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The smile that pulled at her lips had nothing to do with amusement.
"Yeah, sure, Lance. I'll get ready. " She stepped back from him, lifting her chin as she pushed back the disillusionment, the pain. "I'll even hurry. " _________
Lance watched her leave, his chest clenching painfully as he searched for the answers he needed in the air around him. It was strangely quiet. There were no echoes of cries or of innocence, as though the winds had deserted him. She wouldn't lie to him, but that wouldn't stop Jonas. And now, when he needed the whispers in the air, they were gone. God, didn't that just figure. Not that he believed she had actually committed the crime. Once she denied it, he knew she hadn't. But someone had, and they were damned determined to frame Harmony for it. His teeth ground together as he forced himself to the shower rather than follow Harmony.
What the hell was he supposed to do now? He had to ask her, he had to know if she had done it. Not that he would have blamed her if she had. He knew her, knew the demons that rode her, and he knew how hard this had to be on her.
Jaime Mason was a tiny little kid for his age. He was always dirty, and always terrified. Liza, his mother, wasn't much better. Both were too young to know how the hell to handle the fear Tommy Mason could mete out. And that was something he knew haunted Harmony. That weakness and fear. The knowledge that monsters used it so easily.
Biting back his curse, he rushed through his shower, forcing himself to wake up, to think. This was going to turn into a nightmare if he wasn't damned careful. He could feel it. Jonas wouldn't be able to keep from using this against her.
Harmony was waiting for him half an hour later when he strode through the hallway. Leaning against the kitchen doorway, her thumbs braced in the wide, leather belt strapped across her hips.
"Let's go," he said. "I want to get there before the scene gets too cold. " She followed behind him silently.
"Did you see anyone when you left the house?" he asked as the doors to the Raider closed.
"I didn't see anyone. I could smell Jonas's man Lawe from the front of the house, but I doubt he saw me. I didn't want to be followed. "
"Sometimes, you're a little too independent," he growled. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Oh, because I'm a big girl. " She waved her hand mockingly. "And I didn't want to argue over a simple run. "
"A simple run that could have ended in your kidnapping?"
"Maybe. It was a chance I took. I won't accept a cage. Not of any sort. Not even for you. "
His hands clenched on the steering wheel. "Even if it means your safety?"
"My safety wasn't involved," she said softly. "If it had been, you would have been warned. The winds speak to you. You would have awakened before I slipped from the house. "
He turned to her slowly. She was staring straight ahead, her features perfectly composed, but he could feel the pain radiating from her.
"Someone saw you leave the house," he said softly. "They used your need to run to frame you for a murder that's going to bring Jonas down on your ass. You're not alone anymore, Harmony. It's not you against the world. It's both of us. And maybe it's time you start considering that. "
She was going to drive him to a stroke if this happened on a regular basis. Deliberately placing her life in danger, knowing the odds were stacked against her, and pitting herself against them anyway.
He wasn't experienced enough in the messages the wind brought him; he had yet to take his grandfather up on the training that would aid him in calling the wind to him. Until he knew he could protect her, knew the winds would call to him if she was away from him, in enough time to save her, then he couldn't relax.
As he turned the Raider onto the main road, he glanced at her silent profile. She was so fucking used to being alone, to answering to no one. This would be hard on her, and once she learned she had conceived, it would be even harder on both of them. Restraining the need to return home, to reassure her, Lance pressed his foot to the gas pedal instead and sped to the Mason home. The evidence against her could be too easily used. And Lance knew Jonas; he would use it. Whatever he wanted from Harmony, this would play right into his plans.
____________
The wound was consistent with the bartender's. Harmony hunched down and tilted her head, staring at where the cut began. From left to right, beginning just under the left ear and ending in an upward angle just below the right ear. The murderer was strong, strong enough to hold Tommy Mason still by his head while he made the cut. From the angle, she could tell Mason's head had been tilted back against something. Harmony braced her forearms on her knees and narrowed her eyes as she tracked the wound. It was very neatly made, precise. The blade was most definitely a K-bar, but it hadn't been specially modified. Her blade held an edge that even the Special Forces members who carried them didn't attain.
Someone hadn't done their homework. But it didn't surprise her that she was being framed. Someone knew she was here, which meant Jonas hadn't found his little spy at Sanctuary.
"You know, that position is just wrong on so many levels, Harmony. " Harmony lifted her gaze to Lance as he stepped into the bedroom, eyeing her as she straddled Mason's body.
"The lighting is better," she murmured. "Someone isn't taking proper care of their blade. Come here. "
He stepped over to the body.
Harmony used the pencil she had borrowed from a deputy earlier and pointed close to the jagged tear of the otherwise neat upper slice.
"There's a knick in his blade. A pretty good one. If you noticed earlier…"
"I noticed…" His voice overcut her words.
