Stygian's Honor (48 page)

Honor Roberts had died in Liza’s place. Or at least, her spirit had. Because there wasn’t a doubt in Stygian’s mind that Liza had always believed to the bottom of her soul that she was Audi and Jane Johnson’s daughter.

And, Stygian knew, her father knew the truth.

Audi Johnson knew Liza wasn’t his daughter, though Stygian couldn’t be certain what Ray Martinez believed.

If Ray Martinez knew or suspected, then Stygian intended to pay the man a visit and advise him on how to treat his daughter with respect rather than resentment.

“Before you head back to your room, we need to go over a few security revisions I want to make.” Jonas raked his fingers wearily through his hair as he moved to the conference table that had been set up and spread out with not just hand-drawn maps and notes but also several electronic data pads.

“Have you heard from Dog on the movement he’s tracking in the desert?” Stygian asked as they headed to the table. “He headed back out to meet up with his men.”

“Control advised he was in place and tracking it, but he hasn’t sighted anything yet.” Handing Stygian a data pad, he picked up his own. “Here are the changes I’m considering—”

Stygian listened, but he watched the director as much as he did the plans that had been drawn up.

Jonas rarely showed the physical signs of weariness or worry, and he hadn’t aged a day since his mating, but worry creased his forehead now and there were shadows in those mercury eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Amber was getting worse.

And the knowledge of that was taking all choice from Stygian’s hands.

Something would have to be done soon.

Dog moved into place, watching the four Coyote Breeds waiting in the overhang of the canyon’s cliff.

Moving confidently, Mongrel and Mutt flanking him, he moved along the canyon wall before stepping into the cave-like overhang.

The four Breeds looked up, their hard faces sharply hewn, their eyes cold, hard.

“Satellites tracked your asses,” he growled at the men, irritation lacing his voice. “I told you to watch your fucking asses.”

The commander snorted at the information. “Yeah, we knew that. Let them go on guard for a while, it will make them more vulnerable when we move in.”

Thane could be a bastard, and he was one of the few Breeds that Dog would hate to go up against. He was also one of the few Breeds he would trust his life with. The three Coyotes that followed Thane were of the same ilk, though their personalities varied. All four were hard, cold, almost dead inside though. And nothing or no one mattered more than preserving the Breed communities.

No matter the cost to themselves.

Dog eyed the other Breed for long moments as Loki, Mutt and Mongrel shifted behind him.

Thane was as tall as he was, at six four, powerfully muscular and without fear, he was a deadly enemy. His coloring was different from most Breeds. Rather than the blond to light brown hair, his was pitch black, his eyes blue, the Irish heritage from his mother clearly apparent.

“You still carrying a grudge?” Dog asked, knowing Thane hadn’t been happy at the loss of one of his men in an operation against a hidden start-up lab in the Middle East that had been holding abducted Breeds.

“The bastard was a death wish walking,” Thane admitted. “There’s no grudge to hold.”

Nodding, Dog moved to the gas fire ring and poured a cup of coffee into one of the extra metal mugs sitting next to it.

“We need to move soon,” Dog told them. “The Sinclair girl’s arrived, and only God knows what she might sense or reveal. Stay out of sight of those fucking satellites so we can at least blame it on the bastards in the North. That way Jonas won’t send a team your way when you make your move.”

“We know what we’re doing,” Thane stated.

“Maybe I’m just reminding you,” Dog mocked. “You have a problem with that?”

He wasn’t about to treat the Breed commander any differently than he would any other, even if he did often respect him more.

Thane quirked his lips in hard amusement.

“Don’t have a problem with that, Dog,” he drawled. “I was just reminding you as well.”

Like he needed reminders of any sort.

“Move into position tomorrow,” he told them, his gaze moving over each man. “Wait for my signal.”

“You think you can maneuver them that easy?” Thane asked as the others watched curiously.

“I can maneuver anything or anyone,” Dog informed him confidently.

He knew his limits, but his abilities to be just as calculating and merciless as Jonas Wyatt were in doubt. “The four of you just make sure you’re in place. I don’t want to risk our agenda and I sure as hell don’t want to risk our plans here. There’s too much riding on it.”

“What do you have riding on it? Maybe it’s time you let us know what the hell is going on here, Dog,” one of the younger Coyotes in Thane’s group sneered mockingly. Dog didn’t have time to challenge him, but he couldn’t let it go either. In a dominant, powerful move, Thane was suddenly on his feet and throwing the younger Breed against the rock wall of the cave as the knife he carried at his thigh was pressing into the other Breed’s jugular. “Need to know,” Thane rasped, his scarred lips pulling back into a demonic snarl as a growl rumbled in his chest. “If you needed to
know, then I would have told you.” There was no fear in the other Breed’s eyes, only the knowledge that he had pushed too far.

“There are boundaries, boy,” Thane told him, his voice brutal as he glared into the younger Breed’s eyes. “Step over the line again, and you won’t have another chance.”

“Understood.” The other Breed didn’t lower his gaze, he didn’t look away. He didn’t show submission; what he showed, though, was agreement. That was all Thane needed.

Stepping back, he released the other Breed and moved back to the position he had taken before the low fire and lifted his coffee cup to sip at it as though nothing had happened.

“Then we’re all on the same page here?” Dog looked around at each man, their nods assuring him everything and everyone was in place and knew their places.

Finishing his coffee, he set the cup back in place before sauntering to the opening of the overhang.

“Be in place on time or you lose half of your commission,” he informed them all without turning back. “And stay out of sight of those fucking satellites.”

“Dog.”

It was Thane who had him pausing and glancing back.

“What are you going to do when Jonas learns the game you’re playing here?”

Dog’s brow arched. “He’s never going to know.”

CHAPTER 23

“I want out of this suite, and tonight.”

Liza was waiting in the sitting room when Stygian walked into the suite.

Dressed in jeans, low-heeled western boots and a white cotton camisole top, she looked like a wet dream come to life.

Denim encased her legs and ass like a lover’s hand, making him simply jealous as hell at the thought of another man thinking all the nasty thoughts that were rolling through his mind.

The long, heavy strands of dark blond hair were pulled up from the sides of her face and secured at the top of her head then left to tumble down her back.

The camisole smoothed over her breasts before disappearing into the band of the extremely low-rise jeans, which were secured with a wide belt. That belt and the cotton of the camisole tucked into her jeans, he swore, were the only things covering the upper curves of her pussy.

“It’s not safe—”

“What isn’t safe is keeping me locked in this room one more night,” she warned him, the scent of not just her irritation, but also the edge of panic she was barely holding on to, reaching his senses.

Why panic? What had happened to leave her feeling the desperate fear she was fighting to keep such a hold on?

“We have signs of two different teams in the desert watching this hotel. Tell me you’re certain they’re not watching for you and Claire and I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at her, wondering if he could dare take her where other men could see her, watch her, perhaps attempt to touch her without the animal inside him going completely berserk.

As it was now at just the thought of such a thing happening.

“Fine, I’m certain they’re not watching for us,” she said with a shrug of bravado and an air of superiority. “Now, I want out of this room.”

He would have been amused if it weren’t for the fact that he could feel his primal instincts pacing furiously at just the thought of any other male touching her, coming on to her, or in any way threatening his tenuous hold on her emotions.

And he was very well aware of the fact that his hold on those emotions was tenuous.

Fuck!

Was he refusing to allow her out because of the danger, or because of his jealousy and fear of losing her?

There wasn’t a single female Breed mate that wasn’t constantly in danger, yet they weren’t locked in their respective communities on a permanent basis. Hell, some of them didn’t even live within the Breed communities, and so far, their protection even during times of danger had been effective.

There were ways of ensuring their freedom as well as their security, and Stygian knew it.

“Why? You haven’t been here long enough to have contracted cabin fever, so why is it so imperative that you get out tonight?”

“Because I’ve finally had enough.” Her chin lifted, eyes narrowed. “Enough, Stygian. Now get me the hell out of here.”

Yeah, she’d had enough. The scent of her determination
to get out of the hotel was so heavy in the room that Stygian could sense nothing else coming from her.

He nodded slowly. “It will take a few hours to arrange everything.”

“Claire and Chelsea are going as well,” she informed him. “So while you’re picking out bodyguards, pick out theirs.”

He would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that his dick was driving a spike of agonizing hunger raging through him.

She was hot as hell when she got all stubborn like that. She made him want to cover her and show all the ways he could definitely control all that feminine aggression roiling through her.

Liza watched the flare of arousal, brighter, hotter than she’d seen it before as it flared in his gaze. Giving in to him was a desire that wasn’t easy to push back. It tugged at her with regret and pricked at the determination racing through her.

She couldn’t stay in this room any longer.

She couldn’t stare in that mirror another second and see the girl she had been, the fear she had known, the desperation that had been so much a part of her that summer.

Remembering was a bitch, and the memories weren’t comforting ones.

They were filled with fear and the stark reality of everything that had been taken away from so many.

Each time she stared into that mirror, she saw the results of the plastic surgery that had been done. A bit here, a bit there, a tilt of the eyes, a difference in her cheekbones. Just enough to make her look enough like Liza Johnson—

Just enough to make Fawn resemble Claire.

And she remembered that ritual, the words spoken, the scent of the herbs, the cadence of the chants and the feel of the dew from the sweat lodge as it rained down upon her.