“Hopefully, not too long,” she told him. “Truly, Mr. Wyatt, making an enemy of you isn’t my wish, but neither is it something that will sway me in my job. Though, I promise you, the viability of Sanctuary does mean something to me, as well as to Leo and Dane. I’m not here to risk your safety, I’m here to gather the information. All I need is your cooperation. No matter my determination, I know Leo and Dane will be willing to work with Sanctuary to continue the relationship Sanctuary does enjoy with Vanderale.”
Even if they were leaking money like a sieve, Leo would never contemplate cutting them off. Sanctuary could leak till hell froze over and he would still pour money into it. But that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t money that was leaking, it was something much more vital.
“You’ll have what you need.” Jonas stood to his feet. “In the morning.”
She rose as well, aware of Mercury straightening also.
“I look forward to it.” She set her coffee on the table and extended her hand once more. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”
He shook her hand firmly, but he didn’t strengthen his grip; he didn’t attempt to show her his strength, and her estimation of him rose. Because she knew he was furious.
“Mercury, show her back to her cabin. You, Lawe and Rule will be her personal security. Make sure no one kills her. Because she doesn’t seem to care much about her own welfare today. And she’s to be in Ely’s lab in the morning for testing.”
Ria paused. “There will be no testing, Mr. Wyatt. I supplied the necessary samples before my arrival. There will be no more given.”
He paused and stared back at her, a muscle ticking at his jaw before he smiled tightly. “You do like to play with fire, don’t you, Ms. Rodriquez?”
She let a light laugh escape her throat as she looked up at him. “Mr. Wyatt, Dane often says that’s exactly what I do best. I think my mother accused me of it several times as well. But you’ll find I’m truly not the enemy.”
“I don’t consider women my enemies.” He shrugged and in his quick smile she could see the charm he was capable of. “Combatants maybe.”
That told her. She inclined her head in agreement before turning to her personal bodyguard. It was enough to make a woman wish the word had a whole other connotation. Like naked and in her bed.
Too bad relationships and her just didn’t mix. Besides, she knew Breeds mated. They were playful, erotic and wicked, but loving a woman always came with a mating. And mating was almost instantaneous.
So far, she had no uncontrollable urges where his body was concerned. Irrational maybe, but that didn’t count.
She fought to restore her equilibrium as Mercury once again escorted her from the estate house to the limo. Sliding into the back, she watched as he moved in opposite her before the car began moving from the driveway.
They were both silent as they rode through the gates and the crowd of protestors that chanted outside them.
The gossip rags fueled the protests. Rumors of forced sexual desires due to a virus the Breeds carried were in the rags again. There was also the story of the serial killer/cannibal who was linked to the Breeds. The rags kept protestors at the door, and suspicion swirling around the Breeds both here and at the Wolf Breed compound Haven.
“You pushed a line with Jonas. I’d suggest not pushing it again for a while,” Mercury stated as they headed back to the cabin.
She glanced back at him silently before speaking. “Jonas, like Dane, requires a certain understanding to deal with. If he believed I was easy to run over, he would spend his time denying what I needed and blocking my attempts.”
But that didn’t change the fact that facing him hadn’t been easy. Her heart had been in her throat more often than not, and controlling any hint of fear had been almost impossible.
“Dealing with Jonas is nothing like dealing with Dane Vanderale, Ria. Don’t fool yourself. He can make a hard enemy.”
“As can Dane.” She shrugged.
She looked back at him, the sprawled position he preferred tempting her. She wanted to curl into his lap. She wanted to warm herself against him.
Illogical. Irrational. Insane.
The night before had been filled with dreams of him. He had been outside patrolling the area around her cabin, she knew that. It was too close. Too tempting.
At least he hadn’t actually been in the cabin. She didn’t share her space very well, no matter how much she was attracted to a man.
She was a die-hard loner. She had decided that a long time ago. People left too easily. They walked in, got you used to their presence, then left, leaving you alone. It was a hard lesson to learn, and one she reminded herself of whenever she happened to wonder what it would be like to actually share space with someone.
“Why don’t you have a lover?”
Her head swung around at the question.
“Excuse me?” She blinked back at him in shock, and her body nearly sizzled at the look he was giving her.
His expression was decidedly sensual.
“Why don’t you have a lover?” he asked again, spacing out the words as though she might have trouble understanding English. “You’re pretty. Single. And you’re alone.”
“I don’t see a woman hanging on your arm,” she snapped out. “Perhaps I left him at home.”
He shook his head. “There’s no scent of a man on you. If you had a lover, the scent of his arousal would linger around you for weeks, even if you were separated from him. So you don’t have a lover.”
“And I don’t consider it your business,” she told him, striving for calm.
“I do.”
Her heart slapped in her chest, blood rushed to her head, and she wondered if the reaction was a precursor to a stroke. Because it had never happened to her before.
“I don’t.” She watched him warily now.
“Dane shouldn’t have sent you here alone,” he told her, his voice quiet, too soft, dangerous. “You’re tempting, Ms. Rodriquez. And you’re a challenge. Two things a Breed has a hard time ignoring.”
And she was going to melt into her seat. Tempting and a challenge? She was plain and she knew it. She tried to spice it up with sexy underclothes and the bling Dane brought her. Not always jewels. Sometimes a scarf, sometimes something as simple as an odd piece of art found in an unknown market.
She liked pretty things around her, because she knew she wasn’t so pretty. She wasn’t tempting. And despite his claim, she wouldn’t be much of a challenge if he decided he wanted into her bed.
“You needn’t play with me, Mercury,” she told him, aware she couldn’t cover that small hint of sadness that slipped free. “I do my job. No matter the temptation not to.”
And he could tempt her. He could be her downfall.
CHAPTER 3
He watched her. That ridiculous bun her hair had been twisted into at the nape of her neck was trying to unravel. When she glanced at him, her brown eyes, almost the color of dark chocolate, were irritated. Her softly rounded, creamy face and stubborn chin were intriguing. But there were other parts of her making him crazy.
If she kept twitching her ass like that, he was going to fuck it. So help him God, he was going to take her to her knees, hike that plain brown skirt to her hips, and show her the folly of teasing a fully grown, hungry male Lion Breed.
Mercury Warrant leaned against the wall of the small office Gloria “please call me Ria” Rodriquez was using, and fought to maintain the same cool facade he’d held over the past month.
It wasn’t easy. Especially when she moved from the desk to the table set up across from it to go through the files stacked there. She would lean over, sometimes studying each file’s contents before choosing one, and the ugly brown skirt would mold to her ass like a loving hand.