Cheating Time (47 page)

There were reasons beyond the pureness of
their coats, the brilliance of their eye color, and the
intelligence they obviously possessed that made me take notice of
these exotic animals. I couldn't help but notice that all four
pairs of eyes had suddenly dilated and fixed themselves onto the
threat within their midst.
Isaiah.

The Surrogate Soldier was intuitive enough
to stop and assess the danger he was in, to realize that as soon as
he killed one member of the group, as soon as he killed Vixen's
mate, the other three would pounce on him and maul him until there
was nothing left but a bloody carcass. He was outnumbered and smart
enough to know it.

"What the hell are you doing? I've ordered
you to shoot them!" Barone, ignorant to the reality that after
these massive animals had killed Isaiah, their immediate threat,
they would focus all of their vengeance on Isaiah's leader.
Barone.

"Sir," Isaiah said, trying to keep calm and
steady while looking for a way to edge his president out of the
danger they'd so clearly gotten themselves into. "I'd like you to
ease your way over to me. Behind me. From there, you and I will
make our way out of this tent. We'll have other chances to kill
them. Right now, we just need to get out of here."

It wasn't until that moment that Barone
comprehended just how much of a threat these wild animals were to
him and Isaiah. On his way past me, he grabbed my hand and tugged,
silently suggesting I follow him out of the tent.

Interestingly enough, I knew the threat
wasn't directed toward me so I pulled back.

Using a placating tone, Barone said, "I am
to be your husband, and I expect you to come with me."

The hair on the back of my neck prickled.
Some of it had to do with being ordered around. The other part of
it had to do with the instant understanding that he and Isaiah were
going to leave the tent and make sure that Jabdalja, Vixen,
Bagheera, and Sasha were trapped and killed. The threat they
offered to the president would be eliminated. The animals' deaths
would be swift and decisive.
And
unjust.

Rather than go slow like Barone and Isaiah.
Rather than make my way to the tent's door. I—acting as if I'd
known these animals my entire life and was confident they wouldn't
try to kill me like they so clearly wanted to do with Isaiah and
Barone—popped up and ran to stand between the two largest ones. I
had the raven-black Jabdalja and Vixen on my right side and the
snow-white Bagheera and Sasha on my left. I'd never felt more
powerful.

"John," I said, purposefully using his name
and solidifying our relationship. Acting the part of future First
Lady, I held my head high, squared my shoulders, and bowed my
chest. If I didn't show the confidence required of this position,
my request would be ignored, and I knew it. "I want to add these
animals to my immunity list."

Barone's flat-grey eyes leveled on me and
his mouth dropped. He saw my request as the test it was. At the
same time, he saw it as defiance, and he didn't like it one bit
based on his grinding teeth and thinned lips.

"You're kidding me, right? If you think I'm
going to offer protection to these
beasts
, you've lost your ever-living mind. You'll
come with me and stop acting as if you have a say in your future…
or theirs. If you defy me on this, I'll rip our contract to shreds,
hold St. Romaine hostage, and make you do whatever I want you to,"
Barone said incredulously.

Fighting back the fear that demanded I beg
for Jayden's life, I remained calm and nodded. "You could do that.
The difference is if you force me to do anything against my will,
I'll challenge you every chance I get and spend all my time looking
for ways to escape and make my way to Jayden. No one will ever
mistake me for the happy bride, and you'll look like the deviant
you are," I promised, and my words were as cold and flat as my
affect.

Barone tilted his head to the side. For the
first time ever, he saw me as someone to be respected, not one to
be underestimated.

As if spurred to action by a malevolent
thought, he turned his attention to each one of the panthers,
studying each individually before saying, "You only have three more
immunity spots."

Dammit! I thought he'd
ignore that fact.

"For my future wife, I'm more than happy to
add all four animals to your list." Just when I thought Barone
might not be as bad as I'd made him out to be, he finished with his
conditions. "In exchange for me not killing one of these four cats
tonight, I want to change the conditions of your list," Barone sang
happily.
Spitefully.

At some point during my conversation with
him, Jayden had slowly inched his way near me and stood ready
behind Jabdalja. As if they'd been born and raised together and
their thoughts were similar, Sean mirrored Jayden's stance behind
Bagheera. I couldn't see Thorne, but I felt him behind me.

I approved of the way he'd led Simon and
Rorie to the back of our small army and the fact that he'd planned
to use the panthers as a first line of protection, Surrogate
Soldiers as a second layer, and anything he could possibly offer as
a third layer in his efforts to protect his sister and Sean's
brother.

I braced myself for Barone's next words.

"Basically, I'm saying your immunity list is
now full and can never again be changed. As deaths occur, names
will be marked off. No new name will ever be added. Do you
understand the new rules of the list, Carlie?"

My eyes flickered to Jayden for his opinion.
He offered me an infinitesimal nod. I glanced over my shoulder
toward Thorne. His nod was just as imperceptible as Jayden's.

I took a deep breath and blew out hard.
"Okay," I agreed, knowing I would one day regret that
concession.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard
a quiet meow. Everyone in the tent heard it. Sean cursed under his
breath and pulled Simon closer behind him. A barbaric smirk flashed
across Barone's face. Then he laughed. It was the deep belly kind
that would normally follow a funny, unexpected practical joke.

Fate and bad luck were the
jokesters in this case.

"What have we here, Sean?" Barone finally
asked, weaving his way toward Simon.

"My brother, sir. He's a genetic mutant. He
doesn't know what he's doing," he said briskly. Protectively.

"Hmm… I believe he knows exactly what he's
doing. He's hiding at least one, maybe two cubs in his shirt. Have
him pull them out and let us see them."

Barone's request was benign on the surface,
but there was no doubt in my mind that I was about to find out
there were serious ramifications for standing up to Barone even
when the infraction was small…
and nothing I'd
done tonight would be considered small.

When it was clear to all of us that Barone
wasn't backing down until he'd laid eyes on the cubs, Sean looked
over his shoulder toward Simon and nodded. From the inside of each
side of his summer jacket, Simon extricated two cubs that were so
small they had to have just been born.

When he held them out toward Barone and I
saw their eyes were still closed, their ears were still flat
against their head, and their cries at being moved were muffled by
embryotic fluid, I knew without a shadow of doubt that they'd just
been born that night. Possibly minutes before Jayden forced them
all to the infirmary.

When the soldier, Vixen, turned her
attention away from her enemies and toward the crying cubs, I
understood she was the cubs' mother and admired the way she flanked
me and her group despite the ordeal she'd so obviously endured that
day.

With utmost respectful, Simon bowed his head
and spoke to Barone. "Sir, can I put them back in my coat? If
they're not kept warm, they'll die."

Barone's lip curled in disgust. He did
nothing to mask his contempt for genetic mutants.

"These two cubs are illegal exotic animals
that are not under my protection," Barone explained, focusing his
attention on Thorne and Sean, since they were instinctive
protectors of their siblings, ones who would do anything to avoid a
gory battle in these close quarters. "Serkis, I want you to prove
to me that you have control of your animals. If they are as
dangerous as the experts tell me, I'll have no choice but to put
them down. Immune or not."

My eyes narrowed and I stepped in front of
the massive beasts, coming face to face with Barone. Isaiah stepped
forward and acted as if a sixteen-year-old girl was the biggest
threat to the president's security.

Right now, he might be
right.

"Let the cubs stay with their mother. She'll
grieve them if you don't, and leaving her in that condition would
go against our agreement," I insisted.

Barone shook his head. "No can do. You can't
keep adding to your list. We just had that conversation. They'll be
in my custody. When you please me…" Barone raised his eyebrows in
challenge. "I'll conditionally gift them back to you. When you
displease me, I'll take them back."

"Treating me like a wayward child will not
endear you to me, John," I said. The calm facade I'd been showing
was crumbling hard and fast.

I couldn't help it. My heart broke when I
thought of those newborn cubs in the care of people who eagerly and
willingly associated with Barone.
Isaiah.

Barone turned toward Isaiah and said, "Take
these cubs to the very nice girl, Kali, we met today. She seemed
like a natural born nurturer. I'm sure these newborns will get the
care they need while with her.

Barone was taunting me. Jayden had taunted
me my entire life. It was the attack I was most prepared to defend.
Rather than be baited, I stood by silent.

Barone glared toward Sean. "Serkis, don't
forget what I said about these animals. When he takes the cubs
away, these cats better not flinch or move. If they do, they'll be
stuffed and mounted in my den."

Without skipping a beat, Sean shouted the
same words Simon had said to the animals when we'd first met them.
"Sasha, heel!"
Clap.
"Vixen, heel!"
Clap.
"Jadbalja, heel!" With a
final clap, he said, " Bagheera, you heel, too!"

After he'd solidified his commands to his
pets, he turned to Simon and said, "Hand me the cubs, Simon."

Dubious, Simon stared toward his brother.
"Sean, they have to stay with me. Remember what you said? I'm the
one in charge of keeping them alive," Simon said desperately.

"Simon, do what I say. Give them to me,"
Sean turned toward his brother and took them from him without
giving him another chance at debating his decision.

Sean's teeth were grinding and his muscles
rolling when he turned the hours-old cubs over to the smirking
Isaiah, a Surrogate who loved everything about being part of
Barone's inner circle. Intuitive, he knew he was able to give in to
his inner beast and be cruel more often with Barone than he'd have
been able to without the president and his dictator leadership
style.

Proving he was every bit a tyrant as I
assumed, Barone stepped in front of me and put his elbow out. The
smirk on this face reminded me that he was very pleased with
himself for bringing to heel four large beasts, two Surrogates, two
anomalies, a physician, and his future wife.

"Carlie needs her rest. If she can run in
the woods all day with the Surrogate and work on patients this
evening with Angleton, I'm confident she no longer needs to be
monitored in the infirmary. She'll be sleeping in my tent should
anyone need her." Barone eyed Jayden and Thorne significantly. "And
I don't expect anyone to need her unless there is a
life-threatening emergency."

Based on the shuffling of feet and the
methodical murmurs outside of the infirmary, there was an entire
army awaiting Barone's orders. None of us had options, and my
belligerence would only put my new charges in jeopardy. Their
safety was dependent on my reaction to Barone.

My shoulders slumped, and I wrapped my
fingers around the president's elbow and let him lead me out of the
tent. There, I found exactly what I thought I'd find, a complete
military force standing armed and ready for trouble.

"Isaiah, I've changed my mind. Bring the
cubs to my tent. I'll allow Carlie to temporarily care for them.
Then I want you to go back to the infirmary and make sure no one
leaves for the rest of the night. No matter what happens," Barone
said with an ominous insinuation embedded within his orders.

Holy hell! What does that
mean?

Without another word between us, we went to
Barone's tent. As soon as I ducked beneath the flap and entered the
president's quarters, I was once again hit with the opulence he'd
come to expect. There was a giant copper bowl that had been set up
in the middle of the tent. It had a glowing campfire dancing its
way from its center. In front of it were two wingback chairs, and
between the chairs was an elegant round table that held a tea
service that included a masculine teapot, two black-and-white cups
and yellow saucers, and a matching sugar bowl and creamer.