Jonas’s lips twitched. “Who says I mean for him to survive?”
Jonas suspected Gideon had ears into this room, which meant honesty wasn’t something he wanted at the moment. Damned good thing, Rule thought, because he had a feeling the chance of this backfiring on Jonas was growing by the day.
“I’ll take care of it,” Rule assured him.
Jonas was silent for long moments then, staring back at Rule, assessing, narrow eyed.
“You knew who Cullen was all along,” he said.
“So did you, Jonas,” Rule sighed. “And we both know you did.”
Jonas’s lips quirked. “Dane believes he’s hiding it from me, and Dog is so amused by the whole venture he nearly cackles whenever we’re all together. If the situation weren’t so fucking imperative where Amber’s life is concerned, I’d just tell them exactly how little they’re hiding.”
But it was imperative. For all the game playing and maneuverings, Rule knew Jonas took it more seriously than anything else he’d ever faced.
“The team you sent out for Jason Harte,” Rule asked. “Have they returned?”
Storms flickered in Jonas’s eyes. “Not yet. We’re still searching for him. When Gypsy returns, bring her to me and we’ll see if we can figure out where he’s gone.”
He would have known Gypsy’s mother would be caught, and he would have expected Gypsy or Kandy to come to him, Rule realized. When neither had, no doubt he had run. Now, he would have to be found.
And no doubt Jonas was somehow using that bastard too. He wondered if Jonas ever became confused concerning who was involved in which of his little games.
As he started to straighten, a blaring, shrieking alarm pierced the room; it was the hotel.
Swinging his gaze to Jonas, he watched the second the Breed realized where it was coming from and swore Jonas paled.
“Amber.” The growl was an animal’s roar of fury.
They moved at once.
Rule’s weapon cleared his holster as he slammed his body into the door, taking it to the floor, knowing Jonas would cover him as his weapon swept the room.
Amber’s room.
Rule didn’t dare fire his weapon as he found the target, no more than Jonas could.
“Da, ba’ ki’y,” Amber chortled as Gideon held her close to his chest, her tiny body appearing more delicate than normal against the broad chest.
Primal stripes darkened the Breed’s face like fire-scorched scars. Dark blond hair fell across his brow, the unusual dark strands of golden brown threading through it like a tiger’s stripes.
“Gideon.” The tension in Jonas’s voice was unmistakable now. “Where is my mate?”
Gideon’s gaze flickered to the corner of the room, where Rachel was slumped against the wall, her wealth of dark red hair lying over her face.
“She’s alive, and unharmed,” Gideon drawled as Jonas rushed to her, never taking his eyes from the Bengal as Rule became aware of more than a dozen Breed Enforcers suddenly filling the area behind him. They were breathing down his neck, all eyes on Gideon as the Bengal flicked them an amused glance over Rule’s shoulder.
“Let the baby go, Gideon,” Rule ordered softly as Amber played with the long strands of the Breed’s hair as her delightful baby talk seemed directed at Gideon.
“Amber and I are excellent buddies, aren’t we, sprite?” Gideon spoke with an icy chill as Amber giggled back at him.
“Ba’ ki’y,” she seemed to accuse him as Rule tried to make sense of what she was actually saying and why she seemed so amused.
If he didn’t know better he would swear she was calling Gideon “bad kitty” each time he spoke in that merciless tone.
Rule eased to his knee, all too aware of Gideon moving slowly closer to the open balcony door, Amber held securely before him, protecting him as nothing or no one else could have.
“Let her go, Gideon.” The animal’s snarl was in the director’s voice now, animalistic fury pounding in waves of tension through the room.
“Da?” Amber swung around quickly in concern, her bright eyes going between her father and Gideon. “Gi gi, ba’ ki’y.” There was a slight suggestion of an explanation in her tone.
Rule searched for the link to his brother, found it immediately and drew on it. Instantly, Lawe was there, not in spirit, but in strength, animal senses and intuition.
Gideon’s gaze swung to him instantly as he stepped to the opened door, his gaze narrowing as though he could sense that bond.
“Interesting,” he murmured as though he too could sense what Rule was doing and how he was doing it.
That intuition, the animal senses that were strong to begin with, were suddenly off the scale, and what Rule sensed was far more than he bet Gideon understood.
This wasn’t the insane creature the Breeds had faced before. There was no insanity here. Cunning, intelligence, determination and . . .
Son of a bitch, that striped bastard held such affection for Amber that Rule nearly reeled from the knowledge of it.
Gideon shook his head and sighed before turning back to Jonas. “She’ll be ill for a few more months,” he told the director matter-of-factly. “She hasn’t been slipping away from you, Director, merely slipping away from the human moorings she once held. Once Brandenmore injected her, he began changing things within her. To ensure her future health, to ensure her life, I took it upon myself to complete what he started.”
The backs of his fingers brushed against the little girl’s face.
“You did what?” That was fear in Jonas’s voice, Rule thought.
Gideon’s lips quirked. “You see such secrets, such forms as to make a man believe he’s lost his mind. What you didn’t see, couldn’t yet see, was the fact that this sweet child was dying before Brandenmore touched her.”
“He’s lying,” Rachel gasped weakly. “It’s a trick, Jonas.”
Gideon glanced at her sympathetically before turning back to the director. “The file is in her crib. Brandenmore’s codes, encryptions and formulas for this particular serum. The same serum both Honor and the other were given.” Demonic fury flickered momentarily in his gaze as Amber laid her small head against his chest and jabbered something softly.
“Yes, sprite, Gi-gi is fine,” he promised gently, almost smiling back at Jonas. “A treasure you have here, Jonas,” he stated then. “A very unique one. Get the files to Ely. The serum that will complete her recovery is contained there as well. As we both know, she’s not fully recovered from her ordeal. You’ll learn why in the papers I left.”
“You’re not leaving,” Jonas snarled.
Gideon chuckled. “It was a great game we’ve been playing, my friend, and perhaps one day soon, we can sit down and discuss it, but that day is not today.”
“The hell it isn’t,” Jonas retorted furiously.
Rule knew the instant the Bengal decided the discussion was at an end. And exactly how he intended to end it.
“Catch.”
Amber flew from his arms as Gideon jumped through the open balcony doors to the two-man stealth copter that suddenly flew past.
Just that fast he was gone.
Just that fast, both Jonas and Rule missed the tiny child flying through the room as she giggled gleefully.
She wasn’t flung into the wall. She didn’t fall to the floor.
Rule watched in amazement as she was suddenly suspended from the ceiling, the nearly invisible lines holding her aloft a familiar sensation for the child, if he wasn’t mistaken.
“How?” Jonas whispered as both he and Rachel watched as their child bounced happily in the air. “How the hell did he pull this off?”
Rule looked from the baby, to Jonas, then back again.
He cleared his throat.
“Do you think he’s related to Dane?” he asked then, knowing Jonas wouldn’t miss the backhanded insult.