“I need a couple more hours of sleep.”
He nuzzled her throat, kissing his way down the curve of her breast. “You can sleep in the car, honey. I need you to get up now.”
She gave a soft little groan of protest. “It’s dark.”
“I know. Come on. Come with me.” His fingers tugged the blankets down just a little more, exposing her breast to the cooler air. He licked her nipple, then drew her breast into his mouth and suckled, sliding his arm around her waist to pull her more fully to him. She felt soft and pliant in his arms, offering herself to him, the way she did.
Kadan closed his eyes, savoring the moment, the knowledge that she so completely gave herself to him. He kissed his way back up her throat to find her mouth, losing himself there for a few minutes. She gave him everything, with no hesitation, without reservation. There was no resisting her, not when she just opened herself up for him and took him in. He pressed his forehead to hers, sharing breath.
“I’m sorry to wake you, Tansy. I know you’re tired, but we’re running out of time on this thing. Your parents are safe here and we need to get back so we can get the job done.”
“I thought I’d have time to visit with Mom and Dad. I haven’t seen them for weeks,” Tansy protested. “And after what happened . . .”
“I know. But I need you to come with me now.”
She drew back and searched his face, looking for what, he didn’t know. What could he say when he wanted to rip out her father’s heart? Anything he said might shatter her.
Tansy studied Kadan’s grim face. So tough. So rugged. So uncompromising. He looked dangerous, but when he touched her, his hands were gentle and his mouth loving her whether he knew it or not. Something was wrong. Not the murders. This wasn’t about the murders. She took a deep breath and let it out, wrapping her arms around his neck so he could pull her into a sitting position.
“You’re upset.”
The love in her voice shook him. As if he mattered. As if it mattered that he might be upset. If he was, it was on her behalf, not his own. He lifted her into his arms. “I’m taking you out to the car. We’re heading back to the other house.”
“I’m naked. I can’t ride naked in the car,” she protested.
His blue eyes slid over her, dark as midnight. “Yes, you can. Cuddle up next to me, I’ll keep you warm.”
She wiggled and he put her down. “It will only take me a minute to dress and pack, but, Kadan?” She waited until he looked at her. “When we’re in the car, you’re going to tell me everything.”
“You won’t like it, baby. Make certain it’s what you really want.”
She caught the nape of his neck, raised herself on her toes, and kissed him. “It’s what I want.” She turned away to pull on a shirt, not bothering with underwear.
Kadan watched her through half-closed eyes: the graceful, efficient movements, the lack of hesitation as she padded across the room in front of him to retrieve her jeans. He loved her. The words were in his mind, but they didn’t manage to make it to his mouth. But his soul moved. He felt it.
Tansy smiled at him. “I’m ready.”
He stalked across the room, long, purposeful strides that might have cowed someone else, but she stood her ground, just looking at him. He caught her face in his hands and kissed her again. Telling her. Saying it without words. Loving her.
He let his hand slide possessively down her shoulder, then her arm, until he could tangle his fingers with hers. “Let’s do this.” He pulled her beneath his shoulder and walked her through the house.
Tucker and Ian were waiting by the back door. Tucker leaned in close to brush a kiss over her forehead. “We’ll take good care of the parents,” he assured her. “No one knows they’re here, so we won’t have problems.”
“You’ll check in with us?” she asked anxiously.
“You got it,” Ian told her.
“Thanks, both of you,” Tansy said.
“I owe you,” Kadan added, his voice gruff.
He opened the passenger-side door for Tansy and she slid onto the seat. Tossing her bag in the back, Kadan slipped behind the wheel and reached for the key. Instantly the back doors opened and Ryland, Gator, and Nico piled into the backseat.
Kadan looked into the rearview mirror, at their set faces. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Ryland shrugged. “Covering your ass, like always.”
“I have to do this alone, but I appreciate the offer.”
“No way are we bailing,” Gator said. “You’re up to your ears in a mess and we’re goin’ to back your play the way we always do, bro, whether you want it or not.”
“This is one of those classified—”
“Bullshit,” Ryland said. “You have the girl. You think I didn’t click on it the minute her old man mentioned the murders? They suspect us, don’t they? That’s why you dragged her back here, to help clear our names. They’re after us, aren’t they?”
“Who the hell are
they
?” Gator asked.
“
They
are the ones who have been trying to kill us off from the beginning. Once it got out that Whitney made supersoldiers, the technology was worth billions to other countries,” Ryland explained. “With us dead, no one can do a snatch-and-grab and try to dissect us and get the answers for free. No one can find Whitney and get the information, so they have to find a way to bring us out into the open, where they have a better chance of killing us. If GhostWalkers are accused of murder, there isn’t going to be a trial, is there, Kadan?”
Tansy tangled her fingers with Kadan’s. “We’re not going to let that happen.” She spoke with supreme confidence. “I’m an elite tracker. I’ll find them and Kadan will take the proof back to Washington.”
“I’ve never heard of an elite tracker,” Gator said. “What is it that you do?”
Nico leaned forward over the seat and there was respect tinged with awe in his voice. “You’re the serial killer girl. You track murderers using your mind.”
She smiled at him. “That would be me.”
“How the hell do you do something like that?” Ryland asked.
She shrugged. “All of you do unusual things. It’s a gift.”
“It isn’t easy,” Kadan snapped. “She ended up in the hospital the last time.” He brought her hand up to his mouth. “Don’t make it sound like it’s a breeze.”
“They helped my family.”
“You were willing to do it before they helped your family.”
Color rose, staining her cheeks. “It’s no different. Don’t make it be different.”
Ryland touched her shoulder. “We appreciate it, Tansy. You should have told us, Kadan. We could have helped.”
“I’m under orders. The general called me back, explained the situation and told me to clear it up fast. So I found Tansy.”
“Well, now you’ve got some help. We’re going with you.”
There was a stubborn streak a mile wide in Ryland—in all of them. Kadan knew they’d just follow him, now that they knew what he was doing. They were tenacious like that. “Find the reporter. Tansy has to handle a couple more objects. I think we can find at least the East Coast team.”
“Team?”
Kadan explained the theory of a murder game. “Tansy’s hoping to profile each of the players and maybe get a handle on how the game is played and who is running it.”
“Do you think this coalition, the ones who want us dead, is behind the murders?” Ryland asked.
Kadan shook his head. “My gut feeling is that they’re simply taking advantage of it. The coalition Meadows mentioned has a major hard-on for the GhostWalkers,” Kadan said. “They had to have given some of the details to the reporter, knowing he’d run with it. He found out Tansy was working in the mountains and led them right to her. And they sent a couple of assassins after her. I thought, at the time, that they were after me, but they didn’t know I was there until they started tracking her. Bad luck for them.”
“We’ll track down your reporter and find out who put him on the trail,” Ryland said. “And then we’ll meet you at the other house. And Kadan?” He waited until Kadan met his steely gaze. “You’d better be there.”
Kadan sent him a faint grin and saluted. “I understand. And I’m grateful for the company.”
Gator dug into his pocket as Nico opened the door. “Want an Altoid, Kadan? They’re cinnamon.” He tossed a tin of the mints onto the front seat.
Kadan choked. If it was possible for him to blush, he might have done it. He didn’t dare look at Tansy as his friends got out of the car. He just started the engine, put the vehicle in gear, and drove away, flipping them off through the open window as he pulled onto the street.
Tansy laid her head back against the seat as she picked up the little tin and turned it over and over before dropping it back on the seat. “I take it they have an enhanced sense of smell. Have they been giving you a bad time?”
He could have sworn there was amusement in her voice, but when he glanced down at her sharply, she looked sober and innocent, which raised his suspicion more. He put the tin in his pocket, not wanting it out in the open as a reminder of his friends and their highly developed sense of smell, or their bad taste in humor.
“I’ll get them back. Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’ll put some music on.”
He turned on the CD player. Tucker and Ian’s voice came over the speakers, singing off-key.
“I wanna live with a cinnamon girl . . .”
“Bastards.” He turned the player off immediately.
Tansy burst out laughing. “I don’t think they’re going to win any contests.”
“I’m sorry if they embarrassed you.”
She leaned over and nuzzled his arm with her chin. “Why would I be embarrassed? Are you?”
“Hell no. I wouldn’t give a damn if they walked in on us, but I don’t want you uncomfortable.” He was adamant.
She shrugged. “I’m not going to be embarrassed because I have sex with you, Kadan. I like having sex with you. I like how you make me feel and I especially like how I make you feel. So let them say anything they want. It doesn’t bother me.”
She meant it. He felt a surge of pride, of awe, that she could belong to him. He wasn’t even certain how it had happened, but damn, he was grateful.
“You left the room tonight.”
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew. I like having you curled around me, and the moment you left, I felt alone. You went to see my father, didn’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“You weren’t satisfied with his answers. He knew about Whitney’s experiments, didn’t he? You would have told me right away if he hadn’t.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his heart. “I really am. I wanted it to be different for you.”
She was silent, staring out the window for a few minutes before she took a deep breath and looked at him. “My mother?”
“She has no idea. She despised Whitney. I could read her mind, but I can’t read his. I made certain she slept through our talk. I didn’t want to cause her any more distress than she already has been through.”
“What was his explanation?”
“If I tell you, Tansy, I’m going to tell you the entire story. Be very, very certain you want to know,” he warned.
“That bad?”
“Yes.” He kept possession of her hand when she tugged at it to pull away from him. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Her father had hurt her, not him.
“Was he going to give me to Whitney?”
“Damn it, that’s not fair.”
“They hit my mother. He would do anything for my mother. If he thought they’d hurt her, he’d give me up and never look back.” She turned toward Kadan. Lights from oncoming cars played over her face and then left her in shadow. “I know he loves me, Kadan, but it’s always been about my mother.”
“And that’s all right with you?”
“I grew up knowing that. It was normal. I don’t know what it’s like for a child that isn’t adopted, but . . .” She trailed off. He was so still. His mind was still, even when she touched it. She turned the pieces of the puzzle over and over in her brain. She was good at solving puzzles. Things clicked into place for her. And the click wasn’t what she’d expected. She shook her head in denial. “I remember being in Whitney’s laboratory. It was horrible. There was so much pain. There were other girls there and nurses. He had this little soundproof room he’d take us into. Some of the girls would have seizures and we’d all get nosebleeds. He’d just record everything, with this strange little remote smile on his face. If he frowned, you were in trouble. I even remember the day he brought me to see my parents for the first time.”
“Both of them together?” Kadan asked.
“No. Just my father. I remember the way he stared at me. He reached out to touch me and I flinched away. I was wearing gloves, but it was so hard to control impressions and they hurt my head, so I didn’t want him touching me.”
“How was he looking at you?”
There it was again, that note. A piece of the puzzle. He wanted her to see for herself, but she kept turning away from the truth. She tightened her fingers in his, wanting strength. She was asking for the truth. She was causing him distress by insisting he tell her, yet she didn’t want to see. She pulled up the memory.
She’d been so frightened. All the girls were frightened. A couple of the nurses tried to comfort them, but never around Whitney. He looked at them as if they were insects, and he didn’t want the nurses “coddling” them. A couple of the girls were outwardly defiant, and that made him harsh and cruel. Even as a child she recognized the taint of madness, even though she couldn’t really read him.
And then the girls began disappearing. Whitney would never respond when they dared ask where one of the girls had gone. When he’d taken her out of the laboratory, she’d been terrified, her imagination running wild. She didn’t know what the outside world was like and it was so huge. Enormous. The sky was frightening; the noises overwhelmed her. He’d dragged her into a room and shoved her toward a man who had been sitting quietly in an office chair.
She stumbled and looked up at the man. He was tall and fit, with white gold hair, and he turned his eyes on her and she had been afraid to move. Shock. Absolute shock registered on his face. For a moment something fluttered in her mind. Recognition? But she’d never seen him before. She thought . . .
I belong.
She hadn’t known what a father was before then. Now she did. She moistened her lips and glanced up at Kadan’s stone-set features. “He’s my birth father.” She continued to look up at him. “Tell me how.”