by Lora Leigh
She hated him right back. But she didn’t have to like him, and she didn’t have to deal with him. Seth did. And as long as she was standing at Seth’s side, Carrington would never back down.
“Excuse me, gentlemen, and I’ll let you talk.” She ignored the tightening of Seth’s hand at her hip and moved away without rushing, without showing regret. Though she regretted.
She regretted losing the warmth of his body, the stroke of his heat along her flesh. It eased the need building inside her and calmed the animal that fed her hunger.
Seth watched as she walked away, her back straight, her shoulders stiff as she moved toward the hall. She would be close; he knew she wouldn’t go far. But that didn’t ease the need to touch her, to hold her.
He turned back to Carrington, staring at him coldly.
“Insult her again, and I’ll force the sale of your shares,” he kept his voice low, though he didn’t give a damn who heard what he had to say.
He watched the sweat pop out on Carrington’s forehead, a clear indication that the other man was becoming increasingly concerned. Let him worry. Let him twist in his bed at night worrying about future profits. Seth twisted mentally every fucking night, remembering what the Council had done to Dawn, remembering and hating the bastards for every second of pain they had put her through as a child.
“This has nothing to do with business,” Carrington snapped. “Weren’t you the one that warned me to keep it separate?”
Seth stepped closer. “Do you have a soul, Carrington?” He growled. “Let’s see if you have one. Go back into that room.” He pointed to the meeting room. “Reload those discs and watch them. Watch them and know they’re the truth. Imagine the lash of those whips on your own flesh as a child. A fucking baby, too young to defend yourself. And imagine the discs you didn’t see in there. The ones where they raped children to death.” He clenched his fists at his sides to keep from using them on the other man. “Imagine your child, your precious Caroline, staring back at a camera in death, as every atrocity that could be committed against her young body was committed.” Rage was burning inside him.
Before Seth could stop himself, before he could contain the brutal talon-sharp fury tearing at his mind, he gripped the sides of Carrington’s jacket and jerked him close, nose to nose, and let him see the murderous emotions burning inside him.
“Do you have a soul, you spineless little fucker, or are you just as fucking demented as those bastards you helped fund for all those years?”
Carrington lost all color in his face. He stared back at Seth, horrified.
“They didn’t show you those babies they raped, did they, Carrington?” he snarled brutally. “All those years they sent reports to those certain few who fully backed them, they never showed those poor, pitiful, bloodstained bodies. But you know what? Those that survived? Some of them were made available to the monsters that backed them. Were you one of them?”
Carrington was shaking his head, slowly, almost shocked. “That was propaganda,” he wheezed. “The Breeds, they lied.”
Seth threw him back. “Is that how you salve your conscience?” he bit out, then stared at the incredulous expressions of the board members watching the scene. “Is that what the Council and their fucking puppets cutting my throat with you are telling you? Propaganda? Let me tell you propaganda. Let me tell you how they fucking destroyed babies.” His expression contorted, the images of what they had done to his Dawn, his woman, flashing through his mind. “How many of you paid for the privilege of helping? By God, let me find out one of you, just one of you, did, and I’ll destroy you. Pray to God, get on your knees and beg him not to let me find out any of you were involved so deeply, or I promise you, hell hath no fury like that which I’ll visit on you. Every last fucking one of you who dared.”
“They proved those discs were false.” Carrington was still shaking his head. “The Breeds did that themselves. They proved it. The Breeds don’t disprove it. They refuse to address it.”
“Tell you what, let some bastard rape your daughter until she’s mindless with the pain. Until her blood is flowing from her body and her eyes turn glassy, and see how many of your good buddies you want to see it, Carrington.” His chest was tight, his rage thundering through him. “Any of you. Those who survived, do you think they want you to see their pain? Do you think they care at this point what men like you believe? Those who supported those fucking monsters? Fuck you. Every damned one of you. Negotiations are off. My lawyers will contact yours next week. I don’t negotiate with pedophiles or those who defend them. Get the fuck off my island.”
He turned and stalked from the group, his body vibrating with a killing rage as Dawn stepped from the hall and stood watching him, her eyes dark with pain, her face pale. And concerned.
She glanced back at the board members, and for a moment, just a moment, he thought tears glittered in her eyes before she blinked them back.
“Seth, wait.” Dane was behind him. He caught Seth’s arm and pulled him to a stop as Seth reached Dawn.
“Back off, Dane.” He jerked his arm out of the other man’s grip and turned again.
“Let me talk to them now, Seth,” Dane hissed softly. “Listen to me, you have them scared now, let me pull them in. We’d have no fight if we strike now.”
“Listen to him, Seth.” Dawn dug her heels in, her voice soft but resonating with pain. “Don’t go to war unless you have to.”
He paused, his body vibrating with the need for just that. War. All but a few of those board members had personally supported the Genetics Council over the years. A few he knew would never turn against them, but if they could get a majority, if they pulled in the right vote, then those few would have no choice but to follow them.
“I won’t back down.” He felt murderous. He wanted to tear the bastards apart, he wanted to go back, he wanted to wipe out every fucking scientist and soldier who had dared to touch Dawn or any other child in their care.
“Let me mediate this point,” Dane urged him again. “Let me work them now that you have them running scared. This, my friend, is what I’m good at.”
Seth nodded sharply. “No negotiations, Dane. Negotiating is over. I want the full concessions that I asked for. Period. Or they can get fucked.”
With that, he pulled Dawn closer and moved her toward their room. He didn’t want them to look at her, he didn’t want them to see her or to breathe her air. They were an insult to her presence, an insult to every child breathing, Breed or not.
Dawn was his. His woman. His breath. He hadn’t realized that until she came to him. He hadn’t realized how long he had waited, how hard he had hoped that she would come to him. He’d be damned if he would back down an inch now. Dawn and her people weren’t the only ones depending on him. The children he would have with her needed him to stand for them now. If he didn’t, who would stand for them later?
Dane watched Seth and his mate disappear around the corner of the hall. He pushed his fingers through his hair and glanced back at the board members watching him in concern as he appeared undecided.
Appeared, as he wasn’t in the least undecided. He had expected this to happen, he had planned for it. Anyone with an ear to the ground where the Breeds were concerned knew that Dawn was Seth’s mate. Especially anyone with Dane’s senses. Breed senses, senses made stronger by the human blood that flowed through his veins.
Dane was the worst sort of predator. He preyed on the emotional weaknesses of his enemies. Their greed. Their lust for power. He preyed upon it, helped to weaken it, then built it back as he needed it. He needed these men in place, but not at the risk of destroying the Breeds they benefited.
Exhaling roughly, he played the part of concerned businessman and reluctant mediator. That role he knew very well.
Rye, Ryan Desalvo, his bodyguard and friend, met him halfway.
Dane lowered his head to Rye’s ear. “Bring the discs.”
He felt Rye tense. “Seth will cut your heart out.”
/> “And dine on it for dinner, I’m certain,” Dane drawled. “Bring the discs.”
They had brought the discs as insurance, just in case. Just in case this happened. Just in case the votes needed didn’t appear forthcoming. Because the majority of those men didn’t know the true scope of the atrocities the Council had committed, and they clung to the hope that it was indeed Breed propaganda that claimed it had happened.
As in so many events in the past, those of evil and malicious intent twisted the truth to suit their own purposes. The discs and images of the true scope of cruelties committed against Breed females were hidden, for the most part, within the Breed strongholds. But Seth was an enterprising chap. He’d found many of them. And they were needed now.
Lawrence Industries and Vanderale Industries were the Breeds’ major supporters. If they fell, so many others would fall as well.
As Rye moved along the hallway, turned and headed for their rooms, Dane moved back to the board members.
“He’s surely not serious,” said Brian Phelps, owner and CEO of a large import/export business that Lawrence had taken under their wing and refinanced. Phelps had been given a seat on the board, while the import/export business had become a part of Lawrence Industries at a drastically reduced amount.
“I believe he may be,” Dane admitted with a sigh. “Let’s reconvene, gentlemen, and see what we can do to draw Seth back to the table.” He glanced back in the direction Seth had gone as though worried, when in fact he was damned near gleeful that Seth had finally pushed the board members to resolve this. Now they would learn who their allies were and who was backed by the Council.
Seth had been serious, and the members of the board had seen it. Seth rarely became upset; he never walked away from negotiations, preferring to fight them out instead. Dane remembered the year of hell that he had worked to get on this board. Drawing Seth in had been nearly impossible. The other man had made him sweat, and it hadn’t been pleasant.
“Let him enact the codicil,” Theodore Valere, the member that worried Dane the most, inserted arrogantly, and too smugly.
Valere owned the majority of Spain’s pharmaceutical companies; unfortunately, he had made the supreme mistake of allowing his brother a large share of those companies. The brother had sold them to Aaron Lawrence when Valere refused to bail him out of a rather large gambling debt.
Hence the reason Valere was on the board to begin with. He couldn’t take the shares back; all he could do was give his input or vote on how the majority profits of Lawrence Industries were used. And then only if Aaron or Seth were willing to negotiate. The codicil to the major shareholder agreement was completely legal and enforceable.
“Theodore, if Seth enacts that codicil, we could all be shitting with our thumbs up our arses the next time we’ve a problem facing our own companies.”
“It’s not as though it will affect Vanderale. Lawrence Industries is no more than a pet project of yours, Dane, admit it,” Carrington snapped. “The holding Lawrence bought from you was in no way attached to Vanderale.”
“Father can be a shade possessive of his holdings.” Dane sighed as though he were the reckless playboy he was perceived to be. “He’s going to expect results from me here, and he does have a soft spot for the Breeds. Disappointing him here would not be in my best interests.”
Or those of the others. The world was no longer such a small place and Vanderale Industries had always had its sights toward that. It had a finger in many pies, just as Lawrence Industries did. Many of those pies were now staring back at Dane, sweating, uncertain if they should stand their ground or allow Seth’s measures to continue to back the Breeds.
Backing Sanctuary and Haven was a smart business decision, as Dane well knew. Callan Lyons and the Wolf Breed leader, Wolf Gunnar, were excellent leaders and strategists. They would lead the Breeds into a future that would one day see them not just secure, but completely profitable and self-supporting.
“Ah, here’s Rye,” Dane murmured then and glanced back at the board members. Yes, the members of Seth’s board of directors were about to receive a very rude awakening. “A few discs I’ve managed to attain myself from some very greedy Council soldiers. Should we go view them?” He extended his arm to the meeting room as the others watched him with almost fearful curiosity.
Valere was quiet, but in his black eyes Dane glimpsed the evil that he could smell hovering over the man like decayed flesh.
Theodore Valere came from Spanish aristocracy. His family could trace their roots back to the Middle Ages. Hurrah, hurrah. Dane’s father had traced the Valere family roots as well and found a history of depravity and petty cruelties. The past three generations of Valere money had filled the Genetics Council coffers.
The Council had ruled the Breeds with an iron hand, destroying their creations despite the billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars that had gone into giving them life. The miracles they had created were ignored. The scientists didn’t see them as miracles; they saw them as tools and as expendable creatures.
The discs Dane had acquired had been authenticated by the world’s foremost authorities on video and audio production, enhancement and duplication. There was no doubt each event, each bloodcurdling scream, each demented plea for mercy was real.
The blood that filled the labs, the cold faces of scientists and soldiers alike, the complete inhumanity of the experiments, all in the name of science, were events that even the staunchest stomach couldn’t bear.
And the girls. The faces of young female Breeds, were those that were hardest to bear. Dane stood by the viewer and stared back at the board members, his eyes hard, the sounds of agonized wails echoing in his head, as they always did, even in his nightmares.
All but Valere turned away. He stared at the images, a heavy frown on his face as he watched, a glimmer of pleasure in his eyes. And Dane swore, before much longer, he would have the proof he needed. When he did, Valere would die.
Dane wasn’t bound by Breed Law. He didn’t have to turn his evidence over to the Breed Ruling Cabinet, law enforcement agencies or senators. All he had to do was assure his own conscience. Once that last shred of doubt was assuaged, then Valere blood would spill.
As Breed blood had spilled.
Over and over again.
CHAPTER 16
“I should start flying every last one of them to the mainland,” Seth growled as they entered the suite, his body tight, humming with anger as he released her arm and moved to the bar.
Dawn watched him, her chest heavy, her heart aching as though someone had cut into it with a dull knife as she watched him pour a drink and breathe out heavily.
“Board members are like death and taxes. Can’t get rid of them.” Dawn quoted him. He’d made that comment years before at one of the parties he had attended at Sanctuary.
He glowered at her, but his shoulders seemed to relax marginally.
“Bastards,” he finally muttered before sipping at a whiskey and turning back to stare at her.
The look in his eyes fired her blood immediately. It made her think of soap made in Paris and the wild scent of his lust clinging to her body.
“The board members aren’t the only problem we have,” she told him, hating the necessity of making the situation worse. At least in his eyes. “Investigator Ison arrived just before I met up with you in the hall. Dash and Callan are with him, but they’re wanting to question Merc about the death of your board member.”
The whiskey glass was set on the bar carefully. “They’re trying to pin Breyer’s death on a Breed then?”
“That’s what we suspect. Mercury would make an excellent target. Flash his picture across the television screens of the world and parents would fear not just for their children but for themselves. I think they’re wanting to turn this on us.”
Seth closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired, she thought. Neither of them had slept much the night before, or this morning. The mating heat had taken them in its grip, and
every ounce of energy had been given to it.
The thought of those hours had her thighs weakening and her sex clenching in need.
“Where is Investigator Ison?” He sneered.
“We had the library secured before his arrival. Dash is hoping that he and Callan can distract him or somehow divert the direction of his investigation.”
His jaw clenched. “Let’s go. I’ll be damned if I’ll sit here on my ass and watch them try to pin Breyer’s death on an innocent man. Has Dash run a background check on him yet?”
Dawn nodded. “We’ve found preliminary evidence of an association to several Council contacts, though those contacts aren’t verified. At this point it would be only speculation in the eyes of the law.”
“All I need.” Suddenly he looked taller, broader, harder. He looked like a man that most people would be frightened to push much further.
And Dawn had to admit to feeling a curl of trepidation. Not personal concern, but rather that gut feeling that should Seth lose the control she could now glimpse as a core of steel inside him, then death would result.
“Do you have his file on that handy-dandy PDA of yours?” He nodded to the electronic device.
Dawn pulled it free of her utility belt, activated it and pulled up Investigator Ison’s file before handing it back to Seth.
He took it, his eyes narrowed on the screen as he scrolled through the information. His jaw was rigid, his nostrils flaring as he read the file.
“His brother married the sister of a suspected Council soldier,” he murmured. “Past military career, possibility of Council and/or lab involvement.” He looked over at her. “And Dash is letting this son of a bitch live?”
Dawn shrugged. “Breed Law goes both ways. It’s for the protection of the Breeds as well as those who aren’t, Seth. Until we have proof of involvement after the enactment of Breed Law, there’s nothing we can do other than make their names public knowledge.”
He rubbed at his jaw, his broad hands and long male fingers stroking over the beard-darkened flesh as she inhaled slowly.
She wanted him. She wanted him inside her.
His eyes lifted from the PDA, darkened.
“Are you wearing those panties I gave you this morning?” His voice was suddenly deep, dark with lust.
The panties were nothing but lace. The softest, most delicate lace Dawn had ever felt. The thong was a perfect fit, the shimmery fabric cupping her mound and lying over it like a cloud. She had never worn anything so wickedly sexy in her life.
She felt her face flush. “Yeah. I’m wearing them.” She cleared her throat. “Those panties are decadent, Seth.”
“Are they wet?” Still holding the PDA, he moved closer, his expression suddenly more sensual, his gaze as wicked as the panties. “Have you dampened all that soft lace yet?”
Her face flamed, because of course she had. Just looking at him made her wet.
“You’re insane,” she breathed out roughly, taking the PDA from him and securing it quickly in the leather case attached to her utility belt.
His eyes moved down her body, his gaze locking on her thighs. “I want to lick all that sweet soft flesh. You know your pussy is softer than the lace, Dawn?” His hands settled on her shoulders and smoothed down her back as he pulled her close, his eyes meeting hers then. “Does your tongue ache, baby? Do you need my kiss?”
His head lowered, his lips teasing at hers then.
“If you kiss me, we’ll never make it out of here.” Her lashes drifted over her eyes as his tongue stroked over her lips.
She wanted his kiss. She wanted those teasing licks to stop and she wanted his lips moving over hers. Not to ease the hormone swelling the glands beneath her tongue, but because she felt him when he kissed her. She felt connected to him, a part of him.
“I ache for your kiss,” he whispered against her lips then. “The feel of it, the warmth of it. The way you make those feathery little sounds when my tongue touches yours.”
Her lips parted. She needed him. Needed the touch of his tongue against hers, the feel of his kiss making her mad with hunger. So insane to feel all of him, to touch all of him, that nothing else mattered. She wasn’t afraid of the shadows that had begun forming within her memories when he held her. Shadows that she knew were filled with pain and horror and the screams of the girl she never wanted to have to remember.
As his tongue stroked over her lips, the link at her ear beeped imperatively.
Dawn moaned in denial, her hands tightening on Seth’s powerful forearms as she fought to ignore it. It beeped again, then again on the secured private channel. It had to be Dash or Callan. Only they would contact her privately, and it would have to have something to do with the investigators downstairs.
She didn’t want to deal with them. She wanted to stay right here, in Seth’s arms, and feel the kiss he was teasing her with.
Seth pulled back, his grin slow and knowing as he jerked her hand to the small activator at the back of her ear.
“Dawn here,” she snapped as she flipped the mic down.
This better be important.
“How did I get this link, is your first question.” Obviously disguised, a voice that sent chills down her spine whispered the statement. “Which of your very well-trained enforcers did I take down, little girl?”
Dawn felt the flash of sickening knowledge, a realization she didn’t want to sense, didn’t want to hear.
“Who is this?” She could feel the bile rising in her throat.
“Ah, Dawn, sweet thing. You don’t remember your first? First cut is the deepest, sweetie. I made that first cut, and now I’ll make the last. Remember that, Dawn, I promised you that. That you’d always be there for me. You’re my fuck toy, little girl. Always mine.”
She was going to be sick. So sick.
She was instinct, pure instinct and training. She rushed to the laptop and activated the locator program for the island. All the Breed links had a locator, a beacon that allowed her to track them. That locator beacon was coordinated with one inset in the Breed patch they wore on their uniforms. If the link was separated from the Breed, then she’d find it.
It was a security measure, in case a Breed became separated from the link, or the worst happened and the enemy managed to acquire the link.
“Are you searching for me, Dawn? Come get me, baby. You were the best fuck I ever had and I’ll be your last fuck.”
She was going to throw up. That voice echoed in her head, over and over.
Scream for me, little cat. Little girl.
She tore the link from her head. She wasn’t listening. She couldn’t listen. She hit a command to coordinate locator beacons and watched as each began to line up.
All but one.
“Moira,” she whispered, horrified, terrified as she stared at the screen while typing in the electronic emergency access to all links but Moira’s.
Moira was well trained. She was one of the Lionesses Dawn herself had helped train. How had she failed the other woman? How had she not taught her to avoid this?
This was her fault. Somehow, it was her fault. She had trained Moira. The delicate Breed had come to Sanctuary almost broken, and she learned to laugh. But she was down now and Dawn had failed to protect her.
She heard Seth curse. A vile, enraged curse that had her jerking her gaze to his and horror flashing through her mind. He was listening. Listening to every vicious, dirty word coming out of the link.
“Here,” she