Navarro's Promise (27 page)

It was no longer recessed.

How long it took for the swelling to ease, Mica couldn’t say. She lost all sense of time. By the time he eased from her and picked her up in his arms, exhaustion was a heavy, lethargic contentment that left her boneless and sated as he carried her to their bed.

She was only barely aware of him moving away, then returning only moments later with a warm cloth, and if she had been conscious enough, she would have been shocked as she felt him gently clean the sweat and slickness of their pleasure from her body and between her thighs before gently drying her.

She was drifting into sleep as she felt him move into the bed beside her, before drawing her into his arms and pulling her against his chest. The warmth of his skin, the hard, heavy beat of his heart against her back, she drifted into sleep with an ease she hadn’t known before.

“Sleep, Amaya,” he whispered against her hair. “Sweet love, just let me hold you as you sleep.”

Navarro had never known a contentment or a sensual exhaustion as he did now. Holding Mica in his arms, feeling her slip deeper into sleep, he also felt that wild, uncontrollable sensation of heat and restlessness ease as well.

The Breed genetics, the animal side he’d never truly believed existed inside him. But it was there. Like a separate entity rising inside him when he’d seen his mate with another man, that man shirtless, teasing, laughing with her. He’d felt it, so sudden, so violently alive there had been no fighting against it. The animal had refused to allow anything but complete possession of his mate. Full possession. Full mating. Possessing his mate as only he could, in the only way that would ensure no other could ever take her from him.

She belonged to him. He’d known she belonged to him since she was sixteen years old and he’d stayed away from her as long as possible. He’d given her as much time as he could to be her own woman, before she became his mate.

Before she had to face Breed life in ways she had never faced it before.

Stroking his hand down the long, silken waves of her hair as it fell around him, stroked his chest and warmed him.

As much as he’d fantasized about having her in his bed, the true hunger that had raged through him had been for this. Holding her, warming her, and having her warm him.

He caressed her arm, the silken feel of it sinking into his palm, caressing it as a low, drowsy little moan slipped past her lips.

“Navarro,” she whispered, clearly asleep and still reaching out to him, even in her sleep. “I love you, Navarro.” Barely coherent, so thickly asleep Navarro had to strain to hear the words. And when he did, he felt his heart clench.

“I love you, Mica.” He whispered the words in her hair, low, barely loud enough to hear himself as he closed his eyes and tightened his arms around her.

God he loved her.

He’d loved her for so many damned years that there were days he couldn’t imagine not loving her. She had been the dream he’d had in those damned labs, and when he’d seen her in Haven she had become his greatest fantasy.

And he’d lived in hell ever since. Lived with a fear he’d refused to recognize as fear. If he lost her, if he failed to protect her, it would destroy him now. It would kill him.

Maybe, just maybe, he could have survived until tonight. Before she had awakened the sleeping animal that came awake with a surge of possessive fury.

And now, awake, prowling, though content at the moment, he could feel that wildness inside him. In the very depths of his heart. In the very depths of his being, that animal watched now, vigilant, determined to protect its mate.

In all the years he had fought, all the ways he’d wondered how to use the animal genetics he possessed, he’d never imagined it would happen like this. He’d believed his genetics were forever recessed, so weak that all they afforded him were the additional stronger senses and the training he’d been given in the labs.

He hadn’t expected it to awaken, surge forward, and demand his mate with such possession.

Yet it had, and he couldn’t regret it.

The sense of warmth that filled him, the sense of clear, vibrant life where before he’d felt shackled, always lacking in some way, was something he’d never imagined he could have with anyone, let alone a mate.

And she was definitely his mate.

His perfect fit.

The only woman he had ever loved.

“We need to hurry, Dad.” Cassie sat, composed and calm, as she waited at the heli-jet landing tower just outside the high, stone walls of the Wolf Breed community, Haven.

Dressed in jeans, boots, sweatshirt and heavy jacket, her body was warm, but everything inside her was cold as she stared at the cement wall across the waiting room as they waited for the heli-jet to land.

“It would be quicker to call Jonas, Cassie,” he reminded her. It hadn’t been the first time.

“You’ve already told Jonas there’s a problem.” She fought to hold back the tears that would have filled her eyes. She had to believe they would get there in time, it was that simple. That when they arrived, everything would be okay. That Mica would be safe and as happy and content as she was at this moment.

At this moment.

Cassie hadn’t expected the contentment to come this soon. She had never ever believed Navarro would give in to what he felt so quickly. He was one of the most stubborn Breeds she had ever met. She had sensed that and he had moved so much faster than she had expected.

His animal had refused to allow that stubbornness. It had refused to allow him to hold back the love or the mating heat.

And now, the danger Cassie had sensed moving closer to Mica was building. She had to get there. She had to be there.

She should have never left her friend to face this alone, but she knew Mica. She knew that her friend would have never given in to what she felt for Navarro unless she was without her family, without the one friend she knew would never truly lie to her.

And Cassie had believed she would have enough warning to get to her in time.

She was wrong.

Oh God, she had been so wrong, and now Mica was going to pay the ultimate price for her lack of foresight.

She was cursed.

Cursed to see what she should never see, and cursed to live with the consequences.

But could she live with the consequences of not reaching her dearest friend on time? It wasn’t possible.

“Mike and Serena are pulling in,” her father said quietly. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Cassie?”

Cassie nodded. “But we need to tell Mike she’s mated Navarro.”

“Uh, Cass, sweetie,” her mother said from beside her, “are you sure of that?”

Cassie breathed in deeply. “I’m certain, Mom. But I think Uncle Mike has suspected all along.”

She knew he had. Like Cassie, Mike had watched Mica and Navarro dance around each other like prizefighters in a ring. They flirted, watched each other when the other wasn’t looking, and if one was sensitive enough, then they could have caught the swirled air around the two like a gathering storm.

It was impossible to miss if one wanted to look for it, and Mike Toler adored his child. Mica was his baby. He watched the men that came around her. All of them. And he was as suspicious as hell.

Oh yes, he already suspected the truth, but it was a truth he needed to know before he was forced to see.

That is, if they reached Sanctuary before it was too late.

Her hands tightened where she held them politely in her lap. She was terrified and she admitted it. She could feel it; the darkness that had been hovering around Mica for so many months was finally coming to a head.

The danger, the men who had watched her, waited, certain they could use her for whatever their schemes were.

Cassie couldn’t allow that to happen.

If she did nothing else in her life, then she had to save Mica. Mica and the beautiful little boy she was carrying, even now.

CHAPTER 17

Mica wasn’t surprised that she didn’t see Navarro when she awoke the next morning. But she did find his note. There were security matters to take care of and he would see her later when she came to the labs for the daily hormonal tests.

She had to smile as she stretched, feeling the pleasurable little aches in her muscles as contentment warmed every corner of her being. Only one small cloud darkened that contentment, the fact that Navarro was no doubt dealing with the dark evil being held in those labs. That had to be the security matter. Unless Jonas was hiding more monsters in the basement. Which wouldn’t surprise her in the least.

In this case though, it was Brandenmore.

Mica shuddered at the memory as she followed one of the female Feline Breeds from her suite to the elevator later that morning to meet with Dr. Morrey. Today though, it wouldn’t be the lack of hormones they discussed. She knew that today the whispers of Navarro beating mating heat would stop.

An anomaly, Ely had called it. That anomaly was well and truly gone, and she didn’t expect it to ever show its ugly head again.

He was her mate, but even more importantly, she was his. Finally, that lost, empty place inside her was gone.

Now she just had to deal with today’s tests, and hopefully, she would get out of the labs without having to deal with the stench of the decay Jonas was housing there.

Phillip Brandenmore. The pharmaceutical research giant that had been suspected of using Breeds for over fifty years in his research for many of his more lucrative drugs. A man who had been aligned with the Genetics Council from birth, taking over his father’s position within it and funding it as well as using the Breeds as guinea pigs.

And now karma was a bitch. He may have what he had searched for most of his life, but he sure as hell wasn’t enjoying it. He was a hell of a lot younger than he was supposed to be, and he was completely insane. His health was perfect, but his mind was slowly turning to mush.

And it was no more than he deserved, though, the thought of anyone suffering as she’d heard he suffered was a horrendous thought to her. Still, she knew he had been the cause of so many Breeds suffering. So many he had murdered in the name of science, destroyed for his own personal gain and used simply because he could use them.

The reports of his death had been no more than a lie Jonas Wyatt had perpetuated to allow him to keep the man in the cells beneath Sanctuary, but after what she had seen, she couldn’t imagine anyone blaming him for it.

Brandenmore was a fruitcake. Even worse, he was a very dangerous fruitcake.

“Ely’s been really busy this afternoon,” said the Lioness that escorted her to the examination room, watching curiously as Mica took her seat on the gurney. “She’s currently arguing with Jonas over security protocols.” An almost shy smile tugged at the gamine-like features of the enforcer as she brushed back a stray strand of auburn hair from the braid it was confined in. “Sometimes even Dr. Ely wins.”

“I have no doubt.” Mica gave a small laugh of acknowledgment.

Ely was as stubborn as any Breed male, especially when it came to running her labs and her research.

“I have to leave then.” The enforcer sighed. “I still have rounds to make and then I’ll be back.”

Mica gave a quick nod, then sat silently on the gurney as she waited. She saw several of the cameras on the walls above her, no doubt recording every breath she took and her temperature; they would be reading her thoughts if Jonas Wyatt could get the cameras to actually do it.

“Well, did Dr. Ely know you were coming?”

Mica swung around, terror racing through her at the sound of Brandenmore’s rough voice penetrating the room and scraping across the senses.

She came off the gurney, nearly stumbling and falling to the floor before catching herself in a crouch instead.

She stared around the room, eyes wide, her heart racing in her chest as she fought against the overwhelming fear of facing him again.

Mica knew that the only reason she had survived her last encounter with him had been the Breeds surrounding them at the time. There were no Breeds now. There was just Mica and whatever weapon she might be able to find.

“I believe I might even be able to smell your fear,” the voice commented as a section of wall slid open across from her. “I like that scent, Mica. It smells especially good on you, little girl. Sweet and subtle.”

Mica stared at the glass-enclosed cell in surprise. She had never seen where the Breeds kept their prisoners they were rumored to have. She had only known that they did indeed keep them. And now, she knew what their quarters looked like.

A twelve-by-twelve cell with white walls, a narrow bed, a vid- and halo-screen high on the wall and a partially enclosed shower on the other end.

Pretty swanky compared to the filthy cells and open toilets the Breeds were forced to use in most of the labs they were kept in. Few of them had had any conveniences outside of a mat or mattress to sleep on until they were old enough to put their training into use. Then, and only then, were they given decent sleeping areas or food in exchange for the services, or the killings, they were required to provide. And in the cases of those Brandenmore targeted, they had known nothing but the agony and horror of being nothing more than research projects.

Slowly, Mica eased up from the crouch and stared back at him in fascination. She knew for a damned fact he was more than eighty years old. But he looked no older than his early thirties, and if not for the evil glowing in his eyes, he wouldn’t have been bad looking. But that evil was there. In his gaze, in his expression, in the very air around him as they stared at each other across the distance.

Phillip Brandenmore shook his head somberly. “I can’t believe I had you in my grip and allowed you to live.” He sighed in regret. “Your life is one of those that’s considered to be one of importance among the Wolves. You do know there was a price on your head by the Breed’s enemies, right?”

“So I’ve been told,” Mica answered as she watched Brandenmore shove his hands into the pockets of the overly large pants he wore while his shirt seemed to hang on his well-muscled shoulders.

His smile was cunning and filled with sinister delight. “I helped put it there, you know. As the freak’s favorite friend, you would be invaluable. What would she do to protect you?”

Mica knew the answer to that. Cassie would kill to save her, or she would die for her. The same as Mica would do for Cassie. There was no other option. They were too close to ever allow the other to be harmed if they could stop it.

Mica didn’t tell Brandenmore that though, she just stared back at him silently, almost fascinated with the monster he had become and the fact that she was facing him.

“Excuse me for not dressing in my finest,” he said, excusing himself drolly. “But then again, I guess this can be called my finest, can’t it?” He leaned his shoulder against the glass, a dark brown eyebrow arching as he stared at her arrogantly. “Well, aren’t you going to talk? Don’t you think I get sick of listening to these pissant little Breeds? I’d like to talk to a human for once. Someone with more personality than a cat or a dog.”

Mica wanted nothing more than to leave to escape the vile sense of evil he filled a room with. He was a bastard and he knew it. Hell, he reveled in it.

“I can’t think of a single human or Breed that would want to discuss anything with you,” she told him, fascinated by the reptilian air Brandenmore seemed to possess. There was no way to hide what he was now. Despite the charm, despite the good looks, that aura of evil still surrounded him, still acted as a warning so heavy, a premonition so painful, that humans and Breeds alike were affected.

“How little you know,” he sneered, though he was clearly enjoying himself. “I knew several who would like to talk to you as well, my dear. About several matters. Your little mating anomalies as well as the fact that you’re the best friend to one of the most unique Breeds living. Tell me, if I kill you, what happens to her?”

Mica could only shake her head. “You would die and Cassie would shed a few tears, nothing more. There’s no way to hurt Cassie enough to destroy her. Her parents have done too good of a job in teaching her to protect herself and her heart.”

Brandenmore merely grimaced, though his gaze was filled with amusement. “My my, you’re not very important to anyone, are you, little girl?”

“Oh, I’m sure I am,” Mica drawled, though she was just as certain that those few were only her parents.

It would destroy her parents, but there was no lover, no sister, no brother. She would quickly be forgotten.

“I’m obviously important to you,” she stated. “Those were your men that attacked me in New York, wasn’t it?”

“Of course,” he admitted. “They would have traded your life for mine.” He stared around the exam room, his face pinching into a look of distaste. “They’re letting me die here.” He turned back and glared at her. “With you, I could have had my freedom.”

“You give me credit for having far more influence than I have,” she said, mocking him. “Trust me, Brandenmore, they would have never traded my safety for your freedom. You could destroy them. Only a few of them would miss me.”

“A mate?” His eyes widened as he laughed back at her. “Give me credit for far more intelligence than that. Before you proved yourself unmateable, my men could have commanded any price they wished for you, from either the Breeds or the Genetics Council. But now”—he gave her a look of pity—“you don’t have a human lover, and your Breed mate’s genetics are rejecting you. Poor little freak. Don’t you feel left out?”

“Actually, no, I’m mostly just feeling bored.” And wondering when the hell Ely was going to show up. Brandenmore just freaked her out, and he scared the hell out of her. Having a conversation with him wasn’t her idea of having a good time, but getting out of the exam room without help wasn’t going to happen either.

The longer she had to stay here, the worse he was going to get. She could see it in his expression, in his very demeanor. As far as he was concerned, he had a captive audience.

Turning, she moved to the door and the intercom that she knew connected to the security room.

“Call them, and we can’t share confidences.” Brandenmore’s confident, knowing drawl had her pausing before she activated the call button.

“And what confidences would we have to share?” she asked without turning, without looking at him.

“Well, we do have a bit of something in common,” he stated. “I may know a few things about that commonality.”

“And what would we have in common?”

They had Navarro in common. Brandenmore had been closely involved in the labs Navarro had come from. So closely involved that he had used many of the Breeds in those labs in his research projects.

“Your Breed. The mate who is not truly a mate,” he said slyly. “Would you like to know why?”

She wanted to know. She was dying to know. But she couldn’t bear standing here to talk to him. The vile, corrupted monster he had become sickened her to the point that it would never matter how desperately she wanted to know more about Navarro, she would never accept that information from him.

Her hand lifted to the button.

“What if I told you he was created to never feel strongly, to never have the emotions that drive a human?”

She paused again.

“If you could have done that, then you wouldn’t have stopped with just Navarro,” she said knowingly without turning back to him.

“That was always the hope, with each genetic design,” he told her. “To weed out emotion, to leave only logic, then to ensure it was only logical that they willingly give their loyalty to the Council and its membership.”

Mica shook her head again and lifed her hand closer to the intercom.

“And if I told you he’s already betrayed you?”

She shook her head as she swung around to stare at him once again. “Navarro hasn’t been with anyone else.”

“There are other ways to betray.” He shrugged.

“I don’t want to hear any more of this. You’re a liar, Brandenmore. A vicious, evil animal with no morals or conscience. Don’t expect me to believe a word out of your mouth.”

“I am not the animal,” he snarled back, suddenly erupting in fury. “I helped create that filthy creature you’re fucking, you little whore. Do you think I’d actually create something that could ever have emotions? Ever have loyalty? Don’t be such a stupid little bitch. He’ll never completely mate you, because he can never love you.”

Mica swung around and pressed the intercom button.

“Dr. Morrey?” There was a tone of surprise in the Breed that answered.

“This is Mica Toler. I was escorted here to see Dr. Morrey and she hasn’t shown up yet, but Phillip Brandenmore has. Could you please ask the doctor to hurry or send someone to let me out of here?”

There was no answer.

Mica was ready to depress the button and call out again when the door suddenly slammed inward and several enforcers rushed into the room, followed by Jonas, Navarro and Callan.

Brandenmore was laughing as Jonas stalked across the room to the window dividing the cell from the exam room and slammed the heavy wide metal shutters across the partition before locking them.

The sound of the laughter was cut off, leaving Mica to stare at the men, amazed at the air of deadly violence swirling around them.

“How did you get down here?” It was Navarro that spoke first.

Stalking to her, he gripped her arm, staring down at her as though he didn’t know whether to shake her or to fuck her.

“I walked,” she retorted mockingly. “What did you expect?”

“This is the wrong time.” His head lowered, his lips pulled back from his teeth, and she could have sworn she detected the faintest hint of a point returning to his canines. “Now answer me. How did you get down here?”

“As I said, I was escorted down here for an exam,” she answered from between clenched teeth. “Dr. Morrey hasn’t shown up yet though.”

“Because you didn’t have an appointment with her until this evening, with me,” he snarled. “Who came for you?”