He wouldn’t allow it? As though she would ever let him have any say in the matter as long as he was doing so in such a manner. As though he owned her.
The pain of that realization had her body tightening until she was on the verge of shaking, the pain, anger, and incredibly, the fear racing through her to mix with an arousal she couldn’t force away.
She wanted him. She wanted him to touch her, to hold her, to share his kiss and the incredible taste of spiced pears that filled it. She wanted him to accept her. To stand beside her. To allow her the happiness she needed to make that decision for herself.
And she wanted to kick his ass for ever imagining she would allow him to make such a decision for her.
“Sorry, Lawe, I won’t allow you to kill her as surely as the Council would.”
The shock of the words coming from the deep, normally booming voice of her second-in-command had Lawe moving. Before Diane could stop him, he had thrown her behind him as Thor stepped into the room, twirling the key between his fingers as he stared at them, a tic of anger throbbing at the side of his jaw. “Having fun alone again, boss?” he asked. “I thought we agreed that wouldn’t be happening this time.”
He was pissed.
Lawe’s blue eyes were icy. His broad, masculine features looked carved from stone and anger had his normally full lips tightening as she knew he held back every smart-assed, purely male arrogant insult he could have thrown her way.
Thor completely ignored the fact that Lawe had one of the snub-nosed, laser-powered, rapid-burst hand guns trained on him, his finger riding the activation lever a little too firmly. But he wasn’t ignoring the fact that Lawe was attempting to shield her. The action earned Lawe one of Thor’s famous, sarcastic sneers. A lifting of his lip at one side as disgust filled his gaze.
“For God’s sake, Lawe, get the hell off me!” She pushed at the back of his shoulders as he continued to hold her behind him with the seemingly effortless strength of one arm.
Dammit, she could kick the asses of men that were twice his size and pure muscle. But she couldn’t budge him.
“What is he doing here?” Lawe’s voice was an animal’s growl.
“Move!” She finally managed to lever a few inches between them before he slowly, very damned slowly, allowed her her freedom.
She shot him a look filled with the promise of retribution.
She was not going to put up with this. “This is the number one reason most partners involved in any kind of military or covert work end up divorced,” she snapped furiously.
“Mates don’t divorce.”
“Be careful, Lawe,” she suggested, her voice raspy with the sheer depth of her anger. “You’ll be the first.”
“I get to sell the tickets.” Thor’s smile lacked any amusement or warmth.
“You’re supposed to be on vacation,” she snapped at the oversized Swede that stood in front of the now-closed door.
“And you’re supposed to be visiting your sister before you head to Sanctuary with her.” Thor’s brow arched with mocking curiosity. “I guess we both lied, huh?”
Yes, she had lied. Something she had never done to Thor as long as she had known him.
“And I had a very good reason for it,” she informed him as she moved to go around Lawe, only to have him catch her arm and hold her back silently.
He hadn’t said a word. He stared back at Thor with lowered brows and narrowed eyes, his entire body tense and ready for action.
For God’s sake, his very demeanor, so dominant and forceful had her pussy creaming furiously despite the disgusted irritation the action earned him.
She decided she hated Breeds.
“Reasons don’t matter.” Thor shrugged. “Just the action.”
Diane grunted at his standard no-forgiveness stance.
“Were you following me?” Suspicion suddenly rose inside her, dark and ugly.
Thor had been the one who had arrived with her uncle to tell her of her parents’ deaths. He had held her when her lover, her uncle’s second-in-command, had been killed, and he’d been the one who had sat and prayed at her hospital bed after her rescue from that Syrian hellhole.
Suspecting him of anything seemed nothing short of a sin.
Yet there it was.
“I wasn’t following you,” he stated with a bite to his voice. “I’ve actually been tracking your shadow. I just wanted to see who he was tracking when I caught sight of him sneaking around the hotel the night before you left. I didn’t know you were his quarry until I heard you and the Lion here arguing inside. It makes sense, though, considering the fact I warned you someone was out to kill you.” He turned to Lawe as he crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Your Breeds are falling down on the job, prick. They weren’t at the door as they should have been.”
“For a reason,” Lawe snapped irritably. “We knew you were following her. The only reason you got to the door was because you’re not considered a threat.”
Diane was more concerned with Thor’s revelation than the argument between him and Lawe. She had left before daylight. Gideon Cross had been watching for her and she had known it. Just as she had known he was tailing her, despite the fact that she hadn’t been able to catch sight of him.
One of these days, perhaps she could catch up with him and convince him to teach her that little trick.
Keeping one step ahead of her mate as well as her enemies might well be in her future. He didn’t appear to be out to kill her. She just hadn’t figured out exactly what it was he did want. Evidently, Lawe was paying close attention to Thor, especially the part about Gideon shadowing her and the rumor that there was a price on her head. Just what she needed, for Lawe to become more protective than he already was. “Let me go before I have to kick your ass,” she muttered, her fury downgrading to simple kick-his-ass anger as he slowly released her.
“That threat is getting old,” he told her quietly. “Either kick it or find another part of my anatomy to consider abusing.”
She almost rolled her eyes. She wasn’t even going to touch that one.
Pushing her fingers through her hair, she stared back at the window beside the door. The curtains were still carefully closed and tucked in close to the wall to ensure not even a shadow could be revealed.
She had known last night that a weapon was trained on her. Right between her eyes as she sat in the chair that she had thankfully moved this morning. If Thor was unaware of who the tracker was following, then he couldn’t have seen her the night before making herself a willing target.
“Did you catch sight of him?” she asked Thor.
For long moments Thor stared back at her in mocking disbelief that she had even asked such a question. He indicated her window with a jerk of his head. “I managed to catch sight of him with the long-range binocs we procured from those Coyotes last year.” The binoculars were a hell of a lot more than long range, with night vision, heat sensing and several other tricks Diane hadn’t yet been able to try out. “He has a nice, powerful sniper rifle trained right in here is my guess. I saw the shadow and the rifle, but I couldn’t get close enough to glimpse his features or keep him from pulling the trigger.” The last was snapped out furiously. “What the fuck were you doing propped up in front of the window daring that fucker?”
She rolled her eyes at him, before her gaze turned wary at the sound of the rumble of pure displeasure she heard vibrating in Lawe’s chest.
“Stop that.” She hissed the order as her nerves went immediately on edge.
She did not like that sound.
“I’m ready to imitate him,” Thor bit out in irritation. “For God’s sake, Diane. You have no idea what you’re dealing with here.”