AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s gone too far,” she told Dane.
He stared back at her coolly. “You’re going to get your heart broke, love. You know what that does to you. Makes Leo damned growly. And E
lizabeth will try to fuss over you. You know how you hate that.”
His voice was gentle, a reminder of how easily she could be hurt, and a warning. The warning came a second before Mercury’s arms surrounded her, warm and strong, and he pulled her close against his chest.
His head lowered, his lips at her ear. “You’re not leaving.” He nipped the shell of her ear after growling the demand against it.
Ria’s gaze remained locked with Dane’s, and she knew he saw what she was trying to hide even from herself.
“We have to finish this, Dane.” She let her hands grip Mercury’s wrists, aware of the suspicion directed on her now. “It can’t go any further.”
Mercury tensed behind her; Callan and Jonas watched her with hard, implacable expressions.
“Well then, I guess that’s that.” He relaxed farther back into the couch, a mocking smile crossing his lips. “If I don’t make it out of here alive, be sure to tell the Leo I did him proud,” he chuckled.
Ria shook her head and turned to Callan. “Pride Leader Lyons, it is my sincerest regret to inform you that I wasn’t sent here in any way to track expenditures by Sanctuary from the Vanderale support funds. As always, those have been given by the Leo, your father, and they have no strings attached.”
Callan rose slowly to his feet, power humming through him, his amber eyes brightening, glowing as animalistic anger began to surge inside him.
“What the hell have you two been doing in my fucking home?” He glared between them.
“Protecting it.” Dane surged to his feet as well, drawing Callan’s focus from Ria to him. “Remember, mate, she’s my employee. You have a problem with that, you’ll take it up with me.”
Callan swung back to Ria, the look on his face so filled with anger that for a moment she swore she was facing the Leo.
“Back down, Callan,” Mercury growled, trying to push her behind his larger body again. “Let’s see what she has to say first.”
“What she has to say?” Callan’s voice boomed through the cabin as Jonas moved warily to his feet. “You want me to hear what she has to say? She came into my home on a lie? Under this little bastard’s orders.” He shoved his finger toward Dane.
“I should point out, Leo and Elizabeth were wed before my conception.”
Callan turned and snarled in his face. Nose to nose. The rage emanating from him was a terrible thing to see.
“See why he brings me bribes,” Ria murmured to Callan. “This is what I have to put up with when Leo finds out I’ve helped him in one of his games. But it’s usually my face Leo’s screaming into.”
She moved to Mercury’s side, pushing at his restraining arm to no avail as Callan swung on her. He took one look at Mercury’s face before growling furiously and pacing to the other side of the room.
“That’s what Leo does when Elizabeth gets in front of him,” she whispered to Mercury. Almost amused. If it had been Leo, she might have been amused, but who knew which way Callan’s genetics had actually swung?
He turned back to them and glared at her. “I can hear every word out of your mouth,” he snapped.
“Keep snarling at me.” She watched him warily though her tone was airy. “I’ll get half a dozen perfect pearls next week rather than the few scrawny ones he would have brought me otherwise.” She shrugged, burying her fear. When one dealt with Breeds, one never admitted to fear. Even to oneself.
“What have you been doing in my home?” His tone sliced through the room, and Ria swallowed tightly. Even Dane appeared a bit wary.
“Tracking the person or persons responsible for slipping information about Breed mating heat and age depression to a pharmaceutical company researching a drug to exploit its ability to work on the human body. Three non-Breeds have already died and one is missing due to that research, and scientific information regarding it is leaking from your home, Pride Leader Lyons.”
“Impossible,” he snarled furiously. “Every transmission, every fax, every breath taken in that compound is monitored. There’s no way to slip that information out. Not without being caught.”
“There is, though,” she told him softly. “If you’re trained in creating a code to carry it, then you can slip anything out. Unless someone trained to break that code finds it. I found the code, Mr. Lyons; now I just have to break it.”
Silence filled the room. Jonas, Callan and Dane all stared at her in suspended disbelief.
“You can pay up when we get back to the office,” Rye commented to Dane from his position on the couch. “I told you she’d do it in less than a month.”
“Are you telling me someone within the estate house has been giving secrets to some fucking bastard Council researchers? And he knew about it?” His finger pointed imperiously to Dane.
