“There will be some problems and we’re goin’ to have to prepare for them. We’ll need to have things ready for them before they get here. We’ll also need better security before we tip our hand and go after them. Pepper thinks they’re safe for the moment, but they’re babies and they have to be terrified. I want to beef this place up fast.”
Ezekiel nodded. “We’ll need a few others to get the work done. We’ll need weapons and bunkers and a safe room.”
“We have to childproof the house,” Nonny added practically.
“They’re good at escaping,” Pepper said.
There was instant silence in the room. Wyatt glanced uneasily at his friends. Ezekiel sat up straighter, his gaze leaping to Pepper’s face at the sound of her voice. That soft, silken glide that moved under a man’s skin. Malichai looked shell-shocked.
“Darlin’.” Wyatt pinned her with his dark gaze. “Don’ talk. I’m lettin’ you stay because you got the right to hear, but don’ waste your energy or you’ll find your pretty little butt right back in bed. You hearin’ me?”
Her eyelashes fluttered. Her lips parted in protest but no sound emerged. He was fairly certain it was because she was too outraged to speak so he sent her another, much more charming smile.
I don’t understand you.
She sounded so lost he wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her close to him. I know, sugar, but right now you don’ have to. You just have to concentrate on gettin’ better. I want to know you understand and you’ll just relax right there. You got somethin’ to say, say it private to me.
Pepper moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, and Malichai groaned. Wyatt set his teeth to keep from swearing.
You’re killin’ me, baby. Just don’ move. Don’ speak. You’re still not able to block your voice and I don’ want to have to kill a friend. So don’ open your mouth unless it’s askin’ me to kiss you. You hearin’ me? Say it. To me. You’re hearin’ me.
Pepper swallowed hard, glanced at Malichai and Ezekiel. Color crept up her pale skin into her cheeks. She nodded.
Say. It. To. Me. He bit the command out, enunciating each word.
Her gaze flicked back to him. I’m hearing you.
“If they’re good at escapin’, we’ll have to make certain they understand the danger. Pepper, right now, is the only one they trust. Ginger” – he smiled at his daughter – “you can help us with this. When we bring your sisters home, you have to help us make them understand they’ll still be in danger, but not from us. Can you do that?”
Ginger looked to Pepper, who signed to the baby. Wyatt was fascinated by the expression on Pepper’s face as she looked at the little girl. Her eyes, a strange, deep almost purple, had gone soft and warm. The diamond burst bled into the purple, giving off a look of radiant love. He’d seen women look at their children with love, but there was something intense and focused, as if the child was everything to her.
He touched her mind very gently, wanting to feel what she felt for the child. All encompassing. Real. He went soft inside. How could he not? Pepper didn’t have a family until the babies were given to her. She’d known nothing about children, but like any good soldier on a mission, she had researched as much as she could to be the best she could without practical experience.
And she loved. She knew how to love. Little vipers. Little tiny lethal baby vipers who bit her and made her suffer. She loved them anyway.
Hell, woman. You belong in the bayou. Right here.
Pepper glanced at him again, her dark midnight eyes meeting his. His body stirred, went rock hard. He was grateful the table was large.
Ginger nodded her head vigorously indicating she would help with her sisters, making them understand they would still be in danger and couldn’t escape.
“If anyone comes after them, we’ll need to be prepared. I think he’ll send his elite soldiers Pepper referred to, or try to take us there in the laboratory. This could be a trap. In fact, there’s a good chance this is a trap. No one has to go with me. This is my responsibility.”
Ezekiel kept eating. So did Malichai.
“Really good breakfast, ma’am,” Malichai said eventually into the silence. “I might be worried about gaining weight if I didn’t have all these missions to run. Keeping blockheads alive gives me a mighty hunger.”
Wyatt had known they’d go with him. They were a team, but more than that, they were family now. “I’ll have to call in a couple of the others as well,” he added reluctantly.
“Trap,” Malichai said immediately. “And Draden.”
“Mordichai,” Ezekiel added.
“He’s babysitting Joe,” Malichai reported, chewing and swallowing so he could shovel more food into his mouth. “But he’ll come as soon as Joe’s clear.”
He needed to lay it out. Pepper was not going to like it, but he had no choice, not if he was being fair to the others. “I know we need them, but Pepper’s enhanced.”
She made a sound. At once she curled into herself, her eyes jumping to his face. She gave a quick shake of her head. He could see the hurt in her eyes.