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They had only a second’s warning. Before Jackal could react, Ely had one hand wrapped around his balls in a hard grip and a taser to his neck as she watched him fall. Releasing him, she jerked a handgun from behind her back, beneath the dark wrap she wore, and held it on Jonas.
Guests nearby screamed. A woman cursed and another declared that she knew Breeds couldn’t be civilized.
Enforcers were moving in. Callan and Taber pushed their wives back; guests cried out, as the movement to clear the ballroom became hampered by the fact that the only entrance was now guarded by a hard-eyed, savage Breed scientist, and that left only the enclosed buffet room to find safety within.
“What are you doing, Ely?” Jonas stared back at her coldly. “Stand down and return to your quarters.”
She sneered back at him, the lethal automatic handgun aimed at his heart. She looked ready to use it. Fanaticism gleamed in her eyes, and hatred seared her expression.
“Don’t order me to my quarters, you fucking girl pussy,” she hissed. “Fucking manipulator. You’re going to destroy us all.”
Guests were gasping; growls were rumbling from the Breeds moving in behind her.
“I’ll blow your heart from your chest, Jonas,” she snarled. “I won’t let you do this to Sanctuary.”
“Ely, you’re out of control.” His voice, for all its gentleness, vibrated with a hard, cold core of fury. “Give me the gun.”
“I’ll give you the bullet,” she warned him as a syringe dropped from the wide sleeve of her gown. “Tell Mercury to inject this into his arm.” She tossed the syringe. Jonas caught it easily and stared down at it.
“What is it, Ely?”
“Poison to the Breed system,” she answered easily. “It will stop his heart immediately and leave the rest of his system uncorrupted. The feral displacement will never threaten Sanctuary again, and when I dissect him, I’ll find the answers I need to make certain it never infects another Breed.”
“You would kill Mercury?” he asked her.
Ria’s hand tightened on Mercury’s arm as she felt his shock. His pain. Ely was a friend, she knew. Once trusted. And trust didn’t come easily to her mate.
“What about his woman, Ely? Would you take him from her?”
Behind them, Breeds were moving guests into the buffet room, carefully cutting Engalls and his wife and Brandenmore from the crowd. Isolating them. They had to stay isolated, contained.
Ely lifted the gun until it was level with Jonas’s heart.
“Inject yourself, Mercury, or he dies.”
Mercury moved to pull away from Ria.
“No,” Ria hissed. “I won’t lose you like this.”
He would do it. She could see it in his face. If that was what it took to ensure the safety of Sanctuary, then he would do it.
“Your first duty is to me, not to him,” she snarled.
His jaw tensed and he moved, his eyes connecting with Ria, warning her. She felt it then, that leap of connection, that bond she had never allowed herself to connect to before. As though, spirit to spirit, he was promising her that he had a plan
.
By God, he better have a plan, and death wasn’t an option.
She loosened her grip slowly, fear moving through her, terror filling her blood. She wouldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t let him do this.
As she shifted, she caught activity from the corner of her eye. Two figures moving past the entrance, heading along the foyer to the main doors. All Breed Enforcers were busy, drawn to the ballroom to protect guests and the ruling family.
Mercury eased to Jonas’s side. Alaiya Jennings moved slowly into place then caught Ria’s eyes.
On three, Ria mouthed slowly, her gaze moving slowly to Ely.
Alaiya nodded with a slow, subtle movement.
