by Lora Leigh
That hurt. It broke her heart. It tore at something she wasn’t even certain she recognized. It tore at her sense of justice and her sense of self.
“He wants you to be here for us,” Rachel whispered, her voice hesitant and concerned.
“Even if I’ll die confined, Rachel?” she asked painfully. “You always dreamed of a family, of a place to settle down and have babies. Jonas and Amber, they are your dream. This was what you always wanted.” Moving to her sister she caught Rachel’s hands and held them firmly, staring into her eyes, desperate to make her understand. “What about my dream? Did you ever ask yourself what my dream was or if I had the right to it?”
“You do it because of Mom and Dad and how they were killed. Uncle Colt convinced you—” Rachel cried. “That is why you fight.”
Diane shook her head again. “No. I fight because that’s my dream, Rachel. I don’t want a jailer or a protector. I want a partner. I want someone who will let me fight when I need to fight and let me rest when I need to rest. I don’t want to be told when I need to do either one because, trust me, I know what I need and I know when I need it. And what I don’t need is to be handcuffed or locked away in Sanctuary where everyone is happy and satisfied because I’m safe.” She wanted to cry with her sister. She wanted to howl at the pain for never being accepted for what she needed, yet always giving as much of herself as possible. “Rachel, let me be me,” she whispered with a desperation she hadn’t realized was trapped inside her. “If I can’t be me, then there’s no reason to even exist or to fight to live. Don’t you understand that?”
Rachel’s arms were suddenly around her, holding her tight as Diane wrapped her own arms around her sister comfortingly.
“I’m so sorry, Diane.” Leaning back she stared up, allowing Diane to see the true regret in her eyes.
Diane swiped at her own tears. “I wish we could be kids again. That the innocence we once knew was still a part of us.”
“But it is.” Rachel’s lips trembled as she tried to smile. “I see it in Amber. I see your eyes, Dad’s grin, Mom’s brows. I see the children we once were and I know the happiness I want for her. And I see everything Brandenmore could be stealing if his evil manages to take her away from us.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Diane swore. “I’ll find them, Rachel. I swear I will.”
“Help me,” Rachel whispered then, her lips trembling now. “Help save my baby, Diane.” A silent sob shook her sister’s fragile body. “I don’t know if I could survive losing her.”
Diane had to fight her own tears as they held on to each other; fear was eating at them while hope continued to burn inside them.
“I’ll find Honor Roberts,” Diane swore. “Whatever kept them alive, I’ll do everything in my power to make certain Amber has it.”
Rachel swiped at the tears on her face. “I know you will.” She sniffed. “And I’ll help you however I can.”
“Just believe in me, Rachel,” Diane requested painfully. “Don’t help them tie me down. If we’re truly sisters, believe in me as you did when we were children.”
In her sister’s eyes she saw the regret, the love, and the fear. The fear that had been there ever since Rachel first learned Diane was joining their uncle’s team. That her sister would be risking her life in the line of fire.
“I’m sorry,” Rachel whispered. “I stood with Jonas because I’m terrified of losing you. Of losing the only person I know besides Jonas who would face hell for me. But I’d face it for you too. I’d face anything to see you safe and knowing that safety isn’t what you want terrifies me.”
“I know.” And she did.
“But safety would kill you faster than a bullet would,” Rachel guessed.
It was the truth. It was the truest thing in Diane’s life. She met her sister’s gaze as they both blinked back tears.
“Then do what you have to do.” Rachel released her then and stepped back with a tearful smile. “Do what you have to do, Diane. I’ll never stand against you again.”
That was an admission Diane knew wasn’t easy for her sister.
“Thanks, Rachel,” she whispered. “For being my sister. If you need me, if anything happens, I’ll tell you where I’m going, if you swear to keep that secret to yourself.”
She knew her sister. Rachel would make herself insane if she didn’t know where Diane would be. And she knew Lawe would find her eventually, either way.
Leaning close, she whispered the information in her sister’s ear, just in case Jonas had left an electronic listening device on the chance Diane slipped into the room.
Rachel nodded as Diane gave her one last hug before pulling away and forcing herself to leave.
Moving to the window Diane managed to shimmy through the narrow opening onto the ledge beyond before making her way across several window ledges to the corner and the drain pipe that followed the line of the building down more than twenty stories.
She knew Rachel was watching as she slid the gloves from her pockets and then clipped a metal latch hook to her belt and to the rope she had already prepared. Looping it around the metal pipe, Diane made her way to the ground below. Crouching, she moved quickly to the heavy shrubbery that decorated the lawn and led to the parking lot beyond.
It took only minutes to make her way to the Land Rover she’d had delivered for her journey. Slipping inside she breathed out roughly, started the vehicle and pulled out of the parking slot.
Leaving like this, without her men, without backup, was unfamiliar but strangely satisfying. She’d always fought with a safety net. There was no net now. Just her, her training and her instincts.
And her goal.
Saving her niece. And maybe she would prove to Lawe that she was strong enough to not just walk beside him, but to fight beside him. Without that acceptance, without her ability to do what she had to do, Diane knew, a part of her soul would die.
Then, she wouldn’t be of use to anyone.
Especially a mate.
• • •
Watching the vehicle pull away as the first rays of dawn began to stretch fragile light across the sky, Rachel breathed in deeply and made a decision she prayed she wouldn’t regret.
She knew Diane, perhaps better than her sister liked. She had seen the pain in her eyes, heard it in her voice when she had sworn she would die if she couldn’t fight. When she had whispered with aching hunger of the partner she needed.
And Rachel knew Lawe. The Breed cared for her sister. Hell, he loved Diane, he just wasn’t ready to admit it. But, what he didn’t realize was that he loved Diane because of exactly who and what she was, not for what he thought he wanted her to be.
If Rachel allowed Diane to go off on her own and, God forbid, she was harmed, then Lawe would never forgive her for not telling him where she was heading.
She would never forgive herself.
First, she had to figure out how to tell him without Diane feeling betrayed.
It took a while, but she had a plan.
Smiling, she showered, called the Feline Lioness who had taken the position of nanny and prepared to invade the meeting for which Jonas had left their bed.
Her sister was stubborn as hell and just as willful.
It would take careful maneuvering, of both Diane as well as Lawe, but Jonas had taught her quite a bit.
Rachel was extremely confident she could pull this off. That she could ensure the mating of her sister and the Breed commander. Rachel was determined to see that her sister had the life she dreamed of and the happiness she deserved.
•CHAPTER 7•
Diane was late.
As Jonas filled in the alphas of the Prides and Packs, including the two who had traveled from Europe to represent the growing number of Breeds coming out of hiding there, Lawe felt his frown deepen.
It was three quarters after ten. She was late enough that if she wasn’t there within the next quarter hour then he was going hunting for her.
He should have already do
ne so, he thought impatiently as he felt the restless energy beginning to sizzle through his body. His instincts were that heightened, a sense of awareness prodding at him, warning him.
Something wasn’t right.
Diane was never late. What had possessed him to allow Jonas to convince him that she was simply irritated with them all and making them wait for the hell of it.
That wasn’t Diane’s style.
He could feel the tension flooding his body, a warning that it wasn’t right and he should go now, that he should head straight to her rooms and find her.
Her men had flown out hours earlier, each heading for a different area of the United States. Even Thor was gone.
She wouldn’t go out alone—
The hell she wouldn’t.
Why hadn’t he seen the clues?
Straightening from the position he had taken against the wall, Lawe moved to leave the room and check on his too-independent mate.
He hadn’t even taken that first step when a hard, demanding knock sounded on the door and the scent of Jonas’s mate reach his senses.
Lawe’s gaze moved to Jonas as a sudden knowledge flooded his system. Animal genetics surged to the forefront of his senses as he bit back a growl and forced himself to remain in place.
A Breed Enforcer moved to the door and opened it quickly. Rachel Wyatt swept into the room in a cloud of heated anger and resentment as she moved to her mate, the director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs.
Jonas turned to the door as the delicate figure of his mate entered the room.
Jonas’s mated wife was lovely, compassionate and intelligent. With her quiet femininity and iron-strong will, she was the perfect counter for his icy, sharp-edged son. There was little Jonas managed to pull over on her, yet there was also little that she wouldn’t forgive him.
Long, dark brown hair was pulled atop her head in a classic twist, thin-framed glasses perched on her nose as her gaze locked on her husband’s. Her expression was tight, her lips thin and the scent of her anger drifted through the room like the scent of hot, rich sugar.
“Rachel?” The question in Jonas’s tone, gently voiced and curious still had the power to surprise those who had only known the hard lash of his tongue before he found his mate.
As though the animal inside Jonas, always pacing restlessly, furiously, had suddenly found solace and a sudden, overwhelming peace. That peace descended over Jonas as his wife moved to him and took the hand he reached out to her.
“What have the two of you done to my sister?” she asked him, her voice low, her tone accusing and distressed as she stared up at her husband.
“Nothing as of yet,” Jonas assured her as Lawe ignored the look of retaliation in the director’s eyes. “Though I’m certain Lawe has a few things in mind.”
Rachel gave a brief, less-than-feminine snort to the statement. “I rather doubt he’s going to get the chance to do anything. Whatever you said to her last night, she packed and left before dawn this morning. I’ve missed my sister, Jonas, and you allowed him to run her off as though she were some criminal with no rights and no ability to choose her own fate. Since when was the decision made that a suspected mate should become a prisoner?”
She wasn’t pleased. And her displeasure was centered more on him than on her mate, Lawe knew as he felt his own fury beginning to tighten through his system. The pain that pulsed and burned inside her reached out to slice at each man in the room, and to remind him of his basic responsibilities to his mate.
That of her happiness.
Lawe could feel the condemnation in each glance directed his way.
Then, Jonas turned and glared momentarily at Lawe for having the temerity to do anything to displease Diane and, in effect, displease her sister as well.
“The hell she has.” Lawe fought to hold back the growl rumbling in his chest.
He knew he should never have left her alone. The night before, something had warned him not to take his eyes off her. Not to trust her. But he had never imagined she would dare attempt to leave without backup. Without her men. Especially after her capture and near death not so long ago.
Ignoring the looks Jonas and the others cast his way, Lawe quickly began trying to figure out which way she was heading and why.
The girl, Honor Roberts, no doubt, he thought furiously. Diane had no intention of letting it go or of allowing anyone else to take over the completion of that mission. Jonas could feel a growl building in his throat at the low rumble of anger that left Lawe’s throat. As though he refused to believe Diane Broen would dare to leave without his permission. Even Jonas had expected this move, yet Lawe had done nothing to stop it.
The Breed was too certain of himself, too assured of his hold over Diane despite the lack of mating between them. It amazed Jonas. Where had his friend, the man he considered more intuitive than any other, disappeared?
“The hell she definitely has.” Rachel crossed her arms over her breasts and turned to Lawe with narrowed, angry eyes. “I just talked to her a few hours ago, Lawe. Even I was unaware she was leaving until she slipped into my room to tell me. I watched her shimmy down the metal gutter twenty stories down as the sun rose, because it was easier to slip away from the goon squad you put on her. What did you do? Pull the big brave Breed act on her again?” She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Didn’t I warn you that you were going to frighten her away?” Unshed tears rasped her voice now and glittered in her eyes. “You can’t chain her. You can’t force her to be some timid little pet. You’re going to get her killed by forcing her to focus more on her fight for freedom than on protecting herself.”
“She’s going to get herself killed because of her own damned stubbornness,” Lawe all but snarled as Jonas attempted to hide his wince.
That wasn’t the response that should have come out of his mouth.
Rachel’s brows lifted in derisive, angry surprise. “So she should just play the helpless little female for you like your other conquests do and let you go out and play all by yourself then?” A sharp laugh left her lips. “Really, Lawe, I thought you were smarter than that. Just because you gave up active military status for bureaucratic bullshit and the logistical planning you love, doesn’t give you the right to imprison her.”
Lawe glared back at her.
Jonas wondered if he should commiserate with his soon-to-be assistant director or kick his ass. He saw the way Lawe was staring at her, his eyes glittering with fury, and the look had a warning growl vibrating in Jonas’s throat.
“Keep trying to protect her, Lawe,” Rachel said painfully. “All you’ll do is keep her running. And each time she runs she’ll become harder to find and more determined to suffer the heat alone rather than attempt to make it work with you. She’s worked too hard to give up her independence or to allow any man, especially
