by Lora Leigh
“Contact Pride Leader Lyons. Initiate Alpha Direct, and begin placement. We’ve been compromised.”
By one of their own.
Ria stared up at Mercury, watching as the mate and lover turned into the enforcer. Hard, cold eyes, savage features.
Jonas turned to Ria. “Can you work this equipment?”
She nodded. “I can.”
“Get in here and pull up the security discs. I want to know what the hell they were looking at, who was here and how someone managed to kill my men.”
She moved slowly into the room, staring down at Crowl with a sense of anger and sadness. He had been a nasty little bully, but he hadn’t deserved this.
“Lyons is initiating Alpha Direct. Dane Vanderale is moving to our locations; Leo Vanderale, his wife and babes are secure in the labs, their security force moving in.
“Get to work.” Jonas stabbed his finger in the direction of the monitors. “We have four hours before this fucking party, and I want to know what the hell is going on. Now!”
He wasn’t the only one.
Alpha Direct would pull all the mates and children in the ruling family to one secured location, known only to Callan, Jonas, and the security force assigned to the initiative. If Jonas decided it was needed, he could force Callan into the same secured perimeter. The protection of the ruling family fell under his designation and he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
“This is Vanderale equipment,” Ria murmured, her fingers racing over the keyboard, attempting to code in the special security protocols the equipment had established when it was first initiated. “I need Dane in here. This is one of his babies. You have a backup, but you also have a set of protocols set to maintain security, no matter what. Protocols the techs were unaware of. Only Callan knew what they were.”
Jonas gave her a sharp, brooding look. “Why wasn’t I aware of this?”
“Need to know.” She shook her head and smiled tightly. “Whoever did this, they’re caught, Jonas. Sanctuary is one of Leo’s priorities. You have the best, all the way around, and this baby.” She entered the commands into the system program, watching the coded display as it came up. “This baby rocks!”
And there it was. Level five security active, recording now. She just needed Dane to help her finish the final sweep.
The monitor flickered, images of the last sweep coming up. Her office, transmission recorded. Callan’s office, showing Dane, Callan and the males of the ruling family heavily into conversation over his desk, as of an hour ago, displayed, recording received, though the rooms weren’t set for recording.
And the children. There, the room where the children of the pride were secured was displayed.
“Move on Alpha secured three point seven,” Jonas ordered as Ria worked furiously, pulling up present security.
“Children are accounted for. Leo, Elizabeth and the twins are currently there. I need Dane on the line immediately.”
Mercury attached his headset to her ear.
“Report.” Dane’s voice was hard. “I’m on my way to your location. Alpha one and parties secured.”
“I need you in here. No transmissions out, only in. The equipment has been tampered with, but security protocols are still in force. I need you to find out where the transmissions are set to go. They’ve been rerouted.”
“Execute a full sweep of the system and it should be displayed as I arrive. We’ll track it and burn the bastard responsible.”
She entered the command, working furiously as she kept her eyes on the security monitors that began coming back online. Each room of the mansion was programmed in, except bedrooms and bathrooms. Sitting rooms were displayed, the ballroom, main grounds and hallways.
She saw Dane rushing for the security center, Leo’s security force inside and outside the room where the Leo, Elizabeth and the children were being held. Mates were being escorted into that room now, the females mothers to the children and as much in danger as the children themselves.
“This isn’t about the children, its about information,” she bit out, speaking more to herself as she continued to tap into the alternate system the computers held. “Why take the children if they have the information they need? Why take this risk? Why? Patterns,” she continued to mumble to herself, barely aware of the silence in the room as she began to read the information racing across the computer screen. “Always patterns. Where are you? You’re here, baby, I feel you moving. Come on. Give it to me.”
Mercury listened to her, leaning close. The whisper of the accent, the curiously sensual tone of her caressing voice as she pounded out commands and worked the system, amazed him.
He had never heard anything like it. As she worked, caressed, cajoled, information began popping up on the screens—transmissions, commands entered and, finally, display.
They watched as the Breed moved down the hallway, lab coat hiding the weapons that were shoved beneath it.
The door to the security center opened.
“There you are, come in. We have the card table set up in the back. I’m getting my cash back out of you tonight,” Austin crowed.
The Breed smiled, stepped inside, and the monitor showed the bloodletting that began. Dane stepped into the room, stepped over the body and sat down at the control center beside Ria.
“Are you ready, love?” he asked her gently.
They paused. “One. Two. Go.”
Their fingers hit the keys at once, in identical commands, and then simultaneously hit “enter.”
“Sweet God,” Jonas whispered at the information set to send in less than seconds. “Holy Mother of God.”
Dane and Ria ignored him. They worked their keyboards, fed in commands, rushed to delete information coded to be impossible to delete, transfer or intercept.
They weren’t after the children. They weren’t after the Leo. This information was much more destructive. Source files fed directly from the lab computers were set to process and feed to another location: matings, testing protocols and results—every file, every ounce of information dealing with mating heat, the aging decrease and findings on the hybrid children, including genetic workups and full genetic testing.
“Fucker!” Dane cursed.
“Watch your language,” Ria muttered, and worked.
Their fingers flew through commands, and as they worked, information was deleted, page by page, wiped clean, Transmission failed displayed.
The ultimate betrayal, by one they’d all trusted.
Transmission failed. Please check network settings. The message displayed a second before the screen went blank.
“Your system has officially crashed,” Dane drawled, though his voice was savagely hard as he pulled a cigar from his shirt pocket, lit it and narrowed his eyes against the monitor, where the face of the culprit was displayed. “Do I get to do the killing do you think? I’d enjoy it.”
“So will I,” Jonas snarled. “So will I.”
CHAPTER 27
The guests at the party had no idea the undercurrents moving beneath the Breeds on duty, or those circulating through the large ballroom and buffet room. They had no idea the danger that stalked within them, or the treacherous games a few would play to destroy the many.
The plan to capture those few Breeds was simple, yet so much depended on the coordination of everyone involved. If they missed a suspect or conspirator, then the whole plan could be screwed. They couldn’t afford that. They couldn’t afford to allow so much as a single traitor to be left unaccounted for when it was over.
Leo and Dane had accounted for Council-trained traitors within the rescued Breeds. The Council was always big on placing traitors among the small packs and prides, Breeds specially trained, specially brainwashed and treated with care to ensure they did as they were programmed. As those now attempting to betray Sanctuary were doing.
Except it wasn’t for the Council. It was for greed. For the money they believed they would gain, and the dishonor of having destroyed their own community without Co
uncil help.
Callan and Merinus stood at the only entrance into the ballroom, calm and to all appearances unaware of the deception brewing within Sanctuary. But they knew, and Callan had already passed sentence once the Breeds were caught. They would die. No exceptions, even for the woman.
Merinus Lyons was as graceful and gracious as always, her brown hair upswept, displaying her slender neck and the pearls that circled it. She wore a ball gown that managed to be both fanciful and elegant, the sweep of bronze material floating around her.
Roni Andrews was with her mate and husband, Taber. Taber was dressed in a black tux, but Ria knew the weapons concealed beneath it.
The entire ruling family was there, including Dawn Daniels and her fiancé Seth Lawrence. They moved through the guests, smiling, chatting, laughing, but the tension was there. The scent of it would have been detectable if it weren’t for many of the guests being nervous, some of them meeting the Breed ruling family for the first time.
Ria curled her hand on Mercury’s broad forearm, moving along the perimeter of the crowd in the emerald sweep of her velvet ball gown, her gaze spreading out over the room, finding several of the security personnel Leo had brought with him as well.
“You look too hot,” Mercury complained with an amused growl as male eyes turned to her, glinted with interest and then flickered in fear when her Breed mate growled at them.
But she heard the pride in his voice. For some reason, it pleased him that the animal genetics she had tried so long to fight were impossible to suppress since he had mated her.
“It’s your fault,” she reminded him, her voice low as she almost laughed at the tiny, warning pat just above her rear.
“Don’t remind me. I’m ready to explode the way it is.”
And he was. He was hard beneath his new dress uniform, and ready for her. He was always ready for her, just as she was for him.
She smiled at the thought of that, warmed to it as she tried to concentrate on the security placed around the room.
There were Breed Enforcers in the expected places for such events, but she knew there were even more ready, heavily armed and waiting.
Horace Engalls was there with his wife, on the dance floor sweeping through the crowd, his expression smug, arrogant. Brandenmore was dancing with none other than Alaiya, the Breed determined to take what Ria had decided there wasn’t a chance in hell she was taking.
Exactly when she had made that decision, Ria wasn’t certain. She had been willing to walk away once, to let Mercury have the mate that had first been intended for him.
He hadn’t let her walk away. He had torn into her heart and soul, and pulled free parts of herself she had sworn she would never allow out again.
He was hers. And once this was over, she would make certain Alaiya Jennings understood, completely, no matter what test results might show, that Mercury would never belong to her.
But this had to be taken care of first.
She and Mercury moved through the crowd, placing themselves close enough to cover Roni Andrews and Merinus Lyons in case shots were fired.
They weren’t up against one Breed, but several. As Dane began to pull the ghosted backups, tracking movements and meetings, they’d found what they needed.
Patterns, there were always patterns, and this one had been a very simple one, based on complete arrogance and the certainty that they had managed to gain all the information they needed concerning Sanctuary’s security. Technical experts, they were not. Otherwise, they would have realized there were always recovery protocols designed into any security system. Especially a Vanderale system. Technology was Vanderale’s game, and they did it better than anyone in the world.
Jonas, Callan and Merinus stood near the entrance to the ballroom, and it was there Mercury and Ria ended up after they made a short round of the room to give the appearance of mingling.
Along with Taber and Roni, they were greeting guests, smiling, the perfect, consummate hosts.
As Ria and Mercury moved in behind the Lyons family, Ria tensed.
Ely Morrey had stepped into the entrance, dressed in a black gown, her hair brushed attractively around her face. She looked sociable and pleasant, until Ria saw her eyes.
“This is bad,” she whispered as she watched Jackal slide away from Jonas toward the doctor. “She’s here early.”
They hadn’t expected this. And if her appearance was anything to go by, she was more agitated than before. She wasn’t to have arrived until later. Hopefully, not at all.
Jackal stopped beside Ely, his dark head bending as he whispered something in her ear. Requesting that she allow him to escort her back to her room.
Sorrow filled Ely’s eyes. Betrayal, fear and tears as she turned and looked at Jackal. His expression was curiously gentle for a man Ria knew wasn’t considered gentle.
“Please, Ely,” he whispered. “For me.”
They had only a second’s warning. Before Jackal could react, Ely had one hand wrapped around his balls in a hard grip and a taser to his neck as she watched him fall. Releasing him, she jerked a handgun from behind her back, beneath the dark wrap she wore, and held it on Jonas.
Guests nearby screamed. A woman cursed and another declared that she knew Breeds couldn’t be civilized.
Enforcers were moving in. Callan and Taber pushed their wives back; guests cried out, as the movement to clear the ballroom became hampered by the fact that the only entrance was now guarded by a hard-eyed, savage Breed scientist, and that left only the enclosed buffet room to find safety within.
“What are you doing, Ely?” Jonas stared back at her coldly. “Stand down and return to your quarters.”
She sneered back at him, the lethal automatic handgun aimed at his heart. She looked ready to use it. Fanaticism gleamed in her eyes, and hatred seared her expression.
“Don’t order me to my quarters, you fucking girl pussy,” she hissed. “Fucking manipulator. You’re going to destroy us all.”
Guests were gasping; growls were rumbling from the Breeds moving in behind her.
“I’ll blow your heart from your chest, Jonas,” she snarled. “I won’t let you do this to Sanctuary.”
“Ely, you’re out of control.” His voice, for all its gentleness, vibrated with a hard, cold core of fury. “Give me the gun.”
“I’ll give you the bullet,” she warned him as a syringe dropped from the wide sleeve of her gown. “Tell Mercury to inject this into his arm.” She tossed the syringe. Jonas caught it easily and stared down at it.
“What is it, Ely?”
“Poison to the Breed system,” she answered easily. “It will stop his heart immediately and leave the rest of his system uncorrupted. The feral displacement will never threaten Sanctuary again, and when I dissect him, I’ll find the answers I need to make certain it never infects another Breed.”
“You would kill Mercury?” he asked her.
Ria’s hand tightened on Mercury’s arm as she felt his shock. His pain. Ely was a friend, she knew. Once trusted. And trust didn’t come easily to her mate.
“What about his woman, Ely? Would you take him from her?”
Behind them, Breeds were moving guests into the buffet room, carefully cutting Engalls and his wife and Brandenmore from the crowd. Isolating them. They had to stay isolated, contained.
Ely lifted the gun until it was level with Jonas’s heart.
“Inject yourself, Mercury, or he dies.”
Mercury moved to pull away from Ria.
“No,” Ria hissed. “I won’t lose you like this.”
He would do it. She could see it in his face. If that was what it took to ensure the safety of Sanctuary, then he would do it.
“Your first duty is to me, not to him,” she snarled.
His jaw tensed and he moved, his eyes connecting with Ria, warning her. She felt it then, that leap of connection, that bond she had never allowed herself to connect to before. As though, spirit to spirit, he was promising her that he had a plan
.
By God, he better have a plan, and death wasn’t an option.
She loosened her grip slowly, fear moving through her, terror filling her blood. She wouldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t let him do this.
As she shifted, she caught activity from the corner of her eye. Two figures moving past the entrance, heading along the foyer to the main doors. All Breed Enforcers were busy, drawn to the ballroom to protect guests and the ruling family.
Mercury eased to Jonas’s side. Alaiya Jennings moved slowly into place then caught Ria’s eyes.
On three, Ria mouthed slowly, her gaze moving slowly to Ely.
Alaiya nodded with a slow, subtle movement.
Mercury took the syringe from Jonas.
One. Two. They jumped.
Alaiya drew Ely’s attention as Ria moved to take the gun. Jonas beat her to it. He twisted the gun from the doctor’s hand, grabbed her and threw her to another Breed as he barked, “Hold her.”
They raced from the ballroom and came to a hard, surprised stop.
Two lab assistants, male and female, were unconscious on the floor of the foyer as Dane stood back, a cigar between his lips, his arms crossed over his chest, as he smiled back at them.
He lifted his hand, and in it, between his fingers, he held a small external chip drive.
“Decoder.” He smiled. “Shall we inform the Engalls and Brandemore of the penalty for fucking with Sanctuary?”
“Son of a bitch,” Jonas snapped.
Dane lifted his brow. “I hope you’re not referring to me, brother. I may have to take exception.”
Lawe and Rule materialized, restrained the lab assistants’ hands, despite their unconscious states, and hefted them over their shoulders.
“What about Ely?” Mercury growled.
Jonas sighed. “Place her in the confinement cell.” He shook his head sadly. “Hell, I was hoping a few days off that shit would clear her mind. It’s only made her worse.”
That shit. The drug she had been fed in the lab. Elizabeth had reported finding it in the over-the-counter painkillers and aspirin in Ely’s desk just hours before. They had known it was being fed to her somehow; they just hadn’t figured out how.
“Confinement will be easiest.” Elizabeth moved into the foyer. “I’ll take care of her, Jonas. I checked Jackal—when he wakes up, he’ll have a hell of a headache from the taser, but he’ll be fine.”
Jonas nodded and turned back to Ria and Mercury, his gaze filled with weariness, his expression heavy with sorrow. “I let them get to her,” he whispered. “Hell, I vetted those two myself. And still I managed to let those bastards from the Council get to her.”
Ria felt Mercury’s arms surround her, drawing her to his chest, his warmth and security wrapping around her.
“They were trained to deception, all Breeds were, Jonas,” she said softly. “Vetting them isn’t always enough. We’re no different than those who don’t have Breed genetics, just a little better at what we do sometimes.”
“Hell!” he bit out again, pushing his hands over his dark hair before staring around the foyer.
He was proud, tall and disgusted. The black tux he wore was wrinkled; a smear of blood stained the cuff of his shirt, and his expression was lined with the heaviness in his heart.
“Losing Ely is going to hurt,” Jonas finally whispered. “Pray to God, Elizabeth can fix this.”
Pray, that was all any of them could do. Ria nodded, her hands closing over Mercury’s as he pressed them against her stomach, holding her close. Secure. Warm.
God, she could have lost him. If Ely had turned that gun on Mercury instead, she might not have hesitated to pull the trigger. She was that determined to see him destroyed for a condition he had never truly suffered from.
“I think I’m ready to leave this party,” he told her, his lips at her ear, caressing the shell as the heat and hardness of him filled her with strength. “The bad guys have been captured and the dress is driving me crazy.”
She almost smiled. “Yes, I think we’re ready to leave this party.”
“I think we all are,” Jonas breathed out roughly. “Unfortunately, we have guests.”
“And I’m off duty and in mating heat,” Mercury growled. “I’m taking my mate to our cabin.”
Because the adrenaline was crashing inside her, combining with the mating heat now that the danger had passed, now that the Breeds determined to destroy their own society were in custody.
Jonas nodded as he turned away. Ria turned, watching as he moved to the ballroom entrance, coming to a stop as Callan carried Ely in his arms and moved for the hallway.
The doctor was unconscious, her face paper white, a smear of blood beneath her nose attesting to the fact that the drug she was on was attempting to destroy her exceptional mind.
Callan’s face was carved from stone; his wife’s was wet with tears as she followed behind him. Ely was a cherished part of the community; she was their hope for the answers to the questions about their own physiology, and she was a friend.
“Will she survive, Elizabeth?” Ria asked as her grandmother moved to her, Leo close on her heels, as he always was.
“If she’s strong enough, Ria. If she’s strong enough.”
Elizabeth patted her arm and moved past her, Leo’s arm wrapping around his wife to pull her close to his side as they followed Callan and Merinus.
Seconds later, Horace Engalls, his wife and Phillip Brandenmore were escorted from the ballroom under enforcer guard, their expressions both furious and terrified.
It was over, Ria thought. As Mercury turned her to the doors and they moved to leave the party, she let herself believe it was finally over.
“We have about eight hours,” Mercury growled at her ear as they entered the limo and the enforcer assigned to the car whisked them from the ball that had nearly turn