by Lora Leigh
That had been happening more and more often. Scents that were out of place, impressions and instincts she wasn’t familiar with.
Shaking her head, she gave a quick glance at the jeans, sleeveless camisole top and sneakers she’d donned to be sure she looked presentable before turning and leaving the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she stilled, her head turning quickly to the balcony doors.
“Eh. Let’s not attempt to run,” the tall male standing inside her room aimed the barrel of a laser gun at her chest and smiled coolly. “I’d hate to have to dispose of you. The price on your head isn’t worth nearly as much if you’re not alive.”
Her senses began exploding then. The impression of Devil, Lobo and Dash quickly nearing her room, fury surging through them as they raced for her.
Devil’s scent was clear, sharp and acrid with his rage. Lobo was determined and definitely furious, but his scent was more calculating. Dash Sinclair’s was icy cold, and all three men were intent on murder.
She stood still, and she waited.
“Rather impressive, mating with the Devil,” the dark-haired stranger drawled. “Perhaps you’ve already conceived.”
She shook her head slowly. She would know if she had.
“You’re too soon,” she said softly. “It’s the wrong time of the month. Besides, Wolf Breeds don’t conceive easily. Remember?”
To that, he gave a muted chuckle. “Most don’t. You, on the other hand, as exceptional as you are, can definitely conceive easily, as I hear it. Now, why don’t you just walk on over here, nice and slow, so I can cuff you and catch our ride out of the ranch.”
She could hear the muffled sound of a covert helicopter moving in on the house. No doubt every Breed in the place could hear it as well. It was quiet, she gave him that. Likely completely silent to him. Someone had definitely done their homework in attempting to hide it. But, they hadn’t quite gotten it right.
“I’d rather die than leave with you.” She shrugged as though unconcerned and prepared herself to move. “And what did you say, the price wasn’t nearly as high if I’m dead?”
He frowned back at her. “I hear the Devil’s besotted with you. From that mark on your neck, I can see that he’s mated you. Do you really want to chance leaving him to a life where he can never have another woman, another lover or a family if I kill you? Wouldn’t you prefer to at least give him the chance to rescue you?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be worth finding.” She smiled then. “Besides, I’m a greedy bitch. I want him to remember me forever.”
That clearly threw him off.
Devil and the others were at the top of the stairs now, racing furiously for her room. She was at the end of the hall. With a running go, Devil would take her door down instantly, surprising her would-be kidnapper and drawing his attention against his will.
Using the force he’d enter with, Devil would evade the shot that may possibly go off, and knowing Lobo and Dash, she’d be anticipating the quick trigger finger with calculating assurance.
At the most, the mirror on the dresser would shatter about one second before Devil took this man’s head off his shoulders.
“Don’t be difficult, bitch,” he snapped out, his brown eyes narrowing furiously.
“But it’s what I live for.”
She dove for the floor at the same second that Devil exploded against the door.
The shot went off, glass exploded.
Lunging to her feet, Kate jumped for the mercenary, or the Council soldier, whatever he was. The only chance he had of living was if she got to him first.
Shock held him for that extra second she needed to kick the weapon from his hand, ram her knee into his crotch, then slam her elbow into his neck with enough force to knock him to the floor, unconscious, before slamming the balcony door against the sound of the helicopter circling the side of the house to pick the bastard up.
As the door closed she swung around, knelt in front of the fallen soldier and met her mate’s furious scowl as he crouched in front of her, prepared to leap for an enemy that was no longer in position for the killing blow he would have made.
Devil’s black and amber gaze flickered to the unconscious soldier, then to Kate as she stared back at him, determination narrowing her eyes.
“Mate, why are you protecting garbage?” he asked with lazy curiosity as he sensed both Lobo and Dash quickly reassessing the situation and relaxing their primal rush for blood.
“One man’s trash.” She shrugged with a suggestive smile. “Another’s treasure?”
Was that jealousy striking at his brain and bringing the taste of blood to his senses?
“Is he your treasure then?” He nodded to the fallen form.
Katie grimaced. What an awful description.
“Perhaps not him,” she admitted as she rose slowly from her crouch and faced the man she’d been told was her “mate.” “But, the information he might have is something else entirely.”
She looked down at him again, remembering where she had seen him and the significance of the information he may well hold.
“What information could a mercenary possibly hold?” Devil asked as he took the two steps toward her, gripped her arm and unceremoniously dragged her away from the “garbage.”
“I’ve seen him before,” she admitted, turning to stare down at him as well. “Da has a picture of him in his study alongside four other men who were at the labs the night he found me. They were assigned to the labs, and one of them shot Da’s best friend, Jorn Langer. When Da was forced to leave the body to hide me, he then went back during the cleanup phase of the liberation. Jorn’s body was missing and this man as well as his three cohorts were seen dragging the body away.”
“Langer’s alive then?” Lobo questioned, the significance of the information drawing a frown to his brow.
She shook her head. “Da’s certain he was dead. Khileen’s mother had him officially declared dead before your marriage to her, so it wouldn’t affect you or Khileen legally in any way. Da wants to fulfill a promise he and his friend made to each other as young men, a promise to make certain that if one went before the other, the surviving one would ensure the other was buried in their family cemetery in Ireland. And he wants to know why they took his body.” That more than anything tormented her father, Kate knew.
“I couldn’t let you kill him, Dev,” she said softly. “Da’s searched for these men since the night Jorn disappeared. He left him to save me. Jorn died to help Da rescue me before anyone else knew of my existence there. I couldn’t let him die.”
Hell, this woman would probably surprise him until the day he drew his last breath. She was a wonder he had no idea how to decipher, and no way of understanding how he had deserved her.
“Get the garbage out of here,” he ordered Graeme as the other man rushed into the room. He’d clearly not followed Devil’s orders to go into town. “Then find those reporters as I told you to do.”
“I sent Flint to follow the reporters,” Graeme stated, his tone flat with disgust. “I delegate, Devil. There’s too much damned excitement around here for me to be gone for long. Why the hell didn’t you call me before rushing up here? If I hadn’t heard that damned copter, I’d have never known we had trouble.”
Devil’s brow lifted as he stared back at the other man, waiting.
“Do I look stupid today?” the other man demanded arrogantly. “Our heli was in the air instantly, and the team aboard it just reported they’ve taken the pilot into custody.” He tapped the earbud he wore securely in his ear.
Yeah, he was going to have to start using his, Devil decided as he turned back to his mate.
She had turned and rested on her haunches several feet back from the unconscious man, her head tipped sideways as she studied him.
Now he knew exactly why the European Breed Protection Network had so hated losing her. As she stared at the man, senses she wasn’t aware she had, senses that were so much a natural part of her, were assess
ing him, committing each feature to memory, each scent, and drawing in every bit of knowledge that her primal senses could pick up on.
“Kate?” he questioned her softly.
Not Kate.
Katie was the girl she had been, Kate was the woman who had come to that bed with him and broken down the barriers he’d built to keep her out of his heart. Kate was the mature, instinctive, highly adept Breed female the animal inside him had known she was.
No wonder his own primal instincts had rushed to claim her as soon as possible. The animal part of him had known no other woman could match him as fully as this woman did.
“He hasn’t bathed in several days,” she murmured. “He’s been on the estate, watching and waiting.” She tipped her head to the other side and Devil swore he could feel her assessing things she wasn’t even aware she had the senses to assess.
“He wasn’t alone. I can smell several others’ scents on him. Not just one, so he and the pilot aren’t the extent of the team sent out to capture me. But the other scents aren’t as strong. He’s not been around them in a few days.”
Devil gave Graeme a speaking look, to which the other Breed gave a quick nod.
He wanted those men, each and every one of them. He’d send a message to whoever had sent them out. Kate was his, and the Devil did not tolerate anyone at any time striking against what belonged to him.
Moving to her side, Devil watched her face then, seeing the frown that creased her brow and the look of confusion that filled her gaze. Bending down as well, he drew in the scents that covered the male and tried to find what was confusing her.
As she said, the soldier was working with at least two others. Their scents were too much a part of the soldier, yet not strong enough to indicate that he’d been in their presence for several days. They were likely awaiting him somewhere with transportation to spirit Kate out of the States and back to Europe.
He had definitely been on the estate for several days. The land around them held a unique scent, just as all places did. A combination of the ground, the movement on it and the plants that grew within it. The scent he carried was definitely that of the grounds within the secured stone wall Lobo had erected around four acres that the house sat in the center of.
Then, he found the scent confusing her. It was subtle, so subtle that even he couldn’t filter it enough to identify it, but it was definitely one he’d known before. One that was unique, and teased his senses as one well known.
Known to not just Kate, evidently, but to himself as well.
“Have you figured it out yet?” she asked him softly.
He shook his head. “It’s too weak.”
She nodded, then slowly rose to her feet and moved back as Lobo took her place.
If the scent was well known to Devil, then it was possible, highly possible, it was known to Lobo as well.
“Familiar,” Lobo muttered. “But I can’t get enough of it to identify it.”
“My problem as well.” Devil grimaced before rising and moving to Kate.
His arm went around her possessively, drawing her to his side as he turned to Graeme and gave the other man a nod.
Flicking his fingers to the Breeds behind him, Graeme moved aside to allow them to haul the soldier to his feet as he groaned weakly.
“Lock him in the cells,” Graeme ordered harshly. “I’ll be in later to question him.”
The cells were just as stated. Iron cells, secure and impossible to escape once locked. They were buried beneath the stables with only one way in and only one way out. Once they had him down there, he was at their mercy. And Devil knew there was little, if any, mercy in Graeme for anyone besides himself.
Graeme knew loyalty. He understood compassion. Mercy to the enemy was something else entirely. That didn’t exist in Graeme’s little world. And he sure as hell didn’t apologize for it.
“Call Da, let him know he’s here.”
Devil looked down at her, then back to Graeme, and read the other Breed’s instinctive rejection of the request.
Well, not a request exactly, Devil admitted with a small grain of amusement.
“I’ll call him personally.” It was Lobo who agreed to the demand voiced at the last minute, as a request, Devil thought as he hid his smile and nodded to the man he’d followed since his liberation from the Council lab.
“Lilith, get Jonas out here. Now.” Lobo turned to the small female Breed who had entered the room silently.
Lobo’s personal assistant was a quiet, submissive little Wolf Breed who always seemed rather painfully shy.
Pushing a pair of glasses up her nose, Lilith made a quick note on the small electronic pad she carried.
“And I want a team together now! By God I want to know where that bastard was hiding and why he wasn’t detected before he got into my fucking house.” He stared around the room then, his face darkening. “And find my fucking stepdaughter now.”
The throttled fury that lit his voice had everyone moving. Only Kate remained in place, her hold on Devil’s arm tightening as he moved to search for Khileen.
“She’s in her room,” she stated softly, though Lobo clearly heard her.
He turned back to her slowly. “How do you know where she is? Even I can’t catch her scent from that distance.”
Kate grimaced then before a small smile tugged at her lips.
“I kind of put this in before leaving the bathroom.” She removed the small earbud communication device with a slight shrug. “She just woke up from her nap and activated her side. Give her a minute to figure out something’s going on—”
“Oh my God! And you let me sleep through it? You fucking bitch!” Khileen screeched across the line.
A second later her bedroom door slammed farther up the hall as she came racing to Kate’s room.
She came to a full stop at the doorway, eyes wide, shocked, looking around as though searching for some remnants of whatever she missed.
Then her gaze lit on Kate with Devil’s arm wrapped around her. It dropped to her friend’s neck, her lips parting, eyes narrowing.
“So fucking not fair,” she muttered then.
“Your language is deteriorating, Khi,” Lobo chastised her gently, warningly.
“Yeah, well the Big Bad Wolf’s not exactly here,” she grumbled before turning back to Kate and shaking her head in disappointment. “So not fair, Katie,” she repeated. “You were supposed to tell me if it happened.”
“It happened.” The laughter in Kate’s voice had Devil wanting to smile.
He swore he could feel something akin to, or perhaps far surpassing, happiness, as it exploded inside him.
Kate’s arm tightened around his back as the other moved to circle his hips and hug him close.
“Bitch,” Khileen sighed again before giving Lobo a defiant look.
“While I have you here, could you please do something about the acoustics in this damned place. If it happens outside my bedroom, then it may as well not even be happening,” she accused him with no small amount of anger. “And I simply don’t like it.”
She turned and stalked back to her room. Evidently, this time, she left the door open.
Lobo shook his head. “One of these days, remind me to kill Tiberian. Slowly,” he muttered of his brother. “Very slowly.”
He left the room, throwing his hand up in a silent farewell and heading, Devil knew, for the cells.
Where he was heading himself.
Turning to his mate and lifting her chin with his fingers, he placed a quick kiss to her waiting lips. “I won’t be long,” he promised.
“Better not be,” she warned him. “Because I think I want to bite you again.”
He paused, turning back to her quickly, hunger gleaming in his gaze as Kate stared up at him with definite interest.
“One hour,” he promised.
“You have forty-five minutes,” she decided.
His gaze narrowed.
“Want to try for forty?”
A
manly grunt and a snarl, and he was quickly striding from the room, definitely intent on making the most of his forty minutes.
Which was forty minutes longer than she should have had to wait, she decided with a smile as she stared around the destruction littering her bedroom floor. Ah well, it would give her time to move into his bedroom. She liked it better anyway.
EIGHT
There wasn’t much left of the human to question.
The Breed known as Graeme stared down at the bloodied face, split lips, the swollen eyes, and had to force himself not to rip the bastard’s head off.
But, he had the information he wanted.
He’d had the information he wanted hours ago though. It had really taken no more than flexing the feline claws his nails became and raking the sharpened tips, normally hidden in a groove at the top of his finger, over the man’s chest. There were now four bloody furrows that would need stitches soon.
If Graeme decided to allow him to live longer.
The pilot wasn’t in much better shape, though he’d had less information. A fly-by-night pilot that hired his services out for a paltry amount, considering the risk he’d taken this time.
This one, he’d simply turn over to the Bureau of Breed Affairs agent being sent to collect him.
The other, Graeme wanted to keep just a while longer. He had a feeling his friends might come looking for him. Sometimes there was a sense of loyalty among humans that made men do stupid things. Things like attempting to rescue friends who had made decidedly poor choices.
Besides, Devil’s woman wanted certain information for her father. Information Lobo Reever wouldn’t mind having as well. There were several questions regarding his wife’s death that had yet to be answered. Questions he knew the Wolf Breed needed before bringing his brother, Tiberian, back to the States.
Until then, he could simply have fun and take his aggressions out on the human for a while. After all, a Breed that had been driven slowly insane over the years, only to find that sanity rather abruptly once again, needed something to amuse himself with until he had his own plans in place.
