Authors: Lora Leigh
“Firmly enchanting then?” she suggested.
He cleared his throat. “I thought the reaction they produced from our director was interesting. And amusing.”
Ria let her own amusement tug at her lips and wished he would release all that thick, multihued hair from the strip of leather confining it behind his neck.
She wanted to see it flowing around his shoulders, the dark russets, browns and blacks merging together to create a heavy, lionlike mane that made her fingers itch to touch.
Strange, Leo had similar hair and she had never wanted to touch his. Of course, his wife Elizabeth might have cut her hand off if she’d attempted it.
For the most part, Leo used a temporary color on his hair when he was required to be out in public. And like Mercury, he kept it tied back behind his neck.
Leo was considered a rogue, a mercenary and a bastard businessman. But no one had ever breathed the word
Breed
with his name.
The owner of the multinational Vanderale Industries that his father had left him, Leo Vanderale was a law unto himself. And unto the Breeds that knew him.
“I’ll settle for amusing,” she finally stated.
“You might have to.”
He sat in the corner of the seat, one elbow propped on the padded armrest he had lowered, the other arm braced along the back of the seat.
She glanced to the driver’s section and caught a glimpse of Lawe’s lips twitching as his icy blue eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.
“So, Ms. Rodriquez, what put a burr in the Leo’s tail that he sent you out here only weeks after rushing to his son’s side at the hospital?”
Rather, two months, Ria thought. And unfortunately, if the Leo found out what she was doing and where she was doing it, he was liable to skin her and hang her up to dry. That wasn’t a pleasant thought.
“The Leo is a businessman, Mr. Warrant,” she informed him, following the line Dane had taken. “Sanctuary and its Breeds profit greatly by Vanderale’s largesse. The recent attacks against Sanctuary and the weaknesses within it concern him. Both professionally as well as personally. He would enjoy visiting his son and grandson. He’s spoken of attending when his daughter-in-law gives birth to her second child. He can’t do this as long as there’s a risk of the world discovering who and what he is.”
His lips curled mockingly. The sight of it had her restraining the urge to lick her own lips. Damn him, he made her feel weak-kneed and too much like a woman. She realized that weakness could threaten her job. She was looking for another spy, and the consequences of information possibly leaking out of Sanctuary could destroy the Breed community as a whole. On a different note, allowing herself to get involved with Mercury also had the potential to hurt her personally.
She never got personally involved, she reminded herself. That path led to nothing but disaster, and she really didn’t need more disaster in her life.
“Ms. Rodriquez-”
She invited him to use her name. “Ria please.”
Ms. Rodriquez
just made her feel old.
“Ria.” His brow arched. “Why do I have a feeling there’s much more to you than meets the eye?”
Her eyes widened as though she couldn’t imagine. Dowdy clothes, no makeup. She did a damned fine job of being the little nobody everyone expected.
“Trust me, Mr. Warrant, what you see is what you get.” She smiled back softly. “Of course, I can be rather ill natured when the situation calls for it. I’m not always nice.”
He stared back at her silently, and she had a feeling he was seeing more than she wanted him to. He was definitely seeing more than anyone else had bothered to look for.
For the first time in her life Ria wondered if she had run up against a man she couldn’t continue hiding from. His eyes urged her to share her secrets; the swirl of ambers, the curiosity, the interest, invited her to reach for things she knew she should never reach for.
Play with fire and you’ll get burned.
She remembered, long ago, too long ago, how her mother had laughingly advised her to always watch out for people.
They’ll deceive you, my little Ria,
she had always said.
They’ll lie and they’ll smile, and when they’ve taken all you have to give, they’ll find someone else to use up.
She couldn’t have been very old, but she remembered those words.
The memory of it had her turning her head from Mercury, shifting her gaze to the mountains they were winding their way through as she pushed back the loneliness that filled her whenever she allowed it.
Her mother had died before she was six. Ria had spent three days alone in their apartment, crying for her mother, and her mother had been lying in a cold morgue.
She might have stayed there forever if a neighbor hadn’t realized that no one had mentioned the child of Leo Vanderale’s secretary. Her child hadn’t even been listed in her personnel files. The people she had worked with hadn’t even known about the daughter Mary Rodriquez had borne. Until Mary’s death.
Until Ria had been left alone.
She pushed back the memories. They had no place here. She hadn’t even let herself think about it for years. She was who she was, and she owed the Vanderales for her life after her mother’s death.
And here she was, still running errands for Dane, and still doing his bidding. Still joining in his little games because he flashed that devil’s smile of his and dared her to be courageous when they both knew she really wasn’t courageous at all.
She was being courageous now all right, and this time, Leo just might hang them both out to dry for it. Sanctuary was Leo’s baby, so to speak. Callan Lyons was the son he hadn’t known of until the revelation of the Breeds broke across the world. He was the son Leo hadn’t been able to reach out to.
Dane was his heir, and Leo had always doted on Dane, to a point. He respected Dane but knew his son well enough to know Dane lived a much wilder, much more reckless life than made Leo happy.
Leo was a family man. He was a prime pride leader and he had proven it with the Breeds he protected on his African estate. And he ached for the sons he knew the Council had created from the semen and eggs they had stolen from him and his mate. And he ached for his grandchildren. Grandchildren Dane seemed in no hurry to provide him with.
“I hope you’ve been honest with Jonas concerning your reasons to be here, Ria,” Mercury drawled then. “He can be a bastard when you lie to him.”
Yeah yeah, like father like son. Jonas Wyatt was Leo’s son as well and was more like him than any other, Ria thought.
She turned back to him with a smile. “I know his father, Mr. Warrant, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree as you would say here. Don’t worry, being honest and straightforward are but a few of my faults.”
Dane would have laughed his rear off at that comment, and she knew it.
But Mercury nodded and said nothing more. But he still watched her. His gaze stayed on her, and she swore the flush mounting beneath her clothing was sinking into her bones.
Damn, she was glad his sense of smell wasn’t as good as most Breeds, but from the way his eyes were narrowing and his nostrils were flaring, she suspected he sensed the arousal she could feel building in her.
She was a woman. And damn if he wasn’t a fine specimen of a man and a Breed. She wasn’t mated, and she wasn’t dead. She had all the instincts other women had, and all those instincts were rioting for a taste of tall, dangerous and delicious over there.
That didn’t mean she had to act on them.
The window rose between the driver’s section and the passenger’s. Ria turned and gave Mercury a questioning look.
“Lawe likes to open his window. It might be too cold for you,” he stated, but his eyes said something entirely different. Something that had her ducking her head and turning to stare out the window next to her.
Yes, she was aroused, and no doubt the Breed driving knew it.
She gave a mental shrug. Just as she didn’t doubt in the least that they should be used to it. Women around the world, in blogs, Breed-sighting websites and a variety of other online communities, both reviled and lusted after the creations man had made and lost control of.
They were fascinated by the Breeds. They were frightened of them and aroused by them. In little more than a decade they had become the bogeyman in the night as well as the dark lovers that invaded women’s dreams. Sometimes it was amusing. Most of the time it managed to remind her how fickle humans could be.
Because it would take very little to turn the tide against the Breeds, and if the rumors Dane had heard were correct, then that tide could be coming through much sooner than anyone expected. And it could be more cataclysmic than anyone guessed.
The animal opened tired eyes, not certain what had drawn it awake. The man. The man’s emotions were slipping. The animal could feel the break in the man’s defenses, the chance to stretch, to reach out. To sense freedom. Sweet freedom.
It stretched with all its senses, slowly, cautiously; it reveled in the chance.
Then it paused. Blinked. It stared through the man’s eyes. It inhaled through the man’s nostrils. It tasted the air against the man’s tongue and it had to restrain its roar.
It crouched, staring, scenting, tasting. It had waited. It had been weak. Worn. So close to death. But it had fought. And it had waited.
For this.
Dark eyes peeked up at the man from beneath lowered lashes. It wasn’t a coy look, it was a cautious look. Dark lashes, shades lighter than her eyes. Dark hair was restrained when it should be free.
And her scent.
This was what had awakened it. Her scent.
The animal felt something akin to joy race through it. Her scent was like mercy. It was like warmth in the middle of the cold. Her scent was like a place to belong.
It was careful. The man was still diligent. The animal let the smell of that sweet scent linger in its head, for only a moment. Just a taste, a tease of what true pleasure was, before pulling back.
The animal crouched now, awake, unblinking. The presence of the woman filled it with hope, renewed that last ounce of strength it needed just to survive.
The man’s emotions, the animal could feel them straining, the chains that bound it growing weaker, because the man was distracted. The man was dealing with his emotions; he didn’t have to be on guard for the animal that had nearly died long ago.
He was just a man. The animal could feel the thought as the man let himself ease his guard. He was just a man, no need to worry. He could watch this woman. He could want this woman.
And the animal watched. And it wanted. It crouched, waiting, growing hungry now where before there was no strength to even hunger.
The animal watched. It waited. Knowing freedom would soon arrive.
CHAPTER 2
“Hello, Mr. Wyatt. What a pleasure to finally meet you.” Ria accepted Jonas Wyatt’s handshake as she stepped into his office at Sanctuary and looked around the well-appointed office.
It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it was large, open and airy. The walnut desk he used had been used by the Council scientists who had inhabited the estate before the Breeds took possession of it.
Dark, heavy file cabinets had been placed along the walls. He kept his files close to him. Hard copy was a bit antiquated, but at least he kept them secured. She knew his office in D.C. was completely electronic and unattached to any lines outside his office other than the PDA and laptop that often traveled with him.
“I’ve had coffee brought up from the kitchens.” Jonas extended his hand to the small sitting area off to the side of the room.
A couch, sofa and two chairs sat around a gleaming, heavy walnut coffee table. The coffee sat on a silver tray in the center of the table, tempting her senses with its smell.
“My weakness.” She smiled in all-apparent appreciation as he led her to the couch. “I must admit, my body doesn’t adjust as well to different time zones as it used to. I could use the caffeine.”
Jonas made a noncommittal little sound in his throat, sort of a cross between an irritated grunt and a hum of suspicion.
He sat down across from her as Mercury silently took the chair to the side of the couch.
“Should I pour?” She indicated the coffee service sitting before them.
Jonas’s brow arched. “If you like.”
He sat back as she poured the coffee and handed him then Mercury a cup before she took her own, balanced it on the delicate china saucer and sat back.
Lifting the cup by its handle, she inhaled first, her brain sparking in anticipation before she sipped cautiously. It was really hard to find good coffee.
She was pleased to discover this brew was some of the best. Her lashes almost fluttered in ecstasy.
Jonas chuckled. “You like your coffee,” he commented as he drank his own, staring back at her with those odd silver eyes of his.
“I adore my coffee.” She took another sip, then relaxed further against the couch and glanced between him and Mercury.
She had arrived the day before and been taken to the cabin Dane had rented for her. It sat on the edge of Sanctuary, but not within the boundary of the compound itself.
Nearly a half mile from the cabin, a secured perimeter had been set up. She knew most of the equipment was designed to be fenceless. Both Vanderale Industries as well as Seth Lawrence’s various companies had contributed to the security of Sanctuary.
Lions roamed the Sanctuary side of the border, and Breeds patrolled it tirelessly. She had heard the lions roar the night before, obviously patrolling the perimeter despite the cold temperatures that had descended over the mountain.