’s eyes.
For a moment, Diane wished she could still berate her sister as she had when she was a child. Unfortunately, they were far past such recriminations. The need to ease Amber’s confusion was one she didn’t have to ignore though.
“Look at Mommy, getting all upset over a little ole purr, Ambie. She just doesn’t realize how special that makes you does she, sweetie?” Diane chided the baby as she leaned down and rubbed her nose against her niece’s little button nose.
Amber’s smile trembled for a moment before a baby laugh parted her lips and Diane lifted her from Rachel’s arms. Cuddling the little form close to her own breast as the small head tipped back to stare up at her had Diane’s heart melting with such a surge of love it was painful.
“She looks like a mini-you,” Diane whispered in awe as she glanced at her sister for only a second, her eyes drawn back to the baby. “She’s more beautiful every time I see her, and every time I see more and more of your features when you were a baby. They are coming alive inside her. Mom and Dad would have melted for her.”
Her sister sniffed as a tear slid down her cheek. “And you look more like Mom every day, Diane. Sometimes, I swear, it’s like having her here.”
She couldn’t help but laugh.
Diane tickled Amber’s little belly where it peeked out from her pajamas. Chubby legs kicked as baby laughter filled the darkness. Grasping little fingers found Diane’s shirt, grabbed and held on tight as Diane leaned down and brushed a kiss over her forehead. That little sound came again, the cutest little purr, stronger, almost teasing. A sound of happiness as Diane hugged the baby against her and blew another kiss against her baby-scented neck.
Rachel’s hand pressed to her lips as she fought back a sob, the pain and fear trembling through her body as Amber suddenly tensed. She struggled against Diane until she could turn and stare back at her mother in confusion.
“Ignore Mommy,” Diane advised her and tickled her belly again, bringing a hesitant little chortle before Amber looked to her mother again as though asking permission for such a simple joy.
Diane lowered her lips to Amber’s ear, her gaze meeting her sister’s. “Mommy forgets that was a nasty old Breed-type serum that bad old doctor gave you,” Diane reminded the mother rather than the child she was talking to. “What did she expect, hmmm? Wolfie growls maybe?”
Rachel shook her head. “It isn’t funny, Diane.”
“Well, you know, we need to make it funny, or our little chimp here is going to think we don’t love her as we should.” Diane lowered her head further and growled against her niece’s little shoulder.
Amber’s little gale of laughter was followed by that cute little purr. The second the sound slipped free her gaze moved quickly to her mother once again. Rachel hadn’t heard it that time, she had been concentrating on the baby laughter instead, the fear fading away as her daughter seemed to enjoy this moment of unexpected pleasure.
“Rachel, you have to enjoy the changes that aren’t harmful to her,” Diane chided as she continued to draw the little chuckles from the baby. “Every time she purrs or makes a sound you consider odd, I bet you’re crying. Becoming frightened.”
“Diane, it’s wrong,” Rachel whispered raggedly.
Once again Amber gave a frightened little start as her lips puckered and she turned to her mother for solace.
“I wish I could smack you.” Diane sighed in disappointment. “You’re letting your own stress affect her and steal her childhood. Give her some laughter, Rachel. Play with her. Let her purr or growl or whatever she needs to do. She’s so precious. Too precious to be made to feel unaccepted.”
Diane continued to speak with gentle affection as she tickled, petted and teased the baby. Finally, she had Amber’s attention once again as Rachel watched her with sudden understanding and agonizing regret.
“How are the other children reacting to her now?” Diane asked, knowing Rachel had mentioned problems a few months earlier.
“They growl at her, snap at her without thinking.” Rachel reached out and tickled Amber’s tummy as she kept her tone soft.
Amber was no dummy. She watched her mother somberly for long seconds before Rachel was able to draw a smile from her.
“Those little hybrid brats giving my girl a hard time?” Diane whispered as Amber curled closer to her and gave a sleepy little yawn.
“They don’t mean anything—” Rachel began to protest.
“Geez, Rachel, I know they don’t mean anything by it.” Diane sighed
as she rocked the baby gently. “It’s the changes in her scent that frightens them perhaps? They’re just babies too.”
She wanted to give her sister something to hold on to, something to ease the fears Diane knew tormented her.
“Not David,” Rachel whispered as she ran her fingers lovingly over Amber’s heavy curls. “Callen and Merinus’s son isn’t a baby, Diane. He growls at her if he doesn’t stop himself first. Just having her around seems to irritate him. Low, involuntary growls rumble in his chest before he becomes angry and simply leaves the room.”
Rachel’s voice trembled painfully. “He’s being groomed for his father’s position, trained to take over. He’s the children’s alpha, do you know the implications of his rejection of Amber?”
Diane smoothed her hand down the baby’s back as she made a tiny sound of distress once again. “What are the implications, Rachel?” she asked gently, though the look she shot her sister was berating. “David is in puberty, he’s going through maturation of not just human hormones but also the animal ones. He was Jonas’s favorite before Amber. Subconsciously, perhaps he resents her for the love Jonas has for her, and his animal DNA is simply reacting.”
Jonas loved children, but David had been his favorite before Amber’s arrival. Once Rachel had given birth, Diane heard Jonas had fallen head over heels for the infant. Nothing in this world mattered as much as Rachel and the child he claimed as his own. Though Diane knew David still received quite a bit of attention from the director.
“When it’s all said and done, he’s still human,” she reminded her sister. “Have you told Merinus?”
Rachel rolled over to stare at the ceiling, one arm across her stomach as she scowled heavily.
“Rachel?” Diane urged her.
“I’m not going to Callan or Merinus,” Rachel muttered, though this time, she kept the anger and any pain she felt out of her tone.
“Why not, Rachel?” Maybe her sister couldn’t, but she could.
“And you won’t either.” Rachel’s head snapped to the side, her expression fierce as she stared back at her.
Diane’s lips thinned. She hated it when Rachel could so easily guess her intentions.
“Why can’t you go to Merinus?” Diane asked rather than arguing. “She’s David’s mother, she can talk to him. If not Merinus, then Callan.”
Rachel sniffed as she rubbed her hands over her face before starting back at Diane heavily. “Because I refuse to play tattletale on a child.” She sighed wearily.
Diane had to laugh. “But, Rachel, it’s children you’re supposed to tattle on.”
Her sister’s lips almost twitched in amusement.
“Laugh, Diane.” She sat up and it was then Diane saw the tears glittering in her eyes. “I’m not going to play the bitch mother and beg Merinus Lyons to please make her son stop being so mean to my baby.”
Diane was confused now. She stared back at her sister, wondering what the real problem was here.
“I all but went to school with you for the first six years because the older kids liked to bully you,” Diane reminded her sister fondly. “I yelled at teachers and I argued with principals. Then Uncle Colt came in, glared at them all and even visited their parents and all but threatened them. But what happened to stop it, Rachel?”
“This isn’t school, Diane.” She sighed. “Kicking the bully in the balls isn’t going to fix this.”
And oh how her baby sister had kicked the bully and left him crying. Diane loved that memory.
“No, it won’t,” she agreed reasonably. “But if you don’t speak to Merinus, Callan or David, I don’t care which, then I will.”
Ignoring Rachel’s scowl she laid the now-sleeping Amber back in the bed beside her mother.
“Let it go,” her sister ordered.
“No. Find the cause and fix it, or I’ll do it for you.” Diane shrugged, unconcerned with her sister’s arguments. “And you know I will, Rachel. That’s my niece and she’s too young to have to endure a teenager’s temperamental attitude. I won’t have it.”
“It’s not that easy,” Rachel whispered. “They’re Breeds, not human children, Diane. Just as his father is. There’s more involved than puberty or teenager temper.”
“Bullshit.” Diane was in her face, nose to nose, leaning over Amber and glaring in her sister’s eyes, though she kept her tone soft, gentle, without a hint of anger or emotion that would awaken Amber. “It’s that easy. You find David, you ask him what the fuck his problem is. You get to the bottom of it, or I swear to God I will.”
Rachel’s eyes widened at her sister’s tone. “You’re serious.”
“Why so surprised, Rachel?” Diane asked between clenched teeth. “I protected you when you were little. I fought for you. Do you think there’s a chance in hell I’d not do the same for your baby? My niece?” Diane reached out, touched the tears on her sister’s face, wanting to cry herself. “Rachel, you’re my sister. We’ve been through hell together, and I’d walk through hell for my niece. Don’t you realize that?”
Rachel shook her head and Diane realized her sister feared the same things now that she had feared as a child. That her actions would hurt someone else she loved or somehow offend someone she respected.
“Jonas is a big boy and David’s parents are reasonable adults,” Diane told her sister gently. “Your mate is as alpha as his leader is. Does he even know what’s going on?”
“Not fully,” Rachel answered.
“Fix it, Rachel,” Diane ordered as she leaned close and hugged her gently. “Fix it for Amber, or I’ll do it for you.”
Diane moved from the bed and headed for the window she’d used as an entrance.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you? To find the Roberts girl,” Rachel whispered, a vein of fear filling her voice. “Alone.”
Diane turned back slowly. “You have Jonas,” she stated firmly, her voice low. “Your loyalty is to Jonas and his causes, and that’s how it should be.” She forestalled her sister’s protest with a firm look and a quick raise of her hand. “I have my own battles to fight, Rachel. There are things I have to do and I can’t do that if I’m shackled to your side, or locked inside Sanctuary.”
“I don’t want you to risk your life for us,” Rachel cried suddenly, the softness of her voice made hoarse by her tears. “That’s what you’re doing, Diane, and I can’t bear it. I’d die inside if anything happened to you because of us, because you feel you have to protect us.”
Diane shook her head. “That’s not what I’m doing, Rachel.”
“It is.” She heard her sister moving from the bed. “You’re still chasing information on Brandenmore, aren’t you? You’re still trying to save Amber.” Those tears were thicker in her voice now. “Trading your life for hers. That’s why you won’t accept Lawe—”
“No.” Diane turned quickly, furiously. “I’m not his pet, Rachel. I’m not a child he can lock in a room for my own safety. I fight.” It burned in her gut, it flamed through her mind. “I do what I need to because that’s who I am. That’s what I am. And he wants to take it from me.”
