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“Liza.” Her mother jumped from the settee in the receiving lounge, her expressive blue eyes filled with fear and concern as Stygian led Liza from the elevator.
Almost as though he were aware of her inclination to run.
Jane Johnson rushed to her, her arms wrapping around her as Liza returned the embrace, her eyes closing for one thankful moment as her mother’s warmth and love surrounded her.
“We came home as soon as possible.” Her mother held her shoulders as she leaned back, her blue eyes filled with tears as she cupped Liza’s cheek, her soft hand trembling as she tucked the side of Liza’s hair back over her shoulder.
It was a habit her mother had. She would tuck Liza’s hair back as though to be certain she could see her entire face. “Are you okay, baby? Daddy and I were terrified when Jonas Wyatt called last night.”
“Mom, I’m fine.” She hadn’t realized how hurt she had been when Jonas Wyatt had told her that her parents had agreed to stay in New York if the Breeds provided her protection. A part of her had known her parents would come running no matter their trust in her, simply because they loved her. The idea that they weren’t coming home had caused a hidden ache to begin building inside her, one she had refused to acknowledge until now.
She hadn’t known until this moment how much she had needed her parents.
“That Jonas Wyatt just kept talking right over your father as though he wasn’t even speaking,” Jane told her irritably, a frown creasing her delicate face. “So he just shut up and let the director talk and agreed to the protection, and whatever else that arrogant man was promising. Then he hung up the phone and we left. Of course, you know I was packing as they spoke.” She laughed in delight as she then slid her arm around her daughter’s waist and pulled Liza to her affectionately. “As though we’d ever stay away at such a time.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Liza stopped and let her mother hug her again, feeling a security she’d always depended so heavily on.
Her parents were always there, and their love had always been assured. Liza realized that the past days’ uncertainties had been worse simply because she had known her parents weren’t close enough to touch, to run to.
“And here’s your father.” Jane released her, stopping long enough to give her a loving kiss on her cheek before Liza saw her father moving from Ray Martinez’s office.
Tall and broad, at fifty-six her father was still a handsome, powerful man.
A full head of dark blond hair was cut to a short, almost military length, while the hard, chiseled features of his face softened at the sight of his daughter.
Liza didn’t wait.
She moved quickly across the room to find herself enveloped in her father’s strong arms as he bent to receive her.
“Daddy,” she whispered, uncertain of what to say as his arms tightened around her.
“I have you, baby.” She felt his kiss at her brow, the warmth of his love and concern.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger,” she whispered against his chest. “I’m sorry I couldn’t figure this out before they called you.”
She’d never wanted the life she chose to worry her parents, and had prayed she would have the training she needed if she ever came against a situation that would endanger her life.
“Sweetheart,” he chastised her gently as he cupped the back of her head and held her to his heart. “It wouldn’t matter if you were my daughter, or my son or how strong you were, I’d come running the minute I knew you were in trouble. Don’t you know that?”
She had always known it, and that knowledge had always given her a confidence that had helped her make more than one decision in her life.
“You and Momma didn’t have to come back so soon,” she said, knowing that the quickly hidden feeling of loss she had felt when Jonas told her they weren’t coming would have only built inside her.
“Didn’t I?” He pulled back to stare down at her with one of those soft, approving smiles that always filled her with such a sense of accomplishment. “Sweetheart, a battalion of Coyotes couldn’t have kept me away.” He kissed her brow again before looking over her shoulder. “I understand I have this young man to thank for your safety?”
“Well, he’s not so young,” she muttered, flicking a glare over her shoulder. At the last second, her father saw the softening of that glare though, the warmth in her gaze and the way her gaze lingered on the Breed that had taken a protective stance just inside the door of the anteroom.
She was in love.
That realization pricked at his father’s heart even as it filled him with pride but also a fury born of fear. Because he couldn’t allow it. This man would destroy his daughter’s life.
He had read the report on this Breed.
Stygian Black was a powerful enforcer, but he was also one who stood by his word and his own code. He was a man—a Breed—that Audi knew would follow his daughter into any battle she chose and always watch her back, protect her too-delicate body, and guard her too-compassionate heart.
He would also, Audi knew, instigate the revelation of secrets Audi had prayed would never need to be revealed.
And he hated the Breed for that. Hated him for the fact that he knew Stygian Black would take his daughter away from him. By time the Breeds finished in Window Rock, the child he loved, the child he would die for, would no longer even exist. And that knowledge made him wish he was the man he had been thirty years before. The man who could kill and not suffer a conscience born of the soul he had found when he’d met his Jane.
