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She stared at him in shock. He hadn’t just said that. Had he?
“Lawe?” Jonas’s head jerked up, his gaze intent, the silver depths suddenly seeming to shimmer, to shift in light and color until they almost seemed reflective.
Lawe’s expression was torn, tormented. “You’re right, Jonas. It’s the wrong time for this battle between me and my mate. She keeps telling me that, and I keep refusing to understand. Until now,” he stated heavily. “She’s doing nothing I wouldn’t do in her place. Hell, I would have shot me long before now if I were my mate, for standing in my way.”
Diane’s lips parted, hope surging inside her now.
She harbored no illusion that this could be the start of an attempt to compromise, because she knew better. Lawe’s devotion to all children, but to Amber in particular, was pulling at him. The fact that he and Jonas were more than fellow soldiers, that they were close friends, played a large part as well.
She watched the claws retract within the tips of Jonas’s fingers, barely holding back a shudder when nothing showed but the normal nail now, and the bloody cuticles. He wiped his hand over his face and moved back to his mate, taking her in his arms before turning back to Lawe.
“We all need to hear the plan,” Callan stated. “And trust me, Diane, it will be vetoed if it puts you at risk in any way. Are we clear on that? I’m not your mate, and I can’t be swayed by your emotion.”
Diane glanced at Merinus, wondering if she had an ally there.
Merinus’s lips twitched. “Your sister is one of my dearest friends,” she said gently. “And I know my soul would shatter if anything happened to either of my babies. But know this, Diane, Callan and I have a trust I won’t break. As cruel, as inhuman and brutal as it sounds, Rachel can have other children. If Lawe loses you, though, then we lose not just you, but Lawe, and any children you may have.” She glanced at Rachel as the other woman turned her head into Jonas’s chest in grief, and her eyes flashed with sorrow. “Rachel and I have discussed this. If I ever feel there’s danger to either of you, then I swear, your mates will know about it.”
At that moment, Diane almost hated the other woman.
“Amber can never be replaced,” Diane assured the female alpha coldly. “Know this, all of you. If Amber dies because any of you stood in my way, or took this from me, then I swear I’ll make damned sure I make all of your lives hell.”
Merinus’s gentle expression never changed. “We never doubted that for a moment,” she breathed out roughly. “But it won’t change the fact that your and Rachel’s safety is paramount.”
“Then I need your assurance,” Diane demanded of them. “I want your vow that none of you will take it over and decide you can achieve your ends without me.”
She stared at Callan first, then Lawe and Jonas. They stared back at her, and she almost sneered. Oh, how well she knew Breeds. That thought had been uppermost in all their minds. She may be furious at them all, including her sister at the moment for even considering a continued friendship with the prima, but it didn’t make her stupid.
“You’ll have it.” It was Lawe who broke the silence. He turned to Diane. “As long as you’re in no immediate danger and as long as I’m confident you have a chance of survival, then the operation won’t be taken from you or interfered with in any way.”
She lifted her head, debating with herself, knowing that if any being on earth would keep his word, then it was Lawe. And in turn, Callan and Jonas. But none of them had ever been tested in such a way either.
She swallowed tightly. “There’re a few things I’ll need, and I’ll need your patience.”
“Let’s hear it first.” Callan and Merinus resumed their seats at the table as Diane, Lawe, Jonas and Rachel followed suit.
Diane hadn’t expected such easy compliance, she had to admit. She’d expected threats, anger, and when all else failed, she’d expected Jonas to trump all other means of convincing her by using her love for Rachel or, worse for Lawe, against her. Hell, she’d even been prepared to continue to play the silent warrior while Thor, Emma and Sharone tracked down information.
She knew a few things about Breed law. She knew her refusal had broken several statutes, which could result in her and Lawe’s imprisonment if it were pushed. And it would have been, if it weren’t for the fact that the babe in question belonged to Jonas. If not by blood, then by love.
“The past two days I haven’t just been sitting on my ass. Thor, with Emma and Sharone, using the guise of searching for Council Coyotes, has been gathering information. Rumor, suspicion and discussions held behind closed doors but not out of Sharon’s ability to hear from a window, a door or other hidden means, has come through. The group responsible for protecting Honor, Fawn and Judd doesn’t even have a name,” Diane warned them. “At least not one I’ve been able to learn. What I have learned is that Judd, Fawn and Honor weren’t the first or the last children to have disappeared with an anonymous group of men disguised by war paint. There have been others. Children who were brought to them, even before the rescues began, as well as at least one hybrid whose mother was killed, and whose father was fatally wounded.”
“Why not come to us?” Callan growled, anger and concern fillin
g his face now.
Diane shook her head. “Not all Breeds trust either Sanctuary or Haven,” she reminded him. “The spies found within both bases pose a risk to those Breeds who were created for special purposes or who were already a part of political or private enterprises the Council considered long-term goals. They’re Breeds that, for whatever reason, couldn’t afford ever to be identified as Breeds. Then”—she breathed in deeply—“there are the missing children. The six that a Breed known as Harmony Lancaster had locations for, but they had disappeared before your teams could get to them. Hybrid babes who were taken
from their mothers’ bodies then stolen from the labs were smuggled or kidnapped from supposedly secured labs and disappeared almost immediately. There are dozens, Callan, and those are just the ones I know of. I’m certain there are far more actually in existence.”
Thor, Emma and Sharone had managed to unearth secrets even Diane hadn’t suspected until now.
Both Rachel and Merinus covered their lips in both horror and hope as she spoke. The fates of those children were always on their minds, and the discovery of their whereabouts was considered top priority since the day the First Leo had informed them the girls had disappeared just days before his teams had arrived.
“How long has this group been operating?” Jonas’s eyes narrowed, his displeasure that such an operation existed without him clearly outlined in his expression.
She licked her lips, nervous about giving this piece of information.
“If you want me to keep my word, Diane, then we have to know everything,” Lawe stated harshly.
