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He could smell her heat, her arousal. He could smell the need and the anger and it spurred his own. But he could also smell her fear, her pain, her discomfort and a sense that the world was falling apart around her.
She had survived her father’s abuse because she understood it. She had survived it and dealt with it even as she worked toward his destruction. But she didn’t know how to handle acceptance. She had no idea how to handle love.
And he couldn’t afford to argue the point with her here. Not while everyone was watching. Not that the cabinet would ever speak of anything that happened inside this room, but he needed their confusion where the mating was concerned. He needed their reactions to the uncertainty of whether or not he and Cabal had continued their games with Scheme.
Before she or anyone else could object, he had her over his shoulder, her squeak of surprise following her hands bracing at his back as she struggled against the dominant hold he had on her.
“Stay still. ” He tapped her rounded little fanny, smiling tightly as he stalked through the room and headed at a quick lope for the stairs.
“Are you crazy?” she screeched from her upside-down position.
“It’s a popular opinion,” he assured her tightly as Cabal moved ahead of them, entering the suite before Tanner followed him.
As the door closed behind them, Tanner set her upright on the floor, and before she could voice what appeared to be a very loud protest, he pressed his fingers against her lips indicating silence.
She was fast. Smart. A frown instantly formed between her brows as suspicion filled her eyes.
Turning, she watched as Cabal began checking the room for electronic devices. Several minutes later he stored the small device he was using away and shook his head.
“It’s clear,” he finally said.
“They’re smarter than I thought they were,” Tanner muttered as he moved across the room to the electronic jammer at the side of the windows. He found two loosened wires when he disabled the device and lifted the protective covering from it. That wouldn’t have disabled it, but it would have severely weakened it.
Shaking his head, he replaced the wires, reset the device and secured it back to the wall. Propping his hands on his hips, he growled low in his throat as he lowered his head and shook it wearily.
“Whoever it is can get into the house easily,” Cabal said then. “I didn’t expect tha
t. ”
Tanner lifted his head and stared back at Scheme. He hadn’t truly expected it either.
Scheme wrapped her arms over her breasts and stared back at Tanner uncertainly. She could see the concern in his gaze now as he watched her, just as she had seen the hope that she had been wrong. That whoever the spy was, he wasn’t in a position that would afford easy entrance into any part of the estate house.
“This is going to be a problem,” Cabal said softly.
Scheme looked from Cabal to Tanner. “What’s going to be a problem?”
“Convincing the Breeds here in Sanctuary that both of us have mated you. ” Cabal’s grin was all teeth.
Scheme narrowed her eyes back at him. She hadn’t forgotten the terror that had filled her the night before when he had held her against the stone wall, acting for all the world as though rape were nothing new to him.
“Good luck,” she said sweetly. “It’s going to be hard to do when I won’t let you within a hundred feet of me. ”
Cabal grimaced at that, his gaze shifting to Tanner.
“Don’t even look at him like that,” Scheme ordered roughly as she turned to Tanner. “Tell him to leave, Tanner. ”
Tanner crossed his arms over his chest. “Cabal, you can spend some time in the bathroom. ” He nodded to the door that led into the other room.
Scheme stared back at him in shock. “Are you insane?”
“Probably,” Tanner grunted. “But everyone in Sanctuary knows us. They know the games we play with our women, and there’s been speculation for years that we would end up mating the same woman. I need them to believe that’s exactly what happened so Cabal won’t be suspected to be watching for danger. Mating heat burns through the senses, Scheme; it makes us weak for a time. Cabal can watch our backs if we play this correctly. ”
She shot Cabal a glare. “And I’m just supposed to accept that?”
Cabal’s expression shifted, became suddenly more relaxed, less cool and hard to read. And regret lay in his eyes. “I had to frighten you, Scheme; otherwise dumbass over there might have convinced himself he really wasn’t your mate. He wanted your safety, your protection bad enough that he would have kept hold on that primal part of himself to achieve it. I would never have hurt you. ”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “I had that part figured out. That doesn’t mean I want you in the bed with us. ”
